Sun Tzu, the legendary Chinese general and strategist, once wrote: “To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the highest skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the highest skill.”
That, it seems, is exactly what the People’s Republic of China is trying to achieve with its latest move one that doesn’t involve tanks, missiles, or armies, but words.
Recently, The Economist reported that a dozen or so writers, all linked directly or indirectly to Beijing, have begun publishing on Substack, the Western platform known for its independent voices. Collectively, they’ve already gathered around 50,000 subscribers. Their mission? To provide “interpretations of Chinese government decisions, translations of speeches and analysis” for an “elite audience” of Western diplomats, scholars, and journalists.
On the surface, that sounds almost noble. More access to Chinese perspectives could help outsiders understand Beijing’s intentions better. After all, Xi Jinping has made it clear that China aims to become the world’s dominant power by 2049, the centenary of the People’s Republic. Knowing how China thinks could be seen as a strategic necessity.
But let’s not be naive.
The idea that these writers are “independent” of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is laughable. In today’s China, nothing happens outside the Party’s control. From the surveillance state blanketing cities with cameras to the suffocating restrictions on speech and media, independence is an illusion. The CPC watches, directs, and disciplines everything.
Yes, the West has a legitimate hunger to understand what’s going on inside China’s opaque political system. But anyone who thinks these Substack voices will deliver unfiltered truth about Xi Jinping’s inner circle, or about human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet, or Hong Kong, is fooling themselves. These writers are not providing transparency they’re providing narrative control.
It’s the modern version of soft power warfare: influence the minds of others slowly, subtly, and in their own languages. Beijing isn’t “explaining” itself it’s shaping perception, one polished essay at a time. As one analyst put it, this is about “influencing readers’ thoughts drop-by-drop,” until Beijing’s version of reality feels reasonable, even benign.
For those genuinely trying to understand China, there are far better ways: Learn Mandarin. Read the official documents and speeches in their original form. The meaning often changes or softens once it’s filtered through “official translations.” , Listen to true experts. Scholars and analysts who’ve studied China for decades, such as Canada’s Charles Burton, bring valuable context that propaganda never will., Follow what the intelligence and security agencies are saying. From Canada’s CSIS to the FBI, agencies across the West have documented Beijing’s campaigns of transnational repression, election interference, intimidation, and information manipulation.
Sun Tzu also wrote: “All warfare is based on deception. When we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive.”
China is following that playbook perfectly. Its words are weapons carefully chosen, softly spoken, but aimed with precision.
So let’s not mistake a charm offensive for openness. Beijing doesn’t want dialogue; it wants dominance of the narrative. And if we aren’t careful, we might wake up one day to find that the West has been subdued not by battle, but by persuasion.
