Thread by @Alex_at_ACHK

1/ Started reading 'Hidden Hand' @HandCcp, which exposes the CCP's influence around the world.

Because this topics is so important to all of us and is something that @alliancecanhk is studying closely, I'll be maintaining this tweet thread throughout my reading

2/ I always wonder whether what I'm reading is made out of date due to events in our post-Covid world. This line from @HandCcp Chapter 2 certainly seems out of date:

"As a rule, the CCP tries not to antagonize too many people at one time"

3/ Also from Chapter 2, this line is more pertinent than ever, thanks to @joannachiu's excellent reporting:

"This principle [of winning over smaller, easily-convinced groups] helps explain the emphasis Beijing places on local councils"

thestar.com/news/canada/20…

4/ Chapter 3 discusses how western business/political leaders can be unwittingly co-opted into doing Beijing's bidding.

We Canadians know too well of "The sad case of John McCallum"
torontosun.com/opinion/column…

5/ "Some suggested the ambassador sounded as if [Amb. McCallum] were speaking for the government of China rather than defending Canada's position ... Justin Trudeau was forced to sack him"

A Chinese paper declared in a headline that the Canadian ambassador had 'changed sides'

6/ Of course, ACHK is delighted that Amb McCallum has been summoned to testify in front of the CACN...

https://twitter.com/alliancecanhk/status/1291514216915128323

7/ ... and he rightly faces calls for an ethics probe.

Unfortunately, current ambassador Dominic Barton is little better. As the book states, experience in China is surprisingly detrimental to success.

theglobeandmail.com/politics/artic…

8/ Of course, @FP_Champagne is famously mute on Beijing's atrocities (though he is very 'concerned'), and can't even say 'Taiwan' in public.

This explains so well how desperately backwards Canada's China policy is, in response to the litany of Beijing's atrocities

9/ Of course, we can't forget that Ontario MPP Michael Chan was declared by CSIS to be a potential threat for being 'under the influence of a foreign government'

theglobeandmail.com/news/national/…

10/ Chapter 3 taught me a lot about Power Corp's role as 'the premier gatekeeper of Canada's formal relations with China'

Considering the influence of the Desmarais family on Liberal and Conservative politicians, it's amazing that we aren't even more backwards on China policy

11/ Chapter 4 is terrifying, and describes how beyond the pale many of our European allies are.

But this is also a chapter that would likely need a decent amount of updating in our post-Covid, post-HK crackdown world

12/ Start with Britain: "So entrenched are the CCP's influence networks among British elites that Britain has passed the point of no return, and any attempt to extricate itself from Beijing's orbit would probably fail"

13/ I would have thought the same thing pre-Covid / HK crackdown. But this seems to no longer be the case.

If anything, (1) Boris Johnson getting Covid + (2) Brexit = a robust rethink of UK-China relations: from Huawei to Hong Kong

14/ Italy is more of an unknown to me. Despite highly pro-Beijing officials like Michele Geraci writing that "China is the answer to all of Italy's major problems", I really don't know if the Italian view of China has changed since Covid.

15/ The story of France seems sadly like Canada's: A former PM (Raffarin) doing Beijing's bidding all around Paris.

It's Germany that worries me: Beijing has allies in every major party, which may explain how slow they've been at adapting to the new reality.

16/ A common thread is that political elites make a post-politics career lobbying for Beijing: using their political connections against the interests of their nation.

The Trump Administration banned lobbying for foreign governments for all of its employees. Others should follow

17/ I also just caught this timely piece on China-Germany relations:

https://twitter.com/AlexRaLeeACHK/status/1294089772839899137

18/ Chapter 5 explores why subnational governments (cities and states/provinces) are often targets of Beijing's influence: they serve as "useful idiots" that could be leveraged to expert pressure at the federal level

That makes this article very timely:
thestar.com/news/canada/20…

19/ Of course, such efforts by Beijing aren't always effective.

We Canadians know about the Union of BC Municipalities, which @BradWestPoCo sounded the alarm over

And Prague ditched a sister city agreement with Beijing - turning to Taipei instead.
focustaiwan.tw/politics/20200…

20/ Chapter 6 discusses the insiduous ways that Beijing uses to get foreign companies to do its bidding by censoring themselves and lobbying their governemnts on the behalf of the CCP

Germany is particularly problematic here, but they're not alone.

