China Articles - February 27, 2022
Friends,
As I’m sure we all experienced revulsion at witnessing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this week, the first thing I wanted to share is a fascinating piece of reporting by Jane Perlez, the former Beijing Bureau Chief of the New York Times. Perlez has been putting together a podcast for WBUR-Boston’s show “Here & Now” called “The Great Wager” about the establishment of relations between the United States and the PRC.
In last week’s episode, Jane uncovered for the first-time details of Project CHESTNUT, the joint Chinese-American program set up by the CIA during the Carter Administration and which lasted through the rest of the Cold War to spy on and undermine the Soviet Union. This highly successful operation, in which the most senior members of the Chinese Communist Party cooperated with the United States to eventually bring-down the Soviet Union.
For example, then-Senator Joe Biden played a role as intermediary with Deng Xiaoping, who in 1980, conducted a secret visit to CIA headquarters in the dead of night to seal the deal. Robert Gates, who went on to become CIA Director and Secretary of Defense, played a role as well.
Few details of Project CHESTNUT have been released (Perlez’s requests under the Freedom of Information Act to the CIA and State Department remain unanswered), but based on her findings the outlines appear clear that the Chinese Communist Party played an extremely important role in the ultimate destruction of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
As you might imagine, given the geopolitical situation today, the CCP is not keen to see those details discussed openly. For example, we all know that Pakistan played a critical role in the Soviet Union’s defeat in Afghanistan… what role did the PRC play?
As Moscow and Beijing seek to restart the Cold War as allies again, I wonder whether Xi Jinping has ever admitted to Vladimir Putin what role that the heroes of the Chinese Communist Party (Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping) played in bringing about what Putin has called the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the twentieth century: the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Perhaps both Beijing and Moscow find it convenient to obscure those events and invent other, more “helpful” narratives for themselves and their citizens.
I encourage everyone to keep this piece of history in mind as we gird ourselves for what is likely to be an equally dangerous period of strategic competition with a budding Beijing-Moscow alliance.
Thanks for reading!
Matt
MUST READ
1. AUDIO – Shared secrets: How the U.S. and China worked together to spy on the Soviet Union
Jane Perlez and Grace Tatter, WBUR, February 18, 2022
In a fascinating piece of investigative reporting, Jane Perlez, the former Beijing Bureau Chief of the New York Times, reveals some of the initial details of the extensive intelligence cooperation between the United States and the PRC in the 1980s that helped bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union.
2. U.S. Officials Repeatedly Urged China to Help Avert War in Ukraine
Edward Wong, New York Times, February 25, 2022
Senior Chinese Communist Party officials met with American leaders on half a dozen occasions to see evidence of Moscow’s intent to invade Ukraine over the past three months. CCP leaders rebuffed their American counterparts claiming no invasion was in the works. Beijing even went so far as to share with Moscow what Americans had shown them and reassure the Russians that the PRC would not interfere with their plans. This suggests that the PRC is fully complicit with Moscow’s efforts to overturn the existing liberal international order.
George Packer, The Atlantic, February 17, 2022
George Packer tells the story of the NBA’s efforts to silence Enes Kanter Freedom, the Boston Celtics Center who has been an outspoken defender of human rights and critic of the Chinese Communist Party. Even his own player’s union (the National Basketball Players Association) sought to silence him as the Boston Celtics coaching staff benched him throughout the season and last week sent him to the Houston Rockets. The Rockets, who forced their own General Manager, Daryl Morey, to retract a tweet supporting Hong Kong democracy in 2019, refused to take Enes Kanter Freedom.
4. How China ghosted Hollywood: Studio slavishness to the CCP was for nothing
Christian Toto, UnHerd, February 10, 2022
Christian Toto reviews the new book by Erich Schwartzel titled Red Carpet: Hollywood, China and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy. Despite years of seeking to placate the Chinese Communist Party to gain access to the growing Chinese film-goers market, Hollywood has nothing to show for it as fewer and fewer American films make it past the censors.
