Texas authorities caught a group of six Chinese nationals dressed in camouflage as they tried to sneak across the southern border, officials said Wednesday.
Border Patrol agents found the Chinese illegal immigrants Tuesday night among a group of 12 border crossers attempting &#8220;to evade capture on a private ranch&#8221; in Maverick County, which is home to Eagle Pass, Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Lt. Chris Olivarez said in an X post.
Chinese illegal immigrants are considered &#8220;special interest aliens&#8221; due to national security concerns and often face more scrutiny from federal authorities.
Earlier on Tuesday, DPS tracking K-9 Bona and her handler helped Border Patrol locate a group of seven illegal immigrants from India, Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, and Ecuador on a private ranch in the same county. They handed the group over to Border Patrol.
Photos shared by Olivarez showed the Chinese group dressed in head-to-toe camo as they sat on the ground surrounded by officers.
Olivarez said such &#8220;apprehensions highlight the ongoing efforts in deterring criminal activity along the southern border and the critical partnership between Texas DPS and our federal partners under Operation Lone Star.&#8221;
&#8220;Border security is national security,&#8221; he added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<a href="https://x.com/hashtag/NEW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NEW</a>: SPECIAL INTEREST ALIENS APPREHENDED IN MAVERICK CO—TEXAS DPS K-9 BONA ASSISTS IN TRACKING GROUP ON PRIVATE RANCH
On 5/26/26, <a href="https://x.com/TxDPS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TxDPS</a> Tracking K-9 Bona and her handler assisted the U.S. Border Patrol in Maverick County, tracking, locating, and apprehending seven illegal… <a href="https://t.co/zqKPbdEFJJ">pic.twitter.com/zqKPbdEFJJ</a>
— Chris Olivarez (@LtChrisOlivarez) <a href="https://x.com/LtChrisOlivarez/status/2059686802735133133?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The arrests come as the Trump administration touts historically low levels of illegal border crossings while warning that the Mexican drug cartels are increasingly attempting to move migrants through more covert smuggling routes.
Unlike under the Biden administration, illegal immigrants aren&#8217;t released into the United States pending immigration proceedings.
Officials say the tougher enforcement environment has led to a rise in the number of gotaways, or illegal immigrants who evade capture.
Last month, the Department of Homeland Security recruited roughly 200 Border Patrol agents from both the southern and northern borders for 30-day volunteer duties to support overwhelmed colleagues in Laredo, Texas, who are trying to chase down the “gotaways,&#8221; The Daily Wire previously reported.
A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection said the region has become &#8220;a target&#8221; due to shifting smuggling routes. 
While Border Patrol agents sometimes detect gotaways through sensors and cameras, officials acknowledge the true number of gotaways remains unknown.
Roughly 2 million gotaways entered the United States during the Biden administration, <a href="https://homeland.house.gov/2024/09/23/startling-stats-factsheet-biden-and-harris-border-crisis-still-wreaking-havoc-at-the-borders-and-in-the-interior/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the House Homeland Security Committee.

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Camouflage-Clad Chinese Illegals Caught At Border

