Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) and English-Speaking Audiences: A Corpus-Based Study of China Radio International Programmes.

This position paper examines the evolution of Chinese Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) operations, focusing on China’s adoption of Kremlin-style disinformation tactics. The absence of established methodologies for analysing Chinese FIMI— which has significantly escalated in the wake of the war in Ukraine—necessitates a flexible and exploratory approach. This study is grounded in Positive Discourse Analysis, Corpus Linguistics, and Chinese cultural frameworks, including Confucianism and Daoist principles. Recent contributions, such as Thibaut’s (2024) report on China’s information strategies and Doublethink Lab’s (2024) case study on Taiwan’s elections, underscore significant gaps in understanding China’s large-scale, global influence initiatives. The paper analyses a transcribed corpus of 38 hours of China Radio International broadcasts in English to investigate how these transmissions engage Western audiences and promote President Xi Jinping’s vision of a new world order. By adopting a non-Western analytical perspective and advocating a shift from discourse analysis to cultural discourse studies, the research highlights the contributions of discourse analysts within the field of Open Source Intelligence. It introduces an innovative framework for studying Chinese FIMI operations, incorporating Computational Narrative Arcs and a novel blend of Common Ground linguistic theory, Early Heaven Bagua Daoist principles, and Information Operations doctrine. This foundational study aims to provoke critique and refinement, contributing to the broader understanding of the emergence of Chinese FIMI and its far-reaching geopolitical implications.