Koh Ewe and Laura Bicker
The People's Republic of China has a "magic weapon", according to its founding leader Mao Zedong and its current president Xi Jinping.
It is called the United Front Work Department - and it is raising as much alarm in the West as Beijing's growing military arsenal.
Yang Tengbo, a prominent businessman who has been linked to Prince Andrew, is the latest overseas Chinese citizen to be scrutinised - and sanctioned - for his links to the UFWD.
The existence of the department is far from a secret. A decades-old and well-documented arm of the Chinese Communist Party, it has been mired in controversy before. Investigators from the US to Australia have cited the UFWD in multiple espionage cases, often accusing Beijing of using it for foreign interference.
Beijing has denied all espionage allegations, calling them ludicrous.
So what is the UFWD and what does it do?
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