Tag: china

China Sends Science Team to Iran for ‘Exploration and Processing’ of Rare Earths

The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) on Monday announced a collaboration with Iran on the “exploration and processing of rare earth elements,” presented as a series of workshops that will be mostly funded by China.

The NSFC said that it will provide about $4,200 in funding for each workshop, while Iran’s National Science Foundation will help with travel arrangements and accommodations for Chinese researchers visiting Iran, and vice versa.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) noted that Beijing chose a “particularly sensitive time” to announce a new collaboration with Iran, given ongoing hostilities between the United States and Iran.

Chinese dictator Xi Jinping is scheduled to visit the United States in September to discuss trade issues with President Donald Trump, although the meeting could already be imperiled by volleys of “tit-for-tat” sanctions between the U.S. and China. Trump is unlikely to be pleased by the announcement of a new Chinese collaboration with Iran at this uneasy juncture.

The SCMP pointed out that China seems to be taking a significant diplomatic risk for a very modest collaboration in an industry that China already dominates. China has the world’s largest known rare earth reserves and is the leading producer and refiner of the metals.

Iran might have significant rare earth deposits in its central region, but it has not developed the technology to confirm those deposits exist, or exploit them. All that is certain for now is that central Iran boasts the sort of iron and phosphate formations that could harbor rare earth deposits.

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US territory turned tropical maternity ward has produced thousands of ‘American’ babies for parents living in China

Pregnant Chinese women have turned a tropical paradise into a maternity ward — pumping out babies who automatically become US citizens daily.

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a US territory northeast of Guam in the Pacific Ocean, has been flooded with so-called “birth tourists” since 2009 when then-president Barack Obama introduced a visa-waiver program for Chinese nationals.

China-watchers estimate about 1,000 companies offer birth tourism to the Northern Mariana Islands, other US overseas territories and even the US mainland. They claim a gob-smacking 1.5 million American babies are being raised in China by Chinese parents who’ve participated in birth tourism.

In a March 9 letter to three Trump Cabinet secretaries, Republican lawmakers demanded an accounting on Chinese birth tourism.

“The concern is about these children born to Chinese parents — do the parents have connections to the Chinese Communist Party, which is an adversarial government to the US?” Chris Chmielenski, president of the nonprofit Immigration Accountability Project, told The Post regarding the letter.

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British Royal Navy’s Spy Drones Have Cameras Suspected of Sending Back Data to China

Who are these drones spying for, in the end?

The Royal Navy is fighting a war with Britain, to have resources to modernize and expand the much-diminished forced, said to be the smallest-ever.

But even when modernization efforts do come, they are not without issues, as we’ve learned this week.

It’s been widely reported that the Royal Navy spy drones used by Britain’s elite special forces had cameras suspected to be secretly sending sent data to China, The Telegraph can reveal.

The Telegraph reported:

“The cameras on the K3 Scout surveillance drones had components made in China which were transmitting information to a device in the country.

The Royal Marines have been using the £12m fleet since March and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was forced to remove all internet connectivity from the cameras after discovering the breach.

The revelation raises fears that Beijing has been attempting to spy on Britain’s military after years of security warnings about the threat from the country.”

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Iran Demands China’s Anti-American BRICS Coalition Provide More Support During War

Iran’s representative at a meeting of the anti-American BRICS coalition on Wednesday used the opportunity to demand that member countries invest more of their time, money, and energy into “practical initiatives” to help Iran, a call that follows months of minimal support from the bloc during the ongoing war with America.

BRICS — named after core countries Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — is an economic, security, and diplomatic coalition largely led by communist China that seeks to overthrow the current, Western-led global order. It presents itself as a vehicle to aid the development and prosperity of the “global south” despite the presence of Russia and China, promoting interdependency among its members at the expense of ties with America. In addition to its core members, the group consists of Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran, and Indonesia. Another 13 countries, mostly rogue states such as Cuba and Belarus, received BRICS “partner” status in 2024, a second tier of cooperation inferior to full membership.

The BRICS coalition has persistently been challenged by the fact that the member countries do not fundamentally share national interests. Since the founding of the bloc, India and China have engaged in territorial warfare, South Africa has had to protect its economy from China’s malignant goods dumping schemes, and the UAE has supported Ukraine against Russia’s ongoing invasion. Iran has been the most overtly problematic member of the group, however, actively bombing the UAE then diverting the agenda of BRICS meetings to demand other countries support its terrorist activity.

Wednesday’s BRICS finance minister and central bank governor meeting continued the trend of Iran hijacking the coalition to prioritize its own interests. Iranian Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati lamented in his remarks, according to Iranian state media, that BRICS was not doing all it could to offer concrete support to Tehran.

“BRICS will have the greatest impact when it can turn policy dialogues into practical initiatives and operational mechanisms,” Hemmati stated, according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency.

“Referring to the difficult and complex regional and international circumstances, as well as the U.S.-Israeli military aggression against Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Tasnim added, “Hemmati said economic and financial stability cannot be achieved without peace, respect for international law, and adherence to the principles of the U.N. Charter.”

