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DECLASSIFIED BY COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT WARRINGTON ON 10 JULY 2026

Summary:

Ahead of the 2020 Presidential Elections. China had extensive plans to utilize > and
cyber operations to sway public opinion against the Trump Administration and international opinion against
the U.S. Goverment. The China plans were designed to exploit U.S. societal fissures and vulnerabilities.
to influence U.S and other audiences. and by extension U.S. government decision-making. The plans
addressed several scenarios, including military conflict between the U.S. and China, as well as other
potential crises.

The («Operations themes covered a broad range of topics. to exploit what China perceived to
be U.S. fissures and vulnerabilities (perceived or real). including:

e Racial tensions:
e Alleging that White people hate Black people:
e Inciting demonstrations and marches as evidence of racial divides:
e Increasing the level of conflict between police and anti-racism activists: and
e Feeding any sense that U.S. law enforcement resents USG and people of color.
USG tensions with the U.S. military:
Political party disagreements:
Congress-Trump Administration conflicts:
Women’s rights:
U.S. South China Sea policies:
Alleged U.S. war aspirations: and
Intemational propaganda.

China had developed capabilities to project themes on these topics into social media (Tiktok. Facebook.
Twitter. YouTube and others). as well as mainstream media through a variety of overt and hidden influencers
and media contributors. One of the options included gathering information on senior U.S. government
officials to influence public opinion of those officials.