Free Republic

Zhao captured the information in surreptitious recordings and photographs, including “operational plans for a large-scale U.S. military exercise in the Indo-Pacific Region, which detailed the specific location and timing of Naval force movements, amphibious landings, maritime operations and logistics support,” prosecutors said. “The indictment further alleges that Zhao photographed electrical diagrams and blueprints for a radar system stationed on a U.S. military base in Okinawa, Japan,” the release explained. In exchange for that information and details about Naval Base Ventura County and a base on San Clemente Island, Zhao allegedly received $14,866.

I have no idea why the DOJ is putting out a press release about this. It seems more like the sort of thing to never mention again. A U.S. Navy service member was sentenced today to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,500 fine for transmitting sensitive U.S. military information to an intelligence officer from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in exchange for bribery payments. According to court documents, Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, aka Thomas Zhao, of Monterey Park, California, pleaded guilty in October 2023 to one count of conspiring with the intelligence officer and...

Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, pleaded guilty to money laundering violations, the government said on Tuesday, a stunning blow to the most powerful and influential figure in the global crypto industry. Binance itself also pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $4.3 billion in fines and restitution [and much, much more]

Thursday morning, as U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts released a landmark decision, demanding Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill end anti-Asian racism in admissions, Yukong Mike Zhao, an immigrant from China, rushed to the steps of the Supreme Court, off First Street NE, as other Asian American immigrant parents descended on the capital to celebrate. “Today marks a sweet but long-fought victory for the Asian community,” said Zhao, softly and passionately. All morning, WeChat and WhatsApp channels, popular with Asian Americans, had been exploding with messages in support of Students for Fair Admissions, the...

Chloé Zhao used to say she sometimes forgot she was Asian...When she was growing up in Beijing in the 1980s and ’90s, being Chinese was simply the context in which she and everyone around her existed. A few border crossings and two decades later, she would find her way to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota — where she would eventually make her generation’s best film about the American West. She met Lakota cowboy Brady Jandreau when he was working at a ranch and cast him in The Rider as Brady Blackburn, an injured rodeo star who struggles...

The unrest in the US over George Floyd’s death in custody has been seized by China and renewed discourse on “the end of the American era”. But Hong Kong’s defiant demonstration this week suggests Washington’s fall may not be Beijing’s gain. The scenes unfolding on US streets this week, with federal and local law enforcement officers viciously cracking down on anti-racism protesters, have been particularly distressing for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activists. The nightly unrest on the streets of several US cities, fueled by heavy-handed security responses, has drawn condemnations from across the world, including the European Union and the UN’s...

“I thought my last film was hard,” Zhao laughs, “but for a Chinese woman to try to wrangle a bunch of young cowboys?” Chinese filmmaker Chloé Zhao is making her second trip to the Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight this year, with sophomore feature The Rider. Born in Beijing, Zhao went to school in the UK and college in the U.S. before settling in Denver, basing her first two feature films on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation. Zhao’s 2015 drama, Songs My Brothers Taught Me, was developed at the Sundance Institute and premiered in Park City that year. It centers...

Mon, Jan 31, 2005 News Editorials e-Industry e-Service e-Education Classified 149397150 visits Front Page * Su elected as new DPP chairperson * Volunteers head to streets to kick off cleanup week * Chen says he's willing to cooperate with Soong * Iraqis flood polls, defying insurgents * Israel to hand over security of some West Bank towns Taiwan News * Hsieh hopeful about cooperation * Soong says PFP won't break ranks * Studying media bias aids awareness of gender issues * NPSU remains firm in the face of DPP appeal for election * Beijing seeking to expand its foothold...

BEIJING (AFP) - China has detained dozens of people, some of whom have been severely beaten, for trying to mark the death of former leader Zhao Ziyang, witnesses said. The allegations came as the government intensified security to prevent mourners attending Saturday's funeral in Beijing for Zhao, the former Communist Party secretary general purged for opposing the 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen democracy movement. At least three people, including a woman in her 70s, were punched and manhandled by police officers outside the government offices which receive complaints in the Chinese capital, witnesses said. They were among some 60...

Zhao Ziyang, former Secretary-General of mainland China’s Communist Party, died at a Beijing hospital last Monday. Good riddance to another communist? In this case, no. Not all tigers are incapable of changing their stripes. During his tenure in China’s one and only political party, Zhao took steps that truly can be called “reforms.” Zhao's greatest moment occurred during the pro-democracy rebellion of 1989, which was centered in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. He opposed the use of China’s vast military might against the peaceful protestors gathered in the square. On May 19, 1989, Zhao personally pleaded with the protestors, mostly...

China crops its history By Robert Marquand | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor HONG KONG – When Britain's Margaret Thatcher signed the 1984 agreement handing Hong Kong over to China, the man she signed it with was one of China's brightest lights, reform-minded premier Zhao Ziyang. It was a moment of great hope, with lots of pride and a sense that China, after years under the yoke of Mao Zedong, would become a forward-looking, less extreme state. Yet official photos of that signing now blur or diminish Zhao, or crop him out entirely. Zhao, who opposed the bloody...

BEIJING, Monday, Jan. 17 - Zhao Ziyang's life in politics ended nearly 16 years ago, when he was purged after opposing the use of force against democracy protesters in Beijing. But his death on Monday presents a fresh political challenge to his successors. President Hu Jintao, who consolidated his power as China's top leader last fall, must decide whether to hold a state funeral for Mr. Zhao despite the fact that he was never rehabilitated by the Communist Party. Authorities are clearly worried that his death could incite dissent from critics of the government, as has occurred after the deaths...

The Chinese government confirmed Tuesday that Zhao Ziyang, the purged Communist Party chief, had been hospitalized but denied a published report that he had died. Mr. Zhao, who has lived under house arrest in Beijing for more than 15 years, has become a living symbol for many Chinese who believe that the government should apologize for its violent crackdown at Tiananmen. Hundreds of protesters, perhaps more, were killed in 1989 when troops were ordered to open fire.

It was reported on TASS and a couple of other news sources (I am reading them in Japanese), that former Chinese Premier ZHAO ZIYANG has died in Beijing. If true, he would have been 84.If you recall, he was removed from power as he sided with the students during the 1989 Tienanmen Freedom uprising. There is a famous photo of him (above) addressing the young Chinese protestors with a little bullhorn, down in Tienanmen, before Deng Xiaoping ordered the tanks in. From Tass, and others. Breaking. (9:05 am Eastern time Wednesday)