Tag: China

U.S. Cracking Down on EV Batteries Tied to Chinese Slave Labor

Minnesota Sun Staff

The federal government is cracking down on electric vehicle (EV) and solar panel components with links to Chinese Uyghur slave labor, Reuters reported Thursday.

Items such as lithium ion batteries, tires and key raw materials like aluminum and steel are facing increased rates of confiscation at the border and ports of entry, according to Reuters. The clamp down under the auspices of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Action (UFLPA) targets minerals, materials and batteries that the Biden administration plans to rely heavily on for producing EVs and solar panels as part of its massive green energy push.

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Commentary: California’s China Syndrome Exposed

Minnesota Sun Staff

In 2021, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1276, popularly known as “Skip the Stuff,” restricting plastic straws, utensils, and condiment packs in restaurants. This year, Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta are skipping “stuff” much more dangerous than plastic straws.

Last December in Reedley, a city of 25,000 near Fresno, city inspectors noticed a garden hose attached to an abandoned warehouse. Inside they found a secret, illegal biolab harboring, as the Mid Valley Times reported, hundreds of allegedly genetically engineered mice, “potentially infectious” bacteria, and viral agents, including chlamydia, E. Coli, streptococcus pneumonia, hepatitis B and C, herpes 1 and 5, rubella, and malaria.

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Commentary: The Emerging ‘Cold Tech War’ Between the U.S and China

RealClearWire

The Sino-U.S. “cold tech war” is reaching new heights—or rather depths—as tensions are building under the sea. First it was semiconductors. Now it’s submarine cables.

Undersea cables, unseen and often ignored, are essential to daily life and critical to U.S. national security. Over 97 percent of global data traffic travels through a network of cables that sit atop the seabed of the world’s oceans. Those same cables transmit upwards of $10 trillion in financial transactions every day and are a central component of the American military’s network-centric warfare operations.

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U.S. Authorities on Alert After Discovering New Chinese Migrant Smuggling Route in Florida

Minnesota Sun Staff

by Jennie Taer   Federal authorities are growing increasingly concerned about a route Chinese migrants are utilizing to make their way to Florida illegally, according to an internal federal intelligence report obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The report states that law enforcement lacks information regarding who is coordinating…

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Judge Orders Catherine Herridge to Reveal Sources for Stories on FBI, Chinese American Scientist

Just the News

A federal judge ordered CBS News senior correspondent Catherine Herridge to reveal her sources for a series of stories about the FBI’s investigation of a Chinese American scientist back when she worked for Fox News.

The order last week from U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington D.C. comes after scientist Yanping Chen filed a lawsuit against the FBI, claiming that the agency violated the privacy act by improperly leaking information about her.

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Two Navy Servicemembers Arrested on Suspicion of Sending Military Secrets to China

Just the News

Two U.S. Navy servicemembers have been arrested for allegedly transmitting sensitive military information to the Chinese government.

Authorities detained Jinchao Wei, aka Patrick Wei, on Wednesday and charged him with “conspiracy to send national defense information to an intelligence officer working for the People’s Republic of China,” according to a press release from the Department of Justice.

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DeSantis Calls for US-Led Military Alliance in Pacific, ‘Economic Independence’ from China

Just the News

Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor and 2024 presidential candidate, is calling for the United States to create a stronger military alliance in the Pacific to counter China’s rising aggression, as well as wage a strategic decoupling of the American economy from Beijing.

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Commentary: Defense Survey Reveals Age, Gender, Party Divides

RealClearWire

Although Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has dominated worldwide headlines for more than a year and refocused the attention of U.S. policymakers on NATO and Eastern Europe, Americans are much more worried about China’s emerging power.

In an open question asked by RealClear Opinion Research, 53% of registered voters named the People’s Republic of China as “the greatest threat to the United States.” Russia was cited by 29% of respondents, while 4% named North Korea – the same percentage who answered that America’s biggest threat was the United States itself.

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Commentary: Hong Kong – at China’s Direction – Offers $1 Million Bounties for Dissidents Abroad

RealClearWire

The government of Hong Kong is offering a bounty of up to $1 million to anyone who can help find eight activists who fled to other countries and continue to fight against its authoritarian government.

I am not one of the eight, but all of us who fight for democracy in Hong Kong are in danger from a Chinese government that is chasing us for showing that it has broken its promises to keep Hong Kong a vibrant and free city-state.

