Dictator of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, has called Felix Maradiaga a terrorist. Others call him an academic and political activist in Nicaragua. At the 2019 Oslo Freedom Forum, I sat down with him to uncover what China’s role in Nicaragua’s nightmare, and how the United States can help.
Huawei owns itself according to it’s own twitter poll///
Huawei‘s head of PR will probably have some explaining to do after today’s stunt (although I commend them for their bravery). The company put out a poll from its official Twitter account asking its followers who they thought owns Huawei — along with the incredibly catchy hashtag #WhoRunsHuawei.
Full Story Here: https://tnw.to/CAKKw
Xi Jinping’s concession to Donald Trump still haunts Chinese negotiators///
- Xi reportedly agreed last year to allow a compliance department of executives chosen by the US to be embedded into the company to monitor the flow of every transaction – and ZTE has to pay
- For Washington, enforcement of any agreement is the key, but Beijing views the US demands as reminiscent of China’s historical humiliations at the hands of Western powers
Full Story Here: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3020305/xi-jinpings-zte-concession-donald-trump-still-haunts-chinese
China masses the military on the Hong Kong border,
China masses the Chinese military on the Hong Kong border, as Hong Kong protesters and riot police clash.
PLUS:
The US China trade war is heating up as a trade deal remains elusive and Trump hits China with more tariffs.
Huawei may have a deeper relationship with Google than we thought.
Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra may be a challenge to China.
And China is banning individual travel permits to Taiwan.
That and more on this week’s China news headlines!
Exodus of funds and people from Hong Kong as China asserts its power…
The weeks of protest in Hong Kong are starting to hurt the global financial hub’s economy and the fallout is being felt around the Asia-Pacific region, including in Australia.
Key points:
- Migration agents say they have had a large increase in enquiries from people seeking to leave Hong Kong, including to come to Australia
- Travel to Hong Kong fell during the protests as did retail sales
- Major financial companies are keeping an eye on the situation, but remain committed to staying in Hong Kong for now
Hong Kong migration agents have seen a jump in sales and enquiries since the protests against a planned extradition bill began nearly two months ago.
Australian-registered migration agent John Hu, who runs a consultancy in the Chinese territory, said he had fielded hundreds of calls over the past month from people who were looking to leave the city because of the political unrest and prospect of greater Chinese control.
Mr Hu said total sales had surged in June and Australia was the preferred destination of Hong Kong people seeking permanent migration.
“I would say on a monthly basis we have doubled the number of enquiries. We’ve had about a 30 to 40 per cent increase in actual sales,” Mr Hu said.
Full Story Here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-25/hong-kong-china-protests-may-prompt-citizens-business-to-leave/11341144
FBI has 1,000 ongoing investigations into Chinese intellectual property theft…
Christopher Wray, director of the FBI, swears in to a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Wray said during the hearing that China is the biggest counterintelligence threat to the U.S. Photographer: | BLOOMBERG
WASHINGTON – The Federal Bureau of Investigation has nearly 1,000 investigations open into attempted intellectual property theft, nearly all of them involving Chinese, FBI director Christopher Wray said Tuesday.
“There is no country that poses a more severe counterintelligence threat to this country right now than China … and I don’t say it lightly,” Wray told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“We have as we speak probably about a thousand-plus investigations all across the country involving attempted theft of U.S. intellectual property, whether it’s economic espionage or counter proliferation, almost all leading back to China,” he said.
“It is a threat that is deep and diverse and wide and vexing. … Make no mistake that this is a high priority for all of us,” Wray added.
Arrests of people involved in Chinese operations to steal U.S. corporate secrets, whether for corporate reasons or to obtain defense secrets, have risen sharply in recent years.
Full Story Here: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/07/24/business/fbi-1000-probes-ongoing-chinese-intellectual-property-theft/
China’s People’s Liberation Army has released a video showing footage of “anti-riot” exercises, [VIDEO]
China’s People’s Liberation Army based in Hong Kong has released a video showing footage of “anti-riot” exercises as its top brass said violence is “absolutely impermissible” — an undeniable warning to civilian protesters.
Key points:
- Some scenes show armed soldiers in riot gear pelting tear gas and shooting water cannons
- Targeted civilians in the video wear masks like those wore by Hong Kong protesters
- Hong Kong police arrested 44 people on rioting charges this week
The three-minute video posted on the Hong Kong garrison’s official Weibo social media account late on Wednesday included footage of troops firing guns and rockets, and of light tanks, attack helicopters and missile launchers.
The PLA has remained in barracks since political protests began in April, leaving Hong Kong’s police force to deal with the massive and often violent confrontations in the Asian financial hub.
In one sequence in the PLA video, titled “anti-riot drill footage”, ranks of troops advance with shields and truncheons, firing rifles into the air.
Full Story Here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-02/chinese-army-releases-promo-video-for-hong-kong-troops/11376254
Western spy agencies being outgunned by Russia, China and Cuba.
Western spy agencies are being “overwhelmed” to the point that “bad actors” can “pretty much operate with impunity”, according to a former senior CIA operative.
James Olson, who ran the Central Intelligence Agency’s counter-intelligence arm, says digital technologies make the traditional “tradecraft” used by agents in the field far less effective.
He says the “Five Eyes” alliance — made up of Australia, the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand — is being outgunned by countries like Russia, China and Cuba.
“We make some hits here and there and bring some of their operations down, but I think it’s just a drop in the bucket,” he tells RN’s Future Tense.
“I think what they are doing that has not been detected is probably far, far beyond what we even fear.”
Full Story Here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-29/cia-james-olson-western-spy-agencies-outgunned-by-adversaries/11338096
China To Send Military to Hong Kong?
China threatens to send in the People’s Liberation Army military to Hong Kong as white shirt triads attack protesters.
A new Chinese military white paper promises war with Taiwan, criticism of the Trump Administration, and more cooperation with Russia and its military!
Chinese and Russian nuclear bombers fly over Japan and South Korea.
FBI director Christopher Wray says China is stealing the US blind.
And a Jackie Chan, Arnold Schwarzenegger blockbuster! Your childhood is gone.
China’s army just releases video showing soldiers practicing shooting protesters…
BEIJING — The top Chinese military official in Hong Kong has called the violent protests of recent weeks “absolutely intolerable,” in a threatening speech that coincides with the release of an extraordinary video showing Chinese soldiers practicing firing on demonstrators.
Together, the speech and the video served as a thinly veiled warning to the protesters in Hong Kong that China’s patience is growing thin and that it is becoming increasingly willing to use force to quell the demonstrations in the semiautonomous territory.
“We resolutely support the action to maintain Hong Kong’s rule of law by the people who love the nation and the city, and we are determined to protect national sovereignty, security, stability and the prosperity of Hong Kong,” said Maj. Gen. Chen Daoxiang, commander of the People’s Liberation Army garrison in Hong Kong.
Full Story Here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinas-army-just-released-a-video-showing-soldiers-practicing-shooting-protesters
