June 18, 2026

03a China

White House accuses China of theft of AI technology ahead of summit – National– globalnews.ca

pgnewser April 23, 2026 0

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The White House on Thursday accused China of stealing U.S. artificial intelligence labs’ intellectual property on an industrial scale in a memo that threatens to strain relations ahead of a summit between U.S. and Chinese leaders next month.

“The US government has information indicating that foreign entities, principally based in China, are engaged in deliberate, industrial-scale campaigns to distil US frontier AI systems,” Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, wrote in a memo shared on social media on Thursday and first reported by the Financial Times.

“Leveraging tens of thousands of proxy accounts to evade detection and using jailbreaking techniques to expose proprietary information, these coordinated campaigns systematically extract capabilities from American AI models, exploiting American expertise and innovation,” he added.

The US Takes the Easy Road on China | American Enterprise Institute– www.aei.org

pgnewser April 22, 2026 0

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The Wall Street Journal this month caught up with President Trump’s softness on China, only six years late. The President’s long-standing chase for China deals has pushed the US to avoid hard choices, only to get burned later. The Trump administration hiked tariffs right away, then caved because they didn’t even see vulnerability on rare-earth magnets. There are other glaring blind spots now, starting with land versus pharma.

Somehow Chinese land ownership here may have become the Sino-American issue most discussed outside the beltway. The PRC shouldn’t be allowed to own land near military sites or large amounts of farmland. But it hasn’t, doesn’t, and won’t. Many politicians around the country loudly trumpet solutions to what is currently a minor problem. No harm, no foul? When we simultaneously shy away from much tougher issues, there’s harm.

A mainstay issue being suspiciously soft-played is pharmaceuticals. Our industry is dangerously dependent on China and companies are actively trying to make it worse. Dependence on some Chinese drugs and ingredients for drugs has been recognized since at least 2017. Less recognized is that the leading source of our imports is European nations, now topped by Ireland, which are themselves facing China dependence.

‘China is not a solution’ to Canada’s problems with the U.S., Kovrig says – National– globalnews.ca

pgnewser April 22, 2026 0

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Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig is sounding the alarm about Canada seeking deeper trade ties with China in the face of growing tensions and uncertainty with the U.S., warning the pivot carries significant risks to Canada’s economic security.

Speaking Tuesday at the Future of Business Summit in Ottawa, Kovrig — a longtime China analyst who was arbitrarily detained by Beijing for more than 1,000 days after Canada detained Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou — said Ottawa’s new China strategy is a “risky play” that will not be viewed kindly by Washington and could threaten trade talks.

He pointed to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s criticism last week of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s deal with China, announced early this year, which included importing a limited number of Chinese electric vehicles.

Hormuz is just a ‘dry run’ if China and U.S. go to war in the Pacific, Singapore foreign minister warns– www.cnbc.com

pgnewser April 22, 2026 0

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Should a war break out between China and the U.S. in the Pacific, “what you are seeing in the Strait of Hormuz will be a dry run,” Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said Wednesday.

Balakrishnan made the remarks at CNBC’s CONVERGE LIVE event in Singapore, responding to a question on whether the city-state was facing any pressure from Washington and Beijing to choose between the two.

Singapore has relationships with both the countries, and is uniquely positioned to take advantage of developments in the U.S. and China, Balakrishnan told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick.

The U.S. is Singapore’s largest foreign investor with around 6,000 American companies based in the city-state. Singapore also runs a goods trade deficit with Washington to the tune of about $3.6 billion, according to the office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

China Unveils a Massive 5-Meter Composite Module for its Next-Generation Reusable Rocket– www.universetoday.com

pgnewser April 21, 2026 0

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So far, America has remained ahead in the new space race. But its biggest rival is making continual steps to catch up. China announced another step in that direction with the unveiling of its first ever reusable five-meter-wide composite propulsion module, announced in a press release on April 11th.

The module was designed by the China Aerospace and Technology Corporation (CASC), the primary state contractor for the Chinese space program. Specifically, it was developed at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), which is also known as the First Academy of the CASC. It marks the largest integrated composite structure ever manufactured domestically for China’s aerospace sector. The first prototype was completed in just seven months, from initial design to delivery, underscoring the rapid development timeline.

Composites are becoming a critical feature of modern launch systems. Traditional metal components simply weigh too much. The more structural weight a launch vehicle has to carry into orbit, the less cargo or fuel it is able to carry due to the tyranny of the rocket equation. Composites are significantly lighter while still having the physical properties of metal, allowing for more payloads, or, crucially, more fuel for reentry burns.

