China Hacked Critical Networks to Spy on U.S. Ahead of Potential Conflict, Officials Say

A shadowy Chinese government-backed hacking group attacked critical U.S. networks, including in Guam, where it may have spied on the U.S. to gain an edge ahead of future crises, according to a Microsoft report and U.S. government advisory.

Microsoft said the organization, dubbed “Volt Typhoon,” has been active since 2021 to break into so-called “critical infrastructure” in Guam and other U.S. sites with the intent to secure long-term hidden access to networks and conduct espionage, according to a report published Wednesday. While targets spanned the U.S., Microsoft highlighted infiltration of national security-specific infrastructure in Guam, an important U.S. territory and military outpost in the Pacific that would likely serve as the front-line of U.S. defenses in the event of a conflict over Taiwan.

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Biden Admin Pulls the Plug on $200 Million Grant to China-Backed EV Battery Maker

The Biden administration has decided against offering a $200 million grant to a lithium battery-maker that has been heavily criticized for its close ties to China.

The Department of Energy (DOE) had selected electric battery maker Microvast as one of its intended recipients to receive grant funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. However, the DOE confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation that it was no longer in negotiations with Microvast concerning the grant, which would have been used to develop an electric vehicle battery production facility for General Motors, according to Reuters.

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‘These Numbers Are Staggering:’ Chinese Migrants Continue to Surge Across Southern Border

The influx of Chinese migrants crossing the southern border continued through April, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.

Border Patrol encountered 3,182 migrants from China at the U.S.-Mexico border in April alone, according to CBP data. Chinese migrants often pay hefty smuggling fees to reach the U.S., where they have been found with large sums of U.S. currency, according to Border Patrol agents who recently spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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CCP-Controlled, State-Owned Firm Behind Chinese Cash Allegedly Funneled to Hunter Biden, Documents Show

The Hong Kong corporation that allegedly wired funds to Hunter Biden’s business in 2017 was controlled by a Shanghai firm run by members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), some of whom had previously served in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), according to business documents and congressional reports reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

On June 30, 2017, Shanghai Huaxin Group (Hong Kong) Ltd. wired $10 million to the Delaware-based company CEFC Infrastructure, which then wired $100,000 to Hunter Biden’s “professional corporation,” Owasco P.C., on August 4, 2017, a House Oversight Committee memo revealed Wednesday, alleging the transfers were part of a scheme to conceal the Chinese origin of the funds.

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Commentary: Confronting China’s War on Religion Part Four

On Thanksgiving Day, 90-year-old Cardinal Joseph Zen, a Hong Kong priest, was convicted, along with five others, of failing to register a defunct charitable organization that tried to help pro-democracy demonstrators targeted by the regime.

Ostensibly, the charges stemmed from the group’s failure to submit paperwork to authorities. But Chinese people of faith and governments around the world understood the real message Beijing was sending when it arrested Fr. Zen, known as “the conscience of Hong Kong,” last May. The purpose of the prosecution, said U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price, was to show that China’s government “will pursue all means necessary to stifle dissent and undercut protective rights and freedoms.”

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Commentary: The Long Road to Confronting China’s War on Religion Part Three

It’s morning in Istanbul, but Joseph is reliving his morning routine in the camp, before the 16-hour shift starts. After the prisoners had sung Communist songs for their breakfast, the Chinese guards played a video for them shot in cinema verité style. It began with Chinese plainclothes agents tackling Uyghurs, cramming them into unmarked cars, and pulling bags over their heads.

Then, the camera would pan away, revealing, not China, but a foreign street with signs in German, Arabic, or English. Joseph says the film was a tease: Run away. Please try it. We’re everywhere. Even Washington, D.C. 

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GOP Presidential Candidates Weigh in on Comer Committee’s Records Uncovering Possible Biden Family Corruption

Back in the Hawkeye State this week for multi-day campaign tours, Republican presidential hopefuls Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley commented on House Republican committee findings tying the Biden family’s fortunes to suspect foreign entities in China and Romania. 

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY-01) on Wednesday addressed bank records that show payments made to companies connected to President Joe Biden’s troubled son, Hunter.

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Maricopa County Joins List of Arizona Governmental Entities Banning TikTok on Official Devices

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (MCBOS) voted unanimously Wednesday to ban the popular social media app TikTok from being used by government-owned and leased devices, citing cyber security concerns as the driving reason.

“We know social media companies gather loads of personal information on users to better customize the content they serve. And we know TikTok is not alone in doing this. But there are national security and privacy concerns when TikTok’s interests interfere with the best interests of Maricopa County’s residents,” said MCBOS Member Thomas Galvin in a statement to reporters.