Border

China

Texas

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
American fashion company Everlane is being sold to Shein, according to a <a href="https://puck.news/everlane-is-selling-out-to-shein/">report</a> published Sunday. Millennial darling Everlane was purchased for a reported $100 million after allegedly suffering financial hardships in recent years. The future of Everlane was initially thrown into question after the company’s majority owner began seeking out an interested buyer in recent months. For those who were hoping that the company would maintain its reputation as an ethical, sustainable slow fashion brand, the news that Shein purchased Everlane is disappointing.
Founded in China, Shein is an online retail business that has surged in popularity in the last few years. Valued at <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/shein-said-face-investor-pressure-072626679.html">$100 billion</a> in 2022, the company is known for placing profits ahead of ethics, as it has allegedly used sweatshops and child labor to keep its costs low. Shein’s acquisition of Everlane likely indicates the end of Everlane’s pro-consumer production methods. 
Founded by American business partners Michael Preysman and Jesse Farmer, the San Francisco-based Everlane first marketed itself as a direct-to-consumer menswear retailer. Upon launch, it garnered a huge fan base, as many people praised it for countering the status quo of fast fashion. The company’s website had a unique feature that allowed buyers to view the price points for each of the materials used in a piece of clothing so that they could feel confident about the value of what they were buying.
In an era when fashion brands are increasingly resorting to shady offshoring agreements, Everlane’s vow to offer consumer transparency was a welcome change. In contrast, Shein has gained a reputation for having questionable manufacturing standards and allegedly violating labor laws. Last year, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an <a href="https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-files-fifth-anti-ccp-lawsuit-four-days-suing-global-fast-fashion-giant">investigation</a> into Shein over its negligent labor practices as well as concerns over the “sale of unsafe consumer products” that contain toxic materials. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg67w73nxqxo">Investigations</a> have revealed that the company has subjected its employees to 75-hour workweeks, poor wages, and unsafe factory environments, while also <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4glzzdd88lo">employing</a> children in its supply chain.
Shein and Everlane couldn’t be more diametrically opposed. While Everlane focused on working with designers and industry professionals to integrate recycled synthetic fibers into its clothing, Shein has typically resorted to using a blend of cheap, low-quality synthetic fibers. In May 2019, Everlane released DayGlove ReKnit shoes, which received acclaim for being created from recycled plastic bottles. Consumers praised the product for being innovative, stylish, and sustainable.
On the other hand, Shein has been criticized for stealing its designs from smaller, independent designers; manufacturing clothing that is primarily made of cheap polyester; and contributing to freshwater pollution through the overuse of microplastics. The sale of Everlane to Shein shows that American fashion companies are being devoured by foreign megacorporations with different ethical standards. 
Many brands that were once based in America have outsourced their production to countries with significantly lower labor costs after facing pressure due to changes in automation and the rapid production schedule of fast fashion. American textile manufacturing was at its peak in the 1970s, but it has since declined by <a href="https://www.globaltextiletimes.com/textile/the-changing-landscape-of-the-us-textile-industry-today/">more than 80%</a>. Although the U.S. is one of the largest markets for textiles, about 98% of the apparel consumed in America is actually produced in a foreign country. 
Between the high labor costs in America and the rise of cheap Chinese manufacturing practices, it is becoming increasingly doubtful that the American textile industry will have a comeback. This has allowed Shein’s &#8220;quantity over quality&#8221; business model to consume the clothing industry.
Since its founding in 2008, Shein has become the largest e-commerce fashion retailer in the world. A portion of Shein’s financial success comes from <a href="https://www.businessofapps.com/data/shein-statistics/">creating</a> its own supply chain in Guangzhou, utilizing a network of hundreds of Chinese suppliers. This allows it to produce massive quantities of products at an extremely rapid pace — quickly enough that it can move in tandem with the micro trends that crop up on social media.
Slow fashion brands don’t have that luxury and often can’t mass-produce affordable products during the short time span when they are in vogue. Shein’s ability to produce cheap, trendy clothing that millennials and Gen Z can afford has given it an edge in the market and a reliable, returning consumer base. 
The rapid growth of Shein and the subsequent consolidation of Everlane doesn’t merely have negative economic impacts for America, but it also has negative cultural implications. Shein is the fast food of fashion. It is low-cost, low-quality, and easily disposable. Disposable clothing is representative of a disposable culture. In the past, people would buy well-made, high-quality clothing with the intention of keeping it for decades. If zippers broke or seams tore, people would fix them or stitch them up, preserving the pieces with the hope that they could wear them for years and eventually pass them down to their children.
The materials Shein uses notoriously rip, tear, or simply fall apart after just a few uses. Its products have no hope of lasting for more than a few months, let alone a few years. Everlane was one of the country’s last slow fashion brands, and its buyout is a sad reminder that we can’t restore American culture if it keeps getting sold off. 
***
Brooke Brandtjen is a writer and journalist from Wisconsin who focuses primarily on culture, politics, and religion. She is a senior contributor at New Guard Press, a publication she joined while attending Hillsdale College.

