Abstract

3 Deepfakes and National Security: A Perspective from a Holistic Approach to National Security

LIU Guozhu

[Abstract] Deepfakes are the product of the development of artificial intelligence and digital technology.Ever since the first deepfakes appeared in 2017, deepfakes have been gaining great momentum and rapidly spreading around the world.The development and popularization of artificial intelligence and big data technologies have greatly lowered the threshold for people with ulterior motives to produce a large number of deepfakes that flood the Internet and various social media platforms.Although the deepfake technology can bring certain benefits to human society, it can also pose risks and challenges to national security.It has not only exerted huge impacts on the international situation and international security environment, but also exacerbated the existing “trust deficit” in the international community, thus giving rise to more problems of greater complexities in terms of national defense security, political security, economic security and people’s security.It needs to be pointed out that international economic criminal organizations are using deepfakes to defraud the Chinese public and enterprises.The US-led Western countries are taking advantage of deepfakes to attack China on the issues related to Xinjiang and Hong Kong.As for some major international issues, various international forces are attempting to use deepfakes to win over the public opinion in China.To cope with and ultimately eliminate the increased security risks brought about by deepfakes, it is necessary for China to improve its comprehensive governance system targeted at deepfakes under the holistic national security architecture, advocate and uphold the security concept featuring comprehensive security, cooperative security and common security, and work together with the international community to build a community with a shared future in the digital era.

[Keywords] deepfake, artificial intelligence, national security, holistic approach to national security

[Author] LIU Guozhu, Professor, Institute of World History / Research Center for Non-Traditional Security and Peace Development, Zhejiang University (Hangzhou, 310058).

32 A Study on Disinformation from the Perspective of a Holistic Approach to National Security

YUAN Sha

[Abstract] Disinformation is an age-old means of manipulating information in the international arena.With the ever-deepening process of information globalization, the proliferation of cross-border disinformation has become a grave concern.However,current studies on disinformation are still at a preliminary stage of development in the field of international relations, lacking systematic approaches and theoretical depth.Being dominated by the Western-centrist way of thinking, they are even regarded as a weapon of persuasion that could be used to manipulate public opinion.In fact, as an emerging compound national security threat, disinformation takes on characteristics of both traditional security threats and nontraditional security threats, which is acknowledged as a new phenomenon plaguing the international community.Disinformation has also posed a serious challenge to China’s overall national security, jeopardizing people’s security,political security and national interests.The raging “disinfodemic” amid the Covid-19 pandemic has fully exposed such dangers.The proliferation of disinformation can be attributed to both individual psychology and social needs.It is equally subject to the information technological development as well as political and economic interests.At present, disinformation shows a strong tendency of politicization and thus poses ever more grave and complex challenges to national security and international security as a whole.In line with a holistic approach to national security, it is imperative for China to strengthen disinformation governance and effectively prevent and resolve the national security risks caused by disinformation.

[Keywords] holistic approach to national security, disinformation, compound national security threats, disinfodemic, disinformation governance

[Author] YUAN Sha, Ph.D., Assistant Research Fellow, Department for American Studies,China Institute of International Studies (Beijing, 100005).

57 Study on “Strategic Time Gap” and China’s Strategic Security

HU Jian

[Abstract] The concept of time in international relations includes time point, time period and time process.In view of the time length of international gaming, there exist macrotime gaming and micro-time gaming, both of which may exert strategic impact.Throughout history, a good command of the “strategic time gap” may not necessarily achieve the result of “subduing the enemy without fighting”, but it will undeniably be able to gain an advantageous position in the game at a lower cost.China’s strategic security is closely bound up with a congenial period of strategic opportunities.Over the past four decades, the strategic opportunities for China’s development and growth as a major country can boil down to such three contributing factors as technological revolution,power shift and strategic mistakes made by Western countries.However, in the new era,China needs to take the initiative to shape its strategic opportunities by grasping and employing the “strategic time gap”.In terms of overall strategy, China shall continue to strive for a peaceful international environment and demonstrate its commitment as a responsible major country when it moves to center stage in the international arena.At the same time, China shall endeavor to ensure that all the international games, especially the one between China and the US, are a positive-sum game so as to remove any misgivings about and mistrust of China’s rise by the established leading countries across the globe.What counts most is to gain a firm footing in China’s internal development, which is the substantive content of gaining an easy access to the golden period of strategic opportunities.The ultimate goal of grasping all the “strategic time gaps” is to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.Only in this way will China meet the world’s expectations and peacefully rise.

