Lei(Lee) Zhou 周雷

Proud US citizen grew up in China. CCP is a mortal menace to the world. Buying "Made in China" == endorsing slave labor & enabling CCP the Red Dragon.

[Lei(Lee) Zhou 周雷 @SamAdamsVIIIX]

My favorite photo for HK. This is what all the struggle is really about - to protect the next generation from the brain washing, fear, and corruptive environment imposed by CCP.

[Lei(Lee) Zhou 周雷 @SamAdamsVIIIX]

@ArtMaxKo @nntaleb @niubi I am an American who has recovered from the brainwashing imposed by CCP.

So I know how evil CCP is.

[Desmond Shum @DesmondShum]

Against the “Sanctions Backfire” Cliché

Look at this title ‘China should probably send a thank you note for the sanctions’. So categorically. So conclusive. But it’s misleading.

My problem with this genre of argument is that it usually begins with idealism and ends with a slogan.

The idealism is that the world should be one big family — trading, innovating, and prospering together. That is a pleasant thought, but history suggests otherwise. Ideology, religion, regime type, strategic ambition, and power matters. These forces have produced war and peace.

Then comes the ending slogan: sanctions backfire.
Reality is far more nuanced. Even if they don’t achieve full effect, they can delay, deny, raise costs, expose dependencies, or force the other side into expensive and inefficient substitution.

To conclude, this sort of academic papers distorts reality and advocates for wrongheaded strategic approach.

[Lei(Lee) Zhou 周雷 @SamAdamsVIIIX]

@nntaleb @niubi * Check out Sinocism by Bill Bishop @niubi, who lived in China and co-hosts the Sharp China podcast.

[Lei(Lee) Zhou 周雷 @SamAdamsVIIIX]

@nntaleb That's the impression if you visited China as a tourist. If you ever tried to make a living there, you would know it's not the case at all. Small business is subject to arbitrary control of various local officials.

Check out sinocism by Bill Sharp @niubi, who once lived there.

[Lei(Lee) Zhou 周雷 @SamAdamsVIIIX]

@edw_smgo @nntaleb @niubi @AdrianDiazMarro 😊. Go try it, and educate us with your own experiences.

[Lei(Lee) Zhou 周雷 @SamAdamsVIIIX]

They just played the “racist” card on someone who is least likely to be one.

Interesting…

[Lei(Lee) Zhou 周雷 @SamAdamsVIIIX]

@Profleoyu Well, try your luck inside China.

Try to land an academic job there without kissing somebody’s asses.

Then and only then will your whining be worth listening to.

[John Simpson @JohnSimpsonNews]

37 years ago the Chinese army killed large numbers of people in Beijing and elsewhere when it cracked down on student protests. I was there and saw it happen myself. Nowadays China tries to claim the Tiananmen massacre was invented by the international media. That’s a total lie.

[Lei(Lee) Zhou 周雷 @SamAdamsVIIIX]

@xchen156 做为另一个亲历者 （不认识小平）， 我完全同意小平的观点。

我自己的反思经历过不同的阶段。在过了不惑之年后，结论与小平基本一样。

[陈小平 @xchen156]

https://t.co/3QE764z6zh

[Lingling Wei 魏玲灵 @Lingling_Wei]

To mark the 37th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, re-sharing my column on memory, history, and shattered expectations: After Tiananmen, a Past That Didn’t Pass and a Future That Didn’t Come. https://t.co/fF3Dcautrw

[Lei(Lee) Zhou 周雷 @SamAdamsVIIIX]

@xzzzjpl 你的假设基于你隐置的前提：

1 - 学生当时要求中共放弃执政了。
2 - 学生和知识届的愿望可以正面影响中共高层的决策。

1 - 当时绝大多数学生都是 红旗下的蛋，根本不可能有这样的觉悟。

2- 你自己相信吗？

[Lei(Lee) Zhou 周雷 @SamAdamsVIIIX]

@CaminoTexas 谢谢你说出了我的心声。

做为六四亲历者，我的反思是： 基于当时大学生，知识分子，和社会的状况，失败是必然的。

后来者应该把六四的经验教训当做脚凳和踏板，才有更进一步的希望。

[Desmond Shum @DesmondShum]

When a European Statesman Gives Chinese MOFCOM a Swedish Accent
@POLITICOEurope @Euractiv
Damn, this does get worse.

It turns out @carlbildt’s tweet reads less like an original thought than a lightly reworded MOFCOM press line.

Bildt wrote:

“I find the concept of ‘overcapacity’ ridiculous. Does Germany have an overcapacity in cars? France one in wine? Sweden in heavy trucks? Italy in fashion? And don’t tell me that European food exports aren’t subsidized.”

