Free Republic

Chinese students and scientists who are members of the Chinese Communist Party, attended schools tied to the Chinese military or worked with companies connected to Beijing's theft of U.S. technology have “infiltrated” several top American universities, according to a watchdog group report that raises fresh concerns about America's vulnerabilities to its most fierce adversary. A conservative non-profit oversight group, the American Accountability Foundation, reported that it found nearly two dozen Chinese academics working at elite U.S. schools and labs “who because of the dual-use threat of their research, close ties to the military research sector in China, and/or clear ties...

Federal and local authorities have uncovered what they allege was an illegal biological laboratory operating inside a Las Vegas home owned by a Chinese national. Newly released footage from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shows a dramatic hazmat response as agents hauled bags of medical tubing, vials and containers filled with unknown liquids from the suburban property. During a press briefing on Monday, LVMPD Sheriff Kevin McMahill revealed investigators discovered a 'significant volume of material' stored in refrigerators and freezers throughout the home, including vials and containers holding liquids of varying colors and compositions. Investigators also located 'pathogen-labeled containers'...

Organizations including the Chinese-American Planning Council and the Chinese Progressive Association — both of which have ties to the Chinese Communist Party’s overseas influence network — are among the signatories urging Congress to defund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Border Patrol.Those groups joined more than 1,000 organizations in a coordinated letter demanding that lawmakers halt all funding for federal immigration enforcement agencies, a move that would effectively eliminate interior enforcement and deportation operations nationwide. The letter, organized by Amnesty International USA, does not call for reforms or oversight but for the removal of enforcement capacity itself.

As Prime Minister Mark Carney emphasizes national unity, separatist sentiment is gaining renewed attention in more than one part of the country. In the small central Alberta town of Innisfail, the quiet of Main Street contrasts sharply with the intensity of opinions surrounding the issue. Jeff Olson, owner of Innisfail Bowling and Entertainment, says he is fully behind separation, arguing Ottawa has long treated Alberta unfairly. “The job of the West is to keep the East prosperous. They’ve made that very clear,” Olson said. “We have taxation without representation. It’s getting to a point where the government is spending more...

A previously unreported 2013 Facebook post by China's San Francisco consulate shows then-freshman Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., touting "great potential" for U.S.-China cooperation during a meeting with a senior CCP diplomat, which came during the same time period when Swalwell was allegedly targeted by Chinese espionage efforts.

As federal authorities investigate who is providing funding to anti-ICE protesters in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, a key figure has emerged.American millionaire Neville Roy Singham is believed to have donated substantial sums to organizations that have organized resistance to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions in the city, according to Fox News Digital. Singham is aligned with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and has advocated for the regime’s causes.Earlier this week, a Fox News Digital investigation found several organizations are acting as lead voices in physically mobilizing agitators in Minneapolis, as well as communicating through multiple channels to encourage agitators...

The Supreme Court of Panama has annulled a contract for a Hong Kong company to operate two ports at either end of the Panama Canal, handing President Trump a victory for his security ambitions in the Western Hemisphere and denting China’s influence in the region. The high court said the terms under which CK Hutchison runs the ports of Balboa on the Pacific Coast and Cristobal on the Atlantic side were unconstitutional… (subscription required)

Steep terrain has turned elevation into a fact of everyday life in Chongqing. Beyond the viral images of its dizzying cityscape, CNA traces a quieter human story of adaptation, loss and resilience across generations.SNIP The sprawling metropolis in southwest China is dubbed an "8D city" - an exaggeration of 3D - for its maze-like streets and viral visuals of roads stacked atop buildings. Mountains account for 76 per cent of Chongqing’s land areas, followed by hills at 22 per cent, and flat land at just 2 per cent, according to academic reports. SNIP "When you enter a building from the...

Chinese-Canadian billionaire Xiao Jianhua, who went missing in Hong Kong five years ago, was due to go on trial in China on Monday (Jul 4), the Canadian embassy in Beijing said. China-born Xiao, known to have links to China's Communist Party elite, has not been seen in public since 2017 after he was investigated amid a state-led conglomerate crackdown. The specifics of the probe haven't been disclosed by officials. "Global Affairs Canada, our home office, is aware that a trial in the case of Canadian citizen Mr Xiao Jianhua will take place today," a Canadian Embassy official told Reuters over...

On May 30, 2014, The New York Times published a story by Ian Johnson about what seems to be a concerted government effort to clamp down on Christian churches in Wenzhou, the city with the highest percentage of Christians in China. It has long been known that there are regional differences in official attitudes toward religion, not always reflecting the views of the central government. It is conceivable that the events in Wenzhou could be a relatively local matter. But at any rate one aspect of the story makes one wonder: The provincial head of the Communist party who initiated...

