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The visit of members of the Riigikogu to China and the subsequent interviews that have been dripping with naivety and following China’s talking points have been making readers laugh for some time, journalist Kadri Paas writes.
However, this is no laughing matter. China implements information-psychological influencing activities consistently and effectively around the world. In the era of information wars, cognitive methods are used to undermine the will, perception and fighting spirit of the opponent. Why and how it works, see below.
But let's start from the beginning. The Chinese general and strategist Sun Tzu, who lived in the sixth to fifth century BC, is considered to be the first implementer of information warfare and influence activities. Sun Tzu advised to act as if the aggressor does not have any specific tactics or shape. In this way, the target does not know how to choose a tactic, and thus its fighting ability suffers. In other words, several thousand years ago, a Chinese strategist described the components of hybrid warfare that, when creatively applied, lead to the desired outcome.
However, no victory can be repeated, it will not come back, because each time, victory is achieved to a greater or lesser extent with different tactics, based on specific situations and conditions.
In shaping war, the ultimate goal is to achieve no shape at all. If there is no shape, even the most skilled eavesdropper cannot see anything; even the wisest cannot make plans. With this shape, one can win over the masses in such a way that the masses don't realize it. Everyone understands in what form victory came to me, but no one understands in what way I shaped victory. That is why no victory in anyone's battle will ever come back, but the ways of shaping are inexhaustible (Zi & Bin, 2001, p. 164).
When defeating the enemy with such a shapeless shaping, everyone can see who won and how they won, but the ways and means of achieving victory remain a secret. However, no victory can be repeated, it will not come back, because each time, victory is achieved to a greater or lesser extent with different tactics, based on specific situations and conditions.
Sun Tzu's recommendations regarding influencing activities are still practiced by countries. In international relations, states and other institutions use influencing activities in order to impose their will on the opponent or to break the opponent's resistance. Certain processes and methods, tactics and strategies are applied to achieve political, military, economic or social goals.
The People's Republic of China is one of those major powers that establishes itself in the world primarily through diplomacy and information-psychological influencing activities. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China initiated reforms in 2015 that significantly changed the model of China's military activity. Among other things, the Strategic Support Force (SSF) was created, bringing together most of the PLA's space, cyber, electronic, and psychological warfare capabilities.
The PLA directly relates elements of psychological operations to information warfare. The psychological field is part of the PLA's so-called three warfares concept [sanzhong zhanfa, 三种战法], which requires the coordinated use of psychological operations, public opinion, and legal warfare to gain an advantage over the opponent.
PLA researchers emphasize the importance of both psychological and political operations in shaping the pre-conflict strategic situation. In 2013, PLA researcher Maj. Gen. Ye Zheng described the characteristics, advantages and limitations of information warfare and how they work. Chinese researchers believe that dominance in the information space ensures victory in conflict. Since modern warfare requires the coordinated operation of various systems, Chinese forces can gain battlefield superiority by crippling the enemy's systems.
According to the PLA, these are universal principles of information warfare that must be adhered to, regardless of the country's strategic culture. It is therefore not surprising that China's understanding of information warfare appears remarkably similar to that of the United States.
In August 2014, President Xi introduced China's new national media strategy, based on which China would create a new type of mainstream media (xinxing zhuliu meiti), which the president said would be powerful, influential and credible. In China's national media strategy, mergers and acquisitions are central tools for influencing foreign public opinion. At the same time, traditional and so-called new media are intertwined, and China's interests are marketed through the development and financing of huge media conglomerates.
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The goal of modern Chinese propaganda is to tell a good Chinese story (jiang yige hao Zhongguo gushi) about the Chinese dream and a prosperous country, a strong army. In essence, this means promoting a selective version of traditional Chinese culture to a global audience. Confucius Institutes, Chinese cultural centers and festivals are the main vehicles for this type of propaganda. Since Xi's reforms, China's state media, government officials and companies have increasingly influenced the global flow of information, taking advantage of a more sophisticated technological environment and meddling in the domestic politics of other countries.
China is working hard to show the People's Republic as an exemplary country, whose way of life and culture are increasingly being imitated around the world.
Special attention should be paid to social media disinformation campaigns and manipulation of search results on global online platforms that originate from China. Communist Party-affiliated Chinese tech companies build or acquire content distribution platforms used by billions of consumers. Chinese social media platforms and TV channels engage in political propaganda to promote pro-Beijing narratives. China is working hard to show the People's Republic as an exemplary country, whose way of life and culture are increasingly being imitated around the world.
The PLA is actively engaged in research to target and exploit weaknesses in a person’s sense of perception. To this end, US and Kremlin operations are being investigated. The importance of psychological operations is growing, because in the era of information wars, cognitive methods are namely used to undermine the will, perception and fighting spirit of the opponent. Advances in artificial intelligence, including deepfakes, have created favorable opportunities for subversion and manipulation.
China's subversion and manipulation activities are carried out through the training and education provided. The state mediates international conflicts, wanting to create an image of a responsible superpower. The long-term goal of the eastern country is to establish its own world order through this.
Influence activities under the guise of academic cooperation can be divided into three: direct scientific espionage – at least two Estonians have also fallen for this; directing and influencing joint projects through financing and using the results for the benefit of the Chinese state – the attempt to build the Helsinki-Tallinn tunnel; and the use of so-called soft power, i.e. cultural and humanitarian education, to form favorable attitudes towards China. The latter is used the most in Estonia and on Estonians, the paid tourist trip of the members of the Riigikogu can essentially also be included in this category.
A symbol of China's soft power is the network of Confucius Institutes, where Chinese language and culture are taught in cooperation between universities in China and target countries. The work of the institutes is financed by the Chinese state and the teachers also come from China. This network includes about 450 Confucius Institutes worldwide. In Estonia, a Confucius Institute has been operating at Tallinn University since 2010. The institutes have repeatedly tried to interfere in the academic activities of the universities of the target countries, demanding that the higher education institutions follow the talking points of the major power when talking about China. Confucius Institutes mostly act as extensions of Chinese embassies. Confucianism continues to be an enduring tradition of thought and culture in China, its purpose is clear: China is supreme and the rest of the world must recognize it unconditionally. Communist utopia has been replaced by national chauvinism mixed with neo-Confucianism.
When writing the article, the author used her Master's thesis «The opportunities of Estonian national security communication to alleviate the influence of hostile information attacks in the information warfare» defended in 2021 at the Institute of Internal Security of the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences.
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