Tag Archives: taiwan

China’s 2027 Military Deadline: Beijing’s Buildup Threatens America from South China Sea to Panama Canal | The Gateway Pundit

Photo courtesy of the House Select Committee on the CCP

Communist China’s military provocations have escalated dramatically as Beijing races toward its 2027 military modernization deadline.

In April 2025, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted its largest military drill of the year, code-named “Strait Thunder 2025A,” involving 76 aircraft, 15 naval ships, and China’s aircraft carrier Shandong maneuvering within 24 nautical miles of Taiwan, the closest approach ever recorded.

For the first time, Beijing practiced actual blockade operations and simulated precision strikes against Taiwan’s critical energy infrastructure.

Since 2022, China has systematically increased military incursions around Taiwan, establishing what analysts call a “new normal” of constant military pressure designed to normalize threat levels while avoiding triggering immediate American intervention.

Communist China’s military modernization follows a calculated timeline tied to symbolic anniversaries and strategic objectives that directly threaten American national security.

The most urgent concern centers on 2027, marking the 100th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army’s founding.

U.S. intelligence assessments confirm that Chinese President Xi Jinping has explicitly instructed the PLA to “be ready by 2027 to conduct a successful invasion of Taiwan,” as confirmed by former CIA Director William Burns and cited in multiple U.S. government reports.

Xi unveiled this 2027 target in a milestone speech around March 2021, establishing it as the first key phase in a three-step military modernization plan spanning 2027, 2035, and 2049.

The regime’s goal calls for “accelerating the integrated development of mechanization, informatization, and intelligentization”, a holistic transformation rather than sequential development.

Mechanization involves updating or replacing legacy platforms across all services, informatization focuses on networking these systems for seamless data-sharing and coordination, while intelligentization deploys artificial intelligence, quantum computing, big data, and machine learning across military operations.

Burns emphasized, this represents a “be ready by” date rather than a firm decision to invade in that year, though Pentagon analysts warn the distinction may prove academic if Beijing achieves overwhelming military superiority.

The 2027 milestone will also coincide with Xi Jinping’s likely bid for an unprecedented fourth term as Communist Party leader.

Xi is already serving his third term after having the constitution modified in 2018 to remove presidential term limits, theoretically allowing him to remain leader for life.

This creates potential domestic political pressure to demonstrate military strength and validate his consolidation of power.

The timing aligns with Taiwan’s next presidential election cycle, when Beijing historically escalates pressure to influence democratic outcomes.

Beijing aims to complete modernization of its armed forces by 2035, representing a direct challenge to American military dominance.

This intermediate goal includes fielding an estimated 1,500 nuclear warheads, triple China’s current stockpile, while achieving technological parity with advanced Western militaries in key areas that have historically guaranteed American security.

Defense spending has risen substantially to support these ambitious goals, growing from approximately $180 billion in 2015 to an estimated $250 billion in 2025—a 39% increase over the decade.

While this represents only about one-quarter of U.S. defense spending, those dollars stretch significantly further in China where the average salary is $600-800 per month compared to $6,000-7,000 in America, and where PLA soldiers earn $200-400 monthly versus $3,000-4,000 for U.S. troops.

This purchasing power advantage allows Beijing to field substantially more military capability per dollar spent on labor, manufacturing, and equipment production.

Recent PLA exercises like Strait Thunder 2025A demonstrate China’s transformation from a ground-dominant force to an integrated military capable of coordinating land, sea, air, rocket forces, and civilian agencies.

This restructuring has elevated the Rocket Force and Strategic Support Force while establishing a Joint Logistics Support Force for sustained multi-theater operations, as evidenced by carrier battle group drills near Iwo Jima.

China has deployed new amphibious assault capabilities including specialized landing vessels and bridge-laying equipment. The construction of civilian-amphibious landing barges like the Shuiqiao-class maintains plausible cover while supporting invasion logistics.

The pace of naval construction reflects China’s timeline urgency.

Admiral Samuel Paparo warns that China produces six to eight submarines annually versus one to two for America, and launches 20-25 major warships compared to just two to three for the U.S.—a “rapid boil” fundamentally altering the Western Pacific balance. China’s shipbuilding capacity exceeds U.S. production by more than 200-fold.

The PLA has significantly expanded its missile arsenal with over 2,000 missiles capable of reaching Taiwan, including advanced hypersonic weapons.

