Tag: china

China has Banned US Exports of Key Minerals for Computer Chips – Leaving Washington with Limited Options

China recently banned the export of the minerals gallium and germanium to the US amid growing tensions between the two countries on trade.

The minerals are of critical economic value because they are used in computer chips, in military technology such as night vision goggles, and in the renewable energy industry, where they are important for manufacturing electric vehicles and solar cells. All of these areas are very sensitive sectors for the US and EU.

China has overwhelming market power over supply, because it is the source of 98% of primary gallium and 91% of primary germanium. Primary refers to “raw” sources such as mineral ore. In several sectors where the minerals are used, there are no substitutes for them.

Gallium and germanium are present in very low concentration as byproducts of major minerals – they’re known as trace minerals. Germanium’s primary source is the residue from zinc refineries and coal fly ash (a powdered residue produced when coal is burnt in power plants).

Gallium is mainly produced as a byproduct of bauxite ore (which is the main source for aluminium) as well as the processing stage to extract aluminium from bauxite.

The Chinese ban on exports of these minerals to the US closely followed Washington’s third crackdown in three years on China’s semiconductor (computer chip) industry. The US wants to curb exports of advanced chips to China that could be used in applications that threaten America’s security.

For example, advanced chips could be used in electronic warfare applications that make use of artificial intelligence (AI), or in advanced weapons systems such as hypersonic missiles. China said its ban on gallium and germanium was because of the minerals’ “dual military and civilian uses”.

According to a report in Reuters in 2023, the US Department of Defense holds a strategic stockpile of germanium, but no reserves of gallium. In October 2024, the US Geological Survey (USGS) estimated that a total ban on the export of gallium and germanium could result in a US$3.4 billion loss to US GDP.

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It Turns Out Fang Fang Wasn’t the Only Chi Com Spy in California Politics

California is fertile ground for what the Chinese Communist Party spies call “elite capture” of American politicians. It didn’t begin or end with California Congressman Eric Swalwell’s Fang Fang, either, not by a long shot. 

There’s Joe and Hunter Biden’s cozy relationship and payoffs from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-connected corporations; California Senator Dianne Feinstein’s 20-year-long relationship with her aide and chauffeur, the Chinese spy; California Congressman Eric Swalwell’s paramour and political advisor Fang Fang; a former anti-Second Amendment California state senator who brokered guns to the underworld; and now this. 

Now, a campaign manager for a 2022 California city council candidate is in the FBI crosshairs. 

The FBI reported that an unnamed city council member in an undesignated city won office in 2022 with the help of a Chinese spy. Reading the entrails left behind in the somewhat cryptic 24-page indictment, the effort shows the spying happened in San Bernardino’s Chino Hills —since the spy claimed to have lived with the council member. 

The unidentified Chino Hills 2022 City Council candidate, who was an apparent pawn of the Chi-Coms whether he knew it or not, was not indicted. The FBI says the investigation continues.

The council member’s campaign manager, who claimed to live at the candidate’s home, is Mr. Yaoning “Mike” Sun. Sun worked with his PRC handler in L.A., John Chen, and a “Big Boss” in the PRC and acted as unregistered foreign agents in the U.S. 

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Beijing Designs Military For War With U.S., Including Missiles, Cyber-Enabled Psychological Weapons

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army has added hundreds of new missiles and 100 more nuclear warheads as part of a military buildup designed for a war with the United States, according to a Pentagon report made public Wednesday.

For the first time, the survey of Chinese military power reveals extensive PLA preparations for sophisticated information warfare operations against the United States, including the use of deepfake online posts and cyber-enabled psychological warfare. Pentagon analysts said the goal is to influence U.S. military leaders’ decision-making, demoralize troops and sow divisions in American society.

The report provides new details on extensive PLA advances in weapons systems, doctrine and training. The efforts include practice for missile strikes against U.S. aircraft carriers and warships during operations against Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing has vowed to annex as early as 2027.

“The PLA increasingly views warfare as a confrontation between opposing operational systems, rather than annihilation of opposing mechanized military forces,” the report said. “Following this logic, PLA writings refer to systems destruction warfare as the next way of war, transforming from mechanized warfare to an informatized and intelligentized style.

