In Secret Meeting, China Acknowledged Role in U.S. Infrastructure Hacks

A senior Chinese official linked intrusions to escalating U.S. support for Taiwan

By Dustin Volz April 10, 2025 1:54 pm ET1/2

WASHINGTON—Chinese officials acknowledged in a secret December meeting thatBeijing was behind a widespread series of alarming cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure, according to people familiar with the matter, underscoring how hostilities between the two superpowers are continuing to escalate.

The Chinese delegation linked years of intrusionsintocomputer networksat U.S. ports, water utilities, airports and other targets, to increasing U.S. policy support for Taiwan, the people, who declined to be named, said.

The first-of-its-kind signalat a Geneva summit with the outgoing Biden administration startled American officials used to hearing their Chinese counterparts blame the campaign, which security researchers have dubbed Volt Typhoon, on a criminal outfit, or accuse the U.S. of having an overactive imagination.

U.S. officials went public last year with unusually dire warnings about the uncovered Volt Typhoon effort. They publicly attributed it toBeijing trying to get a footholdin U.S. computer networks so its army could quickly detonate damaging cyberattacks during a future conflict.

The Chinese official’s remarks at the December meeting were indirect and somewhat ambiguous, but most of the American delegation in the roominterpreted it as a tacit admission and a warningto the U.S. about Taiwan, a former U.S. official familiar with the meeting said.

In the months since the meeting, relations between Washington and Beijing have sunk to new lows, locked in a historic trade war. Top Trump administration officials have said thePentagon will pursuemore offensive cyber strikes against China. Beijing has continued to mine its extraordinary access to U.S. telecommunications network enabled by a separate breach, attributed toSalt Typhoon, U.S. officials and lawmakers say.

The administration also plans to dismiss hundreds of cybersecurity workers in sweeping job cuts and last week fired the director of the National Security Agency and his deputy, fanning concerns from some intelligence officials and lawmakers that the government would be weakened in defending against the attacks.

Officials say Chinese hackers’targeting of civilian infrastructurein recent years presents among themost troubling security threatsfacing the Trump administration.

In a statement, the State Department didn’t comment on the meeting but said the U.S. had made clear to Beijing it will “take actions in response to Chinese malicious cyber activity,” describing the hacking as “some of the gravest and most persistent threatsto U.S. national security.” The Trump White House National Security Council declined to comment.

The Chinese embassy in Washington didn’t respond to specific questions about the meeting, but accused the U.S. of “using cybersecurity to smear and slander China” and spreading disinformation about “so-called hacking threats.”

During the half-day meeting in Geneva,Wang Lei, a top cyber officialwith China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, indicated that theinfrastructure hacksresulted from the U.S.’s military backing of Taiwan, an island Beijing claims as its own, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with the conversation.

Wang or the other Chinese officials didn’t directly state that China was responsible for the hacking, the U.S. officials said. But American officials present and others later briefed on the meetingperceived the commentsas confirmation of Beijing’s role andwas intended to scare the U.S.from involving itself if a conflict erupts in the Taiwan Strait.

https://archive.is/EmTpt#selection-149.23-2750.0

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About a dozen representatives from both countries, including senior officials from the State Department, the National Security Council, the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies, attended the high-level meeting, which hasn’t been previously reported. It was led by Nate Fick, then the ambassador-at-large for cyberspace and digital policy in the Biden administration, officials said.

In Geneva, Wang’s comments came after the U.S. stressed that China didn’t appear to understandhow dangerous prepositioning in civilian critical infrastructure was, and how much theU.S. would view it as an act of war, the former U.S. official said. Additionally, the Biden administration wanted to convey doubts that China’s political and military leadership, including President Xi Jinping, were fully aware of the activities of the hackers, the official said.

Both the Biden White House and the Trump transition team were briefed about the meeting and provided detailed summaries afterward, the people said.

The Geneva summit occurred amid acascade of revelationsabout the extent of China’s far-reaching and unusually aggressiveSalt Typhooncyber operations into U.S.telecommunications networks, including those belonging to AT&T and Verizon. That campaign allowed hackers working for China’s Ministry of State Security to spy on the unencrypted calls and texts of scores of top government officials and political figures, including those within the presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

While that issue was also raised during the meeting in Geneva, it was largely tabled to focus on the separatehacking into civilian critical infrastructure by Volt Typhoonbecause it is considered anunacceptable provocation, the officials said. The telecom intrusions, while considered a historic counterintelligence failure, are viewed as more akin to traditional cyber espionage that the U.S. also conducts against adversaries.

