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Watch: Chinese Woman Trapped in Escalator Dies, but Heroically First Saves Toddler Son

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A Chinese woman died after being trapped in a shopping mall escalator, but not before pushing her 2-year-old son to safety.

Sunday’s horrific accident in the central city of Jingzhou was caught on surveillance camera footage that circulated heavily on the Internet in China . . .

Graphic video:

The woman — identified in media reports as 30-year-old Xiang Liujuan — is shown reaching the top of the escalator when the section of landing platform she had stepped onto suddenly collapses, trapping her inside the still-moving machinery. (Read more from “Chinese Woman Trapped in Escalator Dies, but Saves Toddler Son” HERE)

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One-Time Aide to China’s Ex-President Accused of Corruption, Report Says

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Chinese authorities have arrested a former top official in a corruption investigation after expelling him from the ruling Communist Party, state-run Xinhua news agency reported Monday.

Party investigators have accused Ling Jihua, 58, once a top aide to former President Hu Jintao, of accepting huge bribes, illegally obtaining party and state secrets, as well as keeping mistresses and trading power for sex, Xinhua said.

From 2007 to 2012, Ling was the director of the Communist Party Central Committee’s General Office under Hu — a position often compared to the White House chief of staff — making him an extremely powerful politician in China’s one party-dominated political system . . .

Party investigators have sent Ling’s case to the China’s highest prosecution authority, which is conducting its own investigation, Xinhua reported. (Read more from “One-Time Aide to China’s Ex-President Accused of Corruption, Report Says” HERE)

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ALERT: Chinese Stocks Collapsed Right Before NYSE Shutdown; China Nationalizes $6 Trillion in Stock Losses

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By Kit Daniels. Chinese stocks were suffering huge declines prior to the New York Stock Exchange shutdown due to an alleged “technical issue,” fueling concerns whether the NYSE was actually halted due to the free fall in China.

Companies in China fell 20% from a May high and, right before the NYSE shutdown, the Hang Seng Index plunged its most since the 2008 financial crisis.

“The Hang Seng Index fell 5.8% to 23,516.56 at the close today, the biggest drop since November 2008, after slumping as much as 8.6%,” Bloomberg’s Kana Nishizawa wrote.

Overall, China’s stock market plunge has wiped out around $3.2 trillion since June 12.

“Investors are disappointed and afraid that the Chinese policy makers lost control of the market,” Mari Oshidari, a Hong Kong-based financial strategist, said. “With no end in sight to the plunge, sentiment has turned cold.” (Read more from “ALERT — Chinese Stocks Collapsed Right Before NYSE Shutdown” HERE)

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China Bans Major Shareholders From Selling Their Stakes for Next Six Months

By Reuters. China’s securities regulator took the drastic step of banning shareholders with stakes of more than 5% from selling shares for the next six months in a bid to halt a plunge in stock prices that is starting to roil global financial markets.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said on its website late on Wednesday that it would deal severely with any shareholders who violated the rule.

The prohibition is also seen applying to foreign investors who hold stakes in Shanghai- or Shenzhen-listed companies, although most of their holdings are below 5%.

China’s stock markets opened down again Thursday morning before making up some ground. Shanghai Composite Index fell more than 3% in the first half hour of trading before reversing course and rising 1.4%, while the Shenzhen Component Index opened down just over 1%.

Asian equities also extended losses as concerns over China’s market turmoil spread, while the safe-haven yen shot to a seven-week high as global risk appetite ebbed. (Read more from this story HERE)

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China Nationalizes $6 Trillion in Stock Losses

By Chriss Street. China’s stock market had what traders call a “Dead Kitty” bounce on Thursday as the communist authorities dispatched police and security personnel to “encourage” insider-buying and to arrest short sellers. With the Chinese market still highly inflated even after falling $3 trillion in value, China took action last night to “nationalize” about $6 trillion in losses.

China is about to show its third straight quarter of negative real (after inflation) GDP growth. The nation had been relying on a stock market boom to play a “decisive role” in funding the nation’s “Silk Road” reforms to transition to a consumer economy.

But as Breitbart News warned in “China’s Lehman Brothers Weekend Begins,” the “Red Dragon” has suffered a financial collapse equivalent in degree to the U.S. stock crash in 2008-9. Unlike the U.S., which used a formal government bailout to stabilize markets, the Communist Party instructed the nation’s banks to use their own balance sheets to guarantee the current $8 trillion stated value of all of China’s 2800 listed stocks.

