[sluggosaurus]

This seems like a plausible claim, it all lines up with my preconceived expectations for how the CCP operates, but who knows? There are plausible commercial and political incentives for him to make these claims up (to promote his book, or to hurt a government he dislikes.) I hope NPR was able to corroborate these claims (Desmond Shum might have provided them with a recording of the calls?), because there is nothing in this article anybody else would be able to corroborate.