A leading South China Sea analyst has urged Chinese think tanks to recruit AI talent for the “public opinion war” over the disputed waters.
Wu Shicun, the founding president of China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said Chinese humanities and social science research had traditionally operated in a “lone-wolf” fashion and lacked interdisciplinary diversity.
“The situation in the South China Sea is likely to evolve into a complex, multilayered competition … Cognitive and public opinion warfare has become a primary battlefield,” he told a forum in Shenzhen on Saturday.
He added that physical maritime power alone would not offset losing the narrative battle. Once an adversary managed to frame an incident as “a big power bullying a smaller neighbour”, a delayed counter-response made that perception nearly impossible to reverse, he said. “That is why we urgently need talent in this field.”
He urged think tanks to employ more scientists and algorithm engineers, “moving beyond traditional scholars engaged in theoretical debate and replacing pure commentary with technical and engineering capabilities”.
Several other Chinese think tanks have been looking to harness artificial intelligence (AI) to better monitor global public opinion and amplify China’s messaging overseas.