EverlaneShein

The Fashion Company Millennials Loved Just Got Bought By America’s Rival

Fashion

Upstream

HOUSTON, Texas — Tucked away in the quiet suburbs of Houston, Texas, is a sinister plot to undermine American immigration laws.
Inside three suburban homes and one rundown apartment are allegedly Chinese women, along with their families, who are waiting to give birth to American citizen babies they can bring back to China.
The State of Texas sued De’Ai Postpartum Care Center in Houston, which they say operates the homes, accusing them of “exploiting birthright citizenship by unlawfully facilitating the invasion of Chinese nationals … for the sole purpose of giving birth.” The center has allegedly facilitated the births of more than 1,000 American-born babies.
The Daily Wire knocked on each of the homes&#8217; doors. Only one person answered.
<div id="attachment_1092179" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1092179" class="wp-image-1092179 size-medium" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Untitled-design-2026-05-08T143143.009-300x288.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="288" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Untitled-design-2026-05-08T143143.009-300x288.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Untitled-design-2026-05-08T143143.009-599x576.jpg 599w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Untitled-design-2026-05-08T143143.009-768x738.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Untitled-design-2026-05-08T143143.009.jpg 932w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Credit: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton</div>
The Asian man, who was sporting a &#8220;Make America Cowboy Again&#8221; shirt, identified himself as Lai Wan Lin-Chan, who was named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
EXCLUSIVE: Are Chinese birth tourism centers hiding in your neighborhood? We went to find out.
Texas has sued Houston-based De’Ai Postpartum Care Center, accusing the operation of exploiting birthright citizenship by helping Chinese nationals travel to the U.S. “for the sole… <a href="https://t.co/AUifiiflfh">pic.twitter.com/AUifiiflfh</a>
— Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) <a href="https://twitter.com/JennieSTaer/status/2056381136830439840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In response to a question about the lawsuit, Lin-Chan said &#8220;We are trying to get a lawyer&#8221; before shutting his front door.
<div id="attachment_1092177" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1092177" class="size-medium wp-image-1092177" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Untitled-design-2026-05-08T143217.722-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Untitled-design-2026-05-08T143217.722-300x199.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Untitled-design-2026-05-08T143217.722.jpg 668w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Credit: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton</div>
Moments later, he reappeared as I was standing on the street outside his home. Lin-Chan came out of the residence while recording on his phone as he asked: &#8220;Can I see your ID?,&#8221; adding &#8220;Because you just take picture of me.&#8221;
He then ignored another question about the lawsuit. This time, we asked if there were pregnant Chinese women inside the home.
&#8220;I&#8217;m sorry I can&#8217;t give you any information now,&#8221; he said before walking back inside.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-1092175 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_2476-138x300.png" alt="" width="138" height="300" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_2476-138x300.png 138w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_2476-265x576.png 265w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_2476-768x1669.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_2476-707x1536.png 707w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_2476-943x2048.png 943w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_2476-scaled.png 1178w" sizes=" (max-width: 138px) 100vw, 138px" /></div>
The practice of so-called Chinese birth tourism is coming under increasing scrutiny, with Peter Schweizer, President of the Government Accountability Institute, <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/08cf7ed3-aa64-3b6b-3268-21f7d9feb233/2026-03-10_Testimony_Schweizer.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testifying</a> to the U.S. Senate in March that &#8220;possibly&#8221; up to 1.5 million Chinese babies have been born in the U.S. in order to obtain citizenship and the right to return in the future, with the intention of being raised in China.
Further concerns related to Chinese intrusion into American affairs center around foreign-government backed purchasing of U.S. farmland, and the recent spate of Chinese-intelligence gathering incidents, such as the recent federal indictment accusing Arcadia, CA Mayor Eileen Wang of acting as an agent of the People’s Republic of China. Wang has since agreed to plead guilty in the case.
One of the center&#8217;s recent TikTok videos encourages women to apply for American tourist visas “before pregnancy,” stating that the federal government “will strictly investigate birth tourism,” adding, “It is easy to be rejected if you sign after pregnancy.”
The center also “claims to offer a variety of options for tourism while expectant families await the birth of their child,” that include a “luxury chauffeured black-car service across the Houston area for its high-paying guests, purportedly to visit the variety of different locales advertised on its social media page, including the spring bluebonnets in Brenham, Texas, the Houston Rodeo, Christmas light shows in Houston, and the Louvre Couture exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts,” the lawsuit states.
<div id="attachment_1092195" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1092195" class="wp-image-1092195 size-medium" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Untitled-design-2026-05-08T143759.585-300x183.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="183" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Untitled-design-2026-05-08T143759.585-300x183.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Untitled-design-2026-05-08T143759.585.jpg 682w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Credit: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton</div>
Neighbors of the properties said they had little to no interaction with the alleged birthing center residents, with some reporting seeing multiple vehicles crammed in the driveways.
David, who declined to share his last name out of concern for his safety, said he&#8217;s seen many different people going in and out of one of the homes.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve seen this in Asian households, like a bunch of family members living there. That&#8217;s what it looked like,&#8221; he said.
Harris County Deputy Constable Craig Cummings told The Daily Wire that his office encourages community members to report such suspicious activity &#8220;so that we can act on it.&#8221;
He said if neighbors observe that many people are packed in one home, it&#8217;s cause for concern.
&#8220;It&#8217;s not ordinary, but it&#8217;s also something that we&#8217;re aware of. When we start looking at multiple people in a home, we start thinking that this may be some nexus to human trafficking. Clearly, having a large number of people in a home is not normal,&#8221; he said.
Nonimmigrant visas, such as tourist visas, &#8220;are reserved for temporary visits for business or pleasure, with applicants bearing the burden of proving they intend to depart after their authorized stay&#8221; and not &#8220;for the primary purpose of obtaining U.S. citizenship for a child by giving birth in the United States,&#8221; immigration lawyer Matthew Kolken told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;In sum, visiting temporarily for pleasure does not include travel for the primary purpose of obtaining U.S. citizenship for a child by giving birth in the United States,&#8221; Kolken said.
Committing such immigration fraud &#8220;results in a lifetime bar to admissibility&#8221; to the United States, according to Kolken.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending birthright citizenship on his second Inauguration Day. The order has been paused due to multiple legal challenges.
Its fate now sits before the Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments on April 1 in the presence of Trump.
“We are the only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow ‘Birthright’ Citizenship!” Trump posted on Truth Social shortly after the conclusion of the oral arguments.

