Faced with rising social frustrations and public unrest, China’s leaders are ramping up security measures and squelching discordant views on the country’s economic health.A spate of deadly attacks in China in recent weeks—including mass stabbings and car-ramming incidents—has unnerved officials and ordinary people alike, raising concerns that stagnating growth has played a role in fueling unrest and even outbursts of violence, amid an increase in public protests over economic grievances.
In response, the Communist Party’s security czar last month ordered nationwide efforts to “resolve conflicts at the grassroots and nip them in the bud.” China’s top prosecutor urged officials to better protect the rights of low-income workers, job-seeking graduates and vulnerable groups such as the elderly as a way to “strictly prevent extreme cases from happening.”
Xi Jinping urges party to 'turn knife inward'a> to tackle corruption
But the party continues to be plagued by corruption, particularly within the armed forces, raising questions over the military’s much-vaunted battle-readiness. Two former defence ministers have been purged from the party in the past two years for “serious violations of discipline”, a euphemism for corruption.
It comes after China's ties to Syria have grown in recent years as Xi Jinping and Assad announced a "strategic partnership" between their countries during Assad's trip to China in 2023.
He ate his controversial $6.2 million banana art pieceHe is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission on charges of fraud, market manipulation and other alleged violations. He announced the investment in "Old Donald's" project Nov. 25 on X.
His investment offers a financial boost to the president-elect weeks before 'Old Donald' is set to take office, and comes as 'Old Donald' is considering whom to appoint to key financial posts in his administration - including to the SEC, which could drop the charges against Sun if the agency and its chairman desire.The investment raises questions about how and whether America's next president could be influenced through his business ventures, and whether the crypto project, World Liberty Financial, may provide a potential avenue for individuals to seek to curry "Old Donald's" favor.
"Old Donald" transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, asked for comment about World Liberty Financial, did not address the project, saying, “President "Old Donald" removed himself from his multi-billion-dollar real estate empire to run for office and forewent his government salary” when he was president four years ago.
Leavitt did not respond to a question from The Washington Post about whether "Old Donald's" team has concerns about the potential for investors to seek to influence "Old Donald" through World Liberty Financial.
The SEC charged Sun with fraud in March 2023, accusing him of making an unregistered offer and sale of Tronix and BitTorrent, two crypto asset securities. He is also accused of manipulating the secondary market for Tronix and of orchestrating a scheme in which eight celebrities, including actress Lindsay Lohan, influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul and musicians Akon and Ne-Yo, were paid to promote the assets without disclosing their compensation.
“People still carry on with life… but you can feel the change bit by bit,” said the former activist, who did not want to reveal his real name when he spoke to us.
“Our city’s character is disappearing.”
On the surface Hong Kong appears to be the same, its packed trams still rumbling down bustling streets, its vibrant neon-lit chaos undimmed.
Russian intelligence is suspected to be behind the operation.European investigators believe a Chinese-owned commercial ship deliberately dragged its anchor to sabotage the two undersea telecommunications cables cut in the Baltic Sea earlier this month.
European investigators believe the Yi Peng 3 dragged its anchor for over 100 miles along the Baltic seabed from November 17 to 18. They reportedly viewed satellite and other data showing that the vessel moved significantly slower than usual while weighed down by the anchor.
It severed two data cables: one connecting Lithuania and Sweden and another between Finland and Germany. After cutting the second cable, the ship reportedly zig-zagged, raised anchor, and continued.
OBERKOCHEN, Germany—Executives at Zeiss SMT, which makes indispensable components to build the world’s most powerful semiconductors, got some troubling news last fall. Headhunters from Huawei Technologies, the Chinese tech firm, were trying to poach its employees.Staff with access to sensitive Zeiss know-how received LinkedIn messages, emails and calls from Huawei representatives, offering them up to three times their salaries to join the Chinese company, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
China and the U.S. produce more impactful AI research when collaborating together
Analysis of AI’s potential impact on U.S.-China relations is heavily influenced by technonationalism, which emphasizes interstate competition over technological assets108. For instance, the National Security Commission on AI warns that the U.S. “must win the AI competition that is intensifying strategic competition with China” and that “China’s plans, resources, and progress should concern all Americans”36. Such portrayal of China as a threat to the U.S. in the AI arena may hinder scientific collaborations between the two nations. Indeed, these collaborations can be viewed from a national perspective, where the emphasis is on increasing economic competitiveness, ensuring national security, and signaling national prestige. After all, the line between basic and commercial research is thinning, and this is challenging conventional norms about international collaboration and the nature of scientific ownership109. Nevertheless, despite potential spillovers that might work against national interests, such collaborations can also be viewed from a perspective that transcends political agendas—a global perspective where the emphasis is on the advancement of knowledge for the benefit of all.
