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The CCP aims to make China a “global leader in terms of comprehensive national power and
international influence,” as General Secretary Xi expressed in 2017, by strengthening what
it refers to as “the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics.” This system is rooted
in Beijing’s interpretation of Marxist-Leninist ideology and combines a nationalistic, single-
party dictatorship; a state-directed economy; deployment of science and technology in the
service of the state; and the subordination of individual rights to serve CCP ends. This runs
counter to principles shared by the United States and many likeminded countries of
representative government, free enterprise, and the inherent dignity and worth of every
individual.
Internationally, the CCP promotes General Secretary Xi’s vision for global governance under
the banner of “building a community of common destiny for mankind.” Beijing’s efforts to
compel ideological conformity at home, however, present an unsettling picture of what a
CCP-led “community” looks like in practice: (1) an anticorruption campaign that has purged
political opposition; (2) unjust prosecutions of bloggers, activists, and lawyers;
(3) algorithmically determined arrests of ethnic and religious minorities; (4) stringent
controls over and censorship of information, media, universities, businesses, and
non-governmental organizations; (5) surveillance and social credit scoring of citizens,
corporations, and organizations; and (6) and arbitrary detention, torture, and abuse of
people perceived to be dissidents. In a stark example of domestic conformity, local officials
publicized a book burning event at a community library to demonstrate their ideological
alignment to “Xi Jinping Thought.”
One disastrous outgrowth of such an approach to governance is Beijing’s policies in Xinjiang,
where since 2017, authorities have detained more than a million Uighurs and members of
other ethnic and religious minority groups in indoctrination camps, where many endure
forced labor, ideological indoctrination, and physical and psychological abuse. Outside these
camps, the regime has instituted a police state employing emerging technologies such as
artificial intelligence and biogenetics to monitor ethnic minorities’ activities to ensure
allegiance to the CCP. Widespread religious persecution – of Christians, Tibetan Buddhists,
Muslims, and members of Falun Gong – includes the demolition and desecration of places of
worship, arrests of peaceful believers, forced renunciations of faith, and prohibitions on
raising children in traditions of faith.
The CCP’s campaign to compel ideological conformity does not stop at China’s borders. In
recent years, Beijing has intervened in sovereign nations’ internal affairs to engineer consent
for its policies. PRC authorities have attempted to extend CCP influence over discourse and
behavior around the world, with recent examples including companies and sports teams in
the United States and the United Kingdom and politicians in Australia and Europe. PRC
actors are exporting the tools of the CCP’s techno-authoritarian model to countries around
the world, enabling authoritarian states to exert control over their citizens and surveil
opposition, training foreign partners in propaganda and censorship techniques, and using
bulk data collection to shape public sentiment.
China’s party-state controls the world’s most heavily resourced set of propaganda tools.
Beijing communicates its narrative through state-run television, print, radio, and online