A riot involving around 1,000 people broke out last Saturday in Cangnan county of Wenzhou city, Zhejiang province, resulting in the hospitalization of five chengguan, China's notoriously abusive and under-regulated urban enforcement officials. The alleged cause for the riots was the five's brutally killing a civilian. According to reports, the chengguan "hit the man with a hammer until he started to vomit blood, because he was trying to take pictures of their violence towards a woman, a street vendor." This man later died while being rushed to the hospital. [....] According to eyewitness accounts, the crowd -- which was growing...

Christians have flocked to defend a church in eastern China after Communist Party officials claimed it was an "illegal construction" and announced plans to demolish it Thousands of Chinese Christians have mounted an extraordinary, round-the-clock defence of a church in a city known as the 'Jerusalem of the East' after Communist Party officials threatened to bulldoze their place of worship. In an episode that underlines the fierce and long-standing friction between China's officially atheist Communist Party and its rapidly growing Christian congregation, Bible-carrying believers this week flocked to the Sanjiang church in Wenzhou hoping to protect it from the bulldozers....

New York City socialists are mustering an army of more than 4,000 anti-ICE activists to form “rapid response” battalions and obstruct the feds in an expected imminent crackdown on illegal migrants in the Big Apple. Mayor Mamdani’s comrades with the DSA outlined the mission Thursday at a monthly meeting of their Immigrant Justice Working Group in the swanky Midtown digs of the Chinese Communist Party-linked People’s Forum, where photos of communist idols Fidel Castro and Che Guevara decorate the walls. “As we’ve seen in other cities, we still do anticipate a big wave of federal immigration enforcement,” a DSA leader...

Pork processor Smithfield Foods said Wednesday it is gobbling up iconic hot-dog brand Nathan’s Famous in a $450 million deal. Smithfield – a Chinese-owned food processor based in Virginia – will pay $102 a share to add the century-old brand to its portfolio, a nearly 10% premium on Nathan’s close on Tuesday. Smithfield has held an exclusive license to manufacture and sell Nathan’s Famous products, including its hot dogs, sausages and corned beef, in the US and Canada and at Sam’s Club stores in Mexico since 2014. That license had been set to expire in 2032. Nathan’s Famous is known...

Nathan’s Famous — the century-old hot dog brand synonymous with Coney Island and Fourth of July excess — has been sold for $450 million to Chinese-owned Smithfield Foods.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon released a priority-shifting National Defense Strategy late Friday that chastised U.S. allies to take control of their own security and reasserted the Trump administration’s focus on dominance in the Western Hemisphere above a longtime goal of countering China.The 34-page document, the first since 2022, was highly political for a military blueprint, criticizing partners from Europe to Asia for relying on previous U.S. administrations to subsidize their defense. It called for “a sharp shift — in approach, focus, and tone.” That translated to a blunt assessment that allies would take on more of the burden countering...

Top business leaders this week delivered an expletive-laden plea in defense of climate action, describing the backlash to Europe’s green transition as an “aberration.” In an interview with CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Allianz CEO Oliver Bäte said he disagreed with the suggestion that it may just be a matter of time before net zero is dismissed in Europe, saying short-term thinking on this issue is “bulls---.” Asked about political leaders backtracking on their much-vaunted European Green New Deal and Norway’s oil fund reportedly defending a push from companies to water down their climate goals, Bäte...

It looks like a case of wiener take all. Nathan’s Famous, an iconic American hot dog maker and fast-food chain, was sold to Smithfield Inc., a Chinese-owned pork producer, in a $450 million all-cash deal. The two companies announced the merger in a statement Tuesday. Smithfield Foods will acquire all of Nathan’s Famous shares for $102 each, according to the announcement. "The Nathan’s Famous acquisition is a meaningful step in the progression of Smithfield Foods allowing us to own all of the top brands in our packaged meats portfolio," Shane Smith, Smithfield CEO and president, said in the statement. Smithfield...

The Democratic Socialists of America is divided over the group’s connection to some Chinese Communist Party officials and efforts to silence criticism of China – with one member complaining it “isn’t what I signed up for,” a new report claims. The DSA – of which Big Apple Mayor Zohran Mamdani is a member – has cozied up to the CCP and taken Beijing-aligned positions, sparking internal strife over orders to avoid discussing China’s touchy political issues in meetings, according to dozens of internal minutes obtained by Newsweek. “The materials document a sustained pattern of ideological alignment, narrative filtering, and network...

A Democratic Socialists of America member vying to be Los Angeles’ own Zohran Mamdani went off the rails on live radio — lashing out at a reporter while bungling basic questions, including getting her own age wrong. The tense clash erupted during a sit-down with KNX News when mayoral hopeful Rae Huang tangled with veteran City Hall reporter Craig Fiegener — growing increasingly frustrated as he pressed her on key issues such as taxes and policing, according to audio of the exchange obtained by The Post. The fireworks started almost immediately, as Huang hyped the “Overpaid CEO Tax” — a...