Day: August 16, 2021

Advertisement It is no surprise that China under President Xi Jinping is becoming increasing hostile to freedom of religion. However, recent cases show some of the main tactics the government is employing to control and suppress Christianity in China. This includes forcing independent churches to join religious organizations supervised by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), suppressing the transmission of religious knowledge to the next generation, isolating Chinese Christians from the broader global community of practitioners, detaining Christians that criticize the government, and banning the sale of the Bible. Rather than…

Last September, I met the vice president for risk for a Fortune 100 company in Washington, D.C. I asked the executive—who previously had a long career as an intelligence analyst—the question you would ask any risk officer: “What are you most worried about?” Without pausing, this person replied, “A highly contagious virus that begins somewhere in China and spreads rapidly.” This vice president, whose company has offices throughout East Asia, explained the preventative mitigating steps the company had subsequently adopted to counter this potential threat. Last September, I met the…

Advertisement After a lightning-fast series of advances throughout the country, the Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15. The setting up of a formal government is only a matter of time, and then China will be faced with a seeming nightmare: an extremist Islamic government on its borders. Yet Beijing has responded to the latest developments with an incongruous optimism. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters on Monday that “we respect the wishes and choices of the Afghan people,” as though the Taliban takeover had been the result…