Guo Yonghu: The Essence of America's Foreign "Political Infiltration"
So-called "political penetration" refers to a process in which a state employs political means while integrating its economic, military, cultural, and diplomatic resources to influence the ideology, political cognition, and behavior of a target country's leadership, elites, and populace through "all means short of war," thereby facilitating the realization of its own national interests. Whether during the era of imperialism, which saw expansion from the Western Hemisphere to the globe, or the post-Cold War era of a unipolar world, the United States has placed a high premium on the ultimate application of "political penetration" in the formulation and implementation of its foreign policy. The primary goals of U.S. "political penetration" abroad are to dominate the world order, consolidate the capitalist world system, and induce "peaceful evolution" [1] in socialist countries. From the end of World War II to the present, the pace of U.S. "political penetration" has never ceased. Although U.S. President Biden has repeatedly pledged that the U.S. does not seek a new Cold War, a review of the historical trajectory of U.S. "political penetration" reveals its hypocrisy and deceptiveness. In the introduction to his 2013 book Democracy: America's Deadliest Export, U.S. foreign policy scholar William Blum summarized U.S. actions since the end of WWII: a commitment to overthrowing more than 50 foreign governments, most of which were democratically elected; gross interference in the democratic elections of at least 30 countries; attempted assassinations of over 50 foreign leaders; dropping bombs on the populations of over 30 countries; and attempting to suppress populist or nationalist movements in 20 countries. Against this backdrop of U.S. "political penetration," China can adopt practical and powerful countermeasures to thwart external "political penetration" and safeguard national political security.
The Historical Evolution of U.S. "Political Penetration"
The early stages of U.S. "political penetration." U.S. "political penetration" germinated in the 1820s, when the United States, under the banner of the "Monroe Doctrine," targeted its "backyard"—Latin America—for "political penetration." In the late 19th century, the first target of U.S. attempts at penetration and interference in Latin America was the Caribbean, forming the so-called "Caribbean version." Its basic method consisted of: first, military occupation of the region; second, the gradual cultivation of pro-U.S. governments; and third, the export of the U.S. democratic system. This approach gradually became the template for U.S. "political penetration" worldwide. The Spanish-American War served as the prelude to U.S. foreign intervention and democracy promotion, and the 28th U.S. President, Woodrow Wilson, further integrated democracy promotion into foreign policy. From 1914 to 1916, the United States interfered in Mexico's internal affairs through military threats, forcing Mexico to enact a new constitution and implement universal suffrage. After the Russian October Revolution gave birth to the world's first socialist state, breaking the monopoly of the capitalist system, the U.S. bourgeoisie viewed it as a "flood or a wild beast" (hongshui-menshou) [2] and adopted an extremely hostile attitude. The Wilson administration unleashed a nationwide "Red Scare" wave to strike at "Reds." To vilify the Russian October Revolution, the U.S. government forged the "Sisson Documents" in 1918. These documents deliberately distorted facts, falsely claiming the October Revolution was orchestrated by the German General Staff. Then-U.S. Ambassador to Russia David R. Francis depicted the Bolsheviks as a group of radical revolutionaries chasing extreme social goals. After the establishment of Soviet power, the U.S. also participated in the Entente's armed intervention in Russia, attempting to use the opportunity to overthrow the Soviet regime.
Under the Cold War context, U.S. "political penetration" entered a new historical stage. After World War II, the two major camps of capitalism and socialism, represented by the U.S. and the Soviet Union respectively, engaged in a comprehensive global confrontation. During this process, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) played the role of the vanguard. When military intervention was too blunt and diplomatic means were too weak, CIA subversion and penetration of socialist countries became the U.S. government's "third option." The first 20-plus years after the CIA's founding were the period of its most frequent "covert actions." These so-called "covert actions" primarily include all activities conducted or sponsored by the U.S. government to oppose hostile countries or groups and support friendly ones, aimed at influencing foreign governments, organizations, individuals, or events. In 1954, then-U.S. President Eisenhower approved the NSC 5412 series of documents. These required that, under the responsibility of the National Security Council, the CIA implement all espionage and counter-espionage operations to oppose and contain "international communist actions." The specific objective of these secret operations was to "create trouble for the international communist movement and develop underground resistance forces in areas threatened and dominated by international communism."
