How do Chinese influence operations work? Let me tell a new story about Gal Luft, Patrick Ho, and the shadow of Hunter Biden.
In October 2017, I received an email from the two men, inviting me to the US-China forum, to "advance economic development in Asia" (thread). The email came on behalf of Luft's think tank and the China Energy Fund Committee, which the email described as a "Hong Kong based think tank with special consultative status in the United Nations...dedicated to work related to public diplomacy."

TikTok just acknowledged to European users that it can share their data with the Chinese government. This is a massive admission, and a key to a puzzle. To understand why, it's important to understand CCP influence in Chinese companies (thread).
theguardian.com/technology/202… To start, the language: "we allow certain employees within our corporate group located in Brazil, Canada, China, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and the United States, remote access to TikTok European user data.”

My book America Second is out today from Knopf.
Among other things, I argue that Henry Kissinger is an agent of Chinese influence, and the American most responsible for the problems with China today. What does that mean? Thread:
penguinrandomhouse.com/books/612674/a… Most people focus on the misdeeds Kissinger committed while in office in the 1970s, as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor. I argue that Kissinger’s real betrayal came in the decades that he ran Kissinger Associates, the consulting company he founded in 1982.

Bob Iger would be the most disastrous ambassador to China in U.S. history. Here’s why he would be terrible for American interests. (Thread).
wsj.com/articles/disne… First is the leverage Beijing has over Iger. As of July 2020, Iger was the largest individual shareholder in Disney. But even if Iger fully divests, Disney is his legacy, and Disney needs the Chinese market to succeed.

Exclusive: Wilbur Ross served on the board of a Chinese joint venture until 2019. In other words, while helping run the Trade War, the Commerce Secretary was partnered with a Chinese state-owned enterprise. Thread on this massive conflict of interest.
foreignpolicy.com/2020/10/29/ros… First, some background. That joint venture, now called Huaneng Invesco WLR (Beijing) Investment Fund Management Co., is an investment partnership formed in September 2008 between Huaneng Capital Services, the U.S. management company Invesco, and a firm Ross founded, WL Ross & Co.

To make Mulan, Disney worked with four propaganda departments in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, the site of a genocide against Muslims. (Apologies, messed up the thread the first time). Here's the story of this insanity:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/… What's wrong with thanking Xinjiang? Well, More than a million Muslims in Xinjiang, mostly of the Uighur minority, have been imprisoned in concentration camps. Disney worked with regions where genocide is occurring, and thanked departments that are helping implement it.

To make Mulan, Disney worked with four propaganda departments in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, the site of a genocide against Muslims, and the Xinjiang public security bureau. This is a horrific. Here's my article on the subject, and a thread on why.
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/… What's wrong with thanking Xinjiang? Well, More than a million Muslims in Xinjiang, mostly of the Uighur minority, have been imprisoned in concentration camps. Disney worked with regions where genocide is occurring, and thanked departments that are helping implement it.