Asia Policy Program Director Dr. Sheena Chestnut Greitens was recently interviewed for an article in The Associated Press titled “Counterespionage thriller is first Chinese movie to get backing of intelligence agency.” “Scare Out” is China’s first movie officially endorsed by the Ministry of State Security. The move reflects a broader shift by the MSS toward greater public engagement as the agency has been increasingly active on social media, posting about real espionage cases, comics, and short videos, aimed at encouraging ordinary citizens to participate in counterespionage efforts. Dr. Greitens highlights how the film is a sophisticated attempt to influence public opinion and make national security engaging for the Chinese populace.
“[It’s] a very sophisticated effort to mobilize Chinese citizens and make national security entertaining and fun to support,” writes Dr. Greitens.
In partnership with UT Austin’s Asia Policy Program (APP), the Intelligence Studies Project’s (ISP) Tearline team published a report on Chinese construction of police training infrastructure in at least four countries — Nepal, Costa Rica, Samoa, and Uzbekistan — over the past 12 years. Construction of a police training facility is usually part of a wider, latticed outreach effort by...
Rana Siu Inboden, a Strauss Center Senior Fellow, co-authored an article with Anouk Wear in the Jamestown Foundation's China Brief Notes titled "'We're Coming For You': PRC Influence in UN Rights Bodies." The article examines how the PRC is placing its nationals on UN human rights bodies and directing funding toward mandates that align with its views. "Beijing is seeking greater influence in the...
Asia Policy Program Director Dr. Sheena Chestnut Greitens recently co-authored a paper for The Carnegie Endowment of International Peace examining how China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS) has transformed into a major global security actor. Since 2006, China has signed at least 205 police and security cooperation agreements with over seventy-four countries. Utilizing a new dataset of 170 bilateral and...