China’s Communist Party is reportedly expanding activities aimed at Chinese university students in America and other nations. Radio Free Asia, or RFA reports the expansion is an effort to keep the party’s ideology in the minds of Chinese citizens studying abroad. It also seeks to defend against “bad ideas” picked up in other countries that could influence the students.

The Communist Party is organizing at overseas universities in a similar way it operates in China, RFA reports. The efforts are part of an ideological campaign called United Front, which aims to bring specific groups of people into the party.

The foreign branches are reportedly used to spread the party's ideological message worldwide. One such branch was set up last year by Chinese students in an exchange program at the University of California, Davis in northern California.

China’s University of Science and Technology, in the northeastern city of Dalian, reported on its website that seven Chinese students had set up the party branch at the U.S. university.

Hospitality staff members pose for a selfie near the portrait of Chinese leader Mao Zedong during the opening session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) held in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, Saturday, March 3, 2018. The group – made up of students from several different universities – held its first meeting in November 2017, the website reported. It added that the first meeting centered on teaching students ways to fight “various kinds of negative influences” on their thinking while overseas.

The group was expected to meet twice a month to study “the latest ideological thinking” of the Communist Party, Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper reported. The organization also aimed to provide "care and warmth" to Chinese students abroad.

Aliqismet BADALOV,

“Khalq qazeti”