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Fox News
a day ago
- Politics
- Fox News
The real implications of the Chinese fungus smuggling
Many Americans were probably surprised when they learned that two Chinese citizens, Yunqing Jian and Zunyong Liu, had been charged with trying to smuggle a fungus described as a "potential agroterrorism weapon" into the U.S. But they shouldn't have been. When the Cold War with the Soviet Union ended, many in the U.S. convinced themselves that China wasn't a threat – that Beijing was moving toward democracy, open markets and liberalism. Nonsense. In fact, China clearly aims to replace us as the world's major economy and military power. They trade with us on unfair terms and manipulate their currency, causing huge trade deficits for the U.S. They steal or force us to surrender technology, either surreptitiously or through coercive partnership agreements with American companies that are too focused on short-term profit. Across the world, China undermines our diplomatic power through economic means, building infrastructure on apparently generous terms but with strings attached. It's no secret that China spies on us. We surely spy on them too, but they have a huge advantage in their massive resident or visiting diaspora in the Western countries, for which we have no counterpart. There are currently around 280,000 Chinese students in the U.S., but fewer than 1,000 American students in China. Americans number around 100,000 in China, while China is the third-largest immigrant group in the U.S. at over 2.4 million. China's 2017 National Intelligence Law demands that "all organizations and citizens shall support, assist, and cooperate with national intelligence efforts." China has a huge diaspora population in Western countries, from students to permanent residents, that it can target to bribe or bully into acts of espionage. Like the Cubans and Russians, they have also bribed Americans with no ethnic ties to their country to spy for them. In March 2024, a Chinese illegal alien wandered onto a Marine Corps base at Twentynine Palms, California. He was caught, but he still scoped out the security at our biggest Marine base. The Wall Street Journal counted 100 such "innocent" incidents of Chinese, here legally and illegally, wandering onto or photographing sensitive U.S. government sites in recent years. A hot war with China in the next decade is not an impossible scenario. They are preparing for it, while our military is lagging in recruitment, equipment and technology. If conflict does break out, we would have our hands full in the theater of conflict given China's rapid expansion in naval and air power. To assist their kinetic effort in the field, what might China do inside the United States? It would only take a tiny percentage of the Chinese here to cause serious damage. In addition to permanent residents, students and visitors, when last I saw numbers on this, there were over 25,000 Chinese nationals with criminal convictions that China refused to let us return to them. In Fiscal Year 2024, 78,701 Chinese nationals entered the U.S. illegally at or between ports of entry. So far this fiscal year, more than 22,000 Chinese nationals have entered illegally. In March 2024, I watched DHS-chartered buses dropping off aliens at a San Diego bus stop. Though I saw GPS tracking anklets worn by Eastern Europeans and Central Asians, I saw none on the Chinese. Unless they are caught committing a crime in the meantime, nearly all of them will roam free until their immigration cases are concluded, many years into the future. With potential assets nationwide, China could target our critical infrastructure, including water, electricity and the internet. They could also deploy engineered pathogens against humans that might wreak worse damage than COVID-19, which we now accept most likely "escaped" from a Chinese laboratory that was funded and controlled by their military and government. Furthermore, they could attempt to destroy crops across our agricultural heartland, using a bioweapon like the fungus Jian and Liu were carrying, which causes "head blight," a disease of cereal crops. We need to take this threat seriously. For a generation, vetting of Chinese students, businesses, products, cultural exchanges and every other interaction with the United States has been too lax and overly trusting. Chinese were the top foreign buyers of U.S. commercial real estate in 2020, and in 2021, Chinese owners held 384,000 acres in the U.S. They often use shell companies to obscure the owner's Chinese origin. Chinese individuals and entities have also purchased or attempted to buy land close to U.S. military installations in several states. Yet the Biden administration dialed down or canceled Justice Department efforts "aimed at protecting American technology from China," Reuters reported in 2021. At the same time, the Biden administration "drastically simplified the vetting process for Chinese illegal immigrants," according to a hearing before the House Homeland Security Committee in 2024. During the Cold War, we never let Russia buy up massive tracts of land, control vital industries and dominate raw material supply chains, nor gave its citizens open access to our schools and markets. Why do we let China? Customs and Border Protection inspectors did fine work catching the hidden fungus-needle in a haystack. We need a capable, motivated and fully funded Department of Homeland Security. And over at the State Department, while there is certainly room for cuts and re-organization, Secretary Marco Rubio would be wise to retain the experienced experts who work to limit Chinese access to our sensitive technology, protect American intellectual property, and properly vet their visiting students and researchers. It's past time to address this threat.
