A screenshot of Aaron Shen s LinkedIn account before he deleted it. Image source: LinkedIn
A person on LinkedIn claiming to work for a think tank run by a high-ranking Chinese Communist Party department recently offered financial compensation for the names of my sources and for reports about the incoming Biden s administration s views on China.
Why it matters: It was a surprisingly clumsy attempt to gain insider information about the U.S. government s China policy, suggesting that amid a chill in U.S.-China relations and a global pandemic, it s gotten harder for people in Beijing to know what s happening in Washington.