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Biden Admin to Form Global Coalition Against Fentanyl Without China

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Biden administration is set to form a global coalition of countries to target fentanyl trafficking, but it doesn’t appear that China, a major source of the synthetic drug, will participate.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to host a meeting Friday with representatives from 84 countries to discuss efforts to disrupt the global supply chains of illicit fentanyl, the State Department said Thursday. However, there’s no indication China intends to participate despite the country being the source of precursor chemicals used by the cartels in Mexico to make the synthetic drug.

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Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson Calls on Biden to Urge NATO Allies to Meet Their Defense Spending Commitments

M.D. Kittle

As President Joe Biden prepares for this weekend’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) is asking the president to hold NATO accountable.

Johnson joined 34 of his Republican colleagues in sending Biden a letter asking that he remind NATO allies to honor their commitment to spend at least 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense.

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Pence Says Trump and DeSantis Are Wrong on Ukraine and America’s Role as Arsenal of Democracy

M.D. Kittle

Former Vice President Mike Pence says his “former running mate,” among others in the Republican Party presidential nomination chase, are missing the significance of the U.S. coming to the aid of Ukraine.

Pence said he recently paid a call on the war-torn European nation and its president to see firsthand “the results of the extraordinary, unprovoked invasion by Russia” as well as the “tenacity and toughness” of the Ukrainian military.

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China Implements Export Controls on Key Metals Used for Chips

Admin

by Jason Cohen   China has implemented export limits on two metals utilized in the manufacturing of computer chips and other valuable technological devices, according to an announcement by the country’s Ministry of Commerce on Monday. The export restrictions on gallium, germanium and their corresponding chemical compounds will officially take…

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Newt Gingrich Commentary: The Woke Left Are the Means for Decentralized Tyranny in Maoist America

Admin

Mao Zedong became one of the last century’s most powerful dictators by completely transforming Chinese society through a systematic use of violence, coercion, and aggressive propaganda. His method was so unique – and ruthlessly effective – it was codified by historians and political scholars as Maoism.

Today, a new kind of Maoism is developing in the American left, and it is a direct threat to the American traditions of individual rights, the rule of law, the Constitution, and personal freedom.

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With Scandal Revelations, Joe Biden Couldn’t Get a CIA Security Clearance, Intel Experts Say

Just the News

A pressure campaign to get communist China energy executives to pay money. Classified memos improperly stored in an insecure garage, An FBI informant’s allegation of bribery in Ukraine. A false claim of Russian disinformation to sway an election.

The swell of scandalous evidence engulfing Joe Biden’s family right now is raising a tantalizing question: if he weren’t president could he still get a security clearance if he applied for a job at the CIA or FBI?

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Commentary: A CIA Agent’s Analysis of the Chaos In Russia and What to Look for Next

Admin

It’s been a wild set of events in Russia over the past week – with mutinous Russian forces marching towards Moscow, President Putin addressing the nation about their treason, and then the rebels announcing they would turn back “according to the plan” – as though nothing had happened.

As these whiplashing events evolve, here are 10 key developments that former CIA Officers like me will be watching for in the near and long term…

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GOP Rep Introduces Bill to Counter Congolese Child Mines, Chinese Influence in Minerals

Minnesota Sun Staff

Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey introduced legislation Friday which would ban imports containing key minerals extracted by child labor in Congolese mines and counter Chinese control of the global critical minerals supply.

The Countering China’s Exploitation of Strategic Metals and Minerals and Child and Forced Labor in the Democratic Republic of Congo Act would prohibit the importation of all products containing cobalt and lithium extracted by child miners and victims of labor trafficking in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to a press release from Smith’s office. The rare minerals are crucial ingredients for the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles (EVs), a key pillar of President Joe Biden’s larger green energy agenda.

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Chinese Intelligence Arm Quietly Operates ‘Service Centers’ in Seven U.S. Cities

Admin

by Philip Lenczycki   A Chinese intelligence agency quietly operates “service centers” in seven American cities, all of which have had contact with Beijing’s national police authority, according to state media reports and government records reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) United Front Work…

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House Oversight Chair Comer Plans to Interview ‘Key Figures’ in ‘Biden Family Influence Peddling’ Investigation

Admin

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer says he plans on questioning “key figures” in his investigation into allegations that the Biden family was involved in bribery and influence peddling.

“We’re going to start bringing in key figures in the Biden family influence-peddling schemes for depositions, and I think we’re on the right track, even though we’re having to fight the FBI, fight the DOJ, fight the Democrats in Congress and fight the mainstream media,” Comer, a Kentucky Republican, said, Fox News reported Sunday.

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FDA Kicks Off Crackdown on ‘Dangerous’ Flavored Vapes Imported from China

The Center Square

Flavored, nicotine-packed vape products manufactured in China are becoming increasingly common among teenagers and raising health concerns.

