William J. Holstein

When I was Beijing bureau chief for United Press International in the early 1980s, we press hacks used to joke about visitors making their first trips to China, spending perhaps two weeks in the country. They could write entire books, they were so confident of their knowledge. But if a visitor spent two months in […]…

As this New York Times front page article attests, U.S. officials believe the Chinese cyber attack groups, Volt Typhoon and Salt Typhoon, are still in American telecommunications networks. The author of the article, David Sanger, calls it “the most significant assault on American critical infrastructure in the digital age.” He adds: “Officials have said they do […]…

The editorial department, as opposed to the news department, today prints a very long guest essay by Jameel Jaffer and Genevieve Lakier, who both have legal backgrounds in Chicago. It is entitled, “The Supreme Court Must Intervene in the TikTok Case.” These two are complete unknowns to most people involved in China watching, myself included. […]…

A U.S. court has made it seem final–China’s ByteDance has to sell TikTok, which reaches 170 million Americans, or shut it down. I predict a smooth sale will be impossible. Here’s why–what makes TikTok so addictive and so powerful are the algorithms and computing power that support it. TikTok can see all a user’s contacts, […]…

I warned on Nov. 19 that American CEOs need to understand the full extent of their companies’ exposure to Chinese government retaliation. The august New York Times published this piece today, almost 10 days after my blog post, concurring with my warning. In it, Alexandra Stevenson and Paul Mozur describe how the Chinese are withholding […]…