China
December 20, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Frank Dikötter is the author of The People’s Trilogy (“a series of books that document the impact of communism on the lives of ordinary people in China on the basis of new archival material”) and, most recently, China After Mao. He has served as Chair Professor of Humanities at the University of Hong Kong since 2006 — “one wonders for how much longer,” Tunku Varadarajan added in his Wall Street
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December 4, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Michael Ramirez’s daily editorial cartoon of this past Friday (below) comments on the pathetic response of the Biden administration to the insanely brave protests inside the Chinese and Iranian regimes. He titles it “A deafening silence.” (Subscribe to Michael’s Substack site here.) The New York Post reports “Biden snubs question on China protests amid son Hunter’s biz ties.” The related New York Post editorial is headlined “White House offers mere
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December 2, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Forbes has a report on how Chinese state media use TikTok to try to influence American elections. It dwarfs the piddling effort the Russians made several cycles ago: TikTok accounts run by the propaganda arm of the Chinese government have accumulated millions of followers and tens of millions of views, many of them on videos editorializing about U.S. politics without clear disclosure that they were posted by a foreign government.
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November 28, 2022 — Scott Johnson
The big stories of the past few days share a theme in common: • Protests of China’s insane Covid regime have broken out around China. I followed them on Twitter over the weekend (as in the tweet below, for example). People of Beijing are protesting near Sitong Bridge, shouting: “We want freedom, we want freedom!” pic.twitter.com/O12i58jVjr — Xiyue Wang (@XiyueWang9) November 28, 2022 • However, traditional news outlets with reporters
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November 22, 2022 — Scott Johnson
The Washington Free Beacon’s Chuck Ross reports that Michael Bloomberg rendered an apology last week at his conference in Singapore: Michael Bloomberg, who leads the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Board, apologized to attendees of his annual economic forum after former British prime minister Boris Johnson called the Chinese government a “coercive autocracy.” Bloomberg on Thursday said that Johnson’s remarks were “his thoughts and his thoughts alone” and were not cleared with
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November 21, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Governments at both the federal and state levels tell us we are in the midst of a transition from internal combustion vehicles to electric vehicles. For a number of reasons, I don’t believe that is true, regardless of the level of bribery and coercion that governments bring to bear. I think the whole project will crash and burn, after doing enormous damage in the meantime. But the Wall Street Journal
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November 17, 2022 — Scott Johnson
China president for life Xi Jinping dressed down Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for leaking the contents of their informal conversation at the G-20 meeting in Bali. He instructs Trudeau not to behave in this manner — “otherwise the results would be hard to tell.” What did Trudeau leak? According to a Canadian official with whom the Wall Street Journal spoke for its story on the encounter, “the pair [spoke]
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November 13, 2022 — John Hinderaker
The NATO alliance seems stronger in light of events in Ukraine and Russia. But economic competition and security may be something else. The Telegraph headlines: “Europe has picked a side in the new Cold War – China.” In the new Cold War economy, trade will be restricted, technology fenced off, and intellectual property fiercely protected. Manufacturing capabilities will be built up, and supply chains brought closer to home to ensure
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October 22, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Reuters has a good story on the forcible removal of Chinese former President Hu Jintao from the closing ceremony of the Communist Party Congress on Saturday: Hu, 79, Xi Jinping’s immediate predecessor, was seated to the left of Xi. He was led off the stage of the main auditorium of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing by two stewards, a Reuters witness at the congress said. Video footage
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September 24, 2022 — John Hinderaker
There are rumors that a military coup is taking place in China, with President Xi Jinping ousted and, in one account, under house arrest. At this point no one is sure what is going on, but this seems like a reasonable place to start: Unsubstantiated speculation swirled Saturday morning that Chinese President Xi Jinping has been locked down in isolation amid a potential coup. Far East expert Gordon Chang said
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September 19, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I would be embarrassed to conduct an interview with the president that was as lame as Scott Pelley’s lovefest with President Biden on 60 Minutes last night. The Biden administration accorded Pelley a substantial amount of time to chat with Biden and Pelley returned the favor with a variety of softballs and dropped balls as well as his own apologetics — to no one’s surprise, of course, but still. It
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August 7, 2022 — John Hinderaker
We have not yet taken the measure of the disaster that is the Democrats’ “Inflation Reduction Act,” perhaps the most absurdly named statute ever. One element of the law that has not gotten enough attention is its imposition of price controls on pharmaceuticals. Price controls are always, and everywhere, a terrible idea. When you apply price controls to a vital product like drugs, the results could be catastrophic. At Real
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August 2, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan today has occasioned Niall Ferguson’s long Bloomberg column on The Four Mysteries of Pelosi’s Troublesome Taiwan Trip.” It’s a learned column with interesting quotes from President Trump. Ferguson postulates that the Biden administration supports the trip because it wants to take a stronger stance against China than Trump did. I find that questionable, to say the least, and the evidence missing. Indeed, the Biden administration’s
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August 1, 2022 — Scott Johnson
According to Senator Tom Cotton, the leak of Nancy Pelosi’s planned trip to Taiwan “came straight from “the White House.” The AP reported yesterday that Taiwan was omitted from the itinerary of her Asian trip, but security concerns must have had something to do with that. Today comes word that Taiwanese and US officials expect her to visit Taiwan. The Wall Street Journal reports that Pelosi is indeed planning to
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July 30, 2022 — Scott Johnson
On Thursday President Biden spoke with China President Xi Jinping by phone. “Biden” tweeted out the photo of himself speaking with Xi from the Oval Office (below). It’s not a good look. It’s a bad look. Today I spoke with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China as part of our efforts to deepen lines of communication, responsibly manage our differences, and address issues of mutual interest. pic.twitter.com/mwIeg35h8j
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July 27, 2022 — Scott Johnson
The ginormous CHIPS Act has grown like Topsy into a $250 billion bill with a little help from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Touted as a benefit to American national security, not just another case of corporate welfare or crony capitalism, the Act is slated to pass the Senate this week. The Free Beacon’s Joe Simonson reports on developments that might affect this assessment: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D.,
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July 21, 2022 — Steven Hayward
Before COVID arrived, there were mass protests in Hong Kong over the ChiComms in Beijing repudiating their promise to respect Hong Hong’s democracy for 50 years following the 1997 handover. Dissidents were being arrested and jailed (Jimmy Lai is still in jail), and free elections canceled. Once COVID hit and lockdown started, any chance of mass mobilization dried up. There wouldn’t even be a chance for a Tiananman Square moment.
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