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Federal Grand Jury indicts 11 in massive $100K-per-couple marriage fraud scheme

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed a two-count indictment charging 11 individuals for orchestrating a massive, decade-long marriage fraud network that arranged over 1,000 sham marriages.

Federal prosecutors described the operation as one of the largest marriage fraud prosecutions in U.S. history, spanning “from 2016 through July 2026 and generating tens of millions of dollars in illegal revenue.”

The criminal scheme primarily aimed to secure fraudulent green cards and lawful permanent residency for foreign nationals, predominantly citizens of the People’s Republic of China, the DOJ noted.

According to the 21-page indictment unsealed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the defendants marketed their services through social media, word of mouth and targeted advertising.

Foreigners reportedly paid the enterprise up to $100,000 each to facilitate a fake marriage and process green card applications. In turn, the network recruited U.S. citizens to act as spouses, paying them up to $30,000 per arrangement, while recruiters pocketed commissions of around $5,000 for every participant enrolled.

Federal officials explained further how the syndicate functioned as a “full-service” operation designed to systematically evade federal immigration checks. Facilitators hired officiants and photographers, staged wedding ceremonies — sometimes at local restaurants where participants wore traditional attire to fabricate authenticity — and generated fake documentation.

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Wuhan’s ‘Bat Woman’ Runs A New Lab Creating Coronaviruses That Can Infect Humans. U.S. Tax Dollars Are Still Supporting Her Work.

Shi Zhengli is recruiting researchers for “pathogen discovery/coronavirus” and “cross-species infection risk” work. NIH-backed scientists continued collaborating with her after COVID, including on research using materials she supplied from her new Chinese laboratory.

Shi Zhengli, the Chinese virologist whose years of bat coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology made her one of the most scrutinized scientists in the world after COVID-19, did not disappear.

She moved on to another powerful Chinese state laboratory, where she is now helping train a new generation of coronavirus researchers.

Chinese-language records reviewed for this report show Shi is currently affiliated with Guangzhou Laboratory, a national laboratory established in 2021 that describes itself as part of China’s strategic scientific and technological apparatus for combating respiratory diseases. Her current research profile focuses on discovering new viruses in bats and other wildlife, studying their biological characteristics, and investigating the mechanisms that allow viruses to jump between species.

Even more striking is what Guangzhou Laboratory is recruiting scientists to do under Shi today.

A 2026 doctoral recruitment notice lists Shi as an adviser in pathogen biology with a research concentration explicitly described as “pathogen discovery/coronavirus.”

Another 2026 doctoral program, jointly operated by Guangzhou Laboratory and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, lists Shi as an adviser for “pathogen discovery and cross-species infection risk research.” Students in the program conduct their coursework primarily through the Wuhan Institute of Virology before carrying out most of their scientific research and dissertation work at Guangzhou Laboratory.

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National Security Experts: Accountability Cannot End with Fauci, China Must Answer for COVID

National security experts are calling for the Chinese Communist Party to face accountability over the coronavirus pandemic following a Senate committee’s vote to hold former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress, arguing scrutiny of Fauci should not end the effort to determine responsibility for COVID-19.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 8-5 Thursday to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress after he invoked the Fifth Amendment 111 times during testimony before the committee, whose inquiry included COVID-19’s origins, risky life sciences research, and his federal service. Chairman Rand Paul (R-KY) argued Fauci’s Fifth Amendment claims were improper because former President Joe Biden had granted him a sweeping pardon covering his government service from 2014 through January 2025. 

Paul said Fauci therefore had little risk of prosecution for truthful answers about conduct covered by the pardon, while Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) pointed to Fauci’s refusal to answer even basic questions, including whether a folder was sitting in front of him, as evidence that his invocation of the Fifth Amendment was not tailored to any specific threat of prosecution. Fauci’s attorney David Schertler called the vote a “crude political stunt” intended to punish Fauci for exercising his constitutional rights. The vote came as the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations obtained a copy of Fauci’s cellphone from the Department of Health and Human Services and Florida subpoenaed Fauci, focusing on his alleged self-dealing during the pandemic.

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Judge Halts $800-a-Day Fines Against Investigative Journalist Catherine Herridge for Refusing to Betray Confidential Sources in China-Tied Case

Investigative reporter Catherine Herridge secured a major, though temporary, victory for press freedom after a federal judge clarified that she will not have to keep paying an $800-per-day contempt fine while her legal team asks the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her First Amendment case.

The court also denied plaintiff Yanping Chen’s request to increase the daily fine to a staggering $5,000 and ordered that the money Herridge has already paid be returned, Herridge announced Friday in a statement on X.

The district court has clarified that I don’t have to pay the $800 daily contempt fine for refusing to disclose my confidential sources while our team asks the Supreme Court to hear our First Amendment case.

The court also denied the plaintiff, Yanping Chen’s request to raise the daily contempt fines to 5K. The court ordered reimbursement for the fines I have already paid.

