Free Republic

From DNA samples to iris scans, Chinese authorities are using free physical exams to gather and store biological data from millions of people who live in the country's far west region of Xinjiang, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday, citing an official document that suggests the government's surveillance program in the region is even wider than previously believed. Xinjiang, the historical home of the Uighur ethnic group, has become a testing ground for heavy-handed, high-tech surveillance measures by the government over the past year. China says the measures are necessary to combat extremist violence, but critics say they violate the...

After the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) had warned that China was trying to recruit German informants for intelligence services via social media networks, Beijing denied these accusations on Monday. They are “baseless accusations” for which there is no evidence, said Lu Kang, a Chinese state department spokesman, adding that the relevant organizations and the German government should act “more responsibly.” The BfV had previously warned that Chinese intelligence were trying to infiltrate parliaments, ministries and authorities with informants, particularly via the professional social media network LinkedIn. […] The BfV added that the aim of Chinese...

The general behind Zimbabwe’s coup may have sought Chinese approval days before the army launched its takeover of Robert Mugabe’s government, it emerged on Wednesday. Mr. Mugabe remained under house arrest, still president of Zimbabwe if in name alone, a prisoner of once slavishly loyal generals who now hold the country’s fate in their hands. As the former British colony faced a deeply uncertain future under military tutelage, a trip to Beijing by General Constantine Chiwenga, the head of the armed forces, last week has reignited concerns about rising Chinese influence in Africa. The general held high-level meetings with officials...

Needy Christians are forced to replace religious images with pictures of the president to get aid. “They think God is their saviour,” an official said. “After our cadres’ work, they’ll realise their mistakes and think: we should no longer rely on Jesus, but on the party for help”. According to some sources, the number of Christians exceeds that of party members.Beijing (AsiaNews/SCMP) – Yugan County, a poor rural area in the southern province of Jiangxi Province, has undertaken a campaign to replace religious faith with faith in the party. To achieve this, the local government is asking people to replace...

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are being treated like royalty on their first official visit to China. Trump and his wife were granted a rare dinner at the Forbidden City, an honor that has not been bestowed on a foreign leader since the founding of the People’s Republic of China 68 years ago.

At the summit of the leaders of the Group of 20 nations in Hamburg in July, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe indicated that Tokyo would be willing to take part in Beijing’s ambitious “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR) economic development plan. The Japanese leader’s decision was apparently prompted by concerns that domestic firms would miss out on lucrative construction projects as the modern-day “Silk Road” project spread into Southeast Asia, the Central Asian republics, the Middle East and beyond. Just three months later — and after conservatives at home raised their eyebrows at such close cooperation with a government that...

snip While the Chinese government has branded all religion a national security threat, of paramount concern is Christianity. Christianity has seen such a dramatic surge in popularity that Christians reportedly outnumber Communist Party members in the country. In response to this phenomenon, the Chinese government announced the imposition of new regulations imposing onerous fines and jail time on Christians who participate in “unauthorized” travel to religious conferences, engage in “unregistered” Christian activities like house prayer, or refuse to abide by laws demanding the removal of any public displays of Christianity. The law also bans members of the Communist Party from...

From toilet-paper dispensers to fast-food restaurants, travel and crimefighting, China is taking the lead in rolling out facial-recognition technology. But while advocates warn it makes life easier, quicker and safer, opponents counter that it is another example of how the Chinese government keeps a sinister and increasingly close eye on its 1.4 billion people. Shanghai and other Chinese cities have recently started deploying facial recognition to catch those who flout the rules of the road. Jaywalkers at some Shanghai intersections have their images flashed up on a nearby screen for public shaming and must pay a fine of 20 yuan...

Chinese President Xi Jinping opened a critical Communist Party Congress on Wednesday with a pledge to build a “modern socialist country” that will never copy the political systems of others and will remain open to the world. […] “Through a long period of hard work, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. This is a new historical direction in our country’s development,” Xi said in a speech carried live across the nation on state television. China will relax market access for foreign investment and expand access to its services sector, as well as deepen market-oriented reform of its...

The United States and human rights groups sharply criticized Monday’s U.N. election for 15 new members of the Human Rights Council, singling out conflict-torn Congo’s victory despite accusations of serious rights abuses and an investigation by the U.N.’s top human rights body. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley called the election “yet another example of why the Human Rights Council lacks credibility and must be reformed in order to be saved.” Haley previously dangled the possibility that the United States could quit the council during a visit to its Geneva headquarters in June, when she lambasted the 47-nation body as a “forum...

