CHINA has been accused of a massive nuclear expansion as well as carrying out secret tests by the US.
The latest accusations come as the United States bids to force Beijing to join a future arms control treaty.
Southeast Asia Watch
China on Monday urged the United States to cancel unilateral tariffs announced by President Donald Trump after the US Supreme Court struck down many of his measures, ruling he lacked authority under a 1977 law. Trump responded by unveiling new global import duties of up to 15% under different powers.
from www.france24.com
Drones are increasingly violating American airspace. We know that tens of thousands of drone sightings on our southern border are connected with the Mexican drug and human trafficking cartels. But dozens of other drone sightings at sensitive military installations suggest hostile nation-state actors, most likely China.
As drone operations in Russia’s war on Ukraine show, the threat is no longer hypothetical — it is active and escalating. Unfortunately, a dangerous combination of bureaucratic inertia and misplaced priorities has left our borders and military installations vulnerable.
Xi Jinping’s Generals Are Hiding in Their Barracks, Afraid They Could Be Purged Next Vision Times
from news.google.com
Signs within China point to instability continuing in the wake of Chairman Xi’s recent purge of an attempted coup that appears to have been led by the-then second most powerful man in China, Zhang Youxia. Zhang was well-respected by the military, and they appear willing to send public signals they continue to support him.
That signal came through their newspaper, the Liberation Army Daily, which featured an article signaling support for an historic figure like Zhang Youxia, Zhang Guotao, who broke with Mao Zedong in the 30s. This was the first of six similar articles released following the reported arrest of Zhang Youxia.
Xi Jinping Has Turned China’s Military Against Him, and the Party’s Own Newspaper Proves It Vision Times
from news.google.com
On Feb. 11, the Liberation Army Daily, the official newspaper of China’s military, published yet another article invoking Zhang Guotao, a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party who broke with Mao Zedong in the 1930s and is remembered in Party mythology as the archetype of treachery and “splitting the Party and the army.” The article accused Zhang Guotao of “carrying out activities to split the Party and the Red Army,” language that transparently targets two recently purged military leaders: Zhang Youxia, the former vice chairman of China’s top military command body (the Central Military Commission), and Liu Zhenli, the former chief of the Joint Staff Department, China’s most senior operational military commander.
This was the sixth such article since Jan.16, the date that online sources say Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli were physically detained, eight days before their purge was officially announced on Jan. 24. All six articles share a revealing pattern: every one of them invokes the historical villain Zhang Guotao, and every one of them avoids mentioning Zhang Youxia or Liu Zhenli by name. The gap between the fury of the rhetoric and the absence of the actual targets’ names speaks volumes about how politically explosive these purges remain.
The six articles, with their dates and titles, are:
Jan. 18: “Courage Is Measured by What You Fear and What You Don’t”
Feb. 2: “Political Army-Building Special: Strong Organizations Make a Strong Army”
Japanese exports climbed 16.8% year on year in January, sharply beating market expectations and growing at their fastest rate since November 2022 as shipments to Asia and Western Europe surged, government data on Wednesday showed.
Growth was higher than December’s 5.1%, and beat Reuters-polled economists’ estimates of 12%.
Value of exports to China, Japan’s largest trading partner, jumped 32%, after rising 5.6% in December at a time when the two countries are locked in a diplomatic standoff over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments over Taiwan.
Chinese Officials Purged for ‘Improper Discussion’ as Xi Tightens Political Discipline Vision Times
from news.google.com
Spotlight China Why Xi Jinping’s upheaval within the Chinese military is just the beginning Intelligence Online
from news.google.com
Xi’s purges could mean more instability along the border The Indian Express
from news.google.com
DHAKA: The United States is concerned about China’s expanding presence in South Asia and is planning to offer Bangladesh’s next government US and allied defence systems as alternatives to Chinese hardware, Washington’s ambassador to Dhaka told Reuters.
Bangladesh votes in a general election on Thursday (Feb 12) after a Gen Z-led uprising toppled India-allied premier Sheikh Hasina in August 2024. She has since taken refuge in New Delhi, allowing China to deepen its influence in Bangladesh as India’s presence wanes.
China recently signed a defence agreement with Bangladesh to build a drone factory near the India border, worrying foreign diplomats. Bangladesh is also in talks with Pakistan to buy JF-17 Thunder fighter jets, a multi-role combat aircraft jointly developed with China.
China expels defence officials from legislature amid corruption crackdown – South China Morning Post
China expels defence officials from legislature amid corruption crackdown South China Morning Post
from news.google.com
Las Vegas Police and the FBI raided a illegal Chinese biological lab running out of a Las Vegas home on January 31, collecting more than 1,000 samples. Several people allegedly became sick after being exposed to the laboratory in the home’s garage, 8 News Now reported.
“Initial search of the residence on Sugar Springs identified a bio-safety hood, a bio-safety sticker, a centrifuge, multiple refrigerators, red-brown unknown liquids in gallon-sized containers and refrigerated vials with unknown liquids,” said Christopher Delzotto, FBI Special Agent in Charge at the Las Vegas office.