The Rocket Force has deployed hypersonic systems and nuclear-capable H-6N bombers as U.S. intelligence projects China will field 700 nuclear warheads by 2027, growing to over 1,000 by 2030.

As China approaches its 2027 deadline, Beijing’s accelerating military preparations suggest the Communist regime is positioning itself for potential military action if its objectives cannot be achieved through intimidation and economic pressure alone.

The ultimate objective targets 2049, when Beijing seeks a “world-class” military capable of displacing U.S. global supremacy as part of China’s broader “national rejuvenation” goal.

Xi Jinping has repeatedly stated that the Taiwan issue “cannot be passed down from generation to generation,” reflecting personal urgency to resolve the matter during his leadership.

For Americans, China’s military buildup represents a direct challenge to the post-World War II order that has guaranteed American prosperity and security for decades.

If China succeeds in dominating the Indo-Pacific by 2027, it would control the world’s most critical shipping lanes, leverage American allies into submission, and position itself to challenge U.S. interests from the South China Sea to the Panama Canal.

The stakes extend far beyond Taiwan, China’s success would fundamentally alter the global balance of power and potentially end the era of American leadership that has preserved peace and prosperity for the free world.

The post China’s 2027 Military Deadline: Beijing’s Buildup Threatens America from South China Sea to Panama Canal appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

China Is Preparing For War, And The Chinese Military Is Now Ahead Of The U.S. Military In Many Key Areas | The Economic Collapse

Do you remember the days when the complete and utter dominance of the U.S. military could not be questioned?  Sadly, those days are long gone.  I have written extensively about how the Russian military has now surpassed us in a number of key areas, but it could be argued that the ascendancy of the Chinese military has been even more stunning.  At this point nobody can deny the fact that China is a military superpower, and Chinese defense spending continues to soar

China will raise defense spending by 7.2 percent for a third consecutive year, the country said Wednesday, as it continues a military buildup that a Trump Pentagon nominee has warned is geared toward war with the United States.

Of course when we are talking about China we always need to make a distinction between the figures that are being released for public consumption and what is really going on behind the scenes.

According to Newsweek, some U.S. analysts are convinced that the Chinese are actually spending over 700 billion dollars a year on defense when “unreported outlays” are accounted for…

Some analysts believe China is spending far more than it lets on. Accounting for unreported outlays, some analysts have estimated the true figure is more than $700 billion—not far behind the U.S.

Today, more than 2 million people serve in the Chinese military.

That makes the Chinese military the largest in the world.

Approximately 1.3 million people serve in the U.S. military.

That makes the U.S. military just the third largest in the world.

But at least we have a bigger navy, right?

Wrong.

At this point China has more than 700 warships, while the U.S. now has fewer than 500 warships.

And if a war in the Pacific did erupt, the Chinese could pump out warships far faster than we could.

According to Fox News, China “now has a shipbuilding capacity 230 times greater” than we do…

The Chinese defense industrial base is operating at a “wartime footing,” and now has a shipbuilding capacity 230 times greater than the U.S.’s, making a potential invasion of Taiwan a not-unlikely outcome.

That is nuts.

How did we allow that to happen?

The one bright spot for the U.S. is our Air Force.

The U.S. Air Force currently has more than 14,000 military aircraft, while the Chinese have about 3,000 military aircraft.

But when it comes to missiles, that is another story altogether.

According to Bloomberg, China has the world’s “leading hypersonic arsenal”, while the U.S. is hopelessly behind…

China leads the world in developing, testing and deploying hypersonic weapons, beating out Russia while the US, having already spent $12 billion, has yet to field even one. The weapons can travel five times the speed of sound, making interception by existing defensive systems difficult at best. China, senior US defense intelligence analyst Jeffery McCormick told Congress Tuesday, has the world’s “leading hypersonic arsenal” thanks to Beijing’s two-decade long effort “to dramatically advance its development of conventional and nuclear-armed technologies and capabilities through intense and focused investment, development, testing and deployments.”

What is wrong with us?

Why are we behind both the Chinese and the Russians when it comes to hypersonic missile technology?

