Free Republic

The closure of the Polish-Belarusian border has frozen a key route for Chinese exports to the European Union, prompting Beijing to put pressure on Warsaw to reopen it and restore the freight link, which is worth €25 billion a year. Poland took the decision to close its frontier with Moscow-allied Belarus ahead of joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises, codenamed Zapad 2025, which started on Friday. Following last week’s Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace, officials said the border closure would be in force until further notice. Three freight rail crossings, one for cars and another for trucks have been shut. The...

Beijing called Washington's proposal for the G7 and NATO nations to impose tariffs on China and other nations that purchase Russian oil a "typical act of unilateral bullying" and "economic coercion" on Monday, threatening retaliatory actions if the proposal is implemented. According to PTI, as the US and Chinese delegations reassembled in Spain on Monday for the second day of their discussions on trade and economic matters, China rejected the US drive.​ Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Lin Jian stated during a routine news briefing that China's regular energy and economic cooperation with nations worldwide, including Russia, is acceptable, legal, and...

A Chinese immigrant who is running for U.S. Congress slammed far-left gun control activist David Hogg this week at gun control debate, telling him that he needed to go to communist China to see what the impacts of total gun control are. Lily Tang Williams, who is running as a Republican in New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District, confronted Hogg on Wednesday at Dartmouth University. “I am a Chinese immigrant who survived communism,” she began. “And under Mao, 40 million people were starving to death after he sold the communism to them. And 20 million people died, murdered, during his cultural...

Pre-order sales of Apple's new iPhone 17 series have got off to a robust start in China, shattering previous records despite delays in the shipment of the iPhone Air.In the first minute after pre-orders began at 8pm Friday local time, sales on JD.com -- one of China's largest online shopping platforms -- surpassed the first-day pre-order volume of last year's iPhone 16 series, according to the e-commerce operator. The standard iPhone 17 with 256GB of storage emerged as the most popular variant, JD.com said.Those numbers excluded the iPhone Air, the company's thinnest model ever, as its release has been postponed...

The conflict itself would likely play out in several phases. The opening week would be defined by missile barrages aimed at Taiwan’s defenses and US forward bases, along with cyber and space attacks to blind command networks. Taiwan’s dispersal plans and mobile launchers would mitigate, but not eliminate, the damage. The next phase would be the battle for sea denial. Submarines, mines, and long-range anti-ship weapons would be hurled against convoys carrying PLA troops and supplies across the Strait. Geography favors the defenders, but China’s proximity and numerical advantage mean some ships would get through. The outcome of this battle...

Subic Bay, about 55 miles northwest of Manila, sits within striking distance of China. The United States is moving forward with plans to establish what could become the world’s largest weapons manufacturing hub in the Philippines’ Subic Bay, once home to the biggest US naval base in Asia, to counter China’s expanding military presence in the region. The plans got a real push when Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. inaugurated HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Philippines’ new shipyard at the former Hanjin complex, now renamed Agila Subic by American investment firm Cerberus Capital Management. Backed by US and South Korean...

Fox News Channel will debut a new weekend programming lineup beginning Saturday, Sept. 20, FOX News Media President & Editor-in-Chief Jay Wallace announced on Wednesday. "Outnumbered" co-host Kayleigh McEnany will begin hosting her own program "Saturday in America" at 10 a.m. ET on Saturdays, while Griff Jenkins will join "FOX & Friends Weekend" as the third co-host alongside Rachel Campos-Duffy and Charlie Hurt.

Oracle and Walmart’s plan to buy TikTok’s U.S. operations has been pushed back indefinitely, as President Joe Biden reviews former president Donald Trump’s efforts to address potential security risks from Chinese tech companies, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Oracle’s stock was slightly positive in premarket trading Wednesday and Walmart’s was slightly negative. Trump pushed TikTok to find an American buyer by threatening to ban the popular video app due to concerns that its Chinese parent company ByteDance could hand over U.S. users’ data to the Chinese government. TikTok has denied that this...

Microsoft’s bid to purchase TikTok’s US operations was rejected, the company announced Sunday, with Oracle reportedly winning the bid to help run the popular social media app in the states. The deal between Tiktok’s Beijing-based owner ByteDance and Oracle is not believed to be structured as an outright sale, a source told The Wall Street Journal. Instead, the software giant is set to be the app’s “trusted tech partner,” in the US, the report said.

TikTok's US footprint is saved in a deal that includes Oracle and Walmart owning 20% of a newly formed TikTok Global and an IPO within 12 months. Oracle said it will be TikTok's cloud provider in a deal that gives it a 12.5% stake in the social media network and a key reference customer. Walmart will own a 7.5% stake and explore the intersection of TikTok and e-commerce. In a statement, Oracle said "the technical decision" by TikTok was based on the Zoom reference account. However, TikTok, owned by ByteDance, was facing a Sunday shutdown order over security concerns by...

