Tag: china

Trump vows to end secrecy of foreign & CCP funding on campus after Biden ‘turned a blind eye’

President Donald Trump has vowed to “end the secrecy” surrounding foreign funding and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence at U.S. colleges and universities after the Biden administration “turned a blind eye” to the problem.

Trump said in a late April executive order that “it is the policy of my Administration to end the secrecy surrounding foreign funds in American educational institutions, protect the marketplace of ideas from propaganda sponsored by foreign governments, and safeguard America’s students and research from foreign exploitation.” 

The president ordered Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Attorney General Pam Bondi to enforce the federal laws surrounding the disclosure of foreign funding on U.S. campuses after Biden Education Secretary Miguel Cardona deprioritized the issue over the previous four years.

“During my first term, the Department of Education opened investigations on nineteen campuses from 2019-2021, which led universities to report $6.5 billion in previously undisclosed foreign funds,” Trump said in the April executive order. “Yet the prior administration undid this work, moving the Department of Education’s specialized investigatory work on foreign funds to a unit ill-equipped to perform it, undermining investigations, and hindering public access to information on foreign gifts and contracts.”

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Treasury Secretary Bessent: “The Chinese Told Us Once Joe Biden Came into Office They Just Ignored Their Obligations”

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke with reporters on Monday following trade talks this past weekend with Chinese officials in Geneva, Switzerland.

As The Gateway Pundit reported on Sunday, Bessent announced that they struck a deal during their eight-hour meetings.

China and the United States have agreed to reduce tariffs by May 14, with China retaining a 10% tariff on American goods while the US retains a 10% reciprocal tariff on Chinese goods. Additionally, China has agreed to help the US “take aggressive actions to stem the flow of fentanyl and other precursors from China to illicit drug producers in North America.”

On Monday morning Secretary Bessent spoke with reporters about the trade talks with China. Bessent told them that China blew off their trade obligations when Joe Biden entered office.

They knew he was weak.

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Biden’s Weaponized DOJ Crushed Texas Developer Who Blew Whistle on CCP Land Grab Scheme

In a saga that reads more like a political thriller than a real estate dispute, Texas businessman Timothy Barton is at the center of a high-stakes legal storm that some allege is less about justice and more about silencing dissent.

Timothy Barton—a Christian businessman, proud Trump supporter, and founder of the successful JMJ Development—has, in yet another glaring example of Biden-era political persecution, become the latest target of lawfare by a weaponized federal government more interested in shielding the Chinese Communist Party than protecting American citizens.

Barton’s “crime”? Sounding the alarm on what he believed to be a covert Chinese land acquisition scheme on U.S. soil.

Back in 2019, Barton was approached by a Chinese national named Haoqiang “Michael” Fu and his associate Steven Wall. They pitched him on partnering in high-value real estate developments across Texas. At first glance, it looked like a lucrative venture. But the deeper Barton got involved, the clearer the red flags became. Fu and Wall repeatedly failed to provide promised funding, while Barton was forced to keep the project afloat—personally.

Worse still, Barton discovered what he described as blatant financial fraud, including altered co-lender documents redirecting repayments straight to Fu. Convinced that the deal was a front for something far more dangerous—a CCP-backed scheme to influence and infiltrate American real estate — Barton did what any patriot would do: he reported the activity to Homeland Security.

But in Joe Biden’s America, doing the right thing gets you punished.

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Students uncover Chinese espionage at Stanford University

Students at Stanford University have allegedly uncovered a pattern of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attempting to gain sensitive information about American research.

CCP agents reportedly impersonate students at the university to gain trust from students and staff and steal information as part of a “nontraditional collection effort,” while others are already connected with Chinese nationals studying in the U.S., according to The Stanford Review. The report states that several Chinese students studying at Stanford are currently acting as spies for the CCP.

Those affiliated with the CCP attempt to gain access to sensitive STEM research, particularly AI, as well as gather intel into U.S. research on China, the Review reported.

In one instance, a Chinese agent impersonated a student at the university and attempted to pressure a Stanford student, who was involved in “sensitive research on China,” into flying to Beijing, the Review found. The man advised the student to limit her trip to between 24 to 144 hours “to avoid visa scrutiny by authorities” and tried to keep communications solely on a CCP-monitored app.

After the student tipped off authorities, it was revealed the man had apparently been impersonating a Stanford student for years and had targeted multiple students, mainly women focused on China-related research, the Review said.

One “China expert” who spoke to the Stanford Review claimed that several of the university’s Chinese students are actively reporting information back to the CCP. More than 1,000 Chinese nationals study at Stanford.