New York Post
29-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Trump administration to ‘aggressively revoke' visas for some Chinese students
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday that the Trump administration will 'aggressively revoke' visas for a segment of Chinese students. Chinese foreign nationals studying 'critical fields' or with ties to the Chinese Communist Party will be among the students targeted for removal, the top US diplomat said. 'Under President Trump's leadership, the US State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,' Rubio said in a statement. Advertisement 'We will also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong,' he added. 3 Rubio said the Trump administration will target Chinese students with ties to the Chinese Communist Party and those studying 'critical fields.' Mehmet Eser/ZUMA / The secretary did not disclose which areas of study would constitute 'critical fields.' Advertisement The State Department did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment. The US grants nearly 300,000 student visas to Chinese nationals every year, according to Rep. Riley Moore ( who introduced legislation to halt the practice earlier this year. 'The CCP poses an existential threat to the US,' Moore wrote on X following Rubio's announcement. 'We should not be letting 300,000 Chinese nationals into our research institutions every year. 'This is a huge move from the Trump Admin, and now Congress must codify the president's agenda by passing my Stop CCP Visas Act.' Advertisement The congressman noted that Beijing's 2017 National Intelligence Law requires any Chinese organization or citizen to support, assist and cooperate with the state intelligence work – both at home and abroad. 'We've literally invited the CCP to spy on our military, steal our intellectual property, and threaten national security,' Moore said when he unveiled his bill in March. 'Just last year, the FBI charged five Chinese nationals here on student visas after they were caught photographing joint US-Taiwan live fire military exercises. 'This cannot continue.' 3 Rubio has already revoked thousands of foreign student visas. X/@SecRubio Advertisement The Trump administration's crackdown on Chinese student visa holders comes one day after Rubio ordered US embassies and consulates to pause any student visa applicant interviews, according to an internal cable obtained by Politico. 'Effective immediately, in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consular sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor … visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued [separate telegram], which we anticipate in the coming days,' the cable read. Rubio has already revoked at least 4,000 visas from foreign nationals charged with criminal offenses – including arson, wildlife and human trafficking, child endangerment, domestic abuse, DUI and robbery, a senior State Department official told The Post last month. The secretary of state has also targeted students involved in anti-Israel campus protests, such as Columbia University grad Mahmoud Khalil. 3 Trump proposed limiting Harvard's ability to enroll foreign students earlier on Wednesday. AP Last week, an effort by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to specifically target 7,000 Harvard University students for visa revocations was blocked by a federal court. Oakland, Calif. US District Judge Jeffrey S. White implemented a nationwide injunction barring the Trump administration from terminating the legal status of any international students or allowing immigration authorities to arrest or detain them. Trump on Wednesday floated capping Harvard University's foreign enrollment at 15% of its student body. The administration last month froze $2.2 billion in federal funding to the elite university and last week paused its ability to enroll international students — after college leaders rebuffed administration demands to curtail antisemitic incidents and provide lists of foreign students for federal review.