21/ In the US for example, Ray Dalio and Michael Bloomberg are quintessential examples of businessman sell-outs. As per the book: "Dalio has been shameless in hus cultuvation of political favour"

22/ This point is wrong though: "RMB is the second most used currency for trade"

Excluding China-HK payments, the RMB is nowhere near a global currency - used for fewer global payments than even the humble Canadian dollar. And the RMB's share is not growing.

23/ Chapter 7 describes Beijing's efforts to influence the large overseas Chinese community - particularly by setting up front organizations (ie "unification" groups) and dominating discource about Beijing in Chinese-language media

24/ This includes, of course, state-coordinated harassmenet of overseas Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs, and other groups

Remember this?

theguardian.com/world/2019/oct…

25/ Unfortuantely the piece about getting allies elected to office in democratic nations misses some notable Canadian examples. Michael Chan comes to mind:

https://twitter.com/Alex_at_ACHK/status/1292631191233929218

26/ Chapter 8 discusses espionage. The CCP recruits foreign spies through sex, money, blackmail, and more.

MI5 even issued a warning: "be especially alert for flattery and over-generous hospitality ... the aim of these tactics is to create a debt of obligation"

27/ Just look at how many prominent Western academics have been under fire lately for smuggling technology, not disclosing funding received from China, and other allegations - often related to the "thousand talents program"

thecrimson.com/article/2020/6…

28/ Unfortunately, the CCP's activities have brought all people of Chinese heritage under greater scrutiny.

This risks legitmate concerns over racial profiling and deflects from the very real threat of CCP espionate.

ft.com/content/bd8444…

29/ For example, over the past few years, we've seen how Chinese military scientists target our universities.

For once, Canada is not the softest target, becuase "the doors to PLA scientists appear to be the most open in Australia"

theglobeandmail.com/world/article-…

30/ And of course - this goes beyond saying - Huawei is a vital part of China's intelligence and surveillance apparatus.

Meng Wanzhou's arrest saw paid protesters tricked into supporting her. Fortunately, the world is slowly awakening to these tactics.

citynews1130.com/2020/01/21/bur…

31/ Chapter 9 dives into Beijing's global media and propaganda efforts, including using Westerners as the party's mouthpiece

Here, useful idiots such as @TheCanadaFiles, @qiaocollective, and @Jerry_grey2002 are particularly useful for spreading mis- and disinformation

32/ On social media:

"The fact that the CCP has been using these platforms while simultaneously blocking them in China is another example of how it exploits the openness of democracies"

Kudos to @TwitterSupport other platforms for slowing awakening to the problem

33/ On Chinese-language media, Beijing exerts pressure to curb criticism: thestar.com/news/canada/20…

And exploits western papers' financial difficulties by having them to run paid-propaganda pieces, such as China Watch - though some are pushing back:
theguardian.com/media/2020/apr…

34/ More insidious is the covert influence that Beijing has on English-language coverage

Remember how @LetaHong was harassed by @MikeBloomberg to ditch a story critical of CCP leaders? Both she and @PekingMike braved death threats for their journalism
theintercept.com/2020/02/18/mik…

35/ Chapter 10 describes the CCP’s efforts to monopolize all Chinese culture – including outside its borders

As we Canadians know, “Vancouver has been a hotbed of united front activity” – including during the establishment of @ccmuseumbc, which whitewashes Chinese history

36/ @ShenYun dances have been targeted, though often unsuccessfully. In Canada, Falun Gong practitioners have been turned away at events

@AnastasiaLinTO, Miss World Canada and @alliancecanhk Advisor, was denied a visa to compete for Miss World in China

cnn.com/2017/01/09/asi…

37/ China has little soft power to deploy itself, but it can exploit America’s top source: Hollywood

Enough has been written about Hollywood's rife self-censorship, and a strong backlash is evident given @Disney’s #BoycottMulan debacle

foreignpolicy.com/2020/09/10/chi…

38/ Chapter 11 explores how so many think tanks, including the @BrookingsInst🇺🇸 and @ChathamHouse🇬🇧, are funded by CCP organs (incl Huawei) and run by “friends of China”

Beijing has “neutralized or captured substantial parts of think tanks” and has set up its own, like @icasDC

39/ Opinion leaders like Jeffrey Sachs have parroted Beijing's language on the Belt and Road, and have close ties with CCP organs like Huawei.

