Latest Articles about Influence Operations
Chinese COVID-19 Misinformation A Year Later
Introduction On January 28, members of an international team led by the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded fourteen days of quarantine and began field work in Wuhan, China for a mission aimed at investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of the time of... MORE
Taiwanese Public Opinion on China and Cross-Strait Relations: The Challenges for 2021
Introduction Under the leadership of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has pursued increasingly aggressive tactics aimed at undermining the delicate status quo of cross-strait relations and pressuring the Republic of China (ROC, aka Taiwan) to agree... MORE
Russian ‘Peacekeeping’ in Karabakh: Old Model, New Features, Mission Creep (Part One)
Russia’s “peacekeeping” operation in Upper (Nagorno) Karabakh, which ended the 44-day war last November, is laying the foundation of a Russian protectorate in this Armenian-inhabited territory of Azerbaijan (see EDM, December 8, 10, 2020). This undertaking shows some familiar features of Russia’s earlier “peacekeeping” model... MORE
China’s Vaccine Diplomacy Revamps the Health Silk Road Amid COVID-19
Introduction As global COVID-19 cases exceed 51 million, a top health official from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has predicted that China is “very likely” to avoid a winter coronavirus outbreak, adding that the coronavirus situation in China was “very safe overall” (Caixin, November... MORE
Evaluating the Utility of Global Data Collection by Chinese Firms for Targeted Propaganda
Introduction A series of media leaks in recent months have put a spotlight on Chinese firms engaged in global social media data collection—one of several prerequisites to realizing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s vision of a data-driven propaganda apparatus (China Brief, May 15). [1] In... MORE
The CCP’s New Directives for United Front Work in Private Enterprises
Introduction On September 15, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee Office published a document titled Opinions Concerning Strengthening New Era United Front Work in the Private Economy (关于加强新时代民营经济统战工作的意见, Guanyu Jiaqiang Xinshidai Minying Jingji Tongzhan Gongzuo de Yijian) (hereafter “Opinions”) (CCP Central Committee, September 15).... MORE
The China-U.S. Exchange Foundation and United Front “Lobbying Laundering” in American Politics
Introduction The China-U.S. Exchange Foundation (中美交流基金会, Zhong-Mei Jiaoliu Jijinhui) (CUSEF), a nominally private civic organization founded in Hong Kong in 2008, first emerged in early 2018 as a subject of public debate in the United States. At that time, controversies emerged over grants made by... MORE
Examining China’s Organ Transplantation System: The Nexus of Security, Medicine, and Predation / Part 3: China’s United Front Tactics in Managing the Narrative on Organ Trafficking
Editor’s Note: This is the third and final installment of an article series analyzing China’s policies and institutional architecture for surgical organ transplantation. The first two installments—"Part 1: “The Growth of China’s Transplantation System Since 2000” and “Part 2: Evidence for the Harvesting of Organs... MORE
The Role of Coopted Diaspora Groups in Czech and European United Front Work
Introduction As is true in much of Europe, the influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Czech Republic heavily relies on the cultivation of political elites by party-state organs, overshadowing the role of coopted groups within the Chinese diaspora (China Brief, May 9;... MORE
The CCP’s United Front Network in Sweden
Introduction Throughout the last few years, Sweden’s relationship with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has grown more tense. With increasing concerns about trade and technology mirroring discussions in other Western countries, the Swedish-Chinese relationship has been further strained as a result of Beijing’s kidnapping... MORE