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EXCLUSIVE: Are Chinese Birth Centers Hiding In Your Backyard? We Went To Find Out

birthright citizenship

Immigration

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is waging a war against faith, a war that it could win if we don’t wake up and start fighting. With everything we have.
And this is a war that China must lose.
Because what China is doing — what we are permitting China to do — brings back chilling memories of the Holocaust.
The campaign was fought for many years on the local level. Now it is coordinated at the very top of the Chinese government and with the kind of technology that should make all of us terrified.
Not just on a moral level. Because we care about the Chinese believers who are the victims of horrifying persecution today.
We should be terrified because China’s war on faith can come here. To the United States. I can make the case that it already has.
The Chinese have taken the war to authoritarian countries like Iran and Nicaragua, where surveillance technology enables the persecution of Muslims who object to Islamist repression of women and Catholic priests who offer a creed different from Marxism.
The CCP is also winning here, in free capitalist America, where two huge businesses, Hollywood and the National Basketball Association, have become willing enforcers of Chinese censorship. Censorship that has shielded China’s crimes against humanity — the internment of hundreds of thousands, forced abortion and sterilization, organ harvesting from living victims — from international notice and protest.
The movie industry is in bed with the Chinese because it often relies on the Asian market to make a profit.
The NBA’s star players sell shoes in China. How hypocritical it was several years ago when these incredibly well-paid athletes never uttered a negative word about what was going on in China, while often condemning our own society.
Only one player has called out the Chinese Communists — Enes Kanter Freedom, the third overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, whose story I tell in this book. He no longer plays in the league, and that’s because he had the audacity to speak out against China’s oppression. Yes, Black Lives Matter, but what about Chinese lives? Don’t they matter, too?
Look, I’m as fervent a believer in the capitalist system as the next guy, siding with big business throughout my years as a congressman, senator, and governor. That does not mean, however, that we should be doing business with everyone.
Certainly not with a regime that is waging a war against religion and conducting genocide against the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, the members of Falun Gong, and the Buddhists in Tibet — and persecuting Christians who refuse to put the CCP above the Bible.
With their relentless pursuit of the almighty dollar and cheap products, a number of American businesses are acting as accomplices. U.S. companies’ investment in China, as of 2025, totaled $127 billion. That’s billion with a B. Those companies include Apple, BlackRock, JPMorgan Chase, and Tesla. Here’s a quote attributed to Karl Marx: “We will hang the capitalists with the rope they sell us.”
China has been waging this war — in one form or another, against one religion or another — for nearly eighty years, since 1949, when Mao Zedong defeated the Nationalist forces, and Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan. Today, the war on faith is being fought more aggressively than ever by a government led by a Mao-like dictator, Xi Jinping.
Let me share with you a few examples of what China has been doing:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Pressuring Christians to replace pictures of Jesus with posters of Xi Jinping</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Arresting priests who do not acknowledge the Chinese Communist Party as the ultimate authority. Catholic bishops in China are in prison or have disappeared, or live under house arrest or surveillance</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Detaining Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim, Turkic-speaking ethnic group who live in the northwestern province of Xinjiang, in