Martin Thorley

The Milk Tea Alliance: Inside Asia's Struggle Against Autocracy And Beijing

A 2 day mini book tour to promote my new @columbiagr.bsky.social slim volume, Tuesday talk at the Hoover (video already up here www.hoover.org/events/milk-... ) & then Wednesday at @cwclub.bsky.social (event co sponsored by @dissentmag.bsky.social (podcast to come)

3/3 More feedback:

“‘A stylish narrative on the rise and fall of Chinese Communist Party political reach in Britain over a decade”

2/3 More feedback:

“Thorley’s analysis, that the UK is a corrupt enabler of authoritarian politics makes original and disturbing reading”

1/3 Today is the final day you can get 25% off All That Glistens: Chinese Party-State Influence in Britain with @waterstones.bsky.social @newchinabooks.bsky.social

We’ve started to receive early feedback:

“One of the most important books to have been published on the UK-China relationship”

1/3 @waterstones.bsky.social are offering 25% off my book if pre-ordered by Thursday:
All That Glistens: Chinese Party-State influence in Britain.
With @hurstpublishers.bsky.social

All That Glistens by Martin Thorley | Waterstones Buy All That Glistens by Martin Thorley from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.

3/3 The book at @Waterstones can be found via this link. Remember to use the code ‘SUMMER25’ for the 25% discount.
www.waterstones.com/book/all-tha...

2/3 Early feedback for the book:

1/3 @waterstones.bsky.social are offering 25% off my book if pre-ordered by Thursday:
All That Glistens: Chinese Party-State influence in Britain.
With @hurstpublishers.bsky.social

Job opportunities | Careers with the Global Initiative We always welcome expressions of interest from experts in different forms of transnational organized crime or with a geographic speciality, for limited-time cooperation.

The GI-TOC is hiring in Asia.

Field Coordinators in:
Cambodia,
Laos,
Thailand
Vietnam;

Legal Consultant in Malaysia.

Further details about the positions are available via the link. globalinitiative.net/about-us/jobs/

JIED Special Issue: Geocriminality – state instrumentalization of criminality abroad This special issue will explore the concept and its wide-ranging ramifications for crime and crime prevention. While state instrumentalization of crime in general is as old as statehood itself, the fo...

A reminder that GI-TOC is running a special issue of our LSE Press academic journal JIED on the topic of geocriminality

We’ll need a short letter of intent by Monday 21 April if you’d like to contribute to the debate on state use of criminality abroad.

globalinitiative.net/announcement...

Of kingdoms and crooks: The rise of geocriminality Globalization, state–crime collaboration and tense geopolitical conditions have given rise to a troubling new phenomenon. More needs to be done to better understand this emerging threat and its implic...

1/6 Introducing geocriminality. In my latest short article, I highlight a change we’re witnessing in state instrumentalization of criminality. While states have used criminal networks in various forms since their genesis, this relationship is transforming. globalinitiative.net/analysis/the...

JIED Special Issue: Geocriminality – state instrumentalization of criminality abroad This special issue will explore the concept and its wide-ranging ramifications for crime and crime prevention. While state instrumentalization of crime in general is as old as statehood itself, the forces of globalization and adversarial geopolitical conditions have led to an evolution in its form. Just as rapid progress in fields of communication, travel and technology have underpinned development in business, so too has it nurtured capacity in state-crime relationships.

6/6 We’d be fascinated to hear from potential contributors to this special issue on geocriminality in the GI-TOC’s academic journal JIED – with London School of Economics Press @lsepress.bsky.social. Details of the call can be found via the link.
globalinitiative.net/announcement...

5/6 When regimes that face little scrutiny at home face increased constraints operating abroad, the use of criminals by the state becomes more attractive. But plenty of questions remain – as well as the article in the first post, we have issued a Call for Papers:

4/6 Just as globalization has transformed politics and business, it's impacts (e.g. advances in travel, internationalization of markets and the erosion of capital flow boundaries) have also transformed the state-crime landscape. New challenges abound…

Russia's Use of Organized Crime as an Instrument of Statecraf Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has increased Moscow’s engagement with the underworld, for example to help circumvent sanctions by smuggling licit products that contain dual-u...

3/6 Colleagues and partners of the GI-TOC were making similar findings – that this relationship had evolved. Take for example, @markgaleotti.bsky.social’s excellent research into crime and the Russian state. globalinitiative.net/analysis/gan...

