How Chinese criminal networks fuel illicit markets across the Americas Brookings
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China Watch
Silenced by China, Hong Kong struggles to voice its grief over the Tai Po fire disaster Taipei Times
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The Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control holds a hearing on Chinese drug trafficking through Latin America to the United States on Tuesday, December 9.
The hearing seeks to “uncover how the Chinese mafia drives synthetic opioid trafficking to the United States in the context of increased Chinese investment and trade with Latin America and the Caribbean.”
The hearing comes as Democrats continue to claim that the Trump administration is issuing illegal orders in their strikes against narco-terrorist drug boats in the Carribean.
China Erupts: Furious Workers Riot As Factories Collapse Under Trump’s Tariffs AOL.com
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CCP Media Signals Leadership ‘Can Rise and Fall’ as Douyin Users Defy Censorship Vision Times
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The tariffs will apply to goods from China and other nations. Washington has been pressuring Mexico to move away from dealing with China.
from www.nytimes.com
Protests erupt in China’s Guizhou province over cremation mandate The Guardian
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President Donald Trump spoke with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping by telephone on Monday and said he has accepted an invitation from Xi to visit Beijing in April for a face-to-face meeting.
The Chinese government officially announced the phone call between Trump and Xi first, describing it as an upbeat and friendly conversation about issues including Ukraine, Taiwan, and international trade.
“As far as I know, the call was initiated by the U.S. side, and the atmosphere was positive, friendly, and constructive. Communication between the two heads of state on issues of common concern is very important for the stable development of China-U.S. relations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Tuesday morning.
According to the Foreign Ministry, Xi stressed during the call that China’s authority over Taiwan is an “integral part of the postwar international order,” and suggested the U.S. and China should “jointly safeguard the victory of World War 2.”
Those of us paying attention noticed that among the illegals flowing over our borders during Biden’s Handlers’ term were thousands—perhaps tens of thousands—of military aged, fit Chinese men. We also took note that no one enters or leaves China without the commie’s consent, and the people showing up at our borders didn’t walk across the Pacific. The Biden DHS was eventually forced to grudgingly admit that at least some of those guys just might be members of the Chinese military. They didn’t inform us what they did with them, so we can reasonably believe most, if not all, remain in American and we have no idea of their locations or identities.
We also know China, through various cutouts, has been buying up large swaths of American farmland, and plenty of that adjacent to military installations. The Bidenites were unconcerned, even helpful to the commies. Sure, a few congressmen raised alarms, but our number one international “competitor” undergoing a massive military buildup to include intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles, continues to buy land in places that allow them to spy on our military installations—and worse.
Space-Guided Supremacy: How China’s Satellite Systems Strengthen its Missile and Hypersonic Forces Small Wars Journal
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If you judge by the actions of the Fourth Plenum, you’d have had reason to believe Chairman Xi staved off the challenge to his authority. After it was confirmed by Chinese state press that Ma Xingrui, one of Xi’s strongest lieutenants, has been detained by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), it appears he did not completely silence real dissent from within. The CCDI is controlled by military leadership.
The next target appears to be Cai Qi, the director of the Central Office, who hasn’t been seen or heard from in several weeks. Should Cai Qi not re-emerge, the move would be seen as the military seeking to assert more sovereignty apart from CCP leadership, which is the source of Xi’s power over the military at present.
CCP Under Siege: Zhang Youxia Personally Detains Xi Loyalist Cai Qi Vision Times
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Political shockwaves are once again rippling through Beijing as two of leader Xi Jinping’s most powerful lieutenants — men once seen as untouchable — are now rumored to be under direct scrutiny from China’s military investigators. According to reports, former Xinjiang Party Secretary Ma Xingrui has reportedly been taken away for a probe by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).
Meanwhile, Politburo Standing Committee member and Central Office (Zhongban) Director Cai Qi (who hasn’t been seen in public for weeks) remains radio silent. Now, new reports allege that on Nov. 8, military discipline inspectors escorted him out of a Guangzhou hotel. The Politburo acts as China’s top ruling body.