concentration camps — at least one with a crematorium attached, as Ethan Gutmann, a senior fellow at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, reported to Congress in 2022</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Harvesting organs from prisoners who are still alive — both Uyghurs and practitioners of Falun Gong — to support the country’s billion-dollar organ export industry</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Subjecting Uyghurs to pregnancy tests, forced intrauterine devices, and forced abortions</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Demolishing sacred religious sites. Chinese authorities destroyed five thousand mosques over a single three-month period, and 97% of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and nunneries are now gone</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Forcing teachers to give up Christian beliefs and practices</li>
</ul>
Time is not on our side. Every day, innocent people in China are being imprisoned, tortured, raped. Killed.
These people of faith are similar to the Jewish refuseniks of the 1970s and ’80s (so named because the Soviet Union refused their request to emigrate to Israel), incredibly brave souls such as Natan Sharansky, who spent nine years in a Siberian prison. While small in number, they challenged the legitimacy of the Russian Communist regime and helped crush the Soviet Union. Or, as President Ronald Reagan rightly put it, “the Evil Empire.”
Some of these men and women have suffered for years behind bars, others enduring physical torture. They lost family members and friends and were subjected to unimaginable assaults on their privacy and their personal integrity. Every story demonstrates the cruelty of the regime that poses the greatest threat to freedom in our lifetime. Even greater than the Soviet Union during the Cold War, something I never thought was possible. But none of this horrific persecution deterred them from fighting for their right, and the rights of others, to practice their faith.
The war is being conducted by the CCP, not by the Chinese people themselves, whom I have admired since my first visit in 1985 (my wife Mary and I are blessed to have a brilliant daughter adopted from China), and led by Xi Jinping, the president of China since 2013 and general secretary of the Communist Party since 2012. It reminds me of the Soviet Union at its worst and even of the Holocaust. In fact, the CCP has killed more of its own people than any regime in history — more than Adolf Hitler’s Germany or Joseph Stalin’s Russia. By far. Let that sink in for a little bit.
For the longest time, I could not understand how so much of the civilized world, armed with overwhelming evidence from eyewitnesses, could be silent while Hitler’s Third Reich carried out the Final Solution against the Jews of Europe.
Now I understand. I understand too well.
Because it is happening again, before our very eyes — in the twenty-first century, no less, in a world where everyone has a smartphone, with access to the facts and the pictures at their fingertips. Facts and pictures from three genocides that China has perpetrated: Uyghurs with shaved heads loaded on trains to concentration camps, Tibetan Buddhist monks in chains, the face of a thirty-seven-year-old woman burned with electric batons for practicing Falun Gong. The consequences for freedom everywhere — and that includes the United States of America — will be dire if we fail to act. I pray that it is not already too late.
Adapted from: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Chinas-War-Faith-Sam-Brownback/dp/1645721132/ref=sr_1_2?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.GGfY2swQbHYVnUMulvWUaRGRqN5fjk5y9kgTxleLwG29lbD0L30zLTnhJWx49tp64QwY8uV34t4nHU7Q7wIDg8i5SVLOU0IE5GRSNOV8fLg98OzodOg467kajZnOL-XBPA_IXRca1HVVdPoZgAaGD8XGgJaIzG0i1GMvVHVwPXGIVuvZg52yTd1g0U5ULKMYtQpfv8cO-E7AofRD9MrTSPPNf9zAMez_9y-SzpD5SoM.PYKc8TKZCuMIlA0r_zr2gwqXAy4sD0ZbGa0LJYzTOwY&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;qid=1778706504&amp;refinements=p_27%3ASam+Brownback&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-2">China&#8217;s War on Faith by Sam Brownback</a> (Author), Michael Arkush. Republic Book Publishers.

