Matt Turpin's China Articles - May 21, 2023
Friends,
One way to view last week would be to think of it as the week of dueling Summits.
Readers likely know that Japan hosted the 49th annual Group of Seven (G7) Summit in Hiroshima this past week. At the top of their agenda was grappling with the most important challenge these countries are facing: responding to the new cold war between themselves and an emerging Sino-Russian entente.
The Leaders’ Communiqué issued yesterday made this formulation and prioritization absolutely clear:
[a screenshot of the G7 Leaders’ Communiqué posted on the White House website]
Of the six priorities that leaders agreed to take “concrete steps” on, five are focused on waging this new cold war.
The first three priorities respond to the direct challenges posed by Beijing and Moscow, along with their rogue partners (satellites?) in Pyongyang and Tehran. Priorities five and six are focused on building influence in the rest of the world to counter Beijing and Moscow.
Only the fourth priority, the energy transition and climate change, could be characterized as an issue outside the scope of this geopolitical rivalry; although given the way that the Biden Administration has framed its domestic efforts on the energy transition, even this distinction is breaking down.
We are witnessing the formulation of a new organizing principle for international relations. We are moving away from assumptions that the global economy operates as a unified whole and towards assumptions that rival blocs are forming which will determine future business models, supply chains, and security relationships.
While none of the G7 leaders use the term ‘new cold war’ or ‘cold war 2’ out loud, that is clearly the geopolitical model we are entering. In my opinion, it is only a matter of time before leaders openly admit this reality.
Less well publicized (outside of the PRC at least) was Xi’s China-Central Asia Summit. Leaders from the former Soviet Republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan traveled to meet with Xi in Xian, one of China’s ancient capitals and the historical starting point of the Silk Road.
The format of this inaugural ‘Group of Six’ Summit was a little different than its counterpart. Rather than meetings which reinforce our common understanding of multilateralism, Xi hosted a series of bilateral meetings with his guests and ended the summit with his own keynote address which substituted for a carefully negotiated leaders’ communiqué as the main ‘deliverable’ from the summit. Despite Beijing’s efforts to portray this meeting publicly as one of equals, it is clear Beijing considers these Central Asian countries as their new vassals.
The speech, “Working Together for a China-Central Asia Community with a Shared Future Featuring Mutual Assistance, Common Development, Universal Security, and Everlasting Friendship” (it probably sounds snappier when Xi says it) has all the hallmarks of the ‘internationalism’ that characterized Moscow’s Comintern, and later Cominform, meetings a century ago. Today, the Chinese Communist Party plays the role of the Bolsheviks. And like the Bolsheviks, the Party seeks to build a constellation of satellites to protect itself while it wages a long and hostile struggle against its adversaries.
Thanks for reading!
Matt
MUST READ
1. G7 summit: leaders pledge to counter China’s ‘malign’ practices and tackle economic coercion
Josephine Ma, South China Morning Post, May 20, 2023
Leaders vow to reduce supply chain dependency, tackle ‘non-market policies and practices’ and ensure attempts to weaponise economic dependency fail.
Beijing says leaders attending summit in Hiroshima are ‘vilifying China’ and ‘violently meddling’ in its internal affairs.
COMMENT – The Chinese Communist Party believes the G7 is preparing for a cold war against them.
Kawala Xie, South China Morning Post, May 19, 2023
China promised to strengthen its economic ties with Central Asia on Thursday a day before it is expected to be targeted at the Group of Seven summit in Japan.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is holding a series of one-on-one meetings with the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan at the China-Central Asia Summit in Xian.
The two-day summit is the first in-person gathering of its kind since Beijing established diplomatic relations with the five newly independent countries in 1992 and will run in parallel with the G7 meeting in Japan.
COMMENT – Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and his failure to achieve victory has emboldened Beijing to convert the former Soviet Republics into satellites of the PRC.
I suspect actions like these by Beijing are sowing the seeds of an eventual Sino-Russian split.
3. Hong Kong unsafe for business, warns son of jailed media boss
Pak Yiu, Nikkei Asia, May 12, 2023
Sebastian Lai, the son of jailed Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai, has warned that Hong Kong is becoming unsafe for business due to the erosion of freedom and the imposition of the national security law. He highlighted the chilling effect of the security law on media, stating that self-censorship is pervasive and foreign businesses are concerned about the risks of operating in Hong Kong.
