Category: Thinking About China

Chinese Economy Now in Deep Peril

Commentary At the beginning of the year, many economists had predicted that the COVID “great re-opening” of China would spur domestic spending and the consumer sector. Following years of periodic lockdowns, the hope is that consumers would roar out of the gates to offset slowdowns in traditional growth areas such as manufacturing and real estate….


Biden Admin’s Weak China Strategy

Commentary U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is bending over backwards to extend a friendly hand to China. He may slip on the ice. Beijing’s proffered handshake, if it can be called one, looks frigid. Blinken spoke to China’s foreign minister a few days before his upcoming visit, and the minister was already publicly shaming…


Hong Kong Does Not Care About the United Nations

Commentary This year marked the 34th anniversary of the June 4th incident, a 1989 student-led demonstration in China that resulted in bloody suppression and massacre. Since then, the annual June 4th candlelight vigil has been part of Hong Kong’s history until 2020, when the national security law banned such national security-threatening activities. However, with the…


Time to End China’s Economic Advantages as a ‘Developing Country’

Commentary The U.S. Congress is waking up to the realization that the wishes and hopes of the China engagement crowd over the last several decades—that communist China would moderate its aggressive behavior over time as a natural result of massive foreign investment and trade incentives—have been a complete failure. That realization was jump-started by the…


Stop Crypto Crime of Rogue States Like China by Banning Cryptocurrency

Commentary North Korea stole over $3 billion worth of cryptocurrency, which funds approximately 50 percent of its nuclear weapons development, according to a Wall Street Journal report on June 11. The massive crypto haul is in addition to hundreds of millions of dollars that the rogue state, supported by Russia and China, has stolen or…


The Ghosts of Khrushchev and Castro Now Haunt in Communist China’s Cuba

Commentary As a young boy growing up among the servant class in Palm Beach and living just down the street from President John F. Kennedy’s Florida compound during the Cuban missile crisis, it was one of the scariest times of my life. Construction crews were working on a nuclear bomb shelter for JFK under nearby…


The Ghosts of Khrushchev and Castro Now Haunt Communist China’s Cuba

Commentary As a young boy growing up among the servant class in Palm Beach and living just down the street from President John F. Kennedy’s Florida compound during the Cuban missile crisis, it was one of the scariest times of my life. Construction crews were working on a nuclear bomb shelter for JFK under nearby…


Cuba’s CCP Spy Base

Commentary China’s spy base in Cuba may be a violation of the Monroe Doctrine. “We are deeply disturbed by reports that Havana and Beijing are working together to target the United States and our people,” wrote Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in a recent statement regarding the…


Beijing’s Saber-Rattling Masks China’s Big Problems

Commentary Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his fellow communists know how to leverage Chinese xenophobia to distract rising discontent among the Chinese people. With a nod to lucky No. 3 in Chinese numerology, Beijing frequently plays three cards in its geopolitical card game to focus on long-standing foreign adversaries (enemies) to distract the masses from…


CCP Tightens Control Over Chinese Economy

Commentary The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intensifies control over the economy with a new vice premier and new supervisory bodies. Under Xi Jinping, the CCP has continuously tightened its grip on the economy, including finance and banking. Now, newly-appointed Vice Premier He Lifeng and several new party-led bodies will ensure the country’s financial system aligns…