(Photo by Eduardo LEAL / AFP via Getty Images)

Sam Brownback: If You Believe In God, China Wants You Dead

Christianity

DW Opinion

Freedom of Religion

Staff for President Donald Trump made sure that no items from China — from delegation pins to burner phones — were taken aboard Air Force One on Friday as the plane departed the communist country. 
The move was part of precautionary measures taken by Trump’s delegation to ward off Chinese spying and hacking during the high-stakes trip. Trump and other American officials <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/15/us-news/trump-bare-knuckles-his-way-through-china-summit-without-his-trusty-cell-phone/">made the trip</a> without their personal electronic devices to protect sensitive government and personal information. 
“American staff took everything Chinese officials handed out — credentials, burner phones from WH staff, pins for delegation — collected them before we got on AF1 and threw them in a bin at [the bottom of the] stairs. Nothing from China allowed on the plane,” New York Post reporter Emily Goodin <a href="https://x.com/Emilylgoodin/status/2055174015816474724">noted</a>. “We’re taking off shortly for America.”
Trump referenced the digital lockdown while speaking to reporters on Air Force One, when he noticed he was being filmed. 
“I heard you didn&#8217;t have cameras back here. In fact, I loved it,” Trump said. “I heard that you were shut out for two hours until we leave the airspace. But he&#8217;s got a camera. This guy never misses a trip. You better make me look good with that camera.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Chinese gifts TOSSED before boarding Air Force One" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hu5PEFkixSk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The State Department advises Americans to keep a low profile when traveling to China and not to take any photos of protests or police activity without permission. 
“Foreigners in the [People’s Republic of China], including but not limited to businesspeople, former foreign-government personnel, academics, relatives of PRC citizens involved in legal disputes, and journalists have been interrogated and detained by PRC officials for alleged violations of PRC national security laws,” the State Department said in a travel advisory. “The PRC has also interrogated, detained, and expelled U.S. citizens living and working in the PRC.”
China’s hacking efforts have become notorious in recent years, including a recent operation launching the first autonomous AI cyberattack against dozens of U.S. companies and government agencies earlier this fall, with artificial intelligence executing “80-90%” of operations at “physically impossible” speeds.
American officials said in December 2024 that they believe China successfully hacked the Treasury Department in what officials described as a “major cybersecurity incident.”

CHINA-US-DIPLOMACY

The Chinese Gifts Tossed Before Boarding Air Force One

Here's All Chinese Items Tossed Before Air Force One Took Off

Donald Trump

Espionage

hacking

Xi Agreed To This. Trump Just Told The World.