4. U.S. Tech Espionage Team Unveils First Cases Involving China and Russia
Ana Swanson, New York Times, May 16, 2023
The U.S. Justice Department’s “technology strike force” announced arrests and criminal charges in five cases related to sanctions evasion and technology espionage involving Russia, China, and Iran. The case involving the PRC was around stealing autonomous vehicle technology for a competitor company in the PRC, classic economic espionage that Beijing has repeatedly assured the world that it does not do.
COMMENT – The Justice Department’s newly established "technology strike force" aims to protect critical American technology and data from theft by hostile nations.
This strike force simply picks up from the “China Initiative” that successfully prosecuted dozens of such cases over the past four years.
I’m very glad that the Justice Department is committed to this effort.
5. China’s Economy Is Leaving Behind Its Educated Young People
Keyu Jin, Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2023
In 2022, youth unemployment in the PRC reached 20%—a record high and more than double its figure four years ago. College graduates, who have spent enormous sums from their families into education are the worst off with just under half of recent college graduates receiving no job offers last fall as they looked for work.
6. Missions in China warned over 'propaganda' displays after Ukraine flags raised
Laurie Chen, Reuters, May 17, 2023
The Chinese Communist Party demanded that foreign embassies and the offices of international organizations remove any “propaganda” materials related to Ukraine, including the display of Ukrainian flags.
COMMENT – No similar request was made of any outward support for Moscow, which PRC state media amplifies at every available moment, which only reinforces the fiction of Chinese “neutrality.”
7. What a Ukraine win, lose or draw means for China
Natasha Kuhrt and Marcin Kaczmarski, Asia Times, May 10, 2023
Beijing eyes closely the developments of the war. An analysis from Asia Times examines the various scenarios facing the Chinese Communist Party.
8. Germany’s Scholz overruled Habeck to approve China port deal
Hans von der Burchard, Politico, May 11, 2023
COMMENT - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pushed forward a controversial deal granting even greater control to the Chinese Communist Party over the port of Hamburg. Members of Scholz’s own coalition government objected to this move as contrary to German and European security interests; however, it appears that Scholz remains wed to the same thinking that got his predecessors, Angela Merkel and Gerhard Schröder, to ignore the vulnerabilities created by Moscow and Beijing.
Authoritarianism
9. Jimmy Lai: editors from around the world call for release of Hong Kong media mogul
Amy Hawkins, The Guardian, May 16, 2023
10. Tiananmen Square books removed from Hong Kong libraries in run-up to anniversary
Helen Davidson, The Guardian, May 16, 2023
Books about the Tiananmen Square massacre, Hong Kong protest movements, and other subjects deemed politically sensitive by Beijing have been removed from the former British colony’s public libraries in the lead-up to the 34th anniversary of the killings.
Hong Kong media have reported a marked increase in the number of book and documentary removals, which have been growing since the authoritarian clampdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement and the introduction of the national security law in 2020. It has resulted in a significant curtailing of political freedoms in the city and multiple arrests.
Late last month, the government’s audit commission report said the leisure and cultural services department, which operates Hong Kong’s libraries, needed to “step up efforts in examining library materials for safeguarding national security and taking follow-up actions”.
11. Blinken remarks on mass DNA collection in Tibet, Xinjiang spark backlash from China
Tsewang Ngodup and Tashi Wangchuk, Radio Free Asia, May 11, 2023
12. Hong Kong’s judiciary condemns call by US panel for sanctions on 29 judges
Lilian Cheng, South China Morning Post, May 12, 2023
13. China accuses Truss of ‘dangerous stunt’ as she uses Taiwan visit to issue ominous warning
Maroosha Muzaffar, The Independent, May 17, 2023
14. Another Foreigner Detained in China, This Time a Korean Soccer Pro
Chun Han Wong, Wall Street Journal, May 16, 2023
15. Beijing tightens control over rural China with training campaign for thousands of village chiefs
William Zheng, South China Morning Post, May 17, 2023
16. China Sentences American to Life in Prison for Espionage
Dan Strumpf, Wall Street Journal, May 15, 2023
Chinese authorities said they sentenced an American citizen to life in prison on espionage charges, in a case that could further strain relations between Beijing and Washington.