Daily Mail
28-04-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Mail
Don't charge your phone in a Chinese electric car, UK defence firms warn amid 'security data fears'
Defence firms have told staff to stop charging their phones in Chinese-made electric cars over security concerns, it was reported last night. Bosses at two of Britain's top defence companies have said the sector is taking a 'cautious' and 'belt and braces' approach to the possibility that the Chinese state could be spying on cars using electric vehicles. Measures taken to reduce the likelihood of sensitive national security data being stolen include avoiding parking in production plant car parks, as well as a ban on connecting mobile phones via Bluetooth or a charging cable. Firms thought to have taken such precautions include BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce, according to the i newspaper. One defence firm said: 'The sale of Chinese cars is growing in the UK, and we are, rightly, cautious about that. We are making our staff aware of the sensible precautions to take.' After Donald Trump imposed international tariffs on China, the prices for electric cars from the country into the US have doubled, which experts believe could open the doors for more of these cheap EVs to flood the UK. Joseph Jarnecki, a research fellow in cyber and technology at the Royal United Service Institute, explained that considering defence firms are targets for espionage, they are taking measures given historical evidence of Chinese espionage efforts. Although the UK has seen a number of Chinese brands sell their cars, which include BYD, Ora, Geely and XPENG, but Chinese manufacturers also own brands such as MG, Volvo and Polestar. A spokesman for XPENG, which recently launched its all-electric G6 SUV in the UK, denied its cars spy on drivers. Under the country's National Intelligence Law, Chinese firms are required to work with state intelligence work should they be requested. But others have said it is unlikely the Chinese state will risk the impact to reputation should brands be associated with international spying. James Bore, managing director of cyber technology firm Bores Group, said: 'There are theoretical attacks which allow your phone or your devices to be compromised through plugging them into a charger, but these have been shown under lab conditions, and I have seen no evidence that it has ever actually happened in the wild. 'The moment it does, the Chinese car company market collapses, and that's not the sort of economic upheaval that China really wants.'
Japan Times
17-04-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
U.K. raises alarm on Chinese drones used to survey sensitive sites
U.K. government officials have raised private concerns that Chinese-manufactured drones are being used to take high resolution images of critical national infrastructure sites in the U.K., going against guidance from the country's security services. National Grid PLC, which operates the nation's electricity and gas networks, uses drones made by Shenzhen-based SZ DJI Technology to take videos, photographs and thermal images of its electricity substations, according to information posted on its website as recently as September. DJI drones have also been used to survey the construction of Electricite de France SA's Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant, to inspect solar farms, and by Thames Water to monitor reservoirs and the water supply. Deployment of the drones comes despite a warning in 2023 by the U.K.'s National Protective Security Authority (NPSA), part of the domestic security service MI5, that British organizations managing sensitive sites should be wary of using drones "manufactured in countries with coercive data sharing practices,' a reference to China. Moreover, in 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense included DJI on a blacklist of Chinese firms with military ties. National Grid said it follows government guidance, while Thames Water said it takes security "seriously.' DJI and EDF didn't respond to requests for comment. "It is reasonable to be concerned around the alleged widespread use of Chinese drones to map and track the performance of critical U.K. national infrastructure,' said Sam Goodman, senior director of policy at the China Strategic Risks Institute in London. "At the very least, without British companies undertaking modification of these drones, including software patches, this could pose a significant data security and national security risk to the U.K., as DJI is legally required to provide data and cooperation with China's Ministry of State Security under the PRC's National Intelligence Law.' The role of Chinese companies and equipment in critical national infrastructure has been in focus in the U.K. after the government this weekend took control of British Steel from its Chinese owner, Jingye Group, to prevent it from closing blast furnaces at the country's last virgin steelmaking site. One British official said the drones issue is challenging as the government tries to balance its public pursuit of closer economic ties with Beijing with its private frustrations that companies working in sensitive areas are not taking seriously the potential security threat posed by China. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is pursuing closer economic ties with China, even amid those security concerns and President Donald Trump's trade war with the Asian nation. Last year, Bloomberg reported that British officials were concerned Chinese state actors had made widespread — and likely successful — efforts to access British critical infrastructure networks, underscoring fears of vulnerabilities to increasingly sophisticated efforts by foreign powers to compromise security. