Tag: china

State Department Accuses China of Genocide and Slavery — and Rape, Torture, Starvation of Dissidents

The U.S. State Department published its annual global human rights reports on Tuesday, featuring a profile on the Chinese Communist Party that accused that government of a host of atrocities including genocide, slavery, worker abuse, forced abortions, and various forms of torture against dissidents.

The State Department human rights reports are published annually and broken down by country. The 2025 report published this week covers the year 2024. The profile on China focused significantly on updates regarding the ongoing genocide of Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and other non-Han ethnic groups in occupied East Turkistan. While widespread evidence indicates that the Chinese Communist Party has attempted to violently subjugate the Turkic peoples of East Turkistan for decades, human rights experts largely agree that dictator Xi Jinping dramatically expanded this effort in 2017, turning the region into a high-tech surveillance state and imprisoning as many as 3 million people in concentration camps.

Following a wave of negative publicity and action by human rights groups to raise awareness of the mass imprisonment of Uyghurs in concentration camps, the Chinese government began to describe the concentration camps as “vocational education” centers and claim that most of its victims had “graduated” from the prisons. Survivors of the abuse nonetheless persisted in reported experiences of beatings, psychological abuse, rape, and slavery at the hands of regime thugs at the camps.

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China Unveils World’s First Pregnancy-Simulating Humanoid Robot

Chinese researchers are developing the world’s first humanoid robot capable of simulating pregnancy, with a prototype expected to launch in 2026.

The device, created by Guangzhou-based Kaiwa Technology, features an artificial womb integrated into a robotic abdominal module to replicate the full gestation.

The artificial womb is an advanced incubation pod that mimics the conditions of a uterus and is designed to handle the full human pregnancy cycle, from conception to birth.

Priced below 100,000 yuan, or about $14,000, the robot aims to assist infertile couples and individuals who prefer to avoid biological pregnancy, especially young women who wish to have children.

Kaiwa Technology founder Zhang Qifeng, who earned his PhD from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University in 2014, announced the project at the 2025 World Robot Conference in Beijing.

The company, established in 2015, has previously produced service and reception robots.

Zhang described the technology as mature, noting that the artificial womb would use amniotic fluid and nutrient hoses to support fetal growth.

The robot builds on existing artificial womb research, including a 2017 experiment at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where premature lambs grew in a “biobag” filled with synthetic amniotic fluid.

In that study, published in Nature Communications, lambs developed normally over four weeks with nutrients supplied via umbilical cord tubes.

However, experts emphasize that replicating human pregnancy involves complex hormonal and immune interactions not yet fully achievable. Details on how Kaiwa Technology will surmount these challenges is not available yet.

News of the development trended on Weibo, garnering over 100 million views.

Supporters highlighted potential benefits for women’s liberation from pregnancy burdens and new options for infertility treatment.

Critics raised concerns about ethical issues, including fetal-maternal bonding and the sourcing of eggs and sperm.

Infertility rates in China have risen from 11.9% in 2007 to 18% in 2020, according to a report in The Lancet.

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Beijing’s first World Humanoid Robot Games open with hip-hop and martial arts

Humanoid robots danced hip-hop, performed martial arts and played keyboard, guitar and drums at the opening ceremony of the first World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on Thursday evening.

The competition begins Friday with more than 500 humanoid robots in 280 teams from 16 countries, including the U.S., Germany and Japan, competing in sports including soccer, running and boxing. The event comes as China has stepped up efforts to develop humanoid robots powered by artificial intelligence.

During the opening ceremony, the robots demonstrated soccer and boxing among other sports, with some cheering and backflipping as if at a real sports event.

One robot soccer player scored a goal after a few tries, causing the robot goalkeeper to fall to the ground. Another player fell but stood up unassisted.

The robots also modeled fashionable hats and clothes alongside human models. In one mishap, a robot model fell and had to be carried off the stage by two human beings.

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Chinese Immigrants Create 21 Children Via Surrogate Before Allegedly Abusing Them

In a troubling case unfolding in California, police have removed 21 children from a couple with connections to China. This complicated situation highlights profound ethical, moral, and legal dilemmas that demand our attention.

The couple at the center of this case is Silvia Zhang, 38, and Guojun Xuan, 65. Originally from China, they became naturalized U.S. citizens and now reside in a sprawling multimillion-dollar mansion in a suburb of Los Angeles. Zhang has a daughter from a previous marriage. She and Xuan have been having children through surrogacy since 2021.

Zhang operated a surrogacy agency called Mark Surrogacy from their mansion. The agency purportedly marketed itself as an institution assisting American and international couples struggling to conceive through surrogacy. However, investigations revealed a startling truth: The only couple the agency served was Zhang and Xuan themselves. They are the biological parents of 21 children born through surrogacy. Of these children, fifteen lived with them in the mansion under the care of a few nannies, while friends and family supposedly looked after the other six in different locations.

