Congress tackles China’s online ‘manipulation efforts’ including TikTok: Rise of CCP ‘deception’ techniques has U.S. on alert as new survey reveals majority of Americans view China as ‘greatest threat’

Lawmakers are focusing on how to counter China's online “manipulation” tactics as the hostile country expands its “deception” techniques — through TikTok and other methods — putting the U.S. on high alert.

Rep. Mike Gallagher, the Republican chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), will lead a hearing Thursday on how the U.S. can effectively counter China's propaganda efforts aimed at corrupting Americans.

According to his opening statement obtained by DailyMail.com, Gallagher says China's top priority is capturing the “minds” of Westerners.

“On the 'smokeless battlefield' of people's minds, we have no standing army at all,” says Gallagher – and that makes it extremely difficult to fight back.

“TikTok is a perfect weapon, camouflaged in plain sight,” he continues. The committee plans to examine data on how TikTok's parent company ByteDance has strengthened China's “discourse power.”

“TikTok may be the largest malign influence operation ever conducted,” said Gallagher.

Congress' increased focus on China this week comes after the annual Reagan National Defense survey released Thursday found that 51 percent of Americans think China is the “greatest threat to the U.S.”

51 percent of Americans say China is the “greatest threat to the US.”

That figure is a big increase from last year, when Americans answered China with just 43 percent.

Furthermore, an overwhelming number of Americans (77 percent) view China as an enemy, while only 15 percent view the communist state as an “ally.” And 42 percent of respondents consider China a “strong” enemy.

That's a stark difference from 2018 results, which showed that only 55 percent of Americans viewed China as an enemy and 38 percent as an ally.

Additionally, the survey results showed that only 46 percent of Americans have confidence in the U.S. military – a drop of 25 points from 2018.

Respondents also favored increased monetary aid to Israel and Ukraine as Congress battles over whether to approve the Biden administration's $105 billion request for additional funding.

The primetime hearing Thursday will feature testimony from experts John Garnaut of Garnaut Global, Miles Yu of the Hudson Institute and Yaqiu Wang of Freedom House.

Gallagher says he plans to ask the witnesses how they can best “fight back on the battlefield of people's minds” while remaining “true to our values.”

Garanut says the CCP uses its “discourse power” through propaganda, diplomacy, proxies and also covert operations.

Other top lawmakers have sounded the alarm about China's “deceptive” online tactics.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a senior member of the Chinese committee, warned about the CCP's use of “deepfake” videos, which could mislead Americans looking for basic information about the news of the day.

He showed a video of a deepfake showing former President Donald Trump speaking Chinese, and another video that falsely suggested the Biden administration was behind the Maui wildfires.

“I condemn the CCP's increasingly misleading online campaigns targeting the US and other countries. The CCP has made it clear that it will use any tactic to spread its evil intentions. TikTok is not the only threat to democracy,” House Speaker Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told DailyMail.com in a statement.

“The Biden administration must remain vigilant against Beijing's manipulation efforts and not tolerate this type of aggression.”

Earlier this week, the Chinese commission released a memo outlining how the US has little insight into how deep China's network of espionage and influence operations runs across the country.

The details of the memo show that the US has failed to combat Beijing's infiltration – and things could get worse.

The threat comes from the united front, a political strategy that Xi Jinping has called his “magic weapon.”

It is the plan that the CCP uses to exert influence outside its circle without the information appearing to come directly from the Chinese government.

“TikTok may be the largest malign influence operation ever conducted,” said Gallagher

China spends billions every year on the united front system. According to a 2020 Newsweek report, United Front is affiliated with some 600 groups in the US, all of which have regular contact with the CCP.

“The work of a united front harms U.S. interests through legal and illegal technology transfers, surveillance of Chinese diaspora communities, promotion of favorable narratives about the People's Republic of China by ostensibly independent voices, and the neutralization or intimidation of critics of the CCP,” according to the new report.

“The United States has no direct analogy, and the U.S. government has struggled to counter the united front work with traditional counterintelligence, law enforcement, and diplomatic tools,” the report warned.

The background memo is intended to provide guidance for Americans to remain vigilant when targeted by China's influence operations.