Mark Parker Young

The Trial of Major General Xu Qinxian: Machine Translation A 6-hour video from the trial of PLA Major General Xu Qinxian (徐勤先), Commander of the 38th Group Army during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, was publicized by the group Human Rights in China in...

I posted a machine translation of recently-released footage of the trial of Xu Qinxian, the 38th Group Army Commander who balked at orders to use force in 1989. The footage provides new insight into a crucial episode in the history of China and the CCP.

markparkeryoung.substack.com/p/the-trial-...

A Central Military Commission Built For War - Against The PLA Political control at the expense of operational capabilities

Xi's military purges and reorganizations have reinforced his control over the PLA at the expense of its operational capabilities. I wrote about the new Central Military Commission and what it indicates about Xi's priorities and willingness to use force:

markparkeryoung.substack.com/p/a-central-...

关于国家授时中心遭受美国国家安全局网络攻击事件的技术分析报告

The underlying CNCERT report explicitly references Triangulation and lists alleged IOCs: mp.weixin.qq.com/s/XPjT0BVOJP...

Litigation Nation, Engineering Empire A review of Dan Wang's new book Breakneck

I would strongly recommend Jonathon Sine's review essay on Breakneck, which is itself a brilliant analysis of China: www.cogitations.co/p/litigation...

and secondarily his much shorter review of Apple in China: x.com/JonathonPSin...

(no, these were not paid endorsements, they're just great! 😄)

Delighted that Joseph Torigian (@josephtorigian.bsky.social) will be joining us in Glasgow for
our Scottish Centre for China Research seminar series.

Join us! Wed 8 Oct 4pm UK time

To join online register via link at:
www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/...

It's a testament to the intensity of recent PLA purges that another wave came and went with little attention from English-langauge media, but the latest moves show the depth of disarray engulfing the high command. My take on what the latest moves mean:

markparkeryoung.net/posts/fresh-...

Dake Kang | Substack Investigative journalist in Beijing

Hello everyone, I am now also on Substack. Bit of an experiment for me, but I suspect people who follow me might like that format better: substack.com/@dakekang

Litigation Nation, Engineering Empire A review of Dan Wang's new book Breakneck

@jonathonpsine.bsky.social has written an absolutely phenomenal review of Dan Wang's "Breakneck." This is one of my favorite single essays about China today.

www.cogitations.co/p/litigation...

Brookings Foreign Policy on X: ""Xi is obsessed with ensuring that the PLA’s men would resist if need be—but he is still not confident they would." In @ForeignAffairs, Brookings experts @jonczin & @JohnCulver689 examine Xi's approach to the PLA and his continued grip on the military: https://t.co/YAilFOn169" / X "Xi is obsessed with ensuring that the PLA’s men would resist if need be—but he is still not confident they would." In @ForeignAffairs, Brookings experts @jonczin & @JohnCulver689 examine Xi's approach to the PLA and his continued grip on the military: https://t.co/YAilFOn169

Fun to work with Jon Czin on this for Foreign Affairs:

"The moves demonstrate his continued dissatisfaction with the PLA’s high command and can be seen as part of an ongoing process of achieving his larger goals of bending the military to his will."

x.com/BrookingsFP/...

Both parts of this ChinaTalk interview are well worth listening to - deep insights on the nature of the system that remains very relevant today.

My own thoughts from April on the latest purges: markparkeryoung.net/posts/turmoi...

considerations that are only fully understood by the top leader."

Xi Jinping was masterful at calibrating the scope and scale of purges between 2012-17 as he consolidated power. The latest round of purges has seemed more haphazard, although less dangerous for Xi than those of his first five years.

This two part interview about Xi Zhongxun is a fantastic vantage point on elite politics in China. One point by Joseph that is as true today as ever:

"...how far a purge goes, who’s included in the purge, [and] how the purge is characterized, is an art form that is shaped by a myriad of different

Facing U.S. tariffs, China’s exports to the U.S. are down—while exports to Southeast Asia are up. Is that trade diversion and potential transshipment? My estimate: at most 34% of the increased PRC exports to SE Asia in Q2 could reflect trade diverted from the United States.