AChinese official would likely “only” acknowledge the intrusionseven in a private settingif instructed to do soby the top levels of Xi’s government, said Dakota Cary, a China expert at the cybersecurity firm SentinelOne.The tacit admission is significant, he said, because it may reflect a view in Beijing that the likeliest military conflict with the U.S. would be over Taiwan and that a more direct signal about the stakes of involvement needed to be sent to the Trump administration.

“China wants U.S. officials to know that, yes, they do have this capability, and they are willing to use it,”Cary said.

https://archive.is/EmTpt#selection-149.23-2750.0

No Wonder Trump said he would be giving $1 Trillion to the DOD

Judge allows requirement that everyone in the US illegally must register to move forward

A federal judge is allowing the Trump administration to move forward with a requirement that everyone in the U.S. illegally must register with the federal government

ByREBECCA SANTANA Associated Press April 10, 2025, 4:55 PM

WASHINGTON – A federal judge is allowing the Trump administration to move forward with a requirement that everyone in the U.S. illegally must register with the federal government, in a move that could have far-reaching repercussions for immigrants across the country.

In a ruling Thursday, Judge Trevor Neil McFadden sided with the administration,which had argued that they were simply enforcing an already existing requirement for everyone in the country who wasn’t an American citizen to register with the government.The requirement goes into effect Friday.

The Department of Homeland Security announced Feb. 25 that it was mandating that all people in the United States illegally register with the federal government, and saidthose who didn’t self-report could face fines or prosecution. Failure to register is considered a crime, andpeople will be required to carry registration documents with themor risk prison time and fines.

Registration will bemandatory for everyone 14 and older without legal status. People registering have to providetheir fingerprints and address, andparents and guardiansof anyone under age 14 must ensure they registered.

The registration processalso applies to Canadianswho are in the U.S. for more than 30 days, such as so-called snowbirds who spend winter months in places like Florida.

Federal immigration law has long required that people who aren’t American citizens and live in the U.S., including those here illegally, register with the government. Those laws can be traced back to the Alien Registration Act of 1940, which came amid growing fears of immigrants and political subversives in the early days of World War II. The current requirements stem from the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.

But the requirement that people illegally in the U.S. registerhas been enforced only in rare circumstances. In fact, advocates opposing the government say it hasn’t been universally used since it was first introduced in the mid-1940s.

It was used in a limited way after Sept. 11, 2001, when the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System required that all noncitizen males 16 and older from 25 countries — all but one of them majority Arab or Muslim — register with the U.S. government. The program led to no terrorism convictions butpulled more than 13,000 people into deportation proceedings. It was suspended in 2011 and dissolved in 2016.

The Trump administration has argued that the registration requirement has always existed and that officials are simply enforcing it for everyone.

The groups that suedsay this registration process is expressly to facilitate President Donald Trump’s aim of carrying out mass deportations of people in the country illegally. (It might just be to catch the terrorists and murderers that came into the country under Bidan, and of course keep track of illegals. These people are stupid.)

The plaintiffs also say thegovernment should have gone through the more lengthy public notificationprocess before bringing about the change. (They know if the government did, they would have had 30+ lawsuits already)

They argue that the registryputs people who work, contribute to the economy and have deep family tiesin America into a deep bind: Do they come forward, register and essentially give up their location to a government intent on carrying out mass deportations, or do they stay in the shadows and risk being charged with the crime of not registering? (The absolute disregard by the lefties of any kind of National Security endeavor is challenged, even though all these people are illegal. They don’t seem to care about that.)

The government has already asked people subject to the registration requirementto create an account on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.

(Tom Homan, ICE and Border Patrol have a hard time of rounding up illegals, so this will make it much easier to get the criminals out first.)

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/judge-allows-requirement-us-illegally-register-move-forward-120695687

China reaches out to others as Trump layers on tariffs

CHRISTOPHER BODEEN Thu, April 10, 2025 at 1:41 AM EDT1/2

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TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China is reaching out to other nations as the U.S. layers on more tariffsin what appears to be an attempt to form a united front to compel Washington to retreat. Days into the effort,it's meeting only partial successwith many countries unwilling to ally with the main target of President Donald Trump's trade war.

Facing the cratering of global markets, Trump on Wednesday backed off his tariffs on most nations for 90 days, saying countries were lining up to negotiate more favorable conditions.

