US allowing Chinese students in new trade deal, receiving rare earth minerals
US allowing Chinese students in new trade deal, receiving rare earth minerals | RISING
Niall Stanage and Amber Duke discuss President Trump announcing a new framework for the U.S.-China trade deal. #China #TradeDeal #Tariffs
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Los Angeles Times
2 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Marines arrive in Westwood as U.S. cities brace for ‘No Kings' protests
L.A. braces for multiple 'No Kings' demonstrations across the city Saturday Demonstrators carry signs and banners protesting immigration enforcement raids while outside the federal building on Alameda Street in downtown Los Angeles. Los Angeles and other major cities across the nation are girding for widespread demonstrations against the Trump administration Saturday as the federal government expands its aggressive immigration enforcement crackdown beyond Southern California. In Washington, the Army will celebrate 250 years of service, as well as President Trump's 79th birthday, with an unprecedented military parade. In response, many around the country will be gathering for 'No Kings' demonstrations to voice their opposition to the Trump administration's policies. Grand Central Market, an embodiment of immigrant L.A., confronts new climate of fear A nearly empty Grand Central Market pictured Thursday afternoon. Most weekdays the foot traffic and the din of business are constant in Grand Central Market, a food hall and staple of downtown's historic core since 1917. In a way, the market, with its oldest stalls ranging from Mexican to Chinese to Salvadoran cuisines, is an embodiment of the immigrant experience in Los Angeles. But this week, even at what are typically its peak hours, tables sat empty. The legendary market, like so many other restaurants and businesses across downtown, is losing business due to Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and the neighborhood's anti-ICE protests. MacArthur Park goes quiet amid ICE sweeps. 'They're targeting people that look like me' A man hands out ice cream at MacArthur Park in 2024. On Friday morning, the area around MacArthur Park, a longtime immigrant hub west of downtown, was noticeably quieter than usual. Gone were many of the vendors who once lined South Alvarado Street at all times of day, selling everything from baby formula to Lionel Messi jerseys. Video shows immigration agents interrogating a Latino U.S. citizen: 'I'm American, bro!' Brian Gavidia stands in a parking lot next to East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park on Friday. Gavidia's business was recently hit by ICE; he said he had his arm twisted and held by an officer against a wall despite being a US citizen. Brian Gavidia was at work on West Olympic Boulevard in Montebello at about 4:30 p.m. Thursday when he was told immigration agents were outside of his workplace. Gavidia, 29, was born and raised in East Los Angeles and fixes and sells cars for a living. He said he stepped outside. And saw four to six agents. The Alex Padilla altercation was captured on video but still seen through a political lens Sen. Alex Padilla speaks during a news conference Thursday at the Federal Building on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. A day after federal agents forcibly restrained and handcuffed U.S. Sen Alex Padilla at a Los Angeles news conference, leaders of the country's two political parties responded in what has become a predictable fashion — with diametrically opposed takes on the incident. Padilla's fellow Democrats called for an investigation and perhaps even the resignation of the senator's nemesis, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, for what they described as the unprecedented manhandling of a U.S. senator who was merely attempting to ask a question of a fellow public official.