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House Probe Unveils Fresh Evidence Contradicting Joe Biden Claims About Family’s Foreign Deals

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Wednesday directly challenged President Joe Biden’s claims about his family’s overseas business deals, providing fresh evidence his son Hunter got money directly from China, was involved in a business deal with a Romanian figure accused of corruption and helped arrange for one of his foreign business associates to meet with his father’s vice presidential office.

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DeSantis Signs Bill Blocking Chinese Property Ownership Near Military Installations

Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law Monday a bill that would block Chinese ownership of agricultural land and property near military installations, the latest state to crack down on Communist Party control of U.S. sites.

The law prohibits anyone from China and other totalitarian regimes, including Iran, Russia, Venezuela, Syria, Cuba and North Korea, from having a stake in any property within 10 miles of Department of Defense installations or critical infrastructure. A separate bill, also signed into law Monday, creates additional hurdles for foreign ownership of private schools after federal lawmakers raised red flags over Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ties to a private Florida high school operating a military pre-enlistment program.

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Commentary: The Long Road to Confronting China’s War on Religion Part Two

Falun Gong emerged in China in 1992, a time of a spiritual renewal in a land still under Communist rule, but one recovering from the horrors of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution. Drawing on Buddhist traditions, Falun Gong combined meditation and tai chi-style exercises with a moral philosophy centered on the tenets of “zhen,” “shan,” and “ren” (truth, compassion, tolerance.) The word, in both English and Chinese, to describe this contemplative mind and body approach to life is qigong.

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House Passes Bipartisan Bill to Repeal Biden’s China Solar Rules

The House passed a resolution Friday morning to repeal President Joe Biden’s moratorium on solar panel tariffs to several Southeast Asian nations, where Chinese firms linked to slave labor have reportedly been assembling their products to avoid U.S. tariffs.

The resolution passed 221 to 202, with the support of most Republicans and 12 Democrats, with supporters arguing in the preceding debate that the legislation was necessary both to support the U.S. solar industry while simultaneously holding China accountable for avoiding tariffs. Democratic detractors pointed to opposition from industry trade groups, arguing that the moratorium was set to run out next summer, and that it was necessary to grow the U.S. solar industry in the interim.

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Wisconsin’s Republican Congressional Delegation Demands Answers Following Revelations of ‘Gain-of-Function’ Biosafety Incidents at UW-Madison

Wisconsin’s Republican congressional delegation wants answers from federal health agencies following recent revelations of a biosafety lab incident at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

The so-called gain-of-function experiments at Wisconsin’s flagship public university shine a brighter light on the same scientific practices used in a lab in Wuhan, China that are suspected of unleashing the COVID-19 pandemic on the world. 

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Hundreds Protest Chinese-Owned Electric Vehicle Battery Plant in Michigan

Hundreds of people protested against a Chinese-owned electric vehicle battery plant being constructed in northern Michigan due to concerns about national security.

“How many abuses have we seen over the years from China? And to think that they will set up a battery factory in our state and they will just play by the rules? That makes no sense whatsoever,” Michigan Republican Chair Kristina Karamo said at the protest Saturday, NewsNation reported.

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Youngkin Signs Executive Order Establishing Virginia Trade Office in Taiwan

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin took historic steps by signing an executive order establishing a foreign trade office while meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan in Taipei earlier today, kicking off his Asian tour. 

This will be the commonwealth’s fourth international office; others are in Japan, South Korea and Germany. Youngkin is scheduled to visit Japan and South Korea during his Asian trip.

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Tennessee Senator Blackburn Introduces Sister City Transparency Act

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) this week reintroduced the Sister City Transparency Act, a bill aimed toward addressing geostrategic scheming, particularly by China.

“Sister cities” are municipalities that enter into diplomatic relationships with localities abroad to facilitate cultural and economic exchange. But, the senator told The Tennessee Star, China is using these arrangements to advance propaganda and exert political pressure. 

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Europe Imposes First-Ever ‘Climate Tax’ on Imported Goods

The European Parliament finalized legislation Tuesday that will impose taxes on imports based on the greenhouse gas emissions made during their production, despite the objections raised by companies in the U.S. and China.

The European Union’s (E.U.) Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) would first take effect in 2026, and first cover emissions from companies producing iron, steel, cement, aluminum, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen, according to the European Parliament. The taxes have been criticized by firms in the U.S., who are concerned about unnecessary regulation and red tape, and firms in China and the developing world, who use less green sources of energy than competitors in the U.S. and E.U., according to the Wall Street Journal.

