United Front Work Department
Functional department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
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| 2025 | The United States had imposed a total of six rounds of sanctions between 2020 and 2025 targeting Hong Kong and Chinese officials under the Hong Kong Autonomy Act. |
| March 2025 | The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned a Chinese 'teapot' oil refinery and related executives for violations of international sanctions against Iran. |
| February 2025 | President Trump signed a national security presidential memorandum (NSPM) directing CFIUS to restrict Chinese investments across multiple critical sectors including technology, infrastructure, healthcare, agriculture, energy, and raw materials. The memorandum commits to using 'all necessary legal instruments' to curb Chinese investments in the United States. |
| February 1 2025 | President Trump issued Executive Order 14195, imposing a 10% tariff on imports from China due to perceived insufficient action by Chinese officials in stopping precursor chemical supply to criminal cartels and curbing money laundering by transnational criminal organizations. |
| December 2024 | The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Sichuan Silence Information Technology Company for involvement in ransomware attacks. Simultaneously, federal prosecutors indicted one of the company's employees in connection with these cyber activities. |
| October 2024 | U.S. Treasury Department issued regulations implementing the Outbound Order, further enforcing restrictions on U.S. investments in key technological sectors in China. |
| October 2024 | U.S. sanctioned two companies, Xiamen Limbach Aircraft Engine Co. and Redlepus Vector Industry, for involving the production of long-range attack drones for Russia, including the Garpiya. |
| October 2024 | Swedish reporters identified 233 individuals across Europe connected to the united front system, and the Jamestown Foundation uncovered 103 united front-linked groups in Sweden spanning culture, business, politics, and media. |
| July 2024 | OFAC sanctioned individuals in China accused of money laundering for the Sinaloa Cartel. |
| July 2024 | The United States imposed sanctions on multiple Chinese individuals and entities, alleging their involvement in procuring items to support North Korea's ballistic missile and space programs. |
| May 2024 | U.S. sanctioned 20 companies in China and Hong Kong for supplying Russia's military. |
| May 2024 | The U.S. Commerce Department added 37 units of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) to the Entity List in response to their involvement in the 2023 Chinese balloon incident. |
| April 2024 | Department of Commerce sanctioned a Chinese company for supporting Russia's military through the procurement, development, and proliferation of Russian drones. |
| October 2023 | OFAC sanctioned a China-based network of fentanyl manufacturers and distributors. |
| October 2023 | The U.S. Department of Commerce added Biren Technology and Moore Threads to the Entity List, further expanding sanctions on Chinese technology firms. |
| October 2023 | U.S. Department of Commerce added 42 Chinese companies to the Entity List for supplying Russia with microelectronics for missile and drone guidance systems. |
| September 2023 | Six Chinese entities were sanctioned for allegedly assisting the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industries Corporation in making drones to attack oil tankers and for export to Russia's military. |
| August 2023 | President Biden issued Executive Order 14105 'Addressing United States Investments in Certain National Security Technologies and Products in Countries of Concern', prohibiting U.S. investments in semiconductors, microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence technologies in China. |
| July 2023 | U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence published a report stating that the Chinese government is assisting Russia to evade sanctions and providing it with dual-use technology. |
| July 2023 | A group of U.S. senators asked the Department of Justice to investigate 'Overseas Chinese Service Centers' with alleged ties to the UFWD operating in seven U.S. cities. |
| June 2023 | U.S. federal prosecutors announced criminal indictments against fentanyl precursor producers in China. |
| June 2023 | U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Zhejiang Qingji and other entities in China and Hong Kong for selling centrifuge equipment to Iran. |
| May 2023 | OFAC imposed sanctions on seven additional Chinese companies and six individuals for supplying equipment to drug cartels for fentanyl production. |
| May 2023 | Liang Litang, a U.S. man, was indicted for acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government, surveilling and harassing Chinese dissidents, and allegedly passing information to UFWD and Ministry of Public Security officials. |
| April 2023 | The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two Chinese companies and four individuals for supplying precursor chemicals for fentanyl production to Mexican drug cartels, acting under Executive Order 14059. |
| March 2023 | The U.S. Department of Commerce added 28 Chinese firms to the Entity List, including Inspur and Loongson, for acquiring American technology in support of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). |
