"In Afghanistan, China Is Ready To Step Into the Void" is the headline over a New York Times op-ed by Zhou Bo. The Times identifies him at the top of the article by saying "Mr. Zhou was a senior colonel in the People's Liberation Army from 2003 to 2020 and is an expert on the Chinese Army's strategic thinking on international security." At the bottom of the article, there's a longer identification: "Zhou Bo is a senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University and a member of the China Forum. He was a senior colonel in the People's Liberation Army from 2003 to 2020 and is an expert on the Chinese army's strategic thinking on international security. He directed the Centre for Security Cooperation in the Office for International Military Cooperation at the Ministry of National Defense."
What is the "China Forum"? Its website explains, "Facing the changing international situation, how China, as the world's second largest economy, can actively and effectively interact with the world and express "China's voice" has become an increasingly pressing issue. Launched in 2019,China Forum (CF) is a permanent platform of the Center for International Security and Strategy (CISS), Tsinghua University, sponsored by Shanghai Chunqiu Institute for Development and Strategic Studies, with the aim of recommending and supporting domestic excellent scholars, former Chinese high-ranking officials, entrepreneurs and media experts to attend high-end International forums, promote experts' articles to International and domestic media, release video and podcast programs so as to help the world know China better."
Given that 2020 was a year in which China was, by U.S. government account, committing genocide, some people might find it kind of icky for the Times to be publishing this, especially as the genocide is "ongoing," according to a July 26, 2021 State Department statement. For the Times op-ed page, Senator Cotton and Bari Weiss are beyond the pale, but a 17-year veteran of the People's Liberation Army plumping for a genocidal regime is okay? It's not like the guy is a defector denouncing the Chinese Communists. He's still on the Chinese Communist payroll. It's not exactly a state secret that China is going to try to capitalize on an American retreat in Afghanistan, so it's hard to see what is gained by providing a platform to this.