Status Updates From Countering China’s Great Ga...

"Officials at the Voice of America, the principal public diplomacy arm of the United States, are privately exasperated by the lack of willingness from both Republican and Democratic administrations to engage VOA and take the time to explain U.S. policy to foreign audiences."--p. 123

Jay Heisler, Canada reporter for VOA (who's been featured in this blog as a guest columnist several times) can vouch for this!

"As revealed in the case of Malaysia and the Broken Tooth crime ring, American strength often creates room for our allies and partners to stand up and assert their own interests. Elected leaders in Washington must lead and create room for our friends and allies to join us in containing CCP expansion."--p. 119

As a former Federal LEO (CBP and ICE) who worked multiple cases with ChiCom nexus, I concur wholeheartedly!

"In Casino Royale, author Ian Fleming paints James Bond as indifferent toward gambling...Although casinos are banned within the PRC (with the notable exception of Macau), the CCP shares Bond's philosophy and has instrumentalized illicit activity in increasingly creative ways."--p. 115

Yeah, except Agent 007 fought the forces of evil, whilst the PRC/CCP *is* a force of evil.

“But even if the Belt and Road avoids physical catastrophe, can it actually deliver for Beijing politically? Herein lies the project’s true weakness.”—p. 110

“According to Ian Easton, ‘If we continue to fund that and support that with our American capital and technology and managerial know-how and engineering know-how, then we will lose and they will win. They will not have imperial overreach and imperial overstretch because they’ll have our help, and they’ll use our funding to do it.’”—p. 107

Hey, I know that dude! Spot-on, Ian!

“Whatever the reason, doubts are festering not only about the BRI’s ability to solve China’s internal economic problems but also about the initiative’s solvency…This decidedly mixed track record has soured global public opinion about the Belt and Road.”—p. 105

“Understanding the causes of China’s past imperial failures shines much-needed light on the soft underbelly of the Belt and Road today”—p. 100

“From AD 612-614, China invaded Korea three times and suffered defeat on each occasion.”—p. 101
Will history repeat itself in Taiwan?

“[T]he United States practiced strategy as a bottom-up exercise, not only as a bottom-up endeavor…Three successful episodes are worthy of brief study and imitation: air defense, nuclear targeting, and defense spending.”—p. 90

“According to a publicized letter Risch sent the
DFC, eighteen out of twenty-one DFC solar projects sourced solar panels from the PRC.”—p. 86


“We must rediscover why we won the first cold war, if we are to win the one we are currently fighting.”—p. 88
AMEN!!

“While projects have been slow to materialize, the PRC has leveraged its potential to blunt Washington’s and New Delhi’s overtures at key moments, including scuttling Nepal’s partnership with the U.S. National Guard.”—p. 62

Ugh, my curiosity is piqued; I’ll have to read up more on that one.

“Unlike Imperial Britain, however, the CCP lacks the capacity to subdue India as a possession. Moreover, New Delhi made its thoughts about the BRI clear from the start, when it demurred from joining the project in 2017. India’s intransigence has not stopped the CCP from copying the playbook of the British Empire.”—p. 60

No wonder India has joined “The Quad” with the US, Japan, and Australia!

"Germany in particular has refrained from changing its trade relationship with China, even in the face of possible complicity in Uyghur forced labor schemes in Xinjiang."--p. 57

Eh, whaddya expect from a bunch of Social Democrat pinko Schweinhunden?

"When it comes to the 'World-Island,' flipping Europe is the CCP's primary objective."--p. 55

More evidence that Europe is going to hell in a handbasket. Hopefully the latest election victories by right-wingers in the continent will help reverse this sad and unfortunate trend.

"It is no coincidence that the CCP has embraced the Kremlin as a 'partnership without limits,' while promising hundreds of billions in financing to the mullahs in Tehran."--p. 54

The new Axis of Evil (in tandem with North Korea)

"This is no Westphalian state. This is an ancient empire that has always played by its own rules...By definition, a superior China means making the United States inferior. There can only be One Belt and One Road, for there can only be one son of heaven and one Middle Kingdom."--pp. 42-43