At the COP climate conference, China has been presenting itself as a stable and reliable global leader, seeking to draw a contrast ahead of a second "Old Donald" era.China's battery-powered buses to transport journalists and negotiators to and from the summit venue, while VIPs are chauffeured in black sports-utility vehicles from Nio, a Chinese maker of luxury EVs.
With "Old Donald" promising to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement, which underpins the international negotiations, much of the world is hoping that China will take on more responsibility in global efforts to curb planetary warning.
'As leaders of major countries, we should not let our vision be blocked by fleeting clouds,' Xi said at the G-20, according to an official Chinese readout. 'Rather, we must see the world as one community with a shared future, and shoulder our historical responsibility.'
Earlier this month, U.S. authorities said China-linked hackers had intercepted surveillance data intended for American law enforcement agencies after breaking into an unspecified number of telecom companies.Senator Richard Blumenthal focused on Elon Musk and the Pentagon's increasing reliance on the super-tycoon's SpaceX services.
"Tesla makes half of its cars and as much as a third of its sales in China," the senator added. "Elon Musk is so concerned about protecting Tesla's market access that he pledged to uphold 'core socialist values' in China. He has been parroting Chinese talking points on Taiwan. Senior Chinese officials are even looking to use Mr. Musk to influence the White House."
Elon Musk is no Kissinger, but may help improve U.S.-China relations, experts say
Yet another unpleasant Panda
Much of the hearing focused on Chinese cyberspies, which gave CrowdStrike Senior VP of Counter Adversary Operations Adam Meyers the chance to use his testimony to discuss a Tuesday report in which his company identified another alleged a Beijing-linked cyberspy crew, Liminal Panda.
Wyne notes that there are more pronounced disagreements within "Old Donald's" circle on China, with some eschewing Republican hawkishness for a more transactional approach that could one day, say, sacrifice commitments to Taiwan or other Asian partners in favor of a grand bargain with Beijing. "America First" worldview would strain core U.S. relationships in Europe and Asia, " Wyne told me. His overriding focus on creating a more balanced economic relationship between the United States and China suggests that he would be willing to make significant concessions.
The first reports emerged just before Xi met his Russian counterpart at the Brics summit earlier in October, overshadowing a gathering that was meant to send the West a defiant message.“China is unhappy with the way things are going,” Mr Green says, “but they are trying to keep their discontent relatively quiet.”
In the past decade, this island roughly the size of Taiwan has become home to China’s most concentrated buildup of modern military power and the launching point for its aggressive forays into the contested waters of the South China Sea.Hainan, China’s southernmost province, now boasts a military support apparatus — buttressed by staggering infrastructure investments in the South China Sea — that analysts say could, if present trends continue, neutralize what has long been considered a U.S. military advantage in a possible head-to-head conflict.
An Israeli strike on Iran could upset China's oil supplies, but Beijing is more interested in looking like a peacemaker than actually making peace, analysts say.At a meeting in Russia aimed at solidifying an anti-Western alliance, Chinese leader Xi Jinping welcomed Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to Iran's first BRICS summit as a full member. He also made a show of Beijing's diplomatic and economic alliance with Tehran as conflict in the Middle East further escalates, and Iran braces for Israel to retaliate against it for recent attacks.
But with violence threatening to bring the long-standing shadow war between Israel and Iran into the open, China is unlikely to force Iran to de-escalate, and the relationship between Beijing and Tehran is more restricted than it appears.
Economically isolated due to a strict international sanctions regime, Iran is dependent on commercial ties with China, its largest trading partner. That, together with their shared distrust of the United States, has contributed to stronger political ties.
Qantas Suspended Sydney-Shanghai flights Virgin Atlantic Ended London-Shanghai flights Lufthansa Non-stop Frankfurt-Beijing flights no longer on flight schedule SAS Scandinavian Suspending Copenhagen-Shanghai flights on Nov. 8 British Airways Pausing London-Beijing flights until at least Nov 2025; reduced Heathrow-Hong Kong services by 50% LOT Polish Suspending Warsaw-Beijing services for the winter Finnair Reducing Helsinki- to-Shanghai flight frequency for the winter
“I had a very strong relationship with him,” 'Old Donald' said of President Xi. “He was actually a really good, I don’t want to say friend - I don’t want to act foolish, ‘he was my friend’ - but I got along with him great.”
He's a very fierce person, 'Old Donald' added.
The former president also cast his relationship with Putin in a positive light, saying: “I got along with him great.”