Now compare that with He Yadong, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce, at the regular press conference on May 21, 2026:

“If a trade surplus alone is enough to justify the label of ‘overcapacity’, then wouldn’t the automobiles, pharmaceuticals, wine, and cosmetics exported by the EU also qualify as such?”

Same structure. Same rhetorical trick. Same false equivalence.

Bildt merely swapped MOFCOM’s automobiles, pharmaceuticals, wine, and cosmetics for Germany’s cars, France’s wine, Sweden’s trucks, and Italy’s fashion — and then added a little European garnish.

The Chinese should claim plagiarism on him.

A former European prime minister is effectively laundering Beijing’s talking point verbatim into European discourse.

[Lei(Lee) Zhou 周雷 @SamAdamsVIIIX]

Over the last 30+ years, I have witnessed how universities have transformed into colossus bureaucratic machines.

One thing is for sure, it was not because of Indian, Chinese, or Russian immigrants. Plenty of people with an ancestral lineage similar to yours embraced it. They are the main force behind this change.

That said, I do feel your argument is valid and complements Vevik's point.

[Desmond Shum @DesmondShum]

Jensen Huang, Tsinghua, and the Bigger China Question

As a former honorary trustee of Tsinghua, I have a reasonable understanding of how this system works — and why American corporate elites should think carefully before lending their prestige to it.

Tsinghua is widely known as China’s premier engineering university. But it is not merely an academic institution. Since around 2004, under the guidance of then Party Secretary Chen Xi — later a Politburo member and head of the CCP’s Organization Department under Xi Jinping — Tsinghua has actively promoted a 16-character employment slogan for its graduates:

“Set great ambitions, enter the mainstream, step onto the big stage, and undertake great causes.”
立大志、入主流、上大舞台、干大事业

The slogan can be traced back to around 2004–2005, when Tsinghua began encouraging graduates to work in areas aligned with national strategic priorities.

Its meaning is fairly clear.

“Set great ambitions” means tying one’s personal aspirations to the so-called “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”

“Enter the mainstream” means moving into the key sectors, industries, and frontline institutions of state development.

“Step onto the big stage” means going wherever the Party-state needs talent — including defense science, western regions, and grassroots towns.

“Undertake great causes” means subordinating personal ambition to national and political goals, and measuring success by contribution to the Party-state’s agenda.

I know for a fact that Tsinghua has sent many graduates into China’s nuclear program. That is not an accident. It is part of the design.

As for the business school advisory board, a few points are worth making.

First, anyone who looks at the size of the board can see that it has little real operational role in the business school. A body that large is not designed to run anything.

Second, like many advisory boards around the world, it functions as a pre-qualified club for influential people to meet, network, and signal that they belong to the right circles.

Third, in China, this function carries an additional political layer. It is also a platform for the Party-state to impress, cultivate, and court foreign dignitaries — the classic “wow and woo” operation. Given the calibre of people involved, it would be naive to assume the CCP’s United Front system and intelligence agencies are not involved.

So the Tsinghua setup should not be viewed simply as an educational structure. It is part university, part talent pipeline, part elite networking platform, and part political instrument of the CCP state.

The issue is not whether Jensen Huang attended a meeting or sat on a board. The issue is why so many American corporate leaders still treat China’s Party-state institutions as harmless prestige platforms. In today’s geopolitical environment, lending your name is not neutral. It is a form of endorsement — and Beijing understands that perfectly well.

[Lei(Lee) Zhou 周雷 @SamAdamsVIIIX]

“Being American is not about your race or ethnicity. It’s about cutting the cord from the past and investing in America, so America can protect and prosper the world.”

The debate for the new American century.

[John Ʌ Konrad V @johnkonrad]

Your beautiful Singapore is only possible because we freed it from colonialism and poured AMERICAN security and protection and engineering and invention into it.

Singapore’s waterfront is littered with US Navy officers educated at USNA and shipping containers invented in North Carolina.

That’s what backs Singapore’s utopia.

That’s a great thing. Go help Singapore. Give back to the world. But none of it works if you don’t come back and pitch in at home.

PAX AMERICAN has brought the greatest period of peace and prosperity the world has ever seen.

But how dare you say Singapore or China did it alone? How dare you say Asia would be peaceful without us. My dad fought and died young of Agent Orange giving medical aid in a nation that proved otherwise.

HOW DARE YOU NOT RETURN?

Global peace and prosperity only works if immigrants stay here in the USA. If they are loyal to American ideals.

India kicked me out after we won the Guinness World Record. They told us to ho home. That nation is hostile to the best and brightest.

That’s why it’s still dirty and corrupt and poor.

That’s why I never ever want to return. That’s why I regret helping them instead of building great things here in America.

America is free. You were born in America. You are an American citizen. You are entitled to your opinion Balaji. You are free to post your disgusting disinformation.

