4 Points in Understanding China’s Goal for Meddling in US Elections

FBI Director Christopher Wray reportedly provided a detailed classified briefing to the Senate Intelligence Committee last week on election meddling by China.

Also, on Friday, William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, issued a public statement with details of how China, Russia and Iran were targeting the U.S. elections.

The Chinese communist regime’s interference includes hacking local voter registration databases and trying to influence members of Congress, Axios reported.

Wray’s briefing also came as the Chinese state-owned TikTok, an increasingly popular social media app believed to be a potential tool in election interference, not only faces a U.S. ban but may be sold to Microsoft or another American company.

Experts say China would not be able to change votes cast by Americans. But this could be cyberwarfare that the United States might not be prepared for, and could create chaos and lack of trust in the integrity of the election results.

Here are four potential ways China could interfere in American elections. 

1. How Would China’s Meddling Compare to Russia’s?

Russia’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. election led to lengthy congressional probes and a special counsel investigation. Russians hacked the Democratic National Committee and bought social media ads.

“Cyber is certainly the strongest lever to turn, manipulation on social media, it all falls under the umbrella of information warfare,” Greg Barbaccia, a former Army intelligence sergeant with expertise in counterintelligence, insider threats, and corporate espionage, told The Daily Signal.

But the hacking threat could be increased, Barbaccia said.

“With the Equifax hack, China accessed information on 145 million people,” he said.

The social media companies vulnerable in the 2016 election campaign will be more prepared, he said.

“Facebook has a huge interest in countering interference this time around,” Barbaccia said. “They know their own reputation is on the line.”

It’s somewhat difficult to compare Russia and China in election meddling, said Karla Mastracchio, a former intelligence analyst who continues to do consulting work for the Defense Department in the areas of communication and influence.

“Russia and China have different capabilities,” Mastracchio, also an adjunct professor in the department of journalism at the University of Iowa, told The Daily Signal. “It’s like two high school bullies. One is big and strong. The other is really smart. Both could make your life miserable.”

She said Russia and China both are good at developing “deep fakes,” or videos that look real, which are more compelling than the false news stories that Russia pushed on Facebook in 2016.

“A deep fake is not just good technology but technology tied to the culture to become believable,” Mastracchio said. “Deep fakes look for things that validate people’s beliefs.”

She noted that China has enough business ties with the United States and other regions of the world that it can obtain an understanding of the culture—political and otherwise—for effective PR messaging.

“We should stop thinking about countries as border-bound and think about their digital footprint,” Mastracchio said. “China has a huge digital footprint in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America as well as the United States.”

Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow with The Heritage Foundation, said China is clearly more of a threat than Russia. He cited the hack of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, in which China accessed information on all federal employees.

“Folks who were so worried about Russian interference should realize China is a bigger threat,” von Spakovsky said. “The OPM hack was the biggest data breach in the federal government’s history. If they wanted to cause trouble, they could.” 

2. What’s China’s Endgame?

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