American spy agencies had gathered striking intelligence.

A top executive at a Singapore-based data center company was under scrutiny for possibly steering advanced Nvidia A.I. chips to China. And now American officials had concluded that she was a Chinese intelligence asset, funneling information to Beijing.

But what came next was even more alarming. Surveillance of the executive, Alice Huang or Huang Le, a Chinese citizen, revealed that she had developed a close relationship with Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive.

For years, Washington has worked to deny China the technology needed to match or surpass the United States in the intense global competition for superiority in artificial intelligence. The discovery that Beijing was getting reports from someone with direct access to Mr. Huang, one of the most powerful figures in the A.I. revolution as well as an influential ally of President Trump’s, set off alarms at the White House.

Read it all.

Wow.https://t.co/ovzrTKn4CR https://t.co/VlJTst2k4X

— Ryan Mac 🙃 (@RMac18) October 29, 2026

O God, who in thy providence didst call Joseph Schereschewsky from his home in Eastern Europe to the ministry of this Church, and didst send him as a missionary to China, upholding him in his infirmity, that he might translate the holy Scriptures into languages of that land: Lead us, we pray thee, to commit our lives and talents to thee, in the confidence that when thou givest thy servants any work to do, thou dost also supply the strength to do it; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today the Episcopal Church commemorates Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky, Bishop and Missionary, 1906 https://t.co/F0xkkbLRRH

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) October 14, 2023

For months, Ma Yongjian didn’t tell his parents where he was.

Halfway through a master’s degree in computer science, the 27-year-old stopped going to class last year. Software engineering used to be a safe career choice, but the rise of artificial intelligence and a wave of layoffs at Chinese tech companies left Ma convinced he wouldn’t be able to land a good job. He no longer saw the point of studying. 

When his roommates left their dorm each morning, Ma would wander Beijing, sitting in parks and looking at stray cats. Earlier this year, he escaped to Dali, a magnet for drifters in China’s Yunnan province known for its scenic mountains and slow pace of life.

His parents thought he was still in grad school. He didn’t want to worry them.

“Before, everyone expected life would keep getting better, your income would keep growing. Now, it’s different,” said Ma. “When you look at the future, there isn’t much hope.”

A generation born during China’s boom years is now entering adulthood with dwindling opportunities, fiercer competition and a growing sense of despondency that years of hard work have left them no better off than their parents—and, for some, back living with them. Steady jobs are hard to get, pushing millions into the precarious gig economy, while others buckle under a cutthroat work culture.

A weakened economy has shrunk the job market, just as record numbers of college graduates are looking to start their careers. 

Read it all.

China’s Weakening Economy Is Creating a Lost Generation—Young people were taught hard work guaranteed a bright future. They feel burned out and betrayed as good jobs become harder to get. @hannahmiao_ @GillSabrie https://t.co/Jdyyo9hqou https://t.co/Jdyyo9hqou

— Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) October 13, 2026

As the United States and China vie for A.I. dominance, the Trump administration has made it more difficult for companies to hire foreign researchers, while China has made recruiting the world’s best scientists a national priority.

Over the past two years, China has flung open its doors to international researchers, introducing a visa for scientists and offering lucrative research grants.

Despite those efforts, foreigners are not coming.

Worse still for China’s ambitions, the number of Chinese scientists working in the United States has risen rather than declined, according to a new study about global A.I. research.

For every 30 Chinese researchers in the United States working on artificial intelligence in 2025, only one in China made the opposite journey, according to the study, conducted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a think tank.

Read it all.

In Race With U.S., China Struggles to Recruit Foreign A.I. Researchers https://t.co/GRZEJwCxsX "Worse still for China’s ambitions, the number of Chinese scientists working in the United States has risen rather than declined, according to a new study about global A.I. research."

— Bill Bishop (@niubi) October 6, 2026

This summer, a cybersecurity company called Tenzai entered a three-month-long hacking contest, racing to find vulnerabilities in computer networks operated by governments agencies, banks, hotels, airlines and other businesses.

The contest, called HackerOne, has become a real-world proving ground for the latest artificial intelligence technologies, including Claude from Anthropic and GPT from OpenAI. Over the past year, these technologies have improved to the point where they can pinpoint holes in computer networks with stunning speed, fundamentally changing the nature of cybersecurity.

