igence collection (although, to be sure, the ID also engages in this activity). Through its interactions with political parties all over the world, the CCP/ID serves an important function as a kind of “radar” for identifying up-and-coming foreign politicians before they attain national prominence and offic

rly charged with maintaining China’s fraternal ties with other communist and socialist parties around the world, but in the wake of the Cold War, the CCP/ID drastically broadened its mandate to interact with virtually all political parties abroad (except fascist and racist parties). Today it claims to mai