Trump Administration

For most high-ranking diplomats, a misprinted nameplate would be a minor annoyance or a subtle dig. For Marco Rubio, it&#8217;s a victory.
When the Secretary of State joined President Donald Trump for Thursday&#8217;s bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, his last name was slightly misspelled. The reason? Beijing has twice sanctioned Rubio and effectively barred him from entering the country. But Rubio is America&#8217;s top diplomat, and Trump would not have undertaken such a high-stakes state visit without him. So, the Chinese Communist Party devised a linguistic workaround to allow Rubio entry without formally lifting the sanctions.
Chinese Embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said this week that the sanctions targeted Rubio’s “words and deeds when he served as a U.S. senator concerning China.”
According to Garrett Exner, those words and deeds comprise a “remarkably clear-eyed&#8221; assessment of the CCP&#8217;s faults.
“Likely because of his Cuban background, Rubio sees communism for the evil it is and has no issue calling it out,” Exner, a fellow at the Hudson Institute, told The Daily Wire. “It is a win for President Trump that he forced China’s hand in changing their own rules to bring his Secretary of State.”
As a senator, Rubio was a leading critic of Beijing&#8217;s treatment of the Uyghur minority in the Xinjiang region and an outspoken supporter of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. For that and more, China brought the hammer down on Rubio in 2020 — something the then-Florida senator met with humor.
“Last month China banned me,” Rubio wrote at the time. “Today they sanctioned me. I don’t want to be paranoid but I am starting to think they don’t like me.”
Rubio&#8217;s joking tone in no way belies an unserious approach to China. While traveling to China aboard Air Force One, Rubio described Beijing as America’s top geopolitical rival and <a href="https://x.com/foxnews/status/2054668282288873637?s=46&amp;t=ghpHusspWPjTMisXwpsMaA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned</a> that it seeks to displace the United States as the world’s dominant power.
“It’s both our top political challenge geopolitically and it’s also the most important relationship for us to manage,” Rubio said. “It’s a big powerful country and it’s going to continue to grow.”
Rubio added that the United States and China will inevitably have conflicting interests but argued the relationship must still be managed carefully to avoid military conflict.
“We’re going to have interests of ours that are going to be in conflict with interests of theirs; to avoid wars and maintain peace and stability in the world, we’re gonna have to manage those,” Rubio said.
Years earlier, Rubio contrasted China with Russia, arguing that Chinese ambitions posed the more serious long-term threat.
“Under Putin, Russia is trying to undermine the U.S.,” Rubio <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1122829094956294149" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote in 2019</a>. “But Xi aims for China to displace us. Putin efforts must be addressed. But in the big picture Xi challenge is a far bigger threat.”
In another 2019 <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1118153016505507841" target="_blank" rel="noopener">X post</a>, Rubio wrote: “Problem isn’t people of China — it’s Xi govt economic cheating &amp; stealing &amp; human rights abuses.”
Rubio has also repeatedly singled out Chinese President Xi Jinping personally, arguing that Xi’s leadership has damaged China’s global standing through aggressive foreign policy, human rights abuses, and COVID-era secrecy.
In a 2020 <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1265608222414643200" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a>, Rubio wrote that “history will say Xi’s aggressiveness backfired &amp; inflicted tremendous damage on China globally,” citing the mass detention of Uyghurs, “Coronavirus coverups,” and the rise of China’s so-called “Wolf Warrior Diplomats.”
<h3>Rubio’s Long Campaign For Uyghurs</h3>
One of the primary reasons Beijing sanctioned Rubio was his outspoken criticism of China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region, which has included accusations of mass surveillance, persecution, arbitrary arrests, torture, forced labor, sexual violence, forced sterilization, and genocide. China has denied such abuses have taken place.
In 2020, Rubio <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1317059934551494657" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> that China’s actions amounted to “a systematic state sponsored crime against humanity.”
He later <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1319639154272161801" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pushed</a> the State Department to formally determine whether Beijing’s actions constituted genocide.
Rubio additionally introduced the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which was signed into law in 2021. The law blocks goods made with forced labor in Xinjiang from entering American markets.
Rubio also has a history of calling out American corporations he believed were benefiting from Chinese forced labor practices, <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1432422169666072576" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticizing Nike</a> in 2021 for selling products made by &#8220;600 Uyghurs in forced labor at the factory in Qingdao.&#8221; But the treatment of Uyghurs is not the only venue for Rubio&#8217;s vehement criticism of China.
