Tag: Thinking About China

Elon Musk Promotes Socialism in China

Commentary Elon Musk, the wunderkind CEO and co-founder of Tesla and SpaceX, is playing in dangerous sandboxes. On June 20, he proposed a “cage match” with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who accepted the challenge, albeit with the date to be determined. Both tech titans are martial arts enthusiasts. The fight venue is under discussion, with…


The Emperor’s Tutor

Commentary The following is a condensed version of “The Emperor’s Tutor” by Ralph L. DeFalco III, published at Law & Liberty. In 1988, Wang Huning was a well-known political scientist and professor of international affairs at China’s Fudan University. That same year, Wang embarked on a trip that took him to the United States as a visiting…


Republicans to Blinken: Act Against China’s Organ Harvesting

Commentary Rep. Michelle Steel, a California Republican whose parents fled communist North Korea and raised her in Japan, says it’s past time for the federal government to take action to prevent U.S. complicity or even assistance in China’s gruesome organ-harvesting practices. Steel and GOP Rep. Neal Dunn of Florida last week called on Secretary of…


Beijing Counters Washington

Beijing and Washington seem to have entered a tit-for-tat competition on trade. Late last year, the Biden administration placed restrictions on the export to China of equipment for the manufacture of advanced semiconductors and at the same time announced subsidies for the domestic manufacture of semiconductors. Washington even got Japan and the Netherlands to join…


Can the BRICS Syndicate Finally Gain Strategic Traction?

Commentary What is the impact on the global strategic balance of plans by the BRICS nations to create an economic framework or marketplace, possibly backed in the future by an independent currency regime? The BRICS bloc—Brazil, Russia, India, China (PRC), and South Africa—was originally an acronym conceived by New York investors in 2001, but assumed…


A New Eastern Mediterranean Strategic Matrix Is Evolving

Commentary Major, separate transformations are emerging in the domestic political landscapes of Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Cyprus, and Greece. These, coupled with transformations in “great power” influences in the broader Eastern Mediterranean region, will shape the European energy markets, and the relative influence of the United States, Russia, the People’s Republic of China, and Iran….


Secretary Yellen’s Visit Unlikely to Repair Relations

Commentary U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen’s goal in Beijing is to explain President Joe Biden’s China policy, which has shifted a great deal. Prior to the beginning of the administration, it was widely believed that Mr. Biden would repeal the Trump-era tariffs and take a softer stance on China. In reality, he appointed a number of…


China’s Metal Controls Fail

Commentary In the latest break between China and the United States, Beijing imposed export controls on gallium and germanium. The two minerals, which Beijing plans to restrict starting Aug. 1, are critical to high-tech products like ultra-fast computer chips, electric vehicles, radar, night vision devices, missile defense, fiber optics, LEDs, and satellite imagery. China produces…


China’s Xi Jinping and the Galtieri Syndrome: Indicators of an Irrational War?

Commentary What motivates Xi Jinping? What could drive the actions of the leader of communist China is the key strategic question of the decade. Events and conditions ensure that there is a finite, short-term timeframe in which we will see profound strategic actions initiated by Mr. Xi before those factors turn against him. Is that…


China’s New Anti-Espionage Law Poses Risks for Foreign Businesses

Commentary Under the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) new anti-spying law, normal business activities may be considered spying, resulting in foreigners being banned from entering or exiting China. China’s revised Counter-Espionage Law, which went into effect on July 1, prohibits the transfer of information related to national security while also expanding the definition of national security….