China

The New York Times reports: When wildfires swept across Maui last month with destructive fury, China’s increasingly resourceful information warriors pounced. The disaster was not natural, they said in a flurry of false posts that spread across the internet, but was the result of a secret “weather weapon” being tested by the United States. To bolster the plausibility, the posts …

Reuters reports: Japan started releasing treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean on Thursday, a polarizing move that prompted China to announce an immediate blanket ban on all aquatic products from Japan. China is “highly concerned about the risk of radioactive contamination brought by… Japan’s food and agricultural products,” the customs bureau said …

The Hill reports: Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said Tuesday that he was the victim of a hacking attack by Chinese spies after hackers reportedly also managed to read emails belonging to State Department employees. “I thank the FBI for notifying me that the CCP hacked into my personal and campaign emails from May 15th to June 16th of this year,” …

The New York Times reports: The Biden administration is hunting for malicious computer code it believes China has hidden deep inside the networks controlling power grids, communications systems and water supplies that feed military bases in the United States and around the world, according to American military, intelligence and national security officials. The discovery of the malware has raised fears …

The Guardian reports: The Republican presidential candidate and Florida governor Ron DeSantis said on Sunday he would aim to revoke China’s permanent normal trade relations status if he wins the White House next year. “I favor doing that,” DeSantis told Fox News. “I think we probably need Congress but I would take executive action as appropriate to be able to …

The financial news site Benzinga reports: Tesla, Inc. achieved record-breaking second-quarter deliveries in China on the back of price cuts and promotional efforts implemented earlier this year. But the Elon Musk-led EV maker’s cutthroat methods have seemed to irk Xi Jinping‘s government in one way. In response to this price war initiated by major electric vehicle manufacturers, including Tesla, a …

Via press release from the State Department: Reconsider travel to mainland China due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws, including in relation to exit bans, and the risk of wrongful detentions. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) government arbitrarily enforces local laws, including issuing exit bans on U.S. citizens and citizens of other countries, without fair and transparent process …

CNN reports: Miami mayor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Francis Suarez indicated in an interview on Tuesday that he was unfamiliar with the plight of Uyghur Muslims, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority in China whose treatment has been the subject of worldwide condemnation for years. In an interview on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, the Republican presidential candidate was asked, “Will …

Reuters reports: China’s Xi Jinping hailed “progress” in talks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Beijing on Monday, the final engagement of a closely-watched trip aimed at ensuring the superpower’s disputes do not spiral into conflict. Blinken, the first holder of his post to meet the Chinese leader since 2018, strode towards Xi with his hand outstretched at …

The Associated Press reports: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Beijing early Sunday on a high-stakes diplomatic mission to try to cool exploding U.S.-China tensions that have set many around the world on edge. Blinken was to begin two days of talks with senior Chinese officials in the afternoon. He is the highest-level American official to visit China …

Bloomberg News reports: A prominent LGBTQ+ center in China is closing down after 15 years, another sign of the tightening of space for sexual orientation-focused organizations under President Xi Jinping. In a statement on its WeChat account on Monday, the Beijing LGBT Center said it was terminating its operations effective immediately, saying only that the closing was due to a …

The Guardian reports: India has overtaken China as the world’s most populous country, according to UN population estimates, the most significant shift in global demographics since records began. According to the UN’s projections, which are calculated through a variety of factors including census data and birth and death rates, India now has a population of 1,425,775,850, surpassing China for the …

Politico reports: China won’t be happy, but that is kind of the point. The relationship between China and the U.S. is delicate, fraught and has become increasingly agitated in recent years. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is meeting today with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, a move that has enraged the Chinese government, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory. The …

The Associated Press reports: A former Idaho legislative intern is suing a lawmaker who was convicted of raping her and one of his colleagues for publicly releasing the teen’s identity and launching a campaign of harassment against her. The young woman, who uses the pseudonym “Jane Doe” in the federal lawsuit, was just 19 when she reported that then-Rep. Aaron …

Axios reports: China’s Foreign Ministry claimed on Tuesday that the country has been “open and transparent” about its efforts to trace the origins of COVID-19 and accused the U.S. of politicizing the issue. The U.S. Department of Energy concluded in a “low confidence” assessment that the pandemic most likely started from a laboratory leak. China has repeatedly dismissed the lab …

ABC News reports: A close-up photo of the Chinese spy balloon, taken mid-air from a U-2 spy plane, has been released by the U.S. military The photo was taken on Friday, Feb. 3 as the balloon flew over the American Midwest at an altitude of 60,000 feet — as the U-2 spy plane trailed it flew across the continental United …

The Wall Street Journal reports: A small circle of intelligence officials at the Pentagon during the Trump administration monitored a series of mysterious objects—now suspected to be balloons—but the incidents were never reported to the White House because it wasn’t clear what they were, former U.S. officials said. Following the shootdown earlier this month of a Chinese high-altitude balloon, the …

The Associated Press reports: China said Wednesday it will take measures against U.S. entities related to the downing of a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the American East Coast. At a daily briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin gave no details and did not identify the targets of the measures. China says the balloon was a unmanned weather airship that …

The Hill reports: The United States is warning it will stand with and defend the Philippines after reports that Beijing’s Coast Guard used laser devices to temporarily blind the crew of a Philippine Coast Guard ship, according to the State Department. State Department spokesperson Ned Price called China’s conduct “provocative and unsafe” and said it interfered with the Philippines’ “lawful …

Reuters reports: The U.S. military said on Monday it had recovered critical electronics from the suspected Chinese spy balloon downed by a U.S. fighter jet off South Carolina’s coast on Feb. 4, including key sensors presumably used for intelligence gathering. “Crews have been able to recover significant debris from the site, including all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces …