Microsoft is sounding the alarm about China’s use of AI to create misinformation campaigns and sway foreign elections. [Microsoft Threat Intelligence released a report](https://cdn-dynmedia-1.microsoft.com/is/content/microsoftcorp/microsoft/final/en-us/microsoft-brand/documents/MTAC-East-Asia-Report.pdf) Friday saying that China “will, at a minimum, create and amplify AI-generated content that benefits their positions” ahead of high-profile elections in the U.S., South Korea, and India. The company’s team of cyberthreat experts and researchers found that an online operation backed by the Chinese Communist Party, known as “Spamouflage” or “Dragonbridge,” has begun using AI in attempt to influence public opinion in Taiwan and Canada. Ahead of the Taiwan presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 13, Spamouflage used AI to make fake audio clips of a former candidate, who had dropped out of the race months earlier, endorsing someone else. “This was the first time that Microsoft Threat Intelligence has witnessed a nation state actor using AI content in attempts to influence a foreign election,” the researchers wrote. The China-backed group — somewhat confusingly given another name by Microsoft, “Storm-1376” — also used tools from TikTok parent company ByteDance to make videos with an AI-generated news anchor saying the U.S. and India were responsible for unrest in Myanmar. Microsoft said Spamouflage created AI-enhanced videos to target Canadian members of parliament and posted AI-generated photos claiming the U.S. government caused the wildfires in Maui while testing a “weather weapon.” > **“While the impact of such content in swaying audiences remains low, China’s increasing experimentation in augmenting memes, videos, and audio will continue—and may prove effective down the line.”** _— Microsoft Threat Intelligence Apr. 5 report_ A U.S.-backed independent review board [blamed Microsoft](https://qz.com/microsoft-china-hack-dhs-report-security-1851383631) in [a report released earlier this week](https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-04/CSRB_Review_of_the_Summer_2023_MEO_Intrusion_Final_508c.pdf) for security failures that allowed a Chinese hacking operation — this one called “Storm-0558” — to access emails of top U.S. officials.

173455226 story [](//politics.slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=china)[ ](//politics.slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=microsoft)[ ](//politics.slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=politics)[](//politics.slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=technology) Posted by msmash on Friday April 05, 2024 @10:42AM from the shape-of-things-to-come dept. China will [attempt to disrupt elections](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/05/china-using-ai-disrupt-elections) in the US, South Korea and India this year with artificial intelligence-generated content after making a dry run with the presidential poll in Taiwan, Microsoft has warned. From a report: _The US tech firm said it expected Chinese state-backed cyber groups to target high-profile elections in 2024, with North Korea also involved, according to a report by the company's threat intelligence team published on Friday. "As populations in India, South Korea and the United States head to the polls, we are likely to see Chinese cyber and influence actors, and to some extent North Korean cyber actors, work toward targeting these elections," the report reads. Microsoft said that "at a minimum" China will create and distribute through social media AI-generated content that "benefits their positions in these high-profile elections." The company added that the impact of AI-made content was minor but warned that could change. "While the impact of such content in swaying audiences remains low, China's increasing experimentation in augmenting memes, videos and audio will continue -- and may prove effective down the line," said Microsoft. Microsoft said in the report that China had already attempted an AI-generated disinformation campaign in the Taiwan presidential election in January. The company said this was the first time it had seen a state-backed entity using AI-made content in a bid to influence a foreign election._

SNIFFY TYPES disdain the notion of “the global south,” which has exploded into something of a meme in recent years. Its inadequacies are obvious: three words could never capture the complexities of a group of more than 100 countries spread from Morocco to Malaysia and beyond. But the phrase has been adopted by Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron and Xi Jinping. The simplest working definition is that it refers to the majority of non-Western countries. Its use also denotes how emerging economies want more power over global affairs and often have a critical view of Western policy. Thus the global south is said to be outraged by the war in Gaza, and unhappy about Western decisions on Ukraine, covid-19 and climate policy. Sarang Shidore of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, an American think-tank, says “the global south exists not as a coherent, organised grouping so much as a geopolitical fact.” If the global south exists, sort of, then who leads it? Narendra Modi has suggested India could be the “voice of the global south”. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil (known as Lula), reckons his country could be, too. To examine this question we have worked with a group of scholars to crunch data on trade, financial and diplomatic links. Our conclusion is, counterintuitively, that America still has the most influence of anyone over the global south, but that within the grouping itself China has become the most powerful member by far—giving Mr Xi the strongest claim to leadership. The sting is that China’s influence has glaring limits, and could even backfire. Meanwhile other powers are on the rise. We worked with the Pardee Centre for International Futures (PCIF) at the University of Denver. It has built an index of states’ power from 1960 to 2022. The main metric is catchily known as “formal bilateral influence capacity”, a measure of how much power country A may have over country B, based on two dimensions. First, “bandwidth”, or the extent of connections back and forth: the volume of trade, diplomatic representation and so on. Second, “dependence”: how much country B depends on country A for arms, loans, investment, etc. More connections mean more chances for country A to exert influence—and asymmetry in power makes it easier to do so. Think of China’s power over Pakistan, for instance: there are both lots of connections and China has ample asymmetric influence. The exercise examines power relations among the 130-odd members of the global south found in the G77, a UN grouping.  America has been the country with the most influence over the G77 since the 1970s (see chart 1). Its “influence capacity” has been more or less constant even as the lure of the former colonial powers, Britain and France, has waned. But it is increasingly rivalled by China, which after 40 years of relative insignificance saw its influence grow from around 2000. According to the index, China’s “influence capacity” over the G77 is roughly double that of France, the third-most influential country, and around three times that of Britain, India or the UAE. China wields the most influence in 31 countries. Its clout is greatest in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia and several states in South-East Asia. By contrast the next-most powerful member of the global south, India, is top dog with only six G77 members. According to an earlier analysis by PCIF, from 1992 to 2020 the number of countries over which China had more influence than America almost doubled, from 33 to 61. The United States remains pre-eminent in the Americas. But China has extended its influence in Africa and Asia. **The emporium of everything** Recently, China has become a lot keener on the idea of the global south. Last year Mr Xi and senior Chinese officials began referring to China as part of the “global south”, a description they had hitherto resisted (the term is credited to an American left-wing academic in the 1960s), in favour of phrases like “family of developing countries”. The semantic shift reflects an attempt to define the phrase in anti-Western and Chinese-led terms. In September, China published proposals on changing international institutions, rules and laws. It claimed this was a vision of “true multilateralism” where “universal security” replaced “universal values”—in other words, one not run by an interfering West. Last year China’s then foreign minister argued that the main divide in the world was not democracy versus autocracy, as Mr Biden has implied, but “between development and containment of development, and between global justice and power politics”. China is intensely strategic about winning influence, by targeting swing states with infrastructure support, financing and more. From 2000 to 2021 it funded more than 20,000 infrastructure projects, many of which were under the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI), across 165 countries with aid or credit worth $1.3trn. Some analysts have noted data showing that credit from large state-backed lenders such as the Export-Import Bank of China is drying up. But a paper published in November by AidData, a group from William & Mary university, argues otherwise. “Contrary to conventional wisdom, Beijing is not in retreat,” says Bradley Parks, one of the authors. The paper finds that there are many many more entities extending credit to the developing world today: in 2021 it counts lending of $80bn a year. “\[China\] remains the single largest source of international development finance in the world.” China is targeting geopolitical fence-sitters. AidData reckons that around two-thirds of Chinese financing goes to “toss-up” countries where neither China nor America clearly holds sway. The group has identified a quid pro quo: if a foreign government increases its share of votes at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) that align with China’s by 10 percentage points, it can expect a 276% increase, on average, in financing from Beijing. China has also used its weight to curry favour on subjects such as its repression in Xinjiang. From 2000 to 2021 “low- and middle-income countries” voted on foreign-policy decisions with China 75% of the time at the UNGA. The impact of China’s raw power was on show last year at the BRICS summit, too, where it successfully pushed for five new members of the bloc. China uses other tools, too. It is the main trading partner of more than 120 countries. It has provided $240bn, mostly since 2016, in emergency financing of the sort the IMF specialises in. China also builds infrastructure projects quickly in developing countries, pleasing their elites, and subsidises the roll-out of digital technologies such as those of Huawei. Over the past five years it has overtaken Russia as the main source of weapons for sub-Saharan Africa. **Buyer’s remorse** Though China’s leadership position among the G77 is formidable, it faces problems. First, its influence is limited in reach and intensity. It has yet to achieve a leading position in Latin America. And across the global south it has yet to win hearts and minds decisively. Polls show split support for America and China in developing countries. Afrobarometer, which monitors public opinion in Africa, has noted a dip in the share of those with positive views of America. Yet that figure was still 49% in 2022 (albeit down from 60% in 2019). Last month a survey in South-East Asia asked respondents whom they would rather their country align in the event of a new cold war: 50.5% of respondents picked China; 49.5% chose America. When asked what countries should do about Sino-American rivalry, most opted against picking a side. China’s conduct and political values may stunt its influence. Its actions in business and politics have attracted calls for accountability. Countries sometimes lay the blame for their debt crises at China’s door. In Congo and other resource-rich countries Chinese miners face the same charges of exploitation as Westerners do (and often worse). China’s disdain for values-based interactions (it preaches non-interference instead) is apparent, and most of the one-party state’s closest pals are also autocratic. Countries in the global south where democratic values are strong, such as Brazil, are unlikely to have a close cultural connection with China. What is more, as China draws nearer to the likes of Iran and Russia it risks allying with countries that want to destroy, rather than reform, the international order. Witness its recent nihilistic decision to cut a deal with the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels over shipping in the Red Sea and Suez Canal, instead of working on a common solution. Meanwhile China’s economic reputation could deteriorate. The public support it won through its lending binge happened before the money needed repaying. Some 75% of its BRI loans will require the principal to be paid back by 2030. It is probably no coincidence that the share of Africans who see China as having a positive impact on its development dipped from 59% to 49% from 2019 to 2022, according to Afrobarometer. Mr Xi’s latest response to economic problems in China is to launch massive industrial subsidies which could lead to manufactured goods flooding the markets of other emerging economies. Though some consumers may benefit, another “China shock” may stunt the industrial ambitions of governments in the global south. Even as China faces headwinds, new rivals are emerging whose influence in the global south is rising. India is the front-runner. By 2045, as its economic, diplomatic and military links increase, its influence over the global south will overtake that of Britain and France, and place it behind America and China, according to forecasts by PCIF. The number of Indian embassies in Africa increased from 25 to 43 between 2012 and 2022. It is the continent’s fourth-largest trade partner and fifth-largest source of foreign-direct investment, according to Mr Modi. India’s own Export-Import bank has lent $12bn across 42 African nations over the past decade, according to Bloomberg. Last year it held training exercises with armed forces from 25 African countries. India also has a very different proposition on values. It sees itself as _vishwaguru_, or “teacher to the world”, in areas where it has specialisms. For example it is offering its “stack” of digital platforms—including biometric identity technology—to countries such as Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka. The Indian government is lending money to private hospitals to set up in Africa. And in November the Indian Institute of Technology opened its first campus abroad, on the island of Zanzibar, in Tanzania. Some of India’s power is unquantifiable. As a flawed democracy with an ultra-pragmatic foreign policy (it has forged closer bonds with America at the same time as refusing to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) it is closer to the median worldview among the G77 than is China. India’s pitch to lead is also substantively different. Because it worries more about a China-led Asia than an American-led world, it is inherently more pragmatic about its approach to reforming international rules. It wants to be a bridge to the West, not a battering ram. Other countries have specialist claims to power. If China is a supermarket of influence then its rivals in the global south are like boutiques, offering other members a smaller range of bespoke goods. Gulf states are using part of their hydrocarbon windfalls on renewable-energy projects and mining assets in the developing world. Turkish firms are often the main rivals to Chinese ones for African infrastructure projects; they have laid rail tracks across East Africa, built the national stadium in Rwanda and airports in Senegal and Niger. Brazil, the world’s second-largest agricultural exporter, is using its chairmanship of the G20 this year to promote food security in the global south. In February, Lula brought that message to the annual meeting of the African Union, the continental bloc. However ridiculous it may seem in parts of the West, South Africa sees itself as the de facto moral leader of the global south, taking Israel to the International Court of Justice for alleged genocide in Gaza, and leading a “peace mission” of African countries to Ukraine and Russia. Lastly, America and its allies are not out of the game. Rich countries in the OECD group spend more than $200bn annually in overseas aid (loans make up most of China’s financing). Over the past 20 years American firms have spent $515bn in foreign-direct investment in the countries in the bigger BRICS bloc (excluding China), versus just $215bn from Chinese ones. Trade between sub-Saharan Africa and, in total, America and the euro area, is greater than that between the region and China, according to IMF data. In addition to alliances such as NATO, America has defence partnerships with 76 countries. Western countries remain the preferred choice for economic migrants seeking a better life and elites looking to educate their children. The West is also trying to tackle its weaknesses. In 2021 the G7 outspent China in infrastructure commitments, reckons AidData. America’s Development Finance Corporation has as much as $60bn to spend on extending credit or buying equity in firms in developing countries. America and France want the World Bank to offer more cheap loans and investment in green technologies. **Ringside seat** China probably hopes to see off this competition. Yet even if it does, it will be the leading power in a group that will never be defined by cohesion among its members. In November Brazil’s Lula argued of the global south that “there are many more interests that unite us than differences that separate us.” In fact there are divisions everywhere. More than 40 countries have consistently abstained or supported Russia in UNGA votes about Ukraine. Roughly 8% of countries account for 78% of global-south emissions of the past 30 years. The interests of those middle-income countries awash with carbon-intensive energy sources, such as India and South Africa, are very different to those of poor countries which use little energy. One group wants money for a “just transition”; the other just wants more electricity to power its development. Reducing Western influence at international institutions is a goal China and many others embrace. But the details soon get tricky. China is not going to welcome India permanently on to the UN Security Council; Brazil and South Africa regularly disagree at the WTO over agriculture; debtor countries and creditors like China want different things from World Bank or IMF reform. China will find that countries in the global south will pursue their national interests, and often come into conflict with the West, China—and each other. The global south, in other words, does not want a leader. It is a zone of contest. Just not one that can be located on a map. ■

