Free Republic

It’s well known that China won’t stand for any criticism. There, opponents of the communist regime are simply not tolerated. But it seems Beijing now thinks it also has the right to ignore international borders and silence dissent anywhere it sees fit. Around the world it’s setting up illegal outposts called “Chinese Overseas Police Service Stations”, and as the name implies, the objective of these offices is clear. Our law enforcement agencies deny there are any of these stations in Australia, even though Chinese authorities openly publicise their existence. But as Tara Brown reports in a special 60 MINUTES investigation,...

The Democratic Progressive Party won decisively, affirming that most Taiwanese want to maintain Taiwan’s separation from communist China.The Taiwanese elected William Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as their next president, despite Beijing’s threat that voting for Lai would lead to war.The campaign to succeed Taiwan’s incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen, who will step down in May due to term limits, was a fierce three-way race, including Vice President Lai of the DPP, Hou Yu-ih of the Kuomintang (KMT), and Ko Wen-je from the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). Beijing accuses the DPP of “promoting” Taiwan’s independence, a red line...

With the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference over and done with in San Francisco, some business owners are complaining that the city is reverting into a den for homelessness and drug use. Restaurant owner Tony Pankaew said in a local media interview.that San Francisco rushed to clean up the city for Chinese President Xi Jinping and other foreign dignitaries for APEC. "They cleaned up the people, they cleaned up the streets," he told CBS News Bay Area. "They made the city look good and look impressive for the foreigners, for the politicians." "Now they have started to come back," Pankaew...

President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet Wednesday in California for talks on trade, Taiwan and managing fraught U.S.-Chinese relations in the first engagement between the leaders of the world’s two biggest economies in nearly a year, Biden administration officials said. The White House has said for weeks that it anticipated Biden and Xi would meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, but negotiations went down to the eve of the gathering, which kicks off Saturday. The officials, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by...

U.S. government officials are not happy as China confirms Chairman Xi Jinping visit to Russia next week to meet with President Putin. ... In the background of the Ukraine conflict, smiling Panda has been happy to see distracted western nations bleeding their resources and treasury in support of Ukraine. Meanwhile, happy Panda negotiates and brokers increased relationships between Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, India and China. There is no downside to Chairman Xi visiting Russia and advancing a position that ‘peaceful negotiations’ should begin between Russia and Ukraine, unless a resolution to the conflict is against the geopolitical usefulness of the...

President Joe Biden tried to sound tough on Chinese President Xi Jinping during his State of the Union speech on Tuesday but ended up blurting out a nonsensical demand and confusing viewers. During a section of the speech addressing foreign policy and China, Biden tried to diss Xi by implying there is no other world leader who would trade places with him. “Look. Let’s be clear: Winning the competition [with China] should unite all of us. We face serious challenges across the world. But in the past two years, democracies have become stronger, not weaker. Autocracies have grown weaker, not...

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz became the first Western leader to travel to Beijing to meet with Xi Jinping since the Chinese coronavirus crisis on Friday. Chancellor Scholz, of the leftist Social Democratic Party (SPD), made the trip alongside top industry leaders, including the CEOs of BMW, Bayer, Deutsche Bank, and Volkswagen, in order to shore up relations with Germany’s top trading partner as relations with its largest energy importer, Russia, have collapsed over the past year. Speaking alongside soon-to-be-ousted Premier Li Keqiang, Scholz said in remarks reported by AFP: “We do not believe in ideas of decoupling [from Communist China]...

At 105, Song Ping is the Chinese Communist Party's oldest retired official. Famous for once pressing former President Jiang Zemin to fully retire, Song has recently appeared in public for the first time in years. Due to his advanced age, it was only a video message. But it has caused a stir in Chinese political circles ahead of the party's once-every-five-years national congress that begins on Oct. 16. In a congratulatory message for an event on Sept. 12, the centenarian said that the policy of reform and opening-up "has been the only path to the development and progress of contemporary...

President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping plan to hold a virtual summit this year, according to a report — setting up a high-stakes forum for discussion of tariffs, human rights and Chinese secrecy about COVID-19 origins. Biden and the communist “president for life” intend to convene the event before 2022, Bloomberg News reports. The White House did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment. Biden and Xi held a private 90-minute phone call on Sept. 9, but a summit presents significant risk for Biden. Chinese diplomats in March scored a propaganda victory by ridiculing the United States...

The Taliban leaders are desperately looking for global recognition and ties with world powers, while China under Xi aims to exploit the war-ravaged country for its economic interests. Therefore, the China-Taliban relationship seems symbiotic. However, looking at the Taliban’s past, the future of this new-found bonhomie looks bleak China is in Taliban’s Afghanistan. President Xi Jinping is all out to make a deal with the mullahs. And it seems China is rejoicing the exit of the American and its allied forces from the Afghan soil. For China, it is a new ground to advance a unique model of foreign relations...