The Chinese are also way ahead of us when it comes to missile defense systems.  They have been purchasing Russian systems which are far superior to our own, and they have been using Russian technology to improve their own designs

Similarly, China’s defense industry has bought, copied, and adapted Russian-made air and missile defense systems, apparently with Russian acquiescence. Six years after acquiring Russia’s S-300, China produced its own copy, the HQ-9, which still serves as one of the PLA’s primary surface-to-air missile systems. Likewise, the Chinese HQ-16 missile system was copied from the Russia Buk-M1-2 but appears to have been made in full collaboration with the Russian Almaz-Antey Corporation. This trend continues with even the most advanced systems, as China purchased the state-of-the-art S-400 in 2014, began testing in 2018, and appears to be currently using the system to improve its own designs.

But at least we have more nukes.

For now.

Just recently, President Trump revealed that China will have an “equal amount” of nuclear warheads within four to five years…

The Republican said on Friday: “I know Russia and us have by far the most.

“China will have an equal amount within 4-5 years.

“It would be great if we could all denuclearise because the power of nuclear weapons is crazy.”

As for the military technologies of the future, the Chinese are in really good shape.

For example, it has been estimated that the Chinese are about 10 years ahead of us when it comes to drone technology.

I recently asked Google AI about this, and this is what I was told…

Yes, according to current information, China is considered the leader in drone technology, primarily due to the dominance of DJI, a Chinese company that holds a significant share of the global consumer drone market, making them the leading producer and seller of civilian drones worldwide.

At this stage, DJI pretty much dominates everyone else.  According to MIT’s Technology Review, DJI actually has “more than a 90% share of the global consumer market”…

Whether you’ve flown a drone before or not, you’ve probably heard of DJI, or at least seen its logo. With more than a 90% share of the global consumer market, this Shenzhen-based company’s drones are used by hobbyists and businesses alike for photography and surveillance, as well as for spraying pesticides, moving parcels, and many other purposes around the world.

Okay, so what about AI?

The good news is that the U.S. still has a lead in AI technology, but Time Magazine recently published an article that discussed the fact that our lead is shrinking fast

But fast forward to today, and a flurry of impressive Chinese releases suggests the U.S.’s AI lead has shrunk. In November, Alibaba and Chinese AI developer DeepSeek released reasoning models that, by some measures, rival OpenAI’s o1-preview. The same month, Chinese videogame juggernaut Tencent unveiled Hunyuan-Large, an open-source model that the company’s testing found outperformed top open-source models developed in the U.S. across several benchmarks. Then, in the final days of 2024, DeepSeek released DeepSeek-v3, which now ranks highest among open-source AI on a popular online leaderboard and holds its own against top performing closed systems from OpenAI and Anthropic.

Before DeepSeek-v3 was released, the trend had already caught the attention of Eric Schmidt, Google’s former CEO and one of the most influential voices on U.S. AI policy. In May 2024, Schmidt had confidently asserted that the U.S. maintained a two-to-three year lead in AI, “which is an eternity in my books.” Yet by November, in a talk at the Harvard Kennedy School, Schmidt had changed his tune. He cited the advances from Alibaba, and Tencent as evidence that China was closing the gap. “This is shocking to me,” he said. “I thought the restrictions we placed on chips would keep them back.”

That is certainly alarming.

If we fall behind in the technology race, it is just a matter of time before we are no longer the leading global superpower.

According to a very shocking study that was released in 2024, “China dominates the US in 57 of 64 critical technologies, up from just three in 2007″…

A comprehensive, 20-year study released by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in 2024 calculated that China dominates the US in 57 of 64 critical technologies, up from just three in 2007.

The US, which led in a whopping 60 sectors in 2007, now leads in just seven.

ASPI based its rankings on cumulative innovative and high-impact research published and patented by national universities, labs, companies and state agencies.

Wow.

We were soundly defeating China in 2007, but now the Chinese have pulled way ahead of us.

During a recent Senate hearing, one of President Trump’s nominees openly admitted that China has become “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to U.S. national security”…

In responses to questions submitted ahead of a nomination hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, Elbridge Colby, a security analyst and President Donald Trump’s nominee for undersecretary of defense for policy, gave a warning about the trajectory of U.S.-China relations.

“I agree that China is ‘the most comprehensive and serious challenge to U.S. national security,’” Colby said, citing the Pentagon’s 2022 National Defense Strategy.

So what are we going to do if China invades Taiwan?

It has always been assumed that the U.S. would defend Taiwan, but it is not likely that we would win such a conflict.

