American Citizen who Worked as an Agent for the PRC Sentenced to Two Years in Prison: Thomas Pauken II Sentenced to Federal Prison to be Followed by 36 Months of Supervised Release with No Overseas Travel “Pauken exploited his U.S. citizenship and corresponding ability to travel to the U.S. without restriction in order to support Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) operations, recruiting, and gathering of sensitive information from potential assets,” said Assistant Attorney General John A. Eisenberg. “Pauken betrayed his country for money. The National Security Division is committed to holding accountable anyone who aids or abets Chinese espionage efforts.” Read more:

The Indian Strategic Studies Forum (ISSF) is pleased to announce the launch of a comprehensive research initiative titled "Hereditary Hierarchy and Institutional Stratification in China: Historical Origins and Contemporary Socio-Economic Impacts." By navigating the PRC's information asymmetry, our team is analyzing the socio-economic impacts of the Hukou system and evaluating the structural vulnerabilities within China's domestic labor market. Learn more about the upcoming study here:

🚨Justice Department and @FBI Seize Platforms Operated and Used by China State-Sponsored Hackers to Target U.S. Critical Infrastructure “State-sponsored malicious hackers preying on America’s critical infrastructure will be stopped and prosecuted. We are here to ensure security for the American people and will use every tool we have to keep that promise,” said @AGToddBlanche. “Federal law enforcement investigated and disabled the PRC’s malicious software, the latest in a series of technical operations to dismantle indiscriminate hacking activities sponsored by the People’s Republic of China.” Read more:

In the latest Coalition Defense of Taiwan update, AEI’s @DAlexBlumenthal examines Japan’s ongoing defense reforms, PLA Navy plans to expand its aviation assets, and the PRC’s response to Philippine territorial claims to the UN over the Scarborough Shoal.

I recommend this revealing piece from Seth Center, who co-led the AI dialogue with China that emerged from our negotiations for the 2023 Biden-Xi Woodside Summit. A little background here. In 2023, the President and his National Security Advisor thought we should have an AI dialogue with China. It would be the first ever to be held. They were right to push it. Since this was a presidential deliverable, it fell to the NSC (and to me specifically) to coordinate and negotiate this as a summit deliverable. Therein began a rather torturous process with Beijing to scope it out, wrangle over ministerial participation, set the diplomatic level, and determine the agenda so our two Presidents could announce it. We also worked out an agreement not to hook up AI to nuclear command and control (assented to by the PLA and DOD as well), but that was further refined and ultimately announced in 2024. All this required coordination within the USG, and Seth and his team were critical partners in that effort. Both sides ultimately agreed to hold the dialogue. Neither the US nor China made concessions to get it. We didn’t lift our export controls, as some in the US had encouraged us to do. And that enabled Biden and Xi to announce the dialogue at the Woodside Summit. When the dialogue was held the following year, in my opinion, the PRC did not send the right people and the right ministries at the right levels, which ran against the understandings reached in our earlier negotiations. Seth’s piece tells you what happened in the room. With a different configuration of actors, more iteration, a different level of engagement, and more direction from the Party center, things may have gone better. Or not, since Beijing had its own preferences here. Still, it is a shame we did not get to try it that way. I believe we made some progress and should keep trying. But those encouraging us to make massive unilateral concessions for the privilege of doing so are, I think, looking at this through rose-tinted glasses. The current discussion on AI talks with China would thus benefit from a bit more perspective on what diplomacy with China actually looks like on the ground. Which is why I recommend you read Seth’s piece.