Murphy Questions Deputy Secretary Of State On Efforts To Combat Chinese Misinformation And Further U.S. Interests In The Middle East

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Tuesday spoke at a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on U.S. strategic competition with China and U.S. competitiveness beyond the Indo-Pacific. In his questions to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, Murphy emphasized the importance of maintaining funding for the U.S. State Department's Global Engagement Center (GEC) to combat Chinese misinformation and expressed concerns about China's deepening relations with our Gulf allies.

Murphy highlighted the GEC's success in combatting Chinese misinformation and asked the Deputy Secretary to describe the consequences of allowing the Center's authorization to expire: "One of China's most effective national security tools is propaganda and misinformation. Their investment dwarfs the investment the United States makes. Estimates are that China's spending something in the neighborhood of $7 billion per year. The United States clearly does some of this work through the Department of Defense, but inside the Department of State exists the Global Engagement Center, which is funded at a relatively paltry $61 million, but which, over the course of the last half decade, has done some pretty extraordinary work to track Chinese misinformation and to help local actors be able to fight back. The Global Engagement Center is set to expire- the authorization for the center is set to expire-at the end of this year. What would be the impact if we lost the capacity to help coordinate with allies, help to fund efforts in and around the Chinese theater to combat Chinese misinformation, if we lost the authorization for the Global Engagement Center?"

Murphy also questioned Deputy Secretary Campbell on the implications of cooperation between Gulf allies and China: "I think the history suggests that our Gulf allies are sort of seeking to have it both ways, right? [They] will play the United States off against China fairly regularly and there's very recent evidence of that: Saudi Arabia's massive investment in the leading Chinese AI company, certainly contrary to U.S. national security interests; the ongoing maturation of UAE's defense relationship with China. I guess I have two sort of simple questions for you on this portfolio. One, do you agree that a security treaty with a country like Saudi Arabia only makes sense if our China policies are aligned? And two, is there any reason to be optimistic that the Gulf nations are going to do anything other than continue to play the United States and China off against each other to get the best deals that they can get on economic investment, security, relationships, et cetera?"

A full transcript of his remarks can be found below:

MURPHY: "Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Good to see you, Mr. Secretary. I'm going to ask you two questions, one on disinformation and one on China and the Middle East. So, one of China's most effective national security tools is propaganda and misinformation. Their investment dwarfs the investment the United States makes. Estimates are that China's spending something in the neighborhood of $7 billion per year.

"The United States clearly does some of this work through the Department of Defense, but inside the Department of State exists the Global Engagement Center, which is funded at a relatively paltry $61 million, but which, over the course of the last half decade, has done some pretty extraordinary work to track Chinese misinformation and to help local actors be able to fight back. The Global Engagement Center is set to expire- the authorization for the center is set to expire-at the end of this year. What would be the impact if we lost the capacity to help coordinate with allies, help to fund efforts in and around the Chinese theater to combat Chinese misinformation, if we lost the authorization for the Global Engagement Center?"

CAMPBELL: "Senator, first of all, thank you for the question. Let me just say, I think some of the work that the GEC has done in the last couple of years is deeply innovative and helpful to American purpose, and I commend the work under Jamie Rubin, the leader of the organization, and others who work underneath him. I will simply say this: what it has done that has made a difference in a number of places, is simply illuminating the strategies-the actors and the strategy that both China and Russia have undertaken, and so these countries' ability-China, Russia- to manipulate and maneuver is done largely out of public view. When you expose it, actually can be quite purposeful and effective.

"I would simply say that you are absolutely right. It's a small amount of money. We have a little bit of DOD that we're working, but the challenge is enormous. I'll just give you one example, Senator: when I was asked to go to the Solomons to basically contest what the Chinese were doing there, I remember waking up in the morning, getting the local newspaper, and on the cover-this is right after the war had started in Ukraine-was a long story about the chemical and biological weapons facilities that the United States maintained in Ukraine. Right? Clearly effective Russian and Chinese disinformation. And we just have to do a better job contesting this globally. A first step would just be to get the GEC reauthorized. I think the GEC has done more on Russia than China, but I think it's stepping up its game substantially on China as well."

MURPHY: "Yeah, just in the last year and a half, 22 different reports produced by the GEC specifically naming Chinese propaganda efforts- which as you state-is sometimes the first and sometimes most effective tool."

"Let me turn to the Gulf. Obviously, we have had a number of conversations in this committee about the Administration's conversation around extending a security guarantee to Saudi Arabia that would impact our broader security obligations in the region towards all of our Gulf allies. I want to ask you about the future of Gulf cooperation with China. I think the history suggests that our Gulf allies are sort of seeking to have it both ways, right? [They] will play the United States off against China fairly regularly- and there's very recent evidence of that: Saudi Arabia's massive investment in the leading Chinese AI company, certainly contrary to U.S. national security interests; the ongoing maturation of UAE's defense relationship with China.

"I guess I have two sort of simple questions for you on this portfolio. One, do you agree that a security treaty with a country like Saudi Arabia only makes sense if our China policies are aligned? And two, is there any reason to be optimistic that the Gulf nations are going to do anything other than continue to play the United States and China off against each other to get the best deals that they can get on economic investment, security, relationships, et cetera?"

CAMPBELL: "So it's an important question, and I do think when we're talking about some of these fundamental decisions on the part of the United States, security guarantees, substantial investments in technology, you know, we often say, look, we don't ask countries to choose, but we want them to have a choice. In certain circumstances where we're putting our stuff on the line, whether technology or our commitment to support you, I'm afraid it is a binary choice. And I think we would have to insist on that as we go forward. I will say the Middle East is complicated."

"Senator, you talked about the whole region. There was a period, not long ago, where Israel-also had very deep engagements with China and the United States-has chosen, largely, now to engage directly with the United States, because they understand the nature of what they were doing had implications for their own security given China's other actions. I wouldn't want to go through a taxonomy of each country in the Gulf, but my guess is that we'll have more luck with some than others. But ultimately, the process of this all rests on other issues being resolved, and it is just enormously challenging. So, I do think we are right to try to contest. It's an important region. But at the same time, we also have to be clear that we have some real advantages. Our technology, our security guarantee must not be given lightly, and we must demand many things in response."

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