Spy planes and infiltrators: a history of the CIA in China
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The Chinese Communist Party likes to blame its domestic political problems on foreign interference, and it has done so since the days of Chairman Mao.
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\\nBut sometimes, does this paranoia, this narrative, have a point? Or at least during the depths of the Cold War, when the United States, via the CIA, was countering communism across the world through so-called \\u2018covert operations\\u2019.
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\\nMy guest today is Professor John Delury, a historian at the Yonsei University in Seoul, and author of a new book looking at the history of the CIA in China. It\\u2019s called Agents of Subversion, and I\\u2019d highly recommend it because some of the incredible exploits detailed in there are nothing short of what you might find in a spy thriller. On the episode, we talk about that history and what it teaches about US-China relations today.
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\\nPictured here is CIA agent John T. Downey, who was imprisoned by China for over two decades after an exfiltration mission over Manchuria failed. He was eventually released following Nixon\'s visit to China.
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\\nFurther listening:
\\nBill Hayton on Liang Qichao and the other Chinese reformers whose followers became the so-called \'Third Force\' discussed in this episode: https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcast/what-is-it-to-be-chinese/.
\\nProfessor Rana Mitter and Jessica Drun on the history of Taiwan and what happened after Chiang Kai-shek fled there: https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcast/why-does-china-care-about-taiwan/\\n
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\\nBut sometimes, does this paranoia, this narrative, have a point? Or at least during the depths of the Cold War, when the United States, via the CIA, was countering communism across the world through so-called \\u2018covert operations\\u2019.
\\n
\\nMy guest today is Professor John Delury, a historian at the Yonsei University in Seoul, and author of a new book looking at the history of the CIA in China. It\\u2019s called Agents of Subversion, and I\\u2019d highly recommend it because some of the incredible exploits detailed in there are nothing short of what you might find in a spy thriller. On the episode, we talk about that history and what it teaches about US-China relations today.
\\n
\\nPictured here is CIA agent John T. Downey, who was imprisoned by China for over two decades after an exfiltration mission over Manchuria failed. He was eventually released following Nixon\'s visit to China.
\\n
\\nFurther listening:
\\nBill Hayton on Liang Qichao and the other Chinese reformers whose followers became the so-called \'Third Force\' discussed in this episode: https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcast/what-is-it-to-be-chinese/.
\\nProfessor Rana Mitter and Jessica Drun on the history of Taiwan and what happened after Chiang Kai-shek fled there: https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcast/why-does-china-care-about-taiwan/\\n