As early as December 2003, China, based on lessons learned from the Iraq War earlier that year, formally launched the concept of public opinion warfare, psychological warfare, and legal warfare. In 2014, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) went one step further and came up with the concept of “mind superiority,” a Chinese term which means literally “brain control power.” It was set to be used in operations against Taiwan. The most recent digital public opinion warfare tactics against Taiwan, combining disinformation with applications of information technology, are concrete examples of this concept being put into practice. This paper discusses the subject from the perspective of cognitive warfare as it is commonly known. It includes an analysis of relevant cases to identify the PLA’s new moves and its customary tactics, and seeks to provide a reference for Taiwan in the development of countermeasures against the PLA.
