FBI’s Visit Down Under to Ramp up Counter-Influence Efforts Against Beijing: Analysts

‘Its deterrent effect will not be apparent for some time to come but it is a step forward,' said Carl Schuster, an instructor at Hawaii Pacific University.
FBI’s Visit Down Under to Ramp up Counter-Influence Efforts Against Beijing: Analysts
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw (L) and FBI Director Kash Patel during Patel's visit to Australia in July 2025. Kash Patel via X
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The recent visit by FBI Director Kash Patel to Australia and New Zealand is aimed at melding counter-intelligence and influence efforts against Beijing, according to one defence expert.

“One enduring axiom of Chinese strategic thinking is that a politically divided nation is a weaker one,” said Carl Schuster, an instructor in the Department of History at Hawaii Pacific University, in an interview with The Epoch Times.

“Mao [Zedong, former leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)] noted many years ago that political opinion drove democratic nations’ political will. So, modern China’s ‘Three Warfares’ doctrine (public opinion, media and lawfare) is intended to create those divisions.