New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
Cuomo campaign aide who worked for companies tied to Chinese Communist Party quits after Post queries
A mayoral campaign aide to Andrew Cuomo resigned after The Post questioned the years he spent working for companies tied to the Chinese Communist Party and his meteoric rise through the Democratic Party, which alarmed local politicos and national security experts alike. Dr. Lining 'Larry' He stepped down from his role as Cuomo's Asian outreach director Friday, a week after The Post reached out to him and the Cuomo campaign about his extensive business ties to his native China. He had served as an executive for a powerful state-owned conglomerate that has CCP cells embedded in its corporate hierarchy, records and news reports obtained by The Post showed. These links, along with his association with a NYC political operative with known Beijing ties, worried experts who study the CCP's international influence efforts, which China calls the 'United Front.' 'His position as an Asian community liaison fits with a tactical pattern that such actors are using to gain political legitimacy and influence,' said Dr. Audrye Wong, a fellow with the American Enterprise Institute and United Front expert. He's links to Beijing include: As director of asset management of the state-owned Guangxi Beibu Gulf Investment, He pushed both California and Australia for deeper economic ties with China. He served from 2013 through 2015 as the former board chairman of Guangxi Beitou Petrochemical Company, a joint venture with state-owned Chinese oil giant Sinopec, according to a bio on the website of a commodity trading firm where He was a managing partner. The company's current corporate organization chart shows it has an official Chinese Communist Party cell embedded in its leadership. A regulatory consulting firm called Penshare-Banyu Technology, based in Chongqing, listed He as a partner. After The Post reached out to He, Penshare-Banyu deleted his picture and profile from its webpage, though it remains visible on Google. He owns import business InterStellar Enterprise, which ships plastic bottles into the U.S. from a manufacturer based in Shenzhen. His wife, Jing Lei, formed a new company weeks after the couple moved to Brooklyn that import manifests show brought in roughly 8.5 tons of plastic bottles from China in May alone. 4 He denied any ties to the Chinese Communist Party. 'I've never been an asset beholden to the Chinese government,' He told The Post. Kings County Democratic County Committee/ X The Post found He, 48, did not disclose any of these business relationships on mandatory filings he made as chief-of-staff to Assemblyman William Colton (D-Brooklyn), a job he started in late 2023 while living in upstate New York. The Cuomo campaign did not answer what sort of vetting process He underwent for the liaison job, and admitted He failed to properly disclose his business dealings to the Assembly, sending images of what it said were corrected filings in response to The Post's questions. 'Larry is a district leader and a known quantity in the community who does his job well,' said Cuomo spokeswoman Esther Jenson, who said any links to the CCP amounted to 'guilt by association.' He vehemently denied to The Post any involvement with the United Front or the CCP. 'I've never been an asset beholden to the Chinese government and oppose any and all foreign government influence in our political process,' He told The Post. 'Becoming an American citizen remains one of the highest honors of my life. The fact the CCP has been trying to assert itself is undeniable and something our community always looks out for.' He acknowledged his relationships with the various Chinese state entities, but said he left the jobs in 2015 because he disliked the 'bureaucratic' work and moved back to the U.S., where he had gotten his doctorate in the 2000s and where his wife and son lived. And He denied Australian news reports that he repeatedly visited the country to push import deals, and insisted he had only done 'startup training' at the Chongqing-based Penshare-Banyu, despite being listed on its site as a partner in the firm. 4 Andrew Cuomo's campaign praised He. POOL/AFP via Getty Images In October 2024, He was photographed attending an October celebration of the 75th anniversary of the birth of the People's Republic of China, alongside Brooklyn activist John Chan — who Wong has identified as the big wheel in the CCP's New York machine. Chan, 70, a one-time gangster who pleaded guilty to trafficking heroin and human trafficking, has participated in CCP events in the United States and China and publicly battled American policies supportive of the freedom of Hong Kong and the persecuted Uyghur ethnic minority. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs listed his activism on a webpage titled 'Activities of Overseas Chinese Affairs and Chinese-Funded Institutions,' according to the Washington Post. Critics have accused Chan and his operatives of trying to oust anti-Beijing members of the New York State Assembly, and have warned of pro-CCP agents working to infiltrate local Chinese community events. Chan has never faced formal allegations of spying but the FBI questioned him ahead of his trip to a CCP event on the mainland last year, according to the National Review, though no details of this interview have emerged. Chan did not respond to multiple requests for comment. He admitted that he knew Chan from community events, but denied having any formal relationship with him. Wong acknowledged that these connections, like He's business ties, do not prove he works for Beijing — but mark him as a figure with definite 'political connections,' and likely a strong understanding of the CCP's aims and interests. 