Hong Kong, July 7 -- As with every socialist nation run by authoritarian regimes, the leaders in China see threats and dangers at every turn. Many are internal risks, but there are also external threats that leave the top rungs of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) feeling nervous.

On 18 June, the International Security and Strategy Center (ISSC) at Tsinghua University in Beijing published its annual threat assessment. Called the "2026 External Security Risks for China", the 13-page document is essentially a top-ten list of threats to the wellbeing of communist China.

It makes for interesting reading as it reveals something of the CCP's psyche. Indeed, one explicit aim of the ISSC, a think-tank established in 2018, is "to elucidate and d...