Tag: china

WHO Top Scientist Was ‘Primary Collaborator’ of Peter Daszak — the Researcher Under HHS Scrutiny for Coronavirus Experiments in Wuhan

Jeremy Farrar — chief scientific officer of the World Health Organization (WHO) and a central figure in efforts to suppress speculation about a possible lab origin of COVID-19 — collaborated on a viral discovery project in Southeast Asia involving Peter Daszak, a scientist at the center of that speculation, according to grant documents.

A 2010 National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant proposal describes Farrar as the “primary collaborator” in Vietnam of a controversial organization that has come under scrutiny for its work on novel coronaviruses with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The organization was then called the Wildlife Trust, but would soon be renamed EcoHealth Alliance.

At the time of the 2010 grant proposal, Daszak was the president of the Wildlife Trust, while Farrar helmed the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where he had worked as a clinician since 1996.

The Oxford team was slated to ship its samples to a lab at Columbia University, not to Wuhan.

Still, the apparent connection between Farrar and Daszak — who faces possible debarment from U.S. tax dollars — could present a previously unknown conflict of interest on the pandemic origins question at the highest levels of the WHO.

Both Daszak and EcoHealth are under debarment proceedings by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for inadequate oversight of high-risk coronavirus research in Wuhan.

The revelation comes at a time of uncertainty about the future of the U.S. relationship with the WHO. The Financial Times reported that the incoming Trump administration could announce a withdrawal from the organization as early as day one. Farrar became the chief scientist at the WHO in May 2023.

A second WHO investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic — launched after Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said publicly that the first investigation’s findings, including that a lab origin was “extremely unlikely,” had been inadequate — has been delayed for years.

Reached for comment, WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic did not respond to questions about the apparent Farrar-Daszak partnership.

On the future of the U.S. relationship with the WHO, Jasarevic pointed to comments Tedros made in early December 2024 stating that “I think it would be good to give them some space for the transition and I hope, I believe they will do the right thing.”

On the second phase investigation, Jasarevic said that the group of global scientists charged with the report, the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens, “is currently working on an independent assessment of the origins of SARS-CoV-2 … We don’t know when it will be completed.”

Farrar and Daszak did not respond to emailed questions.

Keep reading

Trump Administration To Deliver More Weapons To Taiwan

In what will be seen by China as an escalation of war, the United States will deliver more weapons to Taiwan under the incoming Trump administration. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz has confirmed that the president-elect intends to give the island, currently at odds with China over its sovereignty, all the defense systems it has paid for. This move highlights the frequent U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

China’s leaders have repeatedly condemned United States arms sales to Taipei as “destabilizing and provocative.” In response to the weapons agreements, China has conducted frequent naval and aerial drills around the island as a way of showing force against U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

Speaking at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington on Tuesday, Waltz, a Florida Congressman, stated: “We have over a $20 billion backlog of things that they paid for and that we need to work hard to free up and have them get what they paid for as a deterrent measure. The backlog is mainly due to the extensive nature of U.S. arms sales.”

Keep reading

Biden Backpedals on TikTok Stance, While CEO Shou Zi Chew to Attend Republican Inauguration Amid Rumors of Elon Musk Acquisition

An unexpected turn of events, the 
Biden administration has reversed its position on TikTok , allowing the popular social media app to remain active in the United States despite growing national security concerns.

Additionally, it has been confirmed that 
TikTok CEO, Shou Zi Chew, will attend the inauguration of the Republican leader , in what appears to be a symbolic gesture of détente between the government and the powerful Chinese platform.

According to reports from The New York Times and the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, Chew will have a prominent seat at the event, a gesture that underscores the platform’s relevance in today’s political and cultural landscape.

Meanwhile, rumors about a possible sale of TikTok have begun to gain traction in business circles.

Sources close to the company have confirmed that tech mogul Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of X (formerly Twitter), is seriously considering acquiring the video platform.

This move would not only mark a significant shift in the ownership of one of the world’s most popular apps but could also introduce a new power dynamic between the tech giants and the Republican administration.

Keep reading

China’s new microwave weapon challenges US tech dominance

A new energy weapon has emerged in Beijing’s arsenal. HPM (High-power microwave), which uses microwaves, can affect electronics on a large scale, such as in drones, disrupting their operations without causing visible damage.

