China’s “Singham Network”: How a Shanghai Tycoon’s Web is Accused of Waging Political Warfare Across US, UK & India

The United Kingdom seems to have joined India and the United States in recognizing that China is propping up certain organizations and funding them lavishly to exploit divisive causes, deepen social tensions, and wage what critics describe as “political warfare” against its adversaries.

The British daily, The Telegraph, reported on August 14 that the British Home Office has launched an inquiry into claims that Beijing is using UK protest groups to ‘sow division and chaos’.

In fact, the day before (August 13), the newspaper had broken the story that a “Singham Network” — a web of non-profit groups, media portals, and activist organizations across the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America that critics allege are being used to amplify social unrest and anti-Western narratives.

At the center of this network, according to the report, is Neville Roy Singham, an American millionaire tech entrepreneur turned political donor. The Telegraph alleged that groups linked to Singham, including the US-based activist organization Code Pink, are receiving funding and logistical support that ultimately traces back to Chinese state-linked entities.

The aim, the report suggested, is not charity but influence: to “moment” — meaning magnify — social tensions across the world.

Incidentally, Singham is facing mounting international investigations. In the US, the Department of Justice and the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York are investigating his network for moving hundreds of millions of dollars through shell companies and nonprofits.

Singham was earlier investigated in India over allegations of illegally funneling funds to the news portal NewsClick, one of India’s prominent leftist digital news portals,  to promote pro-China narratives.

The Telegraph alleged that Singham’s network of more than 30 organizations received funding routed through foundations in the US and abroad. Many of these groups share common themes: opposition to US foreign policy, criticism of Western corporations, and support for governments that are in confrontation with Washington — including China, Russia, Iran and Cuba.

In Singham’s network, “Code Pink” occupies a prime space. It was founded by his wife, Jodie Evans, as a feminist grassroots organization with the pronounced aim of working “to end warfare and imperialism”, and “to support peace and human rights”.

Apparently, Code Pink has organized protests in the UK against Britain’s involvement in “the genocide in Gaza”, encouraging its activists to demonstrate outside the Ministry of Defense and the London office of an arms company.

It has issued statements claiming that Britain’s leaders have been “bought by Zionism”. And it has called for the closure of British military bases abroad and organized a demonstration at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, which has been used for surveillance flights over Gaza.

The Telegraph has quoted a US official saying that “Code Pink agitates against the interests of the United States and our allies alike. The far-Left organization has repeatedly called for the dissolution of NATO  as its coffers are filled with cash from a donor network linked to the Chinese Communist Party”.

Code Pink is also said to run a campaign called “China is not our enemy”. The organization argues that the US is “heading towards a dangerous confrontation with China” and claims Washington continues to “manipulate the minds of US citizens” to support wars.

The Telegraph has revealed that a UK company with links to Code Pink received more than $250,000 (£190,000) from organizations alleged to be part of  Singham’s network in 2020 and 2021. In 2024, the company received a further $94,950 (£70,000) from the People’s Support Foundation, another organization suspected of being in  Singham’s network, for “consulting services”.

The British paper has also reported that Royal Navy sea drones with Chinese-made components had been secretly sending data back to China, while a former Labour Party adviser suspected of spying for China was found to be a significant party donor who rubbed shoulders with senior UK politicians.

As mentioned earlier, Singham’s outfits in general and Code Pink in particular have attracted scrutiny in Washington over their funding and supportive stance towards Beijing.

The Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives has accused  Singham of “actively fuelling CCP [Chinese Communist Party] propaganda and financing indoctrination efforts abroad by providing hundreds of millions of dollars to groups that mix progressive advocacy with CCP talking points”.

The Department of Justice is also pursuing Singham, which has launched a federal grand jury investigation into his links to China. He is alleged to share a Shanghai office with a Chinese state-linked company whose goal is to educate foreigners about “the miracles that China has created on the world stage”.

Incidentally, Singham’s Communist inclinations are well known. Born in 1954 in the US to Sri Lankan political scientist and historian Archibald Singham, he had always admired Marxist ideology. According to media reports, his father was also linked to the ‘China faction’ of the communist movement, the Ceylon Communist Party, in Sri Lanka.