5. China Faces Irreconcilable Choices on Ukraine
Evan A. Feigenbaum, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, February 24, 2022
Important analysis for anyone interested in the geopolitical challenges ahead:
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is an important test of China’s policy evolution, tactical positioning, and strategic choices. Beijing is selfish about its own interests and will not want Washington to be the one to frame China’s alternatives. But Beijing is trying to strike an impossible balance by seeking to pursue three goals simultaneously: a strategic partnership with Russia, commitment to long-standing foreign policy principles of “territorial integrity” and “noninterference,” and a desire to minimize collateral damage from EU and U.S. sanctions.
Beijing cannot reconcile these three competing objectives. And since it cannot have all three, it will have to jettison one or another, or else uncomfortably shift its position from day to day under the glare of international scrutiny. China’s almost certain choice will be to abandon its principles while prioritizing power politics and practical considerations.
China does share some principles of international relations with Russia, including opposition to U.S.-led alliances, and a deep discomfort with U.S. foreign policy that dates to NATO intervention in the Balkans during the 1990s. But Russian actions flatly violate China’s often professed belief in sovereignty, territorial integrity, and noninterference. And these principles have supposedly been at the very core of Chinese foreign policy for decades.
In forsaking these principles while fudging that choice in a haze of sly diplomatic language, Beijing has made clear that the most decisive element of Chinese policy now is its lean toward Moscow.”
AUTHORITARIANISM
6. China refuses to call Russian attack on Ukraine an ‘invasion,’ deflects blame to U.S.
Evelyn Cheng, CNBC, February 24, 2022
7. China Nods to Russia’s Interests in Attack on Ukraine
Chao Deng and Yoko Kubota, Wall Street Journal, February 24, 2022
China expressed support for Russia’s interests in Ukraine and stopped short of calling the all-out offensive an invasion as it blamed Washington for fueling tensions with Moscow.
In a call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday, China Foreign Minister Wang Yi repeated China’s position that it respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations, but added that Beijing could see “complicated and specific” historical questions at play in Ukraine, according to a readout published by state media in the Beijing evening.
8. ‘We’re in an economic war:’ White House, Congress weigh new oversight of U.S. investments in China
Gavin Bade, Politico, February 19, 2022
The proposals could mean unprecedented federal oversight of American businesses abroad. But supporters say they're needed to combat China's economic rise.
Finbarr Bermingham, South China Morning Post, February 21, 2022
European leaders say Beijing and Moscow are working together to undermine democracy, multilateralism and human rights.
10. Olympic Committee Rebukes China Over Political Comments, in Rare Move
Liza Lin and Joyu Wang, Wall Street Journal, February 18, 2022
IOC President Thomas Bach said the group convened a meeting after a Chinese official told reporters there is only ‘one China,’ in a reference to Taiwan.
11. Balancing China in the Indo-Pacific: the role of France and Germany
Mathieu Duchatel and Roderick Kefferputz, Institut Montaigne and MERICS, February 21, 2022
12. Avoiding the Red Card: The Challenge of Separating Sports and Politics in China
Hannah Price, The Diplomat, February 23, 2022
13. Behind the Ivory Tower: An Insider’s Account of the CCP’s Role in Chinese Universities
Anonymous, Macdonald-Laurier Institute, February 18, 2022
This article has been written by an established Chinese scholar who has dedicated a career in academia, including over a decade at large and prestigious Chinese universities. The Macdonald-Laurier Institute has agreed, at the author’s request, to publish this article without a by line to protect the individual. At the same time, MLI has taken significant efforts to authenticate and verify the author, their background, and their integrity.
14. China temporarily detains Japanese diplomat
Jiji Kyodo, Japan Times, February 23, 2022
15. Journalists’ group ‘dismayed’ by treatment at Beijing Winter Olympics
Helen Davidson, The Guardian, February 21, 2022
16. China’s schools must teach thoughts of chairman Xi
Didi Tang, Times of London, February 18, 2022
Chinese schools have been ordered to appoint political commissars to ensure that all children receive instruction on President Xi’s ideology and definition of the “rule of law”.