The Chinese solution is based on Stirling engines, which allow for the efficient conversion of thermal energy into mechanical energy, potentially generating electromagnetic pulses similar to those produced by atomic bomb explosions. The efficiency of this solution reaches – according to Chinese sources – 96.6 percent.

This weapon was developed by a team from the National University of Defense Technology in Changsha, and it can target not only drones but also military aircraft and satellites.

HPM also allows for precise energy focusing and adjustment of the effective range. The pulse it emits is similar to those accompanying nuclear explosions.

Keep reading

United States Activates TikTok Ban Starting Sunday

The US government has confirmed that the TikTok ban will take effect this Sunday as part of a measure to protect national security from alleged espionage risks posed by ByteDance, the app’s Chinese parent company.

App stores will be required to remove the app, preventing new downloads within the country. Existing users may continue using it temporarily, but additional restrictions could be imposed soon. According to the Department of Commerce, the decision is necessary to safeguard the data of US citizens from unauthorized access by the Chinese government.

Social media platforms are buzzing with reactions. Influencers and content creators are lamenting economic losses and the limitation of their reach on a platform that has revolutionized the digital industry. Many are already migrating to alternatives like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts to maintain their market presence.

Keep reading

China plans to build enormous solar array in space — and it could collect more energy in a year than ‘all the oil on Earth’

Chinese scientists have announced a plan to build an enormous, 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) wide solar power station in space that will beam continuous energy back to Earth via microwaves.

The project, which will see its components lofted to a geostationary orbit above Earth using super-heavy rockets, has been dubbed “another Three Gorges Dam project above the Earth.”

The Three Gorges Dam, located in the middle of the Yangtze river in central China, is the world’s largest hydropower project and generates 100 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year. According to one NASA scientist, the dam is so large that, if completely filled, the mass of the water contained within would lengthen Earth’s days by 0.06 microseconds.

The new project, according to lead scientist Long Lehao, the chief designer of China’s Long March rockets, would be “as significant as moving the Three Gorges Dam to a geostationary orbit 36,000km (22,370 miles) above the Earth.”

“This is an incredible project to look forward to,” Long added during a lecture in October hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), as reported by the South China Morning Post. “The energy collected in one year would be equivalent to the total amount of oil that can be extracted from the Earth.”

Despite recent advances in the cheapness and efficiency of solar power, the technology still faces some fundamental limitations — such as intermittent cloud cover and most of the atmosphere absorbing solar radiation before it hits the ground.

Keep reading

US Lawmakers Call For Curbs On Clinical Trial Collaborations Linked To Chinese Military

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has asked the U.S. government to consider new rules restricting U.S. biotech companies from conducting clinical trials with entities linked to the Chinese military.

In a Jan. 9 letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party said the proposed restrictions will “help ensure U.S. biotechnology does not fall into the hands of the PRC,” referring to the acronym of communist China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

The letter, signed by Reps. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), chair and ranking member of the committee, respectively, along with Rep. Neal Dunn (R-Fla.), said biotech competition between the United States and the PRC “will not only have implications for our national and economic security, but also for the future of healthcare and the security of American medical data.”

The letter cites Beijing’s 14th Five-Year Plan—which “identifies dominance in biotechnology as critical to ’strengthen the PRC’s science and technological power’ and calls to deepen military-civil science and technology collaboration in the sector”—and a publication by a former president of the Chinese military’s National Defense University, which discussed the potential to create new synthetic pathogens that are “more toxic, more contagious, and more resistant.”

The lawmakers praised the proposals issued by the Bureau of Industry and Security in July 2024 to expand export controls to military and intelligence end users as “a welcome update.” They suggested the measures could be further strengthened by requiring a license to conduct clinical trials with medical institutions linked to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

“Specifically, we recommend updating the definition of ‘Military End User’ to state medical infrastructure owned or operated by the national armed services of the PRC and other countries as appropriate constitutes a military end-use if a U.S. person is seeking to engage with the institution to conduct a clinical trial,” they added.

The Epoch Times reached out to the Commerce Department for comment and did not receive a response by publication time.

The letter is a sign of growing concern over China’s role in the biotechnology industry.

In August 2024, the same committee wrote to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), asking the agency to ensure that U.S. clinical trials are not contributing to human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region or aiding the transfer of U.S. critical intellectual property to the PLA.

