A visitor uses her phone at the Chinese Military Museum in Beijing. (Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images)

Digitized information is allowing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to blur the lines between domestic and foreign policy; civilian and military power; fact and fiction. For U.S. tech giant Apple, the price of Chinese market access was to establish  purpose-built data centers located in China run by a state-owned firm—rendering Apple’s Chinese customers vulnerable to CCP surveillance, censorship, and manipulation.

In his new report China's Gambit for Total Information Dominance: A US-Australia Response, Patrick Cronin examines China's whole-of-society approach to information  warfare and offers a 13-point strategy to address this threat. Cronin argues that the United States and Australia in particular should work together to adopt a total competition strategy to bolster the rules, institutions, and partnerships necessary to protect the free world from these machinations. Given that China’s state capitalism relies on state subsidies, intellectual property theft, massive information collection, and civil-military fusion policies, a coordinated allied response is crucial to level the playing field.

See key takeaways from Patrick's report below. And please join us next week for a conversation with Congresswoman Young Kim, an interview with former Ambassador to Thailand Michael George DeSombre, and a discussion on Iran’s record of smuggling, kidnapping and extortion.

Key Takeaways

1. China's Information Collection Efforts Surpass Other Countries

All states employ information for political objectives. What distinguishes China from other countries is the scale and scope of its information enterprise. Overt persuasion campaigns and decentralized and covert influence operations are thoroughly researched, carefully choreographed, and uninhibited by concerns over individual or sovereign rights. Beijing goes beyond the use of information and instead seeks to achieve primacy in discourse power by weaponizing narrative in ways analogous to asymmetric military strategies.

2. Joint Action is Needed to Protect Open Innovation Economies

Dealing with China’s information power requires a level of democratic solidarity that avoids embracing autocratic rulers, seeks to rally like-minded countries, and protects democratic values at home. Demonstrating collective strength is essential to countering coercion.

Although joint action can take the form of a declaratory policy such as supporting freedom of speech, backing words with tangible actions is far better—strengthening supply chains or reducing over-reliance on Chinese export markets, for instance. Because the best defense is a strong economy, it is incumbent on the United States to work closely with Australia and other allies and partners to retain the open innovation quality of market economies while addressing key areas of competition in emerging technologies.

3. China's Digital Influence Operations are Far-Reaching

Because virtually everything threatens China’s “image sovereignty” (xingxiang zhuquan), the CCP has mobilized an Internet army of commentators to fight on “the main battlefield for public opinion.” The PRC echo chamber is amplified by China’s wumao, its “50 cent” army of Internet commentators who attack critics of the party-state. But, since dominating the infosphere is often more about distraction than sustained argument, Beijing also “astroturfs” with millions of posts from fake social media accounts. The Great Firewall of China imposes heavy censorship, but it also enables the state to fabricate covert influence operations, even if those operations are often decentralized.

Quotes have been edited for length and clarity.

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