In addition, the CIA meddled in the 1964 Chilean elections. The right-leaning Christian Democratic candidate Eduardo Frei and the socialist-leaning Socialist Party leader Salvador Allende were locked in a fierce contest. To prevent a government influenced by communism from appearing in its backyard, the CIA, on the one hand, fully supported Frei, providing him with the bulk of his campaign funds; on the other hand, it turned on its propaganda machine to vilify Allende. CIA-funded propaganda teams posted 3,000 posters daily to oppose and demonize Allende. One widely circulated poster depicted a hammer and sickle swinging toward a child's forehead, its intent being self-evident. CIA-funded right-wing radio stations also "elaborately" produced various programs attacking the left. A campaign broadcast recording from the time featured a burst of machine-gun fire followed by a woman's cry: "They killed my child, those communists." The announcer then said indignantly, "Communism only brings casualties and pain; to stop the suffering, we must elect Eduardo Frei as president." The CIA ultimately swayed the Chilean election results; Allende lost, and Frei emerged victorious.
The failure of the U.S. war of aggression in Vietnam and successive setbacks in its interventionist policies in other parts of the world forced the U.S. to change its tactics. After the Carter administration took office, it began "political penetration" through a human rights diplomacy policy. On February 17, 1978, then-U.S. President Carter signed "Presidential Directive on Human Rights: NSC-30," which systematically expounded the principles and policies of U.S. human rights diplomacy toward other countries, claiming that "promoting respect for human rights worldwide is a major goal of U.S. foreign policy." The series of methods adopted by the Carter administration in advancing human rights diplomacy had a profound impact on future U.S. "political penetration." In 1983, the most prominent manifestation of then-U.S. President Reagan's "political penetration" was the establishment of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Although a non-profit organization, it receives appropriations from the U.S. Congress and has played a massive role in advancing U.S. "political penetration." Its main task is to follow U.S. government orders by providing financial support to manipulate and direct various social organizations worldwide to export U.S. values to target countries and regions, implement subversion, penetration, and destruction, and incite so-called "democracy movements." The NED's activities involve more than 100 countries; in the name of "promoting democracy," it attempts to overthrow foreign regimes by buying off foreign opposition forces.
U.S. "political penetration" in the post-Cold War era. Following the end of the Cold War, the U.S. strategy of "political penetration" exhibited a series of new changes. For the U.S., with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the true goal of "political penetration" shifted to maintaining its global leadership and establishing a U.S.-led new world order. In the post-Cold War era, "Bushism" gained wide currency, resting on two pillars: first, the assertion of the U.S. right to conduct preemptive strikes; and second, the use of "regime change" to expand democracy. In 1993, then-U.S. President Clinton explicitly proposed that the core objective of U.S. "political penetration" strategy was the pursuit of "global democratization," isolating and striking at so-called "countries moving against the tide of the times." Driven by neo-interventionism, the U.S. government actively intervened in countries where internal conflicts led to chaos or humanitarian disasters, striving to "save" these "failed states" and export democracy to them. First, it would use military means to quell conflicts, then station a certain level of armed forces to supervise and maintain peace, and finally use the garrisoned troops to push the target country toward establishing U.S.-desired democratic mechanisms and free markets. After the "September 11" attacks, the U.S. conducted "political penetration" in the name of the War on Terror, launching the "Greater Middle East Initiative." In the view of the Bush administration, the "dictatorial" and "autocratic" regimes of the Middle East were breeding grounds for terrorism. Only by overthrowing these regimes and achieving widespread democracy in the region could the root causes of terrorism be eliminated, ultimately benefiting U.S. control over the Middle East. At the end of 2010, the "Arab Spring" rapidly swept through Arab nations; anti-government movements appeared in countries like Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Syria. U.S. "political penetration" was a significant incentive that pushed the "Arab Spring" forward.
The Essence of U.S. "Political Penetration"
The essence of the U.S. strategy of "political penetration" is guided by specifically American ideology, centered on its national system and cultural values, and fundamentally aimed at achieving national interests. On the basis of "Americanizing" the world, it seeks to establish and maintain U.S. dominance within the spectrum of the world order.