China is much, much closer to Taiwan than the United States is.  If a war over Taiwan erupts, that would give the Chinese a major advantage.

Hopefully China will not decide to pull the trigger on an invasion any time soon, but Chinese officials continue to make ominous statements about Taiwan.  Here is just one recent example

Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Chinese defense ministry, said Sunday that U.S. arms shipments would not stop the inevitable end of “Taiwan independence.”

“The more rampant ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists become, the tighter the noose around their necks and the sharper the sword hanging over their heads will be,” he said in remarks delivered during the ongoing annual legislative session of China’s rubber-stamp congress.

Over the past couple of years, the Chinese have been conducting military exercises around Taiwan over and over again.

Admiral Samuel Paparo has accurately pointed out that these Chinese military exercises are actually rehearsals for an invasion…

“Their [China’s] aggressive maneuver[s] around Taiwan right now are not exercises as they call them. They are rehearsals. They are rehearsals for the forced unification of Taiwan to the mainland.

“Beijing’s military build-up, their gray-zone operations, their military coercion against Taiwan, grow more concerning every day. The People’s Liberation Army’s increasingly complex, multi-domain operations demonstrate clear intent and improving capability.”

Of course Taiwan is just one of the flashpoints that could cause a war between the U.S. and China to erupt.

The Panama Canal is another one.

Our relations with China have been rapidly deteriorating for a long time, and this should deeply trouble all of us.

As I write this, new tariffs have already been imposed on both sides as our ongoing trade war with China continues to escalate.

And throughout human history we have seen many trade wars eventually evolve into shooting wars.

The Chinese are preparing for war because they can see where things are heading.

But most Americans are not concerned about the possibility of war with China at all, and I believe that is a tragic mistake.

Michael’s blockbuster entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”“End Times”“7 Year Apocalypse”“Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”“The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse BlogEnd Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post China Is Preparing For War, And The Chinese Military Is Now Ahead Of The U.S. Military In Many Key Areas appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

Author Joel Rosenberg Believes a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan Could Trigger WW3 | CBN

wgr1143rosenbergbeijingbetrayal_hdv.jpg

Best-selling author and Middle East expert Joel Rosenberg has a new thriller hitting bookshelves on March 11, 2025.  Focused on China, The Beijing Betrayal could be right out of today’s headlines.  CBN News spoke with Rosenberg about why he believes China is our biggest threat, the real possibility of World War 3, and his thoughts on the End Times. 

The Beijing Betrayal is the last in a series of Joel Rosenberg’s fictional spy thrillers featuring the character Marcus Ryker that began in 2018. In this latest page turner, China is the enemy, with Taiwan fighting for its survival, and the U.S. is facing another plague.   

“And (the question is) is communist China simultaneously going to unleash a new biological toxin into the United States that could kill millions and millions of Americans and hamper or complicate or thwart the United States’ ability to defend Taiwan and our alliance in the Pacific? And that’s fiction at the moment, but I think these are real, live, real-world threats that China poses,” said Rosenberg.

“Look, President Trump is really tough on China. He’s good on China, but I don’t think he’s doing enough to strengthen our alliance with Taiwan or give them enough weapons to make sure that they would be a deterrent factor that China, Beijing, wouldn’t try to invade,” he said.

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Wendy Griffith: “Do you believe a Chinese invasion of Taiwan could literally trigger World War 3?”

Joel Rosenberg: “I do, and the reason is because most Americans don’t really think about Taiwan. It’s a small island in the South China Sea. It’s not a country that most people can find on a map. However, Taiwan produces [over 90%] of the most high-tech microchips that all of our computers and phones and AI equipment and so forth uses, as well as all kinds of other high-tech products. But if communist China actually attacked it, and if they actually grabbed it like they want to do in The Beijing Betrayal, it’s not just the loss of one country; every ally the United States has in the Pacific would feel suddenly like the United States doesn’t know how to defend them. South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Australia, the Philippines, and so forth.” 

