Canada, the U.S. and Chinese EVs

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Good evening. How does a belligerent power hide its preparations to conquer a neighbor, as Russia tried to do before moving against Ukraine in February 2022 and as China one might day attempt ahead of a blockade or invasion of Taiwan. The answer is it can’t. The necessary logistical and political preparations will be visible to the rest of the world. But as Eyck Freymann writes in an essay adapted from his forthcoming book, Defending Taiwan, that will not make it much easier for the U.S. to deter or defeat a move by Xi Jinping to take the island by force. China would be able to choose from a variety of intermediate “grey zone” steps that would make the timing and nature of its ultimate move hard to predict precisely. And unlike the Chinese Communist Party, which at least initially would be bolstered by a surge of popular nationalism, any sitting U.S. president would have to deal with a free media, opposition politicians and a free-thinking citizenry that might not be willing to spend American blood and treasure in the defense of the continued freedom of a far-away island.And in this week’s Wire China podcast: North America has always been a tough nut to crack for Chinese electric vehicle makers, but now everything’s different as they look to set up shop in Canada. Eliot Chen and Savannah Billman discuss how Canada and the U.S. fell out over EV policies and why security concerns still remain — especially given the close ties between one Chinese EV company and a sanctioned surveillance firm.Other items in this week’s issue:Will you be able to drive from Canada to the U.S. in …