But 'Old Donald' - who has previously been criticised for praising the Russian leader - said he had threatened him not to invade Ukraine.
He told the Journal that he said to Putin: “'I’m going to hit you right in the middle of fricking Moscow.’ I said, ‘We’re friends. I don’t want to do it, but I have no choice.’ He goes, ‘No way.’ I said, ‘Way.’
“I said, ‘You’re going to be hit so hard, and I’m going to take those [expletive] domes right off your head.’ Because, you know, he lives under the domes.”
With his vows to wage trade wars and end US involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war, 'Old Donald' has branded his foreign policy America First, though detractors say it is isolationist.
'Old Donald' has never fully embraced the new consensus and now stands outside it. On China, he is often at odds with his former staff members, current advisers, the nationalist wing of his party and even his own vice-presidential pick — all of whom see the challenge posed by Beijing more clearly than he does. Left to his own unpredictable impulses, Mr. 'Old Donald' could very well lose this decisive decade for America.Nobody grasps this better than China’s leaders. They saw his term as an accelerant of what they believe to be American decline, and not without reason. Mr. 'Old Donald' focused on U.S. commodity exports instead of long-term manufacturing strength. He alienated allies and partners, mishandled the pandemic response and repeatedly showed disregard for democratic norms. On China policy, he routinely put personal gain over America's interests and undermined important steps his staff members took to compete with Beijing.
Today 'Old Donald' opposes overwhelmingly bipartisan legislation that would ban TikTok unless the app’s China-based owners sell it.
President Biden has taken important steps to deny China the advanced semiconductors it needs to take the lead in artificial intelligence and improve its military weapons, and he has moved to shore up America’s defenses against Beijing’s publicly documented campaign to compromise critical U.S. infrastructure, such as water, gas, telecommunications and transportation, in the run-up to a possible conflict. If, in a second term, 'Old Donald' again elevates his personal interests above the country’s approach to technology competition, it would put these vital efforts at risk.
China is America's most formidable geopolitical rival in a century, and thanks to Mr. 'Old Donald'’s term in office, leaders in Beijing are acutely aware of what he is about and how to manipulate him. They believe China is rising and America is declining. Electing Mr. 'Old Donald' next month risks proving them right.
“The timing of the stimulus shows the government realizes the deterioration of the economy,” said Louise Liu Qian, the founder and chief executive of Wusawa Advisory, a Beijing geopolitical and business consulting firm.
'Beijing is normalizing the use of these large scale military and coast guard activities under the Lai administration,' said Brian Hart, a fellow with the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 'They have made it clear that if they see things that they perceive as provocative from Taiwan that they will respond this way.”
Online commentators have noted the killing happened on a politically sensitive date – 18 September, which is the anniversary of an incident that led to the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in China in the early 1930s.Is This My Country? - read in harnji
“As Chinese citizens, we do not wish to grow up in a land of hatred,” the activists said in a statement co-signed by more than 200 people.
Global trade records reviewed by The Associated Press show a printing company in China's eastern city of Hangzhou shipped close to 120,000 of the Bibles to the United States earlier this year.The estimated value of the three separate shipments was $342,000, or less than $3 per Bible, according to databases that track exports and imports. The minimum price for the 'Old Donald'-backed Bible is $59.99, putting the potential sales revenue at about $7 million.
The 'Old Donald' Bible's connection to China reveals a deep divide between the former president's harsh anti-China rhetoric and his efforts to raise cash while campaigning.
One covert influence operation has focused on Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.), who is running to retain his House seat. A China-linked account on X called Moore “a Jewish dog” and claimed he won his primary because of “the bloody Jewish consortium,” among other derogatory tropes, according to a Post analysis of thousands of posts on X, of which about 75 concerned Moore.Moore, who recently backed new sanctions on Chinese officials, is not Jewish.
We are “seeing this effort [from China] to go viral and drill down into locally relevant issues,” said Kenton Thibaut, a senior resident China fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. “It’s like trying to go from a birdshot approach to a narrowly tailored sniper approach.”
“More and more Chinese and Hong Kong people in Japan are minimizing their participation in public events, especially those related to sensitive issues, because they are concerned about facing retaliation from the Chinese government,” said Tomoko Ako, a China studies professor at the University of Tokyo.
Beyond the crisis in real estate, steep public debt and rising unemployment have hit savings and spending. The world’s second-largest economy may miss its own growth target - 5% - this year.That is sobering for the Chinese Communist Party. Explosive growth turned China into a global power, and stable prosperity was the carrot offered by a repressive regime that would never loosen its grip on the stick.
However in 2023, only 38.8% felt life had got better for their families. And less than half - about 47% - believed things would improve over the next five years.