SNIFFY TYPES disdain the notion of “the global south”, which has exploded into something of a meme in recent years. Its inadequacies are obvious: three words could never capture the complexities of a group of more than 100 countries spread from Morocco to Malaysia and beyond. But the phrase has been adopted by Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron and Xi Jinping. The simplest working definition is that it refers to most but not quite all non-Western countries. Its use also denotes how emerging economies want more power over global affairs and often have a critical view of Western policy. Thus the global south is said to be outraged by the war in Gaza, and unhappy about Western decisions on Ukraine, covid-19 and climate policy. Sarang Shidore of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, an American think-tank, says “the global south exists not as a coherent, organised grouping so much as a geopolitical fact.” If the global south exists, sort of, then who leads it? Narendra Modi has suggested India could be the “voice of the global south”. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (known as Lula), the president of Brazil , reckons his country could be, too. To examine this question we have worked with a group of scholars to crunch data on trade, financial and diplomatic links. Our conclusion is, counterintuitively, that America still has more influence than any other country over the global south, but that within the grouping itself China has become the most powerful member by far—giving Mr Xi the strongest claim to leadership. The sting is that China’s influence has glaring limits, and could even backfire. Meanwhile other powers are on the rise. We worked with the Pardee Centre for International Futures (PCIF) at the University of Denver. It has built an index of states’ power from 1960 to 2022. The main metric is catchily known as “formal bilateral influence capacity”, a measure of how much power country A may have over country B, based on two dimensions. First, “bandwidth”, or the extent of connections back and forth: the volume of trade, diplomatic representation and so on. Second, “dependence”: how much country B depends on country A for arms, loans, investment, etc. More connections mean more chances for country A to exert influence—and asymmetry in power makes it easier to do so. Think of China’s power over Pakistan, for instance: there are both lots of connections and China has ample asymmetric influence. The exercise examines power relations among the 130-odd members of the global south found in the G77, a UN grouping.  Chart: The Economist America has been the country with the most influence over the G77 since the 1970s (see chart 1). Its “influence capacity” has been more or less constant even as the lure of the former colonial powers, Britain and France, has waned. But it is increasingly rivalled by China, which after 40 years of relative insignificance saw its influence grow from around 2000. According to the index, China’s “influence capacity” over the G77 is roughly double that of France, the third-most influential country, and around three times that of Britain, India or the UAE. China wields the most influence in 31 countries. Its clout is greatest in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia and several states in South-East Asia. By contrast the next-most powerful member of the global south, India, is top dog with only six G77 members. According to an earlier analysis by PCIF, from 1992 to 2020 the number of countries over which China had more influence than America almost doubled, from 33 to 61. The United States remains pre-eminent in the Americas. But China has extended its influence in Africa and Asia. The emporium of everything -------------------------- Recently, China has become a lot keener on the idea of the global south. Last year Mr Xi and senior Chinese officials began referring to China as part of the “global south”, a description they had hitherto resisted (the term is credited to an American left-wing academic in the 1960s), in favour of phrases like “family of developing countries”. The semantic shift reflects an attempt to define the phrase in anti-Western and Chinese-led terms. In September, China published proposals on changing international institutions, rules and laws. It claimed this was a vision of “true multilateralism” where “universal security” replaced “universal values”—in other words, one not run by an interfering West. Last year China’s then foreign minister argued that the main divide in the world was not democracy versus autocracy, as Mr Biden has implied, but “between development and containment of development, and between global justice and power politics”. China is intensely strategic about winning influence, by targeting swing states with infrastructure support, financing and more. From 2000 to 2021 it funded more than 20,000 infrastructure projects, many of which were under the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI), across 165 countries with aid or credit worth $1.3trn. Some analysts have noted data showing that credit from large state-backed lenders such as the Export-Import Bank of China is drying up. But a paper published in November by AidData, a group from William & Mary university in America, argues otherwise. “Contrary to conventional wisdom, Beijing is not in retreat,” says Bradley Parks, one of the authors. The paper finds that there are many more entities extending credit to the developing world today: in 2021 it counts lending of $80bn a year. “\[China\] remains the single largest source of international development finance in the world.” AidData reckons that around two-thirds of Chinese financing goes to “toss-up” countries where neither China nor America clearly holds sway. The group has identified a quid pro quo: if a foreign government increases its share of votes at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) that align with China’s by ten percentage points, it can expect a 276% increase, on average, in financing from Beijing. China has also used its weight to curry favour on subjects such as its repression in Xinjiang. From 2000 to 2021 “low- and middle-income countries” voted on foreign-policy decisions with China 75% of the time at the UNGA. The impact of China’s raw power was on show last year at the BRICS summit, too, where it successfully pushed for five new members of the bloc. China uses other tools, too. It is the main trading partner of more than 120 countries. It has provided $240bn, mostly since 2016, in emergency financing of the sort the IMF specialises in. China also builds infrastructure projects quickly in developing countries, pleasing their elites, and subsidises the roll-out of digital technologies such as those of Huawei. Over the past five years it has overtaken Russia as the main source of weapons for sub-Saharan Africa. Buyer’s remorse --------------- Though China’s leadership position among the G77 is formidable, it faces problems. First, its influence is limited in reach and intensity. It has yet to achieve a leading position in Latin America. And across the global south it has yet to win hearts and minds decisively. Polls show split support for America and China in developing countries. Afrobarometer, which monitors public opinion in Africa, has noted a dip in the share of those with positive views of America. Yet that figure was still 49% in 2022 (albeit down from 60% in 2019). Last month a survey in South-East Asia asked opinion-makers whom they would rather their country align in the event of a new cold war: 50.5% of respondents picked China; 49.5% chose America. When asked what countries should do about Sino-American rivalry, most opted against picking a side. China’s conduct and political values may stunt its influence. Its actions in business and politics have attracted calls for accountability. Countries sometimes lay the blame for their debt crises at China’s door. In Congo and other resource-rich countries Chinese miners face the same charges of exploitation as Westerners do (and often worse). China’s disdain for values-based interactions (it preaches non-interference instead) is apparent, and most of the one-party state’s closest pals are also autocratic. Countries in the global south where democratic values are strong, such as Brazil, are unlikely to have a close cultural connection with China. What is more, as China draws nearer to the likes of Iran and Russia it risks allying with countries that want to destroy, rather than reform, the international order. Witness its recent cynical decision to cut a deal with the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels over shipping in the Red Sea and Suez Canal, instead of working on a common solution. Meanwhile China’s economic reputation could deteriorate. The public support it won through its lending binge happened before the money needed repaying. Some 75% of its BRI loans will require the principal to be paid back by 2030. It is probably no coincidence that the share of Africans who see China as having a positive impact on its development dipped from 59% to 49% from 2019 to 2022, according to Afrobarometer. Mr Xi’s latest response to economic problems in China is to launch massive industrial subsidies which could lead to manufactured goods flooding the markets of other emerging economies. Though some consumers may benefit, another “China shock” may stunt the industrial ambitions of governments in the global south. Even as China faces headwinds, new rivals are emerging whose influence in the global south is rising. India is the front-runner. By 2045, as its economic, diplomatic and military links increase, its influence over the global south will overtake that of Britain and France, and place it behind America and China, according to forecasts by PCIF. The number of Indian embassies in Africa increased from 25 to 43 between 2012 and 2022. It is the continent’s fourth-largest trade partner and fifth-largest source of foreign-direct investment, according to Mr Modi. India’s own Export-Import bank has lent $12bn across 42 African nations over the past decade, according to Bloomberg. Last year it held training exercises with armed forces from 25 African countries. India also has a very different proposition on values. It sees itself as _vishwaguru_, or “teacher to the world”, in areas where it has specialisms. For example it is offering its “stack” of digital platforms—including biometric identity technology—to countries such as Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka. The Indian government is lending money to private hospitals to set up in Africa. And in November the Indian Institute of Technology Madras opened its first campus abroad, on the island of Zanzibar, in Tanzania. Some of India’s power is unquantifiable. As a flawed democracy with an ultra-pragmatic foreign policy (it has forged closer bonds with America at the same time as refusing to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) it is closer to the median worldview among the G77 than is China. India’s pitch to lead is also substantively different. Because it worries more about a China-led Asia than an American-led world, it is inherently more pragmatic about its approach to reforming international rules. It wants to be a bridge to the West, not a battering ram. Other countries have specialist claims to power. If China is a supermarket of influence then its rivals in the global south are like boutiques, offering other members a smaller range of bespoke goods. Gulf states are using part of their hydrocarbon windfalls on renewable-energy projects and mining assets in the developing world. Turkish firms are often the main rivals to Chinese ones for African infrastructure projects; they have laid rail tracks across East Africa, built the national stadium in Rwanda and airports in Senegal and Niger. Brazil, the world’s second-largest agricultural exporter, is using its chairmanship of the G20 this year to promote food security in the global south. In February, Lula brought that message to the annual meeting of the African Union, the continental bloc. However ridiculous it may seem in parts of the West, South Africa sees itself as the de facto moral leader of the global south, taking Israel to the International Court of Justice for alleged genocide in Gaza, and leading a “peace mission” of African countries to Ukraine and Russia. Lastly, America and its allies are not out of the game. Rich countries in the OECD group spend more than $200bn annually in overseas aid (loans make up most of China’s financing). Over the past 20 years American firms have spent $515bn in foreign-direct investment in the countries in the bigger BRICS bloc (excluding China), versus just $215bn from Chinese ones. Trade between sub-Saharan Africa and, in total, America and the euro area, is greater than that between the region and China, according to IMF data. In addition to alliances such as NATO, America has defence partnerships with 76 countries. Western countries remain the preferred choice for economic migrants seeking a better life and elites looking to educate their children. The West is also trying to tackle its weaknesses. In 2021 the G7 outspent China in infrastructure commitments, reckons AidData. America’s Development Finance Corporation has as much as $60bn to spend on extending credit or buying equity in firms in developing countries. America and France want the World Bank to offer more cheap loans and investment in green technologies. Ringside seat ------------- China probably hopes to see off this competition. Yet even if it does, it will be the leading power in a group that will never be defined by cohesion among its members. In November Brazil’s Lula argued of the global south that “there are many more interests that unite us than differences that separate us.” In fact there are divisions everywhere. More than 40 countries have consistently abstained or supported Russia in UNGA votes about Ukraine. Roughly 8% of countries account for 78% of global-south emissions of the past 30 years. The interests of those middle-income countries awash with carbon-intensive energy sources, such as India and South Africa, are very different to those of poor countries which use little energy. One group wants money for a “just transition”; the other just wants more electricity to power its development. Reducing Western influence at international institutions is a goal China and many others embrace. But the details soon get tricky. China is not going to welcome India permanently on to the UN Security Council; Brazil and South Africa regularly disagree at the WTO over agriculture; debtor countries and creditors like China want different things from World Bank or IMF reform. China will find that countries in the global south will pursue their national interests, and often come into conflict with the West, China—and each other. The global south, in other words, does not want a leader. It is a zone of contest. Just not one that can be located on a map. ■

