Academic

FOREIGN INFLUENCE: Beijing Using Political Warfare to Subvert Free Societies Worldwide, State Depar?

By Glenn Reynolds

FOREIGN INFLUENCE: Beijing Using Political Warfare to Subvert Free Societies Worldwide, State Department Official Warns.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is deploying political warfare to covertly influence free societies around the world, a top State Department official has warned.

The regime ?wants control, or at least veto power, over public discourse and political decisions the world over,? said David Stilwell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, at a virtual discussion hosted by Stanford?s Hoover Institution on Oct. 30.

It accomplishes that through a wide array of malign activities that are ?covert, coercive, and corrupting,? he said. These activities are dubbed by the CCP as ?United Front Work? but better understood in the West as political warfare, Stilwell said.

United Front Work, described by Party leaders as a ?magic weapon,? involves the efforts of thousands of overseas groups that carry out political influence operations, suppress dissident movements, gather intelligence, and facilitate the transfer of technology to China. These groups are coordinated by the Party agency the United Front Work Department (UFWD).

While some United Front organizations publicly state their affiliation with Beijing, ?most try to present themselves as independent, grassroots-type NGOs, cultural-exchange forums, ?friendship? associations, chambers of commerce, media outlets, or academic groups,? Stilwell said.

A recent investigation by Newsweek found about 600 such groups in the United States. Stilwell said the groups include Beijing-backed Confucius Institutes that sit on dozens of American college campuses, Chinese students and scholars associations, private Chinese companies, and other groups working to co-opt state and local governments.

And, of course, there are the bribes to the Biden Family.

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on November 02, 2020 (boomark / email).