This series will cover the background and motivations of China's disinformation strategy, its tools, the strategies and reasons behind its choice of target countries and analyse strategic countermeasures against this phenomenon.
Recently, there has been increasing discussion about the Chinese Government's use of AI tools to spread false information and attempt to influence foreign elections. As early as 2009, the Chinese government decided to invest 45 billion RMB in the global promotion of the "Great External Propaganda Plan1.
This plan involved aggressively acquiring or investing in international media to expand overseas influence and compete with Western media for "discourse power." Beyond traditional news media, the Chinese government has also targeted the academic sphere. A notable example is the Confucius Institutes, which claim to teach Chinese language and culture but were exposed by the National Association of Scholars in 2017 as institutions through which China seeks to control campuses and export official ideology2.
Additionally, Chinese diplomats and students have been known to pressure universities and professors to cancel academic activities, research, or teaching content deemed "politically sensitive."
This demonstrates that the Chinese government has been quietly advancing its agenda for some time. In recent years, technological advancements have further empowered China to achieve its goal of interfering in foreign politics.
The development of information warfare by the Chinese Government can be traced back to the Cold War. During the Cold War, China mainly relied on traditional propaganda methods, such as newspapers, posters, and radio, to influence public opinion at home and abroad. At this time, the Chinese government established various propaganda agencies, such as the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, responsible for propaganda and ideological work.
In 2003, with the popularity of the Internet, the Chinese government established the Internet Information Office to monitor and manage Internet content. Starting in 2009, the Chinese government began to carry out a large-scale external propaganda campaign. With the rapid development of artificial intelligence and algorithms in recent years, China's information warfare has entered a new stage. The Chinese government uses artificial intelligence technology to generate and spread false information and uses social media platforms to conduct large-scale public opinion manipulation. The application of Deepfake technology makes false information more realistic and challenging to identify.
In terms of its role, the Chinese Government initially focused on actively defending against external information, implementing strict internet censorship and control to prevent external information from causing social unrest. However, with technological advancements, the Chinese government has shifted its focus outward. It now actively disseminates positive details about China and attempts to achieve its political objectives by spreading false information3.
After many domestic or international events have been fermented on the international Internet, the Chinese government urgently needs to create an international public opinion environment that is favourable to itself. Especially with the outbreak of Xinjiang, Hong Kong or COVID-19 in the past few years, the Chinese government has faced not only some domestic opposition, but also international criticism4. Interfering in other countries elections can help more pro-China parties govern, thereby giving China more global allies. In addition, the Chinese government will also interfere in elections to exacerbate political differences and internal divisions in target countries, thus weakening their political stability and foreign policy consistency. Finally, it is to help China expand its geopolitical influence globally, especially in the Asia-Pacific region and countries along the Belt and Road Initiative.
At the economic level, China can ensure that trade agreements and monetary policies that benefit China are continued or implemented after elections in other countries, thereby protecting its economic interests in target countries.
China’s disinformation strategy may affect the politics of other countries and undermine the democratic process.
In an era of rapidly developing technologies such as artificial intelligence, deepfakes, and social media manipulation, China can leverage these tools to achieve its political, economic, and strategic goals.
Our Asia desk will closely monitor these developments with its linguistic and geopolitical expertise to better understand and respond to this phenomenon. Please follow us to receive the latest updates in this series of articles. By shedding light on these critical issues, we hope to enhance our understanding of China’s disinformation strategies and promote more effective global responses.
1. Qinglian, He. "He Qinglian’s Column: An Unpublished Research Report on China’s External Propaganda." Upmedia.mg, March 21, 2018. https://www.upmedia.mg/news_info.php?Type=2&SerialNo=37186&utm_source=latest&utm_medium=post
2. Peterson, Rachelle. "Censorship: Another Cheap Chinese Import We Don’t Need." NAS, August 30, 2017. https://www.nas.org/blogs/article/censorship_another_cheap_chinese_import_we_dont_need
3. Tsao, Jun-Sheng. "The Development of IO in PRC After Cold War." 2006. https://hdl.handle.net/11296/2pmr78
4. Chao, Cheng-Yi. "An Analysis of Mainland China's Strategy of Diplomatic Communication through 'Twitter' under COVID-19." September 2020. https://www.airitilibrary.com/Article/Detail/P20200116001-202009-202010070006-202010070006-86-97
Registered in England and Wales (number 14885394) whose registered office is at 20-22 Wenlock Road, London, N1 7GU.
Address: 20-22 Wenlock Road, London, N1 7GU
Email: contact@blackroomintelligence.comPhone: +44 (0) 208 058 2971Linkedin: linkedin.com/black-room-intel.png)
.png)
