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Chinese Influence Network Used A.I. To Impersonate US Voters

Microsoft on Thursday said it has detected a Chinese-controlled network of social media accounts that uses A.I. technology to impersonate American voters and spread propaganda to influence U.S. politics.

Microsoft’s report said the suspected Chinese influence network was similar to past operations that have been linked to the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.

The difference with the new network is that it began using generative A.I. in March 2023 to “mimic U.S. voters” and produce content that was “more eye-catching than the awkward visuals used in previous campaigns by Chinese nation-state actors, which relied on digital drawings, stock photo collages, and other manual graphic designs.”

“These images are most likely created by something called diffusion-powered image generators that use A.I. to not only create compelling images but also learn to improve them over time,” Microsoft said.

The influence network engaged in “a broad campaign that largely focuses on politically divisive topics, such as gun violence, and denigrating U.S. political figures and symbols.” (Read more from “Chinese Influence Network Used A.I. To Impersonate US Voters” HERE)

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Chinese Nationals Posing as Tourists Breached US Military Bases and Other Sites, Raising Espionage Concerns: Report

Chinese nationals, sometimes posing as tourists, accessed United States military bases and other sensitive locations up to 100 times in recent years, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The outlet reported that the incidents have raised espionage concerns among U.S. officials. These trespassers, referred to as gate-crashers, have accessed sensitive sites, either accidentally or intentionally, without proper authorization. . .

Some of these incidents included Chinese nationals breaching a missile range in New Mexico and scuba divers exploring a new rocket launch site in Florida. Other trespassing cases involved people following Google Maps directions to the nearest fast-food restaurant, which happened to be on a military base.

Officials also told the WSJ about a group of Chinese nationals who claimed to be tourists and insisted they had reservations at a hotel located on the Fort Wainwright military base in Alaska. The group attempted to push past security guards to access the site. . .

Chinese nationals have also accessed sensitive areas of the White House, taking photographs of the property, positions of Secret Services, and communications gear. (Read more from “Chinese Nationals Posing as Tourists Breached US Military Bases and Other Sites, Raising Espionage Concerns: Report” HERE)

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Video Shows Employees at Chinese Firm Behind US Battery Plant Builder Wearing Red Army Outfits, Pledging Life to CCP

Employees at the Chinese parent company of the U.S.-based Gotion Inc., which intends to build two electric battery plants in Michigan, pledged Chinese Communist Party (CCP) oaths and dressed as Red Army soldiers during company field trips, according to several reports and footage posted on the Chinese battery manufacturer’s website.

In July and August 2021, Gotion High-Tech Power Energy Co. ran multiple company field trips to communist revolutionary memorials in China’s Anhui province, during which employees wore matching Red Army uniforms and swore to “fight for communism to the end of my life,” according to reports and footage on the firm’s website. Gotion Inc. — a California-based company which is “wholly owned and controlled” by Gotion High-Tech, according to a Foreign Agents Registration Act filing — plans to “invest $2.4 billion to construct two 550,000-square-foot production plants” for electric vehicle (EV) batteries in Big Rapids, Michigan, Fox News reported.

Gotion High-Tech employs 923 CCP members, including the firm’s CEO, Li Zhen, the Daily Caller News Foundation recently reported. Gotion High-Tech CEO Li Zhen serves as the party secretary for the firm’s CCP committee, the DCNF reported.

In July 2021, Gotion High-Tech’s internal CCP committee organized a two-day company field trip for 50 employees to visit several communist revolutionary sites in Anhui province, according to the firm’s website. (Read more from “Video Shows Employees at Chinese Firm Behind US Battery Plant Builder Wearing Red Army Outfits, Pledging Life to CCP” HERE)

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As More Countries Link Arms With China, Is US Dollar Dominance Truly at Risk?

A growing number of major economies have recently criticized the status of the U.S. dollar as the primary currency for global trade, leaving experts to fear long-term danger for U.S. dollar dominance.

Several countries expressed a strong desire to change the global reserve currency at the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) summit last week, threatening current U.S. dollar dominance. While the global reserve currency is not going to change overnight, the future of the dollar as a global reserve currency could be endangered if U.S. adversaries can coordinate effectively, and the U.S. does not take appropriate action, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“The US is absolutely in danger of losing global reserve currency status,” E.J. Antoni, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, told the DCNF. “The threat has increased because the Biden administration has devalued the dollar by an astonishing 16% and also weaponized the dollar abroad.”

