China's Strategy of Political Warfare

Audio Brief

A short, spoken-word summary from CSIS’s Seth Jones on his report with Emily Harding, Catrina Doxsee, Jake Harrington, and Riley McCabe, Competing without Fighting: China’s Strategy of Political Warfare.

Audio file

China is conducting an unprecedented campaign below the threshold of armed conflict to expand the influence of the Chinese Communist Party and weaken the United States and its partners. This campaign involves sophisticated Chinese espionage activities, offensive cyber operations, disinformation on social media platforms, economic coercion, and influence operations targeting companies, universities, and other organizations. The scale of China’s actions in the United States is unparalleled. This report offers one of the most comprehensive analyses to date of Chinese political warfare activities and examines China’s main actions, primary goals, and options for the United States and its partners.

This report is made possible by generous support from the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation.

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Seth G. Jones
President, Defense and Security Department; Harold Brown Chair
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Emily Harding
Vice President, Defense and Security Department; Director, Intelligence, National Security, and Technology Program
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Catrina Doxsee

Catrina Doxsee

Former Fellow, Warfare, Irregular Threats, and Terrorism Program
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Jake Harrington

Jake Harrington

Former Intelligence Fellow, International Security Program
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Riley McCabe
Associate Fellow, Warfare, Irregular Threats, and Terrorism Program