Did Jonathan Powell torpedo the China espionage trial?
The antics of Keir Starmer and his top security adviser over the collapsed China espionage case bring to mind the slapstick British movie Carry On Spying โ which is precisely the message it will have ...
Hereโs my take for this weekโs Spectator on the fiasco of the collapsed China spy trial & a govt that appears to have abandoned any notion of national security for single-minded policy of appeasing Beijing
#china #spytrial #espionage #chinaspies
www.spectator.co.uk/article/did-...
09.10.2025 07:57 โ ๐ 2 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
YouTube video by Times Radio
Putin and Xi exposed: China expert reveals the hidden tension between the worldโs dictators
How are we to understand the relatiinship between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin? Hereโs my explainer for Times Radio
#china #putin #ukraine #xijinping youtu.be/JLVdK7MX-WA?...
30.08.2025 21:50 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
How seriously should Xi Jinpingโs makeover of China be taken?
Its tech sector is resurgent and the president says it is heading for โhigh-quality growthโ but his obsession with control may strangle innovation
The great Xi Jinping makeover is in full swing. Champion of free trade, friend of foreign investors & tech entrepreneurs in the face of Trump mayhem. But as I argue in @thetimes #china shape-shifting is cynical and barely credible
www.thetimes.com/article/c05b...
30.08.2025 21:36 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
Can 'China Studies' still be trusted?
It is generally agreed that Britain needs to improve its China capabilities. But what happens when institutions responsible for building those capabilities are compromised by the Chinese Communist Par...
It's generally agreed that the UK needs more #China expertise - from understanding history & culture to speaking Mandarin. But as I ask in the Spectator, what if institutions charged with improving such capabilities are captured by the Chinese communist party?
www.spectator.co.uk/article/can-...
09.08.2025 09:59 โ ๐ 1 ๐ 1 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
YouTube video by Times Radio
Xi doesnโt need Putin: How Chinaโs arms industry overtakes Russiaโs | Ian Williams
A real pleasure to join @philipingrammbe.bsky.social
on Times Radioโs excellent Frontline podcast, talking Russia, China, Ukraine and much more
#china #Russia #Ukraine #ukrainewar
youtu.be/aegWOaXlSaU?...
06.08.2025 19:22 โ ๐ 2 ๐ 2 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
I'm delighted that the updated paperback edition of Vampire State is published today. Understanding #china troubled but predatory economy is more important than ever
#economy #TradeDeal #Tradewars #Beijing
04.08.2025 05:19 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
So #china says economy grew 5.2% in the quarter to June & most commentators took that at face value. Wake up! CCP stats are political, not economic, more so that ever, and as I explain in the Spectator, they need to be treated with a huge does of scepticism
www.spectator.co.uk/article/is-c...
19.07.2025 13:25 โ ๐ 1 ๐ 1 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
A big thank you to everybody who came to the the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand Wednesday for my book talk. China is such an important issue right now, and understanding its predatory economy is more important than ever. Good to be back in Thailand and catching up with old friends.
10.07.2025 03:55 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
Congratulations to @barbarademick.bsky.social for Daughters of the Bamboo Grove, her powerful new book on #China one-child policy, which inspired my Mail feature on the lasting legacy of one of the cruellest, misguided and costliest policies a govt has ever imposed on its people
04.07.2025 08:42 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
How wary should we be of Chinese electric vehicles? We rightly worry about spyware on phones, but EVs are giant pieces of spyware - perfect for espionage, surveillance & sabotage. As I write in the Mail, a good place to start is the classic Michael Caine movie The Italian Job
#China #EVs #espionage
08.05.2025 13:07 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
How China bought Britain
Somewhere in the bowels of the Foreign Office, civil servants are still working on the governmentโs โChina auditโ. The report was commissioned by the new Labour government to โassess trade-offs in the...
Somewhere in the bowels of the Foreign Office, UK govt's much hyped 'audit' of China relations grinds on. AsI argue in The Spectator, it is being rapidly overtaken by events that scream for extreme caution.
#china #chinaaudit #tariffs #tradewar
www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-...
01.05.2025 09:42 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
What is Xi Jinping planning?
Shanghai port is the busiest in the world. Activity there is closely monitored by financial analysts distrustful of official statistics and looking for clues as to what is really happening in the worl...
For Trump, tariff is the โmost beautiful wordโ, but as I argue in the Spectator #china has a coercive toolbox built over decades of forcing foreign firms/pliant countries to kowtow as price of doing business or to punish for supposed sleights #tariffs #TradeWar
www.spectator.co.uk/article/what...
12.04.2025 14:47 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
China won't win its 'fight to the end' against Trump
There are signs that these countries are already growing wary of Beijingโs investment and the dumping of Chinese-made goods more broadly.
Hereโs my take for the Spectator on Trumpโs tariffs on #China, which has accused the US of bullying, coercion and rule breaking. Well โฆ Beijingโs familiar with all that, since itโs precisely whatโs powered its economic rise
#TradeWar #tariffs
www.spectator.co.uk/article/chin...
