Southeast Asia Watch

Judge tosses $1 billion lawsuit claiming Notre Dame libeled China by citing genocide– www.thecollegefix.com

pgnewser June 11, 2026 0

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Judge said only a handful of allegations were even worth considering

A Chinese man cannot file a racial discrimination lawsuit against the University of Notre Dame for a legal brief that commented on genocide in the country.

District Court Judge Gretchen Lund tossed out the self-filed suit from Bing Chen, which raised concerns about an amicus filed by the Catholic university’s religious liberty clinic. Chen sought more than $1 billion in damages – $1 for every Chinese person in China, along with $1 for every American living in the United States.

Rubio says China cannot erase memories of Tiananmen Square crackdown– japantoday.com

pgnewser June 4, 2026 0

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Beijing’s censorship cannot erase memories of its 1989 military assault on peaceful demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, ‌U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday, ahead of the anniversary of China’s violent suppression there.

Rubio’s statement largely mirrored his past remarks on the crackdown but ‌is likely to be reassuring to Chinese dissidents and ⁠pro-democracy supporters at a time when President Donald ⁠Trump has repeatedly ⁠touted his relationship with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, whom he met ‌in Beijing last month.

According to human rights groups, Chinese troops opened fire on ⁠pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square ⁠and killed hundreds if not thousands of people.

US journalist accused of secretly working with China-linked contacts, allegedly prepared political reports – The Economic Times

pgnewser May 26, 2026 0

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A US journalist, Thomas Pauken II, faces charges for allegedly acting as an unregistered agent for China. Federal authorities claim he prepared confidential political reports for Chinese intelligence, intended for President Xi Jinping. Pauken, who lived in China for over a decade, denies espionage, stating he only performed professional work without proper paperwork….

A US-based journalist and political commentator who spent years working in China has been charged by federal authorities with allegedly acting as an unregistered agent for the Chinese government.

Thomas Pauken II, a commentator and author who lived in China for more than a decade, is accused of carrying out activities on behalf of Chinese government-linked contacts without properly registering with the US attorney general, according to federal court documents reported by Politico.

China restricts more drug precursor exports to US– www.channelnewsasia.com

pgnewser May 26, 2026 0

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BEIJING: China imposed export controls on Friday (May 22) on three precursor chemicals shipped to North America, as Washington and Beijing step up cooperation against drug trafficking following US leader Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing.

The chemicals will now require licences from government agencies to be exported to the United States, Canada and Mexico, China’s commerce ministry wrote in a statement.

China is the primary origin of precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl, a highly potent opioid underpinning a deadly drug epidemic in the United States.

Fears of an AI breakthrough force the U.S. and China to talk– www.latimes.com

pgnewser May 11, 2026 0

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CHONGQING, China — Three years ago, in the idyllic town of Woodside south of San Francisco, the United States and China held their first high-level talks on the dangers posed by artificial intelligence. President Xi Jinping and his longtime foreign minister appeared serious in their conviction that a channel should be a established between Beijing and Washington — a red phone for AI in case of emergencies.

They authorized a diplomatic effort that would begin in 2024 in Switzerland, only months before the U.S. presidential election. A large U.S. delegation arrived with high hopes that were abruptly dashed, according to four sources who attended the talks. The Chinese contingent dismissed American concerns over runaway AI as academic, almost theoretical, quickly turning the conversation to export controls seen in Beijing as yet another U.S. effort to hold China back.

“They naturally view any American diplomatic initiative involving limitations or restrictions of one flavor or another on a capability as being a trap,” Jake Sullivan, U.S. national security advisor under President Biden, said in an interview.

CCP terrorizes Dissenters on American Soil – Extinctwire.com

pgnewser May 6, 2026 0

A former CCP agent told CBN News he was part of an operation to identify and silence former Chinese citizens in America who spoke out against the party. He told CBN they use threats, entrapment, and even kidnapping.

He claimed, “The United Front is something that’s being defined by the Chinese Communist Party as one of its ‘secret’ or ‘magic’ weapons. And essentially its task is two things: On the one hand, expand the circle of friends of the Chinese Communist Party. So, co-opting or influencing, politicians, media, academia, and entrepreneurs. But on the other hand, its task is also to crack down on critics, to silence them, to divide them.”

Go Deeper

How the War with Iran Is Shaping U.S.-Chinese Competition– warontherocks.com

pgnewser May 6, 2026 0

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The war with Iran has once again raised questions about Washington’s ability to prioritize its interests in East Asia and particularly to manage intensifying competition with Beijing. Furthermore, the war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have presented American and Chinese leaders with new challenges and potential opportunities, as they respond to the war’s global impacts. We asked five experts to address how the war is shaping competition between Washington and Beijing.