He was mauled on Twitter (@JeffDSachs) and abandoned his account (good riddance)

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

40/ Chapter 12 dives into the CCP’s co-opting of Western universities. Everyone knows about Confucius Institutes, which fortunately have been rapidly closing. @athenaiinst has done some great advocacy to end CIs in the US

hrw.org/news/2020/01/2…

41/ CIs’ United Front work and interference with academic freedom / freedom of expression have been well-documented (cbc.ca/news/canada/ne…) - less known are their illegal hiring practices.

In Australia, @DrewPavlou has been fighting back heroically: washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pac…

42/ CSSAs are often directly funded by Chinese embassies and are mobilized to demonstrate ‘patriotic support.’ They have harassed students like @chemilhamoooo, who has braved death and rape threats. Separately, @McMasterU was forced to disband its CSSA

universityworldnews.com/post.php?story…

43/ Western universities are overly financially dependent on Chinese international students – The University of Illinois @Illinois_Alma actually took out insurance against a decline in Chinese enrollments

insidehighered.com/news/2018/11/2…

44/ This pressure encourages schools to toe the party line – ie by cancelling events by the Dalai Lama or Tibetan activists. Unfortunately, universities are insufficiently committed to defend academic freedom

This is particularly the case when schools establish campuses in China

45/ “Western university executives knowingly agree to sacrifice the principle of academic freedom.”

The U of Groningen @univgroningen is a rare counterexample. They cancelled a new campus when it was announced that a CCP official must sit on its board

insidehighered.com/news/2018/02/2…

46/ Journals and publications routinely censor themselves by removing articles critical of the CCP – often affecting their global distributions (not just in China).

Fortunately, some are pushing back – including of course, Optimum Publishing @opibooks. Support them! :)

47/ Chapter 13 reflects the CCP’s desire to shape global governments by undermining existing organizations like the UN and setting up its own parallel institutions

Beijing uses its influence to pressure NGOs into removing content and to sideline Taiwanese nationals and diplomats

48/ China's influence in the WHO and the exclusion of Taiwan has had real public health implications during the Covid crisis.

I wrote about this here for @TheHillTimes: hilltimes.com/2020/04/22/rec…

#TaiwanCanHelp #TaiwanIsHelping

49/ The cooptation of UN organizations matters: Beijing has been able to silence criticism of its human rights records and export its nonsensical definition of “terrorism” to, among other things, silence groups like @UyghurCongress

50/ We all know how about China’s influence in the UN Human Rights Council and about how several specialized UN organizations are head by Chinese nationals.

Unfortunately, this has been exacerbated by an American retreat from multilateralism.

economist.com/special-report…

51/ Beijing routinely tries to extend its long arm through Interpol, extrajudicial intimidation, and extradition treaties – which Hong Kongers understand well.

Fortunately, countries are increasingly declining to cooperate with Chinese authorities.

cnn.com/2020/08/19/asi…

52/ This article from 2017 descrbies how Beijing's goons were allowed to enter the US to pursue Guo Wengui (Miles Kwok) in NYC. Astounding how the @StateDept allowed it back then

wsj.com/articles/china…

53/ Afterword: How do we respond? Working with allies to expose all of this is crucial and will require cooperation with academia and civil society

“cultural organizations should be exposed and condemned whenever they censor material under pressure from Beijing”

#BoycottMulan

54/ The Chinese diaspora has a vital role to play. They are often the biggest targets of CCP disinformation and intimidation, and deserve our protection.

Let’s not fall into the trap of conflating the actions and beliefs of the CCP with those of the Chinese people.

55/ We need to legislate for transparency in lobbying and campaign financing. Tighter campaign finance and foreign interference laws are crucial (@alliancecanhk is advocating for this), and we should better fund academic & media institutions – particularly Chinese language media

56/ All industries must realize the risks of being overly reliant on the Chinese market. “Short-term profit-making exposes them to long-term damage.”

Luckily Covid is making these risks as clear as day.

57/ Finally, the US can’t counter the CCP alone. All Western nations must join the global fight – this means you, @JustinTrudeau @FP_Champagne.

“Democratic nations must unite to protect universal human rights and democratic principles”

58/ An uplifting ending: “Opposition to the CCP’s influence, interference, and intimidation crosses traditional political boundaries … party bosses in Beijing are worried.”

Xi Jinping is uniting the world in opposition to his authoritarianism.

https://twitter.com/Alex_at_ACHK/status/1304493938385063937