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Commentary: After Decades of Outsourcing to China, the U.S. is Running Out of Children’s Antibiotics

Acute shortages of orally delivered amoxicillin, penicillin and other children’s antibiotics throughout the 2022 and 2023 cold and flu season have made it difficult for doctors to treat normal childhood illnesses like ear infections, bronchitis, strep throat and rarer cases of infections caused after suffering Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and also sickle cell disease—for months.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning about the amoxicillin shortage in Oct. 2022 just at the start of the cold and flu season. But since then, no statement has been issued by President Joe Biden about what appears to be an underreported public health crisis.

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Justice Department Announces Criminal Charges on China for Alleged Espionage Activities from New York City Outpost

The Justice Department on Monday announced three cases involving China’s threat to national security, based on operations in New York City.

Just two miles from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York’s office, the People’s Republic of China opened an undeclared station for the Chinese National Police, officials said.

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Gordon Chang Commentary: It’s Time to Bankrupt China

“We are probably not going to be able to do anything to stop, slow down, disrupt, interdict, or destroy the Chinese nuclear development program that they have projected out over the next 10 to 20 years,” said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley on March 29 at a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee. “They’re going to do that in accordance with their own plan.”

Milley is wrong about China’s nuclear weapons ambitions. He is, unfortunately, expressing the same pessimism that pervaded the Nixon, Ford and Carter years, when the American foreign policy establishment took the Soviet Union as a given and therefore promoted détente.

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Bank Records Show Millions in Transaction Between Hunter Biden, China Firms: Sen. Johnson

Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson says the Chinese-American financial institution Cathay Bank has given Senate Republicans records showing millions of dollars going from Chinese companies to President Biden’s son Hunter Biden.

Republicans and others started raising concerns during President Biden’s successful 2020 White House campaign, if not earlier, that Hunter Biden used the family name and influence while his father was vice president to make millions in overseas business deals, which also could have compromised U.S. national security.

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Black Market Cigarette Shipments Seized in Connecticut

Connecticut and other states have seized shipments of illegal cigarettes from China and other countries under a settlement with the U.S. Postal Service to resolve claims it wasn’t doing enough to crack down on tobacco smuggling. 

A new report by Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said between January and March the Postal Service seized 3,000 packages containing a total of 10,000 cartons of cigarettes shipped from overseas in violation of federal laws. Most of the illegal shipments were mailed from China, Israel and Russia, the AG’s office said. 

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Commentary: China Builds the New World Order with Biden Asleep at the Wheel

China is rapidly growing economically, militarily, and influentially, and none of this is good for the United States. Since diplomatic ties with China were officially established in 1979 under President Jimmy Carter, each president has done a fair job (some better than others) of keeping China in check on the international stage, despite China’s growth. All with the exception of President Joe Biden, who has allowed China to lead a global coalition and a new world order against the United States of America, which has fulfilled our worst fears.

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Over 60 Members of Persecuted Chinese Church Saved, Bound for Texas

A persecuted Chinese Christian church has been freed from Thai prison and is bound for Texas, human rights advocates told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Friday.

Over 60 members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church, also known as the Mayflower Church, is scheduled to arrive at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport late Friday evening, ending the church’s three year-long quest for asylum after fleeing Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecution in 2019, Pastor Bob Fu, founder of ChinaAid, told the DCNF. Despite applying for asylum in Thailand in August, the members of the Mayflower Church were arrested last week for overstaying their visas, prompting international concern that the church might be deported back to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and face persecution.

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Iowa U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley Demands Biden Administration Release All Information on China Spy Balloon

Recent reports that China’s claimed “weather” balloon was taking multiple images of U.S. military sites and sending them back to the communist nation are raising greater national security alarms. 

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is demanding the Biden administration release all information available on the spy balloon that invaded U.S. air space in late January and early February. 

