United Front is not a propaganda arm, it was Mao's main weapon againt the then Nationalist Chinese government, by infiltrating deep in, exploiting it's freedom and rights constitution (and it's why he said "we don't do that (constitution)"), Mao was able to subvert it without going to head-on war.

You can call it soft war.

Xi: "Overseas students are United Front work's new foothold." http://www.zytzb.gov.cn/tzb2010/wxwb/201604/d53a3ab80f1149f7...