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10.2021

Paul CHARON & Jean-Baptiste JEANGÈNE VILMER

CHINESE

INFLUENCE

OPERATIONS

A Machiavellian Moment

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Authors

Dr. Paul CHARON is Director for “Intelligence, Strategic Foresight, and Hybrid Threats” at the Ins- titute for Strategic Research (IRSEM). He holds a PhD in Political Studies and Chinese Studies from

the School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS, Centre d’études sur la Chine mo- derne et contemporaine) and an MBA (HEC). He was trained in Chinese Language and Civilization

(Paris Diderot University and Beijing Language and Culture University, BLCU), Rhetoric (Harvard,

Paris-Nanterre University), and Law (Panthéon-Assas University). Prior to joining IRSEM, he wor- ked for more than ten years as an intelligence analyst and then as a strategic foresight adviser for

the French Ministry of Defense. He was an associate researcher at the Franco-Chinese Humanities and Social

Sciences branch of Tsinghua University in Beijing for three years. His research focuses on China (intelligence ser- vices, informational warfare), intelligence analysis, and on developing methodologies to anticipate strategic sur- prises. He currently prepares his habilitation thesis to supervise research (habilitation à diriger des recherches) and

teaches at Sciences Po Paris, Sciences Po Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Panthéon-Assas University, as well as the

Institute for Higher National Defense Studies (IHEDN), and Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid.

Contact: paul.charon@irsem.fr; @PaulCharon.

Dr. Jean-Baptiste JEANGÈNE VILMER is the Director of the Institute for Strategic Research (IR- SEM). Trained in three disciplines – Philosophy (Bachelor, Master, Ph.D.), Law (Bachelor, LL.M.,

postdoctorate) and Political Science (Ph.D.) – in France and abroad, he was previously a policy

officer on Security and Global Affairs at the Policy Planning Staff (CAPS) of the French Ministry of

Foreign Affairs, a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at McGill University’s Faculty of Law, a lectu- rer in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, a Post Graduate Fellow at Yale

University, and an attaché to the French Embassy in Turkmenistan. Honorary Ancien of the NATO

Defense College, he is also a nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center and he teaches at

Sciences Po’s Paris School of International Affairs. The author of more than twenty books, and recipient of many

distinctions (including the Maréchal Foch Prize of the French Academy and being a Munich Young Leader), his

research focuses on international relations and new forms of conflictuality. On hybrid threats and information mani- pulation, he has published several reports: Information Manipulation (CAPS/IRSEM, 2018), The ‘Macron Leaks’

Operation (IRSEM/Atlantic Council, 2019), Effective State Practices Against Disinformation (European Centre of

Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, 2021) and Information Defense (Atlantic Council, 2021).

Contact: jean-baptiste.jeangene-vilmer@irsem.fr; @jeangene_vilmer.

The authors warmly thank Carine Monteiro da Silva (associate doctoral student at IRSEM) who served as

principal research assistant, Fabien Laurençon (associate researcher at IRSEM), and Jeanne Savey (intern at

IRSEM), who punctually helped in preparing this report, and Chantal Dukers (editor at IRSEM), who created

the layout.

About IRSEM

The Institute for Strategic Research (IRSEM), founded in 2009, is a research institute attached to the French

Ministry for the Armed Forces (formerly the Ministry of Defense). With a team of about 50 civilian and military em- ployees, a majority of which had been trained at the doctoral level, it is the primary War Studies center in the Fran- cophone world. Along with conducting internal research for the Ministry for the Armed Forces and external research

aimed at the scientific community on questions of defense and security, IRSEM supports young researchers and

contributes to higher military education and to the public debate.

IRSEM produces independent analyses that do not constitute official positions. The views expressed in this

report are therefore those of its authors and in no way that of IRSEM, the Ministry for the Armed Forces, or the

French government.

To cite this report

P. Charon and J.-B. Jeangène Vilmer, Chinese Influence Operations: A Machiavellian Moment, Report by the

Institute for Strategic Research (IRSEM), Paris, Ministry for the Armed Forces, October 2021.

This is the English translation of the 2nd edition, text updated on October 5, 2021.

The first edition, updated on September 12, was published in French only on September 20, 2021.

ISBN : 978-2-11-155519-8

Cover © BirgitKorber (Adobe Stock).

© 2021 Paul Charon and Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer.

