In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a member of the Chinese honor guard unfurls the Chinese national flag during a flag raising ceremony to mark the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China held …China’s communist government is engaged in large-scale political warfare and influence efforts it calls united front operations that are seeking to subvert all sectors of the United States, according to an investigation by the House oversight committee.
Retired Marine Corps Col. Grant Newsham, a former intelligence officer and expert on China, told the committee that China is working to break the two-ocean geographic barrier that has protected the United States from its enemies. Cyberattacks to steal technology and information with “territorial warfare” – purchases of U.S. land by Chinese-linked buyers — also are part of the political warfare, Col. Newsham said.Col. Newsham said one of the more effective Chinese methods is psychological warfare.
Peter Mattis, a former intelligence official who specializes in China affairs, said Beijing’s political warfare is strategic in seeking a new world order under control of the CCP. Chinese President Xi has called united front influence work to be a “magic weapon” for the CCP to overcome its capitalist enemies, Mr. Mattis said.
Chinese companies under control of the Communist Party are influencing American businesses and financial institutions, he said. Those companies in turn are influencing the American political process in ways that seek to maintain economic connections to the CCP, he said. “This is not by accident, but through a measured socio-political model developed after thorough study of how the Soviet Union succumbed to western liberalism during the first Cold War,” he said.