As Stratfor’s John Minnich points out, “market capitalization of Chinese stock markets hovered around $1 trillion to $2 trillion” before the recent stock boom. At its peak on June 12, “China’s stock market capitalization, all the markets across the country, was something in the area of $10 trillion to $11 trillion.”

Minnich comments that people before the boom might gamble some of their personal savings into the stock market, but “it wasn’t critical to financing, corporate financing in the Chinese economy. Almost all corporate finances came through the state-owned banks.” (Read more from this story HERE).

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China’s Efforts to Control the Market Will End Very Badly

By Nils Pratley. Nervous about the Chinese stock market? You should be. First, it looks expensive, even after a dip. Second, the authorities in Beijing, by adopting increasingly desperate measures to prop up share prices, are sending an unmistakable message that they fear a crash is a possibility.

The latest official attempt to manipulate the stock market would be laughed out of court if it were attempted in the West. The central bank is shoveling cash toward a state-backed finance company that lends to individuals who would like to make bigger bets on the stock market than they can afford. That’s right, in today’s communist China, there are subsidies for stock-market speculation.

By way of further encouragement, the state itself is piling in. A state-backed wealth fund is buying blue-chip stocks. Meanwhile, supposedly independent brokers and fund managers have decided this is the ideal moment to invest the equivalent of £12 billion ($18.5 billion) and pledge not to sell until the main Shanghai index has risen at least 20%. This extraordinary effort, apparently, is required to “uphold market stability.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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Putin: Russia and China Can Overcome and Difficulty Together

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Welcoming China’s leader to two summits in a Russian city, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russia and China can overcome their countries’ difficulties by working together.

Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping both arrived Wednesday in the Russian city of Ufa for summits of the BRICS trade group and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The BRICS group also includes Brazil, India and South Africa, while the SCO, which also focuses on regional security and political issues as well as economics, includes the former Soviet Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Iran, India and Pakistan are observer SCO participants. (Read more from “Putin: Russia and China Can Overcome and Difficulty Together” HERE)

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Obama Considering Range of Options in Response to China’s Severely Damaging OPM Hack

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By Bill Gertz. President Obama is considering a range of options in addition to economic sanctions in response to the massive theft of data from federal government computer networks, a senior White House security official said Tuesday.

“We’ve got a range of tools and we’ll consider all of them,” said Lisa Monaco, the White House’s homeland security adviser.

Monaco said in a brief interview with the Washington Free Beacon after a speech on cyber threats that the U.S. government is currently investigating the clandestine theft of sensitive information on at least 4 million government workers from computers at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) . . .

Monaco’s comments on possible responses to the cyber attack were the first to indicate that the administration is considering more than economic sanctions in retaliation. Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, suggested Friday that sanctions were among the options.

Monaco did not respond when asked why neither the president nor his advisers have condemned the cyber attack against the Office of Personnel Management, which has been described by U.S. officials as one of the most damaging compromises of sensitive information in recent years. (Read more from “Obama Considering Range of Options in Response to OPM Hack” HERE)

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Chinese Cyber Attacks That Might Be Even Worse Than the OPM Hack

By Robert Knake. February 2013. DHS says that between December 2011 and June 2012, cyber criminals targeted twenty-three gas pipeline companies and stole information that could be used for sabotage purposes. Forensic data suggests the probes originated in China.
Why it’s worse: Espionage is one thing, sabotage is another. This incident crosses into what might be called “preparation of the battlefield”—laying the groundwork for military operations. In this incident, the hackers targeted an entire sector. They weren’t going after business data or stealing designs. The worst you can do with PII? Gain account access. The worst you can do with this info? Blow up pipelines.

March 2015. Canadian researchers say Chinese hackers attacked U.S. hosting site GitHub. GitHub said the attack involved “a wide combination of attack vectors” and used new techniques to involve unsuspecting web users in the flood of traffic to the site. According to the researchers, the attack targeted pages for two GitHub users—GreatFire and the New York Times’ Chinese mirror site—both of which circumvent China’s firewall.
Why it’s worse: This incident gets closer to the line North Korea crossed—interfering with our right to free speech. We haven’t quite articulated a norm in this area, but theInternational Strategy for Cyberspace comes close. In this case, China targeted GitHub because it was hosting pages for organizations that circumvent its Great Firewall. It may be time we put out a Monroe Doctrine for cyberspace, which would, make clear that trying to stifle freedom of speech in this country crosses a red line. We could go further and make it official policy to bring dissidents from other countries under this veil of protection. Taking a page from the Kennedy doctrine, the United States could declare that it will pay any price, bear any burden, host any website and defeat any denial of service attack in the cause of Internet freedom. . .