If the dollar is replaced as the global reserve currency, experts warn that the U.S. could be faced with hyperinflation as the dollars that are currently being used in the international market come back home, flooding the market. Additionally, the loss of global reserve status would weaken the dollar compared to other countries, decreasing the borrowing power of the U.S. government, which could lead to a need to cut spending.

BRICS will be admitting six new countries—Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina and the United Arab Emirates—to its coalition starting Jan. 1, 2024, which could add power to the calls of the other BRICS countries to supplant the U.S. dollar. Following their admission, the coalition will encompass 3.7 billion people. (Read more from “As More Countries Link Arms With China, Is US Dollar Dominance Truly at Risk?” HERE)

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China, Once Touted as America’s Successor in Waiting, Is Watching Its Currency Crash and Its Economy Crumble

There has been a great deal of chatter in recent years concerning the prospect that America could soon be eclipsed and subordinated by communist China. However, the defeatists appear to have overlooked the very real possibility that China might collapse under the weight of its ambitions before realizing them.

While there are various problems that might hamstring the communist nation and thwart its completion of Beijing’s so-called hundred-year marathon, the prospect of a doomed economy is presently the most arresting.

Apparatchiks have reiterated Chinese dictator Xi Jinping’s February call for patience, in which he purportedly said, “We cannot be ambitious and unrealistic, but we cannot simply follow the beaten path. … We should be patient [with a historical perspective] and move forward in a steadfast manner,” reported the South China Morning Post.

Although urging patience, Beijing has been racing to shore up its crashing currency amid broader economic woes, crashing banks, and failing corporate giants.

This week, Chinese state-owned banks hurriedly dumped U.S. dollars and bought up yuan in domestic and international foreign exchange markets in hopes of slowing the pace of the Chinese currency’s depreciation, reported Reuters. (Read more from “China, Once Touted as America’s Successor in Waiting, Is Watching Its Currency Crash and Its Economy Crumble” HERE)

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China Mocks Biden’s Inability to Handle Hawaii Fires (VIDEO)

Chinese state media this week gleefully mocked President Joe Biden for bungling the response to Hawaii’s wildfires.

Editorials pushed the Communist Party narrative that only authoritarian governments can handle disasters of such magnitude, and taunted the U.S. for prioritizing military spending over disaster response.

On Tuesday, the state-run Global Times taunted that Hawaii’s travails made the U.S. look “unlike a developed country,” as the fires exposed incompetence at every level:

Deadly wildfires in Hawaii, which caused the biggest death toll in more than a century in the US and forced thousands to evacuate from their homes, expose the incompetence of the US government, said analysts, with many local residents who survived the disaster posting videos on social media criticizing the problematic response of local authorities and poor early warning system. Residents also criticized US mainstream media reports, saying this was not just a natural disaster, but also a man-made calamity.

Chinese analysts and web users are paying attention to the horrible tragedy that Americans have suffered, as the hashtags on Sina Weibo about “Hawaii wildfires” have received more than 71.52 million views on Tuesday. Experts said the response of the US government made the US look “unlike a developed country.”

(Read more from “China Mocks Biden’s Inability to Handle Hawaii Fires (VIDEO)” HERE)

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China and Russia Sent Warships Near Alaska Coast, Prompting u.s. Response

China and Russia sent naval warships near the coast of Alaska during a joint naval patrol earlier this week, prompting a response from the U.S. Navy and condemnation from Alaska’s senators.

The two countries sent eleven ships close to Alaska’s southwest coast — nearing the Aleutian Islands — but never entered American waters, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. This is likely the largest fleet of Russian and Chinese ships ever to approach the American coast, experts told the outlet.

“It is a historical first,” senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, Brent Sadler, said. “Given the context of the war in Ukraine and tensions around Taiwan, this move is highly provocative.”

