Beijing is bent on curbing democratic freedoms and imposing totalitarianism at home and abroad. Increasingly, the People’s Republic is launching democracy-subversion campaigns masked as development aid in the Global South. Zoltan Barany dissects China’s influence operations in the October issue of the Journal of Democracy, and offers ways for even fragile democracies to combat autocratic influence.
The PRC aims to make the world safe for authoritarianism. The following Journal of Democracy essays chronicle Beijing’s efforts at penetrating, coopting, and corrupting democracies around the globe, and civil society’s response.
China and the Battle for the Global South
Under Xi Jinping, the PRC has grown more assertive in the Global South. China aggressively targets country after country, often zeroing in on small but strategically significant states. But there are proven ways for even fragile democracies to resist Beijing’s influence.
Zoltan BaranyChina’s Threat to Global Democracy
The Chinese Communist Party is deadly serious about its authoritarian designs, and it is bent on promoting them. It is time for the world’s democracies to get serious, too.
Michael Beckley and Hal BrandsCombating Beijing’s Sharp Power: Transparency Wins in Europe
Any open society’s best weapon against Chinese influence operations is its openness — the ability to investigate and expose sharp-power manipulations, diminishing their strength.
Martin HálaCountering Beijing’s Media Manipulation
China is expanding its global media footprint, aggressively peddling its preferred narratives and stifling criticism of its policies, all the while undermining free expression, public debate, and electoral integrity in more open societies.
Sarah CookOnline Exclusives:
How Civil Society Can Confront the China Challenge — And Win
The CCP is engaged in a sprawling campaign to undermine democracy. Governments too often can be lumbering or weak in response. Look to civil society for the creativity and skill to keep the CCP on its heels.
Kevin Sheives and Caitlin Dearing ScottHow Taiwan Should Combat China’s Information War
Beijing assaults Taiwan with a nonstop barrage of conspiracy theories and lies to undermine people’s faith in democracy — and China’s efforts are getting more sophisticated. Taiwan must do even more to fight back.
Tim NivenWhat It Takes to Win the New Cold War with China
Our struggle against the Soviet Union offers vital lessons for how to confront the aggressive totalitarian threat that Beijing now represents.
Carl Gershman
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Image Credit: Xiangjiao