China's new model of global governance and its impact on the fight against organized crime The characteristics of the Global Security Initiative (GSI) are best understood in the context of China’s domestic approach to crime prevention, in which the party-state is vested with vast powers and...

2/6 Typically, state use of crime was considered an element of clandestine diplomacy but my own research into the use of criminal networks by the People’s Republic of China suggested a deeper, novel relationship at the state-crime nexus. For example from 2024 globalinitiative.net/analysis/chi...

Of kingdoms and crooks: The rise of geocriminality Globalization, state–crime collaboration and tense geopolitical conditions have given rise to a troubling new phenomenon. More needs to be done to better understand this emerging threat and its implic...

1/6 Introducing geocriminality. In my latest short article, I highlight a change we’re witnessing in state instrumentalization of criminality. While states have used criminal networks in various forms since their genesis, this relationship is transforming. globalinitiative.net/analysis/the...

👇 Publishing June 10, with a few additions in the form of at least three bits of advance praise, deeply gratifying blurbs by @eosnos.bsky.social Emma Larkin & Thongchai Winichakul

U.S. Embassies Halt Air Quality Monitoring Abroad Since 2008, embassies and other diplomatic posts had been publishing data about local air quality. In many countries, it was the only reliable source of such information.

Not an exaggeration to say this was pound-for-pound the most effective piece of US public diplomacy in China. Twitter was blocked, but U.S. embassy pollution tweets forced Beijing to start publishing its own pollution data, which fed public outrage. Result: millions breathing vastly less toxic air

Sheffield has a truly excellent East Asian Studies school that is in danger of downsizing and redundancies. Please sign and share!

HTS anti-narcotics officers say they found several tons of the drug captagon made by Assad-linked factories and other precursors today. They burned it all while we tried not to breath and recorded tape for @npr.org

All That Glistens | Hurst Publishers Investigates how Chinese state entities have compromised business and politics in Britain at the highest levels.

21/21 If you’re interested in the hidden side of PRC party-state international engagement, the relationship between authoritarianism & capitalism, and the changing geopolitical landscape then my book is out April 2025 with @hurstpublishers.bsky.social www.hurstpublishers.com/book/all-tha...

20/21 The previous UK case with Christine Lee in parliament also hinted at a changing landscape: a need to look not only at espionage but also examine political donations, business links, All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) etc. x.com/methorley/st...

China's new model of global governance and its impact on the fight against organized crime The characteristics of the Global Security Initiative (GSI) are best understood in the context of China’s domestic approach to crime prevention, in which the party-state is vested with vast powers and...

19/21 In a report this year, for example, I revealed photographic evidence appearing to show PRC united front links to two of Asia's most notorious criminals (p14+). This "geocriminality" goes far beyond traditional use of crime in espionage globalinitiative.net/analysis/chi...

A new cold war? Britain’s relationship with China is much more complex than that | Martin Thorley In a globalised world, the claim that a Chinese agent forged links with UK politicians shouldn’t surprise us, says postdoctoral research fellow Martin Thorley

18/21 I’ve previously argued that we’re not in a new Cold War but something more complicated – deeply adversarial conditions amid the connections of the communication, technological and travel revolutions. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

17/21 As for Yang, the term "spy" has been used today but I feel that word may be outdated here. That world remains active but geopolitics is changing: this is a wider challenge of PRC party-state dynamics in a transnational world. New rules, new conditions, & new vulnerabilities

16/21 She reportedly played a significant role in Prince Andrew's Pitch@Palace, and is involved in multiple projects Yang Tengbo works on. She can be seen meeting Theresa May and Liam Fox here. web.archive.org/web/20241213...

15/21 Jean Jameson is listed as Senior Vice President of Yang's Hampton Group on the website [and as CEO elsewhere] but other literature also demonstrates 48 Club group links - here she is listed as "responsible for the Secretariat of the 48 Club group". web.archive.org/web/20210302...

14/21 That is not to cast aspersions about Methven who I haven’t met personally but have engaged with cordially online. The key here is the presence of these same organisations and their proximity to Yang and those around him.

13/21 Andrew Methven is listed as UK CEO. If we go back again to the UK-China business entity 48 Club Group, this time to page 71 of their 2009 booklet, we find him listed as one of their “young icebreakers”. Yang's honorary membership of the 48 is referenced by the Home Office