WASHINGTON – China capitalized on President Biden’s mishandled US troop pullout from Afghanistan last 12 months, using the following chaos in propaganda meant to erode international support for America, based on the Defense Department’s latest China Military Power report released Tuesday.
“In 2021, the PRC employed multiple diplomatic tools in an try and erode US and
partner influence, similar to highlighting the US withdrawal from Afghanistan,” the Pentagon said within the report, using the official acronym for the People’s Republic of China.
While the US rescued nearly 130,000 Americans and Afghan allies from Kabul in the course of the month-long flight from Kabul, 1000’s more were left behind – prompting each domestic and international criticism.
Thirteen US troops and greater than 160 Afghans also died in the course of the mission when an ISIS-K suicide bomber attacked the evacuation site at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport.
“[Chinese] Officials and state media outlets also repeatedly condemned the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and cited the withdrawal as evidence that the US is an unreliable partner and declining power,” the report said.
Published annually to update Congress on Beijing’s military advances, the Pentagon report sheds light on China’s military strategy, capabilities, weapons and technological development, in addition to Beijing’s information and diplomatic efforts.
The report found that China goals to supplant the US as the highest global superpower in the approaching a long time, and repeatedly looks for tactics to “deflect criticism” of its own faults through messaging campaigns. For example, Beijing “routinely asserts america is the only real party answerable for escalating US-China tensions,” based on the report.
Beijing wields propaganda “as a weapon to influence public opinion to effect change” that advantages them, based on the report. The goal is that the messaging will “create an environment favorable to China and reduce civilian and military resistance to [military] actions.”
The Biden administration considers China the highest challenge to America’s national security.