The problem took off in February of 2020 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration implemented a ban on the sale of many flavored vaping products, pushing compliant manufacturers out of the flavored market while some Chinese-based manufacturers continued to distribute and sell the now banned-products to American youth.

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The Marine Corps Is Waging ‘Civil War’ with a Secretive Group of Retired Officers Over the Service’s Future

Admin

The U.S. Marine Corps is facing fire from high-ranking retired officers as the outgoing commandant passes on responsibility to implement his radical changes to new leadership, according to experts and a review of arguments by current and retired Marines.

A secretive group of retired Marine Corps generals, including two previous commandants, renewed a years-long assault against what they characterized in multiple articles as dangerous narrow-mindedness underlying Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger’s plan to revamp the force, of which the latest update was released on Monday. As Berger is slated to depart by the end of this year and be replaced with his second-in-command, the service will face new struggles amid new leadership and political pressures, where the stakes could mean failure in a conflict with China, according to an expert and the retired officers.

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China Has Operated Spy Facilities in Cuba Since at Least 2019, White House Says

Admin

The White House clarified Saturday that China has operated a spy base in Cuba since at least 2019, according to The Wall Street Journal, following reporting that Beijing reached a tentative agreement to set up a new operation somewhere on the island country.

The White House on Friday had characterized as “inaccurate” the WSJ’s first report of a planned Chinese surveillance outpost in Cuba focused on intercepting electronic communications, including emails and radio transmissions, in the southeast U.S. However, White House officials told the outlet Saturday that the Biden administration has worked to tamp down on China’s repeated attempts to spy on the U.S. since Biden took office, and said China has had a surveillance operation in Cuba since at least 2019.

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America’s Biggest Public Pension Has No Plans to Pull Investments from China as Others Flee

Admin

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) has no plans to divest from Chinese assets despite other large pensions pulling funds due to geopolitical risks, according to a statement given to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

CalPERS, which is the largest U.S. public pension and covers California’s public employees, has “no [sic] new initiatives to announce at this time,” a spokesperson told the DCNF when asked if CalPERS would divest from Chinese assets. The DCNF calculated over $3.6 billion in Chinese investments across numerous Chinese companies in the pension’s portfolio from its 2022 fiscal year report.

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U.S. Sees 1,000 Percent Surge in Migrants from Afghanistan, China

Minnesota Sun Staff

Border Patrol has seen 1,000% increases in migrants coming from Afghanistan, China and other countries far from U.S. borders between fiscal year 2022 to fiscal year 2023.

The surges include migrants from Algeria, Djibouti, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mauritania, Paraguay and Vietnam, outgoing Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz wrote on Twitter Friday. It has been challenging to deport such migrants, Ortiz said.

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Biden’s CIA Director Took Secret Trip To China: Report

Minnesota Sun Staff

CIA Director William Burns made a covert trip to China in May for meetings with officials in a bid to restore deteriorating relations between Washington and Beijing, the Financial Times reported, citing five anonymous officials familiar with the situation.

The visit to China is Burns’ first and the most senior by any Biden administration official, underscoring how concerned the president is over deepening rifts in official communication between the competing countries, the FT reported. Yet, experts have raised concerns about the CIA director’s vulnerability to malign political influence from Beijing since the Daily Caller News Foundation revealed he formerly headed a Washington-based think tank employing undisclosed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members.

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Republican Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Lays Out Peace Deal to End War In Ukraine, Sever Russia’s Partnership with China

M.D. Kittle

Speaking at a campaign event Friday in New Hampshire, Ohio businessman and GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy laid out his plan for peace in Ukraine by opening up Russia. The 37-year-old political outsider, who has often said political leaders need to “think on the timescales of history, not on two-year election cycles,” believes a Nixon approach to Russia would curtail the looming threat of communist China.

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States See Chinese Purchase of Farmland as a Threat to National Security

The Center Square

Several states have already banned or are considering banning foreign ownership of farmland from U.S. adversaries such as China, a trend that has its recent roots in North Dakota.

Chinese food manufacturer Fufeng Group purchased 370 acres of land for a corn milling plant in Grand Forks in November 2021.

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China Hacked Critical Networks to Spy on U.S. Ahead of Potential Conflict, Officials Say

Admin

A shadowy Chinese government-backed hacking group attacked critical U.S. networks, including in Guam, where it may have spied on the U.S. to gain an edge ahead of future crises, according to a Microsoft report and U.S. government advisory.