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China Spy Balloon Gathered Intelligence About Military Sites, Despite U.S. Preventive Efforts: Report

by Madeleine Hubbard   The Chinese spy balloon that traversed much of the continental United States in early February was reportedly able to gather intelligence from multiple sensitive military sites, despite the Biden administration’s efforts to foil any espionage activity. China guided the balloon to pass over sensitive sites multiple times, even making figure-eight formations at some points, two senior U.S. officials and one former senior administration official told NBC News on Monday. The balloon transmitted the information, which was mostly electronic signals, back to Beijing live, the officials said. The electronic signals likely included base communications or were detected from weapons systems. China could have detected far more intelligence from the sites has the administration not moved potential targets and blocked the balloon’s detection ability, the officials also said. When asked about the report, the Defense Department directed reporters to remarks from February in which senior officials said the balloon’s intelligence-gathering abilities were “limited,” and were similar to what Beijing is likely able to collect through objects such as satellites. The U.S. military shot down the balloon over the Atlantic Ocean on February 4. The debris was fully recovered nearly two weeks later. – – – Madeleine Hubbard joined Just the News as a fast…

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GOP Rep Demands State Department Rescue Chinese and American Christians Detained in Thailand

A Republican congressman is calling on the State Department to intervene on behalf of Chinese and American Christians detained by Thai police currently facing imprisonment in China, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Thai police arrested 63 members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church, also known as the Mayflower Church, for overstaying their visas during an early morning raid in Pattaya, Thailand, on Thursday. They are now preparing to deport the Chinese congregants, along with two women from Texas who’d been visiting church members, back to China, where they face imprisonment and likely torture, ChinaAid, a Christian human rights group, told the DCNF.

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63 Christians Face Deportation Back to China

Influential members of Congress and top human rights advocates in Washington are urging the Biden administration to take immediate action to ensure the safety of a group of Chinese Christian dissidents and two Americans detained by Thai authorities Thursday.

The group of refugees, including 35 children and 28 adults, fled China in 2019 to escape persecution. They initially sought refuge in South Korea and then Thailand while seeking emergency asylum in the United States. But the U.S. State Department and Department of Homeland Security have declined to grant the church members emergency asylum, as it has done for many others, including tens of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing their war-ravaged countries, and the first group of Afghans airlifted into the United States amid the chaotic U.S. evacuation in August 2021.

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Border Authorities Detail Smuggling Routes, Warn of Greater Surge in Chinese Illegally Crossing Into US

Border authorities in the U.S. are expecting a further increase in the number of Chinese migrants crossing illegally at the southern border, and have identified key ways they are entering the country, according to an internal U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) document exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The document, which was circulated via an internal email to CBP personnel, warns of more Chinese nationals entering the U.S. via the southern border due to a broader message from smugglers about routes into the country. The document details key smuggling routes, and notes that the Chinese nationals are entering in higher numbers due to religious persecution against the Christian faith.

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As Pentagon Struggles to Fill Military Requests, Funding Goes to Diversity, Critical Race Theory

The Pentagon is increasingly struggling to fill the weapons and equipment requests for the war in Ukraine. At the same time, taxpayer funds are going to pay for ongoing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts in the military, most recently one controversial Pentagon official pushing anti-police and pro-critical race theory books at schools for the children of military families.

The New York Times recently highlighted the Pentagon’s manufacturing problem with a story headlined: “From Rockets to Ball Bearings: Pentagon Struggles to Feed War Machine.”

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TikTok Not the Only China-Controlled App Thriving in America: Report

The top four downloaded applications in the past 30 days in the U.S. Apple App Store and Google Play Store are owned by Chinese-tied companies, according to data from Apptopia analyzed by Axios.

While these Chinese-tied apps are thriving in the U.S., American apps are typically not permitted to operate in China due to the country’s strict censorship, according to Axios. China has over one billion internet users according to Statista, so the U.S. is missing out on a massive market while China has exclusive access to it.

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‘Six Smoking Guns’: Doctor-Turned-US-Senator Roger Marshall’s Reasons for His Wuhan Lab Leak Theory

Long before key components of the intelligence community acknowledged they believed COVID-19 came from a lab leak, Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall had drawn a bull’s-eye around the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Marshall, a doctor turned politician, argued early and often that the virus’ emergence and genetic characteristics did not seem like those of a naturally evolving animal-to-human virus. But senators like him and Kentucky Republican Rand Paul were marginalized and even demeaned early on by detractors ranging from Dr. Anthony Fauci to TV comedian Stephen Colbert.

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States Push for Harsher Fentanyl Penalties amid Uptick in Overdose Deaths

Several states are advocating for harsher fentanyl penalties as overdose deaths surge in the U.S.

Nevada, Oregon, Alabama, Texas, West Virginia and South Carolina have all pushed to increase the length of sentences for fentanyl dealers, according to the Associated Press. Fentanyl is largely responsible for the more than 100,000 drug overdose deaths that occurred in 2021 up from 93,331 drug overdose deaths in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: Once Vaunted as the Best in the Word, Stanford University’s Wayward Record is Growing Infamous

Stanford was once one of the world’s great universities. It birthed Silicon Valley in its prime. And along with its nearby twin and rival, UC Berkeley, its brilliant researchers, and teachers helped fuel the mid-20th-century California miracle.