READ  Cell Phones, Cars at Risk: China-US ‘Chip War’ Over Taiwan Could Change Everything

Griffith:  “Well, in your novel, you have China secretly working with a radical Islamist terrorist group to bring about something far worse than 9/11. How likely is that scenario? “

Rosenberg: “Well, it’s certainly what communist China wants. Again, I go back to the Wuhan Laboratory in that city called Wuhan in China, in which they were developing one of the worst viruses that modern mankind has experienced, what became COVID-19. But moreover, Wendy, what happened during COVID, the American government shut down churches, forbade Christians from going to church on Sundays or Wednesday nights. If you had a casino in America, you could stay open, a strip club, a bar, a liquor store. No, no problem. Keep those open. But churches were shut down. This is part of communist China’s tyrannical biological weapon to neutralize the United States and our allies.” 
 
Griffith: “Well, Joel, let’s switch gears real quick. What do you think about President Trump’s plans for a new and beautiful Gaza?” 

Rosenberg: “It’s a fascinating vision. And I have to say, everybody’s been criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not having a plan for a day after this war, but Netanyahu had his hands full with getting this war won. But the fact that President Trump has stepped forward and said, look, not a single Arab state has proposed an actual solution, an actual way to fix Gaza, pacify it, deify it, and rebuild it, not a single Arab country has done that as you and I speak. So, Trump said, I’ll do it.”
 
Griffith: “Do you think we’re living in the End Times, Joel?” 

Rosenberg: “There’s no question about it. The fact that Israel exists right now and has for almost eight decades, it’s itself the fulfillment or the beginnings of the fulfillment of ancient End Times Bible prophecy. This is Ezekiel 36. This is Ezekiel 37, as well as Isaiah, Jeremiah, the minor prophets. Also, that Israel would be rebuilt and would be a sovereign nation-state in the end of days before the Messiah, Jesus comes back.”

“The Jews are returning to Israel. That’s what my family and I did, and we’ve been citizens in Israel for more than 10 years. Two of my sons have served in the Israeli military, and we are all in as Israeli citizens and strengthening the church through the Joshua Fund in Israel and the Palestinian areas and in the region. So yeah, we are absolutely there. Now, what happens next? That’s really interesting, and I’ll just say in Zephaniah chapter two, the prophet actually tells us that before the tribulation, all people in Gaza are going to be removed. Gaza will be abandoned. The text says, and then God will give the land back to the people of Judah. Well, that’s the nation we call today, Israel.” 

Griffith: “Joel, what do you hope people will take away from your new book, The Beijing Betrayal?” 

Rosenberg: “Well, first I just want them to have a rip roaring, exciting, entertaining ride. And so, where they’re up all night and these chapters, they’re short, they’re intense cliffhanger endings. They’re like Pringles, you can’t eat just one. But I also want to educate. I want to warn Communist China is a major threat, not only to the United States and our allies in the Pacific, but China’s building a very dangerous strategic alliance with the Iranian regime.”

And that makes China’s communist regime a serious threat to Israel and the Jewish people. Rosenberg hopes the Trump administration, Congress, and Israeli leadership will make it a priority to counter the range of threats from Beijing before it’s too late. 

The Beijing Betrayal is available HERE and wherever books are sold.

MUST SEE  China Moves to Dominate World Food Supply: ‘Food Is Power’

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2025/march/author-joel-rosenberg-believes-a-chinese-invasion-of-taiwan-could-trigger-ww3

Chinese Spies, United Front Operations in the U.S. | The Gateway Pundit

Photo courtesy of El Confidencial

This week, Europe is slamming President Trump for refusing to keep funding the Ukraine war. While European leaders scramble to figure out how to bankroll it and keep it going, China is busy hacking Poland’s space agency and Belgium’s intelligence services.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) loves when the U.S. and the world are focused on Russia because Beijing is the much larger security threat. And while Washington is distracted, Beijing never sleeps—the CCP and its United Front Work Department are hard at work undermining the U.S.

Late last year, a federal investigation exposed a broad Chinese cyberespionage campaign, with hackers infiltrating multiple U.S. telecommunications networks to steal information from government officials and political figures, according to the FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

Hackers linked to Beijing compromised telecom networks, gaining access to call records and private communications of high-value individuals, mostly involved in government and politics. They also targeted sensitive law enforcement data, potentially attempting to breach FISA surveillance programs.

This revelation follows a string of Chinese cyberattacks, including Flax Typhoon, a hacking operation that infected over 200,000 consumer devices to build a botnet for further cyber crimes. Last month, Chinese hackers targeted the phones of Donald Trump, JD Vance, and Kamala Harris’s associates, underscoring Beijing’s aggressive digital espionage efforts.