<h3>Rubio Supported Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Protesters</h3>
Rubio emerged as one of the most vocal supporters of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019 and 2020, which were met with a brutal crackdown from the Chinese government.
At the time, Rubio repeatedly accused the Communist Party of violating its international commitments and dismantling the territory’s promised autonomy.
In May 2020, Rubio <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1263630684830171139" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blasted</a> Chinese officials after they accused him of placing “unjustifiable pressure” on China.
“Wrong,” Rubio responded. “China’s Communist Party is breaking its international commitments to respect Hong Kong’s autonomy &amp; democracy.”
Rubio also <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1838" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced</a> the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, legislation authorizing sanctions against Chinese and Hong Kong officials responsible for undermining freedoms in the territory. The bill received near-unanimous support in Congress.
In 2019, Rubio <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1161592939778334721" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> that Hong Kong was “a cautionary lesson for anyone thinking about any deal with them.”
“They signed a treaty promising autonomy &amp; democracy for Hong Kong,” Rubio said. “They will agree to anything to get a deal. But they have no intention of keeping those promises.”
In 2020, Rubio warned that the Chinese Communist Party “should never be trusted to keep any international agreement they enter into,” <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1263543790683504640" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arguing</a> that Beijing “will lie to get any deal” before ultimately doing “whatever they want” once it serves their interests.
<h3>Rubio Repeatedly Defended Taiwan</h3>
Throughout his career, Rubio has never shied away from one of the most contentious issues between the United States and China: Taiwan. Rubio has consistently defended Taiwan and rejected Beijing’s territorial claims over the self-governing island.
In 2020, Rubio warned that China would attempt to intimidate Taiwan through propaganda and psychological pressure.
“But they will fail,” Rubio <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1263075520360701954" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>. “Taiwan will not be scared into surrendering their liberty &amp; America stands with them.”
Rubio also pushed for stronger U.S. diplomatic engagement with Taiwan, including urging the Trump administration in 2019 to send a high-level American official to events marking the anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act.
“Taiwan faces unprecedented threats from China,” Rubio <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1102937750339239942" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>. “The U.S. must make our support clear.”
After Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Rubio also argued that the international community should support Taiwanese independence if China was willing to recognize Russian-backed separatist territories.
“Since China supports recognizing the independence of Russian puppets in Ukraine maybe it’s time the world supports the independence of the legitimate government of Taiwan,” Rubio <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1498825760924176391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> days after the invasion.
In October, Rubio reassured Taiwan supporters by saying the Trump administration would not negotiate away Taiwan’s future in exchange for a trade deal with Beijing.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t think you&#8217;re going to see some trade deal where, if what people are worried about is we&#8217;re going to get some trade deal or we&#8217;re going to get favorable treatment on trade in exchange for walking away from Taiwan,&#8221; Rubio <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/rubio-says-taiwan-should-not-be-concerned-about-us-china-talks-2025-10-25/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;No one is contemplating that.&#8221;
<h3>Rubio Fought For Truth On COVID</h3>
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rubio emerged as one of the leading voices demanding accountability from Beijing and investigating the origins of the virus.
In 2020, Rubio accused the Communist Party of politicizing the pandemic and exploiting the crisis “for publicity and profit.”
“It proves how they politicize everything because everything, even public health, is subservient to the party,” <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1250461554979594243" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rubio wrote</a>.
In a <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-Y4_IN8_19-PURL-gpo212742/pdf/GOVPUB-Y4_IN8_19-PURL-gpo212742.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lengthy report</a> released in 2022, Rubio pointed to evidence suggesting Chinese authorities may have known about a dangerous outbreak well before publicly acknowledging it in December