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The sixth meeting of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference's (CPPCC) Standing Committee, the highest-level advisory body of the People's Republic of China, met ahead of the general plenary that is taking place in Beijing from June 22 to 27. During one of the committee's working group meetings on June 18, the former deputy chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and standing committee member of the CPPCC, General Zhang Li, recommended that China build an airport and seaport on Mischief Reef located in the Spratly Islands in the South China...

Hongkong leader Donald Tsang said in aninterview today he would maintain his chief executive's privileges when he runs for re-election, citing Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan as precedents. Tsang has been criticised for using his official car to visit his campaign office and for delaying the official announcement of his bid for a second term as chief executive until tomorrow. Responding to the criticisms, Tsang said in an interview with the South China Morning Post he had been advised that it could "amount to a dereliction of duty" if he left the chief executive post vacant for long to stand...

WASHINGTON, July 21 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday said he had asked CIA Director William Burns to become a member of his cabinet, elevating one of his closest advisers on national security and foreign policy. . .... He "has made a significant contribution to national security decision-making, especially with regard to Russia and China" Glaser said.

A business associate of Hunter Biden with ties to the Mob and China scored an official visit to the White House under the Obama administration. **SNIP** Visitor records show Bulger met with Anne Marie Person, one of Biden's aides from his stint as Barack Obama's right-hand man, on August 25th of 2016. Before joining the then vice-president's team, Person previously worked for a shadowy investment firm run by Hunter Biden. But it is unclear whether the self-styled fixer managed to secure meetings with any other White House staffers. Bulger has been a regular adviser to the current commander-in-chief's son on...

The United States Military Academy at West Point hosted the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party’s top propaganda effort that seeks to “influence foreign governments and other actors to take actions or adopt positions supportive of Beijing’s preferred policies” as a speaker, The National Pulse can reveal.The United States Military Academy (USMA) has also partnered with state-run Chinese universities – including institutions accused of doubling as espionage and cyberattack training grounds and Xi Jinping’s alma mater – on exchange programs.What’s more, West Point leadership has visited the China-based schools to call for increased collaboration, including a former superintendent “inviting national...

A host of corporate media outlets including CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and MSNBC have participated in private dinners and sponsored trips with the China-United States Exchange Foundation, a Chinese Communist Party-funded group seeking to garner “favorable coverage” and “disseminate positive messages” regarding China, The National Pulse can reveal.Other outlets involved in the propaganda operation include Forbes, the Financial Times, Newsweek, Bloomberg, Reuters, ABC News, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, AFP, TIME magazine, LA Times, The Hill, BBC, and The Atlantic.The relationship is revealed in the Department of Justice’s Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) filings, which...

China's Communist Party is intensifying covert influence operations in the United States that include funding Washington think tanks and coercing Chinese Americans, according to a congressional commission report. The influence operations are conducted by the United Front Work Department, a Central Committee organ that employs tens of thousands of operatives who seek to use both overt and covert operations to promote Communist Party policies. The Party's United Front strategy includes paying several Washington think tanks with the goal influencing their actions and adopting positions that support Beijing's policies. "The [Chinese Communist Party] has sought to influence academic discourse on China...

Former Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa has accused the United States and Taiwan of orchestrating the “well-organised” recent protests against the Hong Kong government. Tung, vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, also warned on Wednesday that there could be no compromise with those who challenge Beijing’s sovereignty and damage the city’s stability. He said he remained firmly behind the Hong Kong police and Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. He called on Lam’s government to listen to public opinion and solve long-standing problems such as housing, health care, education and pensions. “Some young people have vented their anxiety...

Hong Kong was awash with talk Wednesday that China-appointed leader Tung Chee Hwa looks set to step down after more than seven stormy years at the helm. The unpopular leader reportedly cited health reasons for cutting short his five-year term, marked by two massive pro-democracy protests and calls for his resignation. Media reports said Beijing accepted his resignation a few days ago and would make Chief Secretary Donald Tsang acting chief executive. News of the resignation was splashed on the front pages of major newspapers here. Neither Hong Kong nor Chinese officials would comment on the reports. Mr Tung, in...

Hong Kong (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Embattled Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, whose unpopular leadership spawned massive pro-democracy demonstrations, has resigned for personal reasons, local newspapers reported on Wednesday. The reports come just weeks after Tung was publicly reprimanded by Chinese President Hu Jintao for his poor performance over the past seven years. Asked to confirm if Tung had stepped down, a government spokesman said: "We don't comment on speculative reports". Citing unidentified sources, most reports said Tung's right hand man, Chief Secretary Donald Tsang, would be made acting chief executive after Tung's departure. Tung, a businessman with little political experience,...

...Beijing and its minions have subjected politicians, journalists and individual voters in that city to some ugly threats, and worse.... Despite widespread popular support, democratic candidates are not expected to gain effective control of the Legislative Council (LegCo).... [E]arlier this year it looked like pro-democracy forces might win at least 30 seats. Then China went on the offensive, denigrating or intimidating democratic candidates and sympathizers. The leader of the pro-democracy camp, the dignified Martin Lee, was called a "clown" and unpatriotic. Mr. Lee's late father was branded a "traitor." China's government hounded other pro-democracy candidates, throwing one into a mainland...

CHINA has sent a squad of bureaucrats to Hong Kong to investigate the crumbling administration of Tung Chee-hwa. Dozens of middle-ranking officials from mainland government agencies including China's Hong Kong and Macau office and its ministries of foreign affairs, state security and intelligence are understood to be in Hong Kong, which has been rocked by two big demonstrations in the past 10 days. Hong Kong media reported yesterday that the officials were seeking views from a wide range of people in the Special Administrative Region on what should be done to handle the growing level of public dissatisfaction with Mr...

Are Hong Kong's liberties gradually being taken away? THROW a frog into boiling water and it jumps out; gently bring it to the boil, and the frog, never noticing the incremental increases in heat, allows itself to be cooked. Is Hong Kong a frog in a pot in Beijing's kitchen? If so, then on September 24th the temperature rose another notch. On that day, Hong Kong's government formally began—by circulating a consultation paper—the process of enacting a controversial set of laws against subversion, sedition, treason and other ills, as required by Article 23 of the Basic Law, the territory's constitution....