News Analysis A new study of China’s global influence operations, produced by the French military, is taking France by storm. Le Monde, Le Parisiene, Le Figaro, L’Express, Libération, the country’s Senate, and others have all covered the 641-page report, most positively and many breathlessly. Breathless is the right reaction to newly-discovering the depths of China’s influence operations, which the new report achieves in spades. The authors of the report, published on Sept. 20 and titled, “Chinese Influence Operations: A Machiavellian Moment,” are Dr. Paul Charon and Dr. Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer at the Institute for Strategic Research (IRSEM). The IRSEM is associated with the French Ministry of Defense. The report makes three new contributions to the field of Chinese influence operations: the activities of the Chinese military’s secret propaganda department, called Base 311; the means through which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) targets French universities, think tanks, and political parties for …