China appears to be copying the Kremlin’s methods and trying to highlight America’s shortcomings, using them as offensive weapons to incite cultural clashes and politicize public debate in American society, analysts say.

Like the Kremlin and Russian state media, Chinese propagandists have focused on racial problems and economic disparities in the US and Western Europe to divert attention from Beijing’s human rights abuses, including the deportation of one million Uyghurs, observers say.

“Civil unrest in the US following police violence against African-American individuals has been used as a counterpoint to criticism of police repression of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong,” according to a recent study by the Altantic Council, a US-based think tank.

“Chinese disinformation efforts are becoming more sophisticated,” adds Dexter Roberts, a fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Asia Security Initiative and author of the report, “China’s Disinformation Strategy.”

Sarah Cook, an analyst at the New York-based Freedom House organization that has conducted studies on the state of democracy and human rights, points out in an article in the Freedom House magazine that Beijing’s disinformation tactics are becoming more sophisticated. mature and more sophisticated.

She says that recent studies show that “significant human and financial resources are being dedicated to disinformation efforts and that their level of sophistication and influence has increased.”

“When social media accounts linked to China appeared on the global disinformation scene in 2019, most analysts concluded that their influence and reach were quite limited, especially the interaction with real social media users compared with more sophisticated actors like Russia. But as expected, it seems that the situation is changing”, she says.

Chinese messages on social media reflect Beijing’s increasing focus on racial tensions in the US.

Last month, Beijing published a report on human rights violations and the treatment of racial minorities in the US, arguing that “racism exists in a general, systematic and persistent form”. Ethnic minorities in the US are “crushed by racial discrimination,” the Chinese government report said.

The report, released by China’s State Information Council Office, says the pandemic in America has gotten out of control, exacerbating inter-ethnic tensions and social divisions, which “further deepens human rights violations in this country.” , this document states.

For years, the Chinese government has responded to criticism of human rights violations by saying that other countries should not interfere in Beijing’s “internal affairs.”

Now, analysts say, Beijing’s strategy has become more confrontational and is trying to change the game vis-à-vis the West by copying the Kremlin’s tactics.

A few days after the release of the Chinese report, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan had a heated exchange with their Chinese counterparts during a bilateral meeting in Alaska, the first meeting for President Joe Biden’s administration.

In his comments at the opening of the meeting, Mr. Blinken raised “Washington’s deep concerns regarding Chinese actions, including policies in the province of Xinjiang, or against Hong Kong, Taiwan, as well as regarding cyber attacks on the US and economic pressure on our allies.” .

US officials said China’s actions threaten the rules-based order that guarantees global stability.

“That’s why these are not just internal issues, that’s why we feel it our duty to raise them here today for discussion”, said Mr. Blinken in his opening comments in the presence of journalists.

Yang Jiechi, the Chinese Communist Party’s foreign policy chief responded with a 17-minute lecture.

He complained about “American interference in Beijing’s internal affairs” but also mentioned criticism of America.

“China has made steady progress in the field of human rights. And it is a fact that within the United States there are many problems related to human rights”, he said.

Mr. Blinken answered: “Throughout our history we have faced these challenges and problems openly, in a public and transparent manner. We have not tried to ignore them. We didn’t pretend they didn’t exist. We have not tried to sweep them under the rug”.

The harsh Chinese rhetoric was evidence of an increasingly offensive strategy by Beijing. This is in line with China’s “Wolf Attack” diplomacy that began to emerge in 2020 after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi instructed Beijing’s emissaries to be stronger in their stances in defense of Chinese interests abroad as well as more vocal at home. defense of the Chinese government and the Communist Party in the face of criticism.

The tone and temper of Chinese diplomacy has noticeably hardened. Chinese diplomats in Western capitals are taking a far more confrontational and confrontational stance that differs markedly from the practice under Deng Xiaoping, who ruled the country from 1978 until his retirement in 1992.

Chinese ambassadors, traditionally considered the most reserved in the world, are showing a very different personality.

The world has reacted by accusing them of spreading fake news, retouched and manipulated images and false comparisons between the shortcomings of the West and the policies of the Chinese government.

Source: Telegrafi.com