Tag: china

Chinese Firm Bought Insurer For CIA Agents As Part Of Trillion Dollar Spending Spree

For years, Washington assumed that China’s outbound investment flowed mainly into developing economies hungry for infrastructure money. But as scrutiny tightens across the West, it’s becoming clear that Beijing’s financial reach extended far deeper into wealthy nations – and far earlier – than most policymakers realized.

One early warning came in 2016, when Jeff Stein, a veteran journalist covering U.S. intelligence agencies, received an unusual tip: Wright USA, a small insurer that specialized in providing liability coverage for FBI and CIA personnel, had quietly been acquired the year before by Fosun Group, a Chinese conglomerate with reported ties to Beijing’s leadership. “Someone with direct knowledge called me up and said, ‘Do you know that the insurance company that insures intelligence personnel is owned by the Chinese?’” Stein recalls. “I was astonished.”

The concern was immediate and obvious. Wright USA held personal information on some of the most sensitive employees in the federal government. The question in Washington became not what the Chinese buyer intended, but who might ultimately gain access to the data. Newly released records reviewed by the BBC indicate that Chinese state banks helped finance the acquisition, routing a $1.2 billion loan through the Cayman Islands to enable Fosun’s purchase.

Though the deal violated no U.S. laws, it triggered alarm. Stein’s story in Newsweek soon prompted a rare inquiry by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the Treasury-led interagency panel responsible for policing foreign ownership risks. Within months, Wright USA was sold back to American owners. Neither Fosun nor Starr Wright USA, its new parent, responded to requests for comment.

High-level intelligence officials say the episode was among the cases that pushed the first Trump administration in 2018 to significantly tighten U.S. investment screening – part of a broader shift as the U.S. began rethinking a two-decade-old presumption that Chinese capital posed few national-security risks.

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CCP Linked Entities Hold Properties Adjacent to Military Bases Across the US

Over the past few years, several sensitive properties near U.S. military bases have been purchased by Chinese entities linked to the Chinese Communist Party. In 2022, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a government panel that reviews foreign purchases of American land or companies for national security risks, received a tip that a company called MineOne had bought land within a mile of an air base.

The report triggered a national security review. MineOne, which is majority owned by nationals of the People’s Republic of China, purchased 12 acres within one mile of Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming and began converting the property into a cryptocurrency-mining facility.

Also in 2022, Chinese billionaire Zhong Shanshan purchased 23 acres of industrial land in Nashua, New Hampshire, for $67 million. The site is close to L3Harris Technologies, near BAE Systems’ electronic systems division, and within 30 minutes of New Boston Space Force Station. The sale bypassed CFIUS review despite its proximity to these defense facilities.

In 2023, Fufeng Group bought 370 acres about 12 miles from Grand Forks Air Force Base. The company’s chairman, Li Xuechun, served as a deputy to the Shandong Province People’s Congress and was honored as a provincial Model Laborer. Grand Forks Air Force Base was being expanded at the time to lead future intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations. Fufeng leadership has repeatedly emphasized the Party’s role in guiding the company’s development. The project was halted after Pentagon objections.

That same year, Chinese real estate tycoon Sun Guangxin spent tens of millions to buy more than 140,000 acres near Laughlin Air Force Base, where U.S. military pilots train. Sun is a former captain in the People’s Liberation Army with close links to the CCP. His senior advisers are former PLA generals, and he operates dozens of CCP grassroots branches. The land includes a private runway and sits between Laughlin Air Force Base and the U.S.-Mexico border. Sun is the wealthiest businessman in Xinjiang Province and a long-time CCP member.

Some of these problematic purchases are harder to trace back to the Chinese Communist Party because they are carried out through layers of shell companies and intermediary entities, sometimes using U.S. or Canadian residents to further obscure CCP involvement. One example is the network of companies connected to Esther Mei and her husband, Cheng Hu, which corporate and property records show has acquired land beside several sensitive U.S. military installations.

One of these properties, the Knob Noster Trailer Park in Missouri, sits directly outside Whiteman Air Force Base, home of the B-2 Spirit nuclear-capable stealth bomber fleet.

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US approves new $330m arms deal for Taiwan

Washington has cleared a $330-million package of aircraft parts and maintenance support for Taiwan on 13 November, marking the first US arms sale since President Donald Trump returned to office. 

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry welcomed the approval and thanked Washington for continuing what it described as a policy of regularized arms sales.

The State Department decision includes equipment, spare parts, and repair services for Taiwan’s fleet of US-made F-16 and C-130 aircraft, as well as components for its domestically produced Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF). 