This case is much bigger than one journalist, one story, or one news outlet. The outcome will impact every newsroom in this country and the ability of reporters to protect their sources and do investigative reporting that seeks accountability.

Yet, critical evidence remains hidden from the public and under seal by the District Court.

At a time when many corporate media outlets choose to settle or pressure journalists to surrender their notes, I want to acknowledge that Fox News has continued to stand behind me and fully support the First Amendment and investigative journalism by paying my attorney’s fees.

I remain committed to safeguarding the principles of investigative journalism and a free press.

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China Punishes U.S. Companies After Being Called Out for Slavery

The Chinese Communist government announced “countermeasures” on Wednesday against the U.S. designation of more Chinese entities under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA).

China denounced the U.S. listings as “illegal,” without addressing the actual issue of slave labor extracted from oppressed minorities like the Uyghurs.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) added 43 more Chinese companies to the list of entities presumed to use slavery last Friday. The affected industries included apparel, agriculture, and aluminum.

“The American worker must not be undercut and cheated by foreign companies that use slave labor. Our job is to defend the Homeland, and that includes protecting our citizens from unfair competition that not only disadvantages Americans, but harms human dignity,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said when announcing the expanded list.

China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) responded on Wednesday with:

countermeasures that include strengthening export controls on dual-use items related to UAVs and their key components and technologies to the US; placing six US entities on the countermeasure list for ‘assisting and supporting the US in imposing illegal sanctions related to China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region’; placing a US compliance testing company on the countermeasure list; and initiating a national security investigation into the import of printing and copying office equipment.

“China has decided to strengthen export controls on drone-related dual-use items to the US, in order to safeguard national security and interests and fulfill international obligations such as non-proliferation,” MOFCOM added.

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DeepSeek Resumes $74BN Mega-Raise – Then Warns It’s Jacking-Up Prices

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is looking to raise roughly 50 billion yuan at a valuation of 500 billion yuan (US$74 billion) – while the company warned developers a day later that it’s raising prices. The resumed funding round, first reported by Chinese business outlet Caijing (via The Standard), is expected to be signed by the end of the month, with the process kept deliberately quiet; some participating institutions reportedly haven’t even been formally told the deal is back on. The pricing notice, posted Thursday to DeepSeek’s developer platform, warns that API rates will rise across the board and that the increase is expected to be “significant.”

The round restarts barely two weeks after it was shelved, and roughly six weeks after DeepSeek’s first-ever external raise in June, which pulled in some $7.4 billion from Tencent, CATL, Beijing’s National AI Industry Investment Fund, NetEase, JD.com, Monolith Management and IDG Capital at a valuation north of $50 billion (corporate filings later implied a figure closer to $52 billion). The new target is a steep markup on a deal that closed weeks ago, and the prospective investor list reportedly blends returning backers with new money that couldn’t get into round one.

As we noted last month, the round stalled because a transcript of founder Liang Wenfeng’s May 20 closed-door meeting with investors leaked onto GitHub and went viral – a document in which Liang admitted China still trails the US in AI (a gap of compute and capital, not talent, per Liang), conceded DeepSeek remains heavily dependent on Nvidia hardware, described Huawei’s substitutes as falling well short, and acknowledged the company could get its hands on processors he called “noncompliant.” 

Liang – reportedly furious over the leak – simply froze the deal.

Meanwhile, questions about how DeepSeek is obtaining restricted silicon go back to the very beginning – with federal investigators probing whether Singapore-based third parties funneled blacklisted Nvidia chips to the lab as far back as early 2025, and by that April the House Select Committee on the CCP had formally concluded that DeepSeek’s model appeared to run on tens of thousands of export-restricted Nvidia chips, branding the company a tool for “subverting” US export controls. Congress alleged it and now the founder has all but confirmed it, on (leaked) record telling investors the workaround exists – even as the company lays groundwork for a Shanghai STAR Market IPO it reportedly hopes to file this year. Should be a fun prospectus to read. 

Liang was able to hit the pause button so easily because DeepSeek’s first round routed nearly every investor’s money into a limited partnership Liang personally controls, complete with a five-year lock-up and zero voting rights. The lone exception was the state AI fund, which bought direct equity and kept its vote. Liang holds roughly 84% of the company and near-total voting control – meaning Tencent and CATL wired in billions for the privilege of watching, while Beijing holds the only outside seat at the table.

In the leaked transcript, he told investors that GPUs are the single best use of the company’s capital, that he would happily convert the entire war chest into Nvidia hardware if supply allowed, and that spending 20 billion yuan a year on processors would count as a triumph for his purchasing team. He also told them the money doesn’t go as far as it looks: even 50 billion yuan, he said, wouldn’t train a model at the scale of the largest U.S. systems, which he estimated would take roughly 50,000 Nvidia GB300s or 200,000 Huawei Ascend 950s – before the experiments that precede any final training run. Beyond the hardware, the company plans to double headcount and push into data centers and AI agents, and Reuters reports it is quietly hiring chip designers to develop in-house inference silicon – an attempt to engineer its way out of the very dependence Liang lamented.

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