Category: Thinking About China

Chinese Spying: A Huge Effort and a Huge Success

Commentary Chinese spy balloons are one small part of an enormous, “whole of society” decades-long espionage campaign that communist China has been conducting against the United States. And unfortunately, it has been successful. As with most intelligence operations, it’s a mix of technical and human platforms that aim to obtain (by any means) other countries’…


Moscow Nuclear Treaty, Ukraine, and the CCP 

Commentary Russia is suspending its nuclear treaty with the United States while China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, visits Moscow amid rumors of China possibly providing weapons to Russia for the war in Ukraine. Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to potentially use nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine. During his annual State of…


Flight From China 

Commentary Chinese leader Xi Jinping and others in China’s communist regime frequently associate themselves with the reputation Chinese culture has for patience and taking the long view in human interaction. If that cultural reputation is justified, Beijing’s claims ring false. Little of what China’s leadership does—certainly in the realm of economics—exemplifies either patience or the…


China’s ‘Peace Plan’ Reveals True Intentions

Commentary The history of armed conflict reveals at least one truism: wars are more easily started than concluded. Consider the bloodiest conflict of the 20th century, the Great War. The conflict was at a stalemate for years until the Australian General John Monash engineered a breakthrough at Villers-Bretenneux and Le Hamel. For years, the frontlines…


No Time for Thumb-Twiddling in the Face of Beijing’s Military Build Up

Commentary The Defence White Paper published by the Australian government in 2016 was the most far-reaching, comprehensive of its type. Projecting forward for 20 years, the paper, and its accompanying Defence Industry White Paper, proposed a major program of defence acquisitions to ensure the nation’s security. It also pegged the Defence expenditure base to at…


On the Claims of ‘Inaccuracies’ in Leaked Documents About Chinese Interference: Don’t Shoot the Messenger

Commentary We live in an amazing information age. For the first time in human civilization, anyone—well anyone with access to the internet—can find out just about anything about any topic. A few words typed into a search engine, hit enter, click on a link, and voila! Instant knowledge. Of course it is not as easy…


Anthony Furey: Beijing’s Election Interference Must Be Taken Seriously

Commentary There can be a tendency among the public to write off political scandals as nothing more than partisan infighting, and it’s often an understandable tendency. These days politicians and their proxies turn every little misstep made by their opponents into the biggest of dramas, demanding inquiries and resignations for things that don’t even register…


China’s Economic Prospects Worsen

Commentary Three Chinese tech companies on Feb. 21 lost $33 billion of value in U.S. stock trading. Alibaba Group, JD.com, and PDD Holdings are finding it harder to expand internationally, and so turned to cutthroat competition with each other for domestic markets that will likely demolish their prices and profits. While within the last few…


Hongkongers Must Live as We Always Have as Global Citizens

Commentary Global tensions are at an all-time high. The alleged “surveillance balloon program” across five continents from China that caught worldwide attention has set the stage for some bigger issues. On the third Monday in February, which resembles the federal holiday the, President’s Day in the United States, Joe Biden made a surprise visit to…


The Wrong Priorities in White House Hiring Practices

Commentary The Biden administration’s priorities have been unchanged since January 2021. Here is part of the list from the official White House website: “… actions to control the COVID-19 pandemic, provide economic relief, tackle climate change, and advance racial equity and civil rights.” Those priorities were immediately incorporated in personnel policies through executive orders, for…