ASOG sheds light on modern political warfare in the Philippines in a new study presented at a brown bag session

The Ateneo School of Government (ASOG), through the Ateneo Policy Center (APC), organized a brown bag session last 25 October 2023 as part of the vetting process of the study titled, “CCP’s Economic Engagements in the Philippines Under The Lens of Political Warfare.” The session was conducted online via Zoom and participated by experts and guests from partner institutions, the diplomatic corps, academe, the military, and the media, whose remarks meaningfully nuanced the discourse.

RADM. Rommel Jude G. Ong, Senior Research Fellow and Professor of Praxis at the Ateneo School of Government, Ms. Karla S. Cruz, Policy Strategist in Cyber and Emerging Technologies, and Jules Gerard V. Arceo, MA, Faculty at the Department of International Studies at the Far Eastern University, led the discussion. They suggested that China’s pursuit of its national interests through political warfare was a strategic maneuver encompassing a wide array of tools and tactics, from economic leverage and disinformation campaigns to cyber operations and cultural diplomacy.

The conversation concentrated on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) approach to political warfare, which appears to weaponize and penetrate economic engagements to influence foreign governments for its strategic interests. This sets the context for the study’s examination of the CCP’s engagements in the Philippines, specifically at the subnational and digital economy levels.

To wrap up the session, policy recommendations to mitigate the impact of political warfare born out of the economic interaction between the Philippines and China on the country’s national security were proposed by the authors.

The forum also featured a brief remark from Dr. Philip Arnold P. Tuaño, Dean of the Ateneo School of Government, who moved the session to a close.

This research study is another productive outcome of ASOG and APC’s long-standing partnership with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Philippines. KAS has supported ASOG-APC’s national security research portfolio since its inception in 2021. The full paper will be released to the public soon.