John Shing-wan Leung, a 78-year-old U.S. passport holder who also holds Hong Kong permanent residency, was found guilty and sentenced on Monday following a trial in the eastern city of Suzhou near Shanghai, according to a court notice.
Mr. Leung had been detained since April 2021, the court said in a brief statement following the verdict. Authorities didn’t release further details about Mr. Leung’s case or the charges against him.
A lawyer or other point of contact for Mr. Leung couldn’t immediately be reached. A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said the State Department was aware of reports of Mr. Leung’s sentencing and has no greater priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas. The spokesman declined to comment further due to privacy concerns.
COMMENT – In all likelihood, the elderly John Shing-wan Leung will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Like the other American citizens being held by the Chinese Communist Party, we should properly understand this conviction as ‘hostage diplomacy’ that serves three purposes for Beijing:
1) it deters individuals of Chinese descent and foreigners in the PRC from interacting with ‘hostile foreign forces’;
2) it is a ‘low cost’ way to undermine Sino-American relations by criminalizing those who appear to have divided loyalties; and
3) it forces American leaders to expend diplomatic leverage in an area where Beijing holds the cards.
[screenshot of the Department of State’s “China Travel Advisory” at https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/china-travel-advisory.html ]
As these instances of hostage taking increase, at what point will the State Department increase its travel advisory level? What will be the implications for U.S. companies, if the U.S. Government advises citizens “do not travel” to the PRC?
17. China’s Position on Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, April 26, 2023
18. The U.S. and China Are Finally Talking Again, but Mistrust Clouds Next Steps
Brian Spegele, Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2023
19. Russia denounces Macron over China comments
Reuters, May 15, 2023
20. China’s Power Politics Clouds Its Ukraine Peace Efforts
Brian Spegele, Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2023
21. EU and US to pledge joint action over China
Philip Blenkinsop, Reuters, May 13, 2023
Environmental Harms
22. Philippines' Marcos backs probe on China-owned power grid company
Cliff Venzon, Nikei Assia, May 17, 2023
Foreign Interference and Coercion
23. ‘Clear-eyed but not confrontational’: EU to rejig China strategy
Finbarr Bermingham, South China Morning Post, May 12, 2023
The European Union must adopt a “clear-eyed” but “not confrontational” approach to a China seeking “to build a new world order” in its own image.
That was the advice handed to the EU’s 27 member states before its ministers hold crunch talks on reconfiguring the bloc’s policy towards Beijing in Stockholm on Friday.
A position paper meant to steer the debate and seen by the Post was distributed by the EU’s External Access Service – its de facto foreign bureau – to capitals on Thursday.
It suggested cosmetic changes to the EU’s China strategy rather than a wholesale overhaul. New emphasis is placed on hot-button issues like Ukraine and Taiwan, while economic realism has replaced the erstwhile expectation that Beijing might be willing to reform its market to suit European businesses.
COMMENT – It is all fine and well to desire that a relationship not be “confrontational”… but of course, the relationship between the PRC and the European Union IS confrontational.
The entire notion that the PRC is a “systemic rival promoting alternative models of governance” that the EU rightly acknowledged in its March 2019 strategic outlook reveals the confrontational nature of the Sino-European relationship.
The failure to come to grips with this reality only undermines Europe’s own security and creates fissures with its allies… something that Beijing fully appreciates and wants to exploit because the Party rightly diagnoses the situation: it is waging a long-term struggle for dominance of the international order.
