Latest news with #NationalSecurity
Yahoo
43 minutes ago
- General
- Yahoo
Is a Chinese invasion of Taiwan ‘imminent' like Hegseth says?
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Saturday said a Chinese threat to Taiwan is 'imminent' as he visited Singapore. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is also reportedly considering ways to revamp President Trump's intelligent briefings. NBC News national security reporter Gordon Lubold joins Alex Witt to weigh in on the latest developments.
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Russia may be preparing new strikes with strategic aircraft on Ukraine
Andrii Kovalenko, Head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, has stated that there are "signs that Russia is preparing new strikes using strategic aircraft". Source: Kovalenko on Telegram Details: Kovalenko made this statement in response to US President Donald Trump's comments, who has once again said he was "surprised" and "disappointed" by the latest Russian strikes on Ukraine which were preventing a swift conclusion of a "deal". Quote from Kovalenko: "The fact is that there are currently signs that Russia is preparing new strikes using strategic aircraft in the future." Details: Kovalenko added that this is "a method Moscow has been using since the Minsk agreements". Quote from Kovalenko: "Here, I believe it's important to turn disappointment into what the Russians call a 'zhestkaya opleukha' [a hard slap in the face] to Putin." Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
LBCI
a day ago
- General
- LBCI
Ben Gvir says: "It's time to go in with full force" into Gaza
Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said Friday that 'full force' should be used in Gaza after Hamas announced that the new U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal does not meet its demands. Addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a message on Telegram, Ben Gvir wrote: 'After Hamas once again rejected the proposed deal, there are no more excuses,' adding, 'The confusion, hesitation, and weakness must end. We've already missed too many opportunities. It's time to go in with full force, without hesitation, to destroy and eliminate Hamas down to the last member.' AFP
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- General
- Al Jazeera
Chinese students in US grapple with uncertainty over Trump's visa policies
Washington, DC – For Anson, hearing the news that Chinese student visas were the latest target of US President Donald Trump's administration was 'heartbreaking'. The Chinese graduate student, who is studying foreign service at Georgetown University, told Al Jazeera that he feels uncertain about the future of students like himself after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the US would begin to 'aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields'. 'There is definitely a degree of uncertainty and anxiety observed amongst us,' Anson said, asking that only his first name be used. The Trump administration has offered little further clarity on which students would be affected, with some observers seeing the two-sentence announcement, which also vowed to 'revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny' for future visa applicants from China and Hong Kong, as intentionally vague. While 23-year-old Anson said he understood the US government had concerns about foreign influence and national security when it came to China, he was confused as to why the Trump administration's new policy was potentially so wide reaching. Most students from his homeland, he said, were just like the other more than one million students who study every year in the US, a country that is known both for its educational opportunities and for its 'inclusivity and broad demographics'. 'It is heartbreaking for many of us to see a country built by immigrants becoming more xenophobic and hostile to the rest of the world,' he said, adding that he and other Chinese students in the US were still trying to decipher the policy shift. It is not the first time the Trump administration has taken aim at Chinese students, with the US Department of Justice in 2018, during Trump's first term, launching the so-called 'China Initiative' with the stated aim of combatting 'trade secret theft, hacking, and economic espionage'. An MIT analysis instead showed the programme focused predominantly on researchers and academics of Chinese descent, in what critics said amounted to 'racial profiling and fear mongering'. It was discontinued in February 2022 by the administration of former US President Joe Biden. Since then, there has only been 'greater and greater suspicion in the US, almost on a bipartisan basis, of various aspects of Chinese technology, actions by Beijing around the world, and now these concerns about surveillance and spying within the US', according to Kyle Chan, a researcher on China at Princeton University. That included a Republican-led congressional report in