Russian and Chinese sharp power | Financial Times 11/02/2020, 09(33

Chinese politics & policy

Russian and Chinese sharp power

Authoritarian regimes in Beijing and Moscow are asserting control over the realm of
ideas

Chinese premier Li Keqiang, with Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull at a sports match in Sydney in
March 2017. Australia has served as testing grounds for intrusions into democratic political institutions by
Beijing © Getty

Christopher Walker JULY 8 2018

Russian intrusions into democratic institutions around the

world have been in the spotlight for some time. But as a recent
letter from a bipartisan group of US senators warns, China is
also getting into the business of interfering in democracies
through the exertion of what might be called “sharp power”.

The authoritarian regimes in China and Russia are preying on

the openness of democracies. And this situation presents
challenges distinct from the cold war era, which did not afford
autocrats so many opportunities for action within democratic
societies.

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China, especially, has cultivated economic leverage as a tool

for getting others to play by its rules, often with the aim of
limiting free expression. The spectacle of large international
companies bending to the Chinese Communist party’s
restrictive standards of expression is chilling.

Although information is increasingly globalised and internet

access is spreading, today’s authoritarians have managed to
reassert control over the realm of ideas. In both China and
Russia, the state dominates the information environment, and
the authorities use digital technologies to press their
advantage at home and abroad.

Beijing and Moscow are claiming larger roles on the global

stage. Their ability to exert influence abroad has created a
need for new concepts that can adequately describe this new
situation.

Chief among them is the idea of sharp power. This describes

an approach to international affairs that involves efforts at
censorship and the use of manipulation to sap the integrity of
independent institutions. Neither “hard” nor “soft” sharp
power has the effect of limiting free expression and distorting
the political environment. It is sharp in that it seeks to pierce
or penetrate the political and information environments of
targeted countries.

One well-known recent example of this is Russia’s interference

in foreign elections, with the goal of undermining the health
and credibility of democratic regimes. China is following suit.
Australia and New Zealand have served as testing grounds for
intrusions into democratic political institutions by Beijing and
its surrogates. Australian authorities have identified an

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Russian and Chinese sharp power | Financial Times 11/02/2020, 09(33

unprecedented effort by the CCP to infiltrate the country’s

political and foreign affairs circles, as well as to gain more
influence over its growing Chinese population. Similar actions
have come to light in New Zealand, where the CCP pursues its
political and economic agendas by co-opting local elites and
securing access to strategic information and resources.

The corrosive effects of sharp power are not limited to the

political realm. They are increasingly felt in the cultural
sphere, in academia, the media and publishing. These sectors
are crucial in determining how citizens of democracies
understand the world around them; but they are also
vulnerable to self-censorship. The circumstances surrounding
the removal of Stephen Morgan from the management board
of the University of Nottingham Ningbo after he wrote an
essay critical of the CCP are emblematic of the danger.

A growing number of democracies are straining to deal with

the projection of authoritarian influence through sharp power.
The challenge is multi-faceted, and so must be any response.
Society-wide countermeasures are needed, but we must take
care that they do not make things worse. Democracies cannot
sacrifice their own values in order to protect themselves
against outside interference. Dedicated effort is needed to
defend democratic systems from intrusion. Publishers,
university administrators, media executives and others who
find themselves facing the gambits of sharp power must
redouble their commitment to democratic norms.

As long as China and Russia remain unfree societies in which

independent institutions are unable to hold the leadership
accountable, their authoritarian regimes will continue to exert
sharp power. Democracies must draw upon their reserves of

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Russian and Chinese sharp power | Financial Times 11/02/2020, 09(33

innovation and determination as free societies to meet this

formidable challenge.

The writer is vice-president for studies and analysis at the

National Endowment for Democracy

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Limited 2020.
All rights reserved.

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