A mandate issued by the education ministry states that all middle and secondary schools — covering 200 million children — must accept up to five “assistant principals” chosen from the Communist party-run local judiciary, who will from May “push for the study and propaganda of Xi Jinping’s thoughts on rule of law”. Nurseries are also encouraged to set up similar positions, although they are not mandatory.
ENVIRONMENTAL HARMS
17. China’s Other Human Rights Atrocity
Jessica Moerman, The Dispatch, February 24, 2022
Amid all the attention to the Chinese Communist Party’s oppression and authoritarianism—crackdowns on free speech and self-governance in Hong Kong, threats to Taiwan, and its treatment of the Uyghur Muslims, among other examples—one of its human rights atrocities remains underreported.
Using their vast surveillance state, the Chinese government is rounding up Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities to pressure them to renounce their religious beliefs. While enslaved in these camps—the largest mass internment since the Holocaust—they are subjected to horrifying abuse including torture, systematic rape, forced sterilization, and forced abortions.
These conditions alone should have disqualified China from hosting the just-completed Olympics Games. But China’s human rights abuses aren’t limited to those languishing under its influence. As a faith leader and a climate scientist, I can tell you that China’s treatment of the environment is a human rights abuse that threatens all of us.
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE AND COERCION
18. Lecturers admit self-censoring classes with Chinese students
Nicola Woolcock, Times of London, February 23, 2022
Academics are self-censoring to avoid causing offence to students from authoritarian states such as China, a new report has said.
Two thirds said they believed that academic freedom was under threat in higher education and more than two fifths felt the same about their freedom to select teaching content.
The survey of 1,500 social science faculty members across a range of British institutions was conducted by academics from Oxford, Exeter and Portsmouth universities.
19. Taiwan, eyeing parallels to Ukraine, condemns Russian invasion.
Amy Qin, New York Times, February 23, 2022
20. China says US creating ‘fear and panic’ over Ukraine
Associated Press, February 23, 2022
China on Wednesday accused the U.S. of creating “fear and panic” over the crisis in Ukraine, and called for talks to reduce rapidly building tensions.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said China is opposed to new unilateral sanctions imposed on Russia, reiterating a longstanding Chinese position.
She said the U.S. was fueling tensions by providing defensive weapons to Ukraine, without mentioning Russia’s deployment of as many as 190,000 troops on the Ukrainian border. Hua also did not mention efforts by the U.S., France and others to engage Russia diplomatically.
German Lopez, New York Times, February 20, 2022
Rebecca Camber, The Daily Mail, February 18, 2022
HUMAN RIGHTS AND RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION
23. Uyghur Forced Labor Condemned by United Nations’ International Labour Organization
Ruth Ingram, Bitter Winter, February 24, 2022
24. Censorship Mars Beijing Olympics
Human Rights Watch, February 18, 2022
25. “A New Form of Human Civilization”: A New Dangerous Slogan
Massimo Introvigne, Bitter Winter, February 22, 2022
26. “Canaries in a Cold War”: A Film on Torture, Rape, Organ Harvesting, and More
Ruth Ingram, Bitter Winter, February 21, 2022
INDUSTRIAL POLICIES AND ECONOMIC ESPIONAGE
27. Alibaba, Tencent E-Commerce Sites Tagged by U.S. for Counterfeit Sales
Yuku Hayashi, Wall Street Journal, February 18, 2022
28. China wants to insulate itself against Western sanctions
The Economist, February 22, 2022
29. Saudi Aramco in talks on more investments in China
Mohammed Benmansour, Reuters, February 21, 2022
CYBER AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Katrina Northrop, The Wire China, February 20, 2022
A Chinese company backed by American pension fund money and built by one of world's premier private equity firms publicly touted its ties to China's surveillance apparatus. Is U.S. outbound investment in trouble?
MILITARY AND SECURITY THREATS
31. Asia's arms race: China spurs military spending spree
Andrew Sharp, Nikkei Asia, February 23, 2022
Addressing troops earlier on that blustery morning, [Japanese Prime Minister] Kishida warned that "the security environment surrounding Japan is changing at an unprecedented rate." He raised concerns about North Korea's new array of ballistic and other missiles, but saved his most pointed barbs for China.
