Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong attends a meeting with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on September 20, 2017. (Lintao Zhanf/AFP via Getty Images)

This week, the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, sent Hudson Institute a “cease and desist” letter urging the end of our China Center video series, “Evening Chats with Mike Pompeo: A Message to the Chinese People.” In these videos, Distinguished Fellow and 70th Secretary of State Pompeo speaks directly to the Chinese people on the Chinese Communist Party. The letter is a demonstration of how Beijing conducts political warfare, but “Hudson isn’t bending the knee to the apparatchiks.” In a recent Hudson policy memo, Senior Fellow John Lee analyzes how the CCP conducts such operations, especially in Asia and the Pacific. Below are some highlights.

Key Insights

1. For Beijing, Political Warfare Is Essential for Achieving CCP Goals

China does not view political warfare (which includes both information and influence warfare) as optional or as a merely interesting adjunct to traditional notions of warfare. Rather, it deems these non-material approaches essential to its approach and to furthering real-world objectives and outcomes similar or identical to those achievable through material force. The People’s Liberation Army therefore plays a central role in leading informational and influence doctrine and operations.

2. China Has Been Conducting Information and Influence Warfare for Decades

For decades the CCP and PLA have been conducting information and influence warfare. These efforts are designed to either weaken the will and capabilities of the United States and its allies should military conflict break out or, even better, eliminate the need for China to use military force to achieve its primary objectives (i.e., to “win without fighting”). While Western analysts note that the PLA is operating in the “gray zone,” the PLA is redefining and expanding this gray zone by manipulating how other countries think about it.

3. The CCP Has Been Targeting the Pacific Region

Asia and the Pacific constitute both the primary and most suitable region within which the Chinese can conduct information and influence warfare. These sub-regions’ unique material, geographical, ideational, and cultural characteristics render them especially suitable for Beijing to successfully wage political warfare.

Quotes may be edited for clarity and length. 

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