The latest model of Chinese car manufacturer SAIC’s Roewe RX5 PLUS SUV will come equipped with an application that indoctrinates passengers in “Xi Jinping Thought,” Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on Thursday. The Alibaba-produced application, Xuexi Qiangguo, debuted for mobile phones in 2019. Its name translates to “Study to Make China Strong,” and it works by offering select quotes by dictator Xi Jinping, excerpts of his writings, and other communist materials. The application has a quiz element in which it helps users memorize Xi’s teachings through question and answer sessions, as well as a social element so that users can...

Pope Francis to Speak at President Biden’s Climate SummitVATICAN CITY — Pope Francis will join dozens of world leaders tomorrow when he speaks at President Joe Biden’s two-day online climate summit that is aimed at cutting global emissions and galvanizing “climate ambition.”The Pope is scheduled to address the meeting via video link sometime during the second session of the “Leaders Summit on Climate,” which will take place in the morning. According to the summit’s website, that session will focus on “Investing in Climate Solutions,” although the precise topic of the Pope’s talk has not yet been announced.Discussions during the...

[Transcription] So it seems that President Xi Jinping of China knew about the Wuhan coronavirus weeks before he did anything about it. Maybe he was busy with more important things than human life. Maybe he had a crossword to finish. Who knows? Let's not rush to judgement. As most people know by now the Chinese Communist Party has infected the world with a deadly virus, the Wuhan coronavirus, which has killed thousands of people and caused unprecedented worldwide panic and lockdown that will likely devastate the global economy. It's important to call this the Wuhan virus, or the Chinese virus...

FULL TITLE: Momentum grows for dropping 'President' from title of China's leader; Remove 'veneer' of legitimacy The Trump administration, with a simple change in rhetoric, has signaled a subtle shift in its approach to China in recent weeks — and in the process has deepened a rift with the Communist Party leadership in Beijing. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a major foreign policy speech late last month in which he referred to Chinese leader Xi Jinping as “general secretary” rather than “president.” The seemingly minor tweak, national security sources and analysts say, carries a much deeper meaning and suggests...

After Kim Jong Un called the VP names the only possible course of action was to respond this way; Trump compliments Kim while reminding him of the subjugated nature of his military abilities. To have gone ahead with the meeting without forcing the DPRK to come back to the table would be disastrous, diplomatically, and start any negotiations off with Kim Jong Un as the superior actor.

The party's Central Committee proposed to remove from the constitution the expression that China's president and vice president "shall serve no more than two consecutive terms," the Xinhua News Agency said. "Xi Jinping has finally achieved his ultimate goal when he first embarked on Chinese politics — that is to be the Mao Zedong of the 21st century," said Willy Lam, a political analyst at the Chinese University in Hong Kong, referring to the founder of communist China. Xi, 64, cemented his status as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao in the 1970s at last year's twice-a-decade Communist Party...

The Chinese news media covered President Xi Jinping's most recent public appearances with the adulation befitting a demigod. Front-page headlines across the nation trumpeted Mr. Xi's visits to the headquarters of the three main Communist Party and state news organizations on Friday. Photographs showed fawning journalists crowding around Mr. Xi, who sat at an anchor's desk on a television stage. One media official wrote the president an adoring poem. The blanket coverage reflected the brazen and far-reaching media policy announced by Mr. Xi on his choreographed tour: The Chinese news media exists to serve as a propaganda tool for the...

US Navy say "light in the West Coast sky" was a Trident II (D5) missile test at sea from the submarine "Kentucky" www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xLmB81v-BI

BEIRUT/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia bombed Syria for a third day on Friday, mainly hitting areas held by rival insurgent groups rather than the Islamic State fighters it said it was targeting and drawing an increasingly angry response from the West. The U.S.-led coalition that is waging its own air war against Islamic State called on the Russians to halt strikes on targets other than Islamic State. "We call on the Russian Federation to immediately cease its attacks on the Syrian opposition and civilians and to focus its efforts on fighting ISIL," said the coalition, which includes the United States, major...

Washington (CNN)Russia currently poses the greatest global threat to the United States, according to the man slated to be President Barack Obama's top military adviser. "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security," Gen. Joseph Dunford told the Senate Armed Services committee during his confirmation hearing to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. With its large nuclear arsenal, destabilizing role in Ukraine and threat to NATO nations on its borders, Russia presents a significant challenge to the U.S., even as it faces threats like that of ISIS. "If you want to talk about a nation...