Month: August 2021

‘In the Same Breath’ Review: Wuhan 2019, or When Normalcy Ended

Chin@Strategy

When you hear about filmmakers in conflict zones, you may flash on countries like Syria or Afghanistan. The movies produced in theaters of war often follow a similar arc: The documentarian parachutes in to take stock of a catastrophe. The focus tends to be on rubble, blood and suffering — the spectacle. In her short, stellar career, the Chinese filmmaker Nanfu Wang has repeatedly returned to a less obvious conflict zone in which the war for proverbial hearts and minds mostly takes place through state propaganda. Her latest, “In the…

China Blames US for Chaos in Afghanistan But Offers Cooperation Toward Stability

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Advertisement China has expressed a willingness to hold talks with the U.S. to promote a “soft landing” in Afghanistan, while heavily criticizing Washington and again demanding that the Biden administration halt its attacks on China. Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in a phone call Monday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, blamed what he called America’s “hasty” military withdrawal for the chaos accompanying the Talibain’s seizure of power in Afghanistan, according to a Foreign Ministry statement dated Tuesday. “China is willing to conduct communication and dialogue with the U.S. to…

China holds live-fire exercises near Taiwan in response to ‘provocations’

Chin@Strategy

  China has launched live-fire air and sea exercises near Taiwan in response to what it called “external interference and provocations by Taiwan independence forces”. According to a statement from Col Shi Yi, the spokesperson of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theatre Command, warships, anti-submarine aircraft and fighter planes were dispatched to the south-west and south-east of Taiwan on Tuesday. In response, Taiwan’s defence ministry said: “The nation’s military has a full grasp and has made a full assessment of the situation in the Taiwan strait region, as well…

‘Spreading like a virus’: inside the EU’s struggle to debunk Covid lies

Chin@Strategy

In April 2020, near the start of the global pandemic, Felix Kartte was working 14-hour shifts as an EU policy officer, struggling to monitor a barrage of coronavirus-linked disinformation. Articles claiming that the pandemic was a hoax, that it was caused by 5G, that it could be cured by hydroxychloroquine or alternative medicine were going viral across the continent – part of a global phenomenon the World Health Organization warned was becoming an “infodemic.” Kartte and colleagues in StratCom, the EU diplomatic service’s strategic communications division, could detect what they…

Mystery shrouds nonprofit linked to wealthy Chinese exile: Steve Bannon leaves, records kept secret

Chin@Strategy

Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon (L) greets fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui before introducing him at a news conference on November 20, 2018 in New York. Don Emmert | AFP | Getty Images The mystery surrounding a nonprofit group tied to wealthy Chinese exile Guo Wengui, reportedly the key figure in a network accused of spreading disinformation about Covid vaccines and elections, has grown over the past year. Steve Bannon, a China hawk who once served as a top advisor to Donald Trump, is no longer on the…

China will tread carefully in navigating the Taliban’s return

Chin@Strategy

The US’s hasty departure from Afghanistan has provided much material for China’s propaganda agencies to discredit Washington’s foreign policy. But Beijing is also treading a careful line in navigating an increasingly uncertain security situation in one of its most volatile neighbours. On Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, said that while Beijing will “continue developing good-neighbourly, friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan”, it also urges the Taliban to “ensure that all kinds of terrorism and crimes can be curbed so that the Afghan people can stay away from war…

In China, ‘Xi Jinping Thought’ Is the Only Accepted Religion

Chin@Strategy

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…

The Coronavirus Is the Worst Intelligence Failure in U.S. History

Chin@Strategy

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…

The Taliban: China’s Deal With the Devil in Afghanistan

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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…

How Chinese factory-workers express their views on life

Chin@Strategy

Aug 14th 2021 GUANGZHOU AS TRENDSETTERS GO, Luo Fuxing was an implausible one. A school drop-out, Mr Luo spent his days catching fish and herding goats in a village in southern Guangdong province. Eating pork was a once-weekly treat. At the age of 14, he left home to earn a wage in the province’s sweatshops. He hated the tedium of the work. He read that American criminals had tattoos of spiders’ webs inked onto their elbows to show time spent behind bars. Mr Luo got one too, because “the factory…