The German government has warned the US against withdrawing from the Iran nuclear agreement. US President Donald Trump is expected to decertify Tehran’s compliance with the 2015 deal in a White House speech at 12:45 p.m. (16:45 UTC) on Friday. “We believe this agreement is an important instrument to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran,” German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Friday. “If … an important country like the United States comes to a different conclusion as appears to be the case, we will work even harder with other partners to maintain this cohesion,” he said. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel...

Exiled billionaire Guo Wengui (aka Miles Kwok) claimed China is being controlled by a small clique of crooked high-level officials. Guo also said Chinese security officials earlier this year authorized an escalation of espionage efforts in the United States. Guo's earlier scheduled appearance at a Washington think tank was postponed due to what he said was heavy pressure by China. A controversial Chinese billionaire in self-imposed exile blasted on Thursday what he said was a small clique of corrupt "kleptocrats" running China — as he also warned of a wave of Chinese spies being dispatched to the United States in...

snip According to an interview in Bloomberg Businessweek, Steve Bannon and Henry Kissinger have had several meetings and are preparing a project to sound the alarm about what Bannon views as the primary economic threat to America: If we don’t get our situation sorted with China, we’ll be destroyed economically. The forced technology transfer of American innovation to China is the single biggest economic and business issue of our time. Until we sort that out, they will continue to appropriate our innovation to their own system and leave us as a colony — our Jamestown to their Great Britain, a...

D3000 This crudely made model of the D3000 gives us a vague idea of the concept: a trimaran tumblehome hull, with armament that includes autocannons and anti-ship missiles, as well as launching tubes for small unmanned underwater vehicles, torpedoes, or mines. by78 At the turn of the 20th century, the great powers competed to build the modern-day battleship. Today, a new arms race may be breaking out, this time with robotic warships. The D3000 is a 98-foot-long, stealthy robotic trimaran warship designed to operate autonomously for months. Notably, this system—which appears to be tagged for export—is being offered by the...

When President Trump gave a fiery campaign speech in Huntsville, Ala., on Friday evening, he drew a rapturous roar by ridiculing Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, as “Little Rocket Man.” Among diplomats and national security specialists, the reaction was decidedly different. After Mr. Trump repeated his taunt in a tweet late Saturday and threatened that Mr. Kim and his foreign minister “won’t be around much longer” if they continue their invective against the United States, reactions ranged from nervous disbelief to sheer terror. Mr. Trump’s willingness to casually threaten to annihilate a nuclear-armed foe was yet another reminder of...

President Donald Trump has blocked a Chinese government-financed firm’s acquisition of an Oregon semiconductor maker on national security grounds. Trump’s order Wednesday came after a federal panel that reviews foreign investment for possible security threats ruled against the proposed $1.3 billion takeover of Lattice Semiconductor last week. The deal has been under scrutiny since it became clear the buyer, Canyon Bridge Capital Partners, is funded by the Chinese government. …

One of the keynotes of Father Gruner’s assessment of the crisis in the Church from the Fatima perspective was his exposure and condemnation of the disastrous post-Vatican II policy of Ostpolitik (the politics of the East), according to which the Vatican, acting through its Secretary of State, would conciliate and compromise with communist dictatorships, reversing the Church’s condemnation of communism and her staunch opposition to the tyranny of communist regimes oppressing the Church. Even during the Second Vatican Council, that emerging policy resulted in the Council’s infamous failure to condemn or even mention the evils of Soviet communism in the...

China’s campaign to stamp out use technology that allows web surfers to evade its internet filters is disrupting work and study for entrepreneurs, scientists and students. […] After Beijing began clamping down on use of VPNs in January, dozens of activists and lawyers have been detained and a cybersecurity law tightened control on online data. How many people might be affected is unclear, but consumer research firm GlobalWebIndex says a survey of Chinese web surfers this year found 14 percent use a VPN daily. …

China is joining France and Britain in announcing plans to end sales of gasoline and diesel cars. China’s industry ministry is developing a timetable to end production and sale of traditional fuel cars and will promote development of electric technology, state media on Sunday cited a Cabinet official as saying. The reports gave no possible target date, but Beijing is stepping up pressure on automakers to accelerate development of electrics. China is the biggest auto market by number of vehicles sold, giving any policy changes outsize importance for the global industry. A deputy industry minister, Xin Guobin, said at an...

Back in January, Food and Wine reported that KFC China would be introducing a facial recognition system that would predict your order (it’s not as creepy as it sounds). Now it looks like the brand is enhancing that technology with additional features. According to Reuters, the system lets customers pay by face, just by approaching one of the store's newly unveiled monitors. The new device is located at a KFC outpost in the city of Hangzhou. The facial recognition system is called Smile to Pay, and it’s being featured at a Yum Brands (the company behind KFC) so-called concept store...