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☆ Is indicted Chinese billionaire tycoon Guo Wengui secretly bankrolling George Santos's bail?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

In recent months, he's become supportive of exiled Chinese tycoon and Republican patron Guo Wengui. There's a very strong chance that one person putting up the money — directly or indirectly — is the jailed exiled Chinese billionaire tycoon Guo Wengui. Even Ghislaine Maxwell and SBF didn't get this kind of secrecySantos certainly doesn't want us to know who these bond sponsors are. (An affinity for using multiple names, which are variations of each other, is something Guo shares with George Anthony Devolder Santos.) So, is Guo one of Santos's bail sponsors?

Persons: George Santos's, you'll, Santos, he's, Guo Wengui, —, George Santos, Ghislaine Maxwell, SBF didn't, Joanna Seybert, Jeremy A, Chase, Alexandra Settelmayer, Davis Wright Tremaine, Lokman Vural, Sam Bankman, Larry Kramer, Andreas Paepcke —, Lewis Kaplan, Jeffrey Epstein, Epstein, Maxwell, Guo, Steve Bannon, Forbes, Miles Kwok, Carlo Allegri, Bannon, Miles Guo, George Anthony Devolder Santos, Cait Corrigan, Santos didn't, Joe Murray, Guo didn't, Santos doesn't Organizations: Service, Rep, Republican, New York Times, US, Federal, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Stanford University, REUTERS, New Federal, Chinese Communist Party, Law Foundation, Law Society, Santos, Justice Department Locations: New York, Long, Santos, Washington, DC, Central Islip, Central Islip , New York, Manhattan, United States, China, New Federal State of China, New Federal State

Kinmen, Taiwan CNN —As the sun sets over Taiwan’s Kinmen islands, the neon lights of mainland China dazzle in the distance just 2.5 miles away. That lingering potential for invasion might make it seem like an unlikely place to construct a bridge to mainland China. Anti-invasion spikes along the coast of Taiwan's Kinmen islands. During a recent trip to Kinmen, Taiwan Vice President and DPP presidential candidate William Lai said he recognized the sacrifices of the islanders during decades of conflict. “The Taiwanese government looks at the Chinese military threat as something that cannot be accepted and we condemn it,” he added.

Persons: John Mees, Ko Wen, ”, Xi Jinping, Ho Chih, Sam Yeh, Kinmen, Yang Chien, ” Yang, “, Yang, Yang Pei, Huang Li, cheng, Tsai Ing, William Lai, Wu Chia, chiang, Nancy Pelosi, Kevin McCarthy, Joseph Wu, ” Wu, Maestro Wu Tseng, Maestro Wu Organizations: Taiwan CNN —, Communist, People’s Liberation Army, CNN, Democratic Progressive Party, Taiwan’s Presidential, Mainland Affairs Council, Chinese Communist Party, CCP, Mainland Affairs, Russo, Getty, Communist China's, Tourism Association, Communist Party, Xi, United States, Taiwan’s, Taiwan Locations: Kinmen, Taiwan, China, Beijing, Taipei, Taiwan’s, Xiamen –, Xiamen, Chinese, Ukrainian, Russia, Taiwan's, AFP, Jinsha, “, Fujian, California, Beijing’s

HONG KONG, May 31 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Elon Musk may be China’s most popular American. State media quoted Musk saying the United States and China share “inseparable” interests and that Tesla opposes decoupling. This all provides the $638 billion Tesla with good political cover in the world’s largest automobile market. But for now Beijing and Musk are getting what they want out of the arrangement, and that means it is likely to endure. Reuters GraphicsFollow @petesweeneypro and @KatrinaHamlin on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSTesla Chief Executive Elon Musk visited China on May 30 for the first time since 2020.

Persons: Elon, Qin Gang, Musk, Xi Jinping, Elon Musk, Apple's Tim Cook, JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon, Laxman Narasimhan, Robyn Mak, Thomas Shum Organizations: Reuters, Foreign, Chinese Communist Party, Tesla’s, Twitter, CCP, SpaceX, Starbucks, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, Beijing, Shanghai, China, Japan, Republic, India, Turkey, People’s Republic, United States, Washington

WASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) - The speaker of Taiwan's parliament praised Japan, South Korea and the Philippines on Tuesday for helping to create a "crescent of defense" with Taiwan and the U.S. against China's ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region. You praised Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol for calling Taiwan a global issue and opposing a change to the status quo by force. "The crescent of defense formed by Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines will, with American support, be a key stabilizer of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region," he added. China has been stepping up its military activities around Taiwan to try and force the democratically governed island to accept Beijing's sovereignty. It has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.