February 2012. Media reports say that Chinese hackers stole classified information about the technologies onboard F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.
Why it’s worse: Under current norms, military technology is fair game but this one is devastating if true. The hack targeted classified information on one of our most advanced weapons platforms. The info could save the Chinese decades in research and development. Worse, it could be used to find vulnerabilities that could be exploited in combat—think the pilot episode of Battlestar Gallactica. (Read more from this story HERE)

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China: Staking Claim in the New World Order

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In 2009, billionaire establishment power broker George Soros, a close ally and financier of Obama, called for the communist regime ruling mainland China to “own” what he referred to as the “New World Order.” Speaking to the Financial Times about what Obama should discuss while in Beijing, the self-styled philanthropist declared that the United States and the U.S. dollar were on their way down, and that the Communist Party regime must step up to the plate.

“I think you really need to bring China into the creation of a new world order, financial world order,” Soros told the Financial Times. “I think you need a new world order, that China has to be part of the proc­ess of creating it and they have to buy in, they have to own it in the same way as the United States owns … the current order.”

It was hardly a slip up. The next year, while receiving the Globalist of the Year award from the Canadian International Council, Soros again called for China’s participation in the emerging global-governance regime. “They have now got to accept responsibility for world order and the interests of other people as well,” declared Soros. “Today, China has not only a more vigorous economy, but actually a better functioning government than the United States” . . .

In a joint statement put out by Obama and then-Chinese dictator Hu Jintao, Obama made clear that he was fully on board with the agenda. “The United States reiterated that it welcomes a strong, prosperous, and successful China that plays a greater role in world affairs,” the declaration reads.

The internationalists’ intent to make China an integral part of the New World Order — to even “own” it, according to Soros — should tell us a great deal about the type of New World Order Soros and his ilk envision. After all, not only does the People’s Republic of China hold the distinction of murdering more people than any other regime in history, but China today still brutalizes and oppresses its citizens, from forcing women to undergo abortions in compliance with its one-child policy to persecuting believers for practicing their faith (see the related article “Chinese Tyranny 2.0”). If such a regime is “actually a better functioning government than the United States,” as Soros claims, how would Soros have the new world function? How about his fellow globalists? (Read more from “China: Staking Claim in the New World Order” HERE)

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Senior NATO Officer: West Will Likely Be at War this Summer, Lucky if it’s not Nuclear

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Photo Credit: AP Is the world going mad? Military posturing is quietly reaching new extremes in Europe, the Mediterranean and the South China Sea. And the provocative bluster has just reached new heights.

The source was anonymous. But the mouthpiece has a measure of credibility. High profile military analyst and former US Naval War College lecturer John Schindler tweeted last week: “Said a senior NATO (non-US) GOFO to me today: ‘We’ll probably be at war this summer. If we’re lucky it won’t be nuclear.’ Let that sink in” . . .

The warning comes as Europe engages in some of its biggest ever war games — right on Russia’s front door. It’s a deliberate ploy, intended to remind Moscow of the consequences of its duplicitous invasion of Ukraine.

Half a world away, the “w” word was mentioned again yesterday. This time in an editorial by a Chinese state controlled paper. Said the Global Times: “If the United States’ bottom line is that China has to halt its activities, then a US-China war is inevitable in the South China Sea.”

It came as China’s government effectively declared a “no fly zone” over the disputed waterway after warning the US over its “provocative” aerial reconnaissance of several islands. (Read more from “The ‘War’ Word Is Being Increasingly Heard as Europe, Russia, China and the United States Adopt Provocative Postures” HERE)

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US-China War ‘Inevitable’ Unless Washington Drops Demands Over South China Sea

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Photo Credit: The Telegraph By Julian Ryall. China’s armed forces are to extend their operations and its air force will become an offensive as well as defensive force for the first time, in a major shift in policy that will strengthen fears of accidental conflict . . .

