Free Republic

“Biden Gets China,” headlined the January 2, 2012 report in The Atlantic. As author Steve Clemons explained, “Vice President Joe Biden will take the lead on the administrations next phase China policy.” This marked a shift to a “strategy of engagement with Biden at the top,” that allows the US to deal with China’s likely next president from a Vice President to a Vice President/Next President status -- and to continue both the Departments of State’s and Treasury’s ongoing engagement with other designated key Chinese leaders.” As Clemons explained, the move to put Biden at the top was “orchestrated” by...

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...

The Chinese operative, who was Rep. Eric Swalwell's (D-CA) personal companion and staffer, broke cover in an X-post of her sitting with a Global Times reporter nearly 10 years after her abrupt exit from the United States—shortly after the FBI warned Swalwell she was a foreign agent.“I had lunch with this lady today. Her name is Fang Fang, and U.S. media called her a ‘suspected Chinese spy,’ wrote Hu XiJin, along with the operative who became an omnipresent force in San Francisco Bay Democratic politics—with significant dalliances in the Midwest.Hu wrote that Fang Fang, who presented herself in the U.S....

The United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) seem destined for war. Unless a major diplomatic offramp is taken—soon—the conflict will become a fait accompli. Currently, the US military’s best strategy for fighting China’s military resides in the hands of three branches that would operate seamlessly together: the US Navy, the US Marine Corps, and the US Air Force. These three branches would be the proverbial tip of the spear in any conflict with China. Specifically, the US Navy’s aircraft carriers would be the most likely forward deployed assets that would be charged with breaking whatever Chinese forces...

An investigation has revealed suspicious communications devices inside Chinese-made cargo cranes used widely at US ports, supporting fears that the equipment could be part of an espionage plot. Cranes made by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC), a state-owned Chinese company, in some cases carry cellular modems, according to a congressional investigation reported by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday. The modems offer a potential backdoor for remote access, and do not appear to support the normal operations of the equipment, the investigation found. The discovery of the modems, which had not been previously disclosed, supports growing fears in US intelligence...

Documents authored by Canada’s top intelligence service reveal the long awaited explanation behind the abrupt departure of two virologists from Canada’s top biolaboratory. ... The documents, which have been viewed by The Counter Signal and published here for our readers expose the Trudeau government for hiding the true reason for the departure of Dr. Xiangguo Qiu Canada’s Public Health agency. ... Despite the Liberals citing the departure as a private “personnel issue,” the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) accuses Dr. Qiu of a long history of clandestine actions that put Canadians’ heath and security at risk, along with directly assisting...

A vital witness regarding the Biden clan's ties to CEFC, the CCP-connected energy company, is missing. Last February, Dr. Gal Luft, a retired Israel Defense Forces lieutenant colonel with deep intelligence ties in Washington and Beijing, was arrested as an alleged gun runner. At the time, he claimed the arrest was to stop him from revealing what he knows about the Biden crime family and FBI corruption. Now, Dr. Luft has disappeared entirely. In the early 2000s, Luft formed a think tank called the Institute for Analysis of Global Security (IAGS) that focused on energy innovations and policy. Accordingly, from...

CBS reportedly seized files from Catherine Herridge, the network’s recently laid-off senior investigative correspondent. This action included materials that may reveal information about confidential sources, according to an article by Jonathan Turley, Shapiro Chair of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, in The Hill. Catherine Herridge, an Emmy-winning and nominated reporter known for her work on national security and intelligence, was among the 800 employees Paramount Global laid off in a bid to streamline operations amid financial strain. Her firing has since escalated into a broader controversy. In his article titled “CBS faces uproar after seizing investigative journalist’s files,”...

Two deaths in Boulder County, Colorado, in 2023 are the latest in the U.S. to be blamed on the powerful class of synthetic opioids called nitazenes. Most health systems cannot detect nitazenes, so the exact number of overdoses is unknown, but they’re implicated in more than 200 deaths in Europe and North America since 2019, including 11 in Colorado since 2021. One of the two Boulder County deaths is linked to a new formulation called N-Desethyl etonitazene, which was identified by a national laboratory, and is thought to be the first related death. The Conversation interviewed Dr. Christopher Holstege, professor...