But in winning this extended contest — a result announced on Thursday morning — Tenzai did not use technology from Anthropic or OpenAI. It used A.I. systems built by the Chinese start-up Z.ai.

The feat demonstrated the enormous power of Chinese A.I. technologies that are freely available on the internet.

Read it all.

A hacking competition shows the power of China’s approach to AI https://t.co/de62ucivxL

— The Straits Times (@straits_times) October 1, 2026

A court in China’s Shanxi province sentenced Yang Rongli to 15 years for fraud in June 2025. She was the leader of a house church called the Golden Lampstand, and her fraud, according to the prosecutors, was collecting offerings from her congregation.

That’s the way churches have funded themselves for 2,000 years, and the Golden Lampstand’s congregants weren’t deceived. They gave willingly and knew where their money went. But in its campaign against independent churches, Beijing has doubled down on a troubling method: Take an ordinary practice and prosecute it as a financial crime. Pastor Wang Yi of Chengdu’s Early Rain Covenant Church is another example: sentenced to nine years in 2019, partly for “illegal business operations” tied to printing Christian books.

My parents are likely next. My father, Gao Quanfu, founded Light of Zion Church in Xi’an nearly four decades ago. He and my mother, Pang Yu, both 69, lived frugally and gave generously. The church’s money was handled by a finance team and overseen by its elders and deacons. My father drew a fixed salary for preaching, and my mother cooked meals as a volunteer.

But in May 2025, the police came to our home in Xi’an and took my father, returning three weeks later to take my mother. The original charge was “using superstition to undermine the implementation of the law,” but—with the method of using financial laws for religious oppression—they’ve now been charged with fraud instead. Prosecutors are seeking 12 to 13 years.

Read it all.

In its campaign against independent churches, Beijing has doubled down on a troubling method: Take an ordinary practice and prosecute it as a financial crime, writes @GaoPu1231https://t.co/izxIujB28n

— Wall Street Journal Opinion (@WSJopinion) October 2, 2026

Robots — the sector Mr. Xi first championed in his 2014 speech — have been a particular success. China has more than 2 million robots in its factories, more than in the rest of the world combined. Some Chinese researchers have argued that robots may be more promising for achieving general-purpose intelligence than large language models — Silicon Valley’s chosen method — because they can learn from interactions with the physical world.

Those rapid gains have fueled anxiety in Washington, where fears of being overtaken by China have become the main argument against reining in A.I. A congressional advisory group warned that China’s quick adoption of A.I. in robots and other practical applications would generate huge amounts of new data that could then be used to further improve its models. In July, the U.S. government proposed restricting imports of humanoid robots, a move Beijing denounced as discriminatory.

For people like Mr. Liang, the robotics company founder in Shenzhen, the signs of China’s progress are already all around.

He still admires American entrepreneurs, but he no longer looks only to them for inspiration. He wears smart glasses from Huawei. He has hired interns from American universities who are eager to learn from China’s robotics expertise.

“Before, we all used American technology as the benchmark, and we’d joke about ‘C-to-C’: ‘copy to China,’” Mr. Liang said. “I think it’s the mission of this generation of Chinese entrepreneurs to let the world know that some Chinese companies are different.”

Read it all.

How China’s Leader Plans to Win the Future With A.I.

A decade ago, Xi Jinping asked if China could master A.I. His push is remaking the economy, challenging the United States and keeping society under control. @vwang3 https://t.co/1NxAUK6oSR via @NYTimes

— Ashis Basu 🇨🇦 ashis.bluesky.social (@BasuAshis) September 23, 2026

Finally, we will ask what went wrong.

The postmortem will be this. Many people panicked about the possibility of strong AI models killing us all. That fear was not based on peer-reviewed scientific research showing a high chance of doom, nor was doom indicated in any market prices of the time, including measures of risk. It was a story, just like this is a story, and it was spread on social media. The key point of the doom story was that, if America keeps the No. 1 spot in AI models, the models will be so strong they will do us all in, or lead to unimaginable catastrophes. We were too afraid to have America keep the lead, forgetting that if truly destructive AI is our fate, the doomer scenario can come from Chinese AI as well.

