I. Conceptual Language: The Problem with ‘Chinese Influence’

Abstract

Accurate definition of problems is crucial to the development of effective policy responses. In his 1946 essay ‘Politics and the English Language’, George Orwell made an impassioned plea for precision in political discourse against a proliferation of vague and malleable set phrases. In national security policy, amorphous concepts such as the ‘communist threat’ during the Cold War and ‘terrorism’ after 9/11 have hindered rational assessment of the nature and magnitude of threats. Choice of language influences how the qualitative nature of a problem is understood, along with the causes that give rise to it, the broader associations that audiences will draw and the design of public policy solutions. Unfortunately, the basic terms in which the CCP and its supporters’ political activities have been discussed in English have been frequently vague and potentially misleading. As Chapter III will argue, such imprecision has contributed to unwarranted and often unintended associations between state conduct and ethnicity, misidentification of priorities for policy responses, and missed opportunities to strengthen liberal-democratic institutions.