At least 45 Communist Party committees have been set up at Dutch companies operating in China, broadcaster NOS said on Tuesday.

Party committees are a long-established aspect of doing business in China but the extent of their involvement in Dutch companies has not been established before, NOS said.

The information comes from leaked documents which have been circulating on Telegram and which ended up with the Inter Parliamentary Alliance on China, an grouping of some 200 MPs from different countries, NOS said. CDA MP Martijn van Helvert and splinter party MP Henk Krol are Dutch co-chairs of the alliance.

The Financial Times said in September that some Chinese party officials have been hinting at a greater role for the committees, which previously wielded little power and do little more than organise study sessions or social gatherings.

But now, however, there have been suggestions the committees should have a role in personnel appointments and other important decisions. And the Centre for Strategic Studies said in October that the CCP now appeared to want greater control over private enterprises operating in China.

The leaked documents show Unilever, which was Anglo-Dutch at the time, had 450 members of staff who were united under the Communist Party flag via various committees. At least 340 workers were united in 19 party committees at Philips, while 700 KPMG workers were spread over nine committees in Shanghai.

In total, the data set contained the names of two million party members working at 77,000 different companies and institutes. ASML, NXP and DSM also have a number of party members among their Chinese workforce.

Among the global companies identified as having alleged CPC members as their employees are Boeing and Volkswagen, pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and AstraZeneca, and financial institutions including HSBC, according to the report.