Today, we cannot say for sure that the AI doom scenario is false. But is it a story we wish to live by? Is belief in it a good way to protect and extend life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Will it help us much, or for long, if it is Chinese AI that turns on us and does us in?

In my view, successful societies accept challenges and meet them. Solving problems, bit by bit, is the best way to ensure that we have the capabilities to meet big and truly existential risks, should those risks come along. Debating the chances of our doom, ex ante, on a highly speculative basis, is unlikely to provide the same kind of expertise and talent cultivation. It is instead more likely to demoralize and immobilize us.

So which America are we going to choose?

Read it all.

Tyler Cowen: A Doomsday Scenario for American AI https://t.co/3qm0eVwQ3I

— Mark Semonian (@msemonian) September 21, 2026

Iran, China and groups in Israel used artificial intelligence in novel ways in recent months to create first-of-their-kind influence campaigns on social media, ratcheting up concerns among U.S. officials and security researchers about the fast-evolving technology.

The countries and groups combined A.I. tactics to ramp up the speed and scale of online campaigns beyond what people could easily achieve and with minimal human interaction, U.S. officials and security researchers with knowledge of the efforts said.

First, the countries and groups turned to Chinese “open-source” A.I. models, which are increasingly powerful systems that are freely available to download and modify. Then they used those A.I. models to create “agents,” which are bots that can operate software and complete tasks on their own.

Once hundreds of those A.I. agents were let loose, they autonomously opened networks of fake accounts on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok, the officials and security researchers said. The agents then rapidly seeded the fake accounts with false posts about politics and current events to sway opinions and inflame issues.

Read it all.

For most of modern history, the household was a bundle. Under one roof, families pooled rent and meals, raised children, cared for parents, kept each other company and insured one another against bad luck. Nobody itemized it, and national accounts barely noticed.

Across East Asia, that arrangement is coming apart, and one line item after another has turned into something you pay for. The loneliness economy is the usual name for the result; the unbundling of the family household is the more accurate one.

In South Korea, single-person households are now 36% of the total, the largest category. Japan was at 38% in 2020 and is expected to reach 44% by 2050; Tokyo is already past half.

China’s 2020 census found 125 million people living alone, equal to one in four households. Fertility has fallen in step. South Korea’s rate is 0.80, Hong Kong’s is 0.84 and Taiwan’s births fell 20% in 2025 alone.

The money has followed. Discovery Reports, a Chinese research firm, puts spending by singles in China at more than US$1 trillion in 2025, up about 50% in two years. The “silver economy” serving the elderly is expected to reach 30 trillion yuan, about $4 trillion, by 2035. Pop Mart, the toymaker behind Labubu, reported $5.4 billion in revenue last year, up 185%.

Read it all.

#Asia’s $1 trillion singles economy is not simply a demographic crisis or a retail boom. Much of it reflects family functions becoming paid services, while care, emergency support and social insurance remain stubbornly hard to unbundle. #LonelinessEconomyhttps://t.co/ufYz5N1MdD

— Asia Times (@asiatimesonline) September 14, 2026

Iran is expected to receive within weeks a first shipment out of up to 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired air-defense missile launchers, three sources familiar with the deal told ​Reuters, as it rebuilds its defenses amid war with the United States.

The purchase, valued at $60-70 million, is one of Tehran’s largest-known efforts to strengthen its short-range air ‌defenses since the outbreak of its war with the U.S. and Israel, which exposed gaps in Iran’s ability to protect military sites and strategic infrastructure. The contract covers the purchase of between 300 and 400 man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS), including Chinese-made QW-12 and FN-16 missiles, the sources said. The deal was signed with Zhongqing Baoshang International Investment, a Hong Kong-based company that the sources said was acting as an intermediary between the Iranian ​side and the Chinese supplier.

Read it all.

Iran to get Chinese shoulder-launched missile systems in weeks – https://t.co/FYda7NBCmH

— Reuters Iran (@ReutersIran) July 29, 2026

The United States may only have nine to 12 months to protect its critical infrastructure from AI-powered attacks. Currently, two American companies, Anthropic (for which I consult) and OpenAI, have publicly demonstrated AI models advanced enough to detect flaws in software far beyond the human capacity to find, and they are restricting the use of these models to defensive cybersecurity work.

