Because Communist Party dribbles news of its deliberations, we are left with anecdotes to consider. Here are two:

Professor Di. In a difficult to date, but likely from December 2020, public presentation, Professor Di Dongsheng at Renmin University in Beijing describes his confidence that the Communist Party has people at the top of US power and influence. Di goes on to describe the paying of bribes to achieve Communist Party goals. You can view his speech at: https://youtu.be/-OI_HBQS3aE?si=QNApi5OP8TdQheyX

Xiaomi. Based in Beijing (in the same district, Haidan, as Renmin University), Xiaomi makes cell phones and other products in China. Xiaomi sold phones like funnel cakes at a state fair when the Trump administration restricted American investment in and component sales to Huawei. Later, the Trump administration limited US investment in Xiaomi.

Under the Biden administration, Xiaomi engaged Covington & Burling to file a lawsuit to remove restrictions on US investments in Xiaomi. The US Department of Defense answered that it knew Xiaomi was a bad actor because its CEO received outstanding recognition from the PRC’s Ministry of Information and Technology and that Xiaomi was investing in artificial intelligence. The US administration declined to provide publicly available information to the court showing that Xiaomi’s artificial intelligence directly supported Chinese weapon systems that specifically target US systems. Deprived of available facts, Judge Rudy Contreras ruled that political recognition and investments in emerging technologies failed to defeat Xiaomi’s argument that Trump’s restrictions against it had been effected capriciously. Following the court’s ruling, Xiaomi’s prohibitions dissolved, and its revenues surged more than $80 billion—an amount roughly equal to half the money that the US has spent on defending Ukraine.

Professor Di describes PRC strategies and tactics explicitly. Xiaomi’s suit shows that US legal processes treat Communist Party affiliated companies no differently than it treats US companies. Let’s use these two anecdotes to uphold fundamental principles of justice but also to evolve our institutions to counter PRC sponsored actions that threaten our national security.