'Information Manipulation': State Department Says Beijing Spends Billions to Push Propaganda 2023-09-30 01:39

A global information war worth billions is buying up the media and booting critics from apps like TikTok. A new report shows how Beijing controls what details you see about China. Celebrities and politicians on TikTok beware. A new risk could see their closest personal contacts exposed. American companies face a growing risk in China getting their employees out. A look at the latest example of Beijing's exit bans. Tensions in the Taiwan Strait flaring up with the island detaining 17 fishermen Friday after a coast guard collision. And an iconic absence at Washington's National Zoo as a unique form of diplomacy dries up. What do you think? Let us know below and subscribe if you haven't already. Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Billions of dollars a year. That's how much Beijing pours into its global information campaign to spread disinformation, push propaganda and shape public opinion about the Communist Party. All of that based on a report from the U.S. State Department. When you look at the pieces of the puzzle and you put it together, you see a breathtaking ambition on the part of the PRC to seek information dominance in key regions of the world. The U.S. is a major target of Beijing's information warfare. The Chinese regime has been doing it quietly by placing ad inserts in local newspapers, made to look like standard news stories. They tout China as a tourist destination or paint a positive image of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, like this one published by USA Today, saying Xi's visit to an American school left an indelible mark on its students. These article lookalikes are actually ads paid for by one of Beijing's top propaganda outlets, China Daily Newspaper. Adding these inserts in U.S. publications is one way Beijing tries to influence American policy and opinion. And the outlets printing them are some of the most influential in the country, like Foreign Policy, Time Magazine and the Los Angeles Times. Since 2016, China has spent over 300 million dollars to influence U.S. public opinion, more than any other country. That's according to Open Secrets, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that tracks lobbying data. China Daily is one of Beijing's top agents carrying out the task in the U.S., spending over 8 million in 2022 to do it. What's more, Beijing has also been expanding its control of foreign media. For example, China's state-controlled broadcaster CCTV provides free video footage to 1,700 foreign media groups. China also has been buying more control in foreign news outlets. In 2015, a Chinese conglomerate bought a controlling stake in a media company in the Czech Republic. The outlet ramped up favorable coverage of Beijing afterward. In Africa, China has become a leading television provider through Star Times. The outlet has 10 million subscribers in 30 African countries. Media outlets aside, Beijing also reaches out to social media influencers. The report said almost a hundred influencers have distributed the regime's propaganda on social media platforms, reaching over 11 million followers. On top of that, Beijing also censors information through Chinese-made smartphones and apps. A big one is WeChat, a Chinese social media and messaging app. It's one of the most popular apps used by Chinese living overseas. The report said China also sought to export digital authoritarianism. TikTok owner ByteDance looks to block critics of Beijing from its platforms, including TikTok. By 2020, the company had built an internal list of potential targets. Foreign governments have also used Chinese telecom company Huawei to aid their police networks and spy on political opposition members. Possible privacy risks facing celebrities, politicians and internet stars. A Forbes report says TikTok might be collecting extensive personal data from public figures, including their friends' lists. The news comes as the U.S. accuses China of global information war. Here's more. From Beyonce and Ed Sheeran to the Bidens and members of Congress, high-profile celebrities and politicians using TikTok could be having their closest personal contacts exposed. That's according to Forbes, which says it obtained internal company materials and tools and spoke to people who've used them. Forbes found one of TikTok's tools allows any employee around the world to access sensitive information about a person by using a back-end ID. It includes a list of connections and information about them, with the ability to sort by closest ties. Searches brought up close ties of the first family, senators, campaign accounts, actors and top CEOs. Some of the materials show the tool can target networks of people with differing political views or those critical of the Chinese regime. Pop-ups on TikTok repeatedly ask you to sync your contacts. Close to half of the U.S. uses the China-owned app. A collision is ramping up tensions in the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan detained 17 Chinese fishermen Friday after their boat damaged the hull of a Taiwanese Coast Guard vessel. The island says the