But the United States’ adversaries, and the criminals in their orbit, will soon wield the same offensive tools. China, in particular, is already racing to build and acquire these AI capabilities and may be closer to developing its own Mythos than many U.S. policymakers hope. Advanced AI will sharpen an instrument that Beijing already prizes: the credible threat to deter a fight over Taiwan before it begins by disrupting the island’s critical infrastructure and that of any nation that seeks to defend it….

The United States has a window to bolster its critical infrastructure’s defenses, but that window is short, and those defenses are weak to begin with. In a campaign called Volt Typhoon, Chinese state-linked hackers already demonstrated how deeply they can burrow into U.S. critical infrastructure, including organizations in the water, power, and transportation sectors. Now is the time to put policy options on the table that were previously considered out of bounds: taking dramatic steps to preempt would-be attacks, making once-in-a-generation investments in cyberdefense, and helping U.S. AI labs protect themselves against the most advanced threats.

Read it all.

“As firms use Mythos to hunt and fix flaws in their products, a more urgent question looms: how to defend the United States and its allies from AI-powered cyberwarfare,” writes Michael Sulmeyer.https://t.co/uskGVY48uZ

— Foreign Affairs (@ForeignAffairs) July 22, 2026

In 2025, Chinese leader Xi Jinping tried to capitalize on U.S. belligerence toward Europe by promoting China as the responsible great-power alternative. In a message sent to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the European Union, Xi invited Brussels to join forces with Beijing, to “uphold multilateralism, safeguard fairness and justice,” and “oppose unilateralism and bullying.” Despite the lofty rhetoric, Beijing offered nothing of substance to Europeans, and did nothing to address their concerns about unfair trade practices that are threatening large swaths of European industry. Indeed, rather than seeking to conciliate, Chinese premier Li Qiang recently dismissed the concerns of Europeans worried about a “China Shock 2.0,” telling them to focus instead on “China Opportunity 2.0.”

Key EU leaders, as well as the Brussels bureaucracy, are not buying it. They have concluded that the very survival of Europe’s core industries is threatened by China. The first “China shock” describes the devastation of U.S. industry in sectors including furniture, textiles, and metals that came in the early 2000s, after China’s accession to the World Trade Organization. The new China shock will be different. It will happen mainly in Europe, and it will be more severe, devastating advanced industrial sectors—including automotive, machinery, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and green energy—and leading to immense job losses.

Increasingly, European leaders are arguing that the EU needs to take action to protect its industries. So severe is the threat that measures that were unthinkable a few years ago are now gaining momentum. Earlier this year, for example, the French government proposed “establishing a level of protection equivalent to a general tariff of around 30 percent vis-à-vis China.” And although Germany was initially hesitant, Chancellor Friedrich Merz has signaled that he is ready to act to deal with China’s unfair trade practices. Last month, every EU leader, with the exception of Spain, tasked the European Commission with coming up with options for action. An all-out trade war with China is becoming a real possibility.

Read it all.

Sharing this piece by @thorstenbenner on the stakes of China-EU trade tensions and why Europe shouldn't submit to acceptance of the status quo.
https://t.co/ClED070DRZ via @ForeignAffairs

— Ryan Hass (@ryanl_hass) July 20, 2026

Only days after U.S. President Donald Trump left a Beijing summit with CCP Chairman Xi Jinping where religious freedom and jailed religious leaders were discussed, authorities in eastern China have demolished a prominent church, razing the building with large excavators.

Yazhong Church (also referred to as Yayang Church), an unregistered Protestant church in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province — a region known as “China’s Jerusalem” — has been under siege since late last year.

On Dec. 14 and 15, local authorities arrested 103 church members in a pre-dawn raid and took control of the church building, as confirmed last week in new reporting by Le Monde. That same week, at a public event, an unidentified government official announced: “We will see this campaign through to the end.” 

