Information Confrontation and China's Discourse Strategy

Abstract: In his remarks, Dr. Ford will summarize and build upon his paper published by CGSR in December 2022 in offering an explanation for how the Chinese Communist Party's approach to information competition with the West fits into and derives from the Party's broader approach to political control -- both in China and, increasingly, abroad -- through employing a "leverage web" of economic, technological, and other strategic dependencies to help condition conformity with its preferences.

Bio: Dr. Christopher Ford is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Security Research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, and a Visiting Professor in Missouri State University's Graduate Department of Defense and Strategic Studies. Dr. Ford previously served as a MITRE Fellow at the MITRE Corporation, where he was also the founding Director of the Center for Strategic Competition (CSC). From January 2018 until January 2021, following his unanimous confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Dr. Ford served as Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation. He also exercised the authorities of the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security from October 2019 until his resignation from the Department. At State, Dr. Ford helped lead the Department's reorientation to support U.S. competitive strategy vis-à-vis China and Russia, with a particular focus upon technology denial and national security export controls.