September 2024 that claimed hundreds of millions of US tax dollars – funneled through US-China partnerships at universities – helped Beijing develop critical technologies, including those related to semiconductors, artificial intelligence, hypersonic weapons, and nuclear capabilities. But Chan, while acknowledging 'genuine security concerns' exist, said the broad announcement from the Trump administration did not appear to actually address those concerns. Instead, it has sent 'shock waves of fear throughout university campuses across the country', he said. That uncertainty has been compounded by Trump's recent pressure campaigns on US universities, which most recently involved a since-blocked revocation of Harvard University's ability to enrol international students. 'I think the vagueness is part of the [Trump administration's] strategy, because it is not about a concrete policy,' Chan told Al Jazeera. 'I don't think it's really, at the end of the day, about national security and trying to find the few individuals who may pose a genuine risk.' Instead, he saw the move as aimed at Trump's political audience, those sitting at an 'overlap between people who are very anxious about immigrants in general, and people who are very anxious about China'. The administration has offered little clarity on the scope of the visa revocations, or how it will define students with 'connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields'. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce gave few further specifics, saying only that the department 'will continue to use every tool in our tool chest to make sure that we know who it is who wants to come into this country and if they should be allowed to come in'. 'The United States, I further can say here, will not tolerate the CCP's exploitation of US universities or theft of US research, intellectual property or technologies to grow its military power, conduct intelligence collection or repress voices of opposition,' she said. Despite the dearth of clarity, the eventual shape of the policy will determine just how 'disruptive' it could be, according to Cole McFaul, a research analyst at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University. He pointed to 'real concerns about research security and about illicit IP [intellectual property] transfer' when it comes to Beijing, noting there have been a handful of documented cases of such activity in recent years. 'My hope is that this is a targeted action based on evidence and an accurate assessment of risk that takes into account the costs and the benefits,' McFaul said. 'My worry is that this will lead to broad-based, large-scale revocations of visas for Chinese students operating in STEM subjects,' he said, referencing the abbreviation for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. McFaul noted that about 80 percent of the estimated 277,000 Chinese students who study in the US annually are in STEM subjects, in what he described as 'an enormously important talent pipeline from China to the United States for the past 40 years'. A vast majority of Chinese PhDs in STEM subjects – also about 80 percent – tend to stay in the US after their studies, in what McFaul described as another major benefit to the US. 'The question is, what counts as someone who's working in a critical technology? Are life sciences critical? I would say 'yes'. Are the physical sciences critical? I'd say 'yes'. Is computer science critical? Is engineering critical?' McFaul said. 'So there's a world where the vast majority of Chinese students are disallowed from studying in the United States, which would be an enormous loss and tremendous disruption for the United States science and technology ecosystem,' he said. As the policy remains foggy, Chinese students in the US said they are monitoring the often fickle winds of the Trump administration. Su, a 23-year-old applied analytics graduate student at Columbia University, said she swiftly changed her plans to travel home to China this summer amid the uncertainty. 'I was afraid if I go back to China, I won't be able to come back to the US for when classes begin,' said Su, who asked to only use her last name given the 'sensitive' situation. 'When Trump announces something, we never know if it's going to be effective or not,' she told Al Jazeera. 'It's always changing'. Deng, a graduate student at Georgetown who also asked that his full name not be used, said he broadly agreed that reforms were needed to address issues related to Chinese influence in US academia. Those included intimidation of political dissidents, the spread of nationalist propaganda, and 'oligarchy corruption', he said. But, in an email to Al Jazeera, he said the administration's approach was misguided. 'The current measures not only do not achieve such goals,' he said, 'but [are] also generating unnecessary fear even among the Chinese student communities that have long been fully committed to the development and enrichment of US society.'