Five months later, heavy construction vehicles passed through tightly controlled security checkpoints set up by authorities, according to multiple sources confirmed by ChinaAid News. Crews then demolished the multi-level sanctuary from the top down, reducing it to rubble. Due to an unprecedented information blackout, the exact date of the demolition is not yet known; sources provided an initial report on May 19.

Read it all.

Prominent Church In East China Demolished Amid Escalating Crackdown https://t.co/js4iRUjdf7

— Bob Fu 傅希秋 (@BobFu4China) May 21, 2026

In 1973 a club of Arab petrostates held the world to ransom by halting crude-oil exports to countries they accused of supporting Israel. Petrol prices soared; Western economies buckled. Today the danger is that China will use its grip on other natural resources to achieve its aims, such as seizing Taiwan. It has already shown its power by choking off exports of rare-earth metals last year. That is why America is staging its biggest intervention in commodity markets in decades.

The battleground is the supply of “critical” metals, a group of minerals vital to making military, electrical and computing infrastructure—everything modern economies need to be safe, high-tech and green. China supplies most of these: it mines about 80% of the world’s tungsten, for instance, and refines 99% of its gallium. This is spurring America into an all-out campaign to diversify its sourcing of 60 minerals. It has pledged billions of dollars to dozens of mining projects at home and abroad, floated plans to create price floors and trade blocs, and announced a vast stockpile to cover months of national needs. The risk now is that America depends too much on its scattershot efforts—and that, in seeking control, it breaks the flexible and resilient system of market incentives that ensures the smooth functioning of the global economy.

China’s grip on critical minerals has exposed the West’s most serious strategic weakness in many years. Last April, during its trade war with America, China restricted exports of seven crucial rare earths; it targeted another five in October. Nearly a third of Pentagon procurement programmes faced the risk of shortages, as did industries from carmaking to renewable energy. The prospect of large-scale disruption prodded President Donald Trump into a trade truce with Xi Jinping, as well as a relaxation of American controls on some technology exports. Yet Mr Xi can deploy the weapon again whenever he chooses. Meanwhile, exports of rare earths for dual-use applications—the expanding grey zone between military and civilian uses—remain largely barred, sapping Western efforts to rearm….

Read it all.

America is racing to break China’s chokehold on critical minerals—but its approach has flaws. It should follow three principles https://t.co/t5SkUsYgjf pic.twitter.com/BgoWViJBZv

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) February 26, 2026

Chinese researchers have developed a form of hybrid rice that can replicate itself through seeds that are clones, preserving high-yield traits generation after generation, according to the development team. The scientists say their breakthrough could transform global agriculture by dismantling the biggest barrier to hybrid rice production: the need for farmers to buy expensive new hybrid seeds every season.

As hundreds of millions of people around the world face acute food insecurity, hybrid rice has promised dramatically higher yields: nearly four times more in parts of Africa compared to traditional varieties. If all rice farmers could plant the new hybrid variant, the world’s rice production could double, according to some industry estimates.

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China creates world’s first clone-hybrid rice that could double global output

Team developed 6 apomictic rice varieties tested over multiple generations in Hainan and Zhejiang provinceshttps://t.co/pPPqMIDlYQ

— Shehzad Younis شہزاد یونس (@shehzadyounis) January 7, 2026

Concerned that artificial intelligence could threaten Communist Party rule, Beijing is taking extraordinary steps to keep it under control.

Although China’s government sees AI as crucial to the country’s economic and military future, regulations and recent purges of online content show it also fears AI could destabilize society. Chatbots pose a particular problem: Their ability to think for themselves could generate responses that spur people to question party rule.

In November, Beijing formalized rules it has been working on with AI companies to ensure their chatbots are trained on data filtered for politically sensitive content, and that they can pass an ideological test before going public. All AI-generated texts, videos and images must be explicitly labeled and traceable, making it easier to track and punish anyone spreading undesirable content.

Authorities recently said they removed 960,000 pieces of what they regarded as illegal or harmful AI-generated content during three months of an enforcement campaign. Authorities have officially classified AI as a major potential threat, adding it alongside earthquakes and epidemics to its National Emergency Response Plan.

Read it all.

