Tag: China

China Identified as Paying Off Social Justice Protesters in Baltimore

I have always suspected that many agitators and protesters are knowingly or unknowingly paid off by Chinese and Russian operatives to cause racial discontent in the U.S. and now we know in at least this case it is happening:

Imani Wj Wright speaks during an exclusive interview with CNN. Wright responded to a posting on Upwork that likely was funded by a pro-Beijing group to arrange a protest.
Imani Wj Wright speaks during an exclusive interview with CNN. Wright responded to a posting on Upwork that likely was funded by a pro-Beijing group to arrange a protest.

As they pumped their fists in the air and held signs declaring “Peace 4 All” and “Stop the Violence,” a small group of Americans that gathered in downtown Washington last summer was nearly indistinguishable from the thousands of others who gather in the nation’s capital every year to protest. 

But there was a striking difference: The protest was likely funded by pro-Beijing operatives as part of a plan that is aimed at undermining American democracy and promoting China’s economic interests, researchers from Mandiant, a cybersecurity firm owned by Google reported this week

Mandiant’s report suggests the pro-Beijing group paid an American to arrange the protest – a 24-year-old musician and entrepreneur from Baltimore – who told CNN in an exclusive interview that he didn’t know the organization could be a Shanghai-based public relations firm promoting the Chinese government’s interests.

CNN

You can read more at the link, but even if you look at it at the macro-level entire organizations are paid off by the Chinese. For example the NBA will say nothing about human rights issues in China which are far worse than anything going on in the U.S. They do this simply to maintain television viewership in China which brings in revenue to the league.

Tweet of the Day: Xi’s Foreign Investment Playbook

Tweet of the Day: Who is Monitoring Chinese Radioactive Water Discharges?

Chinese Nationals Make Up 56% of Suspicious Foreign Property Transactions in South Korea

According to the article Chinese nationals make up 56% of the suspicious property transactions currently being investigated. Americans make up 21%, Taiwanese 8%, and Canadians 6.6% of the additional suspicious real estate cases:

A view of apartment complexes seen in Jamsil in southern Seoul [YONHAP]

A view of apartment complexes seen in Jamsil in southern Seoul [YONHAP]

The Korean government detected over 400 suspicious land transactions made by foreigners between 2017 and 2022, with more than half of the cases linked with Chinese nationals.    
   
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport reported 437 land acquisitions deemed illegal to related investigation agencies following its large-scale nationwide investigation conducted from February through to June. Out of a total of 14,938 foreign land transactions between 2017 and 2022, the investigation then focused on 920 suspicious cases, in which individuals involved were asked to provide supporting documents for further examination.  (…..)

The investigation identified various violations, with the most common being the manipulation of reported transaction amounts and contract dates, with 419 cases of misreported contracts. Additionally, 61 cases were suspected of tax evasion through expedient gifting, and 35 cases raised suspicions of illegally imported funds from overseas.  

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

U.S. Intelligence Agencies Split on Whether COVID Leaked from a Chinese Lab

At this point I don’t know how anyone can dismiss that COVID leaked from the Wuhan lab especially since the Chinese are not allowing any independent investigation into it:

A security person moves journalists away from the Wuhan Institute of Virology after a World Health Organization team arrived for a field visit in Wuhan in China’s Hubei province on Feb. 3, 2021.

A security person moves journalists away from the Wuhan Institute of Virology after a World Health Organization team arrived for a field visit in Wuhan in China’s Hubei province on Feb. 3, 2021. (Ng Han Guan/AP)

U.S. officials released an intelligence report Friday that rejected some points raised by those who argue COVID-19 leaked from a Chinese lab, instead reiterating that American spy agencies remain divided over how the pandemic began.

The report was issued at the behest of Congress, which in March passed a bill giving U.S. intelligence 90 days to declassify intelligence related to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Intelligence officials under President Joe Biden have been pushed by lawmakers to release more material about the origins of COVID-19. But they have repeatedly argued China’s official obstruction of independent reviews has made it perhaps impossible to determine how the pandemic began.

The newest report angered some Republicans who have argued the administration is wrongly withholding classified information and researchers who accuse the U.S. of not being forthcoming. (……….)

But Friday’s report said the intelligence community has not gone further. Four agencies still believe the virus was transferred from animals to humans, and two agencies — the Energy Department and the FBI — believe the virus leaked from a lab. The CIA and another agency have not made an assessment.

Located in the city where the pandemic is believed to have began, the Wuhan Institute of Virology has faced intense scrutiny for its previous research into bat coronaviruses and its reported security lapses.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I guess the real question is why are some of these intelligence agencies claiming COVID came from an animal when no one has been able to prove that either?