China’s influence in the Pacific is being scrutinised as ally [Solomon Islands](https://www.theguardian.com/world/solomonislands) prepares to hold elections this month, with two candidates indicating they would seek to review a controversial security pact between the two countries. Ties between [China](https://www.theguardian.com/world/china) and Solomon Islands have deepened under prime minister Manasseh Sogavare, who is hoping to secure another term in the vote on 17 April. Solomon Islands, one of the poorest countries in the Pacific, relies heavily on partners including Australia and China for development aid and support. Beijing’s assistance ranges from infrastructure development, medical, policing and security support. In 2019, Solomon Islands severed ties with Taiwan to recognise China and three years later [signed a security pact with Beijing](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/20/the-deal-that-shocked-the-world-inside-the-china-solomons-security-pact). The move raised concerns in the west over China’s ambitions in the Pacific region. Two other candidates considering the prime minister role – Peter Kenilorea Jr, leader of the United party (UP), and Gordon Darcy Lilo, who leads Solomon Islands Party for Rural Advancement (Sipra) and is a former prime minister – say they would reassess the deal. “Solomon Islands has become entwined in the increasing geopolitical competition between China and the US and its allies,” says associate professor Tarcisius Kabutaulaka at the University of Hawaii. “These global powers have a vested interest in the outcome of this election.” Look North strategy ------------------- Solomon Islands, with a population of about 700,000, faces a slew of pressing domestic issues including weakening health and education systems, and poor infrastructure development. Like countries around the world, cost-of-living pressures are a feature of this election – along with the government’s capacity to help through development partners. Sogavare’s Look North strategy has been a central theme of his campaign. He adopted the policy in 2008, aiming to strengthen diplomatic and economic relations with Asian countries for development purposes. The security pact with China is part of the strategy. Sogavare is running as part of the OUR party coalition which is committed to the Look North policy, as well as prioritising defence, security and trade. It has emphasised strengthening ties with China while continuing relations with traditional partners such as Australia. The Pacific Games, which [Solomon Islands hosted in 2023, highlighted Beijing’s support for the nation.](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/05/pacific-games-2023-solomon-island-china-cost-controversy) China funded much of the Games and built facilities – notably a national stadium in Honiara. At the launch of the OUR party campaign this year, Sogavare said establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing in 2019 was “pivotal” for the country. He said China’s support with the Pacific Games and other infrastructure development “help place our country on a more favourable path, a right footing domestically and internationally.” [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/15/as-solomon-islands-election-looms-chinas-influence-on-the-pacific-country-draws-scrutiny#img-2) Honiara, Solomon Islands. The country faces a slew of pressing domestic issues including weakening health and education systems, and poor infrastructure development. Photograph: Zahiyd Namo/The Guardian ‘We are not in war with anyone’ ------------------------------- Four candidates will challenge Sogavare for his parliamentary seat. In Solomon Islands there is no direct voting for the prime minister. Voters cast their ballot for MPs and, as the results come in, candidates will attempt to form a ruling coalition. MPs will later hold a vote to appoint a prime minister. Mathew Wale for the Coalition for Accountability Reform and Empowerment (Care) joins UP’s Kenilorea Jr and Sipra’s Lilo in potentially seeking the top job. Kenilorea Jr says while he supports the economic development aspects of the Look North policy, he holds concerns about the security pact. “Security issues need to be less ambiguous and much more clear,” he tells the Guardian. As the detail of the China security deal has never been made public, Kenilorea Jr says UP will reveal the terms of the agreement. Kenilorea Jr tells the Guardian he will review the security pact, and seek to have ties with Taiwan and Beijing. “We need both of them as development partners,” he says. Kenilorea Jr also says he will engage more with traditional partners, including Australia. The country needs genuine partnership that rids it of the notion “You tap my back, I’ll tap yours”, Kenilorea Jr says. Care, while supporting the Look North strategy, says it will maintain relationships with traditional partners including Australia. Sipra’s platform focuses on domestic and foreign policy reforms, tackling corruption and maintaining support for traditional partners. “We already have our existing regional security partners like Australia and New Zealand. We need to harness this agreement and make good use of it. We are not in war with anyone. All we need is our economic security,” Lilo says. [map of solomon islands](https://interactive.guim.co.uk/uploader/embed/2024/03/embed-2024-03-18t124234-919-zip/giv-13425GPyrANhKqEAJ) Both Wale and Lilo call for more transparency regarding the China security pact. “Solomon Islands needs to know the detailed contents of this agreement. We will do away with it or reassess it once we seize power in the coming election,” Lilo says. Amid the focus on China, many in Solomon Islands have called for government to prioritise rural development, healthcare, education and other urgent needs. “We should put aside geopolitics and first respond to the pressing development needs and struggles our rural people have experienced over decades,” the former vice-chancellor of Solomon Islands National University Dr Jack Maebuta says. Head of Transparency Solomon Islands, Ruth Liloqula, echoes those concerns, criticising parties for campaigning “mainly based on foreign policies.” “Look at rural areas first, rather than Look North or wherever you may wish to look, but remember our rural people are suffering every day,” Liloqula says. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/15/as-solomon-islands-election-looms-chinas-influence-on-the-pacific-country-draws-scrutiny#img-3) Sogavare met with China’s president, Xi Jinping, in Beijing in 2023. Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock Predicting the outcome of elections in Solomon Islands is difficult but some observers say Sogavare is likely to retain the top job. “Kenilorea or Lilo … will only get the power if they form a coalition party to have numbers. Otherwise OUR party is still leading,” Liloqula says. Dr Alice Pollard, founder of the West Areare Rokotanikeni Women’s Association, says Sogavare’s return to power is “uncertain” but he has support. “He wields considerable influence and enjoys backing from various quarters,” she says.

  A newly signed law requires that the Chinese-owned TikTok app be sold to satisfy national security concerns. Joe Raedle/Getty Images A new law passed this week would [ban TikTok](https://www.npr.org/2024/04/24/1246663779/biden-ban-tiktok-us) in the United States unless ByteDance, its Chinese owner, sells the popular video app. National security is at the heart of bipartisan concerns in Washington motivating the law. Lawmakers say they're worried the Chinese government could lean on ByteDance in order to use TikTok to suck up Americans' data, surveil them, and spread false and misleading claims to U.S. voters. "It's not hard to imagine how a platform that facilitates so much commerce, political discourse, and social debate could be covertly manipulated to serve the goals of an authoritarian regime," Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA, said this week. Many lawmakers who supported the bill said classified intelligence briefings have raised alarms about TikTok — but have not yet made that information available for public scrutiny. Some members of Congress have pushed back, including Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts, who said while he has concerns about many social networks' collection of user data, he had seen "no credible evidence" that TikTok presents a threat just because its parent company is based in China. So what do we know about China's efforts to manipulate Americans using social media, and what role does TikTok play? ### **China's growing information operations** While much of the discussion about foreign interference in elections has focused on Russia since 2016, China presents a growing threat, according to the intelligence community, tech companies, and independent researchers. Beijing has stepped up its [online information operations](https://www.npr.org/2023/11/30/1215898523/meta-warns-china-online-social-media-influence-operations-facebook-elections) in recent years in support of its broader goals, experts say. China "aims to sow doubts about U.S. leadership, undermine democracy, and extend Beijing's influence," the Office of the Director of National Intelligence wrote in its [annual threat assessment](https://www.odni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/ATA-2024-Unclassified-Report.pdf) earlier this year. In past cycles, that took the form of trying to shape U.S. policy toward China. For example, in a handful of 2022 midterm races, Beijing sought to boost candidates seen as pro-China and counter those seen as opposing its interests, according to a [December report](https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/NIC-Declassified-ICA-Foreign-Threats-to-the-2022-US-Elections-Dec2023.pdf) from the ODNI. More recently, those efforts have shifted to exploiting existing partisan divides in the U.S. That includes "the Chinese actually going into U.S. audience spaces, masquerading as Americans, and posting inflammatory content around current events or social issues or political issues," said Clint Watts, general manager of Microsoft's Threat Analysis Center. Researchers at [Microsoft](https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2024/04/17/russia-us-election-interference-deepfakes-ai/) as well as the nonprofit [Institute for Strategic Dialogue](https://www.isdglobal.org/digital_dispatches/pro-ccp-spamouflage-campaign-experiments-with-new-tactics-targeting-the-us/) have identified accounts on X, formerly known as Twitter, posing as Donald Trump supporters, attacking President Biden, and seizing on hot-button topics such as immigration. Microsoft said some accounts even seemed to be [polling](https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2024/04/04/china-ai-influence-elections-mtac-cybersecurity/) American voters on what issues divided them most. "Joe Biden 'belongs in a nursing home' not the White House," one account posted — but the post also included Mandarin characters, apparently due to an incorrect browser setting, ISD said. Other China-linked accounts used AI-generated images to spread a baseless conspiracy theory that the U.S. government deliberately set last year's [Maui wildfires](https://www.npr.org/2023/09/28/1202110410/how-rumors-and-conspiracy-theories-got-in-the-way-of-mauis-fire-recovery) to test a military "weather weapon," Microsoft [said](https://cdn-dynmedia-1.microsoft.com/is/content/microsoftcorp/microsoft/final/en-us/microsoft-brand/documents/MTAC-East-Asia-Report.pdf). Microsoft and ISD both linked the posts they identified to [Spamouflage](https://www.npr.org/2023/08/29/1196117574/meta-says-chinese-russian-influence-operations-are-among-the-biggest-its-taken-d), a long-running Chinese network of fake accounts across social networks including Facebook, X, and TikTok. Spamouflage accounts have previously pushed attacks on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, praised China's COVID-19 response, and posted videos with AI-generated news anchors promoting Chinese leadership. Last year, Facebook owner Meta said Spamouflage is the largest covert influence operation it's ever disrupted — and linked it to Chinese law enforcement. Despite their breadth, however, these efforts have failed to gain many followers or have significant impact. "The vast scale of Spamouflage has previously been offset by its ineffectual tactics and uncompelling content; if the operators find a strategy which works, potentially augmented by generative AI, it could start to become a real problem," wrote Elise Thomas, ISD senior analyst. TikTok has been used in these publicly identified Chinese operations, but researchers say they have not seen a particular focus on the app that goes beyond other popular platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. (TikTok is also difficult for researchers to access.)   Election workers in Taipei, Taiwan, inspect boxes containing ballots as counting got underway on Jan. 13, 2024. China unsuccessfully sought to influence Taiwan's elections via social media, including TikTok. Annabelle Chih/Getty Images ### **China's information campaign against Taiwan** One place where China has more aggressively attempted to use TikTok to influence politics is Taiwan, which held its own presidential election in January. As in the U.S., [China's goal is to undermine democracy](https://www.npr.org/2024/01/11/1216340756/taiwan-election-disinformation-social-media-ptt), said Chihhao Yu, co-director of the Taiwan Information Environment Research Center (IORG). He said the strategy is to "create an alternative worldview for Mandarin readers in Taiwan, of course, but also around the world for Mandarin-speaking communities." Yu's group has found what it calls [proxy accounts](https://iorg.tw/_ua/da/71) on TikTok and YouTube that share videos identical to those posted on official state-controlled accounts on [Douyin](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/25/business/china-tiktok-douyin.html), China's version of TikTok, without any disclosure of their origins. Sometimes the videos even appear on TikTok before they are posted to the official Douyin accounts. "That is saying that the \[Chinese government\] does not necessarily need its official footprint on TikTok to have an influence on TikTok," Yu said. Other researchers in Taiwan have identified TikTok influencers who appear to be using the same scripts to talk about divisive issues like migrant workers. Some influencers who typically post videos about fashion and beauty posted seemingly scripted videos alleging election fraud. Still, there's no suggestion that the Chinese government was coordinating with ByteDance in its use of TikTok influencers and proxy accounts. And ultimately, these efforts to sway Taiwanese voters were unsuccessful: the incumbent pro-independence candidate opposed by Beijing won re-election.

May 30, 2024 6:15 PM OpenAI has released its first report, which details how bad actors in Russia, China, and beyond are using AI to spread propaganda. (Poorly.)  Photograph: Beata Zawrzel/Getty Images Today, OpenAI released its [first threat report](https://downloads.ctfassets.net/kftzwdyauwt9/5IMxzTmUclSOAcWUXbkVrK/3cfab518e6b10789ab8843bcca18b633/Threat_Intel_Report.pdf), detailing how actors from Russia, Iran, China, and Israel have attempted to use its technology for foreign influence operations across the globe. The report named five different networks that OpenAI identified and shut down between 2023 and 2024. In the report, OpenAI reveals that established networks like [Russia’s Doppleganger](https://www.wired.com/story/gadget-lab-podcast-624/) and [China’s Spamoflauge](https://www.wired.com/story/china-bad-at-disinformation/) are experimenting with how to use generative AI to automate their operations. They're also not very good at it. And while it’s a modest relief that these actors haven’t mastered [generative AI to become unstoppable forces for disinformation](https://www.wired.com/story/generative-ai-global-elections/), it’s clear that they’re experimenting, and that alone should be worrying. The OpenAI report reveals that influence campaigns are running up against the limits of generative AI, which doesn’t reliably produce good copy or code. It struggles [with idioms](https://www.noemamag.com/what-ai-teaches-us-about-good-writing/)— which make language sound more reliably human and personal—and also sometimes with basic grammar (so much so that OpenAI named one network “Bad Grammar.”) The Bad Grammar network was so sloppy that it once revealed its true identity: “As an AI language model, I am here to assist and provide the desired comment,” it posted. One network used ChatGPT to debug code that would allow it to automate posts on Telegram, a chat app that has long been a favorite of [extremists](https://www.wired.com/story/telegram-hamas-channels-deplatform/) and [influence networks](https://www.wired.com/story/russian-influence-campaign-exploiting-college-campus-protests/). This worked well sometimes, but other times it led to the same account posting as two separate characters, giving away the game. In other cases, ChatGPT was used to create code and content for websites and social media. Spamoflauge, for instance, used ChatGPT to debug code to create a WordPress website that published stories attacking members of the Chinese diaspora who were critical of the country’s government. According to the report, the AI-generated content didn’t manage to break out from the influence networks themselves into the mainstream, even when shared on widely used platforms like X, Facebook, or Instagram. This was the case for campaigns run by an Israeli company seemingly working on a for-hire basis, and posting content that ranged from anti-Qatar to anti-BJP, the Hindu-nationalist party currently in control of the Indian government. Taken altogether, the report paints a picture of several relatively ineffective campaigns with crude propaganda, seemingly allaying [fears that many experts](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/01/22/ai-deepfake-elections-politicians/) have had about the potential for this new technology to spread mis- and disinformation, particularly during a [crucial election year](https://www.wired.com/story/2024-is-the-year-of-generative-ai-elections/). But [influence campaigns on social media](https://www.wired.com/story/generative-ai-web-2-mistakes/) often innovate over time to avoid detection, learning the platforms and their tools, sometimes better than the employees of the platforms themselves. While these initial campaigns may be small or ineffective they appear to be still in the experimental stage, says Jessica Walton, a researcher with the CyberPeace Institute who has studied Doppleganger’s use of generative AI. In her research, the network would use real-seeming Facebook profiles to post articles, often around divisive political topics. “The actual articles are written by generative AI,” she says. “And mostly what they’re trying to do is see what will fly, what Meta’s algorithms will and won’t be able to catch.” In other words, expect them only to get better from here.