Microsoft said the organization, dubbed “Volt Typhoon,” has been active since 2021 to break into so-called “critical infrastructure” in Guam and other U.S. sites with the intent to secure long-term hidden access to networks and conduct espionage, according to a report published Wednesday. While targets spanned the U.S., Microsoft highlighted infiltration of national security-specific infrastructure in Guam, an important U.S. territory and military outpost in the Pacific that would likely serve as the front-line of U.S. defenses in the event of a conflict over Taiwan.

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Biden Admin Pulls the Plug on $200 Million Grant to China-Backed EV Battery Maker

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Biden administration has decided against offering a $200 million grant to a lithium battery-maker that has been heavily criticized for its close ties to China.

The Department of Energy (DOE) had selected electric battery maker Microvast as one of its intended recipients to receive grant funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. However, the DOE confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation that it was no longer in negotiations with Microvast concerning the grant, which would have been used to develop an electric vehicle battery production facility for General Motors, according to Reuters.

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‘These Numbers Are Staggering:’ Chinese Migrants Continue to Surge Across Southern Border

Admin

The influx of Chinese migrants crossing the southern border continued through April, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.

Border Patrol encountered 3,182 migrants from China at the U.S.-Mexico border in April alone, according to CBP data. Chinese migrants often pay hefty smuggling fees to reach the U.S., where they have been found with large sums of U.S. currency, according to Border Patrol agents who recently spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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CCP-Controlled, State-Owned Firm Behind Chinese Cash Allegedly Funneled to Hunter Biden, Documents Show

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Hong Kong corporation that allegedly wired funds to Hunter Biden’s business in 2017 was controlled by a Shanghai firm run by members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), some of whom had previously served in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), according to business documents and congressional reports reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

On June 30, 2017, Shanghai Huaxin Group (Hong Kong) Ltd. wired $10 million to the Delaware-based company CEFC Infrastructure, which then wired $100,000 to Hunter Biden’s “professional corporation,” Owasco P.C., on August 4, 2017, a House Oversight Committee memo revealed Wednesday, alleging the transfers were part of a scheme to conceal the Chinese origin of the funds.

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Commentary: Confronting China’s War on Religion Part Four

RealClearWire

On Thanksgiving Day, 90-year-old Cardinal Joseph Zen, a Hong Kong priest, was convicted, along with five others, of failing to register a defunct charitable organization that tried to help pro-democracy demonstrators targeted by the regime.

Ostensibly, the charges stemmed from the group’s failure to submit paperwork to authorities. But Chinese people of faith and governments around the world understood the real message Beijing was sending when it arrested Fr. Zen, known as “the conscience of Hong Kong,” last May. The purpose of the prosecution, said U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price, was to show that China’s government “will pursue all means necessary to stifle dissent and undercut protective rights and freedoms.”

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Commentary: The Long Road to Confronting China’s War on Religion Part Three

RealClearWire

It’s morning in Istanbul, but Joseph is reliving his morning routine in the camp, before the 16-hour shift starts. After the prisoners had sung Communist songs for their breakfast, the Chinese guards played a video for them shot in cinema verité style. It began with Chinese plainclothes agents tackling Uyghurs, cramming them into unmarked cars, and pulling bags over their heads.

Then, the camera would pan away, revealing, not China, but a foreign street with signs in German, Arabic, or English. Joseph says the film was a tease: Run away. Please try it. We’re everywhere. Even Washington, D.C. 

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House Probe Unveils Fresh Evidence Contradicting Joe Biden Claims About Family’s Foreign Deals

Just the News

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Wednesday directly challenged President Joe Biden’s claims about his family’s overseas business deals, providing fresh evidence his son Hunter got money directly from China, was involved in a business deal with a Romanian figure accused of corruption and helped arrange for one of his foreign business associates to meet with his father’s vice presidential office.

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Commentary: The Long Road to Confronting China’s War on Religion Part Two

RealClearWire

Falun Gong emerged in China in 1992, a time of a spiritual renewal in a land still under Communist rule, but one recovering from the horrors of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution. Drawing on Buddhist traditions, Falun Gong combined meditation and tai chi-style exercises with a moral philosophy centered on the tenets of “zhen,” “shan,” and “ren” (truth, compassion, tolerance.) The word, in both English and Chinese, to describe this contemplative mind and body approach to life is qigong.

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House Passes Bipartisan Bill to Repeal Biden’s China Solar Rules

Minnesota Sun Staff

The House passed a resolution Friday morning to repeal President Joe Biden’s moratorium on solar panel tariffs to several Southeast Asian nations, where Chinese firms linked to slave labor have reportedly been assembling their products to avoid U.S. tariffs.

