Hello lovely reader,

I’ve stretched the definition of “weekly” in The China Week this time, but I’ll keep writing the newsletter for the duration of the holiday season. I am still playing with the format for this newsletter, and this week is a little different again: there’s a brief essay at the top, and I’ve combined the recommended links and news summaries in one section. I love feedback and have thick skin, so email me if you have anything to say by replying to this or to jeremy -at- goldkorn.net.

Last week I published a China-related episode of my Rhyming Chaos podcast: The end of a Mongolian-language newspaper, an interview with journalist Soyonbo Borjgin on growing up in Hohhot, and his “re-education” after protests against the suppression of Mongolian language.

If you’re not subscribed, please click the button below, and if you like what I’m doing and want to encourage me to do more, please take out a paid subscription.

—Jeremy Goldkorn

The new U.S. Security Strategy; Japan gets a taste of things to come

Radar lock, radio silence

“Chinese reading the document will say, our time has come,” said historian and former Canadian opposition leader Michael Ignatieff. He was referring to the U.S. National Security Strategy released by the White House on December 4. A spokesperson for the Kremlin called the document “largely consistent” with Moscow’s vision. Bill Emmot, former editor-in-chief of The Economist, said it is a “declaration of political war” that is “blatantly racist, declares an open intent of interfering in European politics, and is extraordinarily hostile to long-time allies.” He also said it reads “like slop, combining as it does brazen lies, absurd claims and frequent non-sequiturs.”

I could not find any official Chinese commentary on the document. The state Xinhua News Agency summarizes it but is vague on details concerning China.

The word “China” is mentioned 21 times in the Strategy document itself. It promises to “rebalance America’s economic relationship with China, prioritizing reciprocity and fairness to restore American economic independence,” but does not say how. It mentions the “security challenge [of] the potential for any competitor to control the South China Sea [and] impose a toll system over one of the world’s most vital lanes of commerce or—worse—to close and reopen it at