Until I'm able to write about the latest PLA purges, I've updated this chart showing the CMC's span of control during Xi's tenure. His reorganizations stretched the CMC and then his purges broke it. It was a fundamentally different organization even before the latest purge, and now the future

I posted a machine translation of recently-released footage of the trial of Xu Qinxian, the 38th Group Army Commander who balked at orders to use force in 1989. The footage provides new insight into a crucial episode in the history of China and the CCP. markparkeryoung.substack.com/p/the-trial-...

The Trial of Major General Xu Qinxian: Machine Translation

A 6-hour video from the trial of PLA Major General Xu Qinxian (徐勤先), Commander of the 38th Group Army during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, was publicized by the group Human Rights in China in...

markparkeryoung.substack.com

Xi's military purges and reorganizations have reinforced his control over the PLA at the expense of its operational capabilities. I wrote about the new Central Military Commission and what it indicates about Xi's priorities and willingness to use force: markparkeryoung.substack.com/p/a-central-...

A Central Military Commission Built For War - Against The PLA

Political control at the expense of operational capabilities

markparkeryoung.substack.com

Delighted that Joseph Torigian (@josephtorigian.bsky.social) will be joining us in Glasgow for our Scottish Centre for China Research seminar series. Join us! Wed 8 Oct 4pm UK time To join online register via link at: www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/...

It's a testament to the intensity of recent PLA purges that another wave came and went with little attention from English-langauge media, but the latest moves show the depth of disarray engulfing the high command. My take on what the latest moves mean: markparkeryoung.net/posts/fresh-...

Hello everyone, I am now also on Substack. Bit of an experiment for me, but I suspect people who follow me might like that format better: substack.com/@dakekang

Dake Kang | Substack

Investigative journalist in Beijing

substack.com

@jonathonpsine.bsky.social has written an absolutely phenomenal review of Dan Wang's "Breakneck." This is one of my favorite single essays about China today. www.cogitations.co/p/litigation...

Litigation Nation, Engineering Empire

A review of Dan Wang's new book Breakneck

cogitations.co

Fun to work with Jon Czin on this for Foreign Affairs: "The moves demonstrate his continued dissatisfaction with the PLA’s high command and can be seen as part of an ongoing process of achieving his larger goals of bending the military to his will." x.com/BrookingsFP/...

Brookings Foreign Policy on X: ""Xi is obsessed with ensuring that the PLA’s men would resist if need be—but he is still not confident they would." In @ForeignAffairs, Brookings experts @jonczin & @JohnCulver689 examine Xi's approach to the PLA and his continued grip on the military: https://t.co/YAilFOn169" / X

"Xi is obsessed with ensuring that the PLA’s men would resist if need be—but he is still not confident they would." In @ForeignAffairs, Brookings experts @jonczin & @JohnCulver689 examine Xi's approach to the PLA and his continued grip on the military: https://t.co/YAilFOn169

x.com

This two part interview about Xi Zhongxun is a fantastic vantage point on elite politics in China. One point by Joseph that is as true today as ever: "...how far a purge goes, who’s included in the purge, [and] how the purge is characterized, is an art form that is shaped by a myriad of different

Joseph Torigian@josephtorigian.bsky.social · last yr.

New: the second part of my ChinaTalk conversation with @jordanschneider.bsky.social and @jonathonpsine.bsky.social about my biography of Xi Zhongxun, father of Xi Jinping www.chinatalk.media/p/xi-zhongxu...

Facing U.S. tariffs, China’s exports to the U.S. are down—while exports to Southeast Asia are up. Is that trade diversion and potential transshipment? My estimate: at most 34% of the increased PRC exports to SE Asia in Q2 could reflect trade diverted from the United States.

I was going to write something about why certain types of "Xi Jinping is facing pushback" rumors are fundamentally flawed, but it's basically covered in the "faulty factionalism" section of this essay from a couple years ago: asiasociety.org/policy-insti...

2022, Xi Jinping’s Annus Horribilis: Or is it?

ASPI's Center for China Analysis Senior Fellow Christopher Johnson writes about Xi Jinping's challenges in 2022 and how he is still predicted to continue as China's top leader after the 20th Party Con...

asiasociety.org

China's military high command is in the midst of extraordinary upheaval, and Xi Jinping has purged half the uniformed members of the Central Military Commission little more than two years after choosing them. My deep dive on why it's happening and what it means: markparkeryoung.net/posts/turmoi...

I would interpret the US tariff exemptions primarily as an attempt to mitigate the impact on electronics and consumers more than as a signal of a US-China deal. The exempted categories cover about 22% of US imports from China. content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd...