Meanwhile, the proportion of those who felt pessimistic about the future rose, from just 2.3% in 2004 to 16% in 2023.
Does hard work pay off? Chinese people now say ‘no’
"There’s a big difference between China doing well, and Chinese people doing well."
“We are still in the midst of the national security reordering of the civic space in Hong Kong,” said Thomas Kellogg, executive director of the Georgetown Center for Asian Law. “Public debate and discussion is a shadow of its former self, and the government will continue to use its national security tool kit to police what people say and write.”
In 2020, regulators called off the initial public offering of Jack Ma’s financial technology giant Ant Group, beginning a years-long crackdown on the once-booming Chinese tech industry, which the government views as monopolistic.In recent months, economic tensions between China and the rest of the world have flared because of the sharp increase in Chinese exports. The United States and the European Union worry that China is using unfair trading practices, such as heavy state subsidies, to support these industries, leading to a flood of Chinese products like electric vehicles, solar panels and steel into the global market, potentially damaging industries and jobs in other countries.
Some people, especially in small towns, drive to another city to mail their photos, worried that they might become gossip for neighbors, Liu said. Divorce remains stigmatized in many less-developed regions and tightly knit communities, particularly for women.
Watch out for Good Samaritans with ulterior motives, packages in your mail and college students looking to make a quick buck, China tells its people.The drumbeat is part of a broader push by China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, to make national security the country’s top priority, above other longstanding goals, such as economic development.
In Beijing’s view, that requires far more than strengthening spy agencies or investing in the military. It requires activating every Chinese citizen to be on the lookout, in what China has called a “whole of society” mobilization.
Spies exploit university students to photograph sensitive research sites: MSS
Pens can contain hidden cameras. Lighters can be bugged with listening devices. That dragonfly? Actually a tiny aerial drone. And beware the tissue box, which a guest may bring to a dinner party where major infrastructure projects are being discussed. A recorder may be hidden inside. “Some unassuming daily objects may contain mysteries,” the post said, above a hotline for reporting spies - 中国如何通过领英招募海外间谍
The Chinese state broadcaster CCTV has unveiled details of a second major food scandal to rock the country this year, this time involving wolfberries smoked and soaked in prohibited chemicals.
When asked about the consul general’s involvement, Hochul said, “I believe that the Chinese government, with their behavior, in doing this and working with Linda Sun, is not acceptable – it is a statement by us that we’re not tolerating this. Anybody representing that government needs to move on. That was what we made clear.”Timeline: January 2019: Sun wrote to a PRC official, “I very much value my relationship with the consulate and have done many things to make the relationship between the state and the consulate flourish during my tenure with (Politician-1),” according to the indictment. Though Politician 1 is unnamed, Sun was serving under Cuomo at the time.
“Certainly I have managed to stop all relationships between the TECO and the state. I have denied all (r)equests from their office,” Sun said, according to the indictment.
July 2024: Federal investigators raided a home belonging to Sun and Hu.
Over a period of roughly 14 years, Linda Sun rose through the ranks to become deputy chief of staff to the governor.
But according to federal prosecutors, the 41-year-old used her position to aid Chinese officials, including by blocking Taiwanese diplomats from contacting the state government and covertly sharing internal documents with Beijing.
In return, China allegedly showered Ms Sun and her husband, Christopher Hu, with millions of dollars in kickbacks that helped them buy a $4.1m (£3.1m) house in New York and perks including special home deliveries of salted duck.
Millions of college graduates joining the job market are facing long odds and poor prospects. And China’s population has shrunk two years in a row. In a country where the majority of people had only known the economy to grow rapidly and living conditions to improve, confidence is eroding.Last month, the beauty retailer Sephora, an arm of the French luxury group LVMH, announced that it was cutting jobs because of 'the challenging market.' IBM is shutting its two research and development centers in China.
And China has been steadfastly unwilling to countenance increased immigration to fill the labor gap. The United States, in contrast, has historically been far more open to immigration, although public support will only be sustained if future flows come by way of legal channels—rather than unrestricted migration through the southern border.
"those plants gonna to be built in the US and our peopole are going to man those plants", said 'Old Donald'
Behind the Pageantry of Shen Yun, Untreated Injuries and Emotional Abuse - read in harnji
First in New York City, then in Paris, Toronto and Taipei, the dancers - mostly teenagers and young adults - flipped and vaulted onstage in soaring routines meant to awe and entertain and also to spread the message of Falun Gong, the persecuted Chinese religious movement behind the performances.Since then, the dance group, Shen Yun Performing Arts, has grown into an economic engine for the movement and its leaders, with brisk ticket sales on five continents and holdings of more than $265 million.