AI Competition with China Continues to Heat Up | American Enterprise Institute– www.aei.org

pgnewser April 21, 2026 0

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As major artificial intelligence breakthroughs arrive on what seems to be a near-weekly basis, the race between the US and China continues to intensify. In this post and the next, we will examine the good and bad news for the prospects of American triumph in the battle for AI superiority, a skirmish that could well determine the future of global innovation.

Let’s start with the bad news.

Last week, I attended a hearing of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party entitled “China’s Campaign to Steal America’s AI Edge.” Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) opened the proceedings by asserting that “China’s smuggling of advanced AI chips is a pervasive threat facing law enforcement” and observing that “just last month, the Department of Justice announced a $2.5 billion chip smuggling case, which would be the largest export control violation in US history.”

Moolenaar then asked, “Why is China so desperate to acquire US-designed chips? The reason is obvious. AI is a truly transformative technology. It’s already changing how we fight wars, run our government, and operate companies.” Critically, the chairman contended, “it is essential for the United States to maintain a decisive lead in the AI race. We cannot afford a future where Beijing dominates this technology.”

At the hearing, Dmitri Alperovitch, the founder and chairman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator, echoed Moolenaar, arguing that “we are in a race, and the stakes could not be higher. Artificial intelligence will transform every industry, every battlefield, and every government.” Critically, Alperovitch asserted, “whoever fields the best models running on the best infrastructure will likely win not just the AI race itself but the 21st century. The single most important input to winning is compute—the processing power used to train and run AI models.”

Riot Bots and the CCP

pgnewser April 21, 2026 1

China hopes to soon deploy robots to control future rioters. The People’s Armed Police Force (PAP) is already testing the possibility in preparation for a potential mass riot event.

China may control riots in the future using robots – NewsBytes
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China‘s internal security forces are exploring the use of autonomous machines for riot control, according to a recent study. The research, conducted by engineering experts from the People’s Armed Police Force (PAP), imagines a future where urban unrest is managed without any human intervention. This futuristic approach was envisioned in response to a hypothetical scenario of mass protests triggered by rumors following a military takeover of a large city.

Machine intervention

How will it work?

In the imagined scenario, a large crowd gathers in a central square with the intention of attacking important government sites. However, their protest is met with an immediate response from autonomous machines. Roadblocks are suddenly deployed to cut off their advance and key instigators are quickly identified and captured by these machines. The protesters, cut off from the internet and unable to broadcast their cause, eventually disperse on their own without any direct confrontation with human soldiers or police officers.

Trump’s bid to win influence in Africa hits wall of entrenched China– www.washingtonexaminer.com

pgnewser April 20, 2026 0

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The Trump administration is rehauling its approach to wrestling influence in sub-Saharan Africa from China, an uphill battle against decades of Chinese momentum.

While the end of the Cold War saw the United States assert its unipolar moment over much of the world, this didn’t extend to sub-Saharan Africa, which ranked low on the list of U.S. priorities. The lack of U.S. interest helped facilitate China’s rise in the region, which has exploded since 2000. China’s dominance in sub-Saharan Africa has now exceeded anything ever achieved by the U.S. in the region.

The Trump administration is looking to buck this trend by drastically reworking its approach from previous administrations, switching from an aid-focused model to one of trade, a focus on critical mineral acquisition, and transactional economic cooperation.

Claude puts up a wall as ID checks complicate access for Chinese users– technode.com

pgnewser April 16, 2026 0

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AI tool Claude, developed by Anthropic, suddenly announced the rollout of a new identity verification system requiring users to complete a real-time selfie check while holding a government-issued ID.

The move has drawn global attention, but for Chinese users in particular, it feels like a heavy blow that erects a difficult-to-cross “wall” in AI access.

This verification is not being applied universally to all users at once. Instead, it is being introduced gradually in specific scenarios. When users attempt to access certain advanced features, or as part of routine platform integrity checks and other safety and compliance measures, a verification prompt may appear.

The process itself appears simple and typically takes no more than five minutes. However, users must prepare a government-issued photo ID—such as a passport, driver’s license, or national ID card—and use a camera-enabled device to capture a real-time selfie.

For Chinese users, the impact of this mechanism is both broad and profound. The barrier to entry has been significantly raised: individuals without passports are excluded from using Claude.

Even for those who do have passports, older accounts may become valuable assets, while new users face hurdles due to real-name verification requirements, making normal access increasingly difficult.