Spies and Lies: How China's Greatest Covert Operations Fooled the World Paperback – October 11, 2022

Any decent intelligence service can recruit spies, steal secret documents, and run paramilitary operations. This extraordinary book shows how Chinese intelligence took the dark arts to a much higher level. Through an elaborate web of front companies and undercover agents, the Chinese Communist Party’s spy agencies have infiltrated directly into the heart of American power, shaping and manipulating our nation’s foreign policy in a way that serves Beijing’s strategic aims. And they’ve done it for decades.This book should be mandatory reading across the CIA, FBI, Pentagon, State Department, White House, and Congress. Mr. Alex Joske has delivered a signal service to defenders of freedom everywhere.

China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) relatively new headquarters is located in the hills west of Beijing, the Col Springs Base involves some 80,000-square feet of meters of complex buildings. It is a vast expansion on the MSS's other facility, the Jiangnan Social University, outside Shanghai. The author notes that few law enforcement or intelligence agency have paid much attention to the MSS and its operations over the last five decades, but that changed in 2021, with widespread arrests in the U.S. and Europe.The author focus is to reveal the MSS's "influence operations" the most potent part of the CCP's intelligence work that has been the most overlooked, misunderstood and ignored" ([2) part of China's vast intelligence operations. Its history dates from the Civil War, whose origins begin with traditional Marxist-Leninist doctrines "united front" work. In China, this began with the. United Front Work Department (UFWD), from when many of the early MSS agents came from. As the author notes, "united front work is bad enough. It serves as a way for the Party to push its influence beyond its own ranks, including abroad." (p. 31)The MSS focus is the long-game, cultivating relationships with China-friendly voices to influence politics, and perhaps one day see those 'influencers' rise to senior positions in government, business, and academia. The author walks the reader through a series of operations, most embarrassing for the U.S. being the China Reform Forum - which snared a whole slough of academics over the years - in what was a pure MSS intelligence operation (Ch. 7, p.84).China Reform Forum was a disguised Chinese "think tank", established as a outlet for liberal, reform minded Chinese and foreigners, who bought into the MSS "lie". Tracking the life of Zheng Bijian, the "great lie" come with this statement: "China's only choice is to strike to rise and, more importantly, to strive for a peaceful rise" - the alternative is a confrontation and conflict with the United States - was doomed to failure. (p. 87) To academic listeners, its sounded great. It was Zeng Bijian's "peaceful rase" concept marked the beginning of a phenomenally successful influence operation orchestrated by the MSS through China Reform Forum." (p. 97)Those who bought into the China Reform Form included such notables as John W. Lewis, PLA weapons expert (with Hua Di) and mentor to Condi Rice (and her position with Bush 2.0)."In 1993, Lewis and Hua all brokered a controversial deal that gave the PLA access to advanced broadband equipment from the United States." (p.102) - just the kind of "friends" the MSS had been cultivating.Another was John L. Thornton, late of Goldman Sachs and now Brooking Institution. The author notes these "think thanks" were wide-open sources of intelligence - sometimes better than cracking the real intelligence agencies! This even extended fo the former chief economist at RAND Corp. Others might include the founders and CEOs of the Blackstone Group and Blackrock firms. While some bought into the peaceful transition of China, not all did, as the author related the story of George Soros China Fund, in the late-1980s. Right in the wake of Tiananmen Massacre, Soros realizes just before the even that the political winds in Beijing are not going towards a neoliberal directions, and closes the operation.Wikileaks revelation of documents in 2010 revealed 251,287 US diplomatic cables, included hundreds of Chinese contacts, including PRC government and Party officials, academics and others, including 'strictly protected' individuals (spies). Among those revealed were three senior members of. the China Reform Forum: Ding Kuisong; Xue Fukang; and, Can Huayin - all equivalent senior deputy chiefs of MSS.The author also notes that MSS edit influence operations - like the PLAs - can draw out remarkably senior officers who might normally be expect to stay behind their desks. These individuals also maintain false names - names they may take even into retirement, hiding their long association in intelligence work. An example is Yu Fang - better known as Yu Enguang - is one example: a MSS Vice Minister. Yu travelled in many countries but may best be know now for his comments about how the U.S. "think tanks" are a revolving door for people and ideas, connecting governments to civil society and academia, (p. 129)Chapter 12 deals with Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and now president Biden - and a view into the future of MSS. Its had rough time since 2021, with widespread arrests of true PRC spies and MSS operatives. Agencies now recognize what its operations are. The revelations of Chinese "police stations" operating in the U.S. and several foreign countries on Jan. 12th - "tout the effectiveness of the offices, which are frequently called overseas police service centers. Some reports describe the Chinese outposts “collecting intelligence” and solving crimes abroad without collaborating with local officials." (New York Times). Some of. those operating within these stations are surely MSS operatives.In the late pages of the book, the author notes recent failures of the MSS - but also that of Western and other intelligence and analytical groups, in that "CCP's political influence mechanisms remain poorly understood, but. the situation was far worse in the past." (p. 191) The earlier academic and intelligence believe in "a thousand grains of sand" was the method of PRC intelligence fathering techniques, is debunked by the author. Lastly, the author notes: "When it comes to sharing intelligence on China, insular culture and political sensitivities have helped the MSS's influence operations flourish." (p. 194). Fortunately, the author views the changes of view in Australia and the U.S. are rapidly changing regarding the PRC and its leadership.The authors Notes section also includes extensive references to original Chinese language sources - a commendable part of the of the research done for this book.The number of front organizations that MSS uses (and used) is too numerous to detail in a review, but for those interested in Chinese intelligence, the book is a must.RECOMMENDED !

