US Media: Compromised (CCP's 'Three Warfares' Doctrine)
Updated: Apr 24, 2021
"A group tied to Beijing (CUSEF) has organized trips to China for more than 120 journalists from almost 50 U.S. media outlets since 2009, as part of a broad campaign to deepen the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) influence in the United States."
Cathy He & Eva Fu (EpochTimes)
1) China's Three Warfares (三种战法) Doctrine:
"The Chinese concept of "three warfares" refers specifically to psychological warfare, media warfare, and legal warfare. It reflects China’s desire to effectively exploit these force enablers in the run up to and during hostilities.
During military training and exercises, PLA troops employ the ―three warfares to undermine the spirit and ideological commitment of the adversary. In essence, it is a non-military tool used to advance or catalyze a military objective."
Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2011, US Department of Defense
2) Media Warfare: First Element of CCP's "Three Warfares" Doctrine
"Key to gaining ‘dominance over the venue for implementing psychological and legal warfare’. Analysts have defined media warfare (also known as public opinion warfare) as a ‘constant, on-going activity aimed at influencing perceptions and attitudes’.
Media warfare leverages all instruments that inform and influence public opinion including films, television programs, books, the internet, and the global media network (particularly Xinhua and CCTV) and is both a national responsibility undertaken by the PLA and a local responsibility undertaken by the People’s Armed Police.
These tools are used to achieve media warfare’s goals of: preserving friendly morale; generating public support at home and abroad; weakening an enemy’s will to fight and altering an enemy’s situational assessment.
For Andy Marshall, Director, Office of Net Assessment, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Washington, D.C.
Prepared by: Professor Stefan Halper, University of Cambridge
3) United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (中共中央统一战线工作部)
"The CCP’s United Front Work Department (UFWD)—the agency responsible for coordinating influence operations—mostly focuses on the management of potential opposition groups inside China, but it also has an important foreign influence mission.
To carry out its influence activities abroad, the UFWD directs “overseas Chinese work,” which seeks to co-opt ethnic Chinese individuals and communities living outside China, while a number of other key affiliated organizations guided by China’s broader United Front strategy conduct influence operations targeting foreign actors and states. Today, United Front-related organizations are playing an increasingly important role in China’s broader foreign policy under Chinese President and General Secretary of the CCP Xi Jinping.
It is precisely the nature of United Front work to seek influence through connections that are difficult to publicly prove and to gain influence that is interwoven with sensitive issues such as ethnic, political, and national identity, making those who seek to identify the negative effects of such influence vulnerable to accusations of prejudice. Because of the complexities of this issue, it is crucial for the U.S. government to better understand Beijing’s United Front strategy, its goals, and the actors responsible for achieving them if it is to formulate an effective and comprehensive response."
U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission
China’s Overseas United Front Work: Background and Implications for the United States
4) CUSEF: China–United States Exchange Foundation
"A group (CUSEF) tied to Beijing has organized trips to China for more than 120 journalists from almost 50 U.S. media outlets since 2009, as part of a broad campaign to deepen the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) influence in the United States.
Called the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), the group is a Hong Kong-based nonprofit headed by billionaire Tung Chee-hwa, a Chinese regime official. Tung was formerly the Chief Executive (top government leader) of Hong Kong and is currently a vice-chairman of the CCP’s political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. CUSEF is registered as a “foreign principal” under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)."
Cathy He & Eva Fu
5) Tung Chee-Hwa (董建华): Founder of China–United States Exchange Foundation & Vice-Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
"The speech, by Tung Chee-hwa, the founding chairman of the China-U.S. Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), was held more than 14 months after William Burns, President Joe Biden’s nominee for CIA director, took over as president of the Carnegie Endowment.
Tung, a billionaire who was formerly chief executive of Hong Kong, gave a speech at Carnegie’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. on May 11, 2016. The Daily Caller News Foundation has reported that CUSEF donated between $200,000 and $500,000 to Carnegie between 2015 and 2017.
During his Wednesday testimony, Burns downplayed Carnegie’s relationship with CUSEF, while acknowledging that the Hong Kong-based group was used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) “to sway public opinion and build influence.”
He also acknowledged in response to written questions released before the confirmation hearing that the CCP uses CUSEF as part of a “whole-of-government approach…to try and influence political, economic, and cultural developments to benefit CCP interests.”
Founder of Chinese Front Group Spoke at CIA Nominee’s Think Tank Amid Beijing Propaganda Push
"Winters also pointed out that the Congressional Black Caucus, had a very “intense” relationship with CUSEF for around a decade.
“Members of this caucus, included [Vice President] Kamala Harris and ‘Squad’ members like [Rep.] Ilhan Omar. They have actually sent their student-age constituents to China on these sponsored trips, the same ones that the media outlets have been going on,” Winters added. “They toured Huawei facilities. It’s absolutely astounding.”
Winters said that many students who go on these trips write blog posts for the CUSEF website.
“And in one of the posts, one of the poor girls who went on the trip, she actually talked about how China is an ‘amazing communist country’ that outperforms the United States in virtually every level,” Winters added. “So that is propaganda at its absolute finest.”
Winters also pointed out that the first group of students that went to China was called the “Marcia Fudge Inaugural Cohort” because Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) spearheaded the “whole effort.”
Fudge was nominated by Biden to be secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
CUSEF is not the only organization that works for the CCP. On Dec. 4, 2020, the Trump administration terminated five China-funded propaganda programs, including CUSEF."
Li Hai and Joshua Philipp