I look forward to reading it

2022, Xi Jinping’s Annus Horribilis: Or is it? ASPI's Center for China Analysis Senior Fellow Christopher Johnson writes about Xi Jinping's challenges in 2022 and how he is still predicted to continue as China's top leader after the 20th Party Con...

I was going to write something about why certain types of "Xi Jinping is facing pushback" rumors are fundamentally flawed, but it's basically covered in the "faulty factionalism" section of this essay from a couple years ago:

asiasociety.org/policy-insti...

I wouldn't be surprised if it also gets taken down from the Internet Archive.

The campaign to subvert Africa's internet registry | The Cape Independent In ten days, AFRINIC, the continent's internet registry votes in its new board. But one man has been trying to commoditise its resources, and is pushing for a takeover.

I get a 404 error when trying to access the story. Internet Archive version here: web.archive.org/web/20250420...

China's military high command is in the midst of extraordinary upheaval, and Xi Jinping has purged half the uniformed members of the Central Military Commission little more than two years after choosing them. My deep dive on why it's happening and what it means:

markparkeryoung.net/posts/turmoi...

I would interpret the US tariff exemptions primarily as an attempt to mitigate the impact on electronics and consumers more than as a signal of a US-China deal. The exempted categories cover about 22% of US imports from China. content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd...

but I think there's also a substantial risk of misinterpretation.

I appreciated the careful nuance in the reporting, which relayed the fact that Wang's comments were "indirect and somewhat ambiguous." It would've been easy to gloss over that.

functional as opposed to regional departments are also more likely to generate misinterpretations of political dynamics from participants on both sides, IMO.

It's certainly possible that there may have been a change in Beijing's talking points about Volt Typhoon that was reflected in this dialogue,

this specific channel as a particularly important one. Wang is a mid-level official at MFA, and the fact that he was leading the dialog (with no mention of representation from the PLA), suggests China was mostly going through the motions on cyber issues. Diplomatic engagements led by

Exclusive | In Secret Meeting, China Acknowledged Role in U.S. Infrastructure Hacks A senior Chinese official linked intrusions to escalating U.S. support for Taiwan.

This is an interesting account of how Volt Typhoon came up in a bilateral cyber dialog. I would be wary of assuming that Wang's comments here reflected a high level decision in Beijing to signal Washington.

I'm a bit skeptical because Beijing probably did not view

www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

Was getting a spike in traffic on the other site for this simple tool, so reposting here. In case you have a need for maps like these...

www.mapspam.net/MetOrtho.html

Some Troubled Science Reporting at South China Morning Post A review of the SCMP's recent cable-cutting blockbuster and 8 other science stories in the past year.

Good context here on South China Morning Post science and technology reporting, which helped spark concern about this patent:

www.pekingnology.com/p/some-troub...

Some Troubled Science Reporting at South China Morning Post A review of the SCMP's recent cable-cutting blockbuster and 8 other science stories in the past year.

Excellent indictment of science reporting at South China Morning Post by @zichen.bsky.social. My approach is to read SCMP reporting on Chinese politics, even given the severe constraints on it, but disregard all science reports, including on cybersecurity.

www.pekingnology.com/p/some-troub...

Which US industries are most exposed to the China market? Looking at US majority-owned foreign affiliates, the answer is wholesale trade, computers & electronics, chemicals & pharma, autos, and semiconductors. This could matter for US-China talks and potential PRC retaliation to US tariffs.

Taiwan is nervous. With good reason. Jude Blanchette and I discuss in our new RAND Commentary. www.rand.org/pubs/comment...

Han Dynasty and Roman Empire. We like to say "all roads lead to Rome" but it is much more accurate to say "all roads lead to Chang'an."

Han Dynasty road network was radial, whereas the Roman road network was mesh-like.

China’s AI Content Dragnet - China Media Project Hundreds of gigabytes of data from an unsecured server expose how China is using artificial intelligence to automate the surveillance of online discourse, with a sophisticated classification system pr...

Hundreds of gigabytes of data from an unsecured server expose how China is using artificial intelligence to automate the surveillance of online discourse, with a sophisticated classification system prioritizing military, social, and political content.
chinamediaproject.org/2025/03/24/c...