Building a multilateral cognitive warfare defense network: A collaborative framework for the United States, Japan, and Taiwan
Bottom lines up front
- Beijing is pressuring Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines not only with ships and aircraft but also in the cognitive domain—which no multilateral mechanism defends.
- China has made cognition a military domain, running campaigns through the whole party-state and contracted AI firms to exploit fears of US abandonment.
- First island chain democracies and the United States should share what they see, build civil society into their own response, and train together.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has upgraded the cognitive domain from the “Three Warfares” to a contest for “brain control,” using artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled, party-state-wide influence campaigns that evolve faster than democratic countermeasures. Yet most security cooperation between first island chain nations still focuses on physical threats, leaving a growing gap in multinational defense against malign information operations.
Using the Disinformation Analysis and Risk Management (DISARM) framework to compare China’s military cognitive warfare against Taiwan and Japan, this report finds that both democracies face limits when it comes to regulating hostile content, because of free speech norms and broad public concern about government control over information. Regulation also cannot keep pace with fast-evolving tactics. Their strengths, however, are complementary. Taiwan offers a mature public-private ecosystem, linguistic proximity, and frontline experience, while Japan contributes stronger internal official coordination, alliance management, and international strategic communication.
This report therefore argues that these advantages should be integrated through a US-supported, multilateral, cognitive warfare defense network across the first island chain. Built on a shared framework and a common operational picture, such a network would help democracies move from isolated, reactive responses toward coordinated early warning and proactive defense.
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About the author
Major Yu-Hao “Vinson” Shen was a visiting military fellow with the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security from 2025-2026.
He is a political warfare officer specializing in strategic communication, psychological operations, cognitive warfare, and public affairs. He dedicates himself to exploring how Taiwan can leverage strategic communication to enhance military image, gain domestic and international support, strengthen national defense resilience, and develop psychological operations to counter potential threats. He has participated in numerous engagements in Taiwan, the United States, and other countries regarding the PRC’s global malign influence operations to explore collaborative models for addressing shared threats.
Recognizing the global threat posed by authoritarian regimes in the information domain, Shen is committed to exploring transnational cooperation frameworks that can establish information operation defense networks to collectively prevent the expansion of malicious threats.
Shen graduated from the National Defense University Political Warfare College (Fu Hsing Kang College) with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the College of Communication, National Cheng Chi University, researching “Developing Communication Strategies for the ROC Armed Forces’ Crisis Management: A Contingency Theory of Public Relations Approach.”
Acknowledgements
This report and the author’s visiting fellowship at the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative were made possible by generous support from Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense. The views expressed within do not necessarily represent the position of the Taiwanese Army or government.
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The Indo-Pacific Security Initiative (IPSI) informs and shapes the strategies, plans, and policies of the United States and its allies and partners to address the most important rising security challenges in the Indo-Pacific, including China’s growing threat to the international order and North Korea’s destabilizing nuclear weapons advancements. IPSI produces innovative analysis, conducts tabletop exercises, hosts public and private convenings, and engages with US, allied, and partner governments, militaries, media, other key private and public-sector stakeholders, and publics.
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