Europe is at a disadvantage in protecting itself from a targeted disinformation campaign by Russia and China. Josep Borrell, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said the EU does not have the capacity to generate a large amount of information to make the EU’s point. Faced with questions from MEPs about actions to combat disinformation, Borrell admitted that the EU’s diplomatic service does not have the resources or the power to effectively counter the mixed attacks from China.
Josep Borrell, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, noted in the European Parliament on January 1 that China distorts information and makes China’s voice louder to intimidate others However, he also admitted that the EU’s diplomatic service does not have the resources or the power to effectively counter the mixed attacks from China.
In light of the disinformation campaign carried out by Russia and China during the Wuhan pneumonia outbreak, the European Parliament invited Borrelli on January 1 to explain how the EU’s existing resources and powers can counter Russian-Chinese disinformation and protect European democracy.
Borrelli illustrated that foreign interference poses a real threat to EU member states and to open societies worldwide. It is a deliberate and coordinated attempt to undermine trust, mislead and manipulate, targeting EU values and interests, taking many different creative forms and affecting many areas across borders, a new type of hybrid threat to global security that has become an “industrial scale” problem.
Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, stated in the European Parliament that China distorts information and makes its voice louder to intimidate others.
Borrell thus noted that the pandemic has become a real testing ground for new hybrid tactics, with different state and non-state actors trying to abuse the global health crisis to advance their political or economic goals. And more recently, vaccines and so-called “vaccine diplomacy” have become the focus of such operations, with Russia in particular once again trying to discredit Western vaccines and vaccine manufacturers while promoting its own vaccines or prioritizing the distribution of its own vaccines in third countries in order to gain geopolitical influence. For example, Russian media has been heavily reporting that people are experiencing alleged side effects and even death after receiving Pfizer vaccines.
China is another example, Borelli said, “Distorting information, silencing independent and critical voices, making itself louder, intimidating others and reducing the space for free and open debate. You could say, well, it’s just propaganda. No, there’s a fine line between propaganda and disinformation. “
The conference was chaired by French MEP Raphaël Glucksmann, who said, “China and Russia are the main attackers and threats of cyber warfare, constantly repeating their attacks, yet the EU External Action Service (EEAS) has not been able to establish a special passport for China, for example, for Russia to obtain valuable information with a similar setup However, EEAS has not been able to establish a special passport for China, as Russia, for example, has a similar setup to gain valuable information. “
Raphaël Glucksmann, a French MEP.
Borelli said: “Today, we do not have the task of studying false information about China. For the past year, the EU has been under permanent pressure from countries that promote their political interests by distorting information and spreading disinformation. But despite the EU’s increased efforts to debunk disinformation from Moscow, we have few resources to research disinformation from China.” He stressed that the EU’s External Action Service lacks the “necessary” resources to counter Chinese propaganda campaigns to influence European politics.
The European Commission’s June 10, 2020, report noted that foreign powers, such as China and Russia, are spreading disinformation about the Epidemic in the EU and around the world, launching targeted influence campaigns, weakening democratic debate, accelerating social polarization, and thus enhancing their own image, the first Time the EU has officially denounced China as a source of disinformation.
Věra Jourová, Vice-President of the EU Executive Committee, then stressed that disinformation during the epidemic (disinformation) damages not only the health of citizens but also the health of our democratic system, and she firmly believes that to achieve a geopolitical EU, it is necessary to first speak out firmly about the problems facing the EU.
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