The Congress-run Rajiv Gandhi Foundation is facing tremendous heat for its intimate affair with China, more so with the Chinese Communist Party. From being a party to a secretive and shady MoU with the CCP, to accepting large sums of money from the Chinese embassy and PRC government over multiple years under the shroud of donations, the Congress has been in bed with the Chinese for all the wrong reasons. It has now been revealed that a CCP propaganda arm, and an intelligence-gathering and perception management body of the Chinese regime, called “The China Association for International Friendly Contact” (CAIFC), was involved with the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Contemporary Studies.
Pointing out the same, Ajit Datta, our consulting editor revealed that on the RGF website, under a section called ‘Our Story‘, for the year 2004-05, one of the activities undertaken by RGCIS is listed as “China Association for Internationally Friendly Contact”. The reference to the Chinese organization on the RGF website is vague, at best. No details are stated as to which activities the RGF and CAIFC collectively undertook, or what activities the Chinese organisation carried out in sole capacity in the country, under the UPA rule. Also note the intentional fidgeting with the term “International” of CAIFC, which on the website, is written as “Internationally”.
According to wikipedia:
"The China Association for International Friendly Contact (CAIFC) is a united front organization subordinate to the Liaison Department of the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission. CAIFC was founded in 1984…"
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— Ajit Datta (@ajitdatta) June 26, 2020
Interestingly, the CAIFC is described by Wikipedia in the following fashion:
“The China Association for International Friendly Contact (CAIFC) is a united front organization subordinate to the Liaison Department of the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission. CAIFC was founded in 1984 and is active in overseas influence operations to promote the interests of the Communist Party of China. According to a 2018 report by the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, CAIFC “performs dual roles of intelligence collection and conducting propaganda and perception management campaigns.”
The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, to put it bluntly, facilitated a Chinese organisation with direct links to the CCP, too indulge in “intelligence collection” and “propaganda and perception management campaigns” in India. Since neither the Congress, nor the foundation (which is run by the party) has said anything to a contrarian effect, are we to believe that the CCP indulged in espionage in India, even as the Congress-led government knew about the same? If so, the Congress should be made to face the law, and be declared a banned outfit for its overt anti-India activities which explicitly seem to have compromised national security.
What is the CAIFC, which falls under the ‘United Front’?
The ‘United Front’, as explained by Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, is his “magic tool”. China uses the Front to co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) both inside, as well as outside the country. Simply put, the United Front is a covert and deceptive coalition of groups and individuals working towards the CCP’s common goals against its enemies, with the aim of pinning them down and paralysing their institutions. Among the many groups which comprise the United Front, the CAIFC is one too, an organisation which the Congress and Rajiv Gandhi Foundation had no hesitation indulging with.
According to a report by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, the CAIFC reports directly to the PLA Central Military Commission’s Political Work Department. As a covert organisation of the CCP under the Liaison bureau, CAIFC is tasked with promoting Chinese interests abroad, indulging in espionage, gathering intelligence, and subverting institutions, all while running pro-China propaganda.
The China Association for Friendly International Friendly Contact (CAIFC) is also known as the International Liaison Department, and the Intelligence Resource Program website describes the organisation as one which “prepares political and economic information for the reference of the (Chinese) Political Bureau. The department conducts ideological and political work on foreign armies, explaining China’s policies, and disintegrating enemy armies by dampening their morale. It is also tasked with instigating rebellions within the Taiwan army and other foreign armies.”
It is therefore clear that the Congress party was working and indulging in ‘activities’ with this nefarious organisation, which the CCP has been using as a political tool internationally. It is not yet clear as to what kind of partnership the Congress and CCP shared due to the CAIFC, and what the intensity of such a partnership was. What is clear, however, is the fact that the Congress once again proved how it cannot be trusted in any sphere of politics, especially when it comes to national security, sovereignty and integrity.
