My Take | Why Chinese information warfare is different from those of the US and Russia
- Chinese state propaganda is primarily defensive in nature and aims at pushing the country’s preferred viewpoints and narratives about itself. Comparable operations by Russia and the United States are generally offensive as they aim at regime change, political delegitimisation, and societal and economic destabilisation in the targeted country
Accentuate the positive, ignore or deny the negative. That’s pretty much how state-controlled news groups have been operating in China. With Western reporting of the country, though, it has been the other way round.
Here’s a sampling of positive Chinese news, celebrated – or spun – as the nation’s achievements in the past year by the state media. I borrowed this list from China Briefing, the web news service.
It’s long: “Eliminated extreme poverty. Reached 98 per cent home ownership. Kept the Covid death rate at 0.6 per cent of America’s. Grew the economy by US$2 trillion at purchasing power parity (PPP), the fastest growth ever. Became the richest country on earth. Became the world’s biggest overseas investor. Became the world’s largest movie market. Produced one new billionaire and 300 millionaires every workday. (This one may no longer sit well with the new party line of “common prosperity”.)
“Launched the first central bank digital currency. Dominated scientific research and issued the most patents of any country. Built three ‘exascale’ computers to win the Gordon Bell prize. Built a programmable quantum computer 10,000x faster than Google’s Sycamore. Operated the first integrated, 3,000-mile, commercial, quantum communications network. Brought online two gas-cooled Pebble Bed nuclear power plants. Fired up two thorium-fuelled reactors, eliminating uranium from power generation. Released a Covid treatment that reduces hospitalisations and deaths 78 per cent.