The Pentagon said the proposed sale “will improve the recipient’s capability to meet current and future threats by maintaining the operational readiness of the recipient’s fleet of F-16, C-130,” and other aircraft.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said the package will help maintain fighter readiness, bolster air defenses, and strengthen the island’s ability to respond to China’s “gray-zone” incursions. 

President Lai Ching-te’s government has vowed to ramp up defense spending amid China’s continued military pressure around the island. 

Taiwan’s presidential office called the deepening security partnership with Washington “an important cornerstone of peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.”

Beijing expressed anger at the sale, repeating its claim that Taiwan is part of its territory. 

China’s Foreign Ministry said “the Taiwan question is the core of China’s core interests and the first red line that must not be crossed in China–US relations,” and warned that China will do what is necessary to defend its “sovereignty, territorial integrity and security.”

Taiwan requested the package earlier this year, seeking “non-standard components, spare and repair parts, consumables and accessories, and repair and return support for F-16, C-130, and Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) aircraft,” according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

Trump has said Chinese President Xi Jinping told him he would not invade Taiwan while Trump is in office, a remark made after the two leaders met in South Korea as trade discussions continued. 

Reuters reported there had been “fear in Taipei that there could have been some sort of ‘selling out’ of Taiwan’s interests,” which did not materialize as Washington proceeded with the sale.

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Spy Agencies Cozied Up To Wuhan Virologist Before Lying About Pandemic

A close collaborator of virologists who studied coronaviruses in Wuhan frequently advised America’s top spy agency in the lead-up to the pandemic, and that same agency suppressed intelligence on the parallels between COVID-19 and their research.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s (ODNI) hub for foreign biological threats dismissed the intelligence pointing to a lab accident in Wuhan as “misinformation” in January 2021, two former government sources who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive internal meetings told the Daily Caller News Foundation. New documents show that intelligence risked implicating ODNI’s own bioengineering advisor — University of North Carolina professor Ralph Baric.

Baric, who engineered novel coronaviruses with the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), advised ODNI four times a year on biological threats, according to documents released Oct. 30 by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.

Baric did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.

The professor’s ties to American intelligence may run even deeper, the documents reveal, as ODNI facilitated a meeting between the CIA and Baric about a project on coronaviruses in September 2015.

The email exchange with the subject line “Request for Your Expertise” shows an unnamed government official with a CIA-affiliated email address pitching a “possible project” to Baric relating to “[c]oronavirus evolution and possible natural human adaptation.”

The new documents shed a bit of light on a question members of Congress have posed for years: Whether our own intelligence agencies knew more about the likelihood of a lab origin of COVID than they told the public.

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American B-2 Stealth Bomber Fleet and a CCP-Linked Trailer Park, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

A trailer park, a billionaire linked to Chinese Communist Party intelligence services, and a U.S. nuclear bomber facility. It would be rejected by Hollywood as too far-fetched for a movie plot, but the story is frighteningly real.

A foreign-owned trailer park in rural Missouri sits directly beside Whiteman Air Force Base, the home of America’s nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bomber fleet. The Knob Noster Trailer Park lies less than a mile from the runway, separated from the base by only a fence. Business records show the property was acquired in 2017 through a maze of shell companies ultimately controlled by a Canadian couple, Esther Mei and Cheng Hu.

The couple has documented ties to Chinese tycoon Miles Guo, also known as Guo Wengui or Ho Wan Kwok, who has described himself as a former intelligence “affiliate” of the Chinese Communist Party. Guo was convicted in July 2024 on nine federal counts, including racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering in a billion-dollar fraud scheme.

Guo Wengui rose from a poor village in Shandong to become a flamboyant Beijing real estate tycoon operating in the gray zone between business and the Chinese security state. He functioned as a “white glove,” facilitating deals and protection for powerful officials while amassing wealth through politically connected construction projects. A key relationship was with Ma Jian, the powerful head of Chinese counterintelligence in the Ministry of State Security, with whom Guo later admitted having a long-running partnership as an “affiliate” of the security services.

Ma Jian allegedly used his position to shield Guo’s businesses and crush rivals, including an episode where a vice mayor who blocked one of Guo’s projects was brought down using compromising surveillance footage, clearing the way for Guo’s development. Guo cultivated access to senior Chinese and foreign elites, hosted lavish dinners, maintained a garage full of supercars, and even acted as a cutout to meet the Dalai Lama on behalf of Chinese intelligence.

