New book traces history of Chinese intelligence service, details rise of Communist China
SoftCover

New book traces history of Chinese intelligence service, details rise of Communist China

Published by HarperCollins India, ‘Chinese Spies: From Chairman Mao to Xi Jinping’ by Roger Faligot will be released on 29 April on ThePrint’s SoftCover.

   

Book cover: HarperCollins India

New Delhi: A new book ‘Chinese Spies: From Chairman Mao to Xi Jinping‘ traces the history of the modern Chinese secret service, while looking at segments linked to Chinese espionage and the relationship between the country’s intelligence agencies and party leadership.

Published by HarperCollins India, the book will be released on 29 April on Softcover, ThePrint’s online venue to launch non-fiction books.

Written by Roger Faligot, the book gives a credible and accessible account of Chinese intelligence agencies, and covers secret operations relating to the New Silk Road, the current global economic wars, battles on the internet and Islamist terrorism.

Faligot ‘s book offers an engaging and detailed account of the rise of Communist China as well as exposes Beijing’s aspirations as a superpower, with secret services active in every field and across the Western world.

Roger Faligot, author of several books on European and Asian intelligence, said: “Over the last forty years, as an investigative reporter, I have researched information on China and her intelligence services. Travelling extensively in Asia and elsewhere, I have been able to obtain numerous testimonies and confidential documents showing how, after the fall of the USSR, Chinese spies have been broadening their scope from a regional to a worldwide focus.”

“Under Xi Jinping, the Ministry of State Security (Guoanbu) and People’s Liberation Army secret services have become as active as the CIA, the MI6, the R&AW or the Russian GRU and SVR. I am glad to know that a wide readership in India will get a chance to read these facts in my book, Chinese Spies. The more so because, from the point of view of the Beijing spy chiefs, India is one of their most important targets,” he added

Describing the book as one of the most fascinating narratives of Chinese history, Vikram Sood, former chief of Indian intelligence agency R&AW, lauded Faligot for his “considerable research” while writing it.

“There is enough mystery, intrigue, and history in it to make it one of the most fascinating narratives of Chinese history from the days of Mao to the present administration, and the contribution of intelligence services to China’s growth and national ambition during the period,” Sood wrote in the forward of the book.

“At a time when several books have been written about China and its relationship with India, virtually nothing is known about Chinese espionage agencies. Roger Faligot’s monumental book, Chinese Spies, amply fills this lacuna with a comprehensive examination of a hundred years of Chinese espionage, covering all major events from the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 to the Covid pandemic of 2020. No other book comes close to the range and depth of Faligot’s brilliant investigation into the shadow world of Chinese spies, and we at HarperCollins are delighted to bring it to Indian readers,” said Swati Chopra, executive editor, HarperCollins India.

Chinese Spies‘, was originally published in French in 2008 but was later translated into English, from the updated fourth edition, by Natasha Lehrer.


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