Chinese fishing boat illegally crossed into Taiwan's territorial waters. Chinese fishing boats tried to crash into our Coast Guard vessel, causing damage to our glass, LED panel, ship fences and other navigation equipment. Taiwan says the Chinese ship entered its territory 11 miles northwest of the island. The Taiwanese Coast Guard tried to board the fishing boat for an inspection, but the Chinese side wouldn't let them. The standoff ended in a collision. This comes as the threat of a Chinese invasion looms over Taiwan. Beijing sent a record-breaking 100-plus warplanes flying near the island last week. It sees Taiwan as part of China, despite the island never having been ruled by the communist regime. Nobody was injured and the 17 Chinese crew members have been taken to a Taipei port for further investigation. What risks are foreign companies facing in China? One of them not being able to get employees out. According to the Wall Street Journal on Friday, Beijing has blocked a senior U.S. executive from leaving the country. Michael Chan is a managing director at U.S. risk advisory firm Kroll. He traveled to China in July and later informed his employer that he wasn't allowed to leave, though he can move around freely and is still working. Chinese authorities are getting tougher on foreign businesses. More recent actions like raiding due diligence firm Mintz Group and questioning staff of U.S. consulting firm Bain & Company have weakened confidence among American businesses in China. Kroll operates similarly to the foreign firms targeted earlier this year. Beijing often uses travel restrictions for criminal probes or leverage in disputes with foreign governments. Exit bans could last months or years. The State Department has advised Americans to reconsider travel to China because of arbitrary detention risks. America's oldest ally in the Indo-Pacific vowing to defend its territory from Chinese encroachment. We're not looking for trouble, but what we will do is continue defending the maritime territory of the Philippines and the rights of our fishermen. This comes after the nation removed floating barriers in the South China Sea placed by China. Chinese Coast Guard troops set them there to block Filipino boats from entering a disputed shoal. The disputed shoal is located in the middle of the South China Sea, close to shipping lanes that carry an estimated $3.4 trillion worth of annual commerce. Multiple countries, including the Philippines, claim parts of the South China Sea. Beijing has a much bigger appetite though, claiming almost all of it. Last month, a Chinese Coast Guard ship sprayed a Philippine vessel with a water cannon. China called it a warning for the Philippines. The U.S. is saying goodbye to its pandas and with them Beijing's panda diplomacy. Washington D.C.'s National Zoo is home to three of the iconic black and white bears. But the current trio has one-way tickets back to China. The zoo's three-year deal with China's wildlife agency expires in December. And despite caring for the species for the past 50 years, it hasn't been able to renew. Zoos in Atlanta, San Diego and Memphis also look after the bamboo lovers. But all three will return their bears, or already have, by late 2024. Their departure plays into China's unique panda policy. Zoos outside the country aren't allowed full guardianship. They can only borrow the animals in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly. Historically, Beijing has used the agreements as a kind of cultural diplomacy, offering up panda contracts to friendly countries or to gain favor with others. Both the U.S. and China say the animals stay separate from politics. But as U.S.-China relations continue to sour over issues like trade, a military communication cutoff, intellectual property theft and fears over innovation of Taiwan, it seems unlikely America will get more pandas anytime soon. Next, we have a few quick updates for you. The world's largest economies seem to be getting in touch. Two senior diplomats from the U.S. and China met in Washington on Thursday. Talks between the two sides could help set the stage for a high-level meeting later this year. That's as the White House announced President Biden will, at some point, meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Heading to Europe, 11 European countries are introducing curbs on Chinese tech giant Huawei. Germany is the latest to follow suit. Here's a list of countries restricting Huawei so far, including major economies like Britain and Germany. The action follows a warning from the EU's industry chief in June. He urged more member states to ban telecom gear made by Huawei and China's ZTE, cutting it from the bloc's 5G networks. That's due to security concerns. Moving over to China, Beijing says it wants foreign businesses to feel welcome there, and has plans to walk back some of its toughest cross-border data controls. That's alongside complaints from foreign businesses and a teetering economy. On Thursday, China's cyber regulators proposed new draft rules. The rules could make it easier for global companies to transfer commercial data in and out of China. China's existing cross-border data controls require