The PLA calls its information warfare activities “cognitive domain operations.” The report describes “an asymmetric capability to deter U.S. or third-party entry into a future conflict, or as an offensive capability to shape perceptions or polarize a society.”

The operations target the U.S. government and military, media organizations, businesses, academic and cultural institutions, and policy communities.

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Rep. Michael McCaul Says Drones Seen Flying Over US Military Sites are ‘Adversarial’ and Likely Coming from Communist China

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) has raised alarms over unidentified drones observed near U.S. military installations, suggesting they may be adversarial and likely of Chinese origin.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, one of America’s most vital military installations, faced an unsettling breach of its airspace over the weekend, reigniting concerns about the security of critical U.S. defense facilities.

Mysterious drones buzzed over the Ohio base, forcing the temporary closure of its Class Delta airspace late Friday night and into Saturday morning.

According to base spokesman Bob Purtiman, the origin of the drones remains unidentified, and their intentions are officially deemed “not malicious.”

“I can confirm small aerial systems were spotted over Wright Patterson between Friday night and Saturday morning,” base spokesman Bob Purtiman told The War Zone on Sunday.

“Today leaders have determined that they did not impact base residents, facilities, or assets. The Air Force is taking all appropriate measures to safeguard our installations and residents,” he added.

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Biden Administration Launches Task Force on Chinese Censorship, Drawing Criticism for Hypocrisy in Domestic Free Speech Policies

The Biden-Harris administration on has revealed it was setting up an action group to “monitor and address the effects” of any censorship or intimidation of Americans by China.

Signed by President Joe Biden, the memorandum addressed heads of executive departments and agencies, while the task force is to be led by the assistant to the president for National Security Affairs and the director of the National Economic Council.

This move comes after the administration spent the past four years doubling and tripling down on policies encouraging unprecedented censorship at home and being sued and investigated for colluding (through pressure via third parties) with social platforms and other tech companies to do its (unconstitutional) bidding.

Hypocrisy this may be, but that might be the least of the problems with this sudden spur of activity by an administration that is weeks away from exiting, stage left.

If we choose to forget that many of the censorship and surveillance mechanisms that permeated the soon-to-be former administration’s activities were regularly mentioned by critics as “inspired” by those used by China’s authorities, the question remains: why establish an entirely new “task force” and why now?

The departments and agencies that will be represented at assistant secretary or above level include the departments of state, defense, treasury, commerce, agriculture, education, the Department of Homeland Security, the CIA, the FBI, the director of National Intelligence, etc. – plus, “other agencies and offices as the President may, from time to time, designate.”

Opponents of the Chinese authorities and their notorious brand of censorship welcome the move and believe it should be endorsed by the incoming Trump administration, but also – somehow – expanded to China itself.

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China’s Dark Secret: The Ongoing Tragedy of Forced Organ Harvesting

At the heart of one of the most pressing ethical debates of the 21st century lies the issue of  forced organ harvesting in China.

This practice, widely condemned internationally, has been linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime and is seen as a blatant abuse of human rights.

In particular, ethnic and religious minorities, as well as prisoners of conscience—such as practitioners of Falun Gong and Uyghurs—have been identified as the primary victims of this horrific crime.

Since 2006, independent investigations have uncovered that China has carried out thousands of organ transplants under suspicious circumstances. 

Canadian lawyers David Matas and the late David Kilgour discovered that, between 2000 and 2005, China performed over 41,500 transplants without an organized organ donation system in place. 

This raises disturbing questions, especially considering that Chinese culture traditionally does not encourage voluntary organ donation.

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The China Tribunal, an independent tribunal based in London, concluded in 2019 that  forced organ harvesting in China has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt . The court found evidence that prisoners of conscience, particularly Falun Gong practitioners, have been killed for their organ

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Biden releases Chinese prisoner arrested with 47,000 child sex abuse images

President Joe Biden has commuted the sentence of a Chinese national convicted of possessing child pornography after 47,000 files of child pornography were found on the man’s computer. The commutation was part of a prison swap between the United States and China. This comes as the Biden White House announced its “largest single-day grant of clemency” in America

According to the Financial Times, three Chinese nationals were part of a prisoner swap between China and the US last month. Two of these foreign nationals were convicted of espionage while the third pleaded guilty in 2021 to child pornography charges after 47,000 files of child sexual abuse material were found on his computer, per the Dallas Morning News.  