But you are not American. You will never be American.

Being American is not about your race or ethnicity. It’s about cutting the cord from the past and investing in America, so America can protect and prosper the world.

India is about being hostile to colonialism, kicking out the best and brightest.

China is about using America for its own selfish interest.

Singapore is about strict self preservation.

You are not American. You are Indian-Chinese-Singaporean.

Pro brain drain, selfish person who rants on and on via x for self preservation.

GO FUCK YOURSELF Balaji

JAK1 lived in a tenement so JAKVII could be a CFO in the American shipyard we exported to. III fought a world war to free your little utopia from Japan. IV died at 53 from a war to keep the communists from invading Malay.

And I’m here spending hours on a F’n Wednesday morning writing this reply to your horseshit instead of working to rebuild our US shipbuilding.

And I’m doing it because it’s important. I’m doing it because I’ve watched elite Indians flirt with communist ideals while proclaiming they are a democracy… and in doing so drive out families like the Srinivasans.

And now you’re flirting with communists while proclaiming you’re American.

You’re not American. You are a traitor peddling lies.

And the worst part? We both grew up in the best schools in NY, we both have physician parents, we both are high intellect computer minded.

So I know 💯 your smart enough to see through this bullshit your peddling which means it comes from something deeper inside you. It’s cultural or religious or political or who knows what.

What I do know it’s fully unAmerican.

Enjoy your “utopia” while it lasts. It won’t, not without American support. An America you are working to destroy.

[Lei(Lee) Zhou 周雷 @SamAdamsVIIIX]

@lianchaohan You are attacking a straw man.

Show me an example of “主张彻底忘却或抛弃民主与科学，将千百年来复杂的文明演进简化为一条“因信即得宪政”的捷径”.

[Desmond Shum @DesmondShum]

Tech Elites Playing with Fire: The All-In Podcast’s @theallinpod Idiotic Push for China AI Parity

The ignorance, arrogance, and self-assurance of the Silicon Valley elite is really something to behold.

https://t.co/jB6jwXWOcp

Last week, this podcast floated the idea that Taiwan is “nothing but silicon,” that it has little relevance to American or global security, and that TSMC’s manufacturing edge will be irrelevant in 18 months. That take was rightly criticized across the board.

This week on All-In Podcast Episode 274, they went even further. @friedberg argued that after the Manhattan Project, “nuclear secrets were leaked to Russia for that purpose” because some scientists feared that “if the US had all the power, there would be no counterbalance to the power.” He framed nuclear parity as necessary, stating that once proliferation began, “you had to have this balance in the world. Otherwise, you have effectively an asymmetric power that can do whatever it wants globally.”

@chamath then extended the analogy to AI: “I think it’s actually good that China is less than nine months behind us. I think it allows us to find a detente where we have a certain magnitude of capability that they also have.”

@GavinSBaker added his support for selling deprecated NVIDIA GPUs to China, claiming it “may be the best, highest probability path for keeping America ahead in AI and kind of keeping control of AI.”

This is breathtakingly naïve — and dangerous.
The implied logic is that because nuclear parity supposedly stabilized the Cold War, tech industry should actively help China remain within striking distance of U.S. AI leadership. Really?

Nuclear parity did not produce some clean, elegant balance. It helped lock hundreds of millions of people behind the Iron Curtain for decades. It enabled Soviet domination over Eastern Europe. It gave communist regimes worldwide the confidence and protection to murder, imprison, starve, and terrorize their own people. The human cost across the communist world ran over 100 millions — with the CCP alone responsible for an estimated 50-100 million deaths in the 1950s-70s through the Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, and mass political persecution.

And now these tech investors casually suggest that China — the world’s most powerful Leninist surveillance state — should be kept close enough to America in AI to preserve “balance.”

Do they understand what the Chinese Communist Party actually is? This is a regime that rules 1.4 billion people without freedom of speech, uncensored access to information, independent courts, secure private property rights, or meaningful political choice. It is currently backing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, enabling Iran and its terrorist proxies across the Middle East, and propping up dictatorships in Venezuela and Cuba while exporting its model of surveillance, censorship, and coercion worldwide.

Yet the great minds of Silicon Valley sit around congratulating themselves as if helping China stay competitive in frontier AI is some sophisticated geopolitical insight. It is not. It is morally obtuse.

These people are brilliant at building companies and pushing technology forward. That does not make them wise about history, tyranny, communism, or national security. In fact, their self-assured confidence is part of the danger.

The same voices who dismiss Taiwan as “just silicon” and argue for keeping China within AI striking distance of the United States should be nowhere near national policy. They don’t deserve deference from policymakers.

They need a history lesson — and to be kept far away from decisions that will determine whether freedom or authoritarian control defines the 21st century.