China has refused to seek talks, saying it would “fight to the end” in a tariff war, prompting Trump to further jack up the tax rate on Chinese imports to 145%. It was initially announced on Wednesday as 125%, but that did not include a 20% tariff on China tied to its role in fentanyl production. China has retaliated with tariffs on U.S. goods of 84%, which took effect Thursday.

Trump's move was seemingly an attempt to narrow what had been an unprecedented trade war between the U.S. and most of the world to a showdown between the U.S. and China.

“A just cause receives support from many,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a daily briefing on Thursday.

“The U.S. cannot win the support of the people and will end in failure.”China hasthus far focused on Europe, with aphone callbetween Premier Li Qiang and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen “sending a positive message to the outside world.” (China over estimates their influence and power, there will be rare countries that align with their stupid idea, that they can defeat the power of the USA and Trump.)

“China is willing to work with the EU to jointly implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of China and the EU, strengthen communication and exchanges, anddeepen China-EU trade, investment and industrial cooperation,” the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

That was followed by a video conference between Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčović on Tuesday to discuss the U.S. “reciprocal tariffs.” (Most EU nations know that the US supports their protection, NATO and various other lines of financial support, so the EU will not bring the consortium they need)

Wang said the tariffs“seriously infringeupon the legitimate interests of all countries,seriously violateWTO rules,seriously damagethe rules-based multilateral trading system, andseriously impactthe stability of the global economic order,” Xinhua said. (They are so dramatic! Everything China has been doing from the start when they were admitted toto WTO)

“It is a typical act of unilateralism, protectionism and economic bullying,” Wang was quoted as saying. “China is willing to resolve differences through consultation and negotiation, but if the U.S. insists on its own way,China will fight to the end,” Wang said.

The Telegraph

Wang has also spoken with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, while Li, the premier, has met with business leaders. China has “already made a full evaluation and is prepared to deal with all kinds of uncertainties, and will introduce incremental policies according to the needs of the situation,” Xinhua quoted Li as saying.

In Hong Kong, the spokesperson for the local office of China's Foreign Ministry reiterated Beijing's unwillingness to negotiate with the U.S. under current conditions.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-reaches-others-trump-layers-054142766.html

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“We must solemnly tell the U.S.: a tariff-wielding barbarian who attempts to force countries to call and beg for mercy can never expect that call from China,” Huang Jingrui wrote in an op-ed appearing in the South China Morning Post.

If the U.S. is truly sincere about starting a dialogue with China,it should “immediately rectify its wrong practices and adopt the right attitude of equality, respect and mutual benefit,” Huang wrote. (They are demanding things like they are talking to a child, very disrespectful. They are so arrogant,I’ve never seen this arrogance and anger in such full display on China. They are pissed and they know they won’t win.)

Despite their unhappiness with Washington,not all countries are interested in linking up with China, especially those with a history of disputes with Beijing. “We speak for ourselves, and Australia’s position is that free and fair trade is a good thing," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters. “We engage with all countries, but we stand up for Australia’s national interest and we stand on our own two feet.”China imposed a series of official and unofficial trade barriers against Australia in 2020after the government angered Beijing by calling for an independent inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic.

India has also reportedly turned down a Chinese call for cooperation, and Russia, typically seen as China's closest geopolitical partner, has been left out of the Trump tariffs altogether.Taiwanese Foreign MinisterLin Chia-lung said on Wednesday that his government ispreparing for talks on tariffs with the U.S.

The U.S. imposed a 32% tariff on imports from Taiwan, a close trading and security partner. Taiwan produces most of the high-performing computer chips craved by the U.S. and others and has long enjoyed a trade surplus with Washington.

Yet,Southeast Asian nationssuch as Vietnam and Cambodiafind themselves in a particular bind. They benefited when factories moved to their countries from China due to rising costs. They are being hit by punishing tariffsbut have few buyers outside the U.S.and are already operating on razor-thin margins.

Trump had previously denied contemplating a pause, but the drama over his tariffs will continue as the administration prepares to engage in country-by-country negotiations. Meanwhile, tariffs will be 10% for the countries where the larger ones were paused.

It's not clear what further steps China will take, but the Foreign Ministry's Lin saidChina “will not sit idly by and let the legitimate rightsand interests of the Chinese people be deprived of, nor will we allow the international trade rules and multilateral trading system to be undermined.”Non-tariff options include bans on American movies, American law firms and other trade in services. (China you are going to have to, you have no power in this situation, when you are basically trying to start a trade war with the US. You’ll lose every time.)