At a young age, Singham joined the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, a Mao-influenced group based in Detroit, Michigan, that opposed racist policies and promoted revolutionary unionism to overthrow capitalism. In 1972, at the age of 18, he worked at the Detroit Chrysler plant.

After attending Howard University, Singham founded the technology consultancy Thoughtworks in 1993, which aimed to provide software design and consulting services, according to media reports. The company grew significantly over the years, expanding to 17 countries, working with businesses as well as taking on pro bono work for groups such as the news organization “Democracy Now”  and the Grameen Foundation, which has branches worldwide, including India.

Singham’s pro-China activities in India were explained in the chargesheet filed by Delhi Police’s Special Cell in 2022 against “NewsClick” and its founder, Prabir Purkayastha, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The core allegation was that  NewsClick received funding from entities linked to Singham to spread Chinese propaganda and deliberately push narratives that could “disrupt the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India.”

It was alleged that between 2018 and 2021, NewsClick’s parent company received foreign investment of nearly Rs 38 crore to publish articles that were “pro-China” and “anti-India” at key moments — during the Galwan clash in 2020, during the farmers’ protests, and on issues like Kashmir and the anti- Citizens Amendment Act protests. The portal was also alleged to have downplayed Chinese aggression while amplifying domestic fault lines.

Indian investigators have also alleged that Singham not only financed NewsClick but also exchanged incriminating emails about China with Purkayastha, as well as other journalists, activists, and several Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders.

Purkayastha and Singham were said to have exchanged a Chinese map showing Arunachal Pradesh as part of the neighboring country.

According to India’s digital publication, ThePrint, one of the many organizations claimed to have links with Singham is the Massachusetts-based think tank ‘Tricontinental’, headed by Mr. Prashad, who is also the nephew of India’s CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat.

Apparently, Mr. Prashad had observed in an article on NewsClick that Singham’s father (Archibald Singham)  influenced him significantly. In 2021, he called Singham ‘a Marxist with a massive software company’ that helped fund ‘Tricontinental’.

Of course, Purkayastha and NewsClick have denied the charges. They argue that the funding was legitimate foreign investment and that the editorial line was independent journalism. The case is currently before the courts.

But the overlap is hard to ignore. The same American millionaire whose network the Telegraph says is being used to “moment social tensions” globally was, according to Indian agencies, also funding a news organization in India during its most sensitive geopolitical and domestic crises to deepen polarization.

Notably, The Telegraph argues that Singham’s network provides China with “plausible deniability.” Beijing doesn’t have to run Twitter accounts or write op-eds. It just funds the infrastructure that does.

Likewise, the same playbook was seen in India, if one goes by the Indian investigators.

What makes this network effective is that it does not have to manufacture dissent from scratch. It finds existing ideological currents and gives them resources. The point that investigators make is that dissent, per se,  is not illegal. But when t foreign money is used to selectively amplify only certain kinds of dissent — the kind that also serves another country’s strategic interests – it is not only illegal but also treason.

Conservative leader Priti Patel, the  UK’s shadow foreign secretary, seems to have a point when she says: “The CCP is waging a systemic campaign against our values and empowering our enemies to work against us in our country. They are sowing division and instability in Britain by backing protests and subversive campaigns while pursuing widespread espionage and hostile activity against people living here.”

Incidentally, in 2021, a Cardiff University report had found that a sophisticated China-linked social media operation played a key role in spreading disinformation and calling for violence during and after the US election in 2020.

In sum, if the above allegations against China have substance, then one may discern now a new form of information warfare in which China is funding media outlets through a network of foundations with loose disclosure norms to amplify narratives against the adversaries, and take them to the streets, to campuses, and to social media.

• Author and veteran journalist Prakash Nanda is Chairman of the Editorial Board of the EurAsian Times and has been commenting on politics, foreign policy, and strategic affairs for nearly three decades. He is a former National Fellow of the Indian Council for Historical Research and a recipient of the Seoul Peace Prize Scholarship.
• This is an Opinion Article
• CONTACT: prakash.nanda (at) hotmail.com