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CHINESE

INFLUENCE

OPERATIONS

A Machiavellian Moment

Paul CHARON & Jean-Baptiste JEANGÈNE VILMER

Institute for Strategic Research (IRSEM)

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CONTENT

Foreword....................................................................................................................................................................11

Preliminary note .....................................................................................................................................................13

Executive summary ................................................................................................................................................15

Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................19

First Part

CONCEPTS ..............................................................................................................................................................25

Chapter 1

The vocabulary of chinese influence....................................................................................................29

I. The United Front..............................................................................................................................................29

II. The “Three Warfares”...................................................................................................................................29

A. Public opinion warfare...................................................................................................................................30

B. Psychological warfare......................................................................................................................................30

C. Legal warfare....................................................................................................................................................31

III. “Cognitive domain operations”................................................................................................................31

IV. Discursive power............................................................................................................................................32

V. Political warfare................................................................................................................................................33

VI. Active measures .............................................................................................................................................33

Chapter 2

The United Front: the Party’s “magic weapon”.............................................................................35

I. Concept of Leninist origin ............................................................................................................................36

II. Revival and diversification of the United Front under Xi Jinping...................................................37

III. Objectives........................................................................................................................................................38

IV. The infrastructure: A “United Front system” .......................................................................................39

The Western Returned Scholars Association.........................................................................................................40

V. Typology of United Front operations .......................................................................................................42

A. Mobilizing the diasporas................................................................................................................................42

B. Controlling the narratives about China........................................................................................................43

C. Building databases ..........................................................................................................................................43

Chapter 3

The “Three Warfares” ...................................................................................................................................45

I. Public opinion warfare....................................................................................................................................48

II. Psychological Warfare ...................................................................................................................................49

III. Legal warfare..................................................................................................................................................51

Summary of the First Part.....................................................................................................................................57

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Second Part

ACTORS .....................................................................................................................................................................59

Chapter 1

The Party................................................................................................................................................................63

I. The Propaganda Department.......................................................................................................................63

II. The United Front Work Department (UFWD) .....................................................................................66

A Brief History of the UFWD........................................................................................................................67

A Global Network of “Service Centers”.............................................................................................................69

III. The International Liaison Department..................................................................................................70

IV. The Communist Youth League ................................................................................................................72

A. Operation and organization ..........................................................................................................................73

B. CYL influence operations..............................................................................................................................74

V. The 610 Office...................................................................................................................................................78

Chapter 2

The State.................................................................................................................................................................81

I. The Ministry of State Security .....................................................................................................................81

II. Taiwan Affairs Office.....................................................................................................................................84

Chapter 3

The People’s Liberation Army ..................................................................................................................87

I. The PLA prior to the reform ........................................................................................................................87

II. The PLA after the reform.............................................................................................................................88

III. Base 311............................................................................................................................................................89

A. An opaque structure.......................................................................................................................................93

1. The commandment structure.....................................................................................................................93

2. An outline of the internal structure .........................................................................................................97

B. VTS and CHBC: Two PLA media outlets used to influence Taiwan....................................................100

1. Voice of the Strait (VTS)..........................................................................................................................101

2. China Huayi Broadcasting Corporation (CHBC) .................................................................................103

a. Executives specialized in psychological warfare.................................................................................104

C. Haifeng, the Base 311’s publishing house .................................................................................................106

1. The directors of Haifeng..........................................................................................................................108

D. Other subordinate units affiliated with the Base 311..............................................................................110

1. The Unit 61070: A center for network propaganda .............................................................................111

2. Unit 61198 ..................................................................................................................................................114

3. The Huaxin Training Center ....................................................................................................................116

IV. A web of relaying platforms ....................................................................................................................119

A. CAIFC – China Association for International Friendly Contact (中国国际友好联络会).............121

1. The US-China Sanya Initiative: how to influence US generals...........................................................122

B. CAPCC – China Association for Promotion of Chinese Culture (中华文化发展促进会)............124

C. CCPPNR – China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification (中国和平统一

促进会) ...............................................................................................................................................................124

D. CUSEF – China-United-States Exchange Foundation (中美交流基金会).......................................125

Chapter 4

Public and private companies as data collection tools ...........................................................129

I. Infrastructure ..................................................................................................................................................130

A. Buildings (the example of Africa)..............................................................................................................130

B. Submarine communications cables.............................................................................................................131

II. New technologies .........................................................................................................................................133

A. Beidou.............................................................................................................................................................133

B. Huawei ............................................................................................................................................................133

C. Databases........................................................................................................................................................136

1. GTCOM......................................................................................................................................................137

2. OKIDB........................................................................................................................................................137

Summary of the Second Part..............................................................................................................................139