a number of checks, including security reviews and certifications. The proposed loosening would skip these steps for some data. Though the vague language in the rules makes it unclear how the proposal would work. And one more quick update. Craft beer brewers in China are enjoying a happy buzz over the return of Australian barley. That's after Beijing decided to dial back its heavy 2022 tariffs on barley and wine from down under, seen as retaliation over Canberra's push for a probe into COVID-19 origins. With the barley tariffs dropped in August, Chinese brewers are celebrating a major cost cut. I believe that everyone in the industry will welcome the return of Australian barley to the Chinese market. China is the world's largest beer market, and until 2020, craft brewers had been a thriving pocket of the industry. So in 2017, China bought about one billion U.S. dollars worth of Australian barley. Australian barley accounted for about 70 to 74 percent of all imported barley into China in 2017. However, after 2020, China slapped 80.5 percent tariffs on imported Australian barley. So the market is basically negligible. In its absence, Chinese brewers were forced to look for alternatives from countries like France or Canada, which often proved costly. How does China factor into Russia's invasion of Ukraine? CNBC reports Chinese firms are boosting Russia's military capabilities while providing support for its war effort. To discuss this, NTD's Evelyn Lee spoke to Greg Copley, President of the International Strategic Studies Association. How significant China's help is to Russia at this point, actually? How dependent is Russia? The PRC is known to be providing non-lethal products to the Russian armed forces, but this is not critical to the war effort. It's certainly a help. But the real impact of China's help to Russia is in the civil sector. It's part of a growing trade region, which gets around the U.S. and Western sanctions. When sanctioned states like Russia and China, they start turning to each other like this for trade, how effective are sanctions then in this case? Is that a way to circumvent them? What we're seeing is that sanctions are beginning to build a world in which Western trade is being excluded, and this will come back to haunt many Western countries, particularly the United States and Europe. So, the reality is that sanctions are a declining tool of warfare in the sense that they begin to hurt the country applying the sanctions rather than the country being sanctioned. Talking about the No Limits Partnership there, where do you see the limits of that partnership? The great limit is that the People's Republic of China economy is tanking at this stage, and there'll be a declining ability of Russia to provide energy and food to the People's Republic of China if they don't get paid by Beijing. So, that's the real danger. Cell phone addiction is becoming a concern for Chinese authorities. Beijing drafted regulations in August, limiting minors to a maximum of two hours of smartphone screen time per day. But just how effective is the rule? Let's take a look. At six years old, Arisa Yan is already a smartphone native, having started using one when she was four. Like many others in China, Arisa's mother, Val Yan, is worried about cell phone addiction among children. Beijing drafted regulations in August, limiting minors to a maximum of two hours a day on their smartphones. When daily usage time is exceeded, the phone would automatically close other applications, local media reported. Val Yan has her doubts about how such a rule could be enforced effectively. I am not very sure just how much effect you have after controlling the amount of time a child can use a phone. Despite her concerns about internet addiction, Val worries about Arisa falling behind her peers in technological fluency if her screen time is limited too much. Child psychologist Sharon Yan says the focus should be on parent-child relationships rather than limiting phone usage. Parents need to try to connect more with their kids, I mean, emotionally. A lot of parents, they're busy at work, so they might have no time to connect with their children and their children have nothing to do. So they turn to the smartphone for solutions. China's cyberspace regulator has not said if it will put the rules into effect or if so, when. That's all for today's China In Focus on YouTube. We're now sharing a shortened version of our program here after being demonetized for two years. Here's what to look out for in our second half. A decades-long territorial dispute brought to new heights by a string of floating buoys. The Philippines just removed a floating Chinese barrier that was blocking the entrance to the disputed Scarborough Shoal. As tensions surged between the two nations, where should the U.S. stand? NTD's Chris Spears sat down with Aner's core from Core Analytics to discuss the history of the disputes as well as his encounter with Chinese Coast Guard troops in the South China Sea. The full episode is available on our partner platform, Epic TV. To sign up, click the link down below. Thanks for watching China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. See you soon.