In 2015, after a high-stakes business dispute and the arrest of Ma Jian, Guo fled China, reportedly leaving just ahead of his own likely detention. He settled first in the UK and then in New York, where he purchased a $67.5 million penthouse in the Sherry-Netherland and quickly became a person of interest to U.S. authorities.

He met repeatedly with the FBI, providing detailed information on the finances and personal lives of Chinese leaders, including Xi Jinping’s family, effectively trading intelligence for protection. At the same time, he began reinventing himself as an anti-CCP dissident and built a media and political ecosystem in the United States.

In 2017, Steve Bannon needed new financial backers and found in Guo a wealthy partner who shared an aggressive stance against the Chinese Communist Party. Together they launched ventures such as GTV Media Group and promoted the “New Federal State of China,” a self-styled anti-CCP “government in exile” announced in a choreographed event on a boat in New York Harbor.

Guo’s media outlets promoted conservative content, targeting mainly Chinese expatriates and right-wing circles. He simultaneously pushed branded products, cryptocurrencies, and investment schemes that raised hundreds of millions of dollars until the SEC ruled several offerings illegal and forced large restitution, leading to GTV’s shutdown.

Despite presenting himself as a champion of Chinese freedom, Guo waged aggressive campaigns against long-established Chinese dissidents in the West, mobilizing followers to harass them at their homes and accusing them of being CCP spies using classic Communist rhetoric. At one point he publicly offered to “atone” to Beijing, asking the Chinese leadership to assign him a “clear, targeted task” to prove his patriotism and support for Xi Jinping.

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Privileged Marxist Streamer’s Pro-China Propaganda Backfires Spectacularly When He Experiences the Cold Reality of the Communist Chinese Regime

One of the most loathed and privileged ‘influencers’ in America got a reality check overseas while attempting to spread Marxist lies to millions of Americans.

As Newsweek reported, wealthy communist streamer Hasan Piker and several of his influencer friends visited the People’s Republic of China this week. The purpose behind the trip was to brainwash Piker’s low-IQ audience into believing the authoritarian regime was an ideal counter to America, which Piker has regularly disparaged.

Part of their trip involved attending an event held at Tiananmen Square in Beijing honoring Chairman Mao Zedong, an evil dictator reportedly responsible for the deaths of up to 65 MILLION Chinese people. This is where Piker’s trip took an ironic and deserved turn.

One of Piker’s comrades then made a critical mistake while at Tiananmen Square; he held up a meme depicting Piker as Mao, accompanied by the following text: “Closely follow the great leader Chairman Mao forward in the revolution!”

The Chinese police were not amused and immediately took action.

WATCH:

BREAKING: Chinese security police harassed Hasan Piker while he was live streaming in Tiananmen Square.

Hasan’s live stream went down for 10 minutes after Chinese security officials saw Hasan hold up a Chairman Mao meme on his phone.

They immediately pulled his entire crew… pic.twitter.com/qjjXzEkZJy

— Drew Pavlou (@DrewPavlou) November 11, 2025

The police detained Piker and his comrades, confiscated the phone depicting the Mao meme, and reviewed the image and footage. Piker groveled to the Chinese, claiming he was not mocking Mao but was instead a huge admirer of the murderous tyrant.

Satisfied with his plea, the cops let Piker and his buddies go.

Despite this obvious act of tyranny on the part of the Chinese, Piker learned absolutely nothing from the incident.

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Prosecutors: Ex-Hochul Aide Spied for China, CCP Paid Her Enough to Buy Mansion, Ferrari, Condo in Hawaii

A Chinese former top aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo enjoyed a lavish lifestyle and millions of dollars in kickbacks working as an undeclared agent for China, federal prosecutors claim. 

Linda Sun, 41, is accused of working as an unregistered operative for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and using her position to influence the governors into acting favorably toward Beijing, the Daily Mail reported.

During Sun’s trial on Monday, prosecutors alleged that she earned a government salary of $145,000 but received millions of dollars in side deals orchestrated by Chinese officials. Per a Wall Street Journal report, Sun and her husband, Chris Hu, 42, used their alleged ill-gotten gains to buy a $3.6 million mansion in Long Island, a $1.9 million condo in Hawaii, and a 2024 Ferrari Roma worth $243,300. 

Sun allegedly regularly communicated with CCP insiders and even at Nanjing-style salted duck dinners made by the Chinese consulate chef, prosecutors claimed. She often traveled to China and even celebrated the CCP’s 70th year in power in Beijing, the court heard.

