Free Republic

China has rebuked the United States for destabilizing global finance and leveraging the dollar's dominance as a geopolitical weapon, following President-elect Donald Trump's threat to impose tariffs on BRICS nations pursuing de-dollarization efforts. "The U.S. has long used its dollar hegemony to shift crises, spread U.S. inflation to other parts of the world, and made it become a geopolitical tool, which damages international economic and financial stability, and disrupts international order," Liu Pengyu, spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in the U.S., told Newsweek. He contrasted this with BRICS, which he said would continue to promote economic cooperation and a financial...

Russian companies that do business with China have encountered more headwinds in recent days as Chinese banks raised the yuan-ruble exchange rate to capitalize on their neighbor's weakened currency. While the yuan currently buys 12.07 rubles at the Russian central bank's exchange rate, Chinese banks are selling the currency at 13 rubles per yuan, charging a premium over the Russian central bank rate of 12.07 rubles, the Moscow Times reported on Thursday. -snip- Chinese banks are not the first to profit from the ruble's plight. Mongolia and Turkey have for some time converted rubles into yuan several percentage points above...

Dozens of systems used by government bodies and IT companies in Russia have reportedly become the targets of Chinese hackers. Moscow-based cybersecurity provider Kaspersky Lab, revealed that the backdoor malware used to gain access to the systems was "GrewApacha," a Trojan used since at least 2021 by the Chinese cyber-espionage group known as APT31 (Advanced Peristent Threat 31). APT31 is believed to have ties to China's civilian spy agency, the Ministry of State Security (MSS). Earlier this year, the United States Justice department indicted several Chinese nationals and one company for allegedly carrying out APT31 operations. "During these attacks, attackers...

China issued a stern rebuke to the U.S., after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) referred to the country's leader Xi Jinping, Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, and Iran as an "axis of evil." -snip- The speaker told reporters on Wednesday: "I believe Xi [Jinping] and Vladimir Putin and Iran really are an axis of evil. I think they are in coordination on this." He added he believes Putin would "continue marching through Europe" and even "have a showdown" with NATO ally like Poland if permitted. Liu told Newsweek that rhetoric like Johnson's threatens the state of U.S.-China relations. "We urge the...

A Chinese specialist on Russia has delivered a grim forecast for Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine: that it is doomed to fail. Peking University professor Feng Yujun is also cooling on the future of Beijing-Moscow relations, writing in a recent op-ed in The Economist that the two nations have diverging visions of the future of global affairs.

Taiwan has confirmed there are U.S. troops stationed on its islands in the Taiwan Strait on a permanent basis, including an island just over a mile off China's southeast coast. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in 2023 paved the way for their arrival to conduct training programs for troops on Taiwan's front line. China has vowed to someday annex democratic Taiwan, which it regards as a rogue province, despite the fact that the Chinese Communist Party government in Beijing has never ruled there. China has sharply increased military sorties and drills in and around the 90-mile-wide Taiwan Strait, prompting...