Mark Surrogacy’s sham operation would have continued if not for one of the children, a two-month-old infant, who had to be rushed to the hospital in May. After hospital staff determined the infant exhibited signs of child abuse, they contacted social services and the police. Police searched Zhang and Xuan’s mansion and found 15 children, none of whom is more than three years old. The police also uncovered home surveillance videos showing that some children were “subjected to physical and emotional abuse” by their nannies. Therefore, the police removed all children and put them under foster care.

The revelations surrounding Mark Surrogacy have left many of the surrogate mothers in a state of disbelief and anger. “It was kind of like they preyed on my vulnerability, being a first-time surrogate,” Kayla Elliott told CBS News. “We were lied to about so much, that I mean it’s disgusting.”

Compounding this injustice is the fact that two surrogate mothers are currently pregnant with the couple’s children, unsure if their babies will be placed into the foster care system. Some of these mothers are contemplating legal action against Zhang and Xuan. Additionally, the couple is entangled in two lawsuits from former employees of their real estate business, raising further questions about their integrity.

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UCLA library user borrowed rare Chinese manuscripts, returned fakes, DOJ says

A UCLA library user who allegedly took home rare Chinese manuscripts and returned fake ones in their place has been charged with stealing items worth $216,000, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Jeffery Ying used a number of aliases to get access to the classics works, some of them over 600 years old, the DOJ said.

Ying, 38, would check the works out and return days later with dummy manuscripts, and would frequently travel to China shortly thereafter, charging documents say.

“The library noticed that several rare Chinese manuscripts were missing, and an initial investigation revealed the books were last viewed by a visitor who identified himself as ‘Alan Fujimori,'” the DOJ said.

When detectives raided the Los Angeles area hotel where Ying was staying, they found blank manuscripts in the style of the books that had been checked out.

“Law enforcement also found pre-made labels known as asset tags associated with the same manuscripts that could be used to create ‘dummy’ books to return to the library in place of the original books,” the department alleged.

Libraries allow rare, one-of-a-kind works to be examined on-site, but they can’t be taken home like regular paperbacks.

Ying, from Fremont, in the San Francisco Bay Area, was also found to have a number of library cards in different names.

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“I Defied My Government For Love” – State Department Official Dated Senior CCP Leader’s Daughter, Admits “She Could Have Been a Spy” – But Didn’t Report Her

The O’Keefe Media Group on Wednesday released undercover video of Daniel Choi, a US State Department Foreign Service Officer who admitted he dated a senior CCP leader’s daughter and refused to report her.

“I defied my government for love,” Daniel Choi said of his romantic relationship with 27-year-old Joi Zao.

Joi Zao entered the US on a work visa in September 2024.

“Her dad was either a provincial or a federal minister of education. So he’s, like, straight up Communist Party,” Choi said.

“Under federal regulations, Foreign Service Officers are required to report close and continuing contact with foreign nationals from adversarial nations, including China,” the O’Keefe Media Group reported.

Choi admitted he didn’t report her: “I was supposed to, whatever, sort of report what I knew about her, but I always thought that was kind of unfair.”

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China’s cyber-abuse scandal: is the government unwilling to crack down on exploitation of women online?

When Ming* found a hidden camera in her bedroom, she prayed for a reasonable explanation, wondering whether her boyfriend had placed it there to record memories of their “happy life” together. But hope quickly turned to horror. Ming’s boyfriend had been secretly taking sexually exploitative photos of not just Ming and her female friends, but also of other women in other locations, then using AI technology to generate pornographic images of them.

After Ming confronted him, he “begged for mercy” but became angry when she refused to forgive him, Ming reportedly told Chinese news outlet Jimu News.

Ming is just one of many women in China who have been covertly photographed or filmed – both in private and public spaces, including toilets – by voyeurs who have then circulated or sold the images online without consent. The sexually explicit pictures – often taken using pinhole cameras hidden in ordinary objects – are then shared online in massive groups.

The scandal has left China reeling and raised questions about the government’s ability – and willingness – to crack down on such behaviour.

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Justice Department charges two Chinese over allegedly smuggling Nvidia chips to China

U.S. authorities arrested two Chinese accused of illegally transporting millions of dollars’ worth of microchips used in artificial intelligence applications to China.

Chuan Geng and Shiwei Yang, both 28, were charged over the weekend for violating the Export Control Reform Act. According to a criminal complaint filed by the Justice Department, between October 2022 and last month, the suspects exported “sensitive technology” without obtaining the proper license or authorization through the U.S. Commerce Department. 