| March 2023 | U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned five Chinese companies for supplying equipment to the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industries Corporation, which manufactures HESA Shahed 136 drones used by Russia against Ukraine. |
| February 2023 | U.S. Commerce Department added AOOK Technology Ltd, Beijing Ti-Tech Science and Technology Development Co, Beijing Yunze Technology Co, and China HEAD Aerospace Technology Co to the Entity List for aiding Russia's military. |
| February 16 2023 | The U.S. State Department announced additional restrictions on Chinese entities, limiting their access to U.S. technologies and financial systems in response to the balloon incident. |
| February 10 2023 | The U.S. Department of Commerce imposed sanctions on six Chinese entities associated with the balloon incident, including aerospace companies and research institutes, for their involvement in China's aerospace programs. |
| February 4 2023 | A Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon was shot down by a U.S. F-22 fighter jet off the coast of South Carolina after traversing sensitive military sites across the continental United States, triggering diplomatic tensions. |
| January 2023 | U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Spacety China (Changsha Tianyi Space Science and Technology Research Institute Co. Ltd.) for providing satellite imagery to the Wagner Group. |
| October 2022 | Shi Taifeng becomes the most recent head of the United Front Work Department, taking office in October 2022. |
| October 7 2022 | The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security implemented controls on advanced computing and semiconductor manufacturing in China, with some controls taking effect immediately and others on October 12 and October 21, 2022. |
| September 2022 | The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Sinno Electronics of Shenzhen for supplying a Russian military procurement network. |
| June 2022 | U.S. Department of Commerce placed five Hong Kong companies on the Bureau of Industry and Security's Entity List for providing support to Russia's military. The U.S. Treasury Department separately sanctioned a Chinese and an Armenian vendor for maintaining trade relationship with a Russian arms procurement firm. |
| April 2022 | U.S. Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen warned China that it could face consequences for not sanctioning Russia. |
| February 2022 | A Canadian court ruled that the UFWD's Overseas Chinese Affairs Office 'engages in covert and surreptitious intelligence gathering'. |
| January 2022 | MI5 issued an 'interference alert' for Christine Lee, a UK solicitor suspected of political interference on behalf of the UFWD. |
| March 2021 | Five of the identified Chinese companies were to be delisted by the New York Stock Exchange. |
| January 2021 | You Quan, head of the UFWD, was sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control under Executive Order 13936 as a Specially Designated National. |
| January 13 2021 | Trump's Executive Order 13959 was amended to require divestment from the identified Chinese companies by November 11, 2021. |
| 2020 | John Lee, then Secretary for Justice in Hong Kong, was sanctioned by the United States as part of the sanctions targeting Hong Kong and Chinese government officials. |
| 2020 | United States began imposing sanctions and visa restrictions against Chinese government officials and companies in response to multiple issues including Uyghur persecution, human rights abuses in Hong Kong and Tibet, military-civil fusion, support for Russian invasion of Ukraine, and fentanyl production. |
| 2020 | Shortly after the commencement of the 2020 Inner Mongolia protests, the UFWD issued a communique stressing the need for all ethnic minorities in China to use Standard Chinese. |
| December 2020 | United States Department of State imposed visa restrictions on individuals active in UFWD activities who engaged in physical violence, information theft, espionage, sabotage, or interference in political, academic, privacy, or business affairs. |
| December 7 2020 | U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on 14 Vice Chairpersons of the National People's Congress of China for 'undermining Hong Kong's autonomy and restricting the freedom of expression or assembly'. |
| November 12 2020 | President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 13959 'Addressing the Threat From Securities Investments That Finance Communist Chinese Military Companies', prohibiting U.S. investors from purchasing or investing in securities of 44 Chinese companies identified by the U.S. Department of Defense as 'Communist Chinese military companies'. |
| August 2020 | United States Department of the Treasury sanctioned Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and ten other Hong Kong government officials under an executive order by President Trump for undermining Hong Kong's autonomy, based on the Hong Kong Autonomy Act. Lam was listed in the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List. |
| June 2020 | Australian Strategic Policy Institute issued a report recommending a multi-dimensional response to foreign influence operations. The Republican Study Committee in the United States called for sanctions on the UFWD and its top leadership. |
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