Why has our government been so slow to recognize, and to try to counteract, the multifaceted threat posed by China? I suspect it is because we became so dependent on Chinese manufacturing to sustain our standard of living that it was easier to avert one’s eyes and kick the can down the road. It’s not as though they failed to give us plenty of warnings.
The best short guide I know of to the various aspects of the Chinese threat is Tom Cotton’s book, Seven Things You Can’t Say About China. If you haven’t read it, you should.
These thoughts are prompted by an email from a friend, responding to a post:
In the summer of 2001 I received an email from someone who alleged she was a Chinese rocket scientist who was interested in pursuing her MBA. The curious part? I had of course earned my MBA (at Carlson School) and my (now ex-) wife had led satellite imagery reporting for the CIA on Russian and Chinese missile and space systems. She went to the Pentagon monthly to brief the working group on Chinese systems. (We met when we worked together at a joint CIA-DIA facility that required Top Secret SCI clearance).
I forwarded the email to the Minneapolis FBI office, saying “You probably think this is crazy, but here’s why this is weird”, and explained the backstory. A month later, a local FBI agent stopped at our house along with a very silent guy claiming to be “Army Intelligence” (CIA counterintelligence). After an hour I asked the FBI guy, what’s going on? He simply said, “Let’s just say it’s a pattern.”
A month later was 9/11, with a strong Minnesota connection. Never heard from them again.
Meanwhile, as an example, LinkedIn is a cesspool of fake Chinese accounts soliciting connections. Once I founded a venture-backed AI company, I started receiving and reporting countless attractive 20-something Chinese (alleged) women trying to connect with me. [My wife] gets the same from men (medical device technology), and I’m sure this is not unique to us. It’s a pervasive scheme to infiltrate, influence and steal from the US.
If we are making any serious effort at a response, I am not aware of it.