"At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. military launched a secret campaign to counter what it perceived as China's growing influence in the Philippines..." [reports Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-covid-propaganda/). "It aimed to sow doubt about the safety and efficacy of vaccines and other life-saving aid that was being supplied by China, a Reuters investigation found." Reuters interviewed "more than two dozen current and former U.S officials, military contractors, social media analysts and academic researchers," and also reviewed posts on social media, technical data and documents about "a set of fake social media accounts used by the U.S. military" — some active for more than five years. Friday they reported the results of their investigation: _Through phony internet accounts meant to impersonate Filipinos, the military's propaganda efforts morphed into an anti-vax campaign. Social media posts decried the quality of face masks, test kits and the first vaccine that would become available in the Philippines — China's Sinovac inoculation. Reuters identified at least 300 accounts on X, formerly Twitter, that matched descriptions shared by former U.S. military officials familiar with the Philippines operation. Almost all were created in the summer of 2020 and centered on the slogan #Chinaangvirus — Tagalog for China is the virus. "COVID came from China and the VACCINE also came from China, don't trust China!" one typical tweet from July 2020 read in Tagalog. The words were next to a photo of a syringe beside a Chinese flag and a soaring chart of infections. Another post read: "From China — PPE, Face Mask, Vaccine: FAKE. But the Coronavirus is real." After Reuters asked X about the accounts, the social media company removed the profiles, determining they were part of a coordinated bot campaign based on activity patterns and internal data. The U.S. military's anti-vax effort began in the spring of 2020 and expanded beyond Southeast Asia before it was terminated in mid-2021, Reuters determined. Tailoring the propaganda campaign to local audiences across Central Asia and the Middle East, the Pentagon used a combination of fake social media accounts on multiple platforms to spread fear of China's vaccines among Muslims at a time when the virus was killing tens of thousands of people each day. A key part of the strategy: amplify the disputed contention that, because vaccines sometimes contain pork gelatin, China's shots could be considered forbidden under Islamic law..._ _A senior Defense Department official acknowledged the U.S. military engaged in secret propaganda to disparage China's vaccine in the developing world, but the official declined to provide details. A Pentagon spokeswoman... also noted that China had started a "disinformation campaign to falsely blame the United States for the spread of COVID-19."_ A senior U.S. military officer directly involved in the campaign told Reuters that "We didn't do a good job sharing vaccines with partners. So what was left to us was to throw shade on China's." At least six senior State Department officials for the region objected, according to the article. But in 2019 U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper signed "a secret order" that "elevated the Pentagon's competition with China and Russia to the priority of active combat, enabling commanders to sidestep the StateDepartment when conducting [psyops](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-launched-cia-covert-influence-operation-against-china-2024-03-14/) against those adversaries." _\[A senior defense official\] said the Pentagon has rescinded parts of Esper's 2019 order that allowed military commanders to bypass the approval of U.S. ambassadors when waging psychological operations. The rules now mandate that military commanders work closely with U.S. diplomats in the country where they seek to have an impact. The policy also restricts psychological operations aimed at "broad population messaging," such as those used to promote vaccine hesitancy during COVID... Nevertheless, the Pentagon's clandestine propaganda efforts are set to continue. In an unclassified strategy document last year, top Pentagon generals wrote that the U.S. military could undermine adversaries such as China and Russia using "disinformation spread across social media, false narratives disguised as news, and similar subversive activities \[to\] weaken societal trust by undermining the foundations of government."_ _And in February, the contractor that worked on the anti-vax campaign — General Dynamics IT — won a $493 million contract. Its mission: to continue providing clandestine influence services for the military._

Leaders from China, Russia and countries in the global south are gathering in [Kazakhstan](https://www.theguardian.com/world/kazakhstan) for the annual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a group that has been described as the “anti-Nato”. The summit is part of China’s efforts to establish what it calls a “multilateral” world order that is not dominated by the US. But it is also a forum in which China and Russia’s “strategic partnership” will be tested by their competing desires to wield influence in central Asia. Xi Jinping, China’s president, arrived in Astana on Tuesday for a five-day trip that will include state visits to Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. More than a decade ago, Xi used an official visit to Kazakhstan to launch [the belt and road initiative](https://www.theguardian.com/world/belt-and-road-initiative), China’s sprawling development project that has seen $9.55bn (£8bn) invested in Kazakhstan alone since 2013, according to the China Global Investment Tracker. That investment is part of China’s pitch to central Asia that it can help countries to develop outside Russia’s shadow. “The war in Ukraine has proven to the central Asian countries that the diversification of their ties with the world is key to their successful existence in the region,” said Temur Umarov, a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. Although the former Soviet republics have been trying to de-Russify their countries since the fall of the Soviet Union, the war in Ukraine “has made the process of replacing Russia \[with China\] happen more quickly,” he said. Xi and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, preach the importance of establishing a multipolar world order to countries in the global south that have felt let down by US-dominated geopolitics. Zhou Rong, a senior researcher at Renmin University in Beijing, was quoted in a Chinese state media report published on Sunday as saying the SCO “sends a message to the western world that there are many different voices from the emerging economies that need to be heard and represented.” Still, relations between Xi and Putin – which the two pledged to deepen as recently as May – may be strained this week by the shadow of Putin’s recent visit to North Korea. Putin signed [a mutual security pact](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/19/russia-and-north-korea-sign-mutual-defence-pact) with Kim Jong-un, an agreement which China fears could create the perception of a cold war-style bloc and damage Beijing’s influence in east Asia. In recent months, there has been some scrutiny of the role that central Asia plays in facilitating the flow of goods from China to Russia to support Moscow’s war machine. Chinese exports to Kyrgyzstan increased from $7.5bn in 2021 to nearly $20bn in 2023, with much of those goods bound for Russia, according to the China-Russia Report newsletter. Analysts say that countries such as Kyrgyzstan will be impervious to western pressure to intercept this trade. “Not having good relations with China is something that’s completely out of the question,” says Niva Yau, a fellow at the Atlantic Council. There are plenty of other pieces on the SCO chessboard this week. Established as the “Shanghai Five” in 1996, the group was originally a forum for the founding members – China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan – to thrash out border disputes. Since then, its membership and scope has expanded to include countries as diverse and mutually disagreeable as India, Pakistan and Iran. This year, Belarus is expected to be welcomed into the fold. However, the group’s growing size – it already accounts for about 40% of the world’s population – does not necessarily make it more relevant. India’s newly re-elected prime minister, Narendra Modi, is expected to skip the summit, despite the fact that he is planning to visit Moscow next week to meet Putin. [skip past newsletter promotion](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/03/xi-jinping-central-asia-trip-china-vies-regional-influence-russia#EmailSignup-skip-link-9) Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters **Privacy Notice:** Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our [Privacy Policy](https://www.theguardian.com/help/privacy-policy). We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google [Privacy Policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy) and [Terms of Service](https://policies.google.com/terms) apply. after newsletter promotion “Inside the SCO, there are countries that have fundamentally different views on nearly everything,” says Umarov. “It’s almost impossible to imagine what would be a scenario that could make India and Pakistan put aside their problems and their mutual conflict for the sake of something else”. India and China have a similarly fraught relationship; Modi’s trip to Russia is in part an attempt to ensure that India’s relationship with Russia is not imperilled by Moscow’s deepening ties with Beijing.

 A long-running [Chinese influence operation](https://www.npr.org/2024/04/26/1247347363/china-tiktok-national-security) is posing as American voters on social media in an attempt to exacerbate social divisions ahead of the 2024 presidential election, according to a new [report](https://graphika.com/the-americans/) from the research company Graphika. The push by the campaign known as “Spamouflage” includes accounts claiming to be American voters and U.S. soldiers. They posted about hot-button topics including reproductive rights, homelessness, U.S. support for Ukraine, and American policy toward Israel. They criticized President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as well as former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, and sometimes used [artificial intelligence](https://www.npr.org/2024/05/30/g-s1-1670/openai-influence-operations-china-russia-israel) tools to create content. The group of fake accounts Graphika identified is small — 15 accounts on X (formerly known as Twitter), one on TikTok, as well as a persona impersonating a U.S. news outlet across platforms. They claimed to be U.S. citizens or U.S.-focused activists “frustrated by American politics and the West,” the report said. With the exception of one TikTok video, they didn’t gain much traction with real users online. Still, the activity underscores how [China](https://www.npr.org/2023/11/30/1215898523/meta-warns-china-online-social-media-influence-operations-facebook-elections) is “engaging in these more advanced deceptive behaviors and directly targeting these organic but hyper-sensitive social rifts” as part of a broader effort “to portray the U.S. as this declining global power with weak political leadership and a failing system of governance,” said Jack Stubbs, Graphika’s chief intelligence officer. The U.S. intelligence community said in its most recent [election security update](https://www.dni.gov/files/FMIC/documents/ODNI-Election-Security-Update-20240729.pdf) in late July that China’s influence operations “are using social media to sow divisions in the United States and portray democracies as chaotic.” However, intelligence officials say they do not believe Beijing plans to influence the outcome of the presidential election, which may explain why the Spamouflage cluster Graphika identified targeted both Democrats and Republicans. “Generally, the accounts were very critical of Biden, but we also saw them criticizing Trump as well, and in more recent weeks, actually increasingly targeting Kamala Harris since Biden dropped off the ticket,” Stubbs said. “It looks to us like they were attempting to build their fake identities less around an individual party or individual party candidate and more around the idea of U.S. patriotism or national pride.” Graphika is a research company that studies social networks and online communities for companies, tech platforms, human rights organizations and universities. The findings build on another [report](https://www.isdglobal.org/digital_dispatches/pro-ccp-spamouflage-campaign-experiments-with-new-tactics-targeting-the-us/) earlier this year from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a nonprofit which studies extremism and disinformation, that uncovered four other Spamouflage accounts on X posing as supporters of Trump and the MAGA movement. Graphika first publicly identified the [Spamouflage](https://www.npr.org/2023/08/29/1196117574/meta-says-chinese-russian-influence-operations-are-among-the-biggest-its-taken-d) operation in 2019. It’s grown into one of the most sprawling networks of fake accounts across the internet. It has largely focused on pushing pro-China narratives, including attacks on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, praise for China's COVID-19 response, and AI-generated news videos promoting Chinese leadership. More recently, it has also begun posting about American politics and elections. Last year, Facebook owner Meta [linked the operation to Chinese law enforcement](https://transparency.fb.com/sr/Q2-2023-Adversarial-threat-report). The accounts Graphika identified bore many hallmarks of Spamouflage activity, including coordinated posting and sharing content that has previously been linked to the operation. Some accounts occasionally slipped up and posted in Chinese. One account on X, calling itself “Common fireman,” was previously branded as a pro-China media outlet, Graphika said. Stubbs cautioned that the cluster of accounts Graphika found is “one small sliver of this wider operation.” He noted a larger portion of the Spamouflage network is also [targeting the U.S.](https://www.npr.org/2022/09/27/1125217316/facebook-takes-down-russian-network-impersonating-european-news-outlets) using different types of accounts. “And then there are huge parts of the network that are targeting issues in Hong Kong, for example, or the broader Indo-Pacific, that aren't directly concerned with the upcoming U.S. election.” While the cluster’s efforts went largely unnoticed by real people, it did strike one success. A TikTok account posing as a conservative American news outlet and social media influencer posted a video mocking Biden in July that was viewed 1.5 million times, Graphika said. TikTok said it has taken the account down for violating its policies, as well as the other accounts Graphika identified. "The TikTok accounts referenced in this report have been banned, and we will continue to remove deceptive accounts and harmful misinformation as we protect the integrity of our platform during the US elections," a TikTok spokesperson said. The fake news outlet also has an account on X, and previously had a YouTube channel and Instagram account, both of which have been taken down. Stubbs said it wasn’t clear why that particular video had been removed, but that occasional hits are possible with a “high volume, low impact” operation like Spamouflage. “They’re just throwing a lot of stuff out there, and every now and then a little bit of it will stick,” he said. “But it’s probably worth noting that throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping that occasionally a piece will stick doesn't feel to be a recipe for longer term success.”