24. Canadian lawmaker speaks out on being targeted by China
Kyle Duggan, Politico, May 16, 2023
25. Massachusetts Man Indicted for Acting as an Illegal Agent of the People’s Republic of China
U.S. Department of Justice, May 13, 2023
26. Liz Truss in Taiwan calls for ‘economic NATO’ to challenge China
Helen Davidson, The Guardian, May 17, 2023
27. Sunak U-turn on ban for China’s Confucius Institute like ‘script for Yes Minister’
Nina Lloyd, Independent, May 17, 2023
28. Feds nab alleged Chinese spy working in Boston
Flint McColgan, Boston Herald, May 9, 2023
29. How to Prevent Foreign Interference in Elections
Stephen Maher, The Walrus, May 15, 2023
30. There may be more 'Chinese police stations’ in Canada, minister says
Reuters, May 14, 2023
31. China still conducting police activities in Germany - German ministries
Reuters, May 15, 2023
32. TWEET - When the saxophonist Kenny G snapped a photo with pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong in 2014, China's government branded him a spy. To get out of the fix, Kenny put in a call to pro-Beijing actor Jackie Chan
Tom Wright, Twitter, May 14, 2023
Human Rights and Religious Persecution
33. How Beijing Forces Uyghurs to Pick Cotton
Adrian Zenz, Foreign Policy, May 16, 2023
34. ‘My time in the UK has been a disaster’: Hongkongers fear deportation after years left in limbo
Amy Hawkins, The Guardian, May 12, 2023
35. Japan's first Uyghur representative says Uyghurs "deserve to thrive"
Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, Axios, May 16, 2023
36. The United Nations calls for the release of three illegally detained Uyghurs
Ruth Ingram, The China Project, May 11, 2023
37. Products made with forced labor in the Uyghur region
Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice, Sheffield Hallam University, May 2023
38. Chinese Dissident Sentenced to 8 Years After He Tried to Fly to His Dying Wife
Chris Buckley, New York Times, May 12, 2023
39. US conducts raids at two properties of China's Jinko Solar
Nichola Groom, Reuters, May 10, 2023
Industrial Policies and Economic Espionage
40. How China came to dominate the black market for money laundering
Matt Oliver, The Telegraph, May 14, 2023
41. G-7 must prepare for China's economic coercion: U.K. finance chief
Akira Kitado, Nikkei Asia, May 11, 2023
42. Europe can’t decide how to unplug from China
The Economist, May 15, 2023
43. Ex-Apple Engineer Indicted in Crackdown on Flow of Restricted Tech to China, Russia
Sadie Gurman and Dylan Tokar, Wall Street Journal, May 16, 2023
44. What to Do About American Investment in China
Derek Scissors, American Enterprise Institute, May 10, 2023
45. China Is Scaring Away Foreign Investors That Its Cities Want
Bloomberg, May 11, 2023
46. A $158 Billion Canada Pension Manager Hits Pause on China Deals
Laura Dhillon Kane, Bloomberg, May 11, 2023
47. Wall Street’s Biggest Banks Face a Harsh Reality Check in China
Cathy Chan, Bloomberg, May 16, 2023
48. China’s Youth Jobless Rate Hits Record 20.4% in Danger Sign
Bloomberg, May 16, 2023
49. China’s $220 Billion Biotech Initiative Is Struggling to Take Off
Bloomberg, May 15, 2023
50. South Korea gets tough on tech leaks to China
Christian Davies and Song Jung-a, Financial Times, May 16, 2023
51. KPMG and PwC faulted by US regulator over Chinese audits
Stephen Foley and Kaye Wiggins, Financial Times, May 10, 2023
52. US urges ‘co-ordinated action’ by G7 against China’s use of economic coercion
Kana Inagaki, Henry Foy, Sam Fleming, and Demetri Sevastopulo, Financial Times, May 11, 2023
53. China says willing to work with U.S. on audit deal as challenges loom
Xie Yu, Reuters, May 11, 2023
54. Merck KGaA aims to build domestic supply chains in China
Reuters, May 11, 2023
German technology group Merck KGaA (MRCG.DE) said it was determined to invest further in China and aims to build domestic supply chains there to curb imports of key raw materials amid rising tensions between Beijing and Western powers.
"We are trying to limit, when it is reasonably possible, imports of important raw materials from other countries into China, especially from the U.S. into China," finance chief Marcus Kuhnert said on a media call on Thursday on first-quarter results.
COMMENT – To borrow a phrase from Nassim Taleb, firms like Merck are just “picking up pennies in front of a steamroller.”
