Hidden Hand: Exposing How the Chinese Communist Party Is Reshaping the World

Hamilton and Ohlberg's investigation into Chinese Communist Party influence operations is the most comprehensive English-language account of how Beijing has constructed a global infrastructure for political interference. The book documents the CCP's United Front Work Department, its network of overseas Chinese community organisations, its penetration of universities and think tanks, its cultivation of political elites, and its use of media and technology to shape narratives beyond China's borders. The scale and sophistication of the operation documented here is striking — and substantially underappreciated in Western policy circles.

Hidden Hand is important not only for what it reveals about China but for what it reveals about the architecture of state-sponsored influence operations more broadly. The CCP's approach — patient, multi-vector, exploiting the openness of democratic societies — represents a qualitatively different challenge from the more visible, disruptive tactics associated with Russian influence operations. For organisations assessing their exposure to foreign interference, this book provides the most detailed available account of how one major state actor actually operates. Reviewed in Foreign Affairs as essential and widely cited in government inquiries into foreign interference across Europe, Australia and North America.