Free Republic

The leaked documents supposedly discuss spyware developed by I-Soon, a Chinese infosec company, that’s targeting social media platforms, telecommunications companies, and other organizations worldwide. Researchers suspect the operations are orchestrated by the Chinese government. Unknown individuals allegedly leaked a trove of Chinese government documents on GitHub. The documents reveal how China conducts offensive cyber operations with spyware developed by I-Soon, Taiwanese threat intelligence researcher Azaka Sekai claims. While several researchers have analyzed the supposedly leaked documents, no official confirmation of their veracity exists as of the writing of this article. We have reached out to I-Soon but did not receive...

China has taken down more than 1,000 social media accounts - some with millions of followers - that criticised the government's Covid policies. Social media platform Weibo said it had suspended or banned accounts for what it described as personal attacks against Chinese Covid specialists. Weibo did not specify which posts had prompted the action. China scrapped its strict zero-Covid policy in December and has seen a rapid surge of infections and deaths. Online criticism has until recently largely focused on the strict enforcement of Covid regulations, including lockdowns that required people to stay at home in isolation for weeks....

The Chinese novelist who wrote an online diary detailing the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan has been censored by authorities and is a virtual prisoner in her home, she told the Sunday Times of London. Fang Fang, 67, said she is feeling “somewhat depressed” after facing pressure from Chinese authorities, who have banned her work. During the early days of the pandemic in 2020, Fang’s virus diary from the ground zero of the COVID outbreak provided first-hand glimpses into the city that was the first to face severe lockdowns.

Just over a week ago, Chinese leader Xi Jinping embarked on a three-day trip to Central Asia to mark his sphere of influence. He has since been out of the public eye, skipping a high-level military meeting and the annual United Nations assembly.With China only weeks away from the 20th National Congress, where Xi is set to pursue an unprecedented third term, his absence has been long enough to attract attention from keen political watchers, with some even speculating that he has been placed under house arrest.By Sept. 24, Xi Jinping had become one of the top trending topics on...

Videos surfacing on social media in the past week from Shanghai – and rapidly deleted on government-controlled sites like Weibo – show mounting desperation as a poorly planned coronavirus lockdown leaves the heart of China’s economy with rotting food and a lack of basic necessities. Many of the videos surfacing on Weibo, China’s most popular micro-blogging platform, cannot be independently verified and disappear shortly after they appear, but translators outside of the country have saved and circulated them, painting a picture of a growing catastrophe alongside anonymous warnings from farms and food distributors that their supplies are rotting while people...

US-listed Chinese microblogging platform Weibo is seeking to raise up to US$547 million in a share offer in Hong Kong, documents showed Monday (Nov 29), the latest China tech company to list closer to home as tensions with the United States rise. Several US-listed Chinese tech firms such as Alibaba have held initial public offerings in Hong Kong over the past two years as the United States has stepped up scrutiny of Chinese companies. Listing in Hong Kong is seen as a hedge against the risk of being removed from US exchanges and a way of accessing an investor base...

​John Cena was on the receiving end of a piledriver Tuesday from American Twitter users after his “pathetic” apology to China for referring to Taiwan as a country during a promotional spot for his new movie “F9.” SNIP Cena, speaking Mandarin, went on Chinese social media site Weibo Tuesday to apologize for calling Taiwan a country during a promotional interview for “F9,” the latest installment for the “Fast and Furious” franchise, earlier this month. SNIP “I made one mistake. I have to say something very, very, very important now. I love and respect China and Chinese people. I’m very, very...

A photo surfaced Sunday (Jan. 19) on Weibo showing People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers sitting next to a map of Taiwan that appears to indicate a southerly route for China's invasion of Taiwan, first going through Kinmen and Penghu, before landing troops in southern Taiwan. After President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) enjoyed a landslide victory in Taiwan's elections on Jan. 11, Communist China has been doubling down on its rhetoric about the tattered "one country, two systems" framework and adhering to the "1992 Consensus" — expressing its opposition to "Taiwan independence" despite the fact that Taiwan has never been a part...

Chinese Govt. Denies Rumors of Radiation Leak on Nuclear Submarine The Chinese government has officially denied reports that radiation has leaked from its newest nuclear submarine. According to the Global Times, which sometimes serves as a mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party, the defense ministry in Beijing said the sub docked in the port of Dalian has not leaked radiation. The rumors began with a report on the Chinese language website buxun.com, operated in the United States, and then quickly spread across the Internet through Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. The Korean defense ministry has said that if radiation...

Chinese censors are scrubbing sites of mentions of North Korean girl band By Victoria Ho 19 minutes ago After the Moranbong Band's abrupt cancelation of their performances in Beijing over the weekend, it appears Chinese censors went to work deleting speculation and chatter about the North Korean girl band on mainland sites. The Moranbong Band, whose members were said to be handpicked by North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, were on a goodwill mission to Beijing and were set to perform three concerts starting Saturday night. But just hours before the first, they abruptly canceled the gig and headed home on...