Analysts believe the military is zeroing in on two of the most sensitive posts in the Party-state system: Cai Qi, director of the Central Office (who oversees the Central Guard Bureau), and Wang Xiaohong, China’s minister of public security — the two most important positions tied directly to physical control of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) top ranks.
The Dutch government on Wednesday said it suspended its intervention at Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia, following constructive talks with Chinese authorities.
“We see this as a show of goodwill,” Dutch Economy Minister Vincent Karremans said in a statement, posted on social media platform X.
Guinea-Conakry, China Sign Alumina Refinery Deal Energy Capital & Power
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Diplomatic dispute deepens between Tokyo and Beijing over Taiwan remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
China will again ban all imports of Japanese seafood as a diplomatic dispute between the two countries escalates, Japanese media report.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News agency said on Wednesday that the seafood ban follows after China earlier this month lifted import restrictions on Japanese marine products, which were imposed by Beijing in 2023 after the release of treated radioactive water from Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.
The term “smart city” fails to fully capture the integrated data system that is the Pudong New Area of Shanghai. Chinese authorities call it the “city brain,” a centrally controlled A.I. center that surveils and manages the city and its inhabitants. It offers a disturbing preview of future urban governance, built on a previously unimaginable level of monitoring and control. Since 2017, this system has linked hundreds of government databases to tens of thousands of sensors, effectively turning an entire urban district into a single, real-time data object.
Officials defend the surveillance for its tangible rewards: cleaner neighborhoods, faster emergency response, smoother traffic, and better protection for isolated seniors. Those benefits help explain why many citizens accept the system. But the costs are equally real. It normalizes penetrating, constant visibility, the steady expansion of behavior-based penalties, and an infrastructure that is also used for political and social control.
How Xi’s ongoing battle against PLA corruption shapes China’s military future South China Morning Post
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A former top aide to New York’s Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul is accused of secretly spying for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) while collecting millions in kickbacks and enjoying a lavish lifestyle, federal prosecutors say.
Linda Sun, 41, who also served under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, allegedly used her high-ranking state positions to advance Beijing’s interests and influence both governors to act favorably toward China, according to The Daily Mail.
Prosecutors allege that despite earning an official government salary of $145,000, Sun and her husband, Chris Hu, 42, funneled millions they earned from spying for the Chinese Communist Party.
Russia will issue government bonds denominated in Chinese yuan for the first time next month, the Finance Ministry announced Wednesday.
The ministry said it would offer two series of OFZ bonds, each worth 10,000 yuan ($1,400), with maturities ranging from three to seven years and interest payments every six months.
Investors will be able to buy and receive payments either in yuan or rubles, it said in a statement.
Order placements are scheduled for Dec. 2, with the sale itself planned for Dec. 8.
The Finance Ministry did not specify the total amount of its yuan bonds, saying it would be determined after assessing investor demand. Reuters reported last month that the ministry was preparing to issue up to 400 billion rubles ($4.9 billion) worth of yuan bonds.
China’s nuclear carrier could mount a Mach 5 hypersonic railgun to hunt missiles Interesting Engineering
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BEIJING: China said on Monday (Nov 10) it would suspend for one year “special port fees” on US vessels “simultaneously” with Washington’s pause on levies targeting Chinese ships, as a fragile trade truce between the superpowers continues to take shape.
The United States and China have been involved in a volatile trade and tariff war for months, but agreed to walk back some punitive measures after presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met last month in South Korea.
At one point, duties on both sides had reached prohibitive triple-digit levels, hampering trade between the world’s two largest economies and snarling global supply chains.
The suspension of the port fees, which applied to ships operated by or built in the United States that visited Chinese ports, began at 1.01pm (5.01am GMT) on Monday, a transport ministry statement said.
China Lifts Export Restrictions on Critical US Materials Discovery Alert
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A Chinese consul general in Japan threatened to decapitate the nation’s new prime minister over her comments in defense of Taiwan, prompting outrage in Tokyo and underscoring the rising tension between the two regional powers.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who took office last month, told a parliamentary committee Friday that a Chinese blockade of Taiwan would likely create a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan — one that could compel Tokyo to deploy its Self-Defense Forces in response. The democratically governed island sits just 60 miles from Japanese territory.
