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Tag: Yunnan Province

Cognitive Warfare 101

At the Global South Media and Think Tank Forum held in Yunnan province earlier this month, more than 500 guests from 110 countries were served with copies of Colonization of the Mind: The Means, Roots, and Global Perils of US Cognitive Warfare, a report that accused the United States of fitting the world with “mental shackles.” The Xinhua Institute report cited the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID and USAGM as exposing “longstanding activities of exporting ideology, promoting ideological infiltration, manipulating international opinions, shaping foreign nations’ perceptions, and even conspiring to subvert sovereign governments.” This “washing of dirty linens,” the report argued, revealed only “the tip of the iceberg of the United States’ global ideological warfare.”

“Inciting Separatism”

Chinese student Zhang Yadi (张雅笛), a 22-year-old member of the activist online group “Chinese Youth Stand for Tibet” (华语青年挺藏会), was detained by state security officers in the city of Changsha on September 18 on charges of “inciting separatism” after returning to China on July 5 to visit family. Zhang, who studies in France and goes by the Tibetan name Tara (@TaraFreesoul), disappeared on July 30 while visiting Tibetan areas in northern Yunnan province. She is a scholarship recipient at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), where she had planned to begin studying anthropology this month.

For more on Tara, definitely listen to this interview with her back in June by Western Forest (西郊密林). Programs like Western Forest are a valuable contribution to coverage on the exile Chinese community. Consider supporting it by clicking “Support” under the YouTube video.