Category: Thinking About China

Latest US Intel Report Helps China Hinder Probe Into COVID-19 Origin

Commentary The U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) “remains divided on the most likely origin of COVID-19,” according to an unclassified report released on Aug. 27. “Two hypotheses are plausible,” the report explains, “natural exposure to an infected animal and a laboratory-associated incident.” In May, when President Joe Biden urged the agencies to “redouble” their efforts to find…


As China Holds the Unvaccinated Accountable, Who Will Hold China Accountable for COVID-19?

Commentary As the Chinese regime holds the unvaccinated accountable, who will hold the regime accountable for the pandemic? After all, the virus, which almost certainly emerged from a lab in Wuhan, has claimed the lives of more than 4.49 million people worldwide. How many more people must die before we get an admission of guilt from…


The Chinese Regime’s Engagement With Bad Actors

Commentary The foreign policy of the Chinese regime assumes that the current ruling power in a country is the legitimate ruling power. Consequently, despite an international consensus to the contrary, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) engages with the Burmese junta, as well as with the Taliban. China wants to avoid foreign entanglements and is not…


Accelerating China-Iran Strategic Partnership in the Middle East

Commentary Iran presents the ideal conditions for the Chinese regime to execute its proven takeover strategy that has already enveloped Iran’s much larger and nuclear-armed neighbor Pakistan and now possibly Afghanistan Client States, Not Partners A key pattern in Chinese alliance formation activities is a clear preference for asymmetric partnerships where Beijing serves as the…


Two Years on From Hong Kong’s Prince Edward ‘831’ Attack: From Police Violence to Police State

Commentary Two years ago today, the Hong Kong Police Force—if one can still call them that—ran riot in the Prince Edward subway station in Hong Kong, indiscriminately attacking passengers on the metro as they sought out pro-democracy protesters. The video footage of the terror unleashed by a police force once regarded as “Asia’s finest” shocked…


China Robs Its Tech Sector, and Gets Schooled on Equality

Commentary On Aug. 28, the Wall Street Journal, that bastion of American capitalism, gave the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) advice on how to achieve equality. Don’t believe me? Nathaniel Taplin and Jacky Wong, both reporters for the Journal, wrote, “Fundamentally, China needs a better-funded social safety net not tied to a certain location, and a…


China’s Transnational Repression Must End

Commentary China is the world’s biggest perpetrator of transnational repression globally, according to a new Freedom House report. The report cites “millions of Chinese and minority populations from China in at least 36 countries” affected by intimidation, espionage, threats, cyberattacks, physical assaults, illegal extradition, and rendition. Written by Nate Schenkkan and Isabel Linzer, the excellent report’s…


The Two Countries That Said No to China

Commentary Have you ever fallen prey to progression bias? Although the phenomenon is most often applied to romantic relationships, it can also be applied to the world of politics. The progression bias can be seen with China and its 139 Belt and Road Initiative clients. Since 2013, the year the initiative first began, the risks associated with the…


The Ulterior Motives of China’s Belt and Road Initiative

Commentary Xi Jinping’s ascension to supreme power in China has resulted in a number of ChiCom (Chinese Communist) global initiatives being pursued diligently in the mainland and abroad. Perhaps the most important of these is the Belt and Road Initiative. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, also called One Belt One Road), which Xi announced…


New Intel Report on COVID-19: China Is Hiding Something

Commentary An unclassified U.S. intelligence report summarized for the public on Aug. 27 makes clear that the first cases of COVID-19 were at least as early as Nov. 19, 2019, and that the first cluster of cases occurred at least by December 2019 in Wuhan. The report makes clear that China is hiding information about…