[Keywords] strategic time gap, strategic security, future of the Chinese nation, period of strategic opportunities

[Author] HU Jian, Researcher and Doctoral Supervisor, Center for Soft Power Studies,Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (Shanghai, 200020).

79 The Impact Path of Artificial Intelligence on Shaping the Composite Strategic Stability: A Model-Based Examination

CAI Cuihong and DAI Liting

[Abstract] With the advancement of technology and time, the framework of strategic stability has produced significant changes.Viewed from the developmental lineage, the research perspective of strategic stability theory has undergone a transformation from nuclear strategic stability and military strategic stability to composite strategic stability.A new-era model of composite strategic stability can help establish a platform for discussing relations between theories and facts.This paper, by virtue of such three major chains as strategic capabilities, strategic behaviors and strategic intentions, intends to analyze the composition and interaction of key elements of composite strategic stability, and select artificial intelligence which is the most representative disruptive technology in today’s world as a case study to analyze the path of its impact on the composite strategic stability model.The significance of artificial intelligence lies in its potential to break the interval between national strategic capabilities, strategic behaviors and strategic intentions, and affect composite strategic stability both positively and negatively via the all-round penetration effects on strategic capabilities, the two-way guidance effects on strategic intentions, and the dynamic intervention effects on strategic behaviors.However, the impacts of AI on strategic stability are negative in most cases.These findings have important practical implications for a better understanding of the impacts of AI on strategic stability as well as for maintaining strategic stability and upgrading AI governance capabilities.

[Keywords] artificial intelligence, strategic stability, composite strategic stability,artificial intelligence governance

[Authors] CAI Cuihong, Professor, Center for American Studies, Fudan University; DAI Liting, Ph.D.Candidate, School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University (Shanghai, 200433).

109 Deference and Oversight: The Lawsuits Related to Pandemic Prevention and US Public Health Security Governance

CHEN Changning

[Abstract] The rule of law is part and parcel of public health security governance.There exist a series of contradictions and conflicts between power and rights in the US public health security governance.The principal contradiction lies in the collision between individual rights and the exercise of the state government’s police power to safeguard public health security.To effectively implement measures of public health security governance, such as pandemic prevention policies, it is necessary to strike a balance between the interests of public health and individual rights.The judicial power will continue to play a critical role in public health security governance in that it can adjudicate disputes and mitigate possible harm and damage.Historically, the US courts have been adopting a position of judicial deference in public health-related cases and thus facilitated the development of public health security governance.Currently, the US courts have strengthened judicial oversight of the exercise of power by other governmental branches.Against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, stability should be enhanced in the rule of law in public health security governance, otherwise the US courts will have great difficulty in effectively balancing public health security interests and individual rights through judicial means, which will not only weaken the influence of the US judicial system over public health security governance, but also deepen the dilemma of US public health security governance.

[Keywords] public health security, rule of law in national security, judicial review,judicial deference, Covid-19 Pandemic

[Author] CHEN Changning, Assistant Research Fellow, School of International Studies,Sichuan University; Director of American Studies Center, Sichuan University (Chengdu,610029).

130 The Integration of National Security Talent Training and Higher Education in the United States: A Case Study of the US National Security Education Legislation and Its Program Implementation

TANG Yuming

[Abstract] The enactment of the National Security Education Act of 1991 (NSEA) in the United States did not happen overnight.The legislative process for the US national security education policy began after World War II and continued until the end of the Cold War, lasting more than 40 years.The entire legislative process was accompanied by the continuous and contemporaneous improvements of the US national security legal system,which resolved the legislative dilemma of no federal intervention in education, reflected a major shift in the national security mindset of lawmakers and ultimately materialized the institutional integration of national security talent training and higher education system in the United States.The National Security Education Program created in accordance with the NSEA is an important initiative to implement the US national security education policy.Based on data analysis, this paper intends to observe the actual development and implementation effectiveness of the Program.The findings are that when the US national security strategy is translated into specific implementation programs like the National Security Education Program, there are still disconnections and misalignments between policies and actions despite a higher correlation between them.The Program has been playing a significant and positive role in cultivating national security talents in the United States over the past 30 years ever since its birth, but it is also beset by obvious limitations.Lessons and experiences from the US can provide precious references for China’s national security education in its higher education system.

[Keywords] US national security legal system, national security education, national security talent training, higher education

[Author] TANG Yuming, Lecturer, University of International Relations (Beijing, 100091).