Chinese Communist Party uses political warfare to undermine the West, says State Dept. official

The Chinese Communist Party is using political warfare tactics to try to influence free societies around the globe, according to the State Department.

David Stilwell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs said during a virtual discussion with Stanford's Hoover Institution that the way the Chinese government has gone about increasing its global influence is "covert, coercive, and corrupting."

The ruling Chinese Communist Party, Stilwell said, calls its activities "United Front Work," but Western countries understand them better as acts of political warfare.

United Front Work — meaning, work coordinated by the United Front Work Department of the CCP — involves the work of thousands of organizations abroad that carry out political missions pertaining to the suppression of dissident movements against the CCP, gathering of information, and transfer of information and proprietary technology to the Chinese government. 

According to Stilwell, most groups that work with the United Front worldwide "try to present themselves as independent, grassroots-type NGOs, cultural-exchange forums, 'friendship' associations, chambers of commerce, media outlets, or academic groups."

"All told, we face a large and deliberately opaque amalgam of Chinese Communist Party officials, agents, and cutouts seeking advantage in our societies," he continued.

The Trump administration with help from Justice Department has recently cracked down on a number of CCP-related groups and actions, the results of which have included a series of sanctions being leveled against China over the past few months. 

United States officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have been encouraging U.S. allies to follow suit and impose harsher sanctions against China in an effort to pressure the country to behave transparently and accountably.

"The Chinese Communist Party poses a real risk to our basic way of life — prosperity, security, and liberty all," Stilwell said. "Our task is to recognize it, alert others, and together take the steps needed to defend our freedoms."