The Silent Erosion of Sovereignty - a Sino-Australian case study

While the West has been predominantly grappling with disinformation campaigns stemming from the Kremlin, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has employed phase zero influence operations that have wittingly or unwittingly eroded the sovereignty of both Australia and New Zealand. Spearheaded by the United Front Work Department (UFWD), the CCP aims to effectively undermine the integrity of the organic political processes to manufacture a friendly political environment for Beijing. Beginning in 2000, CCP-directed influence and disinformation campaigns in Australia and New Zealand went largely underreported and unchecked for far too long. Australia needed some US “persuading” in the context of China’s increased maritime aggression in the South China Sea to first recognize and then counter Chinese hostile cyber-based information and influence operations. With the present government of Scott Morrison in charge, Australia has finally become one of the most outspoken critics of the CCP’s interference and meddling in internal affairs in the Asia-Pacific.