Trump Administration Sanctions Chinese Officials Involved in Malign Foreign Influence Activities

Australia-US Begin Hypersonic Weapons Collaboration Amid Arms Race With Russia, China

Hypersonic cruise missiles which travel five times the speed of sound, are one step closer to being part of Australia’s arsenal. Last week Australia and the United States signed a new agreement to collaborate on developing and testing hypersonic cruise missile prototypes. When completed, the missiles will be able to traverse the distance of Sydney to Melbourne in just seven minutes. The missiles are difficult to stop not only because of their speed, but for their ability to slip past radar systems by gliding along the edge of the atmosphere. Hypersonics can also alter their route mid-flight. The weapons are expected to be fitted to Australian fighter planes. Commitments to developing the weapons came after Prime Minister Scott Morrison launched a revamped Strategic Update in July to prepare the country…

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Dec. 4 announced visa restrictions on Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials who are involved in malign foreign influence activities.

The State Department may now deny entry to officials in the regime’s United Front Work Department (UFWD) “who have engaged in malign activities to co-opt and coerce those who oppose Beijing鈥檚 policies,” Pompeo wrote in a tweet Friday.

The UFWD is charged with overseeing the Party’s foreign influence operations. It coordinates and supports thousands of overseas organizations to spread propaganda, influence local elites, and suppress dissident groups.

“The United Front frequently intimidates members of academia, businesses, civil society groups, and Chinese diaspora communities,” Pompeo said in a statement. Among the tactics used are doxxing (releasing a person’s personal information online) the targets and their family members, he added.

The move is the latest measure by the Trump administration targeting the CCP’s efforts to subvert the United States. The department recently tightened visa rules for CCP members, shortening the maximum duration of their travel visas from 10 years to one month, describing it as a measure to “protect our nation from the CCP鈥檚 malign influence.”

The latest visa restrictions apply to Chinese officials, or individuals active in UFWD activities, who聽have “engaged in the use or threat of physical violence, theft and release of private information, espionage, sabotage, or malicious interference in domestic political affairs, academic freedom, personal privacy, or business activity,” according to Pompeo. This means that people found to meet these criteria may be denied entry into the United States.

These malign activities, Pompeo said, are “intended to co-opt and coerce sub-national leaders, overseas Chinese communities, academia, and other civil society groups both in the United States and other countries in furtherance of the CCP鈥檚 authoritarian narratives and policy preferences.”

“The United States calls on聽the Chinese regime to end its use of coercion and intimidation tactics to suppress freedom of expression,” he added.

David Stilwell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, in October described United Front work as a form of political warfare.聽An investigation by Newsweek found about 600 groups tied to the UFWD operating in the United States.

In September, an NYPD officer named Baimadajie Angwang was arrested, and accused of spying for the regime. Prosecutors alleged that Angwang fed intelligence about the local Tibetan community to his handler at the Chinese consulate鈥攚ho was assigned to an UFWD division called the China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture.

This year, the State Department has also聽designated a spate of organizations linked to Beijing as foreign diplomatic missions, a move in recognition their roles as de-facto organs of the CCP.聽聽They have included Chinese state-run media outlets, the Confucius Institute U.S. Center, and a CCP front group controlled by the UFWD.

Focus News: Trump Administration Sanctions Chinese Officials Involved in Malign Foreign Influence Activities

Pompeo Voices Support for Pro-Democracy Activists Persecuted in Hong Kong

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned the Hong Kong government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) over what he called “political persecution” against four pro-democracy activists in the last two days. “The use of courts to silence peaceful dissent is a hallmark of authoritarian regimes and underscores once again that the Chinese Communist Party’s greatest fear is the free speech and free thinking of its own people,” stated Pompeo in a Dec. 3 statement.  On Dec. 2, prominent Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong and two of his longtime colleagues, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam, were handed months-long sentences, for their roles in a mass protest that occurred in June last year. A day later, Jimmy Lai, a media tycoon who owns the local newspaper Apple Daily, was denied bail…