☆ The one crucial industry where China is crushing America in the Tech Cold War
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Linette Lopez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

As of now, CATL has 13 factories worldwide that supply batteries for Tesla, Toyota, and Daimler. And thanks to its ownership of its battery supply chain, it's able to make cars cheaply. Stevenson-Yang sees parts of China's battery supply chain as the next glut it will need to dump. But the potential of a battery supply glut tomorrow doesn't help carmakers meet their needs today. "But if we're looking at evolutionary improvements, China Battery Inc. will still dominate.

Hong Kong CNN —China’s Communist Party had “supreme access” to all data held by TikTok’s parent company Bytedance, including on servers in the United States, a former employer who is bringing a wrongful termination lawsuit has alleged. Yintao “Roger” Yu filed a lawsuit of wrongful termination against Bytedance in Superior Court in San Francisco earlier this month. Yu’s lawsuit alleges that the company made user data accessible to China’s Communist Party via a backdoor channel, no matter where the data was located. Yu worked for ByteDance Inc. for less than a year and his employment ended in July 2018,” which Yu disputed in his complaint. So the risk would be similar to any government going to an American company, asking for data,” Chew said at the hearing.

☆ An explosive new lawsuit claims TikTok's owner built a 'backdoor' the CCP could exploit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Dan Whateley | Ashley Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

ByteDance allowed a Chinese Communist Party unit to censor content and access data, a new lawsuit alleges. ByteDance built a "backdoor channel" to enable CCP access to US user data, the suit alleges. An explosive new lawsuit claims TikTok owner ByteDance built a "backdoor channel" in its code that allowed Chinese Communist Party members access to user data hosted in the US. Yu is a former engineering lead for ByteDance in the US who worked at the company between 2017 and 2018. The complaint alleges the "Committee continued to have access" to US user data even after ByteDance walled off access for individual engineers in China.

☆ Can the Zibo barbecue frenzy save China from economic crises?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Zhu Zheng/Xinhua/Getty ImagesSo many tourists flocked into Zibo, now dubbed China’s outdoor barbecue capital, that even the local tourism authorities urged visitors to go elsewhere. A few may, but most won’t.”A shop owner shows off grilled meat during a barbecue festival on April 29, 2023 in Zibo, eastern China. The city Zibo became a tourism hot spot after videos of its barbecue went viral online. China’s economy is navigating a growing array of challenges. The informal trade might reduce unemployment temporarily, and give people feeling poorer a boost, but it “won’t save China’s economy,” Tsang said.

☆ Former ByteDance executive says he was dismissed for flagging illegal activity
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

When Yu raised these concerns to higher management, he said they dismissed them and asked him to hide the illegal program, especially from employees in the United States, as it had stricter IP laws and class actions. He is seeking a court order that would prohibit ByteDance from scraping content from other social media platforms. In response to the complaint, ByteDance said, "We plan to vigorously oppose what we believe are baseless claims and allegations. ByteDance also responded to the scraping allegations, saying it acquired data in line with industry practice and its global policy. In April, Montana lawmakers passed a bill to ban its short-form TikTok app from operating in the state.

☆ An explosive new lawsuit claims TikTok's owner built a 'backdoor' that allowed the CCP to access US user data
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Dan Whateley | Ashley Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

☆ Ron DeSantis is banning Chinese citizens from buying land in Florida, accusing China of taking up swathes of farmland: 'We don't want the CCP in the Sunshine State'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ron DeSantis has signed a new bill banning Chinese citizens from buying land in Florida. DeSantis cited concerns that Chinese investors have been buying up too much farmland in the state. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law on Monday that bans most Chinese citizens from purchasing land in his state. The new bill, SB 246, prevents Chinese nationals from buying land in Florida unless they are also American citizens or permanent residents. Investors from Canada own the most US land out of any foreign country, holding 12.8 million acres worth around $11.6 billion, per the department's 2021 report.

May 3 (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Wednesday he would launch a new effort to address competition with China, planning a new package of legislation to boost the United States' ability to compete with the Asian powerhouse. The effort, dubbed the China Competition Bill 2.0, follows an effort last year when President Joe Biden signed legislation authorizing more than $170 billion over five years to boost U.S. scientific research to better compete with China and $52 billion in new subsidies for semiconductor manufacturing and research. Schumer is working with Senate committee leaders to draft the legislation over the coming months. He will hold a news conference at 12 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT) to formally announce the effort. Some of the ideas in the new legislation were part of a broader China bill that was scaled back last year and eventually became the law known as the "Chips and Science" act.