WASHINGTON -- When he first emerged on social media, the user known as Harlan claimed to be a New Yorker and an Army veteran who supported [Donald Trump](https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump) for president. Harlan said he was 29, and his profile picture showed a smiling, handsome young man. A few months later, Harlan underwent a transformation. Now, he claimed to be 31 and from Florida. New research into Chinese disinformation networks targeting American voters shows Harlan's claims were as fictitious as his profile picture, which analysts think was created using artificial intelligence. As voters prepare to cast their ballots this fall, China has been making its own plans, [cultivating networks of fake social media users](https://apnews.com/article/meta-facebook-2024-election-misinformation-china-956019723463918043e060ac577270f7) designed to mimic Americans. Whoever or wherever he really is, Harlan is a small part of a larger effort by U.S. adversaries to use social media to influence and upend America’s political debate. The account was traced back to Spamouflage, a Chinese disinformation group, by analysts at Graphika, a New York-based firm that tracks online networks. Known to online researchers for several years, Spamouflage earned its moniker through its habit of spreading large amounts of seemingly unrelated content alongside disinformation. “One of the world's largest covert online influence operations — an operation run by Chinese state actors — has become more aggressive in its efforts to infiltrate and to sway U.S. political conversations ahead of the election,” Jack Stubbs, Graphika's chief intelligence officer, told The Associated Press. Intelligence and national security officials have said that [Russia](https://apnews.com/article/russia-trump-biden-harris-china-election-disinformation-54d7e44de370f016e87ab7df33fd11c8), [China](https://apnews.com/article/disinformation-china-us-xinjiang-global-opinion-c9e033f22622841935a2b1bc1060c01b) and [Iran](https://apnews.com/article/hacking-iran-cybersecurity-trump-14dce06ff797563bd6b431a7d04e105f) have all mounted online influence operations [targeting U.S. voters](https://apnews.com/article/disinformation-election-interference-russia-china-2925ca62c1ba8c1893454ccb2f76785a) ahead of the November election. Russia remains the top threat, intelligence officials say, even as Iran has become more aggressive in recent months, [covertly supporting](https://apnews.com/article/gaza-war-protests-iran-foreign-influence-95e0a161119ed0e060332feda95b4e4f) U.S. protests against the war in Gaza and [attempting to hack](https://apnews.com/article/iran-fbi-trump-intelligence-community-52641cd66412d7c01d73876acab3d989) into the email systems of the two presidential candidates. China, however, has taken a [more cautious, nuanced approach](https://apnews.com/article/disinformation-election-interference-russia-china-2925ca62c1ba8c1893454ccb2f76785a). Beijing sees little advantage in supporting one presidential candidate over the other, intelligence analysts say. Instead, China's disinformation efforts focus on campaign issues particularly important to Beijing — such as American policy toward Taiwan — while seeking to undermine confidence in elections, voting and [the U.S. in general](https://apnews.com/article/dangers-of-digital-conspiracy-theories-ec21024be1ed377a35fb235d9fa2af36). Officials have said it's a longer-term effort that will continue well past Election Day as China and other authoritarian nations try to use the internet to erode [support for democracy](https://apnews.com/article/global-democracy-poll-government-politics-autocracy-bad95f3d53d0bb2c8d244f344654d1c7). Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu rejected Graphika's findings as full of “prejudice and malicious speculation" and said that "China has no intention and will not interfere” in the election. X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, suspended several of the accounts linked to the Spamouflage network after questions were raised about their authenticity. The company did not respond to questions about the reasons for the suspensions, or whether they were connected to Graphika's report. TikTok also removed accounts linked to Spamouflage, including Harlan's. “We will continue to remove deceptive accounts and harmful misinformation as we protect the integrity of our platform during the US elections,” a TikTok spokesperson wrote in a statement emailed on Tuesday. Compared with armed conflict or economic sanctions, online influence operations can be a low-cost, low-risk means of flexing geopolitical power. Given the increasing reliance on digital communications, the use of online disinformation and fake information networks is only likely to increase, said Max Lesser, senior analyst for emerging threats at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a national security think tank in Washington. “We’re going to see a widening of the playing field when it comes to influence operations, where it’s not just Russia, China and Iran but you also see smaller actors getting involved,” Lesser said. That list could include not only nations but also criminal organizations, domestic extremist groups and terrorist organizations, Lesser said. When analysts first noticed Spamouflage five years ago, the network tended to post generically pro-China, anti-American content. In recent years, the tone sharpened as Spamouflage expanded and began focusing on [divisive political topics](https://apnews.com/article/russia-election-trump-immigration-disinformation-tiktok-youtube-ce518c6cd101048f896025179ef19997) like gun control, crime, race relations and support for Israel during its war in Gaza. The network also began creating large numbers of fake accounts [designed to mimic](https://apnews.com/article/trump-x-twitter-scarlett-johansson-biden-3b78d7af67f6dd63a71f2f4ec96a4c2e) American users. Spamouflage accounts don't post much original content, instead using platforms like X or TikTok to recycle and repost content from far-right and far-left users. Some of the accounts seemed designed to appeal to Republicans, while others cater to Democrats. While Harlan's accounts succeeded in getting traction — one video mocking President Joe Biden was seen 1.5 million times — many of the accounts created by the Spamouflage campaign did not. It's a reminder that online influence operations are often a numbers game: the more accounts, the more content, the better the chance that one specific post goes viral. Many of the accounts newly linked to Spamouflage took pains to pose as Americans, sometimes in obvious ways. “I am an American,” one of the accounts proclaimed. Some of the accounts gave themselves away by using stilted English or strange word choices. Some were clumsier than others: “Broken English, brilliant brain, I love Trump,” read the biographical section of one account. Harlan's profile picture, which Graphika researchers believe was [created using AI](https://apnews.com/article/election-interference-facebook-tiktok-russia-putin-china-1b5e5ce56d64dc356c2ad332068e2f8c), was identical to one used in an earlier account linked to Spamouflage. Messages sent to the person operating Harlan’s accounts were not returned.

Known to online researchers for several years, Spamouflage earned its moniker through its habit of spreading large amounts of seemingly unrelated content alongside disinformation.  FILE – The TikTok Inc. building is seen in Culver City, Calif., on March 17, 2023. \[Photo: Damian Dovarganes, File/AP Photo\] BY [Associated Press](https://www.fastcompany.com/user/associatedpress)3 minute read When he first emerged on [social media](https://www.fastcompany.com/91167603/doj-vows-protect-against-election-interference-providing-actionable-intelligence-social-media-platforms), the user known as Harlan claimed to be a New Yorker and an Army veteran who supported Donald Trump for president. Harlan said he was 29, and his profile picture showed a smiling, handsome young man.A few months later, Harlan underwent a transformation. Now, he claimed to be 31 and from Florida. New research into [Chinese disinformation networks](https://www.fastcompany.com/91069438/chinese-hackers-slapped-u-s-uk-sanctions) [targeting American voters](https://www.fastcompany.com/91040629/ai-chatbots-us-elections-misleading-information) shows Harlan’s claims were as fictitious as his profile picture, which analysts think was created using [artificial intelligence](https://www.fastcompany.com/91163904/ai-is-a-new-factor-in-u-s-election-misinformation-and-there-are-still-101-days-to-go). As voters prepare to cast their ballots this fall, China has been making its own plans, cultivating networks of fake social media users designed to mimic Americans. Whoever or wherever he really is, Harlan is a small part of a larger effort by U.S. adversaries to use social media to influence and upend America’s political debate.The account was traced back to Spamouflage, a Chinese disinformation group, by analysts at Graphika, a New York-based firm that tracks online networks. Known to online researchers for several years, Spamouflage earned its moniker through its habit of spreading large amounts of seemingly unrelated content alongside disinformation.“One of the world’s largest covert online influence operations — an operation run by Chinese state actors — has become more aggressive in its efforts to infiltrate and to sway U.S. political conversations ahead of the election,” Jack Stubbs, Graphika’s chief intelligence officer, told The Associated Press. Intelligence and national security officials have said that Russia, China and [Iran](https://www.fastcompany.com/91170682/microsoft-says-countrys-cyber-activity-may-targeting-u-s-election) have all mounted online influence operations targeting U.S. voters ahead of the November election. Russia remains the top threat, intelligence officials say, even as Iran has become more aggressive in recent months, covertly supporting U.S. protests against the war in Gaza and attempting to hack into the email systems of the two presidential candidates. China, however, has taken a more cautious, nuanced approach. Beijing sees little advantage in supporting one presidential candidate over the other, intelligence analysts say. Instead, China’s disinformation efforts focus on campaign issues particularly important to Beijing — such as American policy toward Taiwan — while seeking to undermine confidence in elections, voting and the U.S. in general.Officials have said it’s a longer-term effort that will continue well past Election Day as China and other authoritarian nations try to use the internet to erode support for democracy.A message left with the Chinese Embassy in Washington was not immediately returned.Compared with armed conflict or economic sanctions, online influence operations can be a low-cost, low-risk means of flexing geopolitical power. Given the increasing reliance on digital communications, the use of online disinformation and fake information networks is only likely to increase, said Max Lesser, senior analyst for emerging threats at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a national security think tank in Washington.“We’re going to see a widening of the playing field when it comes to influence operations, where it’s not just Russia, China and Iran but you also see smaller actors getting involved,” Lesser said.That list could include not only nations but also criminal organizations, domestic extremist groups and terrorist organizations, Lesser said.When analysts first noticed Spamouflage five years ago, the network tended to post generically pro-China, anti-American content. In recent years, the tone sharpened as Spamouflage expanded and began focusing on divisive political topics like gun control, crime, race relations and support for Israel during its war in Gaza. The network also began creating large numbers of fake accounts designed to mimic American users.Spamouflage accounts don’t post much original content, instead using platforms like X or TikTok to recycle and repost content from far-right and far-left users. Some of the accounts seemed designed to appeal to Republicans, while others cater to Democrats.While Harlan’s accounts succeeded in getting traction — one video mocking President Joe Biden was seen 1.5 million times — many of the accounts created by the Spamouflage campaign did not. It’s a reminder that online influence operations are often a numbers game: the more accounts, the more content, the better the chance that one specific post goes viral.Many of the accounts newly linked to Spamouflage took pains to pose as Americans, sometimes in obvious ways. “I am an American,” one of the accounts proclaimed. Some of the accounts gave themselves away by using stilted English or strange word choices. Some were clumsier than others: “Broken English, brilliant brain, I love Trump,” read the biographical section of one account.Harlan’s profile picture, which Graphika researchers believe was created using AI, was identical to one used in an earlier account linked to Spamouflage. Messages sent to the person operating Harlan’s accounts were not returned. Several of the accounts linked to Spamouflage remain active on TikTok and X. _—David Klepper, Associated Press_ Expand to continue reading ↓ * [Artificial Intelligence](https://www.fastcompany.com/section/artificial-intelligence) * [China](https://www.fastcompany.com/section/china)

WASHINGTON -- When veteran U.S. diplomat Kurt Campbell traveled to the Solomon Islands to counter Beijing's influence in the South Pacific country, he quickly saw just how far China would go to spread its message. The Biden administration’s Asia czar woke up one morning in 2022 to a long article in the local press about the [U.S. running chemical and biological labs in Ukraine](https://apnews.com/russias-bioweapon-conspiracy-theory-finds-support-in-us-0f535c2e136cacab85cfd269dc3124f2), a claim that Washington calls an outright lie. [Started by Russia](https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-united-states-nations-biological-weapons-a782591e10eae1530671500710c0b79f), the false and incendiary claim was [vigorously amplified](https://apnews.com/general-news-39eeee023efdf7ea59c4a20b7e018169) by China's vast overseas propaganda apparatus. It was another example of “clearly effective Russian and Chinese disinformation," Campbell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in July. Two years later, the claim still reverberates online, demonstrating [China's sprawling effort to reshape global perceptions](https://apnews.com/article/disinformation-china-us-xinjiang-global-opinion-c9e033f22622841935a2b1bc1060c01b). The campaign, costing many billions per year, is becoming ever more sophisticated thanks to [artificial intelligence](https://apnews.com/article/china-disinformation-network-foreign-influence-us-election-a2b396518bafd8e36635a3796c8271d7). China's operations have caught the attention of intelligence analysts and policymakers in Washington, who vow to combat any actions that could influence the November election or undermine American interests. The key tactic: networks of websites purporting to be legitimate news outlets, delivering pro-China coverage that often parallels official statements and positions from Beijing. Shannon Van Sant, an adviser to the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, tracked a network of dozens of sites that posed as news organizations. One site mimicked The New York Times, using a similar font and design in what she called an attempt at legitimacy. The site carried strongly pro-Chinese messages. When Van Sant researched the site's reporters she found no information. Their names didn't belong to any known journalists working in China, and their photos bore telltale signs of being created with AI. “Manipulation of the media is ultimately a manipulation of readers and the audience, and this is damaging to democracy and society,” Van Sant said. Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in the U.S., said allegations that China uses news websites and social media to spread pro-Beijing information and influence public opinion in the U.S. “are full of malicious speculations against China, which China firmly opposes.” In addition to its state media, Beijing has turned to foreign players — real or not — to relay messages and lend credibility to narratives favoring the Communist Party, said Xiao Qiang, a research scientist at the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley. Xiao also is editor-in-chief of China Digital Times, a bilingual news website that aggregates information from and about China. Beijing's methods are wide-ranging and links to the government are often difficult to prove, Xiao said. But whether it's journalists with American-sounding names or an Indian influencer, the consistently pro-Beijing messages give them away. "The implicit message is the same — that the Chinese Communist Party works for its people,” Xiao said. Analysts at the cybersecurity firm Logically identified 1,200 websites that had carried Russian or Chinese state media stories. The sites often target specific audiences and have names that sound like traditional news organizations or defunct newspapers. Unlike [Russia](https://apnews.com/article/russia-justice-department-election-foreign-influence-4888f4bfc61e46173101060ad0321d2f) or [Iran](https://apnews.com/article/trump-iran-assassination-election-harris-09648f806d7a7f52965782e0edc67e96), which have [displayed clear preferences](https://apnews.com/article/iran-russia-china-election-disinformation-hacking-ee65e29b866852b146e75c9f3312a1ae) in the U.S. presidential campaign, [Beijing is more cautious](https://apnews.com/article/china-us-election-biden-trump-7308b0d650b8ea309f343dec00d0b827) and focused on spreading positive content about China. While the sites aren't owned by China, they run Chinese content. When Logically looked at content specifically about the U.S. election, 20% could be traced back to Chinese or Russian state media. “There's a decent likelihood that these articles could influence U.S. audiences without them even knowing where it comes from,” said Alex Nelson, Logically's senior manager for strategy and analysis. According to the Gallup World Poll, more countries surveyed view the U.S. positively, but the share of countries where views of both the U.S. and China are negative overall is higher than 15 years ago, signaling the U.S. doesn’t appear to be making gains over China. Some U.S. officials want to increase spending to even the playing field. The House of Representatives this month [approved a bill](https://apnews.com/article/china-united-states-house-drones-evs-biotech-b5a56798058c7bd823280eecebf59c65) that would authorize $325 million annually through 2027 to counter China’s global influence, including its disinformation campaigns. The measure still needs Senate approval. “We are in a global competition for influence with China, and if you want to win it, then you cannot do it on a middle-power budget,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, a Democrat from New York. Chinese President Xi Jinping has demanded a systematic buildup of Chinese narratives that would give his country a global voice “commensurate with” its international stature. Beijing has invested in state media such as the Xinhua news agency and China Central Television to convey its messages to global audiences in various languages and platforms. Media groups at the local level are creating “international communication centers” to build an overseas presence with websites, news channels and social media accounts. Beijing also has struck media partnerships worldwide, and the article Campbell read in the Solomon Islands is likely a result of those. China’s outreach is tied to the global race for economic [dominance in electric vehicles](https://apnews.com/article/ev-batteries-lithium-biden-harris-china-3eaa57b34878a23dd55fe167eb8095f2), [computer chips](https://apnews.com/article/china-us-computer-chips-ai-semiconductor-d9dfe57f09cbec937985d8d0af6d4e33), AI and quantum computing, said Jaret Riddick, a senior fellow at Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology. “The countries that lead on emerging technologies will be the countries that have a great advantage going forward,” Riddick said. To tell its story, Beijing has not shied away from using fake personas. A 2023 State Department report detailed the case of a published writer named Yi Fan, originally described as a Chinese foreign ministry analyst. Yi morphed into a journalist, then became an independent analyst. Yi's details changed, but the message did not. Through published commentaries and writings, Yi trumpeted close ties between China and Africa, praised Beijing’s approach to environmental sustainability and argued that China must counter distorted Western narratives. Then there was Wilson Edwards, a supposed [Swiss virologist](https://apnews.com/article/europe-science-health-media-coronavirus-pandemic-6101e84e52bda05ede28965a141d66ce) quoted in Chinese media as a COVID-19 expert who criticized the U.S. response. But Swiss officials found no evidence he existed. “If you exist, we would like to meet you!” the Swiss Embassy in Beijing wrote on social media. \_\_\_ AP writer Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux contributed from Washington.

