Free Republic

Chinese dictator Xi Jinping told his Politburo on Monday that tougher law enforcement in religious affairs was needed to complete the project of “Sinicizing” all faiths, which means making them all subordinate to the authority of the Chinese Communist Party. “Governing religious affairs in accordance with the law is the fundamental way to properly handle various contradictions and problems in the religious field,” Xi told a Politburo study group, as reported by Chinese state media. Xi told the Politburo to “enhance relevant laws and policies, carry out in-depth legal publicity and education, and implement strict law enforcement” to achieve full...

Microsoft hosts ready-to-use political censorship software on its Azure Marketplace in China, further evidence of how the company has aided the development and implementation of the country’s repressive system of political control. An Associated Press investigation revealed American tech companies like Dell, IBM, and Microsoft are increasingly recognized to have played a pivotal role in the construction of the modern Chinese surveillance state over the last two decades by providing critical hardware and software. Less documented is the role some U.S. companies have played in enabling mass censorship. Microsoft in particular aids and abets censorship by the Chinese government far...

Microsoft has terminated a set of services for the Israeli military after an investigation suggested Israel was using the company’s cloud computing technology for mass surveillance of Palestinians. In a statement posted the company’s blog, Microsoft President Brad Smith said the company had “ceased and disabled a set of services to a unit within the Israel Ministry of Defense.” The move comes after an investigation by The Guardian and Israel’s +972 Magazine in early-August reported that Israel’s military intelligence unit, known as 8200, relied on Microsoft Azure to store millions of phone calls made by Palestinians in Gaza and...

A Chinese court has sentenced to death 11 members of a notorious family that ran scam centres in Myanmar, according to Chinese state media. Dozens of members of the Ming family were found guilty of conducting criminal activities, with many receiving lengthy jail sentences. The Ming family worked for one of the four clans that ran Myanmar's sleepy backwater town of Laukkai, close to the border with China, and turned it into a hub for gambling, drugs and scam centres. Myanmar eventually cracked down, arresting many members of these families in 2023 and handing them over to Chinese authorities. A...

Sir Keir Starmer is expected to announce the UK's recognition of a Palestinian state in a statement on Sunday afternoon. The move comes after the prime minister said in July the UK would shift its position in September unless Israel met conditions including agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza and committing to a long-term sustainable peace deal that delivers a two-state solution. It represents a major change in British foreign policy after successive governments said recognition should come as part of a peace process and at a time of maximum impact. The move has drawn fierce criticism from the Israeli...

Hong Kong’s push to become a global gold trading and reserve hub highlights a sharp contrast between real assets and endlessly printed fiat money. While the United States continues expanding its money supply — diluting purchasing power through debt-driven policies — China and now Hong Kong are moving in the opposite direction, stacking tangible wealth in the form of gold. By targeting storage capacity of over 2,000 tonnes within three years and rolling out tokenized gold investment tools, Hong Kong is positioning itself at the center of a new gold-based financial system. Unlike dollars that can be created with a...

In a move described as ‘dystopian’, some public bathrooms in China are forcing users to watch an advert in order to gain access to toilet paper. A video shared by China Insider showed a person scanning a QR code on the loo roll dispenser and watching a short advert, before a few squares of paper are dispensed. If that’s not enough paper, or if you don’t want to watch an advert, you can pay 0.5 RMB – about 5p – to skip the ads. It’s been claimed the system cuts down on waste, with authorities suggesting some people had been...

BANGKOK (AP) — Soldiers in pristine and pressed uniforms marched in lockstep, their boots clacking a steady cadence on the pavement and their eyes following leader Xi Jinping as he drove by in review. Helicopters flew overhead, forming the numbers 8 and 0 in honor of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. There was no shortage of pageantry at Wednesday’s military parade in Beijing, but beyond the spectacle, it also provided the first good look at China’s latest military hardware. New missiles, drones and other high-tech equipment have been added to its arsenal as part of...

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Wednesday criticized the Trump administration’s decision to take a 10% stake in embattled chipmaker Intel , calling the investment “a step towards socialism.” Intel announced last month that the U.S. government made an $8.9 billion investment in Intel common stock, purchasing 433.3 million shares at a price of $20.47 per share, giving it a 10% stake in the company. Intel noted that the price the government paid was a discount to the current market price. Paul said government ownership is “a bad idea.” “It’s always a mistake to say, ’Well we have this one bad...

US President Donald Trump has accused Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping of conspiring against the US with the leaders of Russia and North Korea. Trump's comments came as China hosted world leaders at its largest-ever Victory Day parade in Beijing on Wednesday - a showcase of China's military might. In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: "Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un as you conspire against the United States of America."

