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U.S. Chip Makers Quietly Lobbying Biden Admin Against Imposing More Restrictions on Exports to China

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Three top U.S. semiconductor manufacturers are quietly meeting with Biden administration officials Monday to discuss new export restrictions that are being considered related to the ongoing competition between the U.S. and China, according to Reuters.

Intel, Qualcomm and Nvidia are meeting with several Biden administration officials including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard and National Security Council Director Jake Sullivan, according to Reuters. The Biden administration is considering updating rules put in place in October that aim to restrict China’s chip industry by limiting U.S. companies’ cooperation with Chinese chip manufacturers.

“We urge the administration to refrain from further restrictions until it engages more extensively with industry and experts to assess the impact of current and potential restrictions to determine whether they are narrow and clearly defined, consistently applied, and fully coordinated with allies,” The Semiconductor Industry Association, a lobbying group for the industry, said in a press release Monday. (Read more from “U.S. Chip Makers Quietly Lobbying Biden Admin Against Imposing More Restrictions on Exports to China” HERE)

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Damning Email Shows Fauci Privately Acknowledged Gain-Of-Function Research at Wuhan Lab

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A new document released by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus reveals that Anthony Fauci knew that gain-of-function research was occurring in Wuhan, China, prior to the global spread of COVID-19.

In an email to U.S. government public health officials in February 2020, Fauci wrote that “scientists in the Wuhan University are known to have been working on gain-of-function experiments … associated with bat viruses adapting to human infection,” according to an image of the document tweeted by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus. The email reveals that Fauci knew of the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s research into coronaviruses that mirrored COVID-19 prior to his claim that there was no evidence that the virus was produced in a laboratory.

Fauci also wrote that “there were mutations in the virus that would be most unusual to have evolved naturally in the bats and that there was a suspicion that this mutation was intentionally inserted.” He claimed this was the conclusion of international physicians following a conference call on Feb. 1, 2020 — after which they wrote a now-controversial “proximal origins” paper that claimed the virus emerged naturally.

Fauci later claimed that there was “no scientific evidence” that COVID-19 was made in a laboratory, in an interview with National Geographic in May 2020. In 2023, the FBI and Department of Energy concluded that it was likely that the virus was produced in a laboratory. (Read more from “Damning Email Shows Fauci Privately Acknowledged Gain-Of-Function Research at Wuhan Lab” HERE)

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China Financial Moves a Sign of Coming War, Analyst Warns

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China is making clear preparations for a war against Taiwan in the coming months, according to a conservative financial analyst.

J. Kyle Bass, a hedge fund manager and board member at the Hudson Institute’s China Center, said in a speech Wednesday that the key to preventing a conflict is for the U.S. government to prepare severe financial sanctions on Beijing.

“I think it’s highly likely he invades Taiwan,” Mr. Bass said, speaking of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“I’m not a military strategist or analyst. I’m a financial analyst,” he said in remarks to the China Center. “Looking at all the writing on what I call the great wall, it sure looks like it’s headed in one direction.”

The indicators are such that an attack on the island democracy, which would likely involve U.S. intervention and a wider regional war, could come in the next 12 to 18 months, said Mr. Bass, founder and chief investment officer of Hayman Capital Management. (Read more from “China Financial Moves a Sign of Coming War, Analyst Warns” HERE)

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Suspected Chinese Hackers Exploited Microsoft Vulnerabilities to Breach Government Email Systems

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Hackers believed to be linked to China have exploited vulnerabilities in Microsoft software to breach the email systems at over two dozen organizations, including some U.S. government agencies, as part of a suspected cyber-espionage campaign.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the hackers, identified as “Storm-0558,” exploited a security weakness in Microsoft’s cloud-computing environment to gain access to sensitive computer networks. This development is especially concerning for officials and security researchers, as it is seen as part of a larger espionage campaign that could have compromised valuable U.S. government information.

“Last month, U.S. government safeguards identified an intrusion in Microsoft’s cloud security, which affected unclassified systems. Officials immediately contacted Microsoft to find the source and vulnerability in their cloud service,” said Adam Hodge, spokesman for the White House National Security Council. He added, “We continue to hold the procurement providers of the U.S. government to a high security threshold.”

The full extent and severity of the incident, including the specific institutions and individuals affected, are not yet known. The incident has underscored the growing concerns among senior Western intelligence officials about the ability of Chinese hackers to orchestrate stealthy attacks that can evade detection for years. (Read more from “Suspected Chinese Hackers Exploited Microsoft Vulnerabilities to Breach Government Email Systems” HERE)

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China’s Military Is Leading the World in Brain ‘Neurostrike’ Weapons: Report

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China‘s People’s Liberation Army is developing high-technology weapons designed to disrupt brain functions and influence government leaders or entire populations, according to a report by three open-source intelligence analysts.

The weapons can be used to directly attack or control brains using microwave or other directed energy weapons in handheld guns or larger weapons firing electromagnetic beams, adding that the danger of China‘s brain warfare weapons prior to or during a conflict is no longer theoretical.

“Unknown to many, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have established themselves as world leaders in the development of neurostrike weapons,” according to the 12-page report, “Enumerating, Targeting and Collapsing the Chinese Communist Party’s Neurostrike Program.” A copy of the study was obtained by The Washington Times.

