Disinformation
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Conflicts - Tensions
China deploys army of fake NGOs at U.N. to intimidate critics, probe finds
Agence France-Presse China is deploying a growing army of groups masquerading as nongovernmental organizations (NGO) to monitor and intimidate rights activists at the United Nations, an investigation found. Dubbed “China Targets,” the investigation involving 42 media organizations delves into the tactics Beijing uses to silence critics beyond its borders. One segment of the probe published in April 2025 by the…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Philippines to investigate possible election interference by Chinese government
Reuters Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered an investigation into allegations of foreign interference in the May 2025 midterm national and local elections after a top security official warned that Chinese government-sponsored groups may be attempting to influence the outcomes. “This is truly alarming,” Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said. “We will conduct a thorough investigation so we can…
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Conflicts - Tensions
PRC’s AI assistant, DeepSeek, censors information about Beijing
Voice of America Users of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) new artificial intelligence (AI) assistant, DeepSeek, say there is real-time censorship of its answers, calling into question its ability to provide accurate and unbiased information. Users discovered that questions DeepSeek was previously able to answer are now met with the message, “Sorry, that’s beyond my current scope. Let’s talk…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Philippine comic book targets PRC information manipulation in South China Sea dispute
The Associated Press The Philippines launched a comic book in January 2025 to counter the People Republic of China’s (PRC) information manipulation campaign to push its expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea. In the 40-page book, titled “The Stories of Teacher Jun,” a fictional Filipino teacher and his young students discuss the complex territorial disputes in simple terms.…
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Fake news, nonexistent journalists part of Beijing’s information manipulation scheme
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS When United States diplomat Kurt Campbell traveled to the Solomon Islands to counter the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) influence in the South Pacific country, he saw just how far Beijing would go to spread its message. Campbell, now the U.S. deputy secretary of state, woke up one morning in 2022 to a long article in the local…
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PRC pushes propaganda, manipulated information about human rights abuses
Voice of America The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is using new propaganda campaigns to obscure its human rights abuses against Tibetans and Uyghurs. The PRC recently invited foreign bloggers to Xinjiang in northwest China, home to millions of Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority. It also inaugurated a communication center to produce content spreading PRC-favored information about Tibet, which…
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Palau’s upcoming election triggers concern over PRC manipulated information
Jessica Caterson Palau, a Blue Pacific nation of 22,000 people, will hold its presidential election in November 2024. It comes amid increasing influence attempts by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and a potential manipulated information campaign aimed at swaying results, a frequent strategy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Palau, in conjunction with Taiwan and the United States, began…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Beijing’s support for Russia casts doubt on claims of respect for other nations’ sovereignty
FORUM Staff Days before Russia’s unprovoked 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) top foreign policy official claimed that Beijing respects the sovereignty and independence of all nations, including Ukraine. Days afterward, the PRC abstained from a United Nations Security Council vote demanding Russia stop its attack on Kyiv. A decade earlier, the PRC pledged “to provide…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Taiwan provides insights for democracies to counter cognitive warfare
FORUM Staff Democracies can learn lessons from Taiwan to counter cognitive influence operations, according to a new journal article. In the piece, Taiwan Army Col. Hsu Min-Cheng, a doctoral student at Taiwan’s National Defense University, explores how entities such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) employ techniques and emerging technologies such as deepfakes to stoke societal divisions and subvert national…
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Report: More than 700,000 Tibetans forced to relocate
Radio Free Asia The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) forced relocation of more than 700,000 Tibetans from their homes since 2016 has led to joblessness, economic hardship and social exclusion, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW). Of those uprooted under purported poverty-reduction measures, 567,000 lived scattered across the region and 140,000 in villages. The May 2024 report,…
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