Most recently, another U.S. telecom company was confirmed as a victim of China’s Salt Typhoon hacking campaign, which granted Beijing access to private calls and texts of an unknown number of Americans, according to a White House official. The hackers focused on the Washington-Virginia area, targeting government officials and political figures to identify high-value individuals and monitor their communications.

Additionally. researchers found over 12,000 exposed Cisco devices, with Salt Typhoon successfully breaching a critical subset of telecoms and universities. By configuring these devices to connect to their command-and-control servers via GRE tunnels, the hackers maintain persistent access, exfiltrate data, and continue posing a serious national security threat.

While China’s hacking threat is pervasive, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) employs many other methods to infiltrate the U.S. and compromise national security. A prime example is the case of U.S. Navy Petty Officer Thomas Zhao, whose arrest last year highlights the United Front Work Department’s (UFWD) role in espionage and its growing use of “virtual espionage”—a tactic where Chinese intelligence officers target U.S. military personnel and high-value individuals via social media.

Zhao was recruited through a stock trading chat group on WeChat, where a Chinese intelligence officer first engaged him in investment discussions before steering the conversation toward sensitive military topics.

Over two years, Zhao received $15,000 in exchange for classified photos and videos of restricted areas at his Southern California base, demonstrating how China exploits social media to penetrate U.S. military infrastructure.

FBI officials warn that China is aggressively using social media to infiltrate U.S. institutions, casting a wide net to manipulate and compromise individuals with access to sensitive information.

This case highlights Beijing’s persistent efforts to penetrate U.S. military infrastructure through unconventional intelligence-gathering methods, with many of these operations led by the United Front Work Department (UFWD).

The UFWD is a core arm of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) influence operations, working to expand Beijing’s political, economic, and ideological reach abroad.

While it presents itself as a diplomatic and cultural outreach effort, it is deeply embedded in intelligence gathering, elite co-optation, and disinformation campaigns. Operating through Chinese business, academia, and diaspora networks in the U.S., the UFWD works to shape public opinion, silence CCP critics, and advance China’s strategic interests.

China’s United Front Work Department (UFWD) is one of Beijing’s most effective yet overlooked global influence tools, blurring the line between soft power and covert operations.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) extends its reach through consulates, trade, investment, technology partnerships, media, and research entities, embedding itself in U.S. economic and political structures at multiple levels.

A key strategy in China’s influence campaign is subnational engagement, where Beijing cultivates relationships at state and local levels through economic, informational, and political tools.

Unlike federal authorities that focus on national security, local governments prioritize economic development and job growth, making them more receptive to Beijing’s overtures. These efforts bypass federal oversight, creating power centers that shape local policies in ways that ultimately influence national decisions.

Beijing frames these subnational activities as “win-win mutual benefit,” emphasizing economic returns and dialogue while masking its strategic intent.

Through organizations like the Chinese embassy, consulates, and the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), China leverages economic dependencies to shape narratives favorable to the CCP.

This not only distorts local markets but also entrenches long-term dependencies, aligning U.S. institutions and businesses with Beijing’s strategic interests at the expense of national security.

Despite these growing threats, U.S. policy responses remain fragmented and reactive. Efforts such as limiting Confucius Institutes or restricting Chinese investments are important but insufficient on their own.

A more coordinated strategy is needed, including alternative cultural exchanges, federal-state cooperation, and economic safeguards, to counter China’s influence while preserving democratic freedoms and economic security.

President Trump’s strong stance on China—through tariffs, trade restrictions, and limits on Chinese investment—is a critical step in countering Beijing’s threat.

Additionally, tightening border security will help reduce the number of Chinese agents entering the country, further safeguarding U.S. national security. However, the U.S. will be facing China alone, as Europe remains preoccupied with blaming America and fixating on Russia instead of addressing the real, long-term threat posed by Beijing.

The post Chinese Spies, United Front Operations in the U.S. appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

On New Year’s Eve, Lightning Struck The U.S. Capitol, The Washington Monument, The Empire State Building And One World Trade Center | The Economic Collapse

A lot of really weird things have been happening over the past few days.  I don’t know what all of it means, but what has been taking place is so unusual that it should definitely be getting our attention.  For example, on New Year’s Eve lightning struck four of the most iconic buildings in the United States.  If lightning had hit just one of those buildings, it could have easily been dismissed as a coincidence, but that isn’t what we witnessed.  I don’t know why more people aren’t talking about this, because what just occurred in Washington D.C. and New York City is very strange indeed.