"As well as strengthening its military might without sufficient transparency, China is continuing to attempt to unilaterally change the status quo," Kishida said. "The most important duty for all members of our armed forces is to strongly defend Japan's land, waters and airspace, and protect the lives and assets of the Japanese people."
Marigold Black and Peter Dortmans, The Interpreter, February 18, 2022
33. What a 19-Year-Old Study Tells Us About China’s J-20
Rick Joe, The Diplomat, February 15, 2022
34. Does the U.S.-Russia Crisis Over Ukraine Prove That the Cold War Never Ended?
Robin Wright, The New Yorker, February 19, 2022
Putin’s aggression in Europe has triggered a new debate about whether American Presidents and policymakers have misunderstood decades of history.
35. Chinese guided missile destroyer aims laser at RAAF surveillance aircraft
James Massola, Sydney Morning Herald, February 19, 2022
A Chinese Navy vessel aimed a military-grade laser at an RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) P8 Poseidon aircraft while sailing through Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone, potentially risking the lives of up to 10 defence force members, according to the Defence Department.
ONE BELT, ONE ROAD STRATEGY
36. Iraq was top target of China's Belt & Road in 2021- study
Shivani Singh, Reuters, February 2, 2022
37. Can the G7’s B3W compete with China’s Belt and Road in Latin America?
Mat Youkee, Dialogo Chino, February 23, 2022
OPINION PIECES
38. The myth of Chinese supremacy: Strategic incompetence has always plagued Beijing
Edward Luttwak, UnHerd, February 19, 2022
Over the thousand years down to the fall of the Jurchen-speaking Manchus in 1912, it was only during the Ming dynasty 1368–1644 that the Chinese were ruled by Chinese — very likely because the founder Zhu Yuanzhang started off as a monastery servant and could not have read Sun Tzu or any other of the delusional manuals that reduce warfare to clever tricks. Their uselessness was proved right into the 20th century, when the Japanese became the last of the badly outnumbered foreign conquerors to conquer Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Canton and as much of China’s territory as they wanted, with both Communist and Kuomintang forces equally incapable of fighting them successfully.
At present no steppe warriors threaten Beijing, but the strategic incompetence of its rulers persists. Exactly at a time when the deeply divided United States needs allies to contain China, Beijing’s erratic aggressions since 2009 have overcome the neutralist preference of India (attacked in Ladakh and provoked over Arunachal state), the neutralist temptations of Japan (during the three-year ascendancy of the Democratic Party of Japan now extinct), the neutralist ambitions of Indonesia, and the pro-China tendency in the Philippines (just when many in the Philippines were inclined to slide into Beijing’s sphere, the Chinese responded by stealing islets and shoals).
Collectively, America’s new allies add enough mass to Vietnam and Australia — the first country to understand the China malady, in 2009 — to outnumber the Chinese, outweigh their economic achievements, and wholly overtake their less-than-stellar technological attainments.
39. The West’s Delusion of Energy Independence
Dennis C. Blair and Joseph F. Dunford Jr., New York Times, February 22, 2022
40. Investors Are Often the First Casualties of War
Niall Ferguson, Bloomberg, February 20, 2022
41. Beijing Could Run Russia’s Playbook on Taiwan
Dan Blumenthal, Foreign Policy, February 18, 2022
42. Washington Must Prepare for War with Both Russia and China
Matthew Kroenig, Foreign Policy, February 18, 2022
43. Is an anti-Xi resistance emerging?
Cindy Yu, The Spectator, February 21, 2022
44. Is Taiwan Next?
Michael Schuman, The Atlantic, February 24, 2022
45. HSBC’s big bet on China is as unwise as it is unethical
Ben Marlow, The Telegraph, February 23, 2022
46. How the U.S. and Europe Lost the Post-Cold War
Gerard Baker, Wall Street Journal, February 21, 2022
Victory bred complacency, neglect of fellow citizens, and a failure to preserve our civilizational values.
47. Chinese Chess
Micah Meadowcroft, The American conservative, February 21, 2022
China is subverting the rules-based order because it is the United States’ order, not just because.