that's interesting
078_ Interview: δΈ China's elaborte influence | A level of sophistication the US isn't contending with
Sarah Cook is an independent researcher and writer who has spent over 20 years working on China, human rights, foreign influence, and media freedom. We cover the full spectrum of Beijing's foreign influence operations: research findings suggesting some Chinese AI models that are exploding in popularity generate less secure code when prompted in certain ways, as well as the traditional, overt state media, covert paid placements, disinformation and bot networks, and, increasingly, control over the information infrastructure itself.. We also cover transnational repression cases prosecuted by the DOJ, and what Sarah thinks Trump should actually raise when meeting with Xi Jinping. Checkout Sarah's article in the Diplomat that was the basis for the chat, and her substack for more. For more context like this, and for how I found this article in the first place, check out bandwidth.today . Chapters: (00:00) - Statecraft, realpolitik, and the "Corporate Party" test (03:44) - Fake police stations, captured newsrooms, and meeting Sarah Cook (05:41) - 20 years inside China's influence machine (08:07) - Five buckets of Beijing's foreign influence (10:32) - The Huawei op-ed nobody knew was paid for (13:32) - WeChat and TikTok: owning the pipes, not just the message (18:01) - AI enters the playbook (19:32) - A smeared dissident, and the audio clip that almost swung Taiwan (21:13) - The ChatGPT irony: spies using AI to write their own reports (23:58) - Deep Zhang: a Tibetan AI that won't say "Tibet" (27:07) - From 4.5% to 58%: Chinese models take over OpenRouter (29:22) - Type in English, get worse code (35:38) - Catching the manipulation β Estonia, and gaming Hugging Face (43:16) - Taiwan's playbook, and when influence turns physical (48:16) - What Trump should actually say to Xi (54:55) - Where this goes next β and how to fix it