Many of the dancers and musicians who spoke to The Times hesitated to share their stories publicly, fearing retaliation by Falun Gong and its spiritual leader. That leader, Li Hongzhi, introduced the movement in China in 1992, at a time when ancient energy-based exercises were surging in popularity. He has led it in exile while presiding over the guarded 400-acre compound in upstate New York where many of Shen Yun's performers live and train.
Some performers who wanted to quit before the group was ready to let them go faced threats and intimidation. Their managers told them they would go to hell or face danger if they left, because they would lose Mr. Li's protection. Seven former performers said they were also told that they would have to repay the cost of tuition if they quit Shen Yun.
It's conventional to say modern China is based on a compromise: we'll make you rich if you don't ask for change. But that makes it sound as though it's a choiceIt's not Edward Wong's purpose to look at China's future, but despite the propaganda flowing out of Beijing nowadays it's clear that the stability which Xi Jinping has brought to China isn't going to be the last word. Wong's finely crafted book shows us why.
... there is a feeling that "Old Donald" being head of US will be better for China's interestes in the long term, and they say this because when you look at what Biden has done they see that Biden has strengthened the military alliances of US around Asia they feel that there's a policy of containmnet now tht Biden has been pushing ....
The world's second-largest economy is in a slump. Foreign investment is at a 30-year low, the property sector is struggling, and the corridors of power in Beijing are looking chaotic, with mysterious purges of several ministers. President Xi Jinping has a chance to turn China’s fortunes around at this year’s Third Plenum. He should put his theories aside, and take a leaf from the history books for inspiration.The conclave, typically held once every five years, can set the stage for significant policy shifts. The meeting in 1978, for instance, was pivotal — it brought about massive changes, moving the country away from “class struggle” to a period of reform and opening up under then-leader Deng Xiaoping. It changed the course of China’s development and brought about decades of generational wealth growth.
China and Russia's naval forces on Sunday kicked off a joint exercise at a military port in southern China on Sunday, official news agency Xinhua reported, days after NATO allies called Beijing a “decisive enabler” of the war in Ukraine.
The exercise, which began in Guangdong province on Sunday and is expected to last until mid-July, aimed to demonstrate the capabilities of the navies in addressing security threats and preserving peace and stability globally and regionally, state broadcaster CCTV reported Saturday, adding it would include anti-missile exercises, sea strikes and air defense.
A Chinese official rejected on Thursday an accusation from NATO members, who said that Beijing has become a "decisive enabler" of Russia's war in Ukraine.A spokesperson for China's Mission to the European Union said a declaration issued on Wednesday by NATO members was "filled with Cold War mentality and belligerent rhetoric."
"We never provide lethal weapons to either party of the conflict, and exercise strict export control on dual-use goods including civilian drones," the spokesperson said in published remarks.
No Job, No Marriage, No Kid: China's Workers and the Curse of 35
China, once the world's economic powerhouse, is facing a significant economic crisis. Over-reliance on the property sector, rising debt, ongoing trade conflicts with the US, demographic shift towards an aging population and government crackdowns on graft under Xi Jinping's "common prosperity" guidelines: All have created a perfect storm for the Chinese economy.
“Too old to work at 35 and too young to retire at 60,” said a viral online post — meaning that people of prime working age lack prospects and older people may need to keep working as the government is considering raising the retirement age. The post goes on: “Stay away from homeownership, marriage, childr
The Chinese Communist Party’s leadership is set to meet on Monday in Beijing for a four-day strategic review of economic policymaking and ideology that typically takes place every five years. China’s latest economic growth statistics are also due on Monday, with economists expecting a slowdown in the second quarter.
After the revelation in April that 23 elite Chinese swimmers had tested positive for a banned substance months before the last Summer Olympic Games, China and the global antidoping authority vigorously defended their decisions to allow them to compete in the Games in 2021. The swimmers, they insisted, had not been doping.
Travis Tygart, head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which monitors and penalizes American athletes if they cheat, testified that WADA has failed for years to properly punish Chinese and also Russian sports teams that regularly use performance-enhancing drugs.
"Russia and China have been too big to fail in [WADA's] eyes and they get a different set of rules than the rest of the world does unfortunately," Tygart said.
The result is that military-age men from China seeking to move to the United States by crossing the border from Mexico are framed as dangerous members of a traitorous fifth column, even if they’re entering as refugees fleeing the Chinese government. Military-age men from China attending college in the United States, though? They should get fast-tracked immigration status, even if the Chinese government has helped promote their education.Squaring this circle requires nothing more complicated than figuring out which of those immigrants is an America-hater. Simple enough.