Spies and Lies

How China's Greatest Covert Operations Fooled the World

By: Alex Joske

Narrated by: James Daniel Burkdoll

Spies and Lies a groundbreaking expose 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.

©2022 Alex Joske (P)2023 Tantor

Good expose

I’ve read every book I can get my hands on regarding China and because of this, the content gets repetitive for me. A lot of books are just regurgitating what other books have said. Not so worth this book. It’s a new look at “how China is trying to change your mind” with the United Work Department and MSS agencies. Crucial reading for anyone not being paid by the CCP. Know the ways people from democratic nations are manipulated by China and refuse to be manipulated. This information was informative and the narrator did a wonderful job.

Beware of the MSS

Spies and Lies draws back the veil on China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) and its global network of spies and front organizations. A primary aim of the MSS is to lure the West into believing that China aims to achieve a “peaceful rise” and a democratic transition. However, the actual goal of the MSS’s master, the Chinese Community Party, is to achieve a transition to a new world order, with the People’s Republic of China at its helm. Australian China analyst Alex Joske urges the West to take greater heed of MSS operations and thwart its ambitions.

Great book we need more like it

Well done and easy to follow. It covers a topic more people should be aware of. The fact the KGB/FSB is in the avg American lexicon and the MSS is not is one of the greatest tricks they have ever pulled