China's Three Warfares strategy a challenge for NATO

The Plenipotentiary of the United States of America in Spain and Andorra, Julissa Reynoso, together with students of Political Science and Sociology at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), participated in the first simulation of the Atlantic Alliance in Europe, the NATO Playing Model, which ATALAYAR had access to during the weekend at the Somosaguas campus. 

From Julissa Reynoso's words of welcome to all the university students of this Faculty, it is clear that NATO's strength, in a common defence, is historic and "we are very satisfied with its functioning, although much more needs to be done". For Julissa Reynoso, the security of the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) constitutes the pillars of global stability in the face of international threats such as Vladimir Putin, who seeks to destroy and subjugate the Ukrainian people and thus have a major impact on the future of transatlantic relations.  

According to the US ambassador, constructive dialogue between the Alliance and the EU, which promotes similar worldview values, must be based on increased coordination and agile collective responses to new threats. NATO will show, at its next Summit in Washington, which will commemorate 75 years of its existence, the full adaptation to challenges that are bursting into our reality, such as disinformation, cyber-attack or China itself, for which the political-military alliance is prepared.  

For the Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Spain to the Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Nicolás Pascual de la Parte (within the panel "the challenges of Russia and China for NATO"), the Organisation, which has an undisputed leader in the USA, is adapting to all existing challenges such as disruptive technologies, both instrumental (data in the cloud, robotics, AI...) and finalist. China is an opaque nation for the Western model, "a geostrategic rival, economic competitor, necessary partner and Russia, a threat", announced Nicolás Pascual de la Parte. 

According to Nicolás Pascual de la Parte, the strategy of "containment" (NATO has emphasised its military profile in order to raise its deterrent capacity, relegating dialogue with Moscow to the background) is the best way to win over Russia. Europe's strategic compass in the face of threats such as Vladimir Putin should review and make structural paradigm shifts. 

In relation to this idea, International Relations professor David García Cantalapiedra has argued that China seeks to increase its political influence and prestige through engagement, without confrontation with the existing order. Specific tactics have been to denounce US unilateralism and promote the concept of multilateralism. 

In this sense, García Cantalapiedra alluded, during the development of the NATO Playing Model, to the grand strategy of political propaganda (known as the Three Warfare) of the People's Republic of China, based on three axes: the use of the media and social media (Tik Tok), to waste time and the sense of discipline in education. "In the long run, we are creating a society of the weak versus a competitive society". "It is a trap, where cognitive problems are exacerbated," said the UCM expert in International Relations. 

The second war is about psychological operations to influence international actors in the real world. David García Cantalapiedra explained to this correspondent that China, which designs actions to influence the leaders of foreign governments (or companies, industries, the press, academia), issues messages that modify Western thinking and beliefs in order to generate reasonable doubts and launch plausible alternative responses. Images, values, visions form a narrative, and through this second strategy, international relations will be affected in its predictions of how a country will behave under certain circumstances.  

In the third strategy, China today does not recognise international border treaties signed 100 years ago, because they say they felt obliged to do so. "This war, which is now being waged de facto, is escalating".  In this sense, the Japanese are confronting them but not all of us have the capacity to cope. The People's Republic of China does not cross the red line of direct conflict and we in the West are not prepared to win without a fight.