Chinese President Xi Jinping this week visited his PLA Marine troops and gave a rousing speech calling on them to “put all (their) minds and energy on preparing for war,” according to a state-run news organization. He ordered soldiers to “maintain a state of high alert” and to be “absolutely loyal, absolutely pure, and absolutely reliable.” While this is reminiscent of standard Chinese propaganda to the troops, US military analysts believe something new is happening within the CCP. President Xi is injecting a revived sense of ideological conviction into his speeches and other pronouncements coming out of Beijing. Is this a preparatory phase in a future physical war or simply another stage of development in China’s ongoing persuasion operations? Some in the US intelligence community are increasingly concerned that China may be preparing for actual military action against Taiwan, or perhaps the capture of some of the outlying islands between China and Taiwan. Increased ideological fervor could be part of that preparation.
A recently translated essay by Huang Xianghuai, a senior researcher at the CCP Central Party School, exposes a new sense of urgency within the CCP reinforcing its “ideological work.” Huang cites several key senior Party leadership messages intended for lower ranking cadre and governments officials. What is concerning to the US intelligence community is the chasm in tone between external propaganda aimed at the West, which speaks to a positive US-China relationship based on peaceful relations in 2020, and “darker” internal documents such as Huang’s meant only for bureaucrats and Party cadre. “Nei bu wen jian” or “internal documents” reveal a more sinister approach to China’s foreign relations.
Huang writes that “When China actively absorbs and borrows from the excellent achievements of human society for our use, it is in order to gain comparative advantages over capitalism and take our own path to prosperity, without, however, forgetting our roots or mechanically copying the development models of other countries.” He points out that President Xi says ideology determines the direction of progress in China, calling it the “calcium” of a communist’s spirit. When deficient, he suggests, cadre could sway and go down “the slippery slope of ideals….” Which “is the most dangerous kind.” The “biggest political power lies in winning people’s hearts.”
China’s Confucius Institutes in the United States are being exposed as Chinese propaganda operations intended to win American hearts and minds. They are part of a larger program to weaken western resolve. China doesn’t want to be held accountable for its abusive actions in Xinjiang against its Uighur minority, aggressive anti-democratic actions in Hong Kong, or for its military aggression toward Taiwan, among other issues. Huang argues that there is “no power greater than the kind of power that can manipulate people’s concepts, thinking, and intentions.” He adds that “If we liken national power to a tabletop, the four legs supporting that table are economic power, military power, ideological power, and political power.” Analysts are watching closely to see if this revving up of “ideological power” is priming the Chinese for future military action.
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China’s understanding of the media is that it should lead opinion, not report it. He says that “proper management and use of the internet is critical for firmly mastering news and public opinion…” and that “to firmly maintain internet ideology dominance is to protect the sovereignty and authority of the State.” To control hearts and minds, domestically and abroad, China believes it must control the press, the Internet, and strictly limit ideas to those approved by the Party apparatus. The question left unanswered today is — Does this ideologically-based Marxist methodology serve China as a precursor to actual military action?
DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government. Each Friday, she presents key updates on China.
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