Chinese regime enlisted Jack Ma’s help in an intimidation campaign to press a businessman to help in the purge of a top official. This is just one of the stories revealed in an ICiJ report on the sinister tactics China uses to silence critics beyond its borders. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

The FBI is offering $10 million for information about the China-state hacking group tracked as Salt Typhoon and its intrusion last year into sensitive networks belonging to multiple US telecommunications companies arstechnica.com/security/202...

Australian officials are investigating reports that Russia has lodged an official request to base several long-range aircraft in Indonesia, just 1300 kilometres away from the Australian mainland. www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...

Six Hong Kong government officials responsible for the implementation of national security laws have been sanctioned by the USA for undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy. www.state.gov/u-s-sanction...

Singapore has a problem: China had set up a “back door” into Western markets via financial intermediaries – such as trading firms, shell companies, and holding companies, including in Singapore and elsewhere – to act as the listed buyer for restricted goods www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpre...

An investigation by Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice found SMIC uses Samoan companies to recruit Taiwanese engineers. Others Chinese firms pretend to be Taiwanese or Singaporean companies to evade scrutiny. asia.nikkei.com/Business/Tec...

Chinese tech firm has been trying to recruit recently laid-off U.S. government workers, according to job ads and a researcher who uncovered the campaign. www.reuters.com/world/china/...

A hot topic of discussion on China’s social media today is military invasion of Australia. This follows the unannounced military exercises that the PLA’s navy conducted off the coast of Australia last month chinadigitaltimes.net/2025/03/tran...

Self-exiled Hong Kongers in Australia face daily threats and harassment for speaking out against Beijing. A bounty letter sent to random residents in Melbourne targeting Kevin Yam mark the latest instance of efforts to silence critics abroad asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Int...

US DoJ indicted 12 Chinese nationals for cyber crimes. On the list are 2 MPS officials, 8 i-Soon employees and 2 members of the notorious APT27. Check this press release for their names. www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justi...

UK-based lawyers for Hong Kong activist Jimmy Lai targeted by Chinese state. Barristers at Doughty Street Chambers say they have been subject to surveillance, hacking and rape threats. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

Australia's Global Lithium Resources is pressing the government to halt a takeover attempt by investors from the Sincerity Group 籴信集团. My research indicates that these investors have close links to Perth’s pro-China united front network. www.reuters.com/markets/comm...

Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek has been banned from Australian government systems and devices, following an assessment by intelligence agencies that the software poses an “unacceptable risk” to national security. Security ban for DeepSeek AI www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/polit...

Taiwan’s top diplomat in Canberra has said Taipei stands by to offer Australia advice in tackling disinformation campaigns as the nation braces for a surge in conspiracy theories and fake news in the run up to the Federal election. thenightly.com.au/politics/aus...

Is this another sign that Beijing is preparing for war? Satellite images suggest that China’s military is building a massive complex in western Beijing that US intelligence believes may serve as a wartime command centre www.ft.com/content/f376...

The Taiwanese navy should have boarded and seized this ship and arrested the captain. It's staggering what the Chinese government is allowed to get away with around the world. What a fiasco.

The USA is sanctioning a China-based cybersecurity company Integrity Technology Group 北京永信至诚科技集团 for its involvement in malicious botnet operations www.state.gov/sanctioning-...

Merry Christmas!

Who paid for Professor Carr's trip to Guangzhou, I wonder?

Former Australia FM Bob Carr echoed views of Zheng Bijian 郑必坚, a think tanker with links to China’s spy agency the MSS, during a MSS sponsored event. Carr said Australia will not follow US curb on trade with China because Australia needs China-made solar cells m.chinanews.com/wap/detail/c...

More scandals from the British Royal Family: Sarah Ferguson and Zara Tindall were found receiving payments from HK businessman Sei Hoe HON (Johnny) 韓世灝 who has multiple titles from China’s foreign influence agencies. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

The US government has launched a national-security investigation into TP-Link, the China-founded router maker whose equipment now dominates the American market and has been targeted in repeated Chinese cyber attacks, people familiar with the matter said. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would decide the constitutionality of a law that would effectively ban TikTok in the U.S. if the social-media app doesn’t shed its Chinese ownership www.wsj.com/tech/supreme...

Chen Jinping pleaded guilty to running a secret police station at Lower Manhattan under instructions from China’s Ministry of Public Security www.justice.gov/opa/pr/new-y...

UNESCO is partnering with Chau Chak Wing’s Kingold in offering a new youth leadership program. China Daily said the announcement was made during the 2024 Imperial Springs International Forum in Madrid www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202412/14/...