That was then. But like the descent of California, now something has gone terribly wrong with the university.

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China Enters Artificial Intelligence Arms Race, Flops Disastrously

by Jason Cohen   China released its main Chat GPT competitor, developed by search engine giant Baidu, Thursday in Beijing, but its debut of the bot was a failure and led to the company’s shares falling, according to CNBC. During the unveiling, the bot named Ernie “summarized a science fiction novel and analyzed a Chinese idiom,” but in the middle of the presentation that Baidu promoted as live, CEO Robin Li, revealed the company prerecorded the presentation for time management purposes, according to The New York Times. Li also made clear that Ernie bot was not flawless and will get better when users provide feedback, according to CNBC. Baidu’s shares then plummeted at least 6.4 percent and as much as 10 percent in Hong Kong, in contrast to a previous rally when the giant announced it had been developing a ChatGPT competitor since 2019, according to the NYT. Baidu said 30,000 corporate clients signed up on the waitlist to access Ernie bot in less than an hour following its announcement, but media and the public did not get access, according to CNBC. Meanwhile, OpenAI announced ChatGPT-4 this week, as the updated version of the AI behind its highly popular and disruptive ChatGPT chatbot that the public has accessed…

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Trump, Mastriano Well Ahead of Respective Potential Rivals in Pennsylvania

In the first public poll on Pennsylvania’s 2024 Republican Senate primary, State Senator Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) has an 18-point lead against Dave McCormick.

The same survey shows former President Donald Trump besting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis by the same margin in the state’s GOP presidential contest. While only Trump has officially declared his candidacy, a robust movement for a DeSantis bid has long been afoot while both Mastriano and McCormick have strongly suggested they are considering a Senate run. 

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Former President Donald Trump Stumps in Iowa, Vows to Evict Biden from the White House and ‘Prevent World War III’

Former President Donald Trump was back in Iowa Monday night and he was loaded for bear, taking aim at woke liberals, the mainstream media, the Deep State, “Paul Ryan RINOs” and the current unpopular top resident of the White House. 

And Trump, arguably the leading contender for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, made the crowd packing Davenport’s 2,400-seat Adler Theatre some big promises. Chief among them:  He’ll always have Iowa’s back and he’ll “stop World War III.” 

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Wows Iowans at Packed ‘Book Tour’ Event

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis may still be mulling over a run for president, but the Republican looked and sounded every bit a contender for the GOP presidential nomination Friday evening in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

DeSantis joined fellow Republican, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. at a packed, standing-room only stop at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, ostensibly to promote his new book, The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival.

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At Iowa Foreign Policy Event, GOP Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley Says War in Ukraine is a War ‘We Have to Win’

Republican Presidential candidate Nikki Haley asserts the war in Ukraine is about freedom and “one we have to win.” 

The former South Carolina governor discussed national security and foreign policy with U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) Friday morning in suburban Des Moines at an event sponsored by the Bastion Institute.

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Former New York Times Science Editor Testifies Fauci ‘Not Too Pleased to Hear’ Virus May Have ‘Escaped from Research His Agency Had Funded’

The former science editor at The New York Times testified Wednesday morning before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic there is now strong evidence the COVID-19 virus escaped from a Wuhan lab, but that “powerful scientific officials, such as [Anthony] Fauci and [National Institutes of Health Director] Francis Collins, kept researchers “in line” with their natural origins narrative with the knowledge the scientists were dependent on government grants to continue their research.

In his testimony, Nicholas Wade, who not only served as former science and health editor at the Times, but also as former editor at Science and at Nature, quickly got to the heart of the matter: the campaign to suppress the lab leak narrative.

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Poll: Plurality of Americans Believes We Are Heading for Next World War

As the war in Ukraine and tensions with China intensify, more Americans fear we’re on the brink of World War III, according to a new Convention of States Action poll. 

The survey of more than 1,000 U.S. voters, conducted Feb. 22-26 by The Trafalgar Group, finds more than 43 percent of respondents worry that Russia’s continued war and threats against other European nations, as well as China’s aggressive actions, have put the world on the precipice of another global conflict.

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Top American High School Received More than $1 Million from Groups Tied to China

A prestigious U.S. high school reportedly received more than $1 million in donations from Chinese-linked organizations, a report from watchdog group Parents Defending Education indicates.

Thomas Jefferson High School, situated in Fairfax County, Va., focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education and ranks among the nation’s best high schools.

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