On Monday, the samples were reportedly loaded onto an FBI aircraft to be transported to the National Bioforensic Analysis Center in Maryland for testing.
Police raided a house in northeast Las Vegas on Saturday managed by Ori Solomon, an Israeli national currently in the U.S. on an E-2 visa, and owned by Jia Bei Zhu, the criminally charged Chinese national linked to a secret biolab discovered in Reedley, California, in late 2022.
Inside Zhu’s Vegas property on Sugar Springs Drive, law enforcement agents found a “possible biological laboratory” complete with a “bio-safety hood, a bio-safety sticker, a centrifuge, multiple refrigerators, red-brown unknown liquids in gallon-sized containers, and refrigerated vials with unknown liquids,” according to Christopher Delzotto, FBI special agent in charge at the bureau’s Las Vegas office.
How the Chinese Communist Party Destroys Its Own: The Falls of Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli Vision Times
from news.google.com
China’s disappearing generals show Xi Jinping’s deepening grip on military Business Standard
from news.google.com
‘CCP out’ chants echo through Seoul as anti-China protests grow Taipei Times
from news.google.com
China eyes reshaping global order as US influence wanes dw.com
from news.google.com
Xi Jinping Overhauls PLA Rocket Force After Missile Failures in Western China Dainik Jagran MP CG
from news.google.com
U.S. Defense Strategy Signals a Harder Line on China in Latin America The China-Global South Project
from news.google.com
Chinese businesses have pledged hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of investment in the U.K. and struck new partnerships with British peers as Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to China spurred a flurry of bilateral business activity and investment flows.
During his four-day visit in China last week, Starmer met Chinese President Xi Jinping and secured deals that would see hundreds of millions worth of new investments from Chinese businesses, in addition to £2.2 billion ($3 billion) worth of exports and £2.3 billion in market access, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.
Following the high-profile visit, the two leaders hailed the benefits of cooperation, with Xi describing the bilateral ties as “mutually beneficial.” Starmer, who brought a large delegation of executives from banking, pharmaceutical, and automobile companies to China, also described the country as vital to Britain’s interests.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has arrived in Beijing, the first British leader to make an official trip to China since 2018, after he said he believes he can unlock business opportunities there despite security concerns.
A chartered British Airways jet carried the Prime Minister to Beijing overnight — allegedly to keep Chinese spies away from the Prime Minister’s own government plane — for the first of a three-day trip to China, which the Labour leader hopes will thaw relations after what he called an “ice age”.
The hurried trip was only officially announced by China on Tuesday and seems to be something of a reward for Starmer after the British government forced through permission for Beijing to build a new “mega-embassy” in London just last week. The new complex, which will be the largest embassy in Western Europe once completed, has been the subject of intense criticism over spying and national security fears, but was signed off on nevertheless by one of Starmer’s government ministers.
China’s top general is in deep water.
In an exclusive report, the Wall Street Journal has reported that China’s top military general has been ousted from his position after allegedly giving nuclear secrets to the United States.
The General was known in Beijing and to U.S. intelligence as President Xi Jinping’s top military ally.
The New York Post reported more on the general leaking nuclear secrets to the United States:
China’s top general has been accused of leaking nuclear secrets to the US and accepting bribes as President Xi Jinping purges the country’s senior military leadership.
General Zhang Youxia, 75, once considered one of Xi’s most-trusted military allies, allegedly leaked core technical data on China’s nuclear weapons to the US, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Zhang, the first-ranked vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, was officially placed under investigation on Saturday.
He was detained by military corruption investigators earlier this week, according to reports from Chinese outlets.
President Xi has reportedly sent a special task force to Shenyang in northeast China, where Zhang was previously stationed.
Who Comes After Zhang Youxia? Inside Xi Jinping’s Military Purge and Power Consolidation Vision Times
from news.google.com
As Generals Fall, Xi Jinping’s Anti-Corruption Campaign Is Eating Itself Foreign Policy
from news.google.com
China reportedly hacked and surveilled the mobile phones of top officials in Downing Street for years as a part of a global espionage dragnet.
A report from London’s Daily Telegraph has claimed that a Chinese spying operation saw the communications of senior officials in the administrations of prime ministers Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak monitored between 2021 and 2024.
Although it is unclear if the phones of prime ministers were caught up in the surveillance scheme, a source is quoted by the broadsheet as saying that the Chinese infiltration reached “right into the heart of Downing Street”.
How a purge of China’s military leadership could impact the army and the future of Taiwan myplainview.com
from news.google.com
China tells Canada to re-write Indo-Pacific Strategy to better accommodate Beijing Juno News
from news.google.com
Report: Purged Chinese general probed for leaking nuclear secrets Washington Times
from news.google.com
President Xi says India, China ‘friends, partners’ in Republic Day message | News– www.aljazeera.com
Chinese President Xi Jinping has said Beijing and New Delhi are “good neighbours, friends and partners” as the two Asian giants continue to improve ties in the wake of United States President Donald Trump’s tariff war, which has shaken global trade.
Xi wished Indian President Droupadi Murmu congratulations on the South Asian nation’s Republic Day on Monday, according to Chinese state media.