China Is Worried AI Threatens Party Rule—and Is Trying to Tame It: Beijing is enforcing tough rules to ensure chatbots don’t misbehave, while hoping its models stay competitive with the U.S.@stuwoo https://t.co/wOtnfHJGQchttps://t.co/wOtnfHJGQc

— Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) December 24, 2025

In 2016, Beijing launched a new aerospace conglomerate called Aero Engine Corp. of China. It had a challenging mandate: to develop top-line aircraft engines, a technology China had long struggled to master.

Less than a decade later, Beijing’s newest stealth fighters are entering service with what officials call “Chinese hearts,” or indigenously made engines.

The progress marked a milestone in China’s quest to forge an arms industry worthy of a rising global power. For years, China’s rise obscured a sobering reality: It couldn’t make all its own weapons.

Beijing is now not only producing its own armaments, it is also selling more abroad. In some military technologies, China appears to be matching major arms producers such as Russia and the U.S., or even pulling ahead.

The ability to churn out advanced armaments is a key element in Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s vision of making his country less reliant on the outside world for everything from food and energy to semiconductors. A more self-sufficient China is essential for preventing Western nations from locking it into a strategic stranglehold, Xi has argued.

Read it all.

How Beijing Built Arms Industry to Rival the West—New jet engines show results of China’s military self-sufficiency push@ByChunHan https://t.co/KKed5vXiO0https://t.co/KKed5vXiO0

— Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) December 22, 2025

Chinese intelligence is continuing a massive hack of US telecom networks in a cyber campaign that allows it to access the communications of almost every American, according to a top Democratic senator. Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee who recently got a briefing on the extensive cyber campaign known as “Salt Typhoon”, said China was still infiltrating the US system.

“I believe they are still inside [our networks],” Warner told a Defense Writers Group event. Warner said he received a “really frustrating” government briefing with conflicting accounts about the Trump administration’s response to Salt Typhoon. According to the senator, the FBI said US networks were “pretty clean” despite contradictory evidence from several intelligence agencies.

“Other parts of our community are saying, ‘Hell no, it’s still going on’,” said Warner, who added that he had eight documents from agencies raising concerns about Salt Typhoon which has been ongoing for at least two years. “It is baffling to me that this is not a bigger issue,” said Warner, who lamented that it might take some kind of “catastrophic event” before the US government became more serious about tackling Salt Typhoon.

Read it all.

US has failed to stop massive Chinese cyber campaign, warns senator https://t.co/XvpxOYEqVp

— Financial Times (@FT) December 12, 2025

As the United States leans on solar power to meet soaring energy needs, its reliance on a Chinese-made component has created a mounting security threat, according to energy industry executives and congressional investigators who warn it can be weaponized to trigger blackouts.

Research shared exclusively with The Washington Post reveals how deeply dependent U.S. power companies are on Chinese inverters. These devices are used by large solar installations to help transform energy harnessed from the sun into a current that is compatible with the power grid.

More than 85 percent of the utilities surveyed confidentially by the research group Strider Technologies are using inverter devices made by companies with ties to the Chinese government and military. Many cybersecurity experts warn that the devicesare vulnerable to hacking that can set off cascading outages.

Read it all.

NEW: This one gadget could give China a back door into the U.S. power grid. Inverters are used to convert solar into electric power. Industry execs and congressional investigators warn they can be weaponized.

@evanhalper and me. https://t.co/hP9RFxmvaL

— Ellen Nakashima (@nakashimae) December 10, 2025

O God, who in thy providence didst call Channing Moore Williams to the ministry of this church and gave him the gifts and the perseverance to preach the Gospel in new lands: Inspire us, by his example and prayers, to commit our talents to thy service, confident that thou dost uphold those whom thou dost call; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Today the Episcopal Church commemorates Channing Moore Williams, Bishop and Missionary, 1910 https://t.co/ZOU8hteijR

Bishop Williams was the 1st Bishop of the Nippon Sei-Ko-Kai (Anglican-Episcopal Church of Japan)

Image: Statue at Rikkyo University, Tokyo. Photo: DT Johnson pic.twitter.com/3hXGauARtz

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) December 2, 2023

Chinese financial institutions have lent more than $200 billion to the United States over the past 25 years — more than they have advanced to any other country — as part of a vast global spending spree to take control of Western companies working on sensitive technologies, according to new research released Tuesday.