Border Patrol Agents in California arrested groups of migrants suspected of involvement in a sophisticated theft scheme involving stolen department store gift cards, possession of fraudulent identity documents, and credit card skimming activities. The pair of independent busts occurred in the El Centro Border Patrol Sector last week and involved five Chinese nationals in one case and two Romanian nationals in the second. Early last week, Border Patrol agents near Indio, California, encountered five Chinese nationals at an interior Border Patrol immigration checkpoint. Agents found the migrants in possession of numerous stolen gift cards and 23 fraudulent Pennsylvania driver’s licenses....

The looming threat of a major cyber attack against the U.S. is becoming more likely after the FBI admitted that Chinese hackers are planning an all-out assault on the country’s power grid and infrastructure. A cyber attack against the United States would not just be devastating for Americans; it would also allow China to take advantage of the ensuing chaos, especially with it being an election year. According to U.S. officials, they have already foiled a state-backed Chinese effort to plant malware to damage civilian infrastructure.

A Chinese-born researcher has been arrested for allegedly stealing trade secret technologies developed for the U.S. government to detect nuclear missile launches and to track ballistic and hypersonic missiles, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).Chenguang Gong, 57, of San Jose, California, was arrested in San Jose on Feb. 6, prosecutors said.Mr. Gong became a U.S. citizen in 2011. He got his master’s degree in electrical engineering from Clemson University and completed some work toward a doctorate at Stanford University, according to court documents.From January 2023 to April 2023, Mr. Gong worked as an engineer for a research and development...

Podesta’s net worth has skyrocketed since his time in the Obama administration, financial disclosures show ... John Podesta, the powerful Democrat consultant who Joe Biden tapped to oversee a multibillion-dollar climate investment fund, discussed those investments with an environmental group that had him on the payroll just months before, according to a new financial disclosure. Galvanize Climate Solutions, a green energy investment firm founded by billionaire Tom Steyer, participated in an Oct. 31 meeting with Podesta and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to discuss how to best use the $369 billion in federal funds. Galvanize paid Podesta $84,000 in advisory fees...

Secretary of State Antony Blinken rolled out the red carpet Friday for Liu Jianchao, China’s leading envoy — and the architect of its global scheme to kidnap and silence anti-Communist dissidents. Liu’s “Operation Foxhunt” included setting up Chinese “police stations” including in New York, to find and extort dissidents. His trip to the US was capped by the reception at the State Department by Blinken on Friday morning, the day after he met President Biden’s deputy national security adviser Jon Finer. It had also included a visit to the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations in Manhattan, a reception with a...

A U.S. Navy service member was sentenced today to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,500 fine for transmitting sensitive U.S. military information to an intelligence officer from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in exchange for bribery payments. According to court documents, Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, aka Thomas Zhao, of Monterey Park, California, pleaded guilty in October 2023 to one count of conspiring with the intelligence officer and one count of receiving a bribe. “Mr. Zhao betrayed his solemn oath to defend his country and endangered those who serve in the U.S. military,” said Assistant...

I have no idea why the DOJ is putting out a press release about this. It seems more like the sort of thing to never mention again. A U.S. Navy service member was sentenced today to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,500 fine for transmitting sensitive U.S. military information to an intelligence officer from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in exchange for bribery payments. According to court documents, Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, aka Thomas Zhao, of Monterey Park, California, pleaded guilty in October 2023 to one count of conspiring with the intelligence officer and...

HONG KONG—For months now, I’ve been told that Hong Kong’s protests would end soon. They’ll end when school starts, I heard during the summer. School did start, but the protests wore on, only now I saw high-school students in crisp school uniforms joining the protesters’ ranks. Next, the mask ban of early October was supposed to slow protesters down, but the very first day after that ban, I watched streams of protesters in masks and helmets make their way to their usual haunts on Hong Kong Island. The government shut down many of the subway lines that day, a practice...

The Biden administration drastically simplified the vetting process for Chinese illegal immigrants in April 2023, according to an internal U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) email obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The April 2023 email, which was sent by a CBP supervisor to a “master list” of about 500 Border Patrol agents, instructs CBP officials to radically reduce the number of interview questions for Chinese migrants apprehended after illegally crossing into the country from roughly 40 to just five. The “headquarters guidance” came as border agents were overwhelmed with near-record numbers of illegal crossings. This scaling back of...

This weekend, a terrible study out of China back in 2018 gained some visibility on X when it was tweeted out by REDUXX and a few other accounts. There is no way to gild the lily on this one: this 'study' is absolutely horrific. The study related to research into developing 'neophalluses' for people wanting to change their sex and, we do have to warn you here, we are going to share some of the details. They could make you physically ill. We will refrain from sharing any photos; the descriptions alone are revolting enough. (We saw the photos; we...