Foreign business associations in China have spoken out. In November, the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce said it was concerned about “proactive calls on foreign-invested companies to promote the development of the Communist Party of China within companies.” The European Chamber of Commerce has called such incidents a “great concern” that would represent “a significant change from the legal framework under which joint ventures were negotiated and under which they have been operating successfully for decades.”

The creeping influence of the party in foreign offices and factories is a sensitive subject in a country where the party seems ready to punish anyone who questions its widening influence. Many companies are loath to discuss the issue.

Cummins, for example, declined to comment on the changes to its joint venture’s articles of incorporation that gave the party greater power. Cummins had not “experienced any challenges or impact due to the structure we have in place and the role of the Chinese Communist Party,” a spokesman said.

Cummins’s Chinese partner, Dongfeng Motor Group, has recently taken steps to intensify the party’s activities at its other joint ventures, according to an article last year from Xinhua, China’s official news agency. They include ventures with Peugeot Citroën, the French automaker; Honda, of Japan; and Dana, the American auto parts maker.

Dongfeng’s other partners, like Peugeot and Dana, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. A Honda spokesman declined to comment about its partnership with Dongfeng.

However, the Honda spokesman confirmed that the party claimed a more assertive role in another joint venture with a different Chinese company, GAC Group.

GAC, an automaker owned by Guangzhou Automobile Group, is pushing its joint ventures to change their articles of association to give the party a greater role, a spokeswoman said. In addition to Honda, it has joint ventures with Toyota and Mitsubishi, both of which declined to comment.