The resolution passed 221 to 202, with the support of most Republicans and 12 Democrats, with supporters arguing in the preceding debate that the legislation was necessary both to support the U.S. solar industry while simultaneously holding China accountable for avoiding tariffs. Democratic detractors pointed to opposition from industry trade groups, arguing that the moratorium was set to run out next summer, and that it was necessary to grow the U.S. solar industry in the interim.

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Europe Imposes First-Ever ‘Climate Tax’ on Imported Goods

Minnesota Sun Staff

The European Parliament finalized legislation Tuesday that will impose taxes on imports based on the greenhouse gas emissions made during their production, despite the objections raised by companies in the U.S. and China.

The European Union’s (E.U.) Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) would first take effect in 2026, and first cover emissions from companies producing iron, steel, cement, aluminum, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen, according to the European Parliament. The taxes have been criticized by firms in the U.S., who are concerned about unnecessary regulation and red tape, and firms in China and the developing world, who use less green sources of energy than competitors in the U.S. and E.U., according to the Wall Street Journal.

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Commentary: After Decades of Outsourcing to China, the U.S. is Running Out of Children’s Antibiotics

Minnesota Sun Staff

Acute shortages of orally delivered amoxicillin, penicillin and other children’s antibiotics throughout the 2022 and 2023 cold and flu season have made it difficult for doctors to treat normal childhood illnesses like ear infections, bronchitis, strep throat and rarer cases of infections caused after suffering Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and also sickle cell disease—for months.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning about the amoxicillin shortage in Oct. 2022 just at the start of the cold and flu season. But since then, no statement has been issued by President Joe Biden about what appears to be an underreported public health crisis.

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Justice Department Announces Criminal Charges on China for Alleged Espionage Activities from New York City Outpost

Just the News

The Justice Department on Monday announced three cases involving China’s threat to national security, based on operations in New York City.

Just two miles from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York’s office, the People’s Republic of China opened an undeclared station for the Chinese National Police, officials said.

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Gordon Chang Commentary: It’s Time to Bankrupt China

Admin

“We are probably not going to be able to do anything to stop, slow down, disrupt, interdict, or destroy the Chinese nuclear development program that they have projected out over the next 10 to 20 years,” said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley on March 29 at a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee. “They’re going to do that in accordance with their own plan.”

Milley is wrong about China’s nuclear weapons ambitions. He is, unfortunately, expressing the same pessimism that pervaded the Nixon, Ford and Carter years, when the American foreign policy establishment took the Soviet Union as a given and therefore promoted détente.

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Bank Records Show Millions in Transaction Between Hunter Biden, China Firms: Sen. Johnson

Just the News

Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson says the Chinese-American financial institution Cathay Bank has given Senate Republicans records showing millions of dollars going from Chinese companies to President Biden’s son Hunter Biden.

Republicans and others started raising concerns during President Biden’s successful 2020 White House campaign, if not earlier, that Hunter Biden used the family name and influence while his father was vice president to make millions in overseas business deals, which also could have compromised U.S. national security.

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Commentary: China Builds the New World Order with Biden Asleep at the Wheel

Minnesota Sun Staff

China is rapidly growing economically, militarily, and influentially, and none of this is good for the United States. Since diplomatic ties with China were officially established in 1979 under President Jimmy Carter, each president has done a fair job (some better than others) of keeping China in check on the international stage, despite China’s growth. All with the exception of President Joe Biden, who has allowed China to lead a global coalition and a new world order against the United States of America, which has fulfilled our worst fears.

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Call to Ban TikTok on Personal Phones Gaining Momentum

The Center Square

About 30 states have placed restrictions on the social media app TikTok mostly related to government devices, but there is momentum for a larger ban on personal devices.

A growing number of lawmakers in the U.S. have raised national security concerns about the short-form video app because of TikTok’s ties to China through its parent company ByteDance.

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Over 60 Members of Persecuted Chinese Church Saved, Bound for Texas

Minnesota Sun Staff

A persecuted Chinese Christian church has been freed from Thai prison and is bound for Texas, human rights advocates told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Friday.

Over 60 members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church, also known as the Mayflower Church, is scheduled to arrive at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport late Friday evening, ending the church’s three year-long quest for asylum after fleeing Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecution in 2019, Pastor Bob Fu, founder of ChinaAid, told the DCNF. Despite applying for asylum in Thailand in August, the members of the Mayflower Church were arrested last week for overstaying their visas, prompting international concern that the church might be deported back to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and face persecution.

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