U.S. senator convening meetings to warn business, academia of China threat

(Reuters) - U.S. Senator Mark Warner said on Sunday that he has been organizing meetings between U.S. intelligence officials and the country’s business and academic communities to urge caution in their relationships with China. “I have been convening meetings between the intelligence community and outside stakeholders in business and academia to ensure they have the full threat picture and hopefully, make different decisions about Chinese partnerships,” Warner said in a statement.

Accusing China of undermining U.S. security, Warner, a Democrat, said the meetings were aimed at increasing awareness about tactics used by China against the United States. In a series of classified briefings with U.S. companies, the country’s intelligence heads have warned about potential risks of doing business with China, the Financial Times reported earlier on Sunday. The briefings to educational institutions, venture capitalists and technology firms have been given by Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, along with officials from the FBI and the National Counter-Intelligence and Security Center, the FT reported, citing officials who attended the briefings. The development comes as the United States and China have been engaged in trade tensions for months over issues including technology, cyber security, tariffs, industrial subsidies and intellectual property rights.

On Thursday, the United States added Huawei Technologies Co Ltd to a trade blacklist, immediately enacting restrictions that will make it extremely difficult for the company to do business with U.S. counterparts. The move came amid concerns from the U.S. that Huawei’s smartphones and network equipment could be used by China to spy on Americans, allegations the company has repeatedly denied. The decision was slammed by China, which said it will take steps to protect its companies.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-china-warner/u-s-senator-convening-meetings-to-warn-business-academia-of-china-threat-idUSKCN1SQ00J?il=0

U.S. ambassador to China to make first visit to Tibet since 2013: report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad was due to begin visiting Tibet on Sunday for official meetings and visits to religious and cultural sites, according to a news report on Sunday. Branstad was scheduled to visit the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province, a historic region of Tibet known to Tibetans as Amdo, from Sunday to Saturday, Radio Free Asia said in a report. The State Department did not immediately comment on the story.

Radio Free Asia said it would be the first visit to Tibet by a U.S. official since the U.S. Congress approved a law in December that requires the United States to deny visas to Chinese officials in charge of implementing policies that restrict access to Tibet for foreigners. The U.S. government is required to begin denying visas by the end of this year. In December, China denounced the United States for passing the law, saying it was “resolutely opposed” to the U.S. legislation on what China considers an internal affair, and it risked causing “serious harm” to their relations.

Since then, tensions have been running high between the two countries over trade. China struck a more aggressive tone in its trade war with the United States on Friday, suggesting a resumption of talks between the world’s two largest economies would be meaningless unless Washington changed course. On Saturday, China’s senior diplomat Wang Yi told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that recent U.S. words and actions had harmed the interests of China and its enterprises, and that Washington should show restraint.

While the Trump administration has taken a tough stance towards China on trade and highlighted security rivalry with Beijing, the administration has so far not acted on congressional calls for it to impose sanctions on China’s former Communist Party chief in Tibet, Chen Quanguo, for the treatment of minority Muslims in Xinjiang province, where he is currently party chief. A State Department report in March said Chen had replicated in Xinjiang, policies similar to those credited with reducing opposition to Chinese rule in Tibet. Beijing sent troops into remote, mountainous Tibet in 1950 in what it officially terms a peaceful liberation and has ruled there with an iron fist ever since.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-tibet/u-s-ambassador-to-china-to-make-first-visit-to-tibet-since-2013-report-idUSKCN1SP0U6?il=0

>>6539672

>ace02468bdf13579

New Snowden docs vouch for NSA leak's authenticity

New documents from the Edward Snowden leaks provide more evidence that stolen source code from a group believed to be tied to the National Security Agency (NSA) is authentic. More than three years after the Snowden leaks began, The Intercept on Friday released new documents that tie documents hackers recently put up for auction directly to the NSA.

On Monday, a group calling itself the Shadow Brokers announced it was auctioning off code stolen from the Equation Group, a group believed to be — but not proven to be — an NSA hacking operation. They released a sample in advance to prove authenticity. The Intercept and Matt Suiche, founder of United Arab Emirates-based cybersecurity start-up Comae Technologies and a leading analyst of the Shadow Brokers' code, have tied that code to an NSA hacking program mentioned in the Snowden leaks.

Snowden documents specifically mention a 16 character tracking code used in certain hacking operations, “ace02468bdf13579.” That code was also found within the sample files. The odds of a two random, 16-digit strings of lowercase letters and numbers being identical are very slim. That string was found within the Shadow Brokers code in a section labeled “SECONDDATE” — the same name given in the NSA documents. The Snowden leaks describe SECONDDATE as a program designed to reroute web traffic to NSA servers that have been used against targets in Pakistan and Lebanon.

https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/291965-new-snowden-docs-provide-proof-nsa-leak-is-authentic

>>6539853

This isn't sauced, so how are we to believe it's authentic? Needs MOAR Sauce!