Jin Shanlin was set free in the uncommon prisoner swap and during his Texas trial, an FBI agent testified that his family was “connected to influential members of the Communist party in China.” 

Shanlin had been convicted and was sentenced to 97 months in prison with five years of supervised release, according to the grant of clemency issued by the Biden administration on November 22. Police found the child sex abuse material on Shanlin’s computer when they raided his home, and the material included “videos involving infants and toddlers.” 

When Shanlin was released, Chinese foreign ministry representative Mao Ning said, “This once again demonstrates that China will never abandon its compatriots under any circumstances, and the motherland will always be their strong support.” 

The two spies Xu Yanjun and Ji Chaoqun were convicted on charges related to espionage. Ji had been sentenced to 8 years in prison and had been caught trying to gather defense technology for China’s state department with Xu as a co-conspirator. 

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Chinese Hack Means Beijing Reading and Hearing All US Military and Intelligence Classified Phone Communications

There has been some limited press coverage about recent Salt Typhoon — a Chinese cyber / hacking operation — but most Americans are oblivious about what has transpired. The story is simple. Following Edward Snowden’s escape to Russia and the release of damning evidence that the US Government was spying on Americans, the US Department of Justice pressured the telecommunications giants — i.e., Verizon, ATT and T-Mobile — to create a backdoor in their network software that allows Federal law enforcement to read texts and listen to calls on classified apps. If you are using WhatsApp and think you are safe from the government’s spying eyes, think again.

Sometime before the November 5 Presidential election, the US intelligence community discovered (or learned?) that the Chinese had hacked the “backdoor” and have had full access to all US Government-issued cell phones that use a classified app for text and voice communications. A knowledgeable source told me that the compromise started in 2022 and was only recently discovered.

What does this mean? All conversations / communications over the commercial networks are (or were) being read / recorded by China. My source described the Chinese hack as something akin to the Brits, with help from Polish and American cryptologists, breaking the Enigma machine and reading classified German military traffic.

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China Police Debut Amphibious Robocop Sphere That Hunts Down Suspects

Disturbing footage features police in China patrolling streets using a spherical autonomous robot that can pursue and capture criminal suspects.

Video surfacing on social media this week shows police in an unidentified Chinese city walking down the street alongside a Logon Technology RT-G Rotunbot, which uses sophisticated technology to maneuver on water and land and can pursue suspects at up to 22 miles per hour.

China’s police robots are additionally outfitted with facial recognition cameras and can shoot nets to subdue suspects.

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Russia, China Tell Their Citizens To Evacuate Syria Immediately

In a sign of likely more bad things to come for Assad forces, Syria’s closest powerful ally Russia has ordered all of its civilian nationals to leave the country as the al-Qaeda linked group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham continues its shock offensive, making its way south from captured Aleppo area to Hama and Homs into the heart of the country.

“Russia on Friday urged its citizens to leave Syria, as rebel forces in the country press a lightning offensive against Moscow-ally Bashar al-Assad’s government,” AFP confirms.

The Russian embassy in Damascus issued an alert telling citizens “to leave the country on commercial flights through airports in operation” while underscoring “difficult military and political situation” in Syria.

China already on Thursday had issued an alert for all of its citizens to depart the country. The Chinese Embassy in Damascus told its nationals to depart “as soon as possible” at a moment the Syrian Army has been seen withdrawing from both Hama and Homs.

“At present, the war in northwestern Syria is growing tense, and the security situation in Syria is further deteriorating,” Beijing’s embassy said.

“The embassy in Syria suggests that Chinese citizens in Syria take advantage of the fact that commercial flights are still in operation to return home or leave the country as soon as possible,” it warned.

While China does not have a huge amount of citizens in Syria, Russia has long maintained deep ties to the country. There’s even a large apartment building in Damascus known to house Russian engineers and their families, which goes back decades.

Russia’s military presence in Syria is not expected to change, however. Its forces have deployed since 2015 in defense of the Assad government. Russian warplanes have been flying alongside Syrian jets, pounding insurgent positions.

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