Xi Jinping, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, has been continuously strengthening political control. In order to avoid exacerbating the information gap between the West and China, Western scholars studying China are facing restrictions on accessing routine information channels. Experts analyze that the CCP’s information lockdown, both internally and externally, prioritizes regime security and doesn’t care much about serious information asymmetry. However, the regime itself faces internal and external pressures, with the possibility of collapse at any time.
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Epoch Times previously published an article titled “The Increasingly ‘Sealed’ Beijing Regime”, which outlined some signs of the CCP tightening information control. For example, various economic data unfavorable to the stability of the CCP regime have been banned, such as land sales, foreign exchange reserves, bond trading, and more. Data on cremated bodies related to the truth of the pandemic stopped updating from the fourth quarter of 2022. The press conference tradition of the “Two Sessions” of the CCP premier, which has been in place for over 30 years, was canceled in March 2024.
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A recent report by The Wall Street Journal pointed out that due to the CCP’s tightening restrictions on data information, some foreign scholars have had to resort to research methods developed during the Mao Zedong era. Considering the security risks faced by themselves and any Chinese individuals they interact with afterward, they dare not go to China at all.
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The report indicates that scholars from various fields around the world studying China, from urban development to religious beliefs, have encountered increasing obstacles in their work. While some obstacles stem from anti-Chinese sentiment in their own countries, many hurdles are set up by the CCP government.
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Since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, the situation of Western scholars studying China has continuously deteriorated, particularly during the period of the CCP virus (COVID-19) pandemic. Even after China reopened cross-border exchanges in early 2023, some foreign scholars have still encountered difficulties when entering or leaving China. Immigration officials sometimes detain them and interrogate them about their research, delaying them for several hours.
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In recent years, the CCP has successively promoted laws such as the “Anti-Espionage Law”, the “Management of Activities of Foreign Non-Governmental Organizations within China Law”, the “National Security Law”, the “Cybersecurity Law”, and the “Secrecy Law”. In recent years, some foreign citizens have been detained by the authorities on the grounds of “national security”, and cases have even appeared of Chinese scholars working in Japan going missing.
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Gong Xiangsheng, Deputy Research Fellow at the Taiwan Institute for Defense and Security Studies, told the Epoch Times that the CCP deliberately restricts various data outflows through various “security” related laws, completely disregarding the feelings of Western countries. This has led to an increase in misjudgments by the West regarding China, as research is difficult to conduct based on actual data, inevitably leading to distortion.
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On the other hand, in order to expand global influence, the CCP has set up many institutions to study international issues in recent years, attracting overseas scholars to China through programs like the “Thousand Talents Plan”. The CCP has also been continuously accused by European and American countries of sending out spies to steal technology, military secrets, and other relevant information.
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Gong Xiangsheng believes that while the CCP is indeed increasing its research on foreign countries, its priority on self “security” is gradually preventing foreign studies on China, which will further widen the information gap between the two sides.
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Lai Rongwei, Executive Director of the Taiwan Inspiration Association (TIA), analyzed to Epoch Times that the CCP regime has indeed become increasingly closed since Xi Jinping came to power. However, this closure has two directions: one is towards foreign countries, aiming to prevent the real information of China from being taken away, and the other is internally, preventing the Chinese people from having access to information.
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“This is the most realistic transformation. The trend is becoming more closed. It’s not like in the past, after China integrated with the world, information was slightly more open. Now it’s a complete reversal.”
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Regarding the concerns of foreign scholars that this will hinder academic research and exacerbate the information gap, Lai Rongwei stated that this will definitely lead to serious information asymmetry, but the CCP doesn’t care.
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He said that in the eyes of Xi Jinping facing democracies around the world, information flows freely and openly, globalization is still expected. Thus, the CCP can fully study the evolution of the world society. However, due to the closed nature of the CCP, it’s very difficult for the outside world to truly understand China. The information that the CCP now publicly presents about China has basically been processed, known as “telling a good story about China”.
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Lai Rongwei gave an example, stating that there is now a very serious information gap between Taiwan and mainland China.
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“Taiwan has comprehensive information about China, from various perspectives, both pro-blue and pro-green. People in Taiwan can freely discuss and research China on Taiwanese soil. However, this is not the case in China. Reporting on Taiwan in China can only be one-sided, only information that is deemed suitable for the Chinese people can be presented. Therefore, in China, many things about Taiwan are very one-sided, incomplete, and even untrue.”
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Lai Rongwei believes that Xi Jinping walking the path of blocking information is now facing difficulties because the people will not be easily fooled as they were in the past. They also want to connect with the outside world, and the people will encourage second and third generations to immigrate abroad and also pay attention to the internal situation of their country. The risk of regime collapse that the CCP must bear is gradually increasing. In addition, the CCP’s cognitive warfare and fake news have raised alarms in mature democracies around the world, as they slowly unite to target it. The CCP regime faces internal and external pressures, with the possibility of collapse at any time.