China discloses very little about the operations of its state-owned banks and asset managers.

But AidData, a research lab at William & Mary University in Williamsburg, Virginia, reported what it called an “unexpected and counterintuitive” finding: Between 2000 and 2023, Chinese financial institutions backed 2,500 projects — including gas pipelines and airport terminals — in almost every U.S. state.

Read it all.

Chinese lenders have extended more than $200 billion to the U.S. over the past 25 years as part of a vast global spending spree to take control of Western companies working on sensitive technologies, according to new research. https://t.co/b6eB9c2Oix

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 18, 2025

From cars and computer chips to tanks and fighter jets, China’s new export restrictions represent a sweeping effort to control global commerce and have set off a renewed trade fight that pits Beijing against not only the United States but also Europe.

The new regulations, which take effect in stages on Nov. 8 and Dec. 1, apply to the entire world, sharply escalating China’s sway over critical manufacturing at a time of increased international fractures over trade. The restrictions led President Trump on Friday to threaten to impose new 100 percent tariffs on Chinese imports starting Nov. 1.

The rules go far beyond China’s limits since April on the export of rare earth metals, which are mined and processed mainly in China, as well as magnets made from those metals. In a series of announcements on Thursday, China extended its restrictions to worldwide shipments of electric motors, computer chips and other devices that have become central to modern life and are now manufactured mainly in China.

The regulations prohibit exports from China to any country of materials or components for use in military equipment. Among the items banned are the small yet powerful electric motors in missiles and fighter jets and the materials for crucial range finders in tanks and artillery that are used to zero in on distant targets.

Read it all.

China’s New Export Curbs May Level a Heavy Blow Worldwide https://t.co/CX91lkUldK "The new rules apply to any shipments across national borders…European automakers, in particular, face a daunting task of seeking Chinese export licenses to move car parts within Europe"

— David Mulroney (@David_Mulroney) October 13, 2025

On October 15, 1906, Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky, the Jewish-born, rabbinical school-trained, former Anglican bishop of Shanghai, died in Tokyo, after a lengthy illness, at age 75. Apart from the novelty interest of a converted Jew becoming a church official and serving in the exotic East, Schereschewsky is remembered for having produced a much-respected translation into Mandarin Chinese of the Hebrew Bible, among other sacred texts, which became the standard 20th-century translation.

Samuel Schereschewsky was born on May 6, 1831, in Tauroggen, a Jewish shtetl in the Russian empire, in what is today southwest Lithuania. Both of his parents ”“ the former Rosa Salvatha, of Sephardi-Jewish heritage, and Samuel Joseph Schereschewsky ”“ died when he was very young. Samuel was apparently raised by a much older half-brother, a timber merchant who was the product of his father’s first marriage.

At age 15, he left his brother’s home, and held jobs as a glazier and as a Hebrew tutor before entering the rabbinical seminary in Zhytomir, in Ukraine.

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Today the Church remembers the Apostle to the Chinese, Bp. Joseph Schereschewsky. Born to the Jews, he was training to become a rabbi when the Lord brought him out from them by the enlightening of his mind, when upon reading the New Testament he recognized it as the word of God. pic.twitter.com/5uVUriVvG5

— Joe – Young Anglican ⚓️ (@Young_Anglican) October 14, 2025

O God, who in thy providence didst call Joseph Schereschewsky from his home in Eastern Europe to the ministry of this Church, and didst send him as a missionary to China, upholding him in his infirmity, that he might translate the holy Scriptures into languages of that land: Lead us, we pray thee, to commit our lives and talents to thee, in the confidence that when thou givest thy servants any work to do, thou dost also supply the strength to do it; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today the Episcopal Church commemorates Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky, Bishop and Missionary, 1906 pic.twitter.com/F0xkkbLRRH

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) October 14, 2023

Hard plastic made from bamboo is as strong and durable as conventional plastics for uses such as household appliances and car interiors, but is also recyclable and biodegrades easily in soil.

Plastics derived from biological matter, or bioplastics, are increasingly popular, but they still only make up around half a per cent of the more than 400 million tonnes of plastics produced each year. This is, in part, because bioplastics lack the mechanical strength of many oil-based plastics and also can’t be easily used in common manufacturing processes.

