The following is a lightly edited transcript from The Daily Signal’s Sept. 11 podcast episode. Katrina Trinko: Modern China has never been friendly to religion, but according to the Associated Press, things have been getting worse under President Xi Jinping. The AP reports: “Experts and activists say that as he consolidates his power, Xi is…
In China, men and women of faith are facing increasing hostility from the state. The Heritage Foundation’s Olivia Enos shares what the Chinese are facing—from internment camps to having to share their home with a government official to seeing their Bibles seized. Plus: We discuss the rise of suicides in the United States in recent…
Congressional leaders are pressing their case against environmental activists who are closely aligned with Chinese government officials. In a letter Wednesday to the Washington-based World Resources Institute, Reps. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, and Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., ask the leader of the nonprofit international research group to document compliance with federal law covering agents of foreign powers….
It’s been a year since the White House launched a trade war with China. On Aug. 14, 2017, President Trump instructed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to investigate Chinese policies under Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act. One year later, two important questions remain: What has Trump’s trade representative achieved, and how long will…
Pakistan has received 12 bailouts from the International Monetary Fund since the late 1980s as a result of debt blowouts and balance-of-payment imbalances. Now, the country’s 13th bailout from the IMF—expected to be the largest so far—is on the horizon. And China is a key player as former cricket star Imran Khan of Pakistan’s PTI party…
A few weeks ago, we Americans celebrated our independence and first freedoms—including freedom of thought, religion, and speech. One freedom little remembered, but ever so important, is enshrined in our Declaration of Independence. It is the freedom from “quartering,” which liberated Americans from providing food and housing to occupying British soldiers. As Americans enjoyed beer…
How would you react if the government put facial recognition cameras everywhere and kept tabs on your every move—right down to how many squares of toilet paper you are using? It’s happening in China, as the communist government there clamps down on freedom and ramps up its economic and territorial ambitions in its quest to…
China launched its Queqiao communications satellite on May 21, but unlike other communications satellites, this one isn’t going into an orbit around the Earth. Instead, it’s on its way to L-2, one of the five Lagrange points, where the Earth’s and the sun’s gravitational pulls cancel each other out. China is deploying this satellite to…
“You’re looking at a country which is the most radical actor on the global stage since the French Revolution.” China is plowing forward with an agenda of economic aggression, empirical ambitions, and a complete disregard for international law and customs. How did this happen? It turns out to be a toxic combination of long national…
Just this year, the Chinese Communist Party held an election in the Great Hall of the People where Xi Jinping was voted “president for life.” The vote was 2,958 for and six against. With this vote they proclaimed that China is now realizing its dream of national rejuvenation, and its grand strategy to restore its…
World Press Freedom Day was duly celebrated at the Broadcasting Board of Governors late last month. Yet, at Voice of America, a major part of the board, the fate of three Chinese journalists remains in limbo, more than a year after they were placed on administrative leave by Voice of America management for not following…
The Chinese government’s grip on religious institutions means that, in order for the Catholic Church to appoint bishops in China in the future, it must receive the Chinese Communist Party’s blessing. Toward that end, the Vatican is currently engaged in negotiations with the Chinese government to expand its influence over the Catholic Church there. In…
Back in March, the Chinese government announced an 8.1 percent increase in its annual defense spending. The increase brings China’s total reported defense budget to about $175 billion. But taken by itself, that number says little to nothing about the actual strength of the Chinese military. Countries don’t go to war with budgets. They go to…
A trade war with China would inflict far more damage on the American economy than could be recouped from tariffs and other protectionist levies. That’s the problem with the Trump administration’s unilateral action, taken under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, to levy punitive tariffs on up to $50 billion of goods from…
It’s true that the U.S. and China continue to have problems with access to certain areas of the Chinese market and that intellectual property theft is a problem. It’s also true that China’s state-led capitalism diverts both its own markets and international markets. We have to find ways to address these problems, but in the…
Intellectual property theft has been a thorn in the side of U.S. companies for decades. China has long been a chief offender here, and continues to be in 2018. Just last month, a U.S. court in Wisconsin convicted the Chinese company Sinovel Wind Group Co. of stealing trade secrets from AMSC, a U.S.-based company. Sinovel…
As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) 19th Party Congress came to a close last month, new members of Chinese leadership emerged on the national stage. This leadership exists in the form of the CCP Central Committee’s Politburo, and in particular, a new Politburo Standing Committee. The seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, which includes President Xi Jinping…
President Donald Trump’s visit to Asia has now taken him to the People’s Republic of China, where Chinese leader Xi Jinping staged an elaborate welcome, complete with a personally guided private visit to the famous Forbidden City. Observers have expected that two of the main concerns to be discussed by Trump and Xi would be…
The Trump administration’s investigation of steel imports as a possible national security concern is the latest in a line of aggressive actions designed to boost the economy. The target of the so-called Section 232 probe is, in large part, imports into the U.S. from China. In recent testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, the…
As President Donald Trump prepared to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change, the media is rife with stories about how China pledged to fully implement its global warming pledge. China did vow to keep its Paris Agreement commitments, but that won’t really mean much given it pledged to increase greenhouse gas emissions…