TY - BOOK

T1 - Testimony before the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission Hearing on "China’s Global Influence and Interference Activities"

AU - Chubb, Andrew

PY - 2023/3/23

Y1 - 2023/3/23

N2 - Rather than a singular national security challenge, the PRC’s attempts to influence andinterfere in politics inside other countries are better understood as the sources of a diverse set of risks to liberal democracy. Issues such as electoral interference or elite cooptation present significant risks to national security, but the most demonstrable overseas impact of Beijing’s interference has been on civil liberties and human rights, particularly inside diaspora communities. None of the Five Eyes countries has adequately tackled these effects.Addressing the PRC’s influence and interference attempts is an opportunity to fundamentally strengthen democratic institutions. However, it is crucial that policy responses recognize and maintain distinctions between issues of national security and civil liberties, both in order to ensure effectiveness and to avoid further unintended harm to liberal democracy.Although widely cited as an example to follow, Australia’s response also illustrates the drawbacks of an aggregated national security approach to diverse issues of influence and interference. To counter the most impactful PRC overseas political activities in a rights-oriented manner consistent with liberal democratic principles, this submission recommends the establishment of a Transnational Rights Protection Office affiliated with each country’s national human rights institution.

AB - Rather than a singular national security challenge, the PRC’s attempts to influence andinterfere in politics inside other countries are better understood as the sources of a diverse set of risks to liberal democracy. Issues such as electoral interference or elite cooptation present significant risks to national security, but the most demonstrable overseas impact of Beijing’s interference has been on civil liberties and human rights, particularly inside diaspora communities. None of the Five Eyes countries has adequately tackled these effects.Addressing the PRC’s influence and interference attempts is an opportunity to fundamentally strengthen democratic institutions. However, it is crucial that policy responses recognize and maintain distinctions between issues of national security and civil liberties, both in order to ensure effectiveness and to avoid further unintended harm to liberal democracy.Although widely cited as an example to follow, Australia’s response also illustrates the drawbacks of an aggregated national security approach to diverse issues of influence and interference. To counter the most impactful PRC overseas political activities in a rights-oriented manner consistent with liberal democratic principles, this submission recommends the establishment of a Transnational Rights Protection Office affiliated with each country’s national human rights institution.

KW - China policy

KW - transnational repression

KW - transnational human rights violations

KW - Chinese foreign policy

KW - liberal democracy

M3 - Commissioned report

BT - Testimony before the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission Hearing on "China’s Global Influence and Interference Activities"

PB - US-China Economic and Security Review Commission

ER -