Using Clive Hamilton’s Silent Invasion as its starting point, this article examines Chinese Communist Party influence operations targeting the media, politics, business, universities, and civil society, as well as efforts to divide the United States from its allies and pressure Japan into strategic neutrality.

July 9, 2020
【Background】
The following is a continuation of the preceding chapter.
It is taken from a special dialogue between Yoshiko Sakurai and Yoshiyuki Kasai published in the monthly magazine WiLL under the title “Japan’s Choice: Turn Decisively toward the United States.”
The book discussed in this chapter is the Japanese edition of Clive Hamilton’s Silent Invasion: China’s Influence in Australia.
The Japanese translation, supervised by Tetsuhide Yamaoka and translated by Masashi Okuyama, was published by Asukashinsha in June 2020.
The subject of the book is not a visible military invasion.
It examines the peacetime process through which a foreign government builds relationships with politicians, political parties, businesses, universities, researchers, media organizations and community groups, and attempts to direct the policies and public opinion of another country in a favorable direction.
During 2017 and 2018, Australia introduced legislation establishing new foreign-interference offenses, a registration scheme for people acting on behalf of foreign principals, and restrictions on foreign political donations.
The Australian Parliament has also described foreign interference and espionage targeting government, academia, industry, the media and communities as a principal national security concern.
In April 2020, the Morrison government called for an independent international investigation into the handling and origins of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Chinese government reacted strongly, and diplomatic and trade tensions between the two countries subsequently intensified.
On May 26, 2020, the Chinese Communist Party-affiliated Global Times published an editorial titled “Japan Is Not Australia, Urged to Be Neutral.”
It called on Japan to remain neutral between China and the United States and argued that Japan could not treat the U.S.–Japan alliance as a matter of course if it chose its ally rather than what the newspaper described as the “justified side.”
The editorial revealed with remarkable directness what the Chinese Communist Party expected from Japan.
Even if Japan formally remained an American ally, Beijing wanted Tokyo to refrain from supporting the United States at a decisive moment in the U.S.–China confrontation and instead move toward strategic neutrality.
The dialogue below also refers to allegations that the Chinese Communist Party has operated behind some anti-base campaigns in Okinawa.
This is an allegation presented by the speakers and should not be treated as established proof concerning every organization or participant.
Claims of foreign interference must be examined through evidence of funding, instructions, organizational coordination, disinformation or other concrete activity, rather than assumptions based on ethnicity or political opinion.
【Silent Invasion】
Sakurai:
There is a book titled Silent Invasion: China’s Influence in Australia by Clive Hamilton, translated by Masashi Okuyama under the supervision of Tetsuhide Yamaoka, which exposes the reality of Chinese influence operations in Australia.
Silent Invasion reveals a strategy intended to transform Australia and New Zealand into second versions of France—that is, countries willing to say no to the United States—by gradually making their entire societies more favorable toward China.
China seeks to separate the United States from its allies, weaken American power and ultimately establish the hegemony of a Chinese empire.
It should be regarded as a warning to Japan.
It is a book I strongly recommend to the Japanese people.
Kasai:
Over a long period, China has increased the number of pro-China figures in the media, politics and business, while seeking to divide Japanese public opinion and separate Japan from the United States.
It has also been alleged that the Chinese Communist Party has been active behind some of the campaigns opposing American military bases in Okinawa.
The structure resembles the alleged Soviet support for forces opposing the revision of the U.S.–Japan Security Treaty in 1960.
Sakurai:
After recognizing the extent of Chinese influence, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison demonstrated strong vigilance toward China, including by demanding an investigation into the conduct of the Chinese government and the World Health Organization concerning the coronavirus.
His actions may also have been intended to restrain China’s growing influence among Pacific countries.
On May 25, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated that it was a fact that the novel coronavirus had spread from Wuhan.
The following day, the Chinese Communist Party-affiliated Global Times immediately published an editorial titled “Japan Is Not Australia, Urged to Be Neutral.”
The editorial initially appeared almost sympathetic toward Japan.
It said that Abe had stated that the coronavirus spread from China but had not said that it originated there.
It also noted that Abe had described the United States as Japan’s only ally while calling China an extremely important country.
Because the U.S.–Japan alliance was the cornerstone of Japanese diplomacy, it argued, Abe had no choice but to take the Trump administration into consideration.
At the same time, however, the editorial did not forget to issue a threat.
It concluded that if Japan sided with its ally rather than with what it called the justified side—China—during the U.S.–China confrontation, Japan could not use the U.S.–Japan alliance as a matter of course.
