China Casting the Decisive Vote in U.S. Election
by Gordon G. Chang • September 11, 2024 at 5:00 am
[W]hat about similar efforts of the far larger People's Republic of China?
Attorney General Merrick Garland mentioned China in passing in remarks on the 4th — he promised to be "relentlessly aggressive" against foreign powers interfering in American elections and undermining democracy — but there were no indictments or other actions by his department, Treasury, or State against the Chinese regime for election-interference offenses.
It is clear that China, at this moment, is doing the same things as Russia, only on a larger scale.
"China's trolls are conducting one of the world's largest covert online influence operations. Its attack element is the group called 'Spamouflage,' and it is impersonating U.S. voters to denigrate U.S. politicians and push divisive messages ahead of the November 5 election." — Kerry Gershaneck, former U.S. counterintelligence official, to Gatestone, September 2024.
The operation, reported Jack Stubbs, Graphika's chief intelligence officer, was attempting "to portray the U.S. as this declining global power with weak political leadership and a failing system of governance." The effort was comprehensive. As Stubbs said, this operation was run by "Chinese state-linked actors."
This election cycle, Spamouflage achieved its greatest success on TikTok. That is probably not a coincidence, as the Wall Street Journal "found TikTok pushing thousands of videos with political lies and hyperbole to its users."
So, what are federal authorities doing about China now? Said Canfield: "Nothing, zero, zilch, nada."
The U.S. Department of Justice on September 4 announced it was seizing 32 internet domains "used in Russian government-directed foreign malign influence campaigns colloquially referred to as 'Doppelganger.'" DOJ also announced criminal charges against two Russian media executives.
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control at the same time designated 10 individuals and two entities "as part of a coordinated U.S. government response to Moscow's malign influence efforts targeting the 2024 U.S. presidential election." The State Department also took actions against Russian parties for such conduct.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on said on September 4th, "Today's announcement highlights the lengths some foreign governments go to undermine American democratic institutions."
