On September 28, the U.S. State Department’s Global Engagement Centre (GEC) released a special report on how China seeks to reshape the global information environment. In the report China was accused of employing “a variety of deceptive and coercive methods … to influence the international information environment.” As a response, the Chinese Foreign Ministry pushed back hard against the report, accusing the United States of being an “empire of lies” and adding that “it is the US that invented the weaponizing of the global information space.”
China’s engagement with our region is not only about economic diversification but also about strengthening its political influence. Lithuania’s current criticism of China also reflects a general frustration with China’s cooperation and expansion of influence in many Central and Eastern European countries, while at the same time there has been a marked increase in China’s dialogue with some of these countries, notably Hungary, Greece and, to some extent, Poland. The issue of Taiwan is becoming topical. These and other related issues are the focus of the China Research Programme. Read the latest publications by our analysts or get in touch if you have specific questions.