Those who think Prince Andrew’s Chinese spy scandal is dreadful will be shocked by recent events in Spain. King Felipe VI of Spain received a delegation led by Dr Chau Chak Wing at the Royal Palace in Madrid. This is what the king said about Dr Chau casareal.es/EU/ArchivoMu...

Alleged Chinese spy linked to Prince Andrew is YANG Tengbo, also known as Chris Yang www.bbc.com/news/live/c4...

A dive into the toolkit of China’s infamous technology transfer strategy: The Shapeshifting Evolution of Chinese Technology Acquisition by Matthew Brazil jamestown.org/program/the-...

The story of Peter Dukes aka Tom Fowdy continues over at the Too Simple Sometimes Naive Substack open.substack.com/pub/toosimpl...

Sam Lim, an Australian politician who holds the most marginal Labor seat, was caught distributing a fabricated quote from PM Albanese in a WhatsApp message that whitewashes the Melbourne synagogue firebombing. Mr Lim has since deleted his WhatsApp. www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/labor...

Great Power geopolitics again. China seems determined to copy America .

A Chinese national has been arrested on suspicion of flying a drone to take photographs over a US Space Force base. www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2024...

Dmitry Medvedev started his 2 day Beijing visit to discuss partnerships with Chinese leaders. His talks follow the October visit of Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov. Medvedev is known for his hardline stance on Ukraine. www.reuters.com/world/russia...

A preliminary investigation into the deployment of private Chinese security/military forces in Myanmar and its strategic implications. Hope someone will follow up with a more detailed report. theconversation.com/chinese-secu...

Trump taps former Sen. David Perdue as next ambassador to China www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-t...

Paraguay on Thursday kicked out a Chinese envoy for allegedly interfering in its domestic affairs and urging the South American nation to break off ties and long friendship with Taiwan. The Chinese diplomat was given 24 hours to leave the country. apnews.com/article/para...

In the first meeting of the subcommittee on Arctic shipping routes, representatives from China and Russia pledged to deepen cooperation in Arctic shipping, safety, and polar shipbuilding technology www.ecns.cn/news/politic...

U.S. and U.K. authorities on Wednesday targeted a money-laundering network that they said enabled Russian elites to evade international sanctions through the use of cryptocurrency, particularly the stablecoin tether. www.wsj.com/finance/curr...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared an “emergency martial law,” Tuesday accusing the country’s opposition of controlling the parliament, sympathizing with North Korea and paralyzing the government with anti-state activities. apnews.com/article/sout...

Latest at the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra: A packed MSO statement released late Friday details changes to governance review, a new CEO and the departure of four senior Board figures, including Chair David Li. limelight-arts.com.au/news/melbour...

Interesting reading: A comprehensive scholarly study of the mechanisms through which China forms coalitions with other weaker states to control leadership personnel appointments at the United Nations link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Dong Jun became the third Defence Minister in China to be placed under investigation for corruption since 2023. This is yet another wide-ranging probe that has roiled the top ranks of the People's Liberation Army. www.reuters.com/world/china/...

Xi Jinping added new “red lines” to US-China relations and warned Joe Biden against challenging them. Xinhua named the 4 red lines as: (1) Taiwan question, (2) democracy and human rights, (3) China's path and system, and (4) China's development right

In Hong Kong, legal scholar Benny Tai was among 45 pro-democracy figures sentenced on Tuesday after being convicted of conspiring to commit subversion, an offence under the Beijing-imposed national security law. hongkongfp.com/2024/11/19/b...

Asif Rahman, who worked overseas for the C.I.A., was arrested on Tuesday by the F.B.I. and faces two counts of violating the Espionage Act for leaking classified documents about Israeli military plans. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/13/u...

Authorities in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai removed wreaths, candles and even bottles of Chinese alcohol laid at the scene of the deadliest mass killing in the country in a decade, as the government scrambled to respond and censor the outrage online. www.reuters.com/world/china/...

Stephen McDonnell is a superb journo; ex-Australian Broadcasting Corporation correspondent. Not his first experience with attempts to prevent fair and transparent reporting in China.

Xi Jinping is under heightened pressure to better secure his country’s interests in volatile regions around the world after a bomb attack by Pakistan separatists last month claimed the lives of two Chinese engineers. www.ft.com/content/250d...

Recommend James Leibald’s recent work on the history of Beijing’s Tibet-Aid project and the Han chauvinism that underpins this endeavour. This is an important scholarly attempt to explore settler colonialism in Beijing’s national minority policy. madeinchinajournal.com/2024/11/12/t...

BBC correspondent in China was harassed by unidentified “locals” for reporting on a disturbing incident of public violence at a stadium in Zhuhai. A male driver rammed his car into the stadium, killing at least 35 people. This is by no means an isolated incident. www.bbc.com/news/videos/...