This was nothing less than a warning that Japan would face consequences if it sided with the United States.
To be continued.
【Editorial Note on Republication: An Invasion Does Not Begin Only When Warships Arrive】
When people hear the word invasion, they tend to imagine warships, fighter aircraft, missiles and landing forces.
Foreign powers, however, do not rely exclusively on military force to make another country comply with their wishes.
They may cultivate relationships with politicians and officials.
They may offer businesses access to enormous markets and investment profits.
They may finance universities and research institutions.
They may use journalists, cultural figures and commentators to spread narratives favorable to their government.
When faced with criticism, they may imply the possibility of economic retaliation, canceled business contracts, visa restrictions or consumer boycotts.
If such pressure is accumulated over many years, a foreign power may change another country’s speech and policy without using direct military force.
International exchange, trade, academic cooperation and cultural relations are not themselves harmful.
The problem arises when individuals or organizations conceal their financial or institutional relationships with a foreign government while attempting to influence domestic political decisions or public opinion.
Australia’s system is not principally intended to prohibit foreign views.
Its purpose is to make activities conducted on behalf of foreign governments and other foreign principals transparent.
【The Chinese Communist Party’s Objective Is to Separate the United States from Its Allies】
The most important aspect of the Global Times editorial is that it did not merely request friendly relations with Japan.
It acknowledged the reality of the U.S.–Japan alliance while demanding that Japan show consideration toward China and remain neutral when China and the United States came into conflict.
The editorial also explicitly stated that China should reduce ideological friction between the West and China and seek to isolate the United States internationally.
A military attack on an American ally could trigger a collective response under the U.S.–Japan Security Treaty or the North Atlantic Treaty.
If, however, public opinion inside allied countries can be persuaded that the American alliance is dangerous, that economic relations with China must take priority, or that the country should refuse to choose either side, the alliance can be weakened from within.
This is the essence of an invisible invasion.
【Anti-Base Movements Must Not Automatically Be Equated with Foreign Interference】
Opposition to American military bases in Okinawa is a political opinion that Japanese citizens have every right to express.
Residents must retain the right to raise objections concerning the burden of military bases, noise, accidents and environmental damage.
If, however, a foreign government uses secret funding, disguised organizations, coordinated social-media operations or disinformation to intensify existing social divisions, that becomes a different issue from legitimate domestic political expression.
The proper question is not whether a person supports or opposes the bases.
The questions are whether secret instructions or funding came from a foreign government, whether false identities or large numbers of inauthentic accounts were used, and whether domestic conflict was deliberately exploited to advance a foreign strategic objective.
These questions must be investigated through objective evidence.
To label an entire movement as foreign agents without evidence would damage legitimate freedom of expression.
To refuse all investigation merely because an activity calls itself a citizens’ movement would leave a democratic society defenseless.
【Japan Needs Transparency, Not the Suppression of Speech】
Japan does not need a system for suppressing speech that is inconvenient to the government.
It needs a system requiring disclosure when individuals or organizations receive funds or instructions from foreign governments, political parties or state-controlled companies and attempt to influence politicians, parties, universities, research institutions, media organizations or think tanks.
Japan should also improve the transparency of political donations, research funding, travel expenses, speaking fees, advertising payments and consulting fees provided by foreign governmental entities.
In research involving sensitive technologies or national security, the relevant questions should not concern a researcher’s nationality.
They should concern the source of funding, outside employment, confidentiality obligations and organizational relationships with foreign governments or militaries.
No one should be treated as suspicious merely for being Chinese, of Chinese ancestry or a Chinese international student.
Many Chinese people criticize the Chinese Communist Party and wish to live in a free society.
The boundary Japan must protect is not an ethnic boundary separating Japanese and Chinese people.
It is the legal boundary separating covert operations from open exchange, and unlawful interference from legitimate political expression.
【A Warning to Japan】
Australia’s experience is not remote from Japan.
Japan is geographically close to China, maintains an enormous economic relationship with it, and at the same time relies on the alliance with the United States as the foundation of its national defense.
Japan is therefore an extremely important target for any Chinese Communist Party strategy intended to weaken the American alliance system.
Attempting to please both the United States and China will not make Japan safer.
If Japan remains strategically ambiguous, China may conclude that Japan will yield under pressure, while the United States may conclude that Japan is an unreliable ally.
Dialogue and trade with China should continue.
Japan must not, however, compromise its freedom, democracy, rule of law, territory, critical technology or national security.
Silent Invasion is not merely a book about Australia.
It is a warning to the Japanese people that the freedom and openness of a democratic society can be exploited by an authoritarian regime.