French researchers published a report on China's global influence operations. It shows that wars of opinion, wars of law, and psychological warfare are organized and coordinated from a military base in southeast China.

The Strategic Research Institute of the Military Academy (IRSEM) in Paris released a 650-page report on the subject Sept. 20.

The report covers a wide range of Chinese influence, from the strategy and measures of influence operations to the actors conducting the operations. One of the key players is Military Base 311 - a command center dedicated to implementing the "three wars" strategy.

What does the three-war strategy mean? And how are they implemented?

In just over 30 pages, the authors of the report on China's influence operations described the tasks of Military Base 311.

Already in existence for 16 years, Base 311 was established in 2005 in the city of Fuzhou. During the military reform initiated in 2015, it was integrated into the Strategic Combat Support Force.

The mission of this military base is to implement the "three-war strategy." It is thus responsible for the operational aspect of political warfare.

Political warfare is understood to be a form of warfare that is carried out by the military but not through the military.

What are the "three wars?"

The three-wars are:

1. opinion warfare

1. psychological warfare

1. legal war

The goal of the public opinion war is to win over the target audiences - not only the opposing country, but also the international community in general - to the position advocated by the Chinese government. It is about which narrative, which version of the facts will prevail in public opinion.

All kinds of media such as press, radio, television, social networks (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, WeChat, Weibo, TikTok, Plurk, etc.), cinema and books are used as tools. They are used to push through a version of the facts as quickly as possible and to frame the debate - because first impressions, even if wrong, leave a stronger impression than later impressions.

For example, the report indicates that 2 million Chinese citizens are paid full-time to spread Beijing's propaganda, and 20 million would work part-time if asked. Their tasks are to occupy social media platforms, flooding them with pro-Beijing messages while giving the impression of genuine opinions and spontaneous support for China. In addition, their task is to denounce regime critics at home and abroad.

Psychological warfare is used to demoralize, deter, cast doubt on, and even terrorize opponents in order to undermine their ability and will to fight.

This is done by exploiting all potential fissures and disagreements in the opposing country to paralyze the decision-making process. Divisiveness will be used to break the motivation of the opponents and the confidence of the population.

What is meant by legal warfare?

It means using the judiciary as a "weapon of war" to attack or sanction individuals or states considered hostile.

Military Base 311 is practically considered the command center of the spread of Chinese influence. Here, operations are organized and coordinated on a professional basis.

Despite its important position, Military Base 311 has remained relatively unknown because it always works in the background. Radio stations, media companies, publishing houses form its civilian facades to the outside world. These include, for example, the "China Huayi Broadcasting Corporation" (CHBC) or the "Voice of the Strait" (VTS), says the report, which also refers to the Haifeng publishing house, whose connection, to the knowledge of researchers at the Strategic Institute of the Military Academy in Paris, has not been known before.

More than 50 researchers contributed to the comprehensive report on China's influence operations.

Epoch Times Germany