TikTok has reached an agreement to partner with software giant Oracle, a landmark deal that could redefine how the U.S. and China square off over the reach of their homegrown technology companies. The deal, which was confirmed Sunday by a source with direct knowledge, comes after the Trump administration pressured TikTok to sell its U.S. business over concerns about the threat to national security. The administration alleged that the company's ties to China through its parent company, ByteDance, meant it would have to hand over data about Americans if asked by China's government. TikTok has denied that it would hand...

President Donald Trump said U.S. enterprise software giant Oracle is “a great company” when asked if if it would be a good buyer for TikTok. His endorsement for Oracle, co-founded by billionaire Larry Ellison, comes after reports that the Californian tech firm is interested in buying TikTok’s North America, Australia and New Zealand businesses from Chinese parent company ByteDance. Speaking at an event in Yuma, Arizona, Trump said: “Well, I think Oracle is a great company, and I think its owner is a tremendous guy. He’s a tremendous person. I think that Oracle would be certainly somebody that could handle...

The very fighters Beijing cites as justification for its hardline policies in Xinjiang – the Uyghurs of the Turkestan Islamic Party – have now been folded into Syria’s military establishment.Syrian Free Army soldiers and Coalition Forces assigned to the 10th Mountain Division, Task Force Armadillo provide security after departing a CH-47 Chinook during cold and hot load air assault training at Al-Tanf Garrison, Syria, on Feb. 23, 2025. When Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorial regime collapsed in late 2024, Beijing lost a familiar ally in Damascus. For more than a decade, China had backed Assad under the banner of sovereignty and...

Nepal is in complete meltdown after the government’s insane decision to BAN the internet’s largest platforms under the excuse of fighting “misinformation.” On September 4, 2025, Nepal’s ruling elites declared war on free speech, abruptly banning 26 social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, X, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Reddit, citing “failure to register” under new regulations, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The heavy-handed ban backfired instantly. Thousands of angry young Nepalis, mostly Gen Z, poured into the streets. For years, they’ve lived under corruption, poverty, and elite privilege. Now, with their digital lifeline severed, they erupted in rage....

Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised the strengthening cooperation between Russia and China within the BRICS group, stating that the two countries are actively working to enhance the bloc’s influence as a core mechanism of the international architecture. In an interview with China’s Xinhua News Agency, a partner of TV BRICS, Putin said the two nations are jointly promoting initiatives aimed at expanding the economic development opportunities of member states. “We are actively cooperating with China within BRICS to enhance its influence as one of the core mechanisms of the international architecture. Together, we are promoting initiatives aimed at expanding...

Money laundering isn’t new — and neither is China’s role in it. Millennia ago, Chinese merchants developed schemes to “clean” the profits of commercial trade and avoid taxation. Today, their successors are doing much the same. Only now, they’re laundering billions through the U.S. financial system and fueling one of the deadliest fentanyl-fueled drug crises in American history. In a step in the right direction, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (known as FinCEN) issued a sweeping advisory on Aug. 28 warning that Chinese money laundering networks now represent “one of the most significant money laundering threat actors facing...

Two wars — Ukraine and Gaza — are killing civilians, destabilizing allies, and draining American power. At their core stand Russia and Iran, two regimes that cannot survive without Beijing’s support. If America wants to end these conflicts on terms that serve U.S. interests, it must compel China to use its leverage — or face consequences. Only Donald Trump has the toughness and pragmatism to make that happen. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has leveled cities, created Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II, and cost American taxpayers tens of billions in aid. Hamas’s assault on Israel and the regional...

China fired a warning shot at President Biden when a Chinese-American bank supplied Senate Republicans with records showing millions of dollars flowing from Chinese companies to Mr. Biden’s son Hunter Biden and brother James Biden, said a lawmaker spearheading an investigation of the first family. Cathay Bank, which is based in Los Angeles but has offices in China, voluntarily turned over bank records requested by Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Charles E. Grassley of Iowa. Every other American bank denied the two Republicans’ requests for financial records. “In my mind, it’s the Chinese government telling Joe Biden, ‘We got...

Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Chris Clark, admitted in court Wednesday the president’s son received $664,000 from CEFC China Energy Co. in 2017, contradicting President Joe Biden’s claim Hunter Biden never received money from a Chinese entity. During a hearing before U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, Clark revealed Hunter made over one million dollars in foreign business transactions, including $664,000 from CEFC, a company linked to the CCP and Chinese intelligence.

Committee Chairman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) opened the Sept. 3 hearing, titled "There's a Bad Moon on the Rise," by warning that the United States risks losing the moon to China if NASA's Artemis program falters. The hearing centered on how America can stay ahead in the new space race, with lawmakers pressing the importance of Artemis and reaffirming the need for the Gateway space station and to maintain continuous operations in low Earth orbit (LEO).Witnesses underscored that delays, budget uncertainty, or wavering commitments could undermine both U.S. industry and international alliances, warning that uncertainty could drive partners and suppliers...