Our picks: China syndromeHow China Surveils the World | China & U.K. Nuclear Power | Purge Reflects Climate of Fear, and more

Inside China’s Unexpected Quest to Protect Data Privacy (Karen Hao, MIT Technology Review)
A new privacy law would look a lot like Europe’s GDPR—but will it restrict state surveillance?

It’s Time for Western Universities to Cut Their Ties to China (Salvatore Babones, Foreign Policy)
In their crass hunger for Chinese money, universities have become China’s fifth column in the West.

How China Surveils the World (Mara Hvistendahl, MIT Technology Review)
The government taps into a vast global array of data sources through partnerships with both foreign and domestic firms.

Chinese Publisher Removes Burke’s French Revolution Book from Shelves (RFA)
The move to withdraw an entire series on Western conservatism comes amid an ever-widening censorship campaign by the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

Xi’s Latest Purge Reflects Climate of Fear (James Palmer, Foreign Policy)
So-called anti-corruption crackdowns in the Chinese Communist Party follow a familiar pattern.

China’s Role in U.K. Nuclear Power Comes under Scrutiny (Ed Clowes, The Telegraph)
A spate of politicians and academics have criticized the involvement of a Chinese company in the UK’s two new nuclear power stations.

China Threat: Ian Duncan Smith Calls for Boycott of Beijing Olympics in 2022 for “Behaving Like Russia” (Claire Anderson, Express)
China has been warned about a potential boycott of its 2022 Winter Olympics as Iain Duncan Smith called on countries to protest the international sports event being held there.

China Is Turning American Movies into Propaganda. Enough Is Enough. (Sonny Bunch, Washington Post)
Every six months or so, Americans get a reminder of just how much influence China exerts over our popular culture. Taiwan’s flag gets removed from Tom Cruise’s jacket in “Top Gun: Maverick.” Marvel performs its own sinister illusion to make a Tibetan character from “Doctor Strange” disappear. Michael Bay plays buddy-buddy with the Communist Party in “Transformers: Age of Extinction.”
Occasionally these stories have a happy ending, as when Quentin Tarantino refused to sanitize “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.” Generally speaking, though, the Communist Party gets its way. But James Tager, author of PEN America’s new report on China’s cultural power, noted recently in a podcast that Americans tend to get riled up about these stories for a bit and promptly forget about them. It’s long past time we stopped with this goldfish act. We should label movies made with Chinese investment and influenced by Chinese censorship so Americans know propaganda when they see it.