Spies and lies: how China's greatest covert operations fooled the world

Abstract

Over the past few years, Alex Joske has played a pivotal role in identifying China's instruments of political influence and covert interference in Australia. Working with colleagues at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and with the academic Clive Hamilton, he has shed light in particular on the activities of the United Front Work Department: the body that aims to co-opt or control Chinese diaspora communities in support of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Joske's new book, Spies and lies, goes further, exploring how the CCP's intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security (MSS), has tried to shape western policies towards China since the 1980s. In 13 chapters, the author tells the stories of a series of leading spies, outlining the tactics the MSS employs, and exploring the various ‘front organizations’ that it uses to cultivate powerful, wealthy or influential foreigners, especially in the United States. Joske makes two main arguments. First, he suggests that western analysts have misconceived and misunderstood China's intelligence effort, focusing too much on its clandestine work—running agents and obtaining secrets—and not enough on its influence operations. Second, he argues that these operations have been ‘stunningly successful’ in manipulating western elites into thinking that China was safe to engage with, politically and economically, and that the CCP would in time create a more liberal form of government (p. 7).