The U.S. Commerce Department in December 2021 imposed sanctions on China‘s Academy of Military Medical Sciences and 11 related entities the department said were using “biotechnology processes to support Chinese military end-uses and end-users, to include purported brain-control weaponry.” (Read more from “China’s Military Is Leading the World in Brain ‘Neurostrike’ Weapons: Report” HERE)

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‘We’re Not Even Raising the Bar’: House Intel Chair Says U.S. Isn’t Keeping Pace With China’s Buildup of Nuclear Weapons

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Republican Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio said Wednesday that the Biden administration wasn’t “even raising the bar” to address China’s nuclear weapons buildup.

“On the left, their philosophy has been, ‘we don’t want missile defense because if we do it will make others want to build more nuclear weapons,’” Turner, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow, a former Trump administration official. “Unfortunately, we have not done missile defense and that is exactly what others did anyway, they built more nuclear weapons.”

“Not only was North Korea not nuclear at the time when Reagan called us to the challenge, and Iran certainly didn’t have a nuclear weapons program, but China is tripling its nuclear weapons pointed at the United States and we’re not even raising the bar as to what our missile defense capabilities are,” Turner continued.

China has been expanding its nuclear capabilities, including an effort to increase its force of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), the Wall Street Journal reported in April 2022. The buildup includes silos for 100 DF-41 ICBMs, each of which can carry up to ten warheads and hit targets up to 15,000 kilometers away, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. (Read more from “‘We’re Not Even Raising the Bar’: House Intel Chair Says U.S. Isn’t Keeping Pace With China’s Buildup of Nuclear Weapons” HERE)

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Wuhan Lab Researcher Says COVID Engineered as Bioweapon

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A researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology claimed that China deliberately developed the COVID-19 virus as a “bioweapon.”

Researcher Chao Shao said during an interview with reporter and activist Jennifer Zeng this week that his fellow lab researchers were given different strains of coronaviruses and asked to determine which is most effective for spreading across various species.

Shao further claimed that the whereabouts of several of his colleagues could not be determined during the 2019 Military World Games in Wuhan and that some of them were sent to hotels where international athletes were living to “check the health or hygiene conditions.”

Shao said he thinks his colleagues were sent to the hotels to spread the coronavirus, the Jerusalem Post reported:

Chao Shao suspected that these actions were unrelated to virology research and suggested that they were potentially involved in spreading the virus.

(Read more from “Wuhan Lab Researcher Says COVID Engineered as Bioweapon” HERE)

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Report: Biden Spills ‘Sensitive’ Intelligence About China Spy Balloon to Campaign Donors

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President Joe Biden spilled “sensitive” United States intelligence about China to campaign donors at a recent event in California, according to a report.

At the fundraiser in California, Biden revealed to attendees what the U.S. intelligence agencies had learned about the Chinese spy balloon incident earlier this year, reportedly surprising U.S. officials.

The New York Times reported that at the fundraiser, Biden “set off into what appeared to be an unplanned riff” about the spy balloon incident, “revealing what United States intelligence agencies had learned about the internal confusion in Beijing during the incident.”

According to the Times, Biden told about 130 guests in attendance at the fundraiser: “The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two boxcars full of spy equipment in it is he didn’t know it was there.”

“No, I’m serious. That’s what’s a great embarrassment for dictators, when they didn’t know what happened,” Biden said. (Read more from “Report: Biden Spills ‘Sensitive’ Intelligence About China Spy Balloon to Campaign Donors” HERE)

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Biden Calls Xi a Dictator After U.S.-China Talks

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President Joe Biden called Chinese leader Xi Jinping a “dictator” on Tuesday while recalling the spy balloon incident after State Secretary Antony Blinken concluded his visit to Beijing to stabilize U.S.-China ties.

Biden said the recent incident with the Chinese spy balloon, which was shot down by the U.S. military after being blown off course over the United States, had caused “great embarrassment” for Xi.

“The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment in it was he didn’t know it was there,” Biden said at a fundraiser event in California.

“That’s a great embarrassment for dictators. When they didn’t know what happened. That wasn’t supposed to be going where it was. It was blown off course,” he added.

His comments came just a day after Blinken and Xi had a “robust conversation” in Beijing on June 19, during which both sides agreed on the need to stabilize the tense relations between the two powers. (Read more from “Biden Calls Xi a Dictator After U.S.-China Talks” HERE)

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Blinken Bends the Knee to Xi in Beijing Visit, Fails to Secure Key Military Communication Deal

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a long-anticipated trip to China in mid-June, making several key concessions to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and failing to secure a key military communication agreement.

Blinken left for China on Friday and will make his return Wednesday, but has already met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Director of the CCP Central Foreign Affairs Office Wang Yi and Foreign Minister Qin Gang. Blinken made the trip with the goal of “stabilizing” U.S.-China relations and repeatedly emphasized the Biden administration was not seeking conflict with Beijing.

Blinken said one of his foremost goals was to open up a line of military-to-military direct communication for times of crisis. Despite the priority team Biden placed on this request, the CCP once again turned down the offer, Blinken said Monday.

China has rebuffed Biden’s offers for more direct military communications multiple times in recent months, including turning down a recent offer for high-level meetings with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. (Read more from “Blinken Bends the Knee to Xi in Beijing Visit, Fails to Secure Key Military Communication Deal” HERE)

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