Good evening. Given the pace and intensity of Chinese news over the past five years, it can be easy to lose sight of the long buildup that preceded the current tensions. Case in point: The very first calls to restrict sales of US technology to Huawei date back to 2001. Our cover story this week, an excerpt from Eva Dou's new book, tells the story of how Huawei first inspired state anger -United. government.
Elsewhere we have infographics showing Chinese links in TP-Link; an interview with Fiona Cunningham on how China uses its new weapons of war; an article about developing countries wanting more than money from China; and an op-ed by Lizzi Lee on how Xi Jinping became a prisoner of his party's language.
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Huawei's “Iron Army”
Long before Huawei exploded onto the American national scene in 2019, the Chinese telecommunications company was daring to establish a global presence by going after rogue regimes. In this extract from the new book, Huawei House: The secret history of China's most powerful companyEva Dou recounts how Huawei moved into Iraq before the fall of Saddam Hussein and first emerged as a threat to US national security.
Overview: How Chinese is TP-Link?
The electronics company has attempted to separate its U.S. arm from China as national security concerns mount. Noah Berman reports.
A Q&A session with Fiona Cunningham
Fiona Cunningham, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, says China has found a new way to coerce its adversaries in future wars, even with fewer nuclear weapons and a weaker military than the United States. In a book published this week, Under the Nuclear Shadow: China's Information Age Weapons in International Securityit explains how China gave a leading role to a new class of weapons. In this week's interview with Noah Berman, she explains why China developed these information age weapons and where the pursuit fits into the country's overall military strategy.
Fiona Cunningham
Illustration by Lauren Crow
Developing countries want more than money from China
Emerging markets continue to welcome Chinese capital, but increasingly on their own terms. Rachel Cheung reports.
How Xi Jinping became a prisoner of his party's language
As the ultimate institutionalist, Lizzi Lee argues, Xi derives his power and authority from Party ideology, rhetoric, and rules, but now finds himself constrained by them.
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