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned that Chinese-made drones "pose a significant risk to critical infrastructure' as they "could have vulnerabilities that enable data theft or facilitate network compromises.' Meanwhile, the U.K.'S NPSA's advice to British companies states: "the first line of defense for organizations wishing to use unmanned aerial systems (UAS) may be to restrict UAS and associated component procurement from countries which pose a risk to security.' Using Chinese-made drones at key sites in Britain poses a risk because Chinese national security laws can compel its companies to share data with the state, according to a U.K. government official who requested anonymity discussing a sensitive issue. Despite those warnings, Chinese-made products appear to be the go-to drone technology for companies in charge of much of Britain's critical infrastructure. That's in part because DJI is the world's largest maker of commercial drones, leaving firms with limited choice when it comes to procuring low-cost unmanned aerial systems. The revelation about DJI comes after Bloomberg reported last year that drones used by a second Chinese manufacturer, Autel Robotics had been used by the U.K. military and police, despite the firm being sanctioned by the British government for arming Russia in its war against Ukraine. The National Grid's website says it uses DJI's Mavic2 drone in its substations, as well as to create models to help plan its "great grid upgrade,' a major program to improve U.K. grid connections. They also use DJI's M350, M300 RTK and Mini 3 Pro drones. A National Grid spokesperson said it has "security measures in place across all our operations which follow the guidance set out by government and the security agencies.' DJI drones were able to capture "incredibly valuable, accurate data' at the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant, according to Skymatics, a surveying company which ran the project at the site. The site is part-owned by China General Nuclear Power Group. Representatives for EDF did and Skymatics did not respond to requests for comment. The U.K. government also declined to comment on security matters, while stating that "our energy sector is subject to the highest levels of scrutiny and protection.' A Thames Water spokesperson said that "as providers of critical national infrastructure, we take the security of our networks and systems very seriously and are focused on protecting them.' While the dangers of data leaks from drone technology can be mitigated by using an "off-line mode' disconnected from internet networks, security risks remain, and the best course of action is to "prevent high risk vendors from progressing through the procurement process,' according to the NPSA guidance.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
DeepSeek 'shared user data' with TikTok owner ByteDance
South Korea has accused Chinese AI startup DeepSeek of sharing user data with the owner of TikTok in China. "We confirmed DeepSeek communicating with ByteDance," the South Korean data protection regulator told Yonhap News Agency. The country had already removed DeepSeek from app stores over the weekend over data protection concerns. The Chinese app caused shockwaves in the AI world in January, wiping billions off global stock markets over claims its new model was trained at a much lower cost than US rivals such as ChatGPT. Since then, multiple countries have warned that user data may not be properly protected, and in February a US cybersecurity company alleged potential data sharing between DeepSeek and ByteDance. DeepSeek's apparent overnight impact saw it shoot to the top of App Store charts in the UK, US and many other countries around the world - although it now sits far below ChatGPT in UK rankings. In South Korea, it had been downloaded over a million times before being pulled from Apple and Google's App Stores on Saturday evening. Existing users can still access the app and use it on a web browser. The data regulator, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC), told South Korea's Yonhap News Agency that despite finding a link between DeepSeek and ByteDance, it was "yet to confirm what data was transferred and to what extent". Critics of the Chinese state have long argued its National Intelligence Law allows the government to access any data it wants from Chinese companies. However, ByteDance, headquartered in Beijing, is owned by a number of global investors - and others say the same law allows for the protection of private companies and personal data. Fears over user data being sent to China was one of the reasons the US Supreme Court upheld a ban on TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance. The US ban is on hold until 5 April as President Donald Trump attempts to broker a resolution. Cybersecurity company Security Scorecard published a blog on DeepSeek on 10 February which suggested "multiple direct references to ByteDance-owned" services. "These references suggest deep integration with ByteDance's analytics and performance monitoring infrastructure," it said in its review of DeepSeek's Android app. Security Scorecard expressed concern that along with privacy risks, DeepSeek "user behaviour and device metadata [are] likely sent to ByteDance servers". It also found data "being transmitted to domains linked to Chinese state-owned entities". On Monday, South Korea's PIPC said it "found out traffic generated by third-party data transfers and insufficient transparency in DeepSeek's privacy policy". It said DeepSeek was cooperating with the regulator, and acknowledged it had failed to to take into account South Korean privacy laws. But the regulator advised users "exercise caution and avoid entering personal information into the chatbot". South Korea has already followed a number of countries such as Australia and Taiwan in banning DeepSeek from government devices. The BBC has contacted the PIPC, ByteDance and DeepSeek's parent company, High Flyer, for a response. DeepSeek: The Chinese AI app that has the world talking S Korea removes Deepseek from app stores over privacy concerns
