Latest Articles about Influence Operations

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

Putting Money in the Party’s Mouth: How China Mobilizes Funding for United Front Work
Introduction Over the past two years, a series of government and think tank reports have shed light on the united front, the collection of organizations the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leverages to co-opt non-Party institutions and influence minority groups at home and overseas (USCC, August... MORE

The Sino-Russian Disinformation Axis During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Introduction For the first time, the European Commission has identified the People’s Republic of China (PRC), along with Russia and other actors, as responsible for conducting “targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns in the EU, its neighborhood, and globally” (European Commission, June 10). In the... MORE

Baltic Intelligence Agencies Increasingly Worry About Threats From China in Addition to Russia
In mid-March, the State Security Service (VDD) of Latvia published its annual public report. “While the new coronavirus COVID-19 disease has for some time brought other priorities to the forefront of public safety, national security issues remain relevant,” said VDD Chief Normunds Mežviets (Vdd.gov.lv, March... MORE

Making Foreign Companies Serve China: Outsourcing Propaganda to Local Entities in the Czech Republic
Introduction The fast build-up and equally sudden decline of Chinese influence in the Czech Republic offers an interesting case study of vulnerability and resilience in the newly democratic small states targeted by the united front operations of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). [1] Recent revelations... MORE

The Kremlin’s Controversial ‘Soft Power’ in Africa (Part One)
The Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum, held in Sochi on October 23–24, was presented as an event of great geopolitical and geo-economic importance (see EDM, October 28), explicitly showcasing the competitive advantages Moscow is purportedly ready to employ in its struggle for influence on the... MORE

China’s Tactics for Targeting the Uyghur Diaspora in Turkey
Introduction: Sino-Turkish Relations and the Uyghur Diaspora Relations between Turkey and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have been strained by the situation in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang (also known as East Turkestan), where the party-state has been subjecting over 14 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs,... MORE

Confucius Institutes and the Corporate Sector: An Emerging Avenue for Chinese Communist Party Foreign Influence?
September 27 will mark 15 years since the opening of the first Confucius Institute in South Korea in 2004. Today, over 500 of these Chinese government-funded centers operate in more than 150 countries worldwide. Many of them plan to celebrate the occasion as part of... MORE