A RESOURCE FOR UNDERSTANDING THE U.S.-CHINA CLASH: My Creators Syndicate column this week is a review of Chinese Communist Espionage: An Intelligence Primer by Peter Mattis and Matthew Brazil (Naval Institute Press, 2019).

The review, however, doesn’t lead with the book. The review begins with current news that has global significance:

Sometime in December 2019, Dr. Li Wenliang decided he must act. His clinic in the Hubei province capital, Wuhan, had too many patients with viral pneumonia symptoms. In a private online chat, he warned a few other doctors that analysis indicated a “SARS coronavirus.” The SARS epidemic erupted in 2002 and still embarrasses Beijing.

On Jan. 1, the local Public Security Bureau arrested Li and seven other doctors, alleging they spread vile rumors. Major Chinese media outlets reported the arrests. Media shaming did its job: repressing information that embarrassed Chinese Communist Party officials. It also short-circuited the sharing of medical data, but in China, the CCP reigns supreme.

The book goes into great detail about the Public Security Bureau and the Ministry of State Security — and China’s relentless, pervasive spying in the U.S. So, read the entire essay.

RELATED: Communist China Battles The Democracy Virus (bumped). This is the latest StrategyPage.com podcast. Yes, it discusses the novel coronavirus and what the epidemic “exposes” about the Chinese police and surveillance state. Give it a listen and if you like it, subscribe.