China’s Influence Operations Are Targeting the Indo-Pacific’s Smaller Languages

China's influence operations are expanding across the Indo-Pacific, targeting smaller languages that were once protected by language barriers. Disinformation campaigns have been observed in Japan, Russia, Taiwan, the United States, Australia, the Philippines, and South Pacific island countries. In Japan, social media disinformation during the House of Representatives election in 2026 promoted negative narratives about Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae.

Chinese influence operations in the Indo-Pacific region have been documented since the 2020s, and are believed to be intensifying ahead of the 2028 presidential election to secure a victory for a pro-China candidate. The spread of generative AI has made it easier for non-native speakers to conduct convincing social media manipulation, bypassing the previous language barriers.

Countering these foreign influence operations in digital spaces has become a critical task for governments seeking to protect democracy. Basic measures such as monitoring digital linguistic environments and building fact-checking systems are necessary but not sufficient. Freezing accounts used by attackers usually requires cooperation from American social media platforms, but American Big Tech tends to ignore such requests from smaller countries due to their immense revenues.

Governments targeted by influence operations must therefore coordinate, amplify one another's voices, and build international public opinion to press Big Tech into action. This cooperation is no longer optional in the age of generative AI.