Free Republic

The PRC has escalated its use of covert, coercive, and extraterritorial tactics against Taiwan and its supporters, threatening the island’s democracy, creating skepticism and distrust in U.S.-Taiwan relations, and using intimidation, lawfare, and propaganda operations to shape global narratives on Taiwan’s status. This hearing will spotlight the Chinese Communist Party’s expanding campaign of political warfare and repression targeting Taiwan and the Taiwanese diaspora globally. Through expert testimony, the Commission will explore policy options to counter these malign activities, reinforce U.S. support for Taiwan’s democracy, and advance legislative initiatives like the Stand with Taiwan Act and the Transnational Repression Policy Act....

MASERU, Lesotho —Crowds of women, bundled up in wooly hats and mittens against the sharp winter chill, wait every morning at the gates of a garment factory in Lesotho's capital, hoping that a few among them will be called in to work a shift. But no-one comes out and the factory gates – which bear the name of the Taiwanese company that runs it in red Chinese lettering – remain firmly shut. It's one of the few factories in what used to be called "the Denim Capital of Africa" that's still operating after U.S. President Donald Trump announced in April...

Several parents sued Character.ai last year, alleging its chatbots abused their children. One Florida mother wants to hold the company liable for her 14-year-old son’s suicide. Megan Garcia argued in October 2024 court filings that the company wrongly marketed the app as safe for children—while harboring characters that led her son into hypersexualized role-play, encouraged him to spend all his time chatting with them, and talked with him about suicide. A Character.ai bot asked the teen to “come home” to her seconds before his death.STRANGE HUMAN-LIKE RELATIONSHIPS are just one of many ethical concerns posed by generative AI. The technology...

(Reuters) -The Pentagon is urging Japan and Australia to clarify what role they would play if the U.S. and China went to war over Taiwan, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.Elbridge Colby, the U.S. under-secretary of defense for policy, has been pushing the matter during recent talks with defense officials of both countries, the report said, citing people familiar with the discussions.According to the newspaper, the reported request caught both Tokyo and Canberra off guard, as the U.S. itself does not offer a blank cheque guarantee to defend Taiwan. Colby said in an X post that the Department of Defense...

Assassinated at HomeHaiti’s President Jovenel Moise was shot and killed last night at around 1 a.m. local time. First Lady Martine Moise was also wounded in the attack on their home in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. Unidentified gunmen burst into their home, stating they were members of the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and opened fire.The DEA website gave Haiti a Level 4 DO NOT TRAVEL restriction on June 16 due to dangers, including kidnappings, crime, COVID, and civil unrest.Moise’s presidency has been marred by accusations of corruption and waves of protests, often violent. Moise was expected to step down...

One of the great weaknesses of American foreign policy has been our predictability. Our opponents have been able to pinpoint what we would and would not do. While one President Trump’s greatest strengths has been his unpredictability. And on the Iran strikes, he not only kept everyone guessing until the last minute, but used sophisticated means to draw everyone off. Tucker Carlson’s pal Dan Caldwell was booted from the Pentagon over allegations of leaking. So were a number of others. When the strikes were actually launched, there were zero leaks despite claims by some in the media that they were...

The Pentagon's inspector general admitting that some arms sent to Ukraine are ending up in the wrong hands... A Russian researcher says Poland may send troops into Ukraine... Russian President Vladimir Putin warning Poland about any military action against Belarus... In Guatemala the offices of an opposition political party raided today... North Korea conducting multiple cruise missile launches into the Yellow Sea... Here in the US the Federal Bureau of Investigation improperly used the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) against a US senator, a state senator and... In Canada a retired Mountie is charged with obtaining information and doing other...

Britain has enraged China by sailing one of its warships through the Taiwan Strait. HMS Spey, a Royal Navy patrol vessel, sailed through the waterway – which flows between China and Taiwan, and over which Beijing claims sovereignty – on Wednesday. Taiwan hailed the patrol, the first by a British naval vessel since 2021, as the UK defending freedom of navigation of the Strait in the face of increased Chinese aggression in the region. A Navy spokesman said the long-planned deployment “took place in full compliance with international law”. But China’s People’s Liberation Army accused the Navy of trying to...

The literature on Chinese warfare is replete with descriptions of how the country will annex Taiwan. The date usually bandied about by China watchers is 2027 for a successful amphibious attack on the island. This would be preceded by a shock and awe bombardment campaign aimed at bringing the city of Taipei to its knees. But another Chinese gambit would provide less violence but still do significant damage to the Taiwanese government and its residents. I am referring to a blockade or quarantine by the Chinese navy and a no-fly zone executed by its air force.

Link to Three Gorges Video Flood zone if and when 3 Gorges fails This is an excellent video that offers some insight into the troubles China faces surrounding the Three Gorges Dam. Now I disagree with the title that the destruction of the Three Gorges Dam would end civilization as we know it, I do believe it would turn China into a third World country within hours of its collapse. Without a doubt, the Dam is an engineering marvel and one of the modern day wonders of the World. However, the fact remains that this engineering marvel is a ticking...