World markets soared on Thursday, with Japan’s benchmark jumping more than 9%, as investors welcomed Trump’s decision Germany’s DAX initially gained more than 8%. It was up 7.5% at 21,141.53 a bit later, while the CAC 40 in Paris gained 7.2% to 7,360.23. Britain’s FTSE 100 surged 5.4% to 8,090.02.

However, U.S. futures edged lower and oil prices also declined. Chinese shares saw more moderate gains, given yet another jump in the tariffs each side is imposing on each others’ exports.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-reaches-others-trump-layers-054142766.html

The Huang sound like Greta Thunberg, "How dare you?"

The Ukraine link in a plot to kill Trump

By Byron York April 8, 2025 11:11 pm

THE UKRAINE LINK IN A PLOT TO KILL TRUMP. It isremarkable how little we know about the two 2024 attempts on President Donald Trump’s life. We don’t know much about Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old who shot Trump in the ear during a July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Nor do we know much about Ryan Routh, the 59-year-old former construction worker who lay in wait allegedly hoping to shoot Trump at Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, golf course just a couple of months later on Sept. 15.

But we learned something bigabout Routh in a court filing from prosecutors Tuesday. What we learned was that Routh allegedly hoped to obtain a shoulder-fired rocket from Ukraine with which he would shoot down Trump’s 757 private jet.

In August 2024, according to prosecutors, Routh communicated online with an associate whom he “believed to be a Ukrainian with access to military weapons,” according to the court filing. The filing does not say who that “associate” was — was it a U.S. law enforcement agent posing as someone who could procure weapons, or was it actually a Ukrainian, perhaps someone with a connection to the war? Was it someone else? There’s no answer in the court papers.

In any event, Routh, communicating via the encrypted app Signal, asked the associate to send him a rocket-propelled grenade or a Stinger anti-aircraft missile. The two discussed price and shipping methods. Then Routh told the associate why he wanted the weapons: “I need equipment so that Trump cannot get elected.” The problem, for Routh, was that he could not just go to the hardware store and buy something to shoot down a 757. “Going to the local store for such an item is impossible,” Routh wrote to the associate.

“However, you are at war so those items lost and destroyed daily — one missing would not be noticed. Do you think Trump will be good for Ukraine?????”

Just to be clear, Routh sent the associate aphoto of Trump’s jet, writing, “Trump’s plane, he gets on and off daily.”And just in case his associate missed the intent, when Routh mentioned the failed Butler assassination attempt, Routh wrote, “I wish.”

We knew that Routh was deeply interested in the Ukraine war. Not long after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, he posted on X, “I AM WILLING TO FLY TO KRAKOW AND GO TO THE BORDER OF UKRAINE TO VOLUNTEER AND FIGHT AND DIE.” In the summer of 2022, Routh went to Kyiv, where he tried to get involved with the foreign fighters who had come to the country. He failed. “[Routh] reportedly contacted Ukraine’s International Legion on a regular basis with ideas described by one Ukrainian soldier as ‘nonsensical’ and ‘delusional,'” the BBC reported.

In 2023, Routh reportedly took his pro-Ukraine caseto Washington, where he did an interview with the New York Times. Routh told the paper that “he was seeking recruits for Ukraine from among Afghan soldiers who had fled the Taliban. He said he planned to move them, in some cases illegally, from Pakistan and Iran to Ukraine. He said dozens had expressed interest.”

Routh never got anything goingin his effort to support Ukraine in the war against Russia. His own part in the cause, apparently, would be to kill Trump to prevent him from becoming president again.

But Routh eventually decidedhe could not get a rocket to shoot down Trump. So he got a military-grade SKS rifle. And then he tried to get a bigger gun. From the court filing:“Around the same time he was trying to get his hands on rocket and missile launchers from Ukraine, Routh explored another means of killing President Trumpby researching and attempting to purchase a .50 caliber sniper rifle from a gun dealer in the Fort Pierce area. This .50 caliber rifle would have been an even more destructive and powerful version of the rifle he already obtained.”

There is much more to learn about the case. One person who wants to know more is Trump, whose attention was caught by the fact that after Routh’s arrest, police found he had 17 cellphones, along with three computers and three tablets. “That’s a lot of cellphones, and a couple of them had some strange markings on them,” Trump said at the White House this week. “So yes, I want to find out.”

https://archive.is/sif2A#selection-477.0-1549.348

(I wonder if the Ukraine leaders are trying their best to deep six anything related to this assassin, there's no doubt that Zelensky and others really didn't want Trump re-elected. The Trump Team for ceasefire, seems like they don't want to negotiate with Zelenky and the Mafia, and have left it in the hands of Russia to solve.)