Spies and Lies, Alex Joske
Spies and Lies, Alex Joske
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Spies and Lies
How China's Greatest Covert Operations Fooled the World

Author: Alex Joske

Narrator: James Daniel Burkdoll

Unabridged: 8 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/22/2023

Synopsis

Spies and Lies a groundbreaking exposé of elite influence operations by China's little-known Ministry of State Security. Revealing for the first time how the Chinese Communist Party has tasked its spies to deceive the world, it challenges the conventional account of China's past, present, and future.

Mere years ago, Western governments chose to cooperate with China in the hope that it would liberalize, setting aside concerns about human rights abuses, totalitarian ambitions, and espionage. But the axiom of China's 'peaceful rise' has been fundamentally challenged by the Chinese Communist Party's authoritarian behavior under Xi Jinping. How did we get it wrong for so long?

Spies and Lies pierces the Ministry of State Security's walls of secrecy and reveals how agents of the Chinese Communist Party have spent decades manipulating the West's attitudes—from an Australian prime minister to the US Congress, prominent think tanks, and the FBI—about China's rise. Through interviews with defectors and intelligence officers, classified Chinese intelligence documents, and original investigations, the book unmasks dozens of active Chinese intelligence officers along with global MSS fronts, including travel agencies, writers' associations, publishing houses, alumni associations, newspapers, a Buddhist temple, a record company, and charities.

About Alex Joske

Alex Joske was the youngest-ever analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and is known for breaking open new fields of research through meticulous Chinese-language investigations grounded in authoritative and independently verifiable sources. His research in the hotly contested field of Chinese Communist Party influence and espionage efforts has withstood intense scrutiny and earned the respect and interest of governments and policymakers globally. He lives in Canberra, Australia.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Andrew on October 23, 2022

Spies and Lies by Alex Joske tells the story of the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) and its influence campaigns. Where traditional intelligence operations might try to run agents or break into secure systems, a variety of political and organisational factors pushed the MSS towards an open n......more

Goodreads review by Scott on February 03, 2023

Spies and Lies illuminates the history and pervasive reach of Chinese influence operations world wide using dozens of examples often focusing on the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) Social Investigation Bureau (12th Bureau) and its various front organizations. These examples demonstrate how......more

Goodreads review by Alex on October 23, 2022

3.5 stars. Certainly a master class in OSINT, Spies and Lies points to the need for the US to invest in similar intelligence work. And while I'm a fan of Joske's reports, this book didn't seem to fit together properly or flow well. There is lots of great stuff in here, but often difficult to parse t......more

Goodreads review by Gus on March 23, 2023

fascinating book and very economical in its writing. I think it could benefit from a longer pagecount or more in-depth notes. Clearly written for a more policymaking/business interest, in my view, and I think it has that feel, but in pursuit of that the book can be too quick to take contentious posi......more

Goodreads review by Ben on November 18, 2022

Scary Read For Sure This was a frightening and eye-opening book. Very important, timely, and interesting book on espionage. Joske was an excellent journalist, and I look forward to more of their books. 4.8/5......more

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