Free Republic

Washington’s answer to China’s Belt and Road Initiative begins in Armenia, and Vice President JD Vance is in the South Caucasus to pave the way. The Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) may serve as the foundation stone of a broader network of transportation and economic corridors designed to secure critical Eurasian supply chains for the United States and to counter Chinese and Russian influence. However, the region lies on the periphery of U.S. geopolitical engagement; therefore, TRIPP’s implementation will require pragmatic solutions and a return to realpolitik in order to avoid aggressive countermeasures by other regional powers....

With former intelligence officials warning of 1,000 Chinese spies for every ten from the West, reports of 1,200 Chinese spies embedded in Australia, and Chinese spies being “everywhere” in the U.K., China is very busy trying to push its will and policies on the world—which brings me to Minnesota.AdvertisementIf the agitators in Minnesota are merely protesting removal of U.S. criminal illegal aliens, doesn’t it seem odd that BreakThrough News, a “nonprofit” propaganda arm of the People’s Forum, would circulate a video showing the struggle between federal agents and an armed Alex Pretti, alongside a call to support the People’s Republic...

Korean War hero Royce Williams is being awarded the Medal of Honor, and his actions are something not even Hollywood could have dreamed up. Congressman Darrell Issa announced on Wednesday that President Donald Trump officially informed Williams of his MoH. The Medal of Honor is the nation's highest military award. It is only awarded for actions so heroic that oftentimes, the person earning it is killed. Williams is still with us in 2026, and his once-secret actions are now out in the public. Buckle up for one of the most insane war stories you'll ever hear.

The Kremlin said Thursday it regretted the expiration of the last remaining nuclear arms pact between Russia and the United States, while President Trump declared he was against keeping its limits and wants a better deal. The New START treaty’s termination left no caps on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than a half-century, fueling fears of an unconstrained nuclear arms race. Russian President Vladimir Putin last year declared his readiness to stick to the treaty’s limits for another year if Washington followed suit, but Mr. Trump has ignored the offer and argued that he...

Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada announced on Thursday a sweeping plan to offer billions of dollars in incentives and tax breaks for auto industry investment designed to help turn Canada into a global leader in electric vehicles.The new policies, Mr. Carney said, were meant to transform Canada’s economy and make it less reliant on a single trade partner after President Trump’s economic assaults and threats on Canada’s sovereignty have frayed relations between the two nations.“We must take care of ourselves,’’ Mr. Carney told reporters at an auto parts factory in Ontario. “We cannot control what others do.’’Mr. Trump has...

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'...

It’s the same dark money, with new signs. Anti-ICE protests in Minnesota may appear to be “grassroots” efforts organized by concerned citizens, but they’re really funded with megadonor money — some coming from China. A so-called “ICE Out” march drew an estimated 15,000 left-wing political activists to a frozen, snow-covered Minneapolis on Friday, with attendees chanting “ICE out now” and demanding an end to federal immigration enforcement in the city. Although framed as a spontaneous uprising of concerned, everyday people, the demonstration — like countless that have regularly metastasized during President Trump’s terms — featured a familiar cast of politically...

China has executed four leading members of Myanmar-based scam syndicates, a Chinese court said on Monday (Feb 2), the second such announcement in less than a week as Beijing ramps up a crackdown on cross-border telecom fraud. Fraud compounds where scammers lure internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Cambodia and the lawless borderlands of Myanmar. Initially, largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal billions of dollars from victims around the world.

Taiwan will use a range of joint intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance methods, as well as intelligence-sharing, to "grasp" China's possible intentions, says its defence minister.Taiwan is monitoring what it called "abnormal" changes to China's military leadership after its most senior general was put under investigation, and will not lower its guard as the threat level remains high, the defence minister said on Monday (Jan 26). China announced on Saturday that Zhang Youxia, second-in-command under President Xi Jinping as vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, and another senior officer, Liu Zhenli, were under investigation ⁠for suspected serious violations of discipline and...

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...

