SWAP MEET
The Trump administration has set its sights on beating China in the trade war, but some one-time U.S. officials are doing the opposite.
Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian is a national security reporter at The Daily Beast. She previously worked at Foreign Policy magazine. You can follow her on Twitter @BethanyAllenEbr. Send her tips bethany.allen@thedailybeast.com, or via encrypted email to bethany.allen@protonmail.com.
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NO ESCAPE
China is compiling a global registry of its ethnic minorities who have fled persecution, threatening to detain the families of those who don’t comply. The message: Nowhere is safe.
CREAMY
Forget China, Russia, or the Saudis, South Korea is the country spending the most to influence Washington. ‘When Trump got elected, we saw an absolute surge,’ one expert says.
GUT CHECK
Direct military assistance from China would mark a dramatic shift in Middle East geopolitics.
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CZECH MARKS
The U.S. has closed its doors to Huawei over fears that it’s a stalking horse for surveillance. So now Beijing’s communications giant is planting a flag in the Czech Republic.
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TURN BACK TIME
The former secretary of state pushed one president to use China to isolate the Soviet Union. These days, he’s counseling almost the reverse—and officials are listening.
BUYING POWER
There's a slew of one-time U.S. politicians and officials who have lobbied for China or whose business interests are closely connected to it.
WAR OF THE WORLDS
In a new novel, nuclear weapons expert Jeffrey Lewis imagines a world in which a Donald Trump presidency results in nuclear war with North Korea.
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SHHHHH
Congress is trying to get tough on China, and Beijing is pushing back—hard.
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RISING TIDE
The Russians may be getting all the attention for influencing American opinion and policy. But Beijing has been at it for decades.