08.04.2025 20:45 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
Facing up to Xi Jinping and the new China | Oxford Literary Festival
Ian Williams and Michael Sheridan Chaired by Sophia Yan - Facing up to Xi Jinping and the new China
Looking forward to the Oxford Literary Festival where on 4 April I'll be joining Michael Sheridan and Sophia Yan to talk about the challenge of facing up to #XiJinping and an aggressive #China. Some tickets still available! #oxfordliteraryfestival
oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-e...
21.03.2025 11:28 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
China is not the Westโs environmental ally
In the fight against climate change, China loves to present itself as the worldโs White Knight. Armed with wind turbines and solar panels, EVs and batteries, it will rescue us from oblivion if only we...
The UK govt & environmentalists want to โengageโ #China on #climatechange , but as I write in the spectator there is little evidence a transactional Beijing gives a hoot about the planet and sees such diplomacy as means for furthering its broader interests
www.spectator.co.uk/article/chin...
20.02.2025 07:38 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
YouTube video by Times Radio
How Trump's tariff chaos played straight into China's hands
A pleasure to join Louis Sykes on Times Radioโs Trump Report, talking #china #tariffs and much more youtu.be/xcu8bFn7SzU?...
05.02.2025 20:32 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
How Chinese firms dodge Trump tariffs by shifting work abroad
From Vietnam to Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, Chinese companies are shifting some manufacturing to southeast Asia
As DonaldTrump imposes more tariffs, Chinese companies are finding multiple ways to avoid them, often by just re-badging 'made in China' as made in elsewhere. As I write in
@thetimes it could turn into giant game of whac-a-mole #China #TradeWar #trump
www.thetimes.com/business-mon...
02.02.2025 12:11 โ ๐ 3 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
Operation kowtow continues. As I write in the Mail on Sunday,
Keir Starmer's govt is ignoring local residents & security concerns in what appears to be a murky deal to allow #China to build a monstrous new embassy in East London
02.02.2025 12:01 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
The villain of my 2nd novel Zero Days is an unhinged power-hungry tech tycoon who wants to own the ultimate cyber weapon of the title. At the time, I didn't specifically model him on Elon Musk but he's growing into the role #ElonMusk #CYBER #Hacking
www.amazon.co.uk/Zero-Days-Th...
15.01.2025 10:25 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
Labour's kowtowing to China will cost Britain
Keir Starmer and his ministers, including Chancellor Rachel Reeves, appear to be competing to see who can kowtow the lowest before China's Xi
Keir Starmer and his ministers appear to be competing to see who can kowtow lowest to China. As I write in the spectator not only is it desperate & morally repugnant, but can only increase dependencies and undermine security #China #reeves
www.spectator.co.uk/article/labo...
13.01.2025 12:36 โ ๐ 5 ๐ 1 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
Sorry, I donโt get you. Isnโt part of the problem with the appalling abuse by grooming gangs that there was too much self-censorship as a result of misplaced sensitivities about being accused of racism.
12.01.2025 19:51 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
The spectator carries a range of voices on a range of subjects Kate. Murray is passionate about the grooming gangs. I disagree with a lot of what he writes, but respect his right to do so. I write about China, which means I also understand the pernicious impact of censoring views we donโt agree with
09.01.2025 17:43 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
Explain what Kate?
09.01.2025 17:05 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
What is the point of Rachel Reevesโs visit to Beijing?
The Chinese communist party claims to know a thing or two about humiliation โ the โcentury of humiliationโ at the hands of rapacious foreigners is a founding myth of the CCP, which presents itself as ...
Timing of Rachel Reevesโs visit to Beijing is awful. As I report in the Spectator, the govt's attempt to construct a coherent #china policy is shameful. If there is one lesson from recent years of policy failure, it is that appeasement doesn't work
www.spectator.co.uk/article/what...
09.01.2025 16:49 โ ๐ 2 ๐ 1 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
Chinaโs hacking frenzy has reached the US Treasury
The US Treasury revealed that it had become the victim of a โmajor cybersecurity incidentโ, which it blamed on Chinese hackers.
US Treasury hack caps a frenzied year for #china cyber spies - and as I write in the Spectator Beijing is becoming more Russian - looking to undermine and sabotage and not just steal know-how on an industrial scale #treasuryhack #hacking #cyber
www.spectator.co.uk/article/chin...
31.12.2024 12:56 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
It was my first effort at trying to capture the madness and menace of modern China - before I started writing non-fiction. If you do find a copy, do let me know what you think
28.12.2024 20:44 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
Beijing Smog: Something is stirring beneath the smog (The Chuck Drayton books Book 1)
Beijing Smog: Something is stirring beneath the smog (The Chuck Drayton books Book 1) eBook : Williams, Ian: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
It has been 7 years since I published Beijing Smog, a tongue-in-cheek thriller about corruption and repression in China. At the time it seemed a little dystopian. Now jt seems more real than ever amzn.eu/d/cdLIMWx
28.12.2024 12:30 โ ๐ 1 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
Author, historian, maker of books and radio - Midnight in Peking, City of Devils, Murders of Old China, Peking Noir, The Defectorsโฆ Her Lotus Year: China, the Roaring Twenties and the Making of Wallis Simpson now out everywhere. Agent - Aitken-Alexander
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