This book is one of the best books out there about China's intelligence service. I felt it could have been better written but the information it contains is to-die-for.

I agree with the review by Trikon - Useful for policy makers and academics but leaden prose.Obviously, a lot of good information in this book. It should serve as a wake up call to all in the West, particularly politicians and policy makers. It is too bad that schools and media outlets are too busy indoctrinating people in the wrong things instead of teaching and promoting the information that will make us free and successful in standing up to the likes and lies of the CCP and its minions. We have a lot of naive, stupid people who don’t understand that China is trying to take over the world.For me, the read was dry and boring. Very tedious detail about some of the Chinese organizations and the people associated with them. This could have been better presented. I was also very annoyed by the non-American spelling of words and the lack of the Oxford comma; US courts have ruled that the use of or lack of the Oxford comma is worth millions of dollars because of the change in meaning.I found the last chapter most worthwhile. If you are interested in the topic of Chinese influence, but don’t want to suffer through the tedium of most of the chapters, read the last one for sure.

Joske has done a superb job. It's a perfect complement to other books such as Mattis and Brazil's Chinese Communist Espionage. Spies and Lies is a relatively short book but it's very detailed and very readable. It's a good book for people new to the subject and those who've been studying China for a while.

A very interesting read, extensively documented. Kudos to this young author, who is clearly very talented and educated.

Stunning, well-documented account of MSS influence ops in the US.

The title is a bit of an exaggeration, but it was still an interesting read. Heavily sourced, albeit mostly from news and journal articles, with many from the Chinese press - it clearly illustrates China's focus on HUMINT-driven influence operations. The history shows China's progress from rank amateurism to a greater professional capability in the use of human assets, front organizations, and other traditional elements of strategic HUMINT with a focus on influencing other countries' opinions and perceptions of China. The well-known case of the FBI's CI debacle with Katrina Leung is mentioned several times along the way, with her connections serving as a means of illustrating Chinese intelligence's links with various other organizations. Overall, an interesting read, but weakened by a little too much speculative connecting of threads - perhaps inevitable given the subject matter. A far more interesting story is alluded to a few times, but no details provided at all - that of an extensive penetration of Chinese intelligence and government organizations by CIA assets. I'm sure it will take a long time before that one is told with any substance.

Excellent!!

I bought this after seeing a review in the Economist. I acknowledge that the author has done a service to Western policy makers detailing Chinese influence operations in the USA and elsewhere. But this is not a book for the general reader, even one with a strong interest in politics and the rise of China. The prose is leaden and the reader is assailed by endless tedious accounts of Chinese front groups, their Chinese political connections and those they attempted to suborn in Washington. I recognise that the subject matter is inherently less “interesting” than accounts of espionage tradecraft, but nonetheless this has to be one of the most boring books I have ploughed through over the past 12 months.

Great book to see the extent of Chinese foreign interference everywhere. A must read to raise awareness and understanding of the indufuoud techniques used.

This is a very good summary of all the publicly known spy activity conducted by China. It is also a much needed insight and reference source for grasping how China's foreign intelligence organizations behave. Of course much more is going on under the surface, particularly in cyberspace. This is not an area covered by the book, but it is one of China's most cost-effective ways of conducting espionage, as well as state sponsored terrorism. However, this book is very useful for identifying the motivation of those peculiar Chinese agents whose job it is to turn up in every advantageous public gathering. They generally lurk around at Asian exhibitions at Museums and Art Galleries, Sinology lectures, trade conferences and any and every event within the Chinese community at large. They will insert themselves in every conversation and once they buttonhole you will experience the full "wolf culture" propaganda spiel. In the blink of an eye, they will commence aggressively asserting China's rights to seizing Taiwan, controlling the South China Sea and need to take down the USA and its allies. All of which is pretty confronting when all you wanted to do was look at the exhibition or sample the cuisine.

Joske traces the history of the espionage industry in the People's Republic of China since the death of Mao. This is truly astounding stuff given that it has been mostly hidden for years and even now not widely known. The authors is of the view that the penetration of the West by the CCP and the Ministry of State Security using espionage, data collection and influencing is now beyond controlling. He outlines how world leaders and major business leaders have been influenced and directed without their knowledge in order to incrementally improve China’s world position. These activities continue today and are largely being ignored by Western governments. Some background knowledge of China would be an advantage but this is a great read.