Correct Word: China’s Attempts to Sway Elections in Other Nations
China, under Xi Jinping’s leadership, has come under fire internationally for meddling in other nations’ internal affairs, particularly election-related matters. The United States has recently accused the dragon of trying to influence the next presidential elections. Comparably, China allegedly secretly affected Canada’s federal elections in 2019 and 2021, according to the country’s most recent Security Intelligence Service report.
Beijing has been actively attempting to impose its political agenda on other countries by using cutting-edge tools. The objective is to achieve results that are in line with China’s strategic objectives and favorable to the Chinese leadership. The sovereignty and national interests of other nations are consistently put in jeopardy by Beijing’s broad maneuvers in this area. This is especially true for countries that have antagonistic ties with Beijing because of the latter’s aggressive territorial aspirations. Given that 50 nations are holding general elections this year, it is necessary to reexamine China’s history of meddling in elections.
China’s extensive “influence operations” (IO) against other nations are the foundation of its meddling in elections. A key component of Beijing’s influence operations is a misinformation campaign aimed at undermining foreign leaders by portraying them as weak and susceptible. The Dragon Bridge, sometimes referred to as the Spamouflage Dragon, is a prominent player in this arena. This important Chinese disinformation propagation network has been using a variety of social media platforms to spread misinformation from 2017 to 2018. When Meta closed about 9,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts connected to this network in August 2023, it became evident how widespread its influence was. These social media efforts, which were present on more than 50 sites, were aimed at countries including the US, Australia, and the UK.
Chinese intelligence (IO) techniques extend beyond social media and include both overt and covert measures. They involve cultivating assets such as important people, political parties, businesses, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and local and independent media. The preference for certain candidates is discreetly conveyed via state-affiliated media in China and the United Front Work Department (UFWD), which is tasked with influencing foreign policy, rather than through overt diplomatic statements.
Chinese influence operations aimed at interfering in foreign elections ultimately aim to guarantee that the elected politicians or parties take a pro-China attitude. Through spreading false information about candidates Beijing is not supporting, these disinformation efforts hope to influence the results of elections. About 4,800 fictitious social media profiles impersonating Americans and connected to China were taken down in November 2023. Prior to the US presidential elections, these accounts were spreading stories meant to divide the public via partisan political material. Chinese misinformation campaigns in Australia during the 2022 federal elections allegedly aimed to support a pro-Chinese position inside the Australian government. When the Philippines had its 2022 presidential elections, a similar trend was seen.
Recently, China has increased its attempts to spread misinformation by creating propaganda movies and graphics using generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology. These AI-generated resources are directed against politicians and groups that are seen as opposing China or as being critical of the country. In a recent study, Microsoft warned that South Korea, India, and the US are all having elections this year and that China is prepared to employ generative AI to influence those results.
China first demonstrated its use of this technology in January, during Taiwan’s presidential election. These efforts had three main objectives for China: they were to undermine Taiwan’s democratic framework, advance a narrative in favor of unification, and erode Taiwan’s relationship with the United States. Taiwan’s Supreme Prosecutor’s Office said that over 102 cases of foreign intervention tainted the elections, with many of them being linked to China. The Democratic People’s Party (DPP) in Taiwan, which formerly supported independence but now upholds the status quo, was the major target of these misinformation campaigns. Since assuming power in 2016, the DPP and its prominent members have been subjected to ongoing defamation campaigns and vilification as a “belligerent” institution on Chinese-language local and social media platforms.
In addition to media tricks, China used economic pressure, military threats, and government cooperation to further its goals during the Taiwanese elections. As a result, China’s intricate and diversified influence operations to tamper with foreign elections are best shown by the recent elections in Taiwan.
Recent election results in Taiwan and the Philippines indicate that China’s election meddling techniques seem to have failed, despite massive attempts to exert political influence overseas. In reality, a number of countries have banned the well-known Chinese social media site TikTok due to the detrimental effects of China’s misinformation efforts on their national security.
However, indications suggest that China is still interfering in other countries’ elections in an effort to fulfill its goal of becoming a superpower. Whether China’s ongoing efforts to meddle in elections will be successful this year is yet to be seen.