Mayor Eric Adams was riding high in the fall of 2022 when Winnie Greco, one of his best fund-raisers and a top adviser, led him into a glittering ballroom in Flushing, Queens, the heart of the Chinese diaspora in New York City. She and Mr. Adams took their seats at the head table of the event, an anniversary celebration for a nonprofit with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party, and watched as the host, Jimmy Lu, rose to address the crowd. Mr. Lu [bragged](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-yZLt7lHKk) in Mandarin about opening a Chinese government police station in the offices of the nonprofit in Lower Manhattan — an illegal outpost that federal authorities would later say was used in a sprawling transnational repression scheme. The police station, Mr. Lu said, his remarks being translated into English, would help “implement the motherland government’s policy of benefiting the overseas Chinese.” Then it was Mr. Adams’s turn. Taking the same stage, he began to praise Mr. Lu’s group. “This is such an important organization,” the mayor said, “to empower our Chinese American community.” Later, after Mr. Lu’s brother Harry was [arrested in connection with the police station](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/17/nyregion/fbi-chinese-police-outpost-nyc.html) and charged with acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government, Mr. Adams’s aides would not respond to questions from reporters about whether he heard Mr. Lu talking about the police station, or knew of its alleged role in spying on Chinese dissidents. The episode underscores Ms. Greco’s close and abiding ties to the People’s Republic of China, and the perils that connection has posed for Mr. Adams. And while the federal corruption charges Mr. Adams now faces after being indicted last month are not centered on his ties to China, prosecutors have recently demanded information from him and his staff about that country and others. They have also indicated that more charges are likely — both for Mr. Adams and others in his orbit. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and [log into](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F10%2F13%2Fnyregion%2Fadams-greco-china-influence-investigation.html&asset=opttrunc) your Times account, or [subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F10%2F13%2Fnyregion%2Fadams-greco-china-influence-investigation.html) for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F10%2F13%2Fnyregion%2Fadams-greco-china-influence-investigation.html&asset=opttrunc). Want all of The Times? [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F10%2F13%2Fnyregion%2Fadams-greco-china-influence-investigation.html).

A senior U.S. intelligence official says viral online content spreading baseless attacks on Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz was created by Russia WASHINGTON -- Groups in Russia created and helped spread viral disinformation targeting Democratic vice presidential candidate [Tim Walz](https://apnews.com/hub/tim-walz), a senior U.S. intelligence official said Tuesday. The content, which includes baseless accusations about the Minnesota governor's time as a teacher, contains several indications that it was manipulated, said the official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Analysts identified clues that linked the content to [Russian disinformation operations](https://apnews.com/article/russia-justice-department-election-foreign-influence-4888f4bfc61e46173101060ad0321d2f), said the official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity under rules set by the office of the director. Digital researchers had already linked the video to Russia, but Tuesday’s announcement is the first time federal authorities have confirmed the connection. The disinformation targeting Walz is consistent with [Russian disinformation seeking to undermine the Democratic campaign](https://apnews.com/article/russia-disinformation-foreign-influence-election-microsoft-7f802f9f4a0efe206fdaad29516b1f7f) of Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz, her running mate. Russia also has spread disinformation aimed at stoking discord and division ahead of voting, officials said, and may seek to encourage violent protests after [Election Day](https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024). Last month, analysts at Microsoft revealed that a viral video that baselessly claimed Harris left a woman paralyzed in a hit-and-run accident 13 years ago was Russian disinformation. More recently, a video surfaced featuring a man claiming to be a former student of Walz's who accused the candidate of sexual misconduct years ago. Private researchers at firms that track disinformation, including NewsGuard, already have concluded the video was fake and that the man in the footage isn't who he claimed to be. The Associated Press contacted a former employer of the man whose identity was used in the video. The employer, Viktor Yeliohin, confirmed the man shown in the video was an impostor. Some researchers have also suggested the video may contain evidence that it was created using artificial intelligence, but federal officials stopped short of the same conclusion, saying only that the video contained multiple indications of manipulation. China and Iran also have sought to [influence the U.S. election using online disinformation](https://apnews.com/article/china-disinformation-network-foreign-influence-us-election-a2b396518bafd8e36635a3796c8271d7). While Russia has targeted the Democratic campaign, Iran has gone after Republican Donald Trump with disinformation as well as [hacking into the former president's campaign](https://apnews.com/article/trump-hacking-iran-justice-department-1d7d83ccdc6c879be2802142f1c47191). China, meanwhile, has focused its influence efforts on down-ballot races, and on general efforts to [sow distrust and democratic dissatisfaction](https://apnews.com/article/china-disinformation-fake-news-russia-3085f10d6edca36f6415d6410e5ef874). There is no indication that Russia, China or Iran are plotting significant attacks on election infrastructure as a way to disrupt the outcome, officials said Tuesday. Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, has said improvements to election security mean there is [no way any other foreign adversary will be able to alter the results](https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-security-misinformation-russia-iran-b93d6bbbf08c5046b4cee70ba7676a52). Russia, China and Iran have all rejected claims that they are seeking to meddle with the U.S. election. Messages left with the Russian Embassy seeking comment on the Walz video were not immediately returned Tuesday. —- Associated Press writer Melissa Goldin contributed to this report from New York.

NEW YORK -- Foreign adversaries have shown continued determination to influence the [U.S. election](https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024) –- and there are signs their activity will intensify as Election Day nears, [Microsoft said in a report](https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2024/10/23/as-the-u-s-election-nears-russia-iran-and-china-step-up-influence-efforts/) Wednesday. Russian operatives are doubling down on fake videos to smear Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, while Chinese-linked social media campaigns are maligning down-ballot Republicans who are critical of China, the company’s threat intelligence arm said Wednesday. Meanwhile, Iranian actors who allegedly [sent emails aimed at intimidating U.S. voters](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-iranian-nationals-charged-cyber-enabled-disinformation-and-threat-campaign-designed) in 2020 have been surveying election-related websites and major media outlets, raising concerns they could be preparing for another scheme this year, the tech giant said. The report serves as a warning – [building on others from U.S. intelligence officials](https://apnews.com/article/election-interference-trump-harris-russia-china-efff7f7fcbc71032b1152d011c953eba?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share) – that as the nation enters this critical final stretch and begins counting ballots, the worst influence efforts may be yet to come. U.S. officials say they remain confident that election infrastructure is [secure enough to withstand any attacks](https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-security-misinformation-russia-iran-b93d6bbbf08c5046b4cee70ba7676a52?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share) from American adversaries. Still, in a tight election, foreign efforts to influence voters are raising concern. Microsoft noted that some of the disinformation campaigns it tracks received little authentic engagement from U.S. audiences, but others [have been amplified by unwitting Americans](https://apnews.com/article/walz-russia-disinformation-election-harris-trump-8646b7f354df629cd5d6661ba51e7174), exposing thousands to foreign propaganda in the final weeks of voting. Russia, China and Iran have all rejected claims that they are seeking to meddle with the U.S. election. “The presidential elections are the United States’ domestic affairs. China has no intention and will not interfere in the US election,” the Chinese Embassy said in a statement. “Having already unequivocally and repeatedly announced, Iran neither has any motive nor intent to interfere in the U.S. election; and, it therefore categorically repudiates such accusations,” read a statement from Iran's mission to the United Nations. A message left with the Russian Embassy was not immediately returned on Wednesday. The report reveals an expanding landscape of coordinated campaigns to advance adversaries’ priorities as global wars and economic concerns raise the stakes for the U.S. election around the world. It details a trend also seen in the 2016 and 2020 elections of foreign actors covertly fomenting discord among American voters, furthering a divide in the electorate that has left the nation almost evenly split just 13 days before voting concludes. “History has shown that the ability of foreign actors to rapidly distribute deceptive content can significantly impact public perception and electoral outcomes,” Clint Watts, general manager of the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center, said in a news release. “With a particular focus on the 48 hours before and after Election Day, voters, government institutions, candidates and parties must remain vigilant to deceptive and suspicious activity online.” The report adds to previous findings from [Microsoft](https://apnews.com/article/russia-disinformation-foreign-influence-election-microsoft-7f802f9f4a0efe206fdaad29516b1f7f) and U.S. intelligence that suggest the Kremlin is committed to lambasting Harris’ character online, a sign of its [preference for another Donald Trump presidency](https://apnews.com/article/russia-putin-biden-trump-fb2fece0be7685624a3e3e379a8a3bd3). Russian actors have spent recent months churning out both AI-generated content and more rudimentary spoofs and staged videos spreading disinformation about Harris, Microsoft’s analysts found. Among the fake videos were a staged clip of a park ranger impersonator claiming Harris killed an endangered rhinoceros in Zambia, as well as a video sharing baseless allegations about her running mate Tim Walz, which U.S. intelligence officials also [attributed to Russia this week](https://apnews.com/article/walz-russia-disinformation-election-harris-trump-8646b7f354df629cd5d6661ba51e7174). Morgan Finkelstein, national security spokeswoman for the Harris campaign, condemned Russia's efforts. Another Russian influence actor has been producing fake election-related videos spoofing American organizations from Fox News to the FBI and Wired magazine, according to the report. China over the last several months has focused on down-ballot races, and on general efforts to [sow distrust and democratic dissatisfaction](https://apnews.com/article/china-disinformation-fake-news-russia-3085f10d6edca36f6415d6410e5ef874). A Chinese influence actor widely known as Spamouflage has been using fake social media users to attack down-ballot Republicans who have publicly denounced China, according to Microsoft’s analysts. Candidates targeted have included Rep. Barry Moore of Alabama, Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, and Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, all of whom are running for reelection, the report said. The group also has attacked Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. All four politicians sent emailed statements condemning China's aggression against American political candidates and its efforts to weaken democracy. In its statement, the Chinese embassy said U.S. officials, politicians and media “have accused China of using news websites and social media accounts to spread so-called disinformation in the US. Such allegations are full of malicious speculations against China, which China firmly opposes.” Iran, which has spent the 2024 campaign going after Trump with disinformation as well as [hacking into the former president’s campaign](https://apnews.com/article/trump-hacking-iran-justice-department-1d7d83ccdc6c879be2802142f1c47191), hasn’t been stymied by ongoing tension in the Middle East, according to the Microsoft report. Quite the opposite, groups linked to Iran have weaponized divided opinions on the Israel-Hamas War to influence American voters, the analysts found. For example, an Iranian operated persona took to Telegram and X to call on Americans to sit out the elections due to the candidates’ support for Israel. Microsoft's report also said it observed an Iranian group compromising an account of a notable Republican politician who had a different account targeted in June. The company would not name the individual but said it was the same person who it had referenced in August as a “former presidential candidate.” The report also warned that the same Iranian group that allegedly [posed as members of the far-right Proud Boys](https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-technology-elections-campaigns-presidential-elections-45741b886657016d25ab844664da40ba) in intimidating emails to voters in 2020 has been scouting swing-state election-related websites and media outlets in recent months. The behavior could “suggest preparations for more direct influence operations as Election Day nears,” Watts said. Iran's mission to the United Nations said in a statement that the allegations in the report “are fundamentally unfounded, and wholly inadmissible.” Even as Russia, China and Iran try to influence voters, intelligence officials said Tuesday there is still no indication they are plotting significant attacks on election infrastructure as a way to disrupt the outcome. If they tried, improvements to election security means there is no way they could alter the results, Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told The Associated Press earlier this month. Intelligence officials on Tuesday also warned that Russia and Iran may try to encourage violent protests in the U.S. after [next month’s election](https://apnews.com/live/2024-election-trump-harris-news-updates), setting the stage for potential complications in the post-election period. \_\_\_ The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative [here](https://www.ap.org/press-releases/2022/ap-announces-sweeping-democracy-journalism-initiative). The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Oct 23, 2024 12:00 PM Russia, Iran, and China are targeting the US election with an evolving array of influence operations in the last days of campaign season.  Photograph: Wildpixel; Getty Images As November 5 draws closer, the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center (MTAC) warned on Wednesday that malicious [foreign influence operations](https://www.wired.com/tag/disinformation/) launched by Russia, China, and Iran against the US presidential election are continuing to evolve and should not be ignored even though they have come to feel inevitable. In the group's fifth report, researchers emphasize the range of ongoing activities as well as the inevitability that attackers will work to stoke doubts about the integrity of the election in its aftermath. In spite of escalating conflict in the Middle East, Microsoft says that Iran has been able to keep up its operations targeting the US election, particularly targeting the Trump campaign and attempting to foment anti-Israel sentiment. Russian actors, meanwhile, have been focused on targeting the Harris campaign with character attacks and AI-generated content, including deepfakes. And China has shifted its focus in recent weeks, researchers say, to target down-ballot Republican candidates as well as sitting members of Congress who promote policies adversarial to China or in conflict with its interests. Crucially, MTAC says it is all but certain that these actors will attempt to stoke division and mistrust in vote security on Election Day and in its immediate aftermath. “As MTAC observed during the 2020 presidential cycle, foreign adversaries will amplify claims of election rigging, voter fraud, or other election integrity issues to sow chaos among the US electorate and undermine international confidence in US political stability,” the researchers wrote in their report. As the 2024 campaign season enters its final phase, the researchers say that they expect to see AI-generated media continuing to show up in new campaigns, particularly because content can spread so rapidly in the charged period immediately around Election Day. The report also notes that Microsoft has detected Iranian actors probing election-related websites and media outlets, “suggesting preparations for more direct influence operations as Election Day nears.” Chinese actors focusing on US congressional races and other figures also indicates a fluency and far-reaching approach to deploying influence operations. China-backed groups have recently launched campaigns against US representative Barry Moore, and US senators Marsha Blackburn and Marco Rubio (who is not currently up for reelection), pushing corruption allegations and promoting opposing candidates. MTAC says that many influence campaigns from all of the actors fail to gain traction. But the efforts are still significant, because the narratives that do break through can have significant impact, and the activity in general contributes to the volume and intensity of false and misleading claims circulating in the information landscape surrounding the election. “History has shown that the ability of foreign actors to rapidly distribute deceptive content can significantly impact public perception and electoral outcomes,” MTAC general manager Clint Watts wrote in a blog post on Wednesday. “With a particular focus on the 48 hours before and after Election Day, voters, government institutions, candidates and parties must remain vigilant to deceptive and suspicious activity online.”

