Jim Fanell

Former U.S. naval/intelligence officer who served on watch floors at the U.S. Joint Intelligence Center Pacific (1989–1991) and co-author of Embracing Communist China, offering expertise on PLA developments and U.S.–China strategic history.

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Nov 1, 2025 • 8min

44: Echoes of 1919: How Underestimating the PLA After Tiananmen Created a Strategic Failure. Jim Fanell and Brad Thayer connect the current geopolitical threat posed by the PLA Navy to past strategic failures, drawing an analogy to the British Empire's "10-ye

In this engaging discussion, Jim Fanell, a former U.S. naval intelligence officer, and Brad Thayer, a scholar on historical policy decisions, explore the alarming underestimation of the PLA Navy since Tiananmen. They draw parallels between the British Empire's strategic errors in the early 20th century and today’s U.S. policies toward China. Fanell reveals the intelligence community's focus on the Soviet threat at the time, while Thayer critiques the U.S. response that prioritized relations over confronting the CCP's true nature.

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