'Someone with his background who is active in local politics or American politics, that is something politicians like Cuomo should be aware of and should be mindful of,' Wong said of He. 4 Larry He and John Chan were photographed at this rally for district leaders in the 49th Assembly District. Obtained by the New York Post After moving permanently to the U.S. from China in 2016, He bought a $317,790 five-bedroom home the Syracuse suburbs with his wife, a longtime professor at the local state university, records show. He formed his import firm there in 2018, and held the role of managing partner at OneStream Capital, which is headquartered in the town where he lived and was founded by a veteran of the Beijing-controlled China Venturetech Investment Corporation. He took his job with Colton in December 2023, and told The Post he moved to Brooklyn for the gig, even though he kept his upstate home. It wasn't until November 2024 that He registered to vote in New York City, listing a rented condo on Bay Parkway in Bensonhurst as his residence and attesting on the form that he had never cast a ballot in his life. He said the registration coincided with him becoming a citizen. Barely a month after becoming a New York City voter, the Kings County Democratic Party — led by Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn — appointed He as a district leader. Just days after the appointment, He and his wife bought their own $830,000 condo on Kings Highway. In March, He was named to Cuomo's campaign — stunning community stalwarts. 'I have experience in the Brooklyn community for 20 years, and I have no idea where he comes from,' said one Chinese-American activist, who works with immigrants in Bensonhurst and Sunset Park, and who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisals. 'When I asked for more information about this person, it's a mystery. Nobody knows where he comes from.' Cuomo and other local pols have been a target of alleged CCP influence operations in the past, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. In September, federal prosecutors accused Linda Sun, who served as a Queens community liaison to Cuomo and Gov. Kathy Hochul in Albany, of working as an unregistered foreign agent for Beijing. Cuomo's team has told The Post Sun had minimal access to the then-governor. Last summer, the feds arrested two accused Chinese agents who allegedly worked to subvert Taiwan-born pastor and freedom activist Xiong Yan's bid for a New York congressional seat. In February 2024, the FBI raided the home of Winnie Greco, a longtime ally to John Chan and an aide to Mayor Eric Adams. These are all reasons Cuomo should be more cautious vetting his staff, said Yaqiu Wang, a veteran human rights researcher who has studied the United Front and the CCP's transnational influence operations. 4 Chan has participated in CCP events in the United States and China. NYP 'At this point, it's hardly surprising that individuals with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party are working for politicians in New York,' said Wang. 'Allowing CCP-affiliated individuals and entities to influence American electoral politics isn't just a national security threat—it's a human rights issue. New York has long been a refuge for people fleeing repression in China: pro-democracy activists, Tibetans, Uyghurs, and others who came seeking a place where they could speak freely,' she added.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
No More Student Visas? No Problem.
The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Just how mad is Beijing about President Donald Trump's decision to revoke student visas for Chinese nationals? Not as mad as it says, and not as mad as one might expect. Publicly, China's leadership will likely complain that Trump's action is yet another attempt to thwart the country's rise. But in reality, Beijing would probably just as soon keep its smartest kids at home. Late last month, the U.S. State Department announced that it would 'aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,' and that it would 'enhance scrutiny' of the applications it received in the future. The new visa policy, a spokesperson said, is meant to prevent China from exploiting American universities and stealing intellectual property. A spokesperson for the foreign ministry quickly registered Beijing's objection to the new policy. But when Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke with Trump by phone last week, either he didn't raise the new visa policy or his foreign ministry didn't regard his comments on the matter worth including in its official summary of the call, which suggests that the issue is not a top priority in Beijing's negotiations with Washington. One reason for this underwhelming response may be that re-shoring its university students serves Beijing's current agenda. China first opened to the world in the 1980s; in the decades that followed, securing a Western education for its elite helped the country bring in the technology and skills it needed to escape poverty. China was 'sending people out, learning from other places, finding the best quality wherever it was, and bringing that quality back to China,' Robin Lewis, a consultant for U.S.