The trade war begins: Trump hikes tariffs on China

The Trump administration has officially imposed tariffs on roughly $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.

Tariffs on the select Chinese exports were raised from 10 percent to 25 percent overnight, resulting in a plummeting stock market and a promise from Beijing to impose retaliatory tariffs of its own.

“China deeply regrets that the US has decided to increase the tariffs from 10 per cent to 25 per cent on US$200 billion worth of China goods exported to the United States,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement following the tariff hike.

“We’ll have no choice but to take the necessary countermeasures,” the statement added.

President Trump took to Twitter Friday to signal that he may leave the tariffs in place for quite some time.

“Talks with China continue in a very congenial manner – there is absolutely no need to rush,” the president said in one of his tweets.

North Korea again commences missile tests following long hiatus

The regime that rules North Korea has started to test-fire short-range missiles, following relative calm through the course of the Trump administration.

On Thursday, the South Korean military reported seeing Pyongyang test-firing projectiles into the sea, marking a significant escalation from a regime that was once in discussions about denuclearization.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has pledged to keep his military in “full-combat posture,” according to North Korean state media, which released photos of Kim watching the military exercises that occurred this week.

President Trump was not particularly amused with the North Korean saber-rattling, but remained open to further negotiations.

“They were smaller missiles, they’re short range missiles,” President Trump told reporters. “Nobody’s happy about it, but we’re taking a good look and we’ll see, we’ll see. The relationship continues, but we’ll see what happens.”

Guaido says he would ‘probably accept’ US military intervention in Venezuela

Venezuela opposition leader or interim president, depending upon your politics and views on the situation unfolding in Caracas, Juan Guaido continues to consider the possibility of American military intervention in his country.

In an interview with the Italian publication La Stampa, Guaido said he would “probably accept” U.S. military intervention intended to topple socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro.

“If the Americans were to propose a military intervention I would probably accept it,” Guaido said, according to a translation by The Telegraph.

Iranian regime offers cold response to POTUS’ ‘call me’ outreach

The regime that rules Iran is thoroughly rejecting any notion of diplomacy with the United States, following President Trump’s offer to negotiate with the mullahs this week.

“There will be no negotiations with America,” a top Iranian general raged, according to one of its state-run media outfits, Fox News reported Friday.

Trump said Thursday at the White House, commenting on the newly imposed sanctions against the Tehran regime: “What I would like to see with Iran, I would like to see them call me.”

The Trump administration has sent some serious firepower to maintain a presence off of Iran’s coast, following reported U.S. intelligence picking up information on a terrorist threat originating from Iran and its terrorist proxies.

Sec. Pompeo to meet with Putin in Russia next week

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet face to face with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week in Sochi, Russia, the State Department said in a press release Friday.

While in Sochi, he will also meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The parties will discuss “the full range of bilateral and multilateral challenges,” the State Department said.

Secretary Pompeo will also lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Russia. The landmark commemorates the Soviet soldiers who perished during World War II, when the U.S. and Soviet Union struck an alliance to defeat Nazi Germany. (For more from the author of “Trump Fires First Shot in U.S.-China Trade War” please click HERE)

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A city in southern China is offering $1,500 to citizens willing to inform on “illegal religious groups,” ramping up China’s crackdown on underground churches.

The Guangzhou Department of Ethnic and Religious Affairs officially announced the offer of the reward on its website, saying that anyone who provides information about the structure of an illegal religious group, or information leading to the capture of key members and leaders of those groups would receive 10,000 Yuan. The announcement comes as part of Guangzhou officials’ increasingly severe crackdown on Christian churches that have not registered with China’s communist government. . .

Guangzhou authorities raided and shut down Rongguili Church in December of 2018, claiming that the unregistered church had violated China’s Religious Affairs Regulation. The church, which served a congregation of roughly 5,000 Christian faithful, was one of the most prominent centers of Christian worship in southern China. Christians in Guangzhou, however, are not alone in suffering persecution from Chinese government officials.