The People’s Liberation Army, including its navy and air force, will be allowed to “project power” further beyond its borders at sea and more assertively in the air in order to safeguard its maritime possessions, the [defense] white paper [released by the chief administrative body of the Chinese government] stated . . .

The posture risks escalating the tension over disputed islands in the South China Sea and elsewhere in the Pacific, where the United States is determined to protect the interests of allies like Taiwan and the Philippines . . .

Global Times, a tabloid newspaper run by the Communist Party, said that China might have to “accept” there would be conflict with the United States.

“If the United States’ bottom line is that China has to halt its activities, then a US-China war is inevitable in the South China Sea”, said the paper, which is often seen as a mouth-piece of hardline nationalists in the government in Beijing. (Read more from “US-China War ‘Inevitable’ Unless Washington Drops Demands Over South China Sea” HERE)
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What Else did China’s Defense White Paper Predict for the Future?

By Kieth Johnson. [I]n the United States . . . the consensus over accommodating China’s rise seems to have given way to a more hawkish stance on the need to contain the rising Asian giant.

China’s new white paper provides plenty of points of continuity with past strategies, especially with Mao Zedong’s doctrine of “active defense,” known in the United States as the Billy Martin school of conflict management (“I never threw the first punch; I threw the second four.”)

At the same time, though, the defense blueprint breaks new ground. It codifies the ongoing transformation of China into a true maritime power, and puts more emphasis on high-seas, offensive naval operations. More broadly, it envisions a much bigger, global role for Chinese armed forces than had previously been the case, and in some places echoes the famously hawkish Chinese views of thinkers such as Liu Mingfu, whose bestselling book “The China Dream” paints a vision of nearly inevitable conflict between the two global titans. . .

For a 5,000-year old civilization that has survived invasions from Mongols, Japanese, and Western Europeans, this is a sobering conclusion: “In the new circumstances, the national security issues facing China encompass far more subjects, extend over a greater range, and cover a longer time span than at any time in the country’s history.” Later, the paper notes: “Due to its complex geostrategic environment, China faces various threats and challenges in all its strategic directions and security domains.”

That’s especially true when it comes to the South China Sea. (Read more from “China’s Military Blueprint: Bigger Navy, Bigger Global Role” HERE)

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Chinese Military Using Jamming Against U.S. Drones Over Artificial Island

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China tried to electronically jam U.S. drone flights over the South China Sea in a bid to thwart spying on disputed island military construction, U.S. officials said.

Global Hawk long-range surveillance drones were targeted by the jamming in at least one incident near the disputed Spratly Islands, where China is building military facilities on Fiery Cross Reef.

Disclosure of the jamming came as a U.S. Navy P-8 surveillance flight on Wednesday was challenged eight times by the Chinese military to leave the same area.

“This is the Chinese navy … This is the Chinese navy … Please go away … to avoid misunderstanding,” a radio call in English from an installation on Firey Cross said. The warnings were reported by CNN, which had a reporter on the aircraft.

Later Thursday, the Navy released video revealing that the China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy sent several radio warning messages to the crew of the P-8 ordering the jet to leave the area, and to deviate from its flight path near Fiery Cross Reef. (Read more from “Chinese Military Using Jamming Against U.S. Drones” HERE)

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“Risk of War”: China Repeatedly Warns U.S. Surveillance Plane Over Artificial Island

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The Chinese navy issued warnings eight times as a U.S. surveillance plane on Wednesday swooped over islands that Beijing is using to extend its zone of influence.

The series of man-made islands and the massive Chinese military build-up on them have alarmed the Pentagon, which is carrying out the surveillance flights in order to make clear the U.S. does not recognize China’s territorial claims. The militarized islands have also alarmed America’s regional allies.

Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell told CNN’s Erin Burnett Wednesday night that the confrontation indicates there is “absolutely” a risk of the U.S. and China going to war sometime in the future.

A CNN team was given exclusive access to join in the surveillance flights over the contested waters, which the Pentagon allowed for the first time in order to raise awareness about the challenge posed by the islands and the growing U.S. response.

CNN was aboard the P8-A Poseidon, America’s most advanced surveillance and submarine-hunting aircraft, and quickly learned that the Chinese are themselves displeased by the U.S. pushback. (Read more from “China Warns U.S. Surveillance Plane” HERE)

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