Xue Jian, the Chinese consul general in Osaka, fired back in a since-deleted X post on Sunday: “That filthy neck that barged in on its own — I’ve got no choice but to cut it off without a moment’s hesitation. Are you prepared for that?”
A federal appeals court upheld a Florida law on Tuesday that restricts Chinese nationals and entities affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from making land purchases in the state.
In a 2-1 ruling, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the group of Chinese nationals challenging parts of the law (SB 264) lacked standing to bring their suit. The decision comes after the district court denied plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction blocking the statute’s enforcement.
“After careful review, and with the benefit of oral argument, we affirm the denial of the plaintiffs’ preliminary injunction motion as to the registration and affidavit requirements. But we reverse and remand for the district court to deny the preliminary injunction motion without prejudice as to the purchase restriction because none of the plaintiffs have shown they have standing to challenge that provision of SB 264,” the ruling reads. The majority opinion noted how several of the plaintiffs, although they are Chinese citizens, were not “domiciled” in China, and therefore their efforts to purchase property falls outside the scope of the law.
President Donald Trump has moved to cut U.S. fentanyl-related tariffs on Chinese goods in half, following last month’s in-person meeting with China’s leader Xi Jinping in South Korea.
Under a new executive order issued on Tuesday, the tariff will drop from 20 percent to 10 percent beginning November 10.
In the order, Trump stated:
“The PRC [People’s Republic of China] has committed to take significant measures to end the flow of fentanyl to the United States, including stopping the shipment of certain designated chemicals to North America and strictly controlling exports of certain other chemicals to all destinations in the world.”
Trump and Xi met on October 30 on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Busan, South Korea.
After the meeting, Trump said he believed Beijing would take “strong action” to stem the supply of precursor chemicals used to manufacture fentanyl.
Xi Jinping’s Absence Raises Alarms as Zhang Youxia Spearheads PLA Meeting Vision Times
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China’s Rare Earth Export Controls Reshape Global Supply Chains Discovery Alert
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PUTIN ORDERS ‘POSSIBLE FIRST STEPS’ FOR NUKE TESTS: At a meeting of his security council at the Kremlin on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin quizzed his ministers about what to make of President Donald Trump’s recent pronouncement that the U.S. would resume testing of nuclear weapons after a three-decade moratorium.
“I would like to note that Russia has always strictly adhered to its obligations under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, and we do not plan to abandon these obligations,” Putin said, according to the official Kremlin transcript of the meeting. “At the same time, indeed, in my 2023 Address to the Federal Assembly, I said that if the United States or any other state party to the Treaty was to conduct such tests, Russia would be under obligation to take reciprocal measures.”
Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu said Russian analysts have scrutinized the public statements of Trump, Vice President JD Vance, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and they still can’t figure out what the U.S. actually plans to do. “We analyzed these statements, but we are not entirely clear about the United States’ future plans and steps regarding nuclear weapons testing.”
A Norwegian public transport company has found that Chinese-made electric vehicles have security flaws built into them that allow their Chinese manufacturers to remotely access them and even control them. This means they can be turned into saboteurs and user data is going back to the CCP.
Arild Tjomsland, one of the investigators, claimed, “The Chinese bus can be stopped, turned off, or receive updates that can destroy the technology that the bus needs to operate normally.”
Major security concerns have been raised in Norway after safety tests revealed that Chinese-made electric vehicles can be remotely accessed and controlled by their manufacturers in China.
A Norwegian public transport company conducted covert cybersecurity tests on electric buses from both European and Chinese makers.
The investigation sought to determine whether foreign-built vehicles posed a threat to national security.
China will begin easing an export ban on automotive computer chips vital to production of cars across the world as part of a trade deal struck between the US and China, the White House has said.
The White House confirmed details of the deal in a new fact sheet after Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met in South Korea this week.
The nations also reached agreements on US soybean exports, the supply of rare earth minerals, and the materials used in production of the drug fentanyl.
The deal de-escalates a trade war between the world’s two largest economies after Trump hit China with tariffs after he entered office this year, leading to rounds of retaliatory tariffs and global business uncertainty.