This is an interesting account of how Volt Typhoon came up in a bilateral cyber dialog. I would be wary of assuming that Wang's comments here reflected a high level decision in Beijing to signal Washington. I'm a bit skeptical because Beijing probably did not view www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

Exclusive | In Secret Meeting, China Acknowledged Role in U.S. Infrastructure Hacks

A senior Chinese official linked intrusions to escalating U.S. support for Taiwan.

wsj.com

Was getting a spike in traffic on the other site for this simple tool, so reposting here. In case you have a need for maps like these... www.mapspam.net/MetOrtho.html

Excellent indictment of science reporting at South China Morning Post by @zichen.bsky.social. My approach is to read SCMP reporting on Chinese politics, even given the severe constraints on it, but disregard all science reports, including on cybersecurity. www.pekingnology.com/p/some-troub...

Some Troubled Science Reporting at South China Morning Post

A review of the SCMP's recent cable-cutting blockbuster and 8 other science stories in the past year.

pekingnology.com

Which US industries are most exposed to the China market? Looking at US majority-owned foreign affiliates, the answer is wholesale trade, computers & electronics, chemicals & pharma, autos, and semiconductors. This could matter for US-China talks and potential PRC retaliation to US tariffs.

Taiwan is nervous. With good reason. Jude Blanchette and I discuss in our new RAND Commentary. www.rand.org/pubs/comment...

Han Dynasty and Roman Empire. We like to say "all roads lead to Rome" but it is much more accurate to say "all roads lead to Chang'an." Han Dynasty road network was radial, whereas the Roman road network was mesh-like.

Hundreds of gigabytes of data from an unsecured server expose how China is using artificial intelligence to automate the surveillance of online discourse, with a sophisticated classification system prioritizing military, social, and political content. chinamediaproject.org/2025/03/24/c...

China’s AI Content Dragnet - China Media Project

Hundreds of gigabytes of data from an unsecured server expose how China is using artificial intelligence to automate the surveillance of online discourse, with a sophisticated classification system pr...

chinamediaproject.org

Outstanding interview with a young censor.

China Media Project@chinamediaproject.bsky.social · last yr.

A Gen Z content moderator working for a major Chinese internet platform reveals the moral contradictions of deleting sensitive political content. Translation of this superb Mang Mang interview was by CMP in cooperation with ChinaFile and China Digital Times. chinamediaproject.org/2025/03/19/s...

Big day for Chinese threat intel MSS outs 4 alleged members of Taiwan's Information, Communications & Electronic Force Command, links them to cyber attacks QiAnXin & Antiy release 2 separate reports on Taiwan-linked APT-Q-20/APT-C-01/GreenSpot/PoisonVine 🧵w/ links & details

Thinking about maritime security? Needs more maps... www.state.gov/g7-foreign-m...

I'll be teaching a 6-week graduate-level night course at Georgetown University in May-June called Cyber Operations. We'll look at ways that nations project power in cyberspace - their motives, methods, and impact. Looking forward to meeting students in the School of Foreign Service master's program

Predictions that AI could undermine the Chinese government's societal monitoring and control remind me of predictions in the 90s that the internet would do the same thing. I think it'll very likely be the opposite.

One of the best discussions of the uneven impact of AI on the future of warfare that I've heard/read.

Michael C. Horowitz@mchorowitz.bsky.social · last yr.

Waking up after the big speech? Listen to @jordanschneider.bsky.social, @shashj.bsky.social, and me talk about Ukraine, the future of war, AGI risk, and the legit challenges facing the Pentagon in getting its defense innovation act together www.chinatalk.media/p/emergency-...

Fascinating article. The CCP will have to grapple with how to manage the increasingly strong emotional attachments people will form with AI systems, as is the case for every government and society. I think there are both risks and opportunities from Beijing's point of view.

Caiwei Chen@caiwei.bsky.social · last yr.

Deepseek has become the new oracle. Young people in China are reviving a traditional fortune-telling practice using the AI chatbot. They say BaZi's pattern-based structure is surprisingly compatible with a reasoning model. My latest @technologyreview.com: www.technologyreview.com/2025/03/03/1...

China's retaliation to the new 20% US tariffs: - 10-15% tariffs on US ag imports - 10 US firms on Unreliable Entities List - 15 US firms on export control list (Illumina maybe most affected) - No product-specific export controls Less than proportional response.

The number of companies providing vulnerabilities to China’s MSS has ballooned to 324, up from 151 in 2023! Most new companies are currently Tier 3. China’s ecosystem of vuln suppliers is frothy.

One of the things I’ve come to appreciate being with privacy folks this week is how unique Signal is at this moment. I know it’s maybe a cliche at this point, but it needs to be said.