Communist Party told to innovate online to thwart West
Wednesday, 16 October, 2013, 10:22am
Minnie Chan [email protected]
The Communist Party should come up with innovative ideas to defend its mainstream political position via the internet because hostile Western forces are trying to use multiple new media sources to "overturn the party's rule", outspoken PLA General Liu Yazhou has warned.
The Communist Party's capability was weak and outdated in dealing with ideological attacks by Western countries, which are skilled at creating new topics and "political rumours" via the internet, Liu, political commissar of the People's Liberation Army National Defence University, wrote in a commentary in the army's mouthpiece, the PLA Daily.
The commentary is a departure from Liu's previous statements. In July, he published an article in the party's influential magazine Qiushi Journal to warn the PLA that it must embrace change or risk losing out to its international rivals.
"All kinds of anti-mainstream ideological opinions have been mixed in with political rumours or even spiritual publications that are widely circulated on the internet and have a strong demagogic power," Liu wrote in yesterday's PLA Daily commentary page.
Liu said that the ability to control the distribution of information had became one of the three most important strategies of all nations, regimes and armies in sustaining their military capabilities. The other two are maintaining air and naval superiority.