U.S. "political penetration" is a tool for consolidating its own hegemony. National interest is always the most decisive factor in a state's foreign behavior; the "political penetration" policy of a hegemonic state can only and does only serve its hegemonic interests. The ultimate goal of the U.S. in establishing pro-U.S. regimes worldwide is to consolidate its hegemonic status. As the world's sole superpower today, the U.S. has always possessed a strong "crisis consciousness." In different historical periods, the U.S., under the pretext of safeguarding national security, has always designated countries that might pose a threat to its strategic interests as "imaginary enemies" and suppressed them in an all-around manner. The essence and ultimate goal of U.S. "political penetration" is for the American rulers to become the world's rulers and to attempt to sustain this dominant position indefinitely. The frequent "political penetration" against China since the Biden administration took office best reflects this essential characteristic. With the relative decline of U.S. strength, the U.S. increasingly emphasizes that China poses a severe challenge to its hegemony. President Biden has claimed that the U.S.'s "greatest competitor is China." To maintain its hegemonic status, while containing China in trade, technology, and military affairs, the Biden administration places greater emphasis on increasing the intensity of "political penetration" in the political sphere.
The core content of U.S. "political penetration" is hawking "American-style democracy," and its core task is the "export of democracy." This is, in fact, the use of economic, political, and military means to spread its own values and democratic system to other countries, promoting the "democratization" process of the recipient countries. The export of democratic systems is intended to achieve the goal of maintaining its own interests and national security by spreading democratic systems and ideas to the recipient country. The U.S. export of democracy is the transplantation of the American democratic system to other countries, making them advance the democratic process according to the will of the United States. Its basic path is: first, to install and support a pro-U.S. regime that is subordinate to U.S. foreign strategy and completely under U.S. control; and second, on this basis, to export the democratic system and establish an American-style democratic government, reflecting "Americanization" in every corner.
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The goal of "political infiltration" is to maintain the "absolute security" of American ideology. The United States is a country with a profound ideological character, and it has historically attached great importance to the issue of ideological security. While consolidating its mainstream core values domestically, the U.S. utilizes methods such as political vilification, military threats, economic inducements, and cultural infiltration to conduct ideological infiltration and offensives abroad. Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has consistently maintained an attitude of high vigilance, criticism, and even hostility toward nations whose ideologies differ sharply from its own. However, the new form of human civilization [3] created by the Communist Party of China (CPC) has induced anxiety in the United States. The "Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century," adopted at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, pointed out: "The Party has led the people in successfully blazing the trail of Chinese-path modernization and creating a new form of human civilization." This represents a transcendence of Western capitalist civilization. The United States views this transcendence as a serious threat and challenge. To ensure the absolute security of US-Western ideology, the expansionist and interventionist nature of US-Western "political infiltration" against China has become exceptionally obvious in recent years, reflecting an intense anxiety over China's growing international political influence. The "Five Eyes" alliance is currently planning to concoct a series of rumors regarding so-called "Chinese political infiltration into the West" to slander China's international image, illustrating the extent of this anxiety.
Counter-Infiltration Measures Taken by Various Countries Against U.S. "Political Infiltration"
Over the years, although U.S. "political infiltration" abroad has frequently met with failure and infamy, it has also succeeded repeatedly, exerting a highly negative impact on the security and stability of the targeted regions. In Europe, the "color revolutions" [4] instigated by the United States have continually triggered geopolitical crises; in the Middle East, the "democratic transition" promoted by the U.S. did not improve the situation of the relevant countries, but rather caused them to sink to varying degrees into a quagmire of "democratization"; in Asia, the U.S. has made frequent moves that threaten China's sovereign integrity, regime stability, and the security of its surrounding environment. At the same time, nations are not passively accepting or permitting U.S. "political infiltration," but are responding actively to resist its negative effects.