-China education programs and a former associate dean at Columbia University, told me. Now that period has given way to one of nationalism and self-reliance, which means promoting China's own companies, products, technologies—and universities. [Rose Horowitch: Trump's campaign to scare off foreign students] Xi has consistently stressed the importance of education in sustaining China's rise. His government has invested heavily in China's schools and lavished resources on science and technology programs, with some success. Some of China's top institutions, such as Tsinghua University in Beijing, have gained international recognition as serious competitors in scientific research. China would like to have its own Harvards, rather than sending its elite students to the United States, for political and cultural reasons as well as economic ones. Chinese authorities have long worried that the hundreds of thousands of students it exports to America will absorb undesirable ideas about democracy and civil liberties—and that they will access information about China that is suppressed at home, such as the story of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. In fact, many young Chinese who study in the United States seem to enjoy American freedoms and seek to stay rather than return to serve the motherland. Beijing has tried to deal with this in part by monitoring the activities of its students in the U.S. and attempting to hold them firmly to the party line, including by harassing the families back home of those who stray. Within China, authorities can more easily confine students inside the government's propaganda bubble, which in recent years has become more airtight. Domestic media seek to portray the U.S. as unsafe, especially for Asians, by highlighting incidents of racial discrimination, violence, and disorder. One story published last year by the state news agency Xinhua, under the headline 'Chinese Students' Dreams Turned Into Nightmares at U.S. Doorstep,' tells the harrowing tale of a Chinese student detained and deported at an airport and claims that others had suffered the same fate. China's top spy agency, the Ministry of State Security, warned Chinese students at universities abroad against being recruited as foreign agents, and told of one such unfortunate national who was discovered and punished. Even before Trump's announcement, this climate of mutual distrust had led to a drop-off in Chinese students enrolled in American universities. The number had reached an all-time high during the 2019–20 academic year, topping 372,000, according to the Institute of International Education. But that figure has fallen since—by a quarter, to 277,000, in the 2023–24 academic year. Now India, with more than 331,000 enrolled, sends more students to American institutions than China does. The Trump administration appears to believe that curtailing Chinese access to American technology, money, and, in this case, education will give the U.S. the edge over its closest competitor. In some areas, this might work: Restricting the export of advanced U.S. semiconductor technology to China seems to have helped hold Beijing's chip industry back. So why not do the same with higher education? A case can be made that keeping Chinese students out of some of the world's top research institutions will hold back their skills acquisition and, with it, the country's progress. [Adam Serwer: Trump is wearing America down] In practice, though, the effect of this policy could be hard to gauge. The engineers behind the Chinese AI firm DeepSeek, which wowed Silicon Valley by developing a competitive chatbot on the cheap, were mainly locally trained. And the skills that Chinese students can't find at home they can seek in any number of places. There may be only so many Harvards, but Chinese students can receive a good education—and a warmer reception—in countries other than the United States. Universities in Japan and Hong Kong are already trying to capitalize on Trump's harassment of international students to lure them. The idea that any American policy can effectively dampen Chinese ambition may be far-fetched. 'People wake up in the morning and it's all about education here. There is nothing more important,' James McGregor, the chair for China at the consulting firm APCO, told me. 'You're going to stop Chinese people from learning the top skills in the world? No. They'll just deploy them somewhere else.' For now, the Trump team can't seem to decide whether it wants to get tough on China or make deals with China, and the new student-visa policy reflects this confusion. 'Chinese students are coming. No problem,' Trump said in a briefing after his call with Xi. 'It's our honor to have them, frankly.' China's leadership surely knows that many Chinese families still aspire to send their young-adult children to American universities. But Beijing is much more single-minded than Washington about the future of relations between the two countries: Xi appears to see Washington as the primary impediment to China's rise, and ties to the U.S. as a vulnerability best eliminated. From that viewpoint, relying on Harvard to train China's most promising students is a national-security risk. That means that Trump may be doing Xi a favor. Article originally published at The Atlantic