“Many Chinese [nationals] have handlers; they [CCP] want to know everything that’s going on at Stanford,” one unnamed Chinese national attending Stanford told the Review. “This is a very normal thing. They just relay the information they have.”

In 2020, Stanford student researcher and Chinese national Chen Song was indicted for attempting to conceal her affiliation with the Chinese military. During her time in the U.S., the student allegedly sent multiple updates on her research in medical science to Chinese government officials.

Despite her crime carrying the penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, Song’s charges were dropped under the Biden administration over technicalities stemming from a visa application question.

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China Quietly Caves to Trump, Exempts Tariffs

The US and Chinese officials are currently continuing their tariff discussions, but China has already made concessions, either as a sign of good faith or as a tacit admission that the Trump administration has the communist nation in its sights.

According to the most recent sources, around one-quarter of all US imports to China have been surreptitiously spared from 125% tariffs, amounting to $40 billion in American-made items that will now reach Chinese customers without the exorbitant surtax.

The decision comes as Beijing seeks to cushion the damage to its economy from President Donald Trump’s across-the-board 145% tariff on Chinese goods.

Pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals are among the exempted products.

Trade specialists told Bloomberg that the policy shift by Chinese President Xi Jinping to match Washington’s moves was strategic rather than conciliatory; however, it is unclear if disarmament was initiated by the White House.

On Friday, Xi’s spokesperson said Chinese officials are “evaluating” the Trump administration’s latest offer, a key change in tone that might pave the way for protracted negotiations on a historic revision of the US-China trade gap.

“The U.S. has recently taken the initiative on many occasions to convey information to China through relevant parties, saying it hopes to talk with China,” Reuters reported.

However, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce warned that it would not be forced into making a bad deal, adding, “attempting to use talks as a pretext to engage in coercion and extortion would not work.”

On Thursday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo that he believes Beijing officials are ready to make a deal after weeks of punishing tariffs that may soon cost China’s economy between five and 10 million jobs.

“I am confident that the Chinese will want to reach a deal. And as I said, this is going to be a multi-step process. First, we need to de-escalate. And then over time, we will start focusing on a larger trade deal,” Bessent said.

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Humanoid Robot Goes Full Skynet After “Imperfect Coding”

A Unitree Robotics H1 humanoid robot, developed and produced in Hangzhou, China, was seen exhibiting “erratic behavior” in a video circulating on X.

Footage circulating on X, shared by one user, alleged the incident was caused by “imperfect coding.”

“If you buy Chinese stuff, it might all end up like this… They might even deliberately make it this way to harm people...” the X user said.

Unitree’s H1 robot is listed for $90,000 on its website. A note underneath the price reads: “Not include customs duties. Please comply with local customs laws, pay customs duties, and clear the goods.” 

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Five Eyes now getting sensitive space intel – The Times

The US has begun sharing its “most sensitive” military intelligence on China’s and Russia’s space operations with the UK and other members of The Five Eyes (FVEY) global intelligence group, The Times has reported, citing a senior commander within the US Space Force.

Until this month, the work of Space Delta 9, a unit focused on America’s orbital warfare, was largely meant only for US officials with top-secret security clearance.

However, in a move that a Space Delta 9 spokesman described to The Times as “momentous,” British military chiefs have been allowed to observe operations at the unit’s base in Colorado.

The other Five Eyes members, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, have also been allowed access to the highest levels of US space intelligence, the British daily reported on Wednesday.

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UC Berkeley Received Six-Figure Donations From CCP Officials, Records Show

The University of California, Berkeley, received donations from a blacklisted Chinese research university, Chinese Communist Party officials, and a Beijing state-owned chemical company, according to records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The news comes days after the Trump administration launched an investigation into UC Berkeley for allegedly failing to disclose funding from China, including a $220 million government investment in Berkeley’s joint research institution with Tsinghua University.

Donor records obtained through a California public information request provide new details on Berkeley’s financial relationship with China and foreign government-linked donors.

Section 117 of the Higher Education Act requires that American universities disclose the names and locations of foreign donors to the federal government. For four years, the Biden administration failed to strictly enforce the law and withheld donor names from the American public. As the Free Beacon reported, President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month requiring more thorough disclosures.

The Berkeley records demonstrate that the administration’s more aggressive approach to foreign higher education donations appears likely to reveal unsavory financial backers.

One of the university’s donors is the University of Science and Technology of China, which gave Berkeley $60,000 for its chemistry program in 2023. A year after the donation, the U.S. Department of Commerce added USTC to its sanctions list for “acquiring and attempting to acquire U.S.-origin items in support of advancing China’s quantum technology capabilities, which has serious ramifications for U.S. national security given the military applications of quantum technologies.”