Prosecutors further claimed Sun funneled the money she received from China through Hu’s businesses. The couple is also accused of accumulating $2.3 million in kickbacks from imports on personal protection equipment during the coronavirus pandemic.

Sun began working in the Cuomo administration in 2012 and held various positions, including Global New York Trade Manager, Asian Outreach Director for the Office of the Governor, and Queens Regional Representative, according to the report. She was named “chief diversity officer” in 2018.

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China plans to block rare earth shipments to US military contractors: report

China is reportedly crafting a plan to block the US military from getting shipments of rare earth magnets – even as it eases restrictions on shipments to US companies making electronics and other consumer goods.

Beijing has repeatedly used its near-monopoly over rare earth metals – crucial to make everything from iPhones to military hardware like F-35 fighter jets and drones – in tense tariff talks with the Trump administration.

Beijing is planning a “validated end-user” system that fast-track shipments for approved civilian firms in the US, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the plan. It would allow China’s President Xi Jinping to keep his promise to President Trump about easing exports while cutting out military contractors.

If it is enacted, the plan could cause ongoing headaches for US companies that make “dual use” products or have both civilian and military clients, such as certain automakers and aerospace companies, according to the report.

The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.

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Will the Taiwan Issue Stay Quiet During Trump’s Term?

President Trump professed to be extremely pleased with the results of his recent summit meeting with Xi Jinping in South Korea.  Indeed, with his typical hyperbole, he rated it “a 12 out of 10.” Trump expressed special satisfaction with the conclusion of new trade agreements that significantly eased bilateral economic tensions between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC).  In what amounted to a casual comment, he also stated that he had received a pledge from Xi that the PRC would not take any military action to change Taiwan’s political status during the remainder of Trump’s term.  Interestingly, neither the U.S. nor PRC documents summarizing the summit indicated that the Taiwan issue was discussed at all – a very surprising omission given the usual importance of the topic.

More-neutral observers were less overwhelmed by the summit’s results.  Critics contended that the economic agreements amounted to little more than a temporary cease fire in the tariff wars that had raged between the two countries since Trump took office in January 2025.  The new steps largely restored the status quo ante, with tariff rates mostly returning to the levels that existed before all the recent posturing and blustering by Washington and Beijing.

Trump’s comments about his alleged pledge from Xi are more interesting and potentially much more significant.  If such a substantive “understanding” now exists between Beijing and Washington that the PRC will not take any military actions to change Taiwan’s political status, it would ease tensions in an especially volatile and dangerous global geostrategic hotspot.  There are, however, some reasons to doubt Trump’s rosy interpretation.  For one thing, the alleged pledge would be a sharp change in Beijing’s rhetoric and conduct for the past several years.

The PRC sought to strangle Taiwan in the global diplomatic arena throughout the 8-year tenure of former Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen.  In response to vigorous lobbying campaigns by Beijing that combined roughly equal amounts of bribery and threats, 10 of the 22 small nations that still maintained diplomatic relations with Taipei when Tsai took office in 2016 switched ties to Beijing.  The attempted intimidation, coercion, and isolation of Taiwan occurred not only on the diplomatic front, however.  Beijing also sharply increased the number and scope of its military exercises in the vicinity of Taiwan.

Both trends have grown more pronounced under Tsai’s successor, Lai Ching-te (William Lai) since he took office in May 2024.  The PRC’s menacing military maneuvers are especially noticeable.   Beijing dislikes Lai even more intensely than it did Tsai.  She was a member of the “light green” (more restrained and pragmatic) faction of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).  Lai unsubtly favors the goal of formal independence that the “deep green” faction pursues.  His confrontational course seems aimed at securing eventual international recognition of Taiwan’s (currently de facto) independence and a firm commitment from the United States and its allies to defend Taiwan from PRC coercion.

Lai also is waging a bitter internal political war with the more moderate Kuomintang Party, which favors a decidedly softer, less confrontational policy for dealing with Beijing.  The DPP and its rival have both adopted highly questionable tactics to undermine the other.  It is an increasingly tense political environment with Lai holding the presidency but a KMT-led coalition controlling the legislative branch. In July, 2025, voters rejected an effort by Lai to purge targeted opposition legislators through an unprecedented recall vote.

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China Tops US With The World’s Biggest Prison Population

America has one of the world’s largest prison populations, with an estimated 1.7 million people in confinement.

Going further, America’s incarceration rate is the fourth-highest in the world. Despite being a developed economy, its prison population is more than double that of Russia, India, and Brazil combined.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Dorothy Neufeld, shows the countries with the most prisoners, based on data from the Prison Policy Initiative.

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