Chinese Cognitive Domain Operations as Propaganda Attacks on the US-Japan Alliance

Recent Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda is unsparing in its criticisms of US security architecture in the Indo-Pacific and of Japan's critical role as a US ally. According to a People's Daily column authored by Zhong Sheng (钟声), a pen name indicating authoritative party viewpoints, Japan is "obsessed with acting as a strategic vassal of the United States and instigating bloc confrontation", a reference to geopolitical tensions between the Cold War's eastern and western groupings. Writers in official CCP media seem to believe Japan is a key driver of "bloc confrontation" in the Indo-Pacific, labeling Japanese diplomatic leadership at the 2023 G7 summit in Hiroshima and Japan's engagement with the "Global South" as major contributions to confrontation. Japanese defense policy gets similar treatment from CCP propagandists. A researcher with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Academy of Military Science (AMS), the PLA's top research institute reporting directly to the Central Military Commission, labels Japan's arms exports as proof that the country is "serving the strategic needs of the United States, wantonly provoking regional conflicts and becoming a 'troublemaker' in regional security".