Berkeley also received $336,000 for its “research units” in 2023 from Vincent Cheung Sai Sing, a longtime member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference for Shanghai City, an advisory body to the Chinese Communist Party.

The GS Charity Foundation Limited, the charitable arm of the Glorious Sun Group, gave $160,000 to Berkeley for international studies research in 2023. The Glorious Sun Group’s chairman, Charles Yeung, was also a member of the CCP national people’s committee.

Duane Ziping Kuang, the founding managing partner of China-based venture capital firm Qiming Venture Partners, gave $75,000 to Berkeley’s business school. His firm was an early investor in ByteDance.

Several universities have listed gifts from China-linked donors as coming from other countries, as the Free Beacon has previously reported. Berkeley reported numerous donations from PRC-associated individuals as originating elsewhere.

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China Deploys ‘Growing Army’ Of Pro-Beijing NGOs To UN To Target Critics: Report

The Chinese regime is increasingly sending groups that pose as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to the United Nations in an effort to suppress criticism of its human rights record, according to a report published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on April 28.

The 10-month investigation, a partnership between the ICIJ and 42 media organizations, examined China’s transnational repression under Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Part of the report focused on the communist regime’s subversion campaign against the U.N. Human Rights Council through “a growing army of Chinese NGOs.”

“Since Xi’s reelection as Communist Party general secretary in 2017 and president the following year, China has sought greater influence within the U.N. human rights system and become more aggressive in silencing dissent,” the report reads.

ICIJ found that the number of Chinese NGOs holding consultative status with the U.N. has nearly doubled since 2018.

NGOs can participate in U.N. meetings, make oral statements, and submit written statements before U.N. sessions after obtaining consultative status, which is granted by the U.N. Economic and Social Council.

An ICIJ analysis of 106 NGOs from China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan found that 59 are not independent but are “closely connected” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The ICIJ referred to these Beijing-backed NGOs as “GONGOs” or “government-organized nongovernmental organizations.”

Ten of these GONGOs receive more than 50 percent of their funding from Beijing, the ICIJ noted.

In at least 46 of these groups, directors, secretaries, vice presidents, or other high-ranking staff also hold positions in the Chinese regime’s departments or within the CCP.

Additionally, 53 of these NGOs pledge loyalty to the CCP on their websites or in other official documents. Among them, 12 agree to defer their decision-making to the Party, such as leadership appointments.

“In 2024, 33 Chinese NGOs showed up about 300 times on the lists of speakers at Human Rights Council sessions. There were only three of them in 2018. None criticized China,” the report reads.

Rana Siu Inboden, senior fellow at the Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas at Austin, was quoted in the report as saying that Beijing “is clearly using NGOs as a tool.”

“They are encouraging them, helping them, guiding them, coaching them through how to get this [consultative] status,” Inboden said. “And then once they’re [at the U.N.], you can see how their statements, whether it’s in the Human Rights Council or elsewhere, serve the government.”

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Harvard Quietly Trained Members of Chinese ‘Paramilitary Organization’—After the US Sanctioned It Over Uyghur Genocide

Harvard University quietly trained members of a Chinese “paramilitary organization” on two occasions after the U.S. government sanctioned the group for its role in the Uyghur genocide. The Ivy League institution could face “a big legal problem” as a result, according to one foreign policy expert.

In 2019, Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health partnered with Beijing’s National Health Security Administration (NHSA) to launch an annual health financing course, training government staffers from across China. Harvard originally noted in a blog post that officials with the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) participated in the inaugural training, but that language was scrubbed following a Washington Free Beacon inquiry.

The Trump administration sanctioned the XPCC in 2020 “in connection with serious rights abuses against ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,” describing it as a “paramilitary organization … that is subordinate to the Chinese Communist Party.” But Harvard continued to train its members, once in 2023 and again in 2024. On those occasions, the Ivy League university didn’t include their participation on its webpages.

China-focused research group Strategy Risks first uncovered the 2023 training in a recent report titled, “Beijing Exercises Strong Influence Over Multiple Areas of Harvard University.” XPCC officials’ 2024 involvement, noted on the NHSA’s website, has not been previously reported.

The revelation comes as Harvard faces mounting challenges, with the Trump administration freezing more than $2 billion in federal funding over the university’s failure to combat campus anti-Semitism. Since the sanctions restrict U.S. entities from engaging with the XPCC, Hudson Institute senior fellow Michael Sobolik believes Harvard could face legal trouble, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

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