China on Friday accused the United States Congress of “dramatizing” the Chinese spy balloon incident after the House of Representatives unanimously approved a resolution to condemn China for it.
H. Res. 104 condemns the “Chinese Communist Party’s use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon over United States territory” and labeled the situation “a brazen violation of United States sovereignty.”
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon shot down an unidentified object over frozen waters around Alaska on Friday at the order of President Biden, according to U.S. officials, less than a week after a U.S. fighter jet brought down a Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic.
John Kirby, a White House spokesman, confirmed the incident at a news conference on Friday.
Opposition MPs pressed Canadian intelligence officials — often unsuccessfully — to share more information during a Thursday meeting of a Commons committee studying foreign election interference.
The House of Commons standing committee on procedure and House affairs has been delving into a story by Global News that reported the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) briefed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Chinese efforts to interfere in the 2019 election. The interference reportedly included Chinese government funding of at least 11 candidates.
It was a peculiar exchange that betrayed quite a bit about the Trudeau government’s entanglements with Beijing’s various friends and interlocutors in Canada, and it was doubly awkward, coming at a time when the Liberal government is trying to give the appearance of acting on what it claims to stand for in the matter of refugees, the global traffic in slave goods, and Xi Jinping’s sadistic throttling of democratic life in Hong Kong.
National security officials drafted a warning for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his office more than a year before the 2019 federal election, alleging that Chinese agents were “assisting Canadian candidates running for political offices,” according to a Privy Council Office document reviewed by Global News.
Written by the office of National Security and Intelligence Advisor, Daniel Jean, at the request of Trudeau’s chief of staff — and arguably his most trusted aide — Katie Telford, the document called “Memorandum for the Prime Minister” was also provided to Privy Council Office clerk Michael Wernick, records show.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The extraordinary scene of U.S. fighter jets getting ready to strike a Chinese balloon had many people along the Carolina coast straining their necks and pointing their smartphones to the sky to capture the moment of impact.
But a group of aviation enthusiasts was, instead, intently scanning radio frequencies for the exchanges between the pilots who would follow as Huntress, NORAD’s eastern air defense sector controller, tracked the exact distance as two Air Force F-22 fighter jets closed in on the target.
Related … Chinese Spy Balloon is First-Ever Kill of Multi-Billion Dollar F-22 Advanced Fighter Jet
If the federal government can push to remove one foreign state broadcaster, it can do so for others, argues the Conservative foreign affairs critic.
At the Special Committee on Canada-China relations in Ottawa Monday evening, Michael Chong grilled Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino on why state-owned Chinese broadcasters are still available in Canada, despite being removed in other countries over concerns about disinformation and human-rights abuses.
“Authoritarian state-controlled broadcasters, which spread propaganda and disinformation, should not be on the list of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution,” Chong told the Star afterward. “That is our call for action.”
Remember when the CBC attacked the anti-ChiCom newspaper “Epoch Times” for not adhering to Strongman Xi’s party line on the Wuhan Flu?
The CBC were Xi’s finger puppet basing their whole story on a couple of cranks & Canada Post’s union, thankfully the public furor forced CBC’s cadres to back down.
Here’s the original CBC attack on Epoch Times, Beijing was well pleased that day.
China and Russia continue to deepen their ties, a pact that has not gone unnoticed by the European public. In a new poll taken by the International Republican Institute (IRI) across 13 Central and Eastern European countries, there was much concern about this deepening partnership.
Disney’s self-censorship over labour camp joke fuels concern about national security laws
After Marge Simpson decides she wants to buy a “Pedalon” exercise bike, she is delighted to learn that it will let her travel the world from the comfort of a gym in Springfield.
On one such ride, an instructor called Jesse invites her to tour the Great Wall of China. “Behold the wonders of China,” he tells Homer’s long-suffering wife. “Bitcoin mines, forced labour camps where children make smartphones.” Though the scene might seem innocuous enough, Disney Plus, which screens The Simpsons, is taking no chances.
Any attempts to unmask #China spies must be "culturally sensitive," @MarcoMendicino tells MPs. https://t.co/rFQkGNkZjY #cdnpoli @SenatorHousakos #S237 #China @Safety_Canada @JeanYip3 @pfragiskatos pic.twitter.com/PIeUF42Rva
— Blacklock's Reporter (@mindingottawa) February 7, 2023
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says Ottawa didn’t tell the public about China’s spy balloon that was spotted over North America because there were “lives at stake.”
“There are lives at stake. There are techniques at stake. This is complex stuff,” Mendicino told the Canada-China House of Commons committee on Feb. 6.
Official statistics clearly cannot be trusted
A story in CityAM this morning will make for uncomfortable reading in Downing Street. The latest business survey from the BDO consultancy has found that more than half of UK firms are worried about reliable access to vital inputs. Supply chain disruptions and labour shortages have already stoked inflation, so the fact that so many producers anticipate further problems is bad news.
Last week, when Montanans looked up at the sky—the fabled “big sky” that gives our state its nickname and remains clear and blue and well worth gazing at—they saw something odd. Some people reported the distant silver sphere to the authorities, it being a tradition in a state that was pacified by vigilantes back in the days of the frontier mining camps to keep an eye peeled for signs of brewing trouble.
Biden partisans pushed the story hard, claiming that Slow Joe was Maverick from Top Gun, while Trump meekly took it when China did the same thing during his administration.
It may be months before American intelligence agencies can compare the audacious flight of a Chinese surveillance balloon across the country to other intrusions on America’s national security systems, to determine how it ranks.
After all, there is plenty of competition.
There was the theft of the designs of the F-35 about 15 years ago, enabling the Chinese air force to develop its own look-alike stealth fighter, with Chinese characteristics.
There was the case of China’s premier hacking team lifting the security clearance files for 22 million Americans from the barely secured computers of the Office of Personnel Management in 2015. That, combined with stolen medical files from Anthem and travel records from Marriott hotels, has presumably helped the Chinese create a detailed blueprint of America’s national security infrastructure.