On the evening of December 31st, a spectacular bolt of lightning that hit the U.S. Capitol was captured on video

By itself, such a lightning strike would be truly extraordinary.

But almost simultaneously, a bolt of lightning also hit the Washington Monument

I was stunned when I first learned that the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument had both been hit by lightning on New Year’s Eve.

But that was not the end of the story.

It turns out that the Empire State Building was also struck by lightning on the same evening…

What are the odds of three iconic buildings getting hit on the exact same night?

And what are the odds of that happening on New Year’s Eve?

On top of everything else, One World Trade Center was also struck by lightning on New Year’s Eve.  I am not able to embed this one, but you can see video of that lightning strike here.

Have you ever heard of anything like this ever happening before?

Four of our most iconic landmarks were all struck by lightning on New Year’s Eve, and hardly anyone is even talking about it.

What is wrong with us?

Of course shortly thereafter we witnessed horrific terror attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas.  Americans tend not to pay much attention to terrorism until it happens on our soil, but now everyone is paying attention.  Hopefully our law enforcement authorities will have some solid answers for us soon, because there are still so many unanswered questions about those attacks.

Unfortunately, many believe that those attacks were just the beginning.

In fact, one former CIA officer is claiming that there are over a thousand “sleepers” inside the United States right now that are preparing more attacks…

A former CIA officer named Sarah Adams was interviewed on the Shawn Ryan podcast just two weeks ago, and warned that there are more than a thousand al-Qaeda sleepers in the United States right now who are planning major attacks on the homeland.

She clearly implicates Biden’s open southern border as the entry point for these potential terrorists and suggests that they have developed new tactics and bombs that can evade detection through traditional means.

For years, millions of people have been pouring over our wide open borders.

For years, people like me have been warning that this is a very serious threat to our national security.

At this point, the damage has been done, and we have all sorts of nuts inside this country that could potentially do all sorts of damage.

Now Donald Trump’s inauguration is coming up on January 20th, and those that are closely associated with Trump have been getting targeted

A surge in bomb threats and swatting incidents against lawmakers since the election underscores the deep political divide in the U.S. and has lawmakers from both parties calling for more protection.

Members of Congress and President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration have been on the receiving end of a rash of false alarms about pipe bombs or dangerous swatting stunts, in which a fake emergency call sends heavily armed police to a target’s residence.

A swatting incident against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, led to a woman dying in a car crash with an officer responding to the incident.

Being a prominent politician in this day and age is a very dangerous job.

We should be praying for their safety.

There is one last thing that I wanted to mention before I end this article.

On New Year’s Day, the San Francisco area was shaken by a magnitude 4.7 earthquake

Northern California residents started off the new year with a rumble, as 4.7-magnitude earthquake struck the region Wednesday night. The tremor came at around 6.34pm Pacific time, with an epicenter about 70 miles north of San Francisco, the United States Geological Survey reported.

Thankfully, the earthquake was not large enough to do much damage, but local residents clearly felt it

‘I did feel it actually,’ one X user wrote. ‘It was a rolling earthquake, lasted a few seconds.

‘Usually the earthquakes around here are jolts, not rolling, so it was kind of cool to feel the floor roll under my feet.’

Another X user added that it was ‘pretty intense for a 4.7.

‘It was a shallow earthquake too, so that makes [it[ feel stronger, but [is] usually more locally felt.’

Interestingly, this was a magnitude 4.7 earthquake, and Donald Trump is going to be the 47th president of the United States.

But I suppose that most people will also dismiss that fact as just another “coincidence”.

There sure have been a lot of “coincidences” lately, eh?

I am going to keep writing about the stuff that others are not writing about.

2024 was certainly a crazy year, but I believe that 2025 is going to be even more chaotic.

Hopefully all of the shaking that is coming in 2025 will wake a lot more people up, because right now most of the population is still sleeping.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”“End Times”“7 Year Apocalypse”“Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”“The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse BlogEnd Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

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The post On New Year’s Eve, Lightning Struck The U.S. Capitol, The Washington Monument, The Empire State Building And One World Trade Center appeared first on The Economic Collapse.