55. $10,000 an Hour Bought Inside Line on China—and Now Risks Jail
Dan Strumpf and Selina Cheng, Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2023
56. Forrester Research to axe China jobs after Beijing’s consultant crackdown
Eleanor Olcott, Financial Times, May 12, 2023
57. New US solar tax credit rules will do little to break China dependence, experts warn
Aime Williams, Amanda Chu, and Derek Brower, Financial Times, May 12, 2023
58. G-7 Leaders Expected to Take Aim at Chinese ‘Economic Coercion’
Annie Linskey, Ken Thomas, and Yuka Hayashi, Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2023
59. Shipping groups press Chinese counterparts for sanctions-proof contracts
Oliver Telling and Kate Beioley, Financial Times, May 13, 2023
60. Why Some Investors Are Betting on China’s Recovery but Avoiding Chinese Shares
Weilun Soon, Wall Street Journal, May 15, 2023
61. German coalition set for clash over curbing investments in China
Guy Chazan, Financial Times, May 12, 2023
62. Macron: China's XTC to invest 1.5 bln euros in JV with France's Orano in Dunkirk
Reuters, May 12, 2023
63. Chinese Companies Looked to Switzerland to Sell Shares—Things Haven’t Been Great
Dave Sebastian, Wall Street Journal, May 17, 2023
64. VW talks to Huawei to boost flagging EV presence in China
Patricia Nilsson, Qianer Liu, and Edward White, Financial Times, May 16, 2023
Cyber & Information Technology
65. US Pursues Criminal Charges in Push to Combat Russia, China Tech Theft
Chris Strohm, Bob Van Voris, and Eric Martin, Bloomberg, May 16, 2023
66. Chinese apps catch up with U.S. peers despite headwinds
Nikkei Asia, May 14, 2023
67. Justice Department unveils 5 criminals cases over U.S. tech theft for Russia, China and Iran
Jacob Knutson, Axios, May 16, 2023
68. DOJ charges former Apple engineer with theft of autonomous car tech for China
Rohan Goswami, CNBC, May 16, 2023
69. Chinese chipmaker plans listing after clearing US export controls
Qianer Liu, Cheng Leng and Eleanor Olcott, and Demetri Sevastopulo, Financial Times, May 9, 2023
70. ‘De-Americanize’: How China Is Remaking Its Chip Business
Chang Che and John Liu, New York Times, May 11, 2023
Last October, construction plans for a hulking semiconductor factory owned by a major state-backed company in central China fell into disarray. The Biden administration had escalated the trade war over technology, severing China’s access to the Western tools and skilled workers it needed to build the most advanced semiconductors.
Some employees with U.S. citizenship departed the company. Three U.S. equipment suppliers almost immediately halted their shipments and services, and Europe and Japan are expected to do the same soon.
The facility belonged to Yangtze Memory Technologies Corporation, or YMTC, a memory chip company that Xi Jinping, China’s president, has extolled as a flag-bearer in China’s race toward self-reliance. Now, the chip maker and its peers are hurriedly overhauling supply chains and rewriting business plans.
Nearly seven months later, the U.S. trade barriers have accelerated China’s push for a more independent chip sector. Western technology and money have pulled out, but state funding is flooding in to cultivate homegrown alternatives to produce less advanced but still lucrative semiconductors. And China has not given up on making high-end chips: Manufacturers are attempting to work with older parts from abroad not blocked by the U.S. sanctions, as well as less advanced equipment at home.
COMMENT – Looks an awful lot like the Chinese Communist Party is pursuing a policy of “decoupling.”
71. Ex-ByteDance Executive Accuses Company of ‘Lawlessness’
Thomas Fuller and Sapna Maheshwari, New York Times, May 12, 2023
72. DMG Mori tracks use of its machine tool products to prevent military application
Sun Yu and Patricia Nilsson, Financial Times, May 13, 2023
Military and Security Threats
73. US to sign pacts with Micronesia and PNG as Washington seeks to counter China in Pacific
Reuters, The Guardian, May 16, 2023
74. US lawmakers visit Britain to press for tougher stance on China
Cristina Gallardo, Politico, May 17, 2023
75. Willful Blindness: an insider's account of how America's ineffective export control regime increases Chinese military strength
Stephen Coonen, China Tech Threat, May 10, 2023
Following more than two decades in uniform as a U.S. Army artillery and foreign affairs officer, I spent nearly fourteen years as an analyst at the Defense Technology Security Administration (DTSA), the Pentagon’s unit for developing export control and technology security policies. I worked with many outstanding colleagues across the federal government to prevent American technologies from falling into the hands of our most dangerous adversaries. By the end of my tenure, I was the DTSA’s Senior Foreign Affairs Advisor for China, a nation which virtually all military and civilian national security analysts today regard as the United States’ pacing threat. In this position, I helped protect America from Chinese attempts to obtain sensitive American technologies that can be directed against our own military personnel. I had the privilege of writing memos for the Secretary of Defense and other senior leaders. I graciously received bonuses tied to my work. I won top performance awards, including the Award for Excellence from the Office of the Secretary of Defense in July 2020 for my work on China.
