A leaked database of 1.95 million registered Chinese Communist Party members has provided an "unprecedented view" into the structure and method of operation of the party. The leak exposes how branches of CCP are embedded in some of the world's biggest companies, and also in some government agencies.
Robert Potter, cybersecurity analyst and co-founder of Internet 2.0, said this is not something that becomes available every day. "It shows how the party has increasingly taken on a global view the way that it interacts with foreign companies, the way that it seeks to influence and engage in operations abroad," he said.
The leaked database contains a register with the details of CCP members, including their names, position in the party, birthday, national ID number, and ethnicity. The major leak of official records comes after President Xi Jinping said on Saturday, December 12, that political security will be a top priority in the next five years and urged that CCP should maintain the safety of the Chinese political system.
The Presence of CCP Members All Around the World
The database was first leaked on Telegram, an instant messaging app. It is believed that the data leak came from a dissident who targeted an outwardly unremarkable office block in Shanghai, which had stored the records. The person probably had accessed it via a server before downloading the database on to a laptop and then released it on Telegram.
It revealed how the loyal members of the CCP working in the British consulates, universities, and some major pharmaceutical companies influence or control the operations. It was revealed that one of the CCP members is a senior official at the British Consulate in Shanghai. However, there is no evidence to prove that the people on the CCP membership list have spied on behalf of China.
As reported, UK's former Tory Party leader Iain Duncan Smith said the recent leak proves that CCP members are now spread around the globe. "With members working for some of the world's most important multinational corporations, academic institutions, and our own diplomatic services," he said. He also urged the UK government to "expel and remove" any members of the CCP from the Consuls throughout China. "They can either serve the UK or the Chinese Communist Party. They cannot do both," he said.
A detailed analysis of the leaked database revealed some major points. It claimed that Chinese academics who swore to help CCP attended British universities where they got involved in sensitive areas of research including aerospace engineering and chemistry. The leaked details revealed about more than 600 party members who were working at the British banks HSBC and Standard Chartered in 2016.
More surprisingly, the Coronavirus vaccine development companies, Pfizer in the US and Britain's AstraZeneca, both employed a total of 123 party loyalists. Even big companies like Airbus, Boeing, and Rolls-Royce have employed hundreds of CCP members, while Jaguar Land Rover was another company with staff belonging to the Chinese party.
A former CIA and White House intelligence analyst said: "This is what the Chinese Communist Party is and you can't trust them. They're always looking for opportunities where they can take advantage of relationships, friendships, whatever, to further the interests of the Communist Party".