Violating the act carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, according to a criminal complaint filed by the DOJ.

While Mr. Geng is a lawful permanent resident, Ms. Yang is an illegal alien who overstayed her visa, according to the Justice Department. 

According to the complaint, Ms. Yang and Mr. Geng illegally transported several popular microchips used in AI development, including Nvidia’s H100 general processing unit. The H100 is widely considered one of the strongest GPUs on the market for AI applications, especially in the training of large language models. 

The chips were allegedly shipped through California-based ALX Solutions Inc., which was founded shortly after the Commerce Department issued strict export controls on powerful chips like the H100 in 2022. The DOJ alleges that ALX-connected shipments were tracked to freight-forwarding companies in Singapore and Malaysia, which are commonly used to conceal illegal shipments to China. 

“ALX Solutions has not received payments from the entities to which they purportedly exported goods. Instead, ALX Solutions received numerous payments from companies based in Hong Kong and China, including a $1 million payment from a China-based company in January 2024,” the complaint reads. 

Authorities raided the offices of ALX Solutions over the weekend and seized phones belonging to Ms. Yang and Mr. Geng. According to the DOJ, the phones contained incriminating evidence, including “communications about shipping export-controlled chips to China through Malaysia to evade U.S. export laws.”

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Mass Shooting in Montana Exposes Mental Health Outsourcing to China

After the horrifying killing in Anaconda, Montana, where Army veteran Michael Paul Brown is accused of killing four people and remains at large, local families are reeling—not just from the violence, but from the unanswered questions about what could have prevented it.

A relative of one of the victims told reporters, “Mental health is real,” referring to Brown’s long-documented struggles with multiple mental health labels that have no objective way to be verified by brain scans, blood work, or x-rays—including schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and bipolar disorder. Like in the case of Robert Card, the 2023 Lewiston, Maine shooter who killed 18 people and injured 13 others, Card was referred for psychiatric review by his Military command.  After the autopsy, Card, who taught explosives for the military, suffered traumatic brain injury. There can certainly be real medical issue that produce symptoms, that might appear to be mental health related but in fact are medical conditions.

Montana’s response to mental health challenges has come under intense scrutiny, especially after state leaders chose to outsource control of the entire mental health system to a global consulting powerhouse tied to China. In 2023, state officials awarded a $300 million contract to Alvarez & Marsal, a New York-based firm partnering with Zhongze Group, a Chinese state-owned conglomerate. The decision locked Montana’s most private health data and program oversight into the hands of consultants with questionable allegiances, bypassing community input and local providers.

AbleChild.org spearheaded the battle to expose these arrangements, demanding transparency and warning of the risks when public health oversight is handed to multinational firms with foreign connections. As tragedy rocks the community, the state’s willingness to let outsiders manage—and profit from—Montana’s most vulnerable populations reflect a crisis not just of care, but of trust.

Beyond Montana, concern is mounting nationally about states outsourcing mental health administration or data management to firms with Chinese partnerships or ownership around data privacy, security, and sovereignty. While Montana’s is one of the highest-profile cases due to the large investment and public outcry, other states have also engaged with global consulting firms whose networks include Chinese interests, sparking debates on protecting vulnerable populations from outside influence.

The mental health killings all have one thing in common: the withholding of mental health records released to the public on exactly who was treating these individuals and the exact names of the drugs prescribed.

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China’s Grip On Critical Minerals Disrupts U.S. Defense Supply Chain

In 2023, Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes warned that Beijing effectively has the US military’s supply chain by the balls, thanks to America’s reliance on rare earths and other materials which either come from, or are processed in, China. 

According to Hayes, Raytheon has “several thousand suppliers in China,” because of which “decoupling … is impossible.“

“We can de-risk but not decouple,” he told the Financial Times, adding that he thinks this is the case “for everybody.”

“Think about the $500bn of trade that goes from China to the US every year. More than 95 per cent of rare earth materials or metals come from, or are processed in, China. There is no alternative,” he said. 

Fast forward two years later – and China’s recent curbs on the export of critical minerals are rippling through the U.S. defense supply chain, slowing production schedules and sending manufacturers on a global search for scarce materials needed in everything from munitions to fighter jets.

In short, amid a surge in U.S.-China trade tensions earlier this year, Beijing tightened its control over rare earth exports. Those shipments resumed after the Trump administration reached a set of trade concessions in June, however China has kept a firm hold on materials destined for defense use. Accounting for roughly 90 percent of the world’s rare earth output – and dominating the supply of other strategic minerals – China has also barred the sale of germanium, gallium and antimony to the United States since December. The three metals are essential for bullet hardening, night-vision optics and other military applications, the WSJ reports.

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