> This is flat-out unsubstantiated

I understand this is a fairly extensive claim, and possibly very hard to swallow from a liberal, treat-everyone-as-an-individual tradition, so allow me to substantiate it.

In 2017, a group of Chinese scholars visiting UC Davis were discovered to have set up a CCP cell[1] that was later dissolved due to FARA. The South China Morning Post article says the CCP charter[2] requires any organization where people work that has three or more full party members to establish a party branch. It is also said that this practice has been going on since at least the 80s, when there were very very few Mainland Chinese working overseas, with a brief interruption after the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre.

That same year, the Australian Secretary of the Department of Foreign and Affairs and Trade has delivered as speech addressing the then recent revelation of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association's suppression of foreign Chinese international student's dissent[3] by reporting them to the Chinese embassy. This is the same CSSA that exists in every sizable university around the world, in which many believe it's a part of the United Front branch of the CCP that infiltrates foreign universities[4]. Similarly, an institute called the Confucius Institute is also attached to many universities worldwide, conducting so-called cultural exchange programs, which are in fact subversive influence operations[5].

Given that the CCP has almost 90 million members[6], that exerting "soft-power" has been an explicit goal for at least the past 15 years[7], that not every democratic country has an equivalent of FARA or the Communist Control Act, that Mainland Chinese students are the most numerous foreign student makeup by a wide margin in every major higher education institution around[8] the[9] world[10], that the Chinese has had a history of converting immigrants to voters for candidates favorable to the CCP[11], and their extensive surveillance and control methods inside and outside of China, I conclude that the CCP's tentacles has substantial worldwide reach, and that we are in fact dealing with the world's most extensive espionage and subversion network in history. This is not paranoia.

You are right, if you don't speak Mandarin, it's very hard to tell who's a Mainlander. But if you are in a hiring position, you will know their national origin, and I would urge you to keep a closer eye on your Mainland Chinese colleagues while not stepping outside the boundaries of any anti-discrimination law. If you are lucky, (or unlucky), you will have caught them stealing corporate secrets or IP, or breaching coworkers privacy before any damage is done. If you are unable to distinguish them, I would urge you to err on the side of caution in your personal and political life. A regular Mainland Chinese, despite their best intentions, are often unwilling to give up their Chinese citizenship due to family ties. The CCP is known to use that as leverage to turn them into agents when needed. As a person growing up in Hong Kong, from personal experience I know how the underground communists conduct their business very well. If you are able, you can attempt to free them from the CCP's control, but you will most likely be unsuccessful and pay a heavy price along the way. Therefore, I believe the best course of action right now is to contain the CCP while giving support to your governments' response to their new found realization of the not always clear, but certainly present danger of the CCP. Using state power to exert pressure on the CCP to free the Chinese seems to me the most effective way of creating a more honest and cohesive global society.

[1]: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/21...

[2]: http://www.china.org.cn/20171105-001.pdf, Article 30

[3]: https://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/au...

[4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Students_and_Scholars_...

[5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius_Institute#Reception_...

[6]: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-06/30/content_299522...

[7]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_power_of_China

[8]: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/international-studen...

[9]: https://www.ukcisa.org.uk/Research--Policy/Statistics/Intern...

[10]: https://internationaleducation.gov.au/research/International...

[11]: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-east-asia...