Citing official data, the letter said U.S. biopharmaceutical companies over the past decade had run hundreds of clinical trials that had at least one Chinese military entity among the research partners and conducted trials in hospitals in Xinjiang, “where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is engaged in genocide of the Uyghur population.”

Keep reading

Chinese Navy Reveals a Naval Artificial Intelligence “Dreadnaught” Moment

There have been “Revolutions in Military Affairs” (RMAs) over the ages.  RMAs are pivot points when something changes warfare dramatically.  In the naval arena, one of the most memorable RMAs was the introduction of the HMS Dreadnaught in 1906.

It was said, “Dreadnought made every other exist­ing battleship obsolete, and her name became generic for similar fast, modern vessels. All battleships laid down before her were pejoratively labeled “pre-dreadnought.”

The Chinese Navy (PLAN) has revealed a new vessel that may represent the modern, naval “Dreadnaught” moment.  The “Killer Whale” (or Orca), autonomous surface combat vessel has recently been shown in China, cruising on the river from its Guangzhou Shipyard.

This vessel is the largest military purpose USV built to date.  It is little coincidence that Guangzhou was the location of the shipyard.

Guangzhou is the Silicon Valley region of China, and the Orca is not just an autonomous warship, but a floating combat data center.

This vessel reflects significant data collection, data analysis, and AI-enabled autonomous actioning.

AI and Autonomy are trending topics, but the Orca is far ahead of any other AI-enabled, autonomous vessel publicly known to date.

Keep reading

Mass Protests Break Out in China After Student’s Death

Protests broke out in China’s northern province of Shaanxi on Thursday, a week after a teenage boy fell to his death from a school dormitory.

The protest was unusually large and fierce for subjects of the authoritarian Chinese Communist regime. Security forces responded with vicious beatings, while government censors frantically deleted videos of the scuffles posted to social media.

The victim of the January 2 dormitory accident, a 17-year-old identified only by his surname “Deng” (as is common in Chinese media), was a third-year student at the Pucheng Vocational Education Center.

According to local officials, Deng was awakened on the night of his death by other students talking loudly in the dormitory. He launched into a “verbal and physical altercation” with another student, which was broken up by a school official.

What happened next is uncertain. Deng’s body was discovered by another student outside the dormitory building later that evening. The sliding window of a bathroom overhead was open, and a wooden stool was reportedly discovered under the window.

The police conducted a hasty autopsy and decided his death was not a “criminal case.” The school issued a statement describing his death as an “accident where a student fell from a height.”

Deng’s family rejected this account of the young man’s death, insisting that he was “bullied on campus” and his body displayed injuries that were inconsistent with death from a fall. The family said police hustled them away from viewing the body before they could perform a thorough examination.

The family also said the school told them its surveillance system was mysteriously “damaged” so there was no security footage from the night of Deng’s death to review. When his relatives took possession of his cell phone, they found some of his photos had been deleted without explanation.

Keep reading

U.S. Sanctions Chinese Cybersecurity Firm Over Cyberattacks

US sanctions Beijing-based Integrity Technology Group for aiding “Flax Typhoon” hackers in cyberattacks on American infrastructure, freezing assets and banning US dealings.

The US Treasury Department has sanctioned Integrity Technology Group, a Beijing-based company, accusing it of involvement in cyberattacks against American infrastructure. The decision, announced on January 3, 2025, has escalated tensions between the US and China over cybersecurity issues.

What’s Behind the Sanctions?

Integrity Technology Group, also known as Yongxin Zhicheng Technology Group, is alleged to have worked closely with the Chinese state-sponsored hacking group “Flax Typhoon.” US officials claim the company played a key role in cyber activities targeting government systems, businesses, and critical infrastructure. Over 250,000 devices worldwide were reportedly compromised in these incidents.

The sanctions freeze the company’s assets in the US and prohibit American entities from doing business with it. By cutting off financial ties, the US aims to limit the group’s resources for continuing cyber operations.

Official Statements and Responses

The US government has stated that these actions are part of ongoing efforts to protect national security and hold cyber offenders accountable. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen commented, “This sends a clear message to entities enabling malicious cyber activity: we will not tolerate these actions.”

China, however, has rejected the accusations. A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry called the sanctions “baseless” and accused the US of deflecting blame for its own cybersecurity issues. Integrity Technology Group has denied the allegations, claiming it operates within legal bounds and condemning the sanctions as damaging to its reputation.

Keep reading