Thread by @SpiritofHo

The CIA's brief history of targeting China: A thread.

After supporting KMT against revolution, CIA created Radio Free Asia in 1951 to penetrate China with its worldwide propaganda network Board of Broadcasting Governors (now US Agency for Global Media).

The effort failed dramatically when CIA tried air dropping radios via balloons.

Radios were taken by wind. Chinese couldn't use them anyway due to history of semi-colonial underdevelopment. Electricity was still a rarity.

Remember the context: CIA's main role during this period was to stop spread of socialism at all costs. CIA was involved in more than fifty interventions between 1945-1991 alone.

During first decades of normalization, CIA was more interested in fall of Soviet Union and subverting progressive governments in Latin America and Middle East. Once that was achieved, China came back into focus.

Chinese security firm Qihoo 360 found from analysis of WikiLeaks' Vault 7 docs that CIA had spent eleven years from 2008-2019 hacking into key national industries and stealing data, including personal consumer information.

Since 2017, CIA has made evidence-free claims of informants dying in Chinese counter intelligence operations.

Despite Biden admin's recent talks with Chinese diplomats, CIA is now creating mission center to "counter China", signaling more trouble for the region.