“Political power,” Mao Zedong famously declared in 1938, “grows out of the barrel of a gun.” Mao’s actions matched his words. The communist theoretician founded the People’s Republic of China — and murdered millions. But political power also flows from knowledge. Spies played a key role in the rise of the PRC, from Mao’s era to our own. And their reach extends far beyond China’s shores. On April 17, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it was charging two defendants in connection with “opening and operating an undeclared overseas police station in lower Manhattan.” US AND CHINA ENGAGE IN WAR OF WORDS AT SINGAPORE SUMMIT The two people accused, Lu Jianwang and Chen Jinping, allegedly helped the PRC spy on and intimidate Chinese dissidents living on American soil. The two are charged with acting at the behest of the Fuzhou branch of China’s Ministry of Public Security and with establishing a police station that occupied an entire floor in an office building in Manhattan’s Chinatown. The revelation that a foreign power was operating with seeming impunity inside the United States sparked both outrage and curiosity. There are more than 100 illegal police stations operating throughout the world — including at least two more in the U.S., one in Los Angeles and another at an undisclosed location, according to Safeguard Defenders, a nonprofit organization focused on pan-Asian human rights. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) held...