Counter-infiltration measures of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. Russia has accumulated rich experience in resisting U.S. "political infiltration." First, it exercises strict control over the political activities of social organizations through legislation. From 1995 to 1996, the Russian government successively introduced the "Federal Law on Public Associations," the "Federal Law on Charitable Activities and Charitable Organizations," and the "Federal Law on Non-Commercial Organizations," initiating the legislative process for social organizations in Russia. In July 2012, Russia introduced "Amendments to the Federal Law on Non-Commercial Organizations Performing the Functions of a Foreign Agent," which clearly designated social organizations categorized as "foreign agents" [5] as separate objects of legal supervision. In 2015, Russia also introduced the "Law on Undesirable Organizations" to further strengthen supervision over foreign and international social organizations, preventing them from engaging in activities that endanger Russia's national sovereign interests and security. Second, it regulates internet infiltration through legislation. On July 4, 2014, the Russian State Duma approved a law requiring that data on Russian citizens be stored on domestic servers starting two years later. This new regulation was viewed by opponents as a move to marginalize American social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. In May 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the "Sovereign Internet Law" aimed at preventing interference by foreign powers. This law stipulates that when the Russian network is under threat, the Russian federal agency for supervision of information technology, communications, and mass media may sever connections to the external internet. Kazakhstan has also followed Russia's lead in regulating social organizations, passing the "Law on Countering Extremism" in 2005, which stipulates that "Kazakhstani prosecutorial authorities have the power to designate domestic and foreign organizations within Kazakhstan as extremist organizations." Kazakhstan and Belarus also properly manage relations with the opposition. In its strategy toward the opposition, Kazakhstan generally adopts a policy of both unity and struggle. In Belarus, a strict system of registration and activity approval is implemented for opposition publications and organizations.
Counter-infiltration measures of Latin American countries. Cuba’s basic strategy is to struggle against various erroneous ideas and trends of thought to consolidate the mainstream ideological frontier. Cuba’s first supreme leader, Fidel Castro, revealed the essence of capitalist countries' use of neoliberalism for ideological infiltration—namely, that "neoliberalism is the ideology of imperialism in its stage of world hegemony." The "Statutes of the Communist Party of Cuba" adopted at the Fifth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba in 1997 explicitly emphasized the need to struggle against bourgeois ideology and any form of criminal or anti-social behavior. In response to the ideological infiltration and "peaceful evolution" [6] of capitalist countries represented by the United States, the Communist Party of Cuba launched a nationwide "Battle of Ideas" following the "Elián González affair" in 1999. The Communist Party of Cuba mobilized the masses to conduct large-scale demonstrations against U.S. interference in Cuba's internal affairs, which both stimulated patriotic enthusiasm and increased mass identification with the mainstream ideology. Countries such as Venezuela and Bolivia have also issued strong critiques of neoliberalism.
The approach of the Latin American Left is to unite to resist US-Western "political infiltration." Entering the 21st century, along with the rise of leftist forces in Latin America, a de facto leftist alliance has emerged. Internally, it seeks unity and self-strengthening among Latin American countries and advocates for regional integration; externally, it opposes the so-called "universal values" of the United States and advocates for the diversification of diplomatic relations. To realize these propositions, the Latin American Left successively established the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). The "Integration Agreement" signed twice by Cuba and Venezuela in 2000 and 2005 constructed the "Cuba-Venezuela Alliance." This alliance further linked radical leftist countries through the mechanism of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA).
The Communist Party of China attaches great importance to political security. Since the 18th National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has placed high importance on political security, emphasizing that adhering to the Holistic Approach to National Security must take political security as the fundamental basis, and that safeguarding national political security—especially the security of the regime and the system—must be the top priority. Under the U.S. "whole-of-government" offensive of "political infiltration" against China, China can respond in the following ways. First, maintaining initiative ("taking ourselves as the mainstay"), continuously developing and improving China's whole-process people's democracy is the fundamental cure for safeguarding national political security. Second, to effectively respond to U.S. "political infiltration," it is necessary for China to construct a complete, multidimensional ideological security guarantee system. Regarding U.S. actions that endanger China's sovereign independence and core national interests, China must profoundly expose the strategic plot to "Westernize" and "divide" China and deliver a resolute counter-attack to safeguard our national ideological security. Finally, China should build an international united front to resist US-Western "political infiltration." To counterbalance U.S. hegemonism and power politics, an international united front should be constructed with a focus on the China-U.S. political-strategic game, expanding the international community's awareness and recognition of the concept of "building a community with a shared future for humanity" and the new form of human civilization.
(The author’s affiliation: School of Marxism, Jilin University)