☆ US Senator Rubio seeks probe of Ford's Chinese partnership on nickel plant
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Senator Marcio Rubio on Wednesday asked the Biden administration to investigate Ford Motor Co's (F.N) plan to partner with PT Vale Indonesia (INCO.JK) and China's Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt in a $4.5 billion nickel processing plant in Indonesia. Indonesia, which has the world's biggest nickel reserves, has been trying to develop downstream industries for the metal, ultimately aiming to produce batteries and electric vehicles. Vale and Huayou began construction of the plant in November and commercial operation is expected to start in 2026. He had already asked the Biden administration to review the deal to use technology from CATL. Rubio wants to block tax credits for electric vehicle batteries produced using Chinese technology, in a bid to prevent Chinese companies from benefiting.

☆ The debate over banning TikTok has been poisoned by anti-Asian rhetoric
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

The TikTok CEO's testimony to Congress in March highlighted the anti-Asian rhetoric around the app. And second: The discourse around those issues, particularly talk of banning the app entirely in the US, has been poisoned by a surge in anti-Asian rhetoric, making it difficult to have a national conversation around TikTok in good faith. But what set the hearing with TikTok's CEO apart was the tone and personal nature of the questions, Asian American and Pacific Islander advocacy groups said. That paints a target on the back of Asian Americans, Chinese nationals living in the US, and, by extension, all other Asian populations, advocacy experts said. The rhetoric has consequences for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and the US economyAll this has implications for the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the US and the global Asian diaspora.

☆ 'More than 50% chance' China will invade Taiwan in the next 10 years, says former US national security adviser
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

China's likelihood of invading Taiwan in the next decade is "more than 50%," Matthew Pottinger said. Pottinger, a US Marine veteran and a former China reporter for Reuters and The Wall Street Journal, worked as deputy national security adviser from September 2019 to January 2021. He was the Trump administration's top adviser on China and North Korea at the time and one of its longest-serving aides. "I suspect that he is going to make this his legacy achievement," Pottinger told The Post. "The CCP should be thought of as a hungry shark that will keep eating until its nose bumps into a metal barrier," Pottinger told congressional leaders.

☆ US war game on Taiwan shows need for 'decisive action' to boost arms
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Michael Martina | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"We are well within the window of maximum danger for a Chinese Communist Party invasion of Taiwan, and yesterday's war game stressed the need to take action to deter CCP aggression and arm Taiwan to the teeth before any crisis begins," Gallagher said in a statement. The U.S. must clear a $19 billion weapons backlog to Taiwan, conduct enhanced joint military training and reinforce the U.S. military in the region, he said. Anxiety about a possible conflict over Taiwan, the self-ruled island that China claims as its own, has become a rare bipartisan issue in Washington. The U.S. is Taiwan's most important arms supplier but the island has complained of delayed weapons deliveries. Taiwan's de facto embassy in Washington did not respond immediately to a request for comment on the war game.

☆ Steve Bannon, who has ties to an indicted Chinese billionaire, says Elon Musk's 'paymasters' are Beijing and the Chinese Communist Party
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Steve Bannon accused Elon Musk of having "paymasters" in Beijing. This isn't the first time Bannon has accused Musk of having links to the Chinese Communist Party. This isn't the first time Bannon has — without substantiation or evidence — accused Musk of serving the Chinese government. Elon Musk's ties with ChinaMusk has spared no effort to create business ties with China. Steve Bannon has been linked to China, tooMeanwhile, Bannon has long been associated with the indicted Chinese billionaire, Miles Guo Wengui.

"Wow, the PRC (People's Republic of China) just sanctioned me again, for the second time," Hsiao tweeted in response to the announcement. Taiwan's Foreign Ministry reacted angrily, saying China had no right to "butt in" when it came to Tsai's overseas trips and that Beijing was "deceiving itself" if it thought the sanctions would have any effect. China has also banned the leaders from entering the country, and frozen any properties they have in China, it said. Chinese sanctions will have little practical impact as senior Taiwanese officials do not visit China while Chinese courts do not have jurisdiction in Taiwan. Others on the August sanctions list include Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu; Wellington Koo, Secretary-General of Taiwan's National Security Council; and DPP politicians.

