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Replication Data for: How China’s Twitter Activity Reflects Gray Zone Activity Towards Taiwan

Harvard Dataverse (Africa Rice Center, Bioversity International, CCAFS, CIAT, IFPRI, IRRI and WorldFish)

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Title Replication Data for: How China’s Twitter Activity Reflects Gray Zone Activity Towards Taiwan
 
Identifier https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/WIRMLK
 
Creator Jacobs, Charity
 
Publisher Harvard Dataverse
 
Description The term “Gray Zone” indicates a state actor’s actions up to the point of armed conflict and is increasingly associated with China’s foreign policy, especially regarding other countries within the East Asia Pacific. China has harnessed Western social media to defend its national interests, drawing international attention to their discourse war and often hostile rhetoric. This paper analyzes Chinese state-sponsored tweets and narratives about Taiwan, a focal point for Chinese gray zone activity. We use empirical topic modeling techniques to aggregate social media narratives and understand them from a doctrinal understanding of Chinese influence operations. Additionally, we use statistical methods to examine the relationship between China’s information and military operations toward Taiwan. Our research indicates that China uses its state-sponsored accounts to coordinate and amplify social media messaging around military campaigns of strategic importance. Additionally, the presence of a multipronged approach using social media to support military campaigns may indicate an escalation in conflict.
 
Subject Computer and Information Science
Social Sciences
China
Taiwan
influence operations
 
Date 2024-03-01
 
Contributor King, Charity Jacobs