Free Republic

America has a hard time building stuff. Roads. Trains. Light rail. Bridges. Housing. Everything takes seemingly forever, if it even happens at all. Meanwhile, there’s China. A country that builds much faster — high-speed trains, solar panels, electric cars, bridges, ports, drones — all churned out at breakneck speed. Why can China do this, and why does it seem like America can’t? There isn’t a single answer to the question about why China can move fast and why we can’t, but Wang offers one I haven’t heard before. He says one of the most important distinctions between the US and...

On Monday August 25, 2025 The New York Times published a lengthy piece entitled,“How China Influences Elections in America’s Biggest City” with the subtitle: “The Chinese consulate in Manhattan has mobilized community groups to defeat candidates who don’t fall in line with the authoritarian state.”Though it’s ostensibly a story just on New York City, the reporting is not confined to matters there. Both a Democrat U.S. congresswoman on a sensitive committee and New York’s Democrat Governor get a looking-at. And while Governor Hochul may not be your governor or mine, she clearly has a seat of national influence, and at...

Research has previously suggested people who drink at least one sugary drink a day are at higher risk of suffering male pattern hair loss. One study by Chinese researchers in 2023 found that younger men who consumed sweet drinks seven times a week had more than triple the chance of having hair loss than men who didn't consume them. In the fresh research, scientists found that across the studies analysed sugary drinks impacted hair density, growth, thickness, shine, and hair loss. In one study in particular, those drinking more than 3500ml per week—roughly 11 cans—were more likely to suffer the...

A US Navy sailor in California has been convicted of espionage for selling the force's secrets to a Chinese agent who recruited him through social media. Jinchao Wei, 25, was convicted of six charges, including espionage, conspiracy to commit espionage, and unlawful export of classified data about US Navy ships. "The defendant's actions represent an egregious betrayal of the trust placed in him as a member of the US military," US Attorney Adam Gordon said in a statement after the verdict was read. "By trading military secrets to the People's Republic of China for cash, he jeopardised not only the...

A technology company in southern China is developing a humanoid robot equipped with an artificial womb, designed to carry and give birth to human children. The project, announced by Kaiwa Technology and expected to debut by 2026, marks a significant step in artificial gestation. As China develops a pregnancy robot capable of full-term human reproduction, experts are closely watching the ethical and scientific implications. Guangzhou-based Kaiwa Technology revealed that the robot will be capable of carrying a fetus through a ten-month gestation cycle and assisting in childbirth. The company says it plans to sell the product for under 100,000 yuan,...

The Trump administration has launched their own 'Manhattan Project' as reports have suggested one of America's largest chipmakers could be partly nationalized. Intel, the largest chip fabricator in the US, has been in talks with Donald Trump over a potential government stake in the company. While the percentage stake the government is asking for has not been made public, nationalizing a company is typically reserved for national emergencies. The government nationalized a number of banks after the 2008 financial crisis and key logistics companies during World War II. It comes amid concerns that America relies too heavily on TSCM, a...

The Communist Party of China imposed a 75.8-percent tariff on Canadian canola products on Thursday, claiming that Canada was intentionally “dumping” underpriced canola seed into the Chinese market to hurt domestic farmers. The measure appeared to be a response to the Canadian government, still under radical leftist Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the time, imposing a 100-percent tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) last year to protect Canada’s fledgling homemade EVs. Chinese state media explicitly mentioned Canada’s “trade protectionist and restrictive measures against China” in reporting the canola seed tariffs, accusing Ottawa of violating World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. Beijing...

PEORIA, Ariz. - The owner of a successful Peoria sushi restaurant, who has lived in the U.S. for more than two decades without legal status, is facing deportation to Hong Kong within weeks. What we know: Kelly Yu was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on May 28 and has been held at the Eloy Detention Center. Her husband, Aldo, said she came to the U.S. when she was 19 and pregnant, seeking a better life and trying to escape China's one-child policy. "She came here 21 years ago," Aldo said Monday, Aug. 11. Homeland Security Investigations confirmed Yu...

Tariffs as high as 145 percent were due to be implemented on goods from China at midnight Tuesday. The last-minute extension came hours after Trump provided a vague response to reporters on extending the deadline on Monday. “We’ve been dealing very nicely with China… they have tremendous tariffs that they’re paying to the United States of America,” Trump said during a press conference at the White House. “We’ll see what happens. They’ve been dealing quite nicely. The relationship is very good with President Xi and myself.” Trump signed a new Executive Order later on Monday. China will now have its...

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday evening extending the U.S.-China tariff truce for another 90 days, just hours before a midnight deadline that would have triggered massive tariff increases on Chinese goods. The order prevents high U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods from snapping back into effect, giving negotiators until mid-November to reach a more permanent trade agreement.What This Extension MeansThe extension maintains current tariff levels rather than allowing them to spike to economically devastating levels. Under the current negotiated arrangement, U.S. "reciprocal" tariffs on Chinese imports stand at 30%, while China's retaliatory tariffs on American goods are at...