Shortly before the closure of Rongguili Church, authorities in Chengdu shut down Early Rain Covenant Church and arrested its pastor and 100 of its 500 members. Authorities in Beijing shut down Zion Church, which served 1,500, in September of that year. Chinese authorities have repeatedly kidnapped and detained pastors and priests who refuse to submit to the Chinese Communist Party. At least four regional governments have also banned children from attending church and any other religious activity and threatened any believers caught taking a child to church with severe penalties. (Read more from “Chinese City Offering Rewards for People to Turn in Christian Groups” HERE)

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By The Daily Caller. China lashed back Saturday at the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom’s claim that Beijing is “at war with faith,” calling it slander.

Sam Brownback urged China in a Friday speech in Hong Kong to allow investigations of its detainment camps, in which former Uighur Muslim detainees said they experienced inhumane conditions, torture and brainwashing, and also said the Chinese government must correct the wrongs it has committed against religious freedom in general.

The Chinese foreign ministry’s office in Hong Kong in turn demanded that critics stop their “slander” of China’s policies and stop using religious issues to interfere in Chinese affairs. . .

The office called on U.S. officials to “cease their slander of China’s policies on religion and the situation with freedom of faith and cease using religious issues to interfere in China’s internal affairs,” according to The Associated Press.

Brownback said the Trump administrations is “deeply concerned” by China’s oppression of Uighur Muslims, which he characterized as “a deliberate attempt by Beijing to redefine and control these Muslim minority groups, [their] identity, culture and faith.” (Read more from “China Is Furious With U.S. – Here’s Why” HERE)

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China Protests U.S. Criticism of Policies on Religion

By AP. China has issued a protest over remarks the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom made criticizing Beijing’s polices toward Muslim and Tibetan Buddhist minorities and saying the country was “at war with faith.” . . .

China’s constitution and laws protect freedom of religion and critics should “cease their slander of China’s policies on religion and the situation with freedom of faith and cease using religious issues to interfere in China’s internal affairs,” the office said in a statement.

U.S. officials and UN experts say China is believed to be holding 1 million Uighurs, Muslims and members of other majority Muslim ethnic groups in political education camps in Xinjiang. The U.S. and other governments have criticized the crackdown. (Read more from “China Protests U.S. Criticism of Policies on Religion” HERE)

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When scientist He Jiankui announced he’d conducted an experiment that led to the birth of twin girls with CRISPR-edited genomes in November, the international scientific community swiftly condemned him. In the uproar that followed, the Chinese government, He’s university, and the hospital where the babies were born distanced themselves from the researcher, who claimed he was the first scientist known to use CRISPR to edit human embryos resulting in a live birth — and that a third CRISPR baby was on the way.

But there were also glaring inconsistencies in the official version of events. As the Washington Post reported, a hospital executive appeared on camera in an Associated Press video applauding He’s work, which seemed strange given that the hospital later denounced him. And an informed consent form He used stated that his university funded the experiment. . .

Shortly after He announced his experiment, China’s National Health Commission ordered an investigation of He’s research. In January, an initial government report found that He “seriously violated” state laws in pursuit of “personal fame and fortune.” His university, the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, fired him and said his experiment was done “outside of the school.” . . .

Overall, He has been painted in the media — including in China — as a rogue actor and bad apple, tinkering quietly in a lab while smashing through norms and local laws to feed his ego. He also claimed that he privately funded the work while on unpaid leave from his job as a professor.

But according to a slide presentation, the clinical trials registry, and patient consent forms obtained by journalist Jane Qiu for Stat, three Chinese government institutions were listed as the funders of He’s experiment: the Ministry of Science and Technology (the nation’s federal science agency), the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission, and Southern University of Science and Technology, where He was a professor. (Read more from “CRISPR Babies: The Chinese Government May Have Known More Than It Let On” HERE)

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