Vasickova: Chinese disinformation on the rise, reinforced by pro-Russian narratives

Central Europe is facing a growing influence of Chinese disinformation, Marketa Vasickova, an analyst at the Institute for Global Analytics, told The Geopost. She added that the same is being reinforced by pro-Russian narratives. 

In the interview with The Geopost, Vcasickova also talks about foreign interference in electoral processes, as one of the biggest information security challenges in Europe.

Full interview:

The Geopost: Thank you for this interview with The Geopost. Can you tell us a little about the situation in the Czech Republic regarding disinformation and in Central Europe in general?

Vasickova: There are a lot of pro-Russian disinformation narratives in the Czech Republic, especially related to the war in Ukraine. This disinformation is a little different from what we see in other parts of Eastern Europe, because it is not necessarily pro-Russian, but rather anti-Ukrainian, and it is based on the idea that Ukrainians are, so to speak, bloodsuckers of the social system. On the other hand, although there is a strong spread of this disinformation, there are also great efforts to curb it. For example, a few years ago, about eight of the main disinformation channels were banned, and Russian disinformation is recognized as a security threat. Similarly, the influence of Chinese disinformation is growing, reinforcing many of the pro-Russian narratives. But this is also being curbed and there are great efforts to counter it. So I would say that the Czech Republic is unique in terms of its efforts to curb this. But we certainly shouldn't underestimate the power of these narratives, especially in groups outside of capitals and outside of large cities.

The Geopost: You have elections now, and last year there were elections in Europe. What kind of threats or interference is there in the elections?

Vasickova: Of course, there is a lot of interference in social networks, as everywhere in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. This is a growing threat because there is often a feeling that young people are more democratic and progressive. But this can sometimes be a mistake. In Bulgaria, for example, many young people are actually anti-democratic and anti-EU.

We need to know this in the upcoming elections. We also saw quite ominous patterns in the presidential elections three or four years ago, when, for example, the leading candidate and current president Pavel was accused of being in favor of war just because he wanted to send aid to Ukraine. So we see how these narratives are being distorted by disinformation, and we need to be careful of that.

The Geopost: Do you have any cases of Chinese interference in the Czech Republic or Central Europe?

Vasickova: As I said, the Chinese interference is there. So far, it has mainly served to reinforce Russian disinformation and Russian narratives. There are some isolated cases, but they are currently under control. The Czech intelligence services are working hard against it, so that is positive. However, we should be aware that in the future we should not equate these strategies, pro-Russian disinformation and pro-Chinese disinformation. We should remember that each of them is unique and each works in its own way to achieve its own goals.

The Geopost: At the Balkan Disinformation Summit we talk about cases in the Balkans, but you are also a researcher of global analysis in Bulgaria. What is the situation now, because there is a lot of interference and disinformation in Romania and Bulgaria, but can you talk a little about the Bulgarian case in particular?

Vasickova: In the Bulgarian case, there is a great political vulnerability. In the past, there have been many political upheavals around elections, which Russian disinformation tries to exploit. Pro-Russian narratives and Russian disinformation are present not only in the media, where there are many pro-Kremlin actors, but also across the political spectrum, not only on the left, on the right or among nationalist factions, but widespread. This is the case with politics and the media. Russian disinformation also operates mainly in a covert, informal way. Attempts are made to penetrate networks, e.g. to influence the energy network, or the defense sector and so on, and attempts are made to present that political and economic cooperation between Bulgaria and Russia is beneficial for both sides.

So, that's one of the narratives. We also have the classic narrative that Russia is the savior and therefore we owe them a debt of gratitude, this idea of ​​Slavic brotherhood, which I think is quite similar in the Balkans and in East Central Europe. So, those are the kinds of narratives, and of course there are narratives related to the war in Ukraine, like portraying Ukraine as the culprit or the West as the culprit for the invasion.

So these are the kinds of narratives, and then of course they have an impact not only on the media landscape, on the information landscape, but also in terms of, for example, universities and the kind of information that is taught to students. There is also a lot of contestation about memory, and you have a lot of politicians who oppose, for example, the removal of Soviet statues. So it is a lot about memory and history, but also about the information landscape now. And as part of the IGA, we do a lot of public opinion polling.

In 2024, we conducted a large opinion poll to find out how these narratives actually affect people and their opinions on issues such as NATO, the EU, Russia and China. And we found that, for example, attitudes towards NATO have become more positive, while attitudes towards the EU have become more negative. Many young people, for example, consider the EU dictatorial. So there is a kind of inequality in this area. The last point I would like to highlight is that people are becoming more and more inclined towards authoritarian countries, including Russia and China. So while people continue to see France and Germany as the best strategic partners for Bulgaria, we also see that Russia and China are very close, which is a bit worrying.

/The Geopost