50 Cent Army? What a Bargain! China and its Disinformation Campaigns

Join James Briscoe and John Salomon in the latest episode of the State of (Cyber)War podcast as they discuss the People's Republic of China and some of its disinformation capabilities. This informal conversation includes discussion about Chinese foreign election interference, domestic social media manipulation, Taiwan, China's foreign political and economic interests and more.   John Salomon - https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsalomon/ James Briscoe - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbriscoe/ 02:10 Xi Jinping's new year's address, via CCTV:  https://youtu.be/TEd3CtcL1pU?si=MAiKGP-SPjm8cjCe 02:50 Xi Zhongxun, Chinese revolutionary leader:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Zhongxun 04:00 Taiwanese elections 2024:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Taiwanese_general_election 04:08 Kuomintang:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuomintang 04:27 Democratic Progressive Party:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Progressive_Party 05:45 1992 Consensus:  https://thediplomat.com/2022/07/the-1992-consensus-why-it-worked-and-why-it-fell-apart/ 07:15 These are the Valemax ore carriers:  https://vale.com/w/fleet-of-ships-serving-vale-receives-first-ore-carrier-in-the-world-equipped-with-rotor-sails 09:12 50 Cent Party:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent_Party 09:52 Nine-dotted line:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine-dash_line 10:04 Belt and Road Initiative:  https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-massive-belt-and-road-initiative 13:00 https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSIN277923/ 13:43 NY Times article on the topic:  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/us/politics/china-disinformation-ai.html 14:15 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Chinese_balloon_incident 14:42 A lot of this is obviously speculation.  https://www.wired.com/story/east-palestine-ohio-train-derailment-tiktok/ 16:42 Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank:  https://www.aiib.org/en/index.html 19:35 An article about PRC influence on the Taiwanese elections:  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/09/taiwan-presidential-election-china-influence 20:32 https://www.npr.org/2023/11/30/1215898523/meta-warns-china-online-social-media-influence-operations-facebook-elections 21:05 A US State Department briefing on this topic:  https://www.state.gov/briefings-foreign-press-centers/how-the-prc-amplifies-russian-disinformation 24:15 United Front Work Department:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Front_Work_Department 26:25 Some points about interference in US elections:  https://gdil.org/russian-and-chinese-influence-actors-and-operations-against-the-american-electorate/ 29:34 Hundred Years of Humiliation:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_of_humiliation 30:30 The Avoidable War, by Kevin Rudd:  https://www.avoidablewar.com/ 32:23 Natto Thoughts:  https://nattothoughts.substack.com/ 32:26 The disinformation handbook (part I):  https://nattothoughts.substack.com/p/disinformation-handbook-a-concise A few links on the topic worth reading: Chinese information operations against Taiwan: https://therecord.media/taiwan-elections-china-interference https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/09/taiwan-presidential-election-china-influence https://thediplomat.com/2024/01/beijing-tries-to-capitalize-on-taiwans-controversial-rocket-alert/ https://thediplomat.com/2024/01/rip-off-the-blindfold-let-taiwanese-civil-society-learn-from-ukraine/ https://fpri.org/article/2023/12/whats-at-stake-in-upcoming-taiwan-election/ General Chinese disinfo operations: https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2023/10/dismantling-the-disinformation-business-of-chinese.html https://www.defenceconnect.com.au/joint-capabilities/13356-report-massive-chinese-disinformation-campaign-uncovered-on-youtube https://medium.com/doublethinklab/propaganda-analysis-how-different-actors-in-chinas-information-ecosystem-portray-the-ukraine-war-ac82713c2f68 https://www.npr.org/2023/11/30/1215898523/meta-warns-china-online-social-media-influence-operations-facebook-elections The State of (Cyber)War is a project by members of the Cybersecurity Advisors Network (CyAN), with an interest in information security topics relevant to geopolitics, military cyberdefence, diplomacy, and other international topics.  We discuss various aspects of both current and past issues from the point of view of interested amateurs with varying degrees of experience in the field, in a not-always-entirely-serious format.   Visit the Cybersecurity Advisors Network at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network Intro music courtesy of AlexiAction via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/alexiaction-26977400/ Outro music courtesy of Studio Kolomna via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/studiokolomna-2073170/ Original YouTube video at https://youtu.be/xBAJ2rBKrMc

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