Category: Thinking About China

Xi ‘Lying Flat’ and Losing Out? No Way!–Even Purged Opponents Rally Around Him as the West Gets It Wrong Again

Commentary While protests of various kinds spread in China as Xi Jinping’s Lockdown Policy went bust, the West is again misreading him and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in a big way, but this time alongside many of Xi’s fiercest online critics too. With his virus policy about-face done with zero preparation for medical and…


Chinese State Media Resort to Personal Attacks on New US House Speaker

Commentary As many China watchers know, the relentless propaganda narratives conveyed by state-run Chinese media outlets—such as People’s Daily, China Daily, and Xinhua—are almost invariably the opposite of the truth. Thus, when Chinese media vehemently condemn an action taken by the U.S. Congress in particular, the reality is that the Americans are over their target…


Japan Doubles Down on Growing Threat From China and Russia

Commentary Citing the threat from communist China and Russia, Japan’s 2023 military budget is the biggest since World War II. “China continues to unilaterally change or attempt to change the status quo by coercion in the East China Sea and South China Sea,” reads Japan’s 2022 defense white paper. The document outlines the scope of…


Does Hiring Signal Strength?

Commentary Hiring remains strong. Some have pointed to this recent robust jobs growth as a reason to downplay other signs of economic weakness and dismiss talk of a recession. At least one headline used the jobs figures to forecast a “soft landing” for the economy. But a deeper look into the production figures points to…


New China Committee in Congress Challenges Regime in Beijing

Commentary There’s a new sheriff in town, and his name is Mike Gallagher. The congressman from Wisconsin will chair the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. The committee was established by a largely bipartisan vote on Jan. 10, and none too soon. Given the CCP’s…


CCP’s Supposed Fight Against Terrorism a Lesson in How Not to Fight Terrorism

Commentary That terrorism is real should not be in question. Even if we cannot agree on what terrorism is (“one man’s freedom fighter…”), let alone the distinction between it and hate crime, it is very true that there is such a thing and it warrants monitoring and action to stop it before it occurs (and…


The Fall of Hong Kong Under the National Security Law

Commentary At one point in time, Hong Kong was undeniably one of the world’s greatest cities. Low tax rates, proximity to other Asian countries, good for weekend getaways, and high life expectancy rate, to name a few attributes. Above all, Hong Kong boasted itself as one of the “freest cities” on earth—a great international financial…


Reaching for ‘Peace in Our Time’ Once Again

Commentary Peace in our time is an aspiration all, but the foolhardy would embrace. It is a superbly worthy goal. The person to whom the words “Peace in our time” are accredited is a man who, full of noble ambition, had those words thrown back at him as the deal he had struck unravelled in…


The World Economic Forum Will Dictate the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Commentary Beginning in the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution fundamentally altered the fabric of society. With the means of production moving from homes to factories, society became more urban and industrialized. The Second Industrial Revolution, which began in the 1850s, gifted humanity with advanced technologies like airplanes and automobiles. This was the age of entrepreneurial…


CNP: Beijing’s Self-Defeating Strategic Methodology

Commentary The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is paying a significant price for relying on its flawed methodology of Comprehensive National Power (CNP) computation to forecast and rate strategic threats and opportunities. The methodology of the Comprehensive National Power system was developed and briefly popularized, albeit not by the CNP name, by Western political risk analysts…