Republican Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska told Fox News the U.S. Navy mobilized four destroyers to shadow and guide the Chinese and Russian ships away from Alaska’s coast. A U.S. defense official said the USS John S. McCain, the USS Benfold, the USS John Finn, and the USS Chung-Hoon tracked the foreign ships’ movements and were accompanied by a maritime patrol and reconnaissance plane, the Journal noted.

A U.S. Northern Command spokesman confirmed to the Journal a combined patrol consisting of Russian and Chinese ships had occurred but would not confirm the number of vessels or their location. (Read more from “China and Russia Sent Warships Near Alaska Coast, Prompting u.s. Response” HERE)

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Two U.S. Navy Sailors Arrested on Espionage Charges Involving Alleged Ties to China

Two U.S. Navy sailors were arrested on national security-related charges related to allegedly sending sensitive military information to the Chinese Communist Party, federal officials said on Thursday.

“These individuals stand accused of violating the commitments they made to protect the United States and betraying the public trust, to the benefit of the [People’s Republic of China] government,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said in a news release.

U.S. Navy Sailor Jinchao Wei, an active-duty machinist’s mate on the amphibious U.S.S. Essex assault ship stationed at Naval Base San Diego, was arrested on Wednesday for espionage-related charges upon arriving for work at the homeport of the Navy’s Pacific Fleet in California.

Wei, 22, was indicted for conspiracy to send national defense information to a Chinese intelligence officer who allegedly communicated with Wei using encrypted messages to provide photos, videos and documents about the U.S.S. Essex and other Navy ships as early as February 2022, according to U.S. officials. Wei allegedly disclosed the locations of various Navy ships, defensive weapons, technical and mechanical manuals to the intelligence officer in exchange for thousands of dollars over the course of the conspiracy. The sailor also allegedly passed along information about the number of U.S. Marines training during previously scheduled international maritime warfare exercises. (Read more from “Two U.S. Navy Sailors Arrested on Espionage Charges Involving Alleged Ties to China” HERE)

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Hunter Biden Bragged to Devon Archer That Chinese Tycoon Loved His ‘Last Name’ and ‘Aryan Godlike Men’ He Showed Off

Hunter Biden told his longtime business partner Devon Archer in 2011 that a Chinese mogul who secured the duo a multimillion-dollar deal loved him for his “last name” and the troupe of “very handsome Aryan godlike men” he brought with him everywhere, emails from the first son’s abandoned laptop reveal.

“Your question- ‘why does Super Chair love me so much?’ is easily answered. It has nothing to do with me and everything to do with my last name,” the younger Biden wrote to Archer in a Sept. 22, 2011, missive about his relationship with Chinese businessman Che Feng.

In an aside, Hunter added, “(and I bring along very handsome Aryan godlike men wherever I go).”

Feng — who was referred to as “The Super Chairman” by both Hunter and Archer — helped Biden’s firm, Rosemont Seneca Partners, and James Bulger’s Thornton Group LLC partner with Jonathan Li’s Bohai Capital and lateral launch Bohai Harvest RST, the emails indicate.

On Monday, Archer told the House Oversight Committee that Joe Biden met with Li for coffee while vice president, and later wrote a college recommendation letter for his daughter. (Read more from “Hunter Biden Bragged to Devon Archer That Chinese Tycoon Loved His ‘Last Name’ and ‘Aryan Godlike Men’ He Showed Off” HERE)

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Zoo Swears Its Bears Are Real After People Claim They Are Humans in Disguise (VIDEO)

A Chinese zoo hit back Monday against allegations that its sun bears are actually humans in costume.

Some had argued the bears weren’t real based on how they stood up like humans, the Associated Press (AP) reported. A spokesperson from the Hangzhou Zoo in eastern China took to social media to craft a post from the Sun Bear’s point of view.

“Some people think I stand like a person,” the post from the zoo read, according to AP. “It seems you don’t understand me very well.” The post also noted the zoo’s Malaysian sun bears are much smaller than other kinds of bears.

Netizens challenged the legitimacy of the bears on display at the zoo, arguing they resembled the way humans stand up with their slim legs. Others commented that the bear looked man-like due to the folds on its coat resembling a “loose-fitted costume,” SAYS.com reported, citing Chinese outlet Zhejiang News.

(Read more from “Zoo Swears Its Bears Are Real After People Claim They Are Humans in Disguise” HERE)

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