The Independent
2 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Rubio wants to ‘aggressively' revoke Chinese student visas. Trump officials won't say how they're vetting them
Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to ' aggressively revoke ' Chinese student visas, targeting students with 'connections to the Chinese Communist Party ' and those who are 'studying in critical fields.' His two-sentence announcement on Wednesday spared any details explaining how the administration plans to do any of that — blindsiding universities and foreign students now scrambling for guidance about what comes next. But officials won't publicly say how they're deciding whether they believe students are connected to the country's ruling party or what those 'critical fields' of study even are. 'We don't give details about what our methods are,' State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters Thursday. 'Giving away the nature of how we choose to do things' could 'give up our hand' and undermine national security, she added. The State Department says it's scrutinizing China's 'exploitation of universities' including 'theft of research, intellectual property and technologies' exported to students' home countries, according to Bruce. 'Everyone who is here on a visa has to recognize … that America takes their visas seriously,' she said. 'Vetting is not a one-time process, it's continuing. And if things happen — you get arrested, if there's some kind of an issue — it's probably going to be seen at some point.' Chinese student visa holders 'must recognize' that the Trump administration is 'taking our national security seriously,' she added. 'And we are looking at their visas, and if everything's fine, terrific, but that will be a vetting that certainly continues and it's important clearly to the administration,' she said. Rubio's announcement on Wednesday said the 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.' '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. Roughly 277,000 Chinese students studied in the United States last year, making them the second-largest group of foreign students in the country. Foreign students studying in the U.S. last year contributed approximately $44 billion to the U.S. economy. The announcement also follows the Trump administration's attempt to revoke Harvard University 's ability to enroll international students — which has been blocked in court — and Rubio's order to pause any new appointments for student visas globally. The administration accused Harvard of 'coordinated activity' with China's ruling party, including 'training members of a CCP paramilitary group complicit in the Uyghur genocide.' Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused the university of 'fostering violence, antisemitism and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.' 'Chinese Communist Party' was emphasized in boldface. The Trump administration has launched what critics argue is a politically motivated effort to bend universities and institutions to his ideological commands, including unprecedented scrutiny, funding threats and the arrests and deportations of foreign students involved in pro-Palestine demonstrations against Israel's war in Gaza. Advocacy groups and Democratic lawmakers argue the administration's latest maneuvers escalate a years-long campaign of xenophobia that now risks a serious brain drain in the U.S. 'The wholesale revocation of student visas based on national origin — and without an investigation — is xenophobic and wrong,' stated the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. 'Turning these students away — many of whom simply wish to learn in a free and democratic society — is not just shortsighted, but a betrayal of our values.' Rubio's 'sweeping policies' targeting students based on their country of origin and field of study 'mark a dangerous escalation in xenophobic rhetoric and risk undermining America's global leadership in science, research, and innovation,' according to the Asian American Scholar Forum. 'This policy threatens to dismantle the international talent pipeline that has long fueled American innovation and excellence,' according to the group's executive director, Gisela Perez Kusakawa. 'Chinese students contribute immensely to our campuses, communities, and economy,' she said. 'Treating them with blanket suspicion not only violates principles of fairness, due process, and our democratic values — it sends a chilling message to the world that America no longer welcomes global talent.' China's foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning also called Rubio's announcement 'politicized and discriminatory.' The action 'lays bare the U.S. lie that it upholds so-called freedom and openness,' she said Thursday. Hong Kong's Chief Executive John Lee told lawmakers that the city would welcome students who 'face unfair treatment' in the United States. 'I think this is an opportunity for Hong Kong,' he said Thursday. 'We will work with our universities to provide the best support and assistance.' A widely shared post from Hong Kong's University of Science and Technology also invited Harvard students to the school to 'continue their academic pursuits' following Trump's threats to international student visas at the Ivy League school. Average in-state tuition at public colleges and universities is roughly $21,270, and $37,430 for out-of-state. International students pay between $874 and $5,218 more in tuition and fees than out-of-state students, according to a report from the American Council on Education, which represents leaders at 1,600 colleges and universities. Private tuition rates are thousands of dollars higher. If Rubio pulls Chinese student visas, the 'damage' to the United States could be 'enormous and hard to undo,' according to Holger Hestermeyer, Professor of international law at King's College London. 'Now imagine your family in China coughs up that money. And after two years your visa is pulled,' he wrote. 'Refunds? What happens now? And for all future students: is that a risk worth taking?'