Internal orders issued by China’s top military authority have met widespread resistance at the grassroots level following the purge of two of the country’s most senior generals, according to multiple sources close to the People’s Liberation Army who spoke to The Epoch Times. After Central Military Commission (CMC) Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia and chief of the Joint Staff Department Liu Zhenli were placed under investigation on Jan. 24, at least two directives issued by the CMC General Office to theater commands and group armies were ignored or only passively acknowledged. Sources said the grassroots troops within the military are expressing...

China executed 11 people convicted of intentional homicide, fraud and other crimes linked to a cross-border scam operation, after the country’s top court approved their death sentences, authorities said Thursday. The announcement was published on the website for the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, China’s highest state body responsible for criminal prosecution and oversight. The executions followed a ruling and execution order from the Supreme People’s Court, which upheld lower court judgments against members of the so-called Ming family criminal group.

A U.S. jury found Linwei Ding guilty of economic espionage and trade secret theft after he stole Google’s sensitive AI infrastructure data.In brief -Former Google software engineer Linwei Ding has been convicted of economic espionage for siphoning Google’s trade secrets to China-based companies. -Federal agents arrested Ding in March 2024, accusing him of stealing 500+ confidential AI files while secretly collaborating with China-based companies. -Ding built his own AI startup in China, pitched investors on replicating Google’s tech, and applied to a Shanghai government talent program. A 38-year-old former Google software engineer has been convicted of siphoning thousands of...

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)

According to unconfirmed reports, General Zhang Youxia, China’s vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), sent a company of troops (over a hundred or more) to the government’s Yingxi Hotel in western Beijing on 18 January. Their mission was to arrest Xi Jinping. A few hours before, the Chinese president – alerted by an informant – set in motion countermeasures. Troops under the command of Cao Qi, head of Xi’s Central Guards Bureau, ambushed Zhang’s soldiers. In the ensuing gunfight at Yangxi Hotel, nine guards were reportedly killed along with dozens of Zhang Youxia’s soldiers. Throughout China, military movements have...

“IN AN UNCERTAIN world, China is the biggest certainty.” So proclaimed a Chinese spokesman in December. Amid a war in Europe, turmoil in the Middle East and America’s rewriting of the geopolitical order, some in the West may be inclined to agree. As The Economist went to press, Britain’s prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, was visiting China’s president, Xi Jinping, the latest among a series of Western leaders who have headed to Beijing in search of deals and dependability. Yet in recent days politics in China has proved anything but certain. On January 24th the defence ministry said that the...

“Birth tourism” — where pregnant women have their child on America soil to become citizens — has been happening for decades. But Chinese elites have “weaponized” the practice, says author Peter Schweizer, raising a generation of legal citizens who have no loyalty to the US. In this excerpt from his new book, “The Invisible Coup: How American Elites and Foreign Powers Use Immigration as a Weapon,” he explains how. As we sang “Auld Lang Syne” in the early morning of Jan. 1, 2025, the first American newborn of the year arrived to much fanfare and celebration. But this time, the...

CHINESE police will help to stop Channel crossings under a deal signed between Sir Keir Starmer and Xi Jinping today. The two leaders will ink an intelligence-sharing agreement to halt the supply routes of gear for smuggling gangs. More than 60 per cent of all small boat engines last year were manufactured in China, with other parts also sourced there. UK and Chinese authorities will pool information to disrupt the operations in the latest move to get a grip on illegal immigration. Sir Keir trumpeted the deal as he became the first British PM in eight years to visit China....

Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, two of the most powerful military leaders in China, are now officially in custody. Rumors have buzzed in the Chinese diaspora for days, but the speed still comes as a shock; usually there’s a far longer gap between the detention of leaders and the official announcement of their fate. The crux of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) political language is not what it says, but when it says it—and to whom. People’s Liberation Army (PLA) mouthpieces have accused Zhang and Liu of having “seriously trampled on and undermined the system of ultimate responsibility resting with the...

Gatestone Institute senior fellow Gordon Chang discusses President Donald Trump’s tariff threat against Canada over China trade ties and reports that China’s top military general is under investigation on ‘The Ingraham Angle.’ See video.