Prominent Chinese academics have called on Beijing to strengthen its cognitive warfare capabilities by adopting a concept of cognitive sovereignty.
Wang Wen, dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University, and Ding Zhuang, an associate research fellow at the institute, made the appeal in a paper last week.
They argued that China should move beyond a traditional passive mindset of cognitive defence.
“It is necessary to move beyond the traditional, passive mindset of ‘cognitive defence’ and instead adopt the strategic concept of ‘cognitive sovereignty’,” they wrote.
The scholars recommended proactively setting agendas, introducing original concepts and creating Chinese narratives to gain an upper hand in international competition.