China's ‘top puppet' Elon Musk poses US national security risks: House Democrats
Igor Patrick , Robert Delaney and Bochen Han in Washington Published: 5:10am, 12 Feb 2025 Convened by a House subcommittee on transportation and maritime security, the hearing focused on how China's presence in ports in Panama , Peru and Brazil could affect Washington's interests in the region. US congressman Carlos Gimenez of Florida said Hong Kong -based company Hutchison Ports' operations in two ports on the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the Panama Canal gave Beijing 'a strategic position over one of the world's most important waterways'. '[It] provides the Communist Party with an opportunity to exert influence over commercial shipping, gather intelligence on American and allied vessel traffic and potentially restrict the mobility of our Navy in a time of crisis,' he said.
'The United States cannot and will not accept the scenario where a foreign adversary, one that openly seeks to undermine our global standing, controls infrastructure critical to us, homeland security, military readiness and economic stability,' Gimenez added.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Asia Times
16 hours ago
- Asia Times
Shooting journalists in Trump's America
The video of a Los Angeles police officer shooting a rubber bullet at Channel Nine reporter Lauren Tomasi is as shocking as it is revealing. In her live broadcast, Tomasi is standing to the side of a rank of police in riot gear. She describes the way they have begun firing rubber bullets to disperse protesters angry with US President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigrants. As Tomasi finishes her sentence, the camera pans to the left, just in time to catch the officer raising his gun and firing a non-lethal round into her leg. She said a day later, she is sore, but otherwise OK. Although a more thorough investigation might find mitigating circumstances, from the video evidence, it is hard to dismiss the shot as 'crossfire.' The reporter and cameraman were off to one side of the police, clearly identified and working legitimately. The shooting is also not a one-off. Since the protests against Trump's mass deportations policy began three days ago, a reporter with the LA Daily News and a freelance journalist have been hit with pepper balls and tear gas. British freelance photojournalist Nick Stern also had emergency surgery to remove a three-inch plastic bullet from his leg. In all, the Los Angeles Press Club has documented more than 30 incidents of obstruction and attacks on journalists during the protests. It now seems assaults on the media are no longer confined to war zones or despotic regimes. They are happening in American cities, in broad daylight, often at the hands of those tasked with upholding the law. But violence is only one piece of the picture. In the nearly five months since taking office, the Trump administration has moved to defund public broadcasters, curtail access to information and undermine the credibility of independent media. International services once used to project democratic values and American soft power around the world, such as Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia, have all had their funding cut and been threatened with closure. (The Voice of America website is still operational but hasn't been updated since mid-March, with one headline on the front page reading 'Vatican: Francis stable, out of 'imminent danger' of death'). The Associated Press, one of the most respected and important news agencies in the world, has been restricted from its access to the White House and covering Trump. The reason? It decided to defy Trump's directive to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America. Even broadcast licenses for major US networks, such as ABC, NBC and CBS, have been publicly threatened – a signal to editors and executives that political loyalty might soon outweigh journalistic integrity. The Committee to Protect Journalists is more used to condemning attacks on the media in places like Russia. However, in April, it issued a report headlined: 'Alarm bells: Trump's first 100 days ramp up fear for the press, democracy.' 🚨Law enforcement in Los Angeles shot non-lethal rounds that struck at least 4 reporters while covering protests that began on Friday and escalated over the weekend following immigration raids. Trump deployed 2,000 National Guard members to the state against local authorities'… — Committee to Protect Journalists (@pressfreedom) June 9, 2025 Why does this matter? The success of American democracy has never depended on unity or even civility. It has depended on scrutiny. A system where power is challenged, not flattered. The First Amendment to the US Constitution – which protects freedom of speech – has long been considered the gold standard for building the institutions of free press and free expression. That only works when journalism is protected – not in theory but in practice. Now, strikingly, the language once reserved for autocracies and failed states has begun to appear in assessments of the US. Civicus, which tracks declining democracies around the world, recently put the US on its watchlist, alongside the Democratic Republic of Congo, Italy, Serbia and Pakistan. The attacks on the journalists in LA are troubling not only for their sake, but for ours. This is about civic architecture. The kind of framework that makes space for disagreement without descending into disorder. Press freedom is not a luxury for peacetime. It is a requirement for peace. Peter Greste is professor of journalism and communications, Macquarie University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
RTHK
19 hours ago
- RTHK
Thousands turn out in NY to protest immigration raids
Thousands turn out in NY to protest immigration raids Officers line up outside the US immigration court at the Jacob K Javits Federal Building in New York City amid a protest against federal immigration sweeps. Photo: Reuters Several thousand people took to the streets of New York City to protest the immigration policies of US President Donald Trump after a series of raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement sparked protests across the country. "No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here," chanted protesters who initially gathered on Tuesday at Foley Square, a plaza in front of a courthouse where several migrants were detained by law enforcement on Friday. Protesters marched into lower Manhattan, many carrying signs reading "ICE out of New York" in reference to the federal immigration police whose raids to arrest undocumented immigrants have ramped up in recent weeks. "I'm here to stand up for those who don't have a voice to be here at the moment, especially for my mum," said one woman, whose Mexican mother's immigration status is undocumented, at the protest. "Honestly, this country wouldn't be what it is without the immigrants. So I'm here for them," she added. Another protester named Jacqueline, a 23-year-old American woman with Mexican heritage, said: "I'm here to defend my family... I fear for them now, and I don't want to live in a society where I'm in fear for my family's health." The march in New York was more peaceful than its counterpart in Los Angeles, where ongoing demonstrations between protesters and police have given Trump an excuse to deploy thousands of National Guard troops and 700 active-duty Marines. Protests like those in LA are "unacceptable and will not be tolerated if attempted in our city", said New York mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday, who added that the New York Police Department was prepared "to handle any issues that may arise, especially when we are faced with deep division in our society". (AFP)
HKFP
2 days ago
- HKFP
Two Chinese aircraft carriers seen in Pacific for first time, Japan says
Japan said Tuesday that two Chinese aircraft carriers had been seen operating in the Pacific for the first time as Beijing boosts its military capability in far-flung areas. On Monday, China's Shandong carrier and four other vessels, including a missile destroyer, sailed inside the Japanese economic waters surrounding the remote Pacific atoll of Okinotori, Tokyo's defence ministry said. Its fighter jets and helicopters conducted take-offs and landings there, the ministry said. The fleet of five warships was also seen sailing on Saturday 550 kilometres (340 miles) southeast of Miyako Island near Taiwan, it added. China's other operational aircraft carrier Liaoning and its fleet entered Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Pacific over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, Tokyo previously said. 'This is the first time two Chinese aircraft carriers were spotted operating in the Pacific at the same time,' a defence ministry spokesman told AFP on Tuesday. 'We believe the Chinese military's purpose is to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,' he said. China's use of naval and air assets to press its territorial claims has rattled the United States and its allies in the Asia-Pacific region. Japanese and US defence officials say China wants to push the American military out of the so-called 'first island chain' from Japan down through the Philippines. Eventually, its strategy is to dominate areas west of the 'second island chain' in the Pacific between Japan's remote Ogasawara Islands and the US territory of Guam, they say. The Liaoning's recent cruise eastwards marked the first time the Japanese defence ministry has said a Chinese aircraft carrier had crossed the second island chain. In September, the warship sailed between two Japanese islands near Taiwan and entered Japan's contiguous waters, an area up to 24 nautical miles from its coast. At the time, Tokyo called that move 'unacceptable' and expressed 'serious concerns' to Beijing. Under international law, a state has rights to the management of natural resources and other economic activities within its EEZ, which is within 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) of its coastline.