If we learned anything from mainland China's slow-motion take over of Hong Kong, it should be that China has option other than rolling tanks in the streets. In Hong Kong it used legal measures and police action to stop protests and jail activists. Then it threatened everyone into silence and shut down independent news outlets, raiding their offices and jailing publishers. And the bottom line is that freedom from the mainland is now just a memory. Hong Kong's oldest pro-democracy party shut down this month because talk about democracy leads to prison these days.The Democratic Party, one of the leading...

The ruling National Party of Honduras conceded defeat on Tuesday The ruling National Party of Honduras is conceding defeat in Sunday's presidential elections, a senior party figure said Tuesday, leaving leftist candidate Xiomara Castro poised to become Honduras's first female leader...

China has “enforced maritime management and exercised sovereign jurisdiction” over an uninhabited reef in the disputed South China Sea, planting the country’s flag on the tiny sand bank just kilometers from a key Philippine military outpost. Photographs released by Chinese state-run media on Saturday showed China Coast Guard officers unfurling the flag as part of an effort to effectively seize Sandy Cay reef, which Beijing calls Tiexian Jiao, earlier this month. The reef, located in the flash point Spratly Island chain, is also claimed by Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines. Sandy Cay also sits just over 3 kilometers from Thitu...

The second possibility would involve massive Chinese missile strikes devastating Taiwan’s defenses and overloading its Patriot and other missile defense systems. Beijing’s army of “patriotic hackers” would crash the ROC power grids and shut down the internet and phone networks. Simultaneously, 100,000 PLA troops would hit the island’s beaches. Given the 12-hour time difference with Washington, “before the US wakes up.” Beijing’s objective would be to “seize [the capitol] Taipei in days and present the world with a done deal.”

TAIPEI, April 6 (Reuters) - Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te on Sunday offered zero tariffs as the basis for talks with the U.S., pledging to remove trade barriers rather than imposing reciprocal measures and saying Taiwanese companies will raise their U.S. investments. President Donald Trump announced across-the-board import tariffs on Wednesday, with much higher duties for dozens of trading partners, including Taiwan, which runs a large trade surplus with the U.S. and faces a 32% duty on its products. The U.S. tariffs, however, do not apply to semiconductors, a major Taiwanese export.

The Asia-Pacific sits restless—China’s shadow stretches long and heavy across the region, yet the headlines skim past it like it’s nothing. Ukraine’s grind chews up column inches day after day, Middle East flares snatch the cameras with every burst, but Beijing’s stacking chips steady—too steady to brush aside. A military officer’s eye catches one truth cold as steel: threats don’t always shout loud; they simmer low, and this one’s simmering hotter than most notice. This isn’t some dusty old tale—it’s a slow fuse burning under the world’s clamor, coiled tight, ready to catch fire if ignored too long. China’s running...

The United States must act as if the Chinese regime’s ambition to annex Taiwan by 2027 is a “realistic potential,” Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) said late last week.It follows a recent remark by the commander of U.S. Strategic Command, Gen. Anthony J. Cotton, at an annual defense conference that Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s goal to invade Taiwan in 2027 has driven the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) investment “in land, sea, and air based nuclear delivery platforms, and infrastructure necessary to support a major buildup of their nuclear forces.”Meanwhile, rumors of escalated purges within the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in the...

President Barack Obama’s first act as a Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2009 — nine months after he took the oath of office — was to try to wriggle out of accepting it. “The morning the prize was announced, his staff investigated whether anyone had failed to travel to Oslo to receive their prize,” writes Nobel insider Geir Lundestad in “The World’s Most Prestigious Prize” (Oxford), out this month. Apparently, the president was among the 61 percent of Americans who believed he didn’t deserve it. “It is true, Obama did not do much before winning,” Lundestad, 74, a member of...

How Donald Trump @POTUS continues to be undermined & put at risk due to a lack of vetting in his administration. Want to see another vetting failure at the NSC which further exposes the way people with close proximity to Trump haters have been elevated to national security and intel roles in the Trump admin, despite a documented history of unethical behavior and associations? Meet Ivan Kanapathy. 2 months ago, Ivan was selected to work under NSC Director @MikeWaltz47 as the NSC Director for Asia, where he is responsible for crafting the Trump administration’s approach to China and Taiwan. This...

Shares sagged Thursday in Asia, apart from China, after President Donald Trump announced he will slap 25per cent tariffs on imported cars. Trump said he was raising duties on auto imports to encourage more manufacturing in the US, but the impact will be complicated since US automakers and even foreign manufacturers with factories in the U.S. Source many of their components from around the world. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 1per cent to 37,662.36. Toyota Motor Corp stock dove 3.2per cent, while Honda Motor Co stock dipped 2.8per cent. Nissan was down 2.6per cent. Mazda Motor Corp shares dropped 6.5per...