NEW YORK -- Foreign adversaries have shown continued determination to influence the [U.S. election](https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024) –- and there are signs their activity will intensify as Election Day nears, [Microsoft said in a report](https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2024/10/23/as-the-u-s-election-nears-russia-iran-and-china-step-up-influence-efforts/) Wednesday. Russian operatives are doubling down on fake videos to smear Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, while Chinese-linked social media campaigns are maligning down-ballot Republicans who are critical of China, the company’s threat intelligence arm said Wednesday. Meanwhile, Iranian actors who allegedly [sent emails aimed at intimidating U.S. voters](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-iranian-nationals-charged-cyber-enabled-disinformation-and-threat-campaign-designed) in 2020 have been surveying election-related websites and major media outlets, raising concerns they could be preparing for another scheme this year, the tech giant said. The report serves as a warning – [building on others from U.S. intelligence officials](https://apnews.com/article/election-interference-trump-harris-russia-china-efff7f7fcbc71032b1152d011c953eba?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share) – that as the nation enters this critical final stretch and begins counting ballots, the worst influence efforts may be yet to come. U.S. officials say they remain confident that election infrastructure is [secure enough to withstand any attacks](https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-security-misinformation-russia-iran-b93d6bbbf08c5046b4cee70ba7676a52?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share) from American adversaries. Still, in a tight election, foreign efforts to influence voters are raising concern. Microsoft noted that some of the disinformation campaigns it tracks received little authentic engagement from U.S. audiences, but others [have been amplified by unwitting Americans](https://apnews.com/article/walz-russia-disinformation-election-harris-trump-8646b7f354df629cd5d6661ba51e7174), exposing thousands to foreign propaganda in the final weeks of voting. Russia, China and Iran have all rejected claims that they are seeking to meddle with the U.S. election. “The presidential elections are the United States’ domestic affairs. China has no intention and will not interfere in the US election,” the Chinese Embassy said in a statement. “Having already unequivocally and repeatedly announced, Iran neither has any motive nor intent to interfere in the U.S. election; and, it therefore categorically repudiates such accusations,” read a statement from Iran's mission to the United Nations. A message left with the Russian Embassy was not immediately returned on Wednesday. The report reveals an expanding landscape of coordinated campaigns to advance adversaries’ priorities as global wars and economic concerns raise the stakes for the U.S. election around the world. It details a trend also seen in the 2016 and 2020 elections of foreign actors covertly fomenting discord among American voters, furthering a divide in the electorate that has left the nation almost evenly split just 13 days before voting concludes. “History has shown that the ability of foreign actors to rapidly distribute deceptive content can significantly impact public perception and electoral outcomes,” Clint Watts, general manager of the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center, said in a news release. “With a particular focus on the 48 hours before and after Election Day, voters, government institutions, candidates and parties must remain vigilant to deceptive and suspicious activity online.” The report adds to previous findings from [Microsoft](https://apnews.com/article/russia-disinformation-foreign-influence-election-microsoft-7f802f9f4a0efe206fdaad29516b1f7f) and U.S. intelligence that suggest the Kremlin is committed to lambasting Harris’ character online, a sign of its [preference for another Donald Trump presidency](https://apnews.com/article/russia-putin-biden-trump-fb2fece0be7685624a3e3e379a8a3bd3). Russian actors have spent recent months churning out both AI-generated content and more rudimentary spoofs and staged videos spreading disinformation about Harris, Microsoft’s analysts found. Among the fake videos were a staged clip of a park ranger impersonator claiming Harris killed an endangered rhinoceros in Zambia, as well as a video sharing baseless allegations about her running mate Tim Walz, which U.S. intelligence officials also [attributed to Russia this week](https://apnews.com/article/walz-russia-disinformation-election-harris-trump-8646b7f354df629cd5d6661ba51e7174). Morgan Finkelstein, national security spokeswoman for the Harris campaign, condemned Russia's efforts. Another Russian influence actor has been producing fake election-related videos spoofing American organizations from Fox News to the FBI and Wired magazine, according to the report. China over the last several months has focused on down-ballot races, and on general efforts to [sow distrust and democratic dissatisfaction](https://apnews.com/article/china-disinformation-fake-news-russia-3085f10d6edca36f6415d6410e5ef874). A Chinese influence actor widely known as Spamouflage has been using fake social media users to attack down-ballot Republicans who have publicly denounced China, according to Microsoft’s analysts. Candidates targeted have included Rep. Barry Moore of Alabama, Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, and Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, all of whom are running for reelection, the report said. The group also has attacked Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. All four politicians sent emailed statements condemning China's aggression against American political candidates and its efforts to weaken democracy. In its statement, the Chinese embassy said U.S. officials, politicians and media “have accused China of using news websites and social media accounts to spread so-called disinformation in the US. Such allegations are full of malicious speculations against China, which China firmly opposes.” Iran, which has spent the 2024 campaign going after Trump with disinformation as well as [hacking into the former president’s campaign](https://apnews.com/article/trump-hacking-iran-justice-department-1d7d83ccdc6c879be2802142f1c47191), hasn’t been stymied by ongoing tension in the Middle East, according to the Microsoft report. Quite the opposite, groups linked to Iran have weaponized divided opinions on the Israel-Hamas War to influence American voters, the analysts found. For example, an Iranian operated persona took to Telegram and X to call on Americans to sit out the elections due to the candidates’ support for Israel. Microsoft's report also said it observed an Iranian group compromising an account of a notable Republican politician who had a different account targeted in June. The company would not name the individual but said it was the same person who it had referenced in August as a “former presidential candidate.” The report also warned that the same Iranian group that allegedly [posed as members of the far-right Proud Boys](https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-technology-elections-campaigns-presidential-elections-45741b886657016d25ab844664da40ba) in intimidating emails to voters in 2020 has been scouting swing-state election-related websites and media outlets in recent months. The behavior could “suggest preparations for more direct influence operations as Election Day nears,” Watts said. Iran's mission to the United Nations said in a statement that the allegations in the report “are fundamentally unfounded, and wholly inadmissible.” Even as Russia, China and Iran try to influence voters, intelligence officials said Tuesday there is still no indication they are plotting significant attacks on election infrastructure as a way to disrupt the outcome. If they tried, improvements to election security means there is no way they could alter the results, Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told The Associated Press earlier this month. Intelligence officials on Tuesday also warned that Russia and Iran may try to encourage violent protests in the U.S. after [next month’s election](https://apnews.com/live/2024-election-trump-harris-news-updates), setting the stage for potential complications in the post-election period. \_\_\_ The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative [here](https://www.ap.org/press-releases/2022/ap-announces-sweeping-democracy-journalism-initiative). The AP is solely responsible for all content.

China has renewed efforts to curry favour in Pacific island nations, a new report has found, after charting a “resurgence” in Beijing-backed aid and infrastructure funding. Over the past decade, China has lavished billions of dollars on Pacific island nations, part of ongoing efforts to build influence in [competition with the US](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/25/biden-pacific-islands-aid-china) and its allies. Having cut back on Pacific aid at the height of the Covid pandemic, China’s commitments have climbed in recent years, Australia’s Lowy Institute said in a new study. “Beijing has emerged from a pandemic-induced lull with a more competitive, politically targeted model of aid engagement,” the thinktank said in its annual Pacific aid report on Wednesday. “The uptick in Chinese spending has been accompanied by a resurgence in new Chinese project commitments, signalling a revival in its ambition to engage in major infrastructure works in the Pacific.” Australia – traditionally the Pacific’s partner of choice – [remained the largest donor](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/31/australias-support-to-pacific-surges-as-china-focuses-on-friendly-states-aid-map-shows). But US funding now narrowly trails that of China, the second-largest bilateral donor in the region, authors Alexandre Dayant and Riley Duke said. In 2022, the most recent year with complete data, China spent US$256m – up nearly 14% from three years earlier. Australia spent $1.5bn, and the US spent $249m – both figures falling after a sharp increase the previous year. There had been a noticeable shift in the way China engages throughout the region, the report found. Instead of splashing cash in a broad-brush approach, Beijing was increasingly zeroing in on a handful of friendly Pacific states. Solomon Islands and Kiribati were singled out for school upgrades, new roads and government vehicles after [severing diplomatic links with Taiwan](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/16/china-extends-influence-in-pacific-as-solomon-islands-break-with-taiwan) in 2019. Papua New Guinea, which signed a security agreement with the US in 2023, saw development funding from China dwindle.

On a Monday in March, in the heart of China’s capital, more than 2,000 delegates of a rubber-stamp advisory body to the authoritarian government of President Xi Jinping gathered for their annual meeting. One mission of the men and women in attendance was to spread the global influence of China’s Communist Party. Of the throngs of party officials, generals and business executives who watched as [Mr. Xi took the stage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ7qCdLym2U), just 20 people had been invited to represent the country’s vast diaspora, including a single person from the United States: a 69-year-old man from Brooklyn named John Chan. Mr. Chan’s participation reflected a remarkable proximity to the highest levels of power in China, experts said, and marked him as a person on whom the country’s leaders might call for favors. But it was remarkable, too, because of his position at home: He has operated as a power broker in America’s largest city, with immense sway over an important subset of New York politics. For years, Mr. Chan has exerted influence over the city’s ethnic Chinese communities — reaching into back rooms and political clubhouses from Sunset Park in Brooklyn to Manhattan’s Chinatown to Flushing in Queens — to help sway elections, all without drawing much attention. But lately, federal investigations into foreign influence efforts have swirled around city and state government in New York. Mayor Eric Adams has been [charged with conspiring](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/09/26/nyregion/eric-adams-indictment-charges-annotated.html) to accept illegal foreign campaign contributions from Turkey. He has pleaded not guilty. One of his top aides, an Asian affairs director with [ties to China](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/13/nyregion/adams-greco-china-influence-investigation.html), had her homes searched in an investigation by Brooklyn federal prosecutors who have separately brought cases against people they suspect of being Chinese agents. The same prosecutors recently accused an aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul of serving the Chinese government by [blocking](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/03/nyregion/linda-sun-arrested-hochul.html) Taiwanese officials from the governor’s office. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and [log into](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F12%2F09%2Fnyregion%2Fchan-china-nyc-influence.html&asset=opttrunc) your Times account, or [subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F12%2F09%2Fnyregion%2Fchan-china-nyc-influence.html) for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F12%2F09%2Fnyregion%2Fchan-china-nyc-influence.html&asset=opttrunc). Want all of The Times? [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F12%2F09%2Fnyregion%2Fchan-china-nyc-influence.html).

A suspected Chinese spy with business ties to Prince Andrew has been barred from the U.K. because of concerns he posed a threat to national security LONDON -- A suspected Chinese spy with business ties to Prince Andrew has been barred from the U.K. because of concerns he poses a threat to national security. A British immigration tribunal upheld the decision on Thursday in a ruling that revealed the Chinese national had developed such a close relationship with Andrew that he was invited to the prince’s birthday party. Government officials were concerned the man could have misused his influence because the prince was under “considerable pressure” at the time, according to the ruling. British authorities believe the Chinese national, whose name wasn’t released, was working on behalf of the United Front Work Department, an arm of the Chinese Communist Party that is used to influence foreign entities. The government determined that the businessman “was in a position to generate relationships between senior Chinese officials and prominent U.K. figures which could be leveraged for political interference purposes by the Chinese State,” according to the tribunal's decision. Prince Andrew, the younger brother of King Charles III, has been repeatedly criticized for his links to wealthy foreigners, raising concerns that those individuals are trying to buy access to the royal family. Andrew’s finances have been squeezed in recent years after he was forced to step away from royal duties and give up public funding amid concerns about his relationship with [Jeffrey Epstein](https://apnews.com/hub/jeffrey-epstein), the American financier and convicted pedophile who committed suicide in prison in 2019. British intelligence chiefs have become increasingly concerned about China’s efforts to influence U.K. government policy. In 2022, Britain’s domestic intelligence service, known as MI5, warned politicians that a British-Chinese lawyer [had been seeking to improperly influence members of Parliament](https://apnews.com/article/business-europe-china-london-00ec2b52530bdca7c42970e7759bbf85) for years. [A parliamentary researcher was arrested](https://apnews.com/article/uk-britain-china-spying-883477e073cc8e2b5623385c3a118d64) in 2023 on suspicion of providing sensitive information to China. The 50-year-old Chinese national covered by this week’s ruling was described as a man who worked as a junior civil servant in China before he came to the U.K. as a student in 2002. He earned a master’s degree in public administration and public policy at the University of York before starting a business that advises U.K.-based companies on their operations in China. He was granted the right to live and work in the U.K. for an indefinite period in 2013. Although he didn’t make Britain his permanent home, the man told authorities that he spent one to two weeks a month in the country and considered it his “second home.” He was stopped while entering the U.K. on Nov. 6, 2021, and ordered to surrender his mobile phone and other digital devices on which authorities found a letter from a senior adviser to Andrew confirming that he was authorized to act on behalf of the prince in relation to potential partners and investors in China. The letter and other documents highlighted the strength of the relationship between Andrew, his adviser and the Chinese national. “I also hope that it is clear to you where you sit with my principal and indeed his family,” the adviser wrote. “You should never underestimate the strength of that relationship. Outside of his closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on.” The letter went on to describe how they had found a way to work around former private secretaries to the prince and other people who weren’t completely trusted. “Under your guidance, we found a way to get the relevant people unnoticed in and out of the house in Windsor,” the adviser wrote. Andrew lives at the Royal Lodge, a historic country estate near Windsor Castle, west of London.

