Time for Serious Counter-Propaganda Operations Against Communist China: Pt I

How to counter the relentless propaganda campaign by Communist China.

We should carry on constant propaganda among the people on the facts of world progress and the bright future ahead so that they will build their confidence in victory. – Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong

This is Part I of a two-part series about countering Chinese communist propaganda in a concerted fashion. This part discusses the basic propaganda apparatus, purposes, and methods of Chinese Communist Party propaganda. Part II will discuss countering CCP propaganda and recommend the development of a loose network that is responsive in real-time to CCP lies.

INTRODUCTION

From the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 to the present day, as directed by Mao himself and his successors to include current leader Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been waging a highly-coordinated propaganda campaign against America and the world. Communist China has invested vast resources in conducting information and psychological warfare against its perceived adversaries and also its own people, using the entire panoply of state-run media outlets, television, radio, and social media in a highly synchronized manner to achieve the CCP’s political objectives. Mao’s original propaganda focus was domestic in order to consolidate the CCP’s control of the government and all aspects of Chinese life. As China began to turn outward after the Mao’s death in 1976, CCP propaganda targeted at influencing foreigners was added to the mix.

There are a number of important CCP bureaucracies that control all Chinese media. The main organization is the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, also known as the Central Propaganda Department (CCPPD), which monitors all media personnel and controls via licensing constraints the content of print and visual media in all Chinese media. The CCPPD oversees the National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA), which controls and issues mandatory guidelines for media content for all state-owned enterprises engaged in television and radio, and the General Administration of Press and Publication, which regulates and distributes news, print and Internet publications in China.

One media-related bureaucracy was established after the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, 1989 to “improve the Chinese government’s international image.” According to its official website here, “the State Council Information Office of China (SCIO) is an administrative office under China’s State Council. Established in 1991, it is the chief information office of the Chinese government. The major function of the SCIO is to propel domestic media further along the path of introducing China to the international community, including China’s domestic and foreign policies, the development of the Chinese economy and society, as well as China’s history, technology, education and culture.” Ironically, SCIO is also called the “Central Office of Foreign Propaganda.”

There is a myriad of state-run Chinese media, including Xinhua News Agency, Chinese News Service, China Global Television Network (CGTN), China National Radio, China Radio International, China Daily, Global Times, People’s Daily, ChinaMil, and PLA Daily – plus large daily newspapers and other periodicals. The daily and long-term narratives across these “news” organizations are all tightly controlled by the CCP.

CCP PROPAGANDA: Purposes and Methods

The purposes of CCP propaganda include the following:

• Control the narrative(s) (ensure the CCP line prevails at all costs)
• Censor the truth (remarks attributed to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels: “Truth is the enemy of the state.”)
• Preserve the CCP’s ruthless and self-serving grip on power (this is job number one for the CCP)
• Reinforce the government’s “right to decide” (only the CCP can determine courses of action)
• Advance the government (CCP) agenda
• Drown out the truth (through consistent, coordinated and repetitive messaging)
• Brainwash the masses (through psychological warfare and conditioning to “accept” the CCP narrative, whatever it happens to be at the moment)
• Enhance stability and the status quo (the CCP prefers and promotes stability as a means to preserve their political power; all dissent – which could lead to instability – is ruthlessly crushed, and constant domestic propaganda is a tool regularly employed to promote stability)

CCP propagandists use a variety of methods to achieve the above objectives. The first is the use of the big lie and small lies. The big lie entails a claim that is so preposterous as to be virtually unbelievable by rational people. An example of this is the continuing CCP claim that the SARS-CoV-2 virus originated outside China, with the corollary that any reference to the virus as the “China virus” is racist. Small lies are woven in a virtual web to reinforce the given big lie. In this example, small lies include quoting “friendly foreigners” (especially in Western media) who support the discredited zoonotic theory of the virus’s origin, blame-shifting to other countries (particularly the US), emphasizing the supposed success of China’s zero COVID policy, using CCP-controlled international entities such as the World Health Organization to advance the CCP’s virus narrative, etc. The big lie and its reinforcing small lies are repeated endlessly without deviation, as repetition is a key feature of making propaganda work: the more times the message is repeated, the more likely it becomes accepted truth over time – particularly when the pushback is diffuse or nonexistent. Hold that thought!

Other CCP propaganda methods are technical in nature: manipulation of video, exploitation of fake social media accounts, and the use of artificial intelligence to manage networks of social media bots and trolls that reinforce the CCP’s narratives.

Another key CCP propaganda method is to bastardize commonly understood Western terminology in order to convey a false sense of legitimacy in the Chinese characterization of the terms. Chinese state-run media – as well as Xi Jinping and his diplomatic corps – all frequently use the phrase “with Chinese characteristics” to obfuscate and corrupt the real meaning of the words they bleat in order to convince the world that the CCP is “benign.” Examples include the following:

• Socialism “with Chinese characteristics”
• Multilateralism “with Chinese characteristics”
• Whole-process democracy “with Chinese characteristics”
• Global governance “with Chinese characteristics”
• Human rights “with Chinese characteristics”

All of the above mask the realities and the real definitions of the terms:

• Not a dime’s difference between Chinese socialism and Soviet or North Korean socialism
• Multilateralism under Chinese leadership
• Whole process democracy is gobbledygook, as the CCP controls the entire political process in China
• Global governance under Chinese totalitarian leadership
• Human rights in China amount to genocide and repression of ethnic and religious minorities

Unfortunately, the CCP’s relentless repetition of the phrase “with Chinese characteristics” to define commonly understood terms has convinced a lot of people that the CCP is benevolent and has adopted Western principles and methods. This is the essence of successful psychological warfare: to convince adversaries/others to accept the propaganda without question. The positive result from the CCP’s point of view has been the Western concessions to Beijing over the past 50 years, all of which have invited further bullying and humiliation by the CCP, as well as the increased Chinese belligerence toward its neighbors and own citizens that we have witnessed over the past several years.

CONCLUSION. Mao Zedong recognized the value of propaganda in controlling the masses from the very beginning of his rise to power in China. And the Chinese Communist Party has elevated propaganda to an artform over the years with an enormous investment in manpower and money, as well as support from CCP leadership. The increasing belligerence and aggression displayed by Xi Jinping’s government and his apparatchiks warrants a coordinated and disciplined response to CCP propaganda. The elements of such a network exist and could be integrated through enlightened leadership and vision. This will be discussed in Part II of this series.

The end

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