Documentary
China’s Magic Weapon
BBC TWO, 9PM
A neat counterpoint to
A Shanghai Symphony, Jane Corbin’s disturbing film casts a light on one of many shadowy examples of
malign Chinese activity around the world: the soft (and not so soft) power of the United Front Work Department, a political strategy to advance Chinese influence by non-political means. With Australia having acted as a canary in the coal mine for the UK, tech espionage, campus activism and business interference are under way on British soil.