by Gordon G. Chang
"China's trolls are conducting one of the world's largest covert online influence operations. Its attack element is the group called 'Spamouflage,' and it is impersonating U.S. voters to denigrate U.S. politicians and push divisive messages ahead of the November 5 election." — Kerry Gershaneck, former U.S. counterintelligence official, to Gatestone, September 2024.
[W]hat about similar efforts of the far larger People's Republic of China?
Attorney General Merrick Garland mentioned China in passing in remarks on the 4th — he promised to be "relentlessly aggressive" against foreign powers interfering in American elections and undermining democracy — but there were no indictments or other actions by his department, Treasury, or State against the Chinese regime for election-interference offenses.
It is clear that China, at this moment, is doing the same things as Russia, only on a larger scale.
"China's trolls are conducting one of the world's largest covert online influence operations. Its attack element is the group called 'Spamouflage,' and it is impersonating U.S. voters to denigrate U.S. politicians and push divisive messages ahead of the November 5 election." — Kerry Gershaneck, former U.S. counterintelligence official, to Gatestone, September 2024.
The operation, reported Jack Stubbs, Graphika's chief intelligence officer, was attempting "to portray the U.S. as this declining global power with weak political leadership and a failing system of governance." The effort was comprehensive. As Stubbs said, this operation was run by "Chinese state-linked actors."
This election cycle, Spamouflage achieved its greatest success on TikTok. That is probably not a coincidence, as the Wall Street Journal "found TikTok pushing thousands of videos with political lies and hyperbole to its users."
So, what are federal authorities doing about China now? Said Canfield: "Nothing, zero, zilch, nada."
The U.S. Department of Justice on September 4 announced it was seizing 32 internet domains "used in Russian government-directed foreign malign influence campaigns colloquially referred to as 'Doppelganger.'" DOJ also announced criminal charges against two Russian media executives.
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control at the same time designated 10 individuals and two entities "as part of a coordinated U.S. government response to Moscow's malign influence efforts targeting the 2024 U.S. presidential election." The State Department also took actions against Russian parties for such conduct.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on said on September 4th, "Today's announcement highlights the lengths some foreign governments go to undermine American democratic institutions."
Yes, it is good that the Biden administration is going after Russian attempts to disrupt the United States and surreptitiously influence elections, but what about similar efforts of the far larger People's Republic of China?
Attorney General Merrick Garland mentioned China in passing in remarks on the 4th — he promised to be "relentlessly aggressive" against foreign powers interfering in American elections and undermining democracy — but there were no indictments or other actions by his department, Treasury, or State against the Chinese regime for election-interference offenses.
"How could he target China with Beijing's man Walz on the Dem ticket?" asked Roger Canfield, author of What Red China Got for the Money, in comments to Gatestone.
It is clear that China, at this moment, is doing the same things as Russia, only on a larger scale. There are reasons for Beijing's focus on America. "As the Communist Party's 'main enemy,' the U.S. is its top-priority election interference target," Kerry Gershaneck, a former U.S. counterintelligence official, told Gatestone.
"There are always new twists in their tactics," reports Gershaneck, author of Political Warfare: Strategies for Combatting China's Plan to "Win Without Fighting". "On the Social Media Warfare front, for example, China's trolls are conducting one of the world's largest covert online influence operations. Its attack element is the group called 'Spamouflage,' and it is impersonating U.S. voters to denigrate U.S. politicians and push divisive messages ahead of the November 5 election."
The Spamouflage operation, according to research firm Graphika, was this year posting on social media as U.S. voters and soldiers on topics including reproductive rights and homelessness and geopolitical issues such as America's backing for Ukraine and Israel. The posts of the Chinese operation also targeted President Joe Biden and both of the major party candidates now running for his job.
Spamouflage, which has been tracked as far back as 2019, has been using artificial intelligence to create postings. This year, it had accounts, now closed, on X, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
The operation, reported Graphika's chief intelligence officer Jack Stubbs, was attempting "to portray the U.S. as this declining global power with weak political leadership and a failing system of governance." The effort was comprehensive. As Stubbs said, this operation was run by "Chinese state-linked actors."
This election cycle, Spamouflage achieved its greatest success on TikTok. That is probably not a coincidence, as the Wall Street Journal "found TikTok pushing thousands of videos with political lies and hyperbole to its users."
Agencies in the U.S. intelligence community this summer shared assessments that China was not trying to change the outcomes in the presidential contest. If these assessments are accurate, it would signal a change in China's goals because the trend of Beijing propaganda showed that it was trying to help Joe Biden over Bernie Sanders in the 2020 Democratic Party primaries and help Biden over President Donald Trump in the general election.
In mid-March 2020, according to U.S. officials cited by the New York Times, Chinese operatives spread text messages and social media postings propagating false rumors that Trump was about to invoke the Stafford Act to lock down the entire United States. American officials believe Beijing operatives gave orders, in the words of the paper, to "engage in a global disinformation campaign around the virus."
Whatever it may or may not be doing in the presidential contest this year, China has been trying to change outcomes in New York State elections. Queens State Assemblyman Ron Kim, for instance, charges that China tried to defeat him in the June Democratic Party primary. "There were clear patterns of foreign influence trying to dictate the outcome of the election—groups with ties to mainland China and the CCP," Kim said to the New York Post. "It's a very layered operation. We're entering dangerous territory."
"There is a new wave of organizations tied to the CCP that are not loyal to our way of life," Kim said. His comments come as there were new revelations of China's penetration of the Democratic Party in New York. Federal authorities have charged Linda Sun, an aide to both Governor Kathy Hochul and predecessor Andrew Cuomo, with various crimes. She has pled not guilty.
Beijing's apparent success in infiltrating New York is perhaps a factor in its showing a new boldness. "All of China's traditional election-influence strategies are likely in play against America for the 2024 campaign: campaign financing both legal and illegal, coercion, elite capture, and exploitation of news media," says Gershaneck.
So, what are federal authorities doing about China now? Said Canfield: "Nothing, zero, zilch,
- Follow Gordon G. Chang on X (formerly Twitter)
Gordon G. Chang is the author of The Coming Collapse of China and the upcoming Plan Red: China's Project to Destroy America, a Gatestone Institute distinguished senior fellow, and a member of its Advisory Board.
Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20930/china-us-election-interference
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