The stated purpose of the association is to serve the Teochow community (an ethnic sub-group) from Guangdong in New Zealand, however Chinese dissident and local journalist Chen Wenjie has claimed the association is part of the Communist Party's United Front Work Department (UFWD) and donations by the association including those to the Christchurch Foundation in the sum of some $2.1 million to assist the victims of the 2019 Mosque shootings are part of a coordinated strategy to: "purchase political influence" and engage in "strategic infiltration" of the political systems of host countries.