Getty Images China's United Front Work Department is an arm of the Communist Party The People's Republic of China has a "magic weapon", according to its founding leader Mao Zedong and its current president Xi Jinping. It is called the United Front Work Department - and it is raising as much alarm in the West as Beijing's growing military arsenal. Yang Tengbo, [a prominent businessman who has been linked to Prince Andrew](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyk2981l2wo), is the latest overseas Chinese citizen to be scrutinised - and sanctioned - for his links to the UFWD. The existence of the department is far from a secret. A decades-old and well-documented arm of the Chinese Communist Party, it has been mired in controversy before. Investigators from the US to Australia have cited the UFWD in multiple espionage cases, often accusing Beijing of using it for foreign interference. Beijing has denied all espionage allegations, calling them ludicrous. So what is the UFWD and what does it do? 'Controlling China's message' ----------------------------- The United Front - originally referring to a broad communist alliance - was once hailed by Mao as the key to the Communist Party's triumph in the decades-long Chinese Civil War. After the war ended in 1949 and the party began ruling China, United Front activities took a backseat to other priorities. But in the last decade under Xi, the United Front has seen a renaissance of sorts. Xi's version of the United Front is broadly consistent with earlier incarnations: to "build the broadest possible coalition with all social forces that are relevant", according to Mareike Ohlberg, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund. On the face of it, the UFWD is not shadowy - it even has a website and reports many of its activities on it. But the extent of its work - and its reach - is less clear. While a large part of that work is domestic, Dr Ohlberg said, "a key target that has been defined for United Front work is overseas Chinese". Today, the UFWD seeks to influence public discussions about sensitive issues ranging from Taiwan - which China claims as its territory - to the suppression of ethnic minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang. It also tries to shape narratives about China in foreign media, target Chinese government critics abroad and co-opt influential overseas Chinese figures. "United Front work can include espionage but \[it\] is broader than espionage," Audrye Wong, assistant professor of politics at the University of Southern California, tells the BBC. "Beyond the act of acquiring covert information from a foreign government, United Front activities centre on the broader mobilisation of overseas Chinese," she said, adding that China is "unique in the scale and scope" of such influence activities. Reuters Xi Jinping has pushed for an assertive China abroad China has always had the ambition for such influence, but its rise in recent decades has given Beijing the ability to exercise it. Since Xi became president in 2012, he has been especially proactive in crafting [China's message to the world](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-65247965), enouraging a confrontational ["wolf warrior"](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-64218847) approach to diplomacy and urging his country's diaspora to "tell China's story well". The UFWD operates through various overseas Chinese community organisations, which have vigorously defended the Communist Party beyond its shores. They have censored anti-CCP artwork and protested at the activities of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. The UFWD has also been linked to threats against members of persecuted minorities abroad, such as Tibetans and Uyghurs. But much of the UFWD's work overlaps with other party agencies, operating under what observers have described as "plausible deniability". It is this murkiness that is causing so much suspicion and apprehension about the UFWD. When Yang appealed against his ban from the UK amid espionage allegations, an immigration court ruled that he had downplayed his ties with the UFWD. UK officials allege he leveraged his relationships with influential British figures for Chinese state interference. Yang, however, maintains that he has not done anything unlawful and that the spy allegations are "entirely untrue". Supplied Mr Yang seen here with Prince Andrew Cases like Yang's are becoming increasingly common. In 2022, British Chinese lawyer Christine Lee was accused by the MI5 of acting through the UFWD to cultivate relationships with influential people in the UK. The following year, Liang Litang, a US citizen who ran a Chinese restaurant in Boston, was indicted for providing information about Chinese dissidents in the area to his contacts in the UFWD. And in September, Linda Sun, a former aide in the New York governor's office, was charged with using her position to serve Chinese government interests - receiving benefits, including travel, in return. According to Chinese state media reports, she had met a top UFWD official in 2017, who told her to "be an ambassador of Sino-American friendship". It is not uncommon for prominent and successful Chinese people to be associated with the party, whose approval they often need, especially in the business world. But where is the line between peddling influence and espionage? "The boundary between influence and espionage is blurry" when it comes to Beijing's operations, said Ho-fung Hung, a politics professor at Johns Hopkins University. This ambiguity has intensified after China passed a law in 2017 mandating Chinese nationals and companies to co-operate with intelligence probes, including sharing information with the Chinese government - a move that Dr Hung said "effectively turns everyone into potential spies". The Ministry of State Security has released dramatic propaganda videos warning the public that foreign spies are everywhere and "they are cunning and sneaky ". Some students who were sent on special trips abroad were told by their universities to limit contact with foreigners and were asked for a report of their activities on their return. And yet Xi is keen to promote China to the world. So he has tasked a trusted arm of the party to project strength abroad. And that is becoming a challenge for Western powers - how do they balance doing business with the world's second-largest economy alongside serious security concerns? Wrestling with the long arm of Beijing -------------------------------------- Genuine fears over China's overseas influence are playing into more hawkish sentiments in the West, often leaving governments in a dilemma. [Some, like Australia, have tried to protect themselves with fresh foreign interference laws](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-44624270) that criminalise individuals deemed to be meddling in domestic affairs. In 2020, the US imposed visa restrictions on people seen as active in UFWD activities. An irked Beijing has warned that such laws - and the prosecutions they have spurred - hinder bilateral relations. "The so-called allegations of Chinese espionage are utterly absurd," a foreign ministry spokesperson told reporters on Tuesday in response to a question about Yang. "The development of China-UK relations serves the common interests of both countries." Some experts say that the long arm of China's United Front is indeed concerning. "Western governments now need to be less naive about China's United Front work and take it as a serious threat not only to national security but also to the safety and freedom of many ethnic Chinese citizens," Dr Hung says. But, he adds, "governments also need to be vigilant against anti-Chinese racism and work hard to build trust and co-operation with ethnic Chinese communities in countering the threat together." Getty Images The UFWD has been accused of pressuring overseas dissidents and critics of the Communist Party Last December, Di Sanh Duong, a Vietnam-born ethnic Chinese community leader in Australia, was convicted of planning foreign interference for trying to cosy up to an Australian minister. Prosecutors argued that he was an "ideal target" for the UFWD because he had run for office in the 1990s and boasted ties with Chinese officials. Duong's trial had centred around what he meant when he said the inclusion of the minister at a charity event would be beneficial to "us Chinese" - did he mean the Chinese community in Australia, or mainland China? In the end, Duong's conviction - and a prison sentence - raised serious concerns that such broad anti-espionage laws and prosecutions can easily become [weapons for targeting ethnic Chinese people.](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-54595120) "It's important to remember that not everyone who is ethnically Chinese is a supporter of the Chinese Communist Party. And not everyone who is involved in these diaspora organisations is driven by fervent loyalty to China," Dr Wong says. "Overly aggressive policies based on racial profiling will only legitimise the Chinese government's propaganda that ethnic Chinese are not welcome and end up pushing diaspora communities further into Beijing's arms."

After joining the Chinese leader Xi Jinping for dinner last year, Mayor London Breed of San Francisco accompanied him to the airport to bid him farewell. There, on the tarmac, she made her request: pandas. Her city’s zoo was faltering. Tourism was suffering and she faced a tough re-election campaign. A pair of pandas from China would be a political and public relations win. What ensued were months of informal negotiations, with Ms. Breed — a politician with no foreign affairs or security experience — becoming a diplomat of sorts. She went to China, where she met the vice president and a deputy foreign minister, her calendars and emails show. She traveled with the editor of Sing Tao U.S., a pro-Beijing newspaper that registers as a foreign agent in the United States, according to other records and photographs from the trip. All of this was organized by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, a group that American intelligence officials [have concluded](https://2017-2021.state.gov/designation-of-the-national-association-for-chinas-peaceful-unification-nacpu-as-a-foreign-mission-of-the-prc/) seeks to “malignly influence” local leaders. Unlike traveling Washington politicians, Ms. Breed received no C.I.A. briefing about what counterintelligence threats she might face in China and how officials there might try to manipulate her. Mayor London Breed of San Francisco, left, and Wu Minglu, a Chinese wildlife conservation official, at a signing ceremony in Beijing in April to lease giant pandas to the American city.Credit...Liu Zheng/Associated Press If Ms. Breed wanted pandas, China had an interest in the meeting, too — as a way to cultivate a relationship with the mayor of one of America’s most technologically important cities. There is no evidence of any quid pro quo or wrongdoing, but intelligence officials say that China is increasingly looking to wield influence in local governments as its sway in Washington diminishes. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and [log into](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F12%2F19%2Fworld%2Fasia%2Fchina-influence-city-local-government-pandas-intelligence.html&asset=opttrunc) your Times account, or [subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F12%2F19%2Fworld%2Fasia%2Fchina-influence-city-local-government-pandas-intelligence.html) for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F12%2F19%2Fworld%2Fasia%2Fchina-influence-city-local-government-pandas-intelligence.html&asset=opttrunc). Want all of The Times? [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F12%2F19%2Fworld%2Fasia%2Fchina-influence-city-local-government-pandas-intelligence.html).

There was talk of a high-speed rail line that China would build in Panama. A new subway line in Panama City. A modern container port. China has been working to build ties and influence in Panama for years, part of its broader ambition to expand its footprint in Latin America. The effort has had some successes, but also plenty of setbacks. In 2017, China scored a major victory when Panama cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as its territory, and recognized Beijing instead. Panama had been one of the few countries worldwide to recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state. The following year, Panama became the first Latin American country to sign onto the Belt and Road Initiative, the Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s signature global infrastructure program, which is aimed at enlarging China’s geopolitical heft and countering American influence. A flurry of ambitious promises followed. China proposed to build a 250-mile high-speed rail line from Panama City, the capital, toward the western border with Costa Rica. It offered to help build a new subway line in Panama City. A consortium of Chinese companies, led by the conglomerate Landbridge, began developing a container port that was promised to be Panama’s most modern one. A Chinese state-owned company also won a $1.4 billion contract to build a fourth bridge over the Panama Canal. Eventually, the two countries said they would negotiate a free-trade agreement. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and [log into](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F01%2F15%2Fworld%2Fasia%2Fchina-panama-explained.html&asset=opttrunc) your Times account, or [subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F01%2F15%2Fworld%2Fasia%2Fchina-panama-explained.html) for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F01%2F15%2Fworld%2Fasia%2Fchina-panama-explained.html&asset=opttrunc). Want all of The Times? [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F01%2F15%2Fworld%2Fasia%2Fchina-panama-explained.html).

Unlock seamless, secure login experiences with [**Auth0**](https://auth0.com/signup?utm_source=sourceforge&utm_campaign=global_mult_mult_all_ciam-dev_dg-plg_auth0_display_sourceforge_banner_3p_PLG-SFSiteSearchBanner_utm2&utm_medium=cpc&utm_id=aNK4z000000UIV7GAO)—where authentication meets innovation. Scale your business confidently with flexible, developer-friendly tools built to protect your users and data. [**Try for FREE here**](https://auth0.com/signup?utm_source=sourceforge&utm_campaign=global_mult_mult_all_ciam-dev_dg-plg_auth0_display_sourceforge_banner_3p_PLG-SFSiteSearchBanner_utm2&utm_medium=cpc&utm_id=aNK4z000000UIV7GAO) × 175962313 story [](//tech.slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=social)[](//tech.slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=china) Posted by [BeauHD](https://www.linkedin.com/in/beauhd/) on Friday January 17, 2025 @06:20PM from the fate-loves-irony dept. Longtime Slashdot reader [tlhIngan](/~tlhIngan) writes: _In what is perhaps the greatest irony ever, the operators of RedNote (known as [Xiaohongshu](https://www.xiaohongshu.com/explore)) have decided to "wall off" US TikTok refugees fleeing to its service as the [TikTok ban looms](https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/01/17/1518232/supreme-court-upholds-law-banning-tiktok-if-its-not-sold-by-its-chinese-parent-company). The reason? The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) [wants to prevent American influence from spreading to Chinese citizens](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/rednote-may-wall-off-tiktok-refugees-to-prevent-us-influence-on-chinese-users/). The ban is expected to be in place next week, while many believe that the [influx of Americans](https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/01/15/0729235/tiktok-users-flocks-to-chinese-social-app-xiaohongshu) to be temporary and just a reaction to the TikTok ban to move to another Chinese app. Many Chinese users are not happy with the influx as having "ruined" their ability to connect with "Chinese culture, Chinese values and Chinese news."_