To make fusion reactors, we need materials that can withstand its punishing environment, and a new Chinese-made material can survive reactors’ intense conditions. Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: * The central solenoid is the heart of a fusion reactor, and a "jacket" of meticulously crafted stainless steel—capable of withstanding extreme temperatures and magnetic fields—protects it. * Chinese scientists say that a new super steel, called China high-strength low-temperature steel No. 1, (CHSN01), can operate at a maximum of 20 Tesla, which outperforms the steel jacket that will be used by ITER. * China is incorporating CHSN01...

A Chinese warship ploughed into its own coast guard vessel on Monday while the latter was chasing a Philippine vessel in the South China Sea, Manila said. Philippine coast guard officials were distributing aid to fishermen in the disputed Scarborough Shoal, Commodore Jay Tarriela said, when the Chinese coast guard "performed a risky manoeuvre" which inflicted "substantial damage" on the Chinese warship's forward deck. China confirmed that a confrontation took place and accused the Philippines of "forcibly intruding" into Chinese waters, but did not mention the collision. The South China Sea is at the centre of a territorial dispute between...

---SNIP--- It’s decline began some 20 years ago, when the company made multiple acquisitions, many of which were in telecommunications and wireless technology. In concept, that made great sense. But acquiring businesses is a skill of its own, and David Yoffie, a Harvard Business School professor who was on Intel’s board of directors at the time, told Fortune “100% of those acquisitions failed. We spent $12 billion, and the return was zero or negative.” Intel also tried unsuccessfully to grasp the mammoth cell phone opportunity. The company understood the opportunity and was supplying chips for the highly popular BlackBerry phone....

China is drilling one of the deepest holes ever attempted—down to 10,000 meters—through layers of Earth’s crust untouched for millions of years. In one of the world’s most ambitious geoscience projects to date, Chinese engineers have begun drilling a 10,000-meter vertical borehole into the Earth’s crust. The operation, launched in May 2024, is located in the Tarim Basin, a desert region in northwest China’s Xinjiang province, known for its rich oil deposits and extreme climate. The goal isn’t just depth for depth’s sake. According to Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, the team is aiming to pass through more than 10...

The United States stands on the brink of an unprecedented transformer shortage that threatens to derail President Trump’s ambitious plans for AI-driven reindustrialization. With wait times for electrical transformers now stretching to 3–5 years—compared to just 4–6 weeks in 2020—manufacturers warn of "catastrophic" grid instability as power demands skyrocket from new data centers, factories, and infrastructure projects. The bottleneck stems from Trump’s aggressive trade policies, including a 25% tariff on India (the world’s largest transformer producer, making 60% of global supply) and looming 100% penalties on China (which produces another 20%). The Transformer Shortage: A Ticking Time Bomb Transformers are...

President Trump has now imposed his new tariff regime on the world, and the triumphalism is palpable in MAGA land. But maybe hold the euphoria, as this week’s reports on jobs and the economy suggest the new golden age may take a while to appear. Friday’s labor report arrived with a particular jolt, with a mere 73,000 net new jobs in July. Even more bearish were the downward revisions of 258,000 jobs in May and June. Job gains over the last three months are barely more than 100,000. The details in the report provide little solace. The jobless rate ticked...

President Trump’s executive order carved out a special tariff on goods shipped indirectly to the United States by way of other countries.Ever since President Trump began raising tariffs on goods from China during his first term, Chinese companies have raced to set up warehouses and factories in Southeast Asia, Mexico and elsewhere to bypass U.S. tariffs with indirect shipments to the American market via other countries.But on Thursday, Mr. Trump took aim at all indirect American imports, which he blames for part of the $1.2 trillion U.S. trade deficit. The president imposed 40 percent tariffs on so-called transshipments, which will...

The world’s Arab countries for the first time have joined unanimously in the call for Hamas to lay down its weapons, release all hostages and end its rule of the Gaza Strip, conditions that they said could help the establishment of a Palestinian state. The surprise declaration, endorsed on Tuesday by the 22 member nations of the Arab League, also condemned Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, which set off the devastating war in Gaza. The statement came at a United Nations conference in New York on a two-state solution to end the decades-long conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. “In...

The president’s vision for reshaping global trade is falling into place, but he is embarking on an experiment that economists say could still produce damaging results.Over the last six months, the United States has left behind the global trade order that persisted for decades in favor of something drastically different and largely untested. Formidable economies like the European Union and Japan have abruptly made peace with higher tariffs on their exports, acquiescing to President Trump’s demands in order to avoid damaging trade wars and to coax even steeper U.S. duties down just a little bit. As major economies fall in...

There are many weird and wonderful humanoid robots out there, but one of the most eye-catching machines launched this year can change its own battery pack — making it capable of running autonomously for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Walker S2 robot, made by the Chinese company UBTECH, is 5 foot 3 inches (162 centimeters) tall and weighs 95 pounds (43 kilograms) — making it the size and weight of a small adult. Using a 48-volt lithium battery in a dual-battery system, the robot can walk for two hours or stand for four hours before its...