Latest Articles about Influence Operations

United Front Work and Beyond: How the Chinese Communist Party Penetrates the United States and Western Societies
Executive Summary Growing concerns exist in the US and other Western countries that there are systematic efforts by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to undermine their societies. This concern has arisen from the developing observation and analysis of more offensive-based CCP activities outside of the... MORE

CCP Narratives on Taiwan at the Two Sessions: Maintaining a “Measured Hardline”
Introduction In tandem with its increasingly provocative coercive military measures directed against Taiwan, throughout the course of 2022, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) also ramped up its accompanying rhetoric. The PRC vigorously reasserted its irredentist sovereignty claims, decried alleged “separatist” activities by Taiwan’s political... MORE

Xi Jinping Thought and The End of (Chinese) History
Soon after the demise of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the American political scientist Francis Fukuyama posited the idea of “the end of history.” In the eyes of Fukuyama and several other Western experts, the evaporation of the influence of... MORE

Why Taiwan’s 2024 Presidential Election is Wide Open
Introduction Shortly after Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) suffered the worst loss in its 37-year history, Nikkei Asia Review published an article entitled “Taiwan’s KMT has a mountain to climb for 2024 presidential race” that cautioned not to read too much into the opposition... MORE

How China Prolongs Myanmar’s Endless Internal Conflicts
Introduction Since 1949, Myanmar has experienced the world’s longest ongoing armed conflict. Following the February 2021 coup, which overthrew the government of Aung San Suu Kyi, fighting has intensified, with nearly 3,000 people killed (Reliefweb, January 30). In addition, roughly 1.5 million people have been... MORE

The Global Security Initiative: China Outlines a New Security Architecture
On February 20, Xinhua released a statement on “U.S. Hegemony and its Perils,” which claims to expose “U.S. abuse of hegemony in the political, military, economic, financial, technological and cultural fields” and bring “international attention to the perils of the U.S. practices to world peace... MORE

Bleak New World: American Society In China’s Official Narrative
Earlier this month, People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP), ran an article by its Washington correspondent entitled “America’s Intractable Illicit and Pharmaceutical Drug Abuse Issue” (People’s Daily, January 6, 2023). The piece claims that “more and more American adolescents are... MORE

In Kazakhstan, Generation Z on Alert Over China
Introduction Kazakhstan is seeking to boost bilateral ties with China, which is reopening international travel after abandoning its Zero-COVID policy late last year (Kazinform, January 17). However, “Kazakh Gen Zs” born in the 2000s are worried about their country’s increasing dependency on China. [1] “China is... MORE

The Caribbean and U.S.-China Strategic Competition: Next Phase of the New Cold War?
Introduction Although the U.S. remains the dominant geopolitical force in the Caribbean, China has established itself as the “other” great power in the region, exerting influence from the Bahamas in the northern part of the archipelago of island-states, south through the Greater and Lesser Antilles... MORE

Predicting China’s Next Foreign Minister: Key Factors and Policy Implications
Introduction At the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 20th Party Congress in late October, five diplomats were selected as full Central Committee members, one of whom will be appointed as China’s next foreign minister (FM) at the National People’s Congress (NPC) next March (Xinhuanet, October 22;... MORE