The U.S. House of Representatives in early September passed 25 (mostly bipartisan) new anti-China bills. Among these, media outlets have focused on bill H.R.1157, which authorizes the appropriation of over $1.6 billion in the next five years to support "independent" media and civil organizations to counter China's influence globally.

It has long been a routine U.S. Government tactic to spend money on manipulating public opinion to suppress its rivals, especially China. Here is an example of its operation. In May 2022, Zimbabwean newspaper The Standard published a report accusing a Chinese mining company of mistreating local workers, claiming that one worker had been injured, hospitalized and subsequently dismissed. However, another one of the country's newspapers, The Herald, quickly refuted these claims with substantial evidence, confirming that while a dispute had indeed occurred between the Zimbabwean and Chinese laborers, the worker in question had neither been beaten nor dismissed. The Herald also revealed that several Zimbabwean journalists had been directed by the Information for Development Trust, an "independent" investigative journalism center in Zimbabwe funded by the U.S. Embassy in the country, to target Chinese enterprises and focus on "problems." After publishing such articles, journalists could collect a payment of $1,000 per article through embassy agents.

In recent years, the U.S. has upped its investment in global social media platforms. In August 2022, the Stanford Internet Observatory at Stanford University, California, in collaboration with social media analytics firm Graphika, released a report titled Unheard Voice: Evaluating Five Years of Pro-Western Covert Influence Operations. The report pointed out that the U.S. Government utilizes social media to influence international public opinion and manipulate global narratives regarding, for instance, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China. The entire operation involves using artificial intelligence to generate profile photos, impersonating fake media organizations that claim to be independent, copying and pasting content, and creating trending hashtags to spark discussion.

Although Chinese people have become accustomed to these propaganda tactics, what mostly confuses many is not necessarily that the U.S. continues to use the Cold War-era confrontational thinking in the 21st century, but rather that Americans openly and unabashedly express using such methods. In Chinese philosophy, competition requires strategic thinking, and applying deceitful tactics is considered a disgrace. If an individual or a country prides itself on using underhanded methods, this will often lead to a loss of credibility.

So when then U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo publicly stated in an April 2019 speech that, "We lied, we cheated, we stole. We had entire courses dedicated to that. This is the glory of America's relentless pursuit of progress," the Chinese found it completely incomprehensible.

What the Chinese value is the concept of yangmou (literally "open strategy"), which corresponds to the idea of overt strategies as opposed to covert schemes. In modern standard Chinese, yangmou can often be understood as a method of openly seeking self-improvement based on existing strengths. In recent years, the Western world has dominated international discourse and shaped global public opinion, making it difficult for China's voice to be heard. Compared to Western media outlets and institutions that have extensive experience in setting the agenda and creating "topics," China is less inclined to adopt similar tactics. Thus, whenever a new anti-China narrative pops up, the country often finds itself defensively trying to prove its innocence, remaining largely reactive.

For China, the most important open strategy in dealing with the U.S.-initiated new propaganda battle is to invite more young people and tourists from the West to visit China, encouraging them to see the real China with their own eyes. Last November, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that to enhance exchange between Chinese and Americans, particularly among the younger generations, China will invite 50,000 American students to come to China for exchange and study over the following five years.

Since November 17, 2023, China's 144-hour visa-free transit policy has been benefiting tourists from 54 countries, including the U.S. and other Western nations.

The growing influx of Western visitors has resulted in more and more videos, images and written records depicting the real China being widely circulated online. Some critics argue that China is putting on one big "Truman Show" for these tourists. If what they say is true, then this reality show, starring over 1.4 billion actors, is undoubtedly the largest theatrical spectacle in human history.

China's influence stems from its growing economic strength and national confidence. And based on historical experience, conspiracies will eventually be exposed. An open strategy is typically invincible because it is grounded in the truth. 

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon

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