UK-China Transparency has published new research on Chu Ting Tang OBE 邓柱廷 / 鄧柱廷, his connections to the United Front Work Department (UFWD) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and his campaigning in support of the CCP’s agenda in the UK. UKCT describes Tang as one of the most prominent public influence agents working in support of the CCP in the UK.
Tang, a British citizen and millionaire, has been living in the UK since 1975. He has had exceptionally close links, which can be publicly documented on the Chinese-language internet, to the CCP’s United Front Work Department (UFWD). Tang has frequently engaged with very senior UFWD and CCP cadres, both in the UK and China. At UFWD events in China, Tang has been given a status consistent with a high ranking position. For example, according to official Chinese sources, Tang was appointed as a “vice-president” of an important UFWD organisation at one such event in 2019. Usually, only very high-ranking UFWD officials themselves are given this role, with only a handful of foreign nationals in the last decade being appointed to it.
Tang pictured with Xi Jinping in Beijing in 2019
According to the Intelligence & Security Committee of Parliament’s report on China:
“The United Front Work Department, one of the most important departments of the CCP, is tasked with building and maintaining support for the Party, both at home and overseas, and is therefore concerned with domestic influence and control, and influence and interference activities directed at the Chinese diaspora, from managing relations with prominent Chinese individuals and groups to coordinating support for Chinese positions or targeting dissident groups abroad.”
The record of Tang’s closeness to the CCP and UFWD and his own statements and activism in support of CCP positions together suggest that he is carrying out at least some of these functions. However, UKCT has no evidence whatsoever to suggest Tang has been involved in targeting dissidents or in any illegal conduct.
Tang campaigns outside the Philippines’ embassy in 2016, in support of the CCP’s position on the South China Sea dispute
In 2015, Tang collaborated with the Chinese government to establish an entity calling itself an “Overseas Chinese Service Centre” in the UK, though UKCT could find little trace of its activity post-2018. This centre was part of a programme intended to involve Chinese diaspora figures close to the CCP, such as Tang, in the administration of transnational governance and in the provision of various services for Chinese citizens abroad. Tang has played a prominent role in campaigning within the UK in support of the CCP’s stance on various issues, such as the South China Sea dispute, Taiwan and Hong Kong democracy protests. He has taken part in, led and organised various public events and initiatives campaigning on these issues in the UK.
Tang is also close to the Chinese Embassy in London and is treated as a key leader by its staff. Tang is frequently approached for comment by official Chinese state-run media and referred to approvingly on Chinese government and CCP websites. On these occasions, the comments Tang gives are nationalistic.
“To be upright and proper Chinese people, we must bravely take up the mantle of the righteousness of the nation, […] actively participating in the cause of the reunification of the ancestor-land through practical actions.”
Tang Chu Ting OBE, quoted on an important UFWD website in 2022
Tang has served as the main figurehead of the London Chinatown Chinese Association (LCCA) for more than a decade. This group has close ties to the Chinese Embassy, and partners with both it and various Chinese state-owned sponsors to organise what has been described as the largest Chinese New Year events in the world outside of East Asia. This takes place every year in Chinatown and Trafalgar Square, with CCP propaganda incorporated into the event.
The LCCA’s events are regularly attended by local and national politicians and other important public figures; Tang himself was repeatedly invited to 10 Downing Street for Chinese New Year celebrations from 2017 to 2020 (see image from 2020 below).
Tang has also been involved in British political campaigning, offering his support to the Conservative candidate for the 2021 London mayoral election, and lobbying to influence British domestic policy by leading protests against Home Office immigration raids on establishments in Chinatown in 2018.
Tang was awarded an OBE in 2011 for “services to Chinese People in Chinatown, Westminster, London.” UKCT has not seen a copy of his citation. Tang has been treated by British public bodies and public figures as an authentic and representative leader of London’s British Chinese community, without public reference to his CCP ties. UKCT identified one exception: in 2024, the then Security Minister Tom Tugendhat publicly referred to Tang as the CCP’s “representative”.
Tang and his wife are millionaires with interests in several well-known restaurants in London’s Chinatown, and various properties. It is important to note that until 2022, when MI5 issued an “Interference Alert” about another individual with links to the UFWD, Christine Lee, the British government had not promoted the idea that some forms of engagement or cooperation with the UFWD should be viewed as a potential source of national security problems. Indeed, in the past, the British government has in practice promoted some forms of engagement or cooperation with the UFWD.
Tang chose not to comment on the contents of UKCT’s report.