Under The Angsana Tree: 'Influence operations' by China in Singapore

Chinese embassy slams US think tank’s report

(PHOTO: 中国驻新加坡大使馆 Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Singapore/Facebook)

China’s embassy in Singapore has slammed a recent report published by a United States think tank that highlights China’s “influence operations” in Singapore, calling it “lies” and groundless allegations “distorted from truth”.

In a Friday (19 July) statement posted on Facebook in both English and Mandarin, an embassy spokesperson decried the report as being absurd but with a “clear” purpose.

“That is to alienate the friendship of our two peoples and hinder normal exchanges between the two countries,” said the spokesperson.

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China’s embassy in Singapore slams ‘lies’ after US report of influence operations

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that Singaporean Chinese identity reflected the country’s unique multicultural society. File photo: AFP

China’s embassy in Singapore has slammed a report by a US-based scholar which alleged that Beijing was imposing its Chinese identity on the city state through influence operations.

Such operations were conducted through business associations, clan associations, and grass roots organisations, said the report, published by US think tank Jamestown Foundation on July 16. “[The Communist Party of China’s] propaganda efforts in Singapore that flow through these organisations aim to promote the narrative of a ‘greater China’ … one that includes all people of Chinese descent, irrespective of nationality,” said the analysis written by Russell Hsiao, the executive director of Global Taiwan Institute.

Rebutting the report in a Facebook post on Friday, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy described the allegations as “groundless” and “distorted from truth”, adding that the purpose of the report was to “alienate the friendship” between the two countries. “The unique connections in history and culture between China and Singapore, a natural advantage in promoting bilateral cooperation, are unfortunately taken by someone as an excuse for attack, thus hurting not only China but also Singapore,” the spokesman said. “Lies are lies. The more they are repeated, the more nonsense they are.”

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Chinese embassy responds to report on influence operations in Singapore

Responding in a post on its Facebook page, the Chinese Embassy said the exchanges and cooperation between China and Singapore in various fields - including the economy, trade and people-to-people ties - reflect the amicable relations between the two countries. PHOTO: REUTERS

The Chinese Embassy in Singapore on Friday (July 19) rebutted a report by a United States-based scholar, saying that its assertions of Beijing conducting influence operations here are "groundless" and "distorted from truth".

US think tank Jamestown Foundation had on Tuesday published an analysis by Global Taiwan Institute executive director Russell Hsiao, who wrote that China is using cultural organisations, clan associations, business associations and youth programmes to exert influence on Chinese Singaporeans.

Mr Hsiao said the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) fundamental purpose is to impose a Chinese identity on multiracial Singapore so that it will align more closely with China's expanding interests.

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China denies conducting 'influence operations' in Singapore

The Chinese Embassy in Singapore on Friday (Jul 19) refuted a report alleging that Beijing has been conducting influence operations in Singapore, calling it “absurd”.

The Jul 16 report, published by US research institute the Jamestown Foundation, said that “the fundamental purpose of Chinese propaganda and influence operations in Singapore is to impose a Chinese identity on Singapore”.

The report, titled A Preliminary Survey of CCP Influence Operations in Singapore, also claimed that China uses cultural organisations, clan associations, business associations, youth programmes and the Chinese-language media to reach out to different segments of Singaporeans.

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China dismisses ‘groundless’ report that it conducts influence operations in S’pore

China’s embassy in Singapore has slammed a recent report by a United States think tank — which highlights channels for China’s “influence operations” in Singapore — as allegations that are “groundless and distorted from truth”.

In a statement by the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Singapore, posted on its Facebook page on Friday (July 19), an embassy spokesperson said that the report “is absurd, but the purpose is clear”.

“That is to alienate the friendship of our two peoples and hinder normal exchanges between the two countries.”

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Academic Huang Jing and wife have left Singapore after being stripped of PR status: MHA

Huang Jing "used his senior position in the LKY School to deliberately and covertly advance the agenda of a foreign country at Singapore's expense", said the MHA.PHOTO: ST FILE

Academic Huang Jing, who had his permanent residency revoked for working as an "agent of influence" for a foreign government, has left Singapore with his wife.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) confirmed their departure in a statement on Friday (Sept 8).

Dr Huang, 60, and his wife, Shirley Yang Xiuping, had their permanent residency cancelled last month, and are permanently banned from Singapore.

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Report flags how China conducts influence operations in Singapore

China is using cultural organisations, clan associations, business associations and youth programmes to engage in influence operations in Singapore, a United States-based scholar said this week.

The fundamental purpose of these operations is to impose a Chinese identity on Singapore so that it will align more closely with China's interests, Mr Russell Hsiao said in an analysis published by US research institute Jamestown Foundation on Tuesday.

Mr Hsiao, the executive director of the Global Taiwan Institute, said the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) propaganda efforts in Singapore aim to promote the narrative of a "greater China", one that includes all ethnic Chinese irrespective of nationality. He then set out how the CCP has sought to influence Chinese Singaporeans through avenues such as clan and business associations.

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A Preliminary Survey of CCP Influence Operations in Singapore

The PRC-sponsored Singapore China Cultural Center located at No. 217 Queen Street in the city center, which opened in 2015. (Source: PRC CCC in Singapore, November 2015)

As China rises on the world stage, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is increasingly utilizing all levers of influence to achieve and secure its national objectives along its periphery and globally. To achieve and secure those objectives, the CCP is employing political warfare. [1] Political warfare is a set of overt and covert tools used by governments to influence the perceptions, beliefs, and behaviors of other governments and societies in order to achieve national objectives. [2] Set within a broader discussion about how CCP engages in influence operations in Asia, Singapore presents a valuable case study for understanding the means by which the CCP engages in influence operations that target a majority ethnic-Chinese state.

As noted by Singaporean diplomat Bilahari Kausikan, in terms of state-to-state relations, the Chinese government essentially engages in influence operations in a fashion similar to other governments (Straits Times, June 28). However, the CCP is a Leninist party, and its use of united front tactics and organizations represents a holistic approach to influence operations wholly unlike other countries (China Brief, May 9). Singapore has long been a target of CCP united front attention, and the city authorities have a history of combating CCP propaganda that dates back to the 1950s and 1960s, when People’s Republic of China (PRC) leaders sought to export communist revolution to Southeast Asia (National Archives of Singapore, undated). [3]

The primary avenues for CCP influence operations in Singapore are found in business associations, clan associations, and grassroots organizations. CCP propaganda efforts in Singapore that flow through these organizations aim to promote the narrative of a “greater China”—one that includes all people of Chinese descent, irrespective of nationality—and therefore, one in which ethnic Chinese persons of all nationalities should show affinity and loyalty towards the Chinese state represented by the PRC. The CCP’s fundamental purpose, therefore, is to impose a Chinese identity on Singapore so that it will align more closely with the PRC’s expanding interests.

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