☆ Tim Cook and Bob Iger to meet with House China committee members
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

L to R: Microsoft President Brad Smith, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Disney CEO Bob Iger. Lawmakers will also dine with entertainment producers and screenwriters who have been critical of the industry’s approach to wooing Chinese viewers, the source said. On Friday, lawmakers will have conversations with former Defense Secretary James Mattis as well as Apple CEO Tim Cook. China is Apple’s third-largest geographic business segment after the Americas and Europe, accounting for more than $74 billion in company revenues last year. “This committee was set up to build out the bipartisan consensus on the CCP and the actions we need to take to defend ourselves,” the source said.

☆ Fact Check-Satirical edit of TikTok hearing asks if TikTok can talk to the plane on airplane mode
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A clip from TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Zi Chew’s testimony before the U.S. Congress has been edited to include satirical audio. this entire hearing was hilariously humiliating for those asking the questions.” Another example can be seen (here). The video has a TikTok watermark with the username “@barneyplease” and was shared on TikTok (here) on March 25, 2023. The word “airplane” does not appear in transcripts of the hearing (here) and (here). Reports on how social media users shared videos on TikTok critical of Congress members after the hearing can be seen (here), (here) and (here).

☆ U.S. House panel on China to highlight abuse of Uyghurs in second hearing
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Michael Martina | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, March 23 (Reuters) - A new U.S. congressional committee on China will hold its second hearing on Thursday, seeking to highlight what Washington says is an ongoing genocide against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China's Xinjiang region. Rights groups accuse Beijing of abuses, including forced labor, mass surveillance and the placement of 1 million or more Uyghurs - a mainly Muslim ethnic group - in a network of internment camps in Xinjiang. China vigorously denies abuses in Xinjiang, and says it established "vocational training centers" to curb terrorism, separatism and religious radicalism. A United Nations report last year said China may have committed crimes against humanity in the region. Its top Democrat, U.S. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, told reporters that what happens to the Uyghur community in China affects Americans.

☆ Russia and China are being driven together as the chasm with the West deepens
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

"It's basically about certain strategic interests, that are very close to both Beijing and Moscow at this point," she added. "For both Russia and China, the main interest is to weaken the U.S.-led international order, that's their primary goal, long term and short term." The Ukraine factorFor both China and Russia, the war in Ukraine is both a challenge to that U.S.-led world order and a way to undermine it, analysts note. China has held back from openly supporting Russia's war in Ukraine but it has also refused to condemn the invasion. This fear, she said, could sway China when it considers whether to offer Putin help in Ukraine.

☆ An airline has offered passengers counseling after a flight was diverted when it was hit by 'severe wind-speeds' and high turbulence
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

TUI has offered counseling to passengers on board a diverted flight, per an airline spokesperson. The flight from Tenerife to Manchester was hit by "severe wind-speeds" during its descent. One passenger told Manchester Evening News people on board were "screaming" and "crying." Passengers were "screaming" and "crying" during the incident, one traveler on board the flight, Gareth Slater, told Manchester Evening News. Earlier this month, a Lufthansa flight from Austin to Frankfurt was forced to make an emergency landing after severe turbulence.

☆ It's wild that Western governments have decided that TikTok might spy for China. The app hasn't helped itself.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

TikTok denies it feeds user data to China, but the drip-drip of revelations hasn't helped. The suspicion is that TikTok's owner ByteDance is in cahoots with the Chinese Communist Party and shares data about Western users with China. TikTok has maintained the app doesn't spy on individuals, and has pointed to the steps it's taking to hive off user information. FCC commissioner Brendan Carr responded to Bertram asking if "any member of the CCP accessed non-public US or EU user data from inside China." US social-media services normalized the aggressive harvesting of user data, and routinely hand over information to international governments.

☆ Miles Guo, the Chinese tycoon charged with defrauding his fans of more than $1 billion, once starred in a music video where he shadowboxed on a luxury yacht to lyrics like 'take down the CCP'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Guo Wengui, also known as Miles Guo, was arrested on 11 counts of fraud and money laundering. Guo, also known as Miles Guo, is credited on Apple Music and Spotify as the artist behind at least 14 hip-hop, pop, and lo-fi songs. One of the political activist's most well-known works is a music video on YouTube, titled "Fight For Hong Kong." Taking down the CCP, the evil CCP, is the only way for us to live without fear," Guo raps in Mandarin. Another video sees Guo hyping up Himalaya Coin, or Hcoin, a cryptocurrency that Guo and Bannon promoted.

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