America has a hard time building stuff. Roads. Trains. Light rail. Bridges. Housing. Everything takes seemingly forever, if it even happens at all. Meanwhile, there’s China. A country that builds much faster — high-speed trains, solar panels, electric cars, bridges, ports, drones — all churned out at breakneck speed. Why can China do this, and why does it seem like America can’t? There isn’t a single answer to the question about why China can move fast and why we can’t, but Wang offers one I haven’t heard before. He says one of the most important distinctions between the US and...

On Monday August 25, 2025 The New York Times published a lengthy piece entitled,“How China Influences Elections in America’s Biggest City” with the subtitle: “The Chinese consulate in Manhattan has mobilized community groups to defeat candidates who don’t fall in line with the authoritarian state.”Though it’s ostensibly a story just on New York City, the reporting is not confined to matters there. Both a Democrat U.S. congresswoman on a sensitive committee and New York’s Democrat Governor get a looking-at. And while Governor Hochul may not be your governor or mine, she clearly has a seat of national influence, and at...

Research has previously suggested people who drink at least one sugary drink a day are at higher risk of suffering male pattern hair loss. One study by Chinese researchers in 2023 found that younger men who consumed sweet drinks seven times a week had more than triple the chance of having hair loss than men who didn't consume them. In the fresh research, scientists found that across the studies analysed sugary drinks impacted hair density, growth, thickness, shine, and hair loss. In one study in particular, those drinking more than 3500ml per week—roughly 11 cans—were more likely to suffer the...

A US Navy sailor in California has been convicted of espionage for selling the force's secrets to a Chinese agent who recruited him through social media. Jinchao Wei, 25, was convicted of six charges, including espionage, conspiracy to commit espionage, and unlawful export of classified data about US Navy ships. "The defendant's actions represent an egregious betrayal of the trust placed in him as a member of the US military," US Attorney Adam Gordon said in a statement after the verdict was read. "By trading military secrets to the People's Republic of China for cash, he jeopardised not only the...

A technology company in southern China is developing a humanoid robot equipped with an artificial womb, designed to carry and give birth to human children. The project, announced by Kaiwa Technology and expected to debut by 2026, marks a significant step in artificial gestation. As China develops a pregnancy robot capable of full-term human reproduction, experts are closely watching the ethical and scientific implications. Guangzhou-based Kaiwa Technology revealed that the robot will be capable of carrying a fetus through a ten-month gestation cycle and assisting in childbirth. The company says it plans to sell the product for under 100,000 yuan,...

The Trump administration has launched their own 'Manhattan Project' as reports have suggested one of America's largest chipmakers could be partly nationalized. Intel, the largest chip fabricator in the US, has been in talks with Donald Trump over a potential government stake in the company. While the percentage stake the government is asking for has not been made public, nationalizing a company is typically reserved for national emergencies. The government nationalized a number of banks after the 2008 financial crisis and key logistics companies during World War II. It comes amid concerns that America relies too heavily on TSCM, a...

The Communist Party of China imposed a 75.8-percent tariff on Canadian canola products on Thursday, claiming that Canada was intentionally “dumping” underpriced canola seed into the Chinese market to hurt domestic farmers. The measure appeared to be a response to the Canadian government, still under radical leftist Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the time, imposing a 100-percent tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) last year to protect Canada’s fledgling homemade EVs. Chinese state media explicitly mentioned Canada’s “trade protectionist and restrictive measures against China” in reporting the canola seed tariffs, accusing Ottawa of violating World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. Beijing...

PEORIA, Ariz. - The owner of a successful Peoria sushi restaurant, who has lived in the U.S. for more than two decades without legal status, is facing deportation to Hong Kong within weeks. What we know: Kelly Yu was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on May 28 and has been held at the Eloy Detention Center. Her husband, Aldo, said she came to the U.S. when she was 19 and pregnant, seeking a better life and trying to escape China's one-child policy. "She came here 21 years ago," Aldo said Monday, Aug. 11. Homeland Security Investigations confirmed Yu...

Tariffs as high as 145 percent were due to be implemented on goods from China at midnight Tuesday. The last-minute extension came hours after Trump provided a vague response to reporters on extending the deadline on Monday. “We’ve been dealing very nicely with China… they have tremendous tariffs that they’re paying to the United States of America,” Trump said during a press conference at the White House. “We’ll see what happens. They’ve been dealing quite nicely. The relationship is very good with President Xi and myself.” Trump signed a new Executive Order later on Monday. China will now have its...

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday evening extending the U.S.-China tariff truce for another 90 days, just hours before a midnight deadline that would have triggered massive tariff increases on Chinese goods. The order prevents high U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods from snapping back into effect, giving negotiators until mid-November to reach a more permanent trade agreement.What This Extension MeansThe extension maintains current tariff levels rather than allowing them to spike to economically devastating levels. Under the current negotiated arrangement, U.S. "reciprocal" tariffs on Chinese imports stand at 30%, while China's retaliatory tariffs on American goods are at...