In November 2021, I voluntarily resigned in protest from my post.
The reason for my resignation was rooted in both principle and policy: I had exhausted my ability to positively influence DTSA leadership to be more aggressive in denying the transfer of American technologies to China, which our enemies in Beijing have no doubt diverted for military purposes. I could no longer in good conscience continue to serve leaders who refused to recognize and correct U.S. export control policy failures concerning China.
I am not writing this paper to shame former colleagues, employers, or other federal agencies. Indeed, my respect for virtually all of them remains high. My sole motive is to speak out against a broken system in hopes of reforming it. American export control policies are completely failing to stop the transfer of militarily useful American technologies to China.
I also write this paper out of respect for the brave and honorable Americans who still wear the uniform. I spent my career supporting the greatest fighting force the world has ever seen: the U.S. military. To see how our export control policies continue to feed the buildup of an adversarial Chinese military is to watch a car crash unfold in slow motion. The nominally civilian technologies American companies are permitted to sell to China today could be leveraged to kill American military personnel in the Pacific tomorrow. As I will demonstrate, a willful blindness among various actors participating in the regulation of technology sales to Chinese entities characterizes our export control system. This negligence undermines American national security and dishonors our forces’ willingness to sacrifice for our country.
For these reasons, I have written this paper to expose the defective aspects of U.S. export control policy and recommend solutions for fixing them. I do not pretend that the necessary overhaul will be easy. Bureaucratic inertia, an overly legalistic perspective on the problem inside the federal government, and commercial interests’ advocacy against common-sense national security policies all stand in the way of meaningful reforms. But those reforms are more necessary than ever.
The Chinese Communist Party is the greatest external challenge to American power of our time. How we respond will shape the world our children and grandchildren live in. My humble hope is that officials with power to revise the export control system in ways that meaningfully protect American national security will do so.
COMMENT – It is worth reading Stephen Coonen’s account… his observations align closely with my own and I share his frustration at the systemic failures inside the U.S. Government to stem the tide of technology transfer to the People’s Republic of China.
Coonen’s account should be considered as we examine the “small garden, high fence” mantra that animates the policy making circles of export controls and broader economic statecraft towards the PRC.
Unless and until we re-examine the underlying assumption that we can have “a healthy economic relationship with Chinal” and that it is in our national interest to do so, we will continue to compromise on national security and human rights in order to protect this commercial relationship with Beijing.
Reading Coonen’s account gives lie to Treasury Secretary Yellen’s assurances in April that the Administration’s first objective is “securing our national security and protecting human rights. These are areas where we will not compromise.”
76. US and China hold talks on global security in effort to defuse tensions
Demetri Sevastopulo and Felicia Schwartz, Financial Times, May 11, 2023
Opinion Pieces
77. AUDIO – Jeff Ding on US vs China AI and Lessons from Past Industrial Revolutions
China Talk, May 11, 2023
78. Yuan won't be FX reserve currency if no one buys China's bonds
Jamie McGeever, Reuters, May 16, 2023
79. Race to the Bottom: China and the Self-Defeating Logic of Transactional Diplomacy in the Americas
R. Evan Ellis, The Diplomat, April 18, 2023
80. The Bid to Dethrone the Dollar
Christina Lu, Foreign Policy, May 12, 2023
81. Why America Is Struggling to Stop the Fentanyl Epidemic
Vanda Felbab-Brown, Foreign Affairs, May 15, 2023
82. The cancelled Quad summit is a win for China and a self-inflicted blow to the US’s Pacific standing
Daniel Hurst, The Guardian, May 17, 2023
83. AUDIO - Drum Tower: Outbreak of bossiness
Drum Tower, May 16, 2023
COMMENT – Fascinating new term for our collective lexicon on the PRC: nongguan… a pejorative term referring to rural management officials that the Party employs to centralize the control over citizens’ lives.
84. Business in China just got riskier for Canadians – but this was going to happen anyway
Dennis Kwok and Sam Goodman, The Globe and Mail, May 10, 2023