Now, Dawei Zhao at Shenyang University of Chemical Technology in China and his colleagues have developed a way to produce plastic from cellulose derived from bamboo, which can replicate or surpass the properties of many widely used plastics.

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Hard plastic made from bamboo is as strong and durable as conventional plastics for uses such as household appliances and car interiors, but also recyclable and biodegrades easily in soil. https://t.co/POqQscIGEe

— New Scientist (@newscientist) October 7, 2025

In an escalation of its already tight grip on religious freedom, China introduced a sweeping set of regulations that strictly control how clergy of officially recognized religions can operate online.

The new rules – released by the State Administration for Religious Affairs on Sept, 15 – are a continuation of Beijing’s long-term campaign to control religious practices in an effort to reshape faith so it aligns with the Chinese Communist Party.

The 18-article document, titled “Code of Conduct for Religious Clergy on the Internet,” outlines what religious leaders in China are allowed to do in the digital space. More significantly, it focuses on what they are forbidden from doing.

The rules apply to clergy of all five officially recognized religions — Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism — allowed to practice within China.

China’s policy of “sinicizing” is an effort by the CCP to control and assimilate ethnic and religious groups into a state-approved — and largely Han Chinese — identity.

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#China tightens digital grip on clergy with sweeping new rules https://t.co/mBrRyxLl9q

— Clemente Lisi (@ClementeLisi) September 19, 2025

China is undertaking a large-scale build-out of infrastructure along its eastern coast, including air and naval sites that show its growing readiness for a potential conflict over Taiwan.

Satellite images and other open-source material examined by The Wall Street Journal illustrate how these facilities would strengthen China’s hand if it launched an invasion of the island democracy. Beijing claims Taiwan as its territory and has pledged to take it, by force if necessary.

The sites range from a large new base for amphibious warships to a multibillion-dollar airport that sits around 3 miles from front-line Taiwanese islands. “All of it goes to supporting China’s one military planning scenario, which is a Taiwan scenario,” said Michael Dahm, a retired U.S. Navy intelligence officer and senior resident fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies who closely tracks these projects.

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How China’s New Naval and Air Sites Would Aid an Attack on Taiwan—Satellite images show major infrastructure expansion, including on the Taiwan Strait@NiharikaSM https://t.co/YKNu0YP3KThttps://t.co/YKNu0YP3KT

— Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) September 5, 2025

At its military parade on Wednesday, China showcased hypersonic missiles to sink ships, drones that serve as wingmen and nuclear-capable ballistic missiles that can strike the continental United States.

The jets that screamed across the sky and the columns of missiles and armored vehicles that rolled past Tiananmen Square in Beijing provided a rare look at China’s new weapons.

The massive military parade, presided over by China’s leader Xi Jinping, was a warning to his country’s prospective foes.

The anti-ship missiles seemed tailor-made to menace American forces in the Asia-Pacific region. Long-range rocket launchers magnified Beijing’s threat to Taiwan, the self-governed island democracy. The armored vehicles that can be dropped from planes appeared to extend China’s ability to defend its growing global interests.

If one theme stood out, analysts said, it was that the People’s Liberation Army is betting on unmanned systems to gain a potential edge in battle.

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China’s Latest Missiles, Drones and Submarines, Up Closehttps://t.co/PYguT31WQg

— FJ (@Natsecjeff) September 3, 2025

The Chinese government is using companies with expertise in artificial intelligence to monitor and manipulate public opinion, giving it a new weapon in information warfare, according to current and former U.S. officials and documents unearthed by researchers.

One company’s internal documents show how it has undertaken influence campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and collected data on members of Congress and other influential Americans.

While the firm has not mounted a campaign in the United States, American spy agencies have monitored its activity for signs that it might try to influence American elections or political debates, former U.S. officials said.

Artificial intelligence is increasingly the new frontier of espionage and malign influence operations, allowing intelligence services to conduct campaigns far faster, more efficiently and on a larger scale than ever before.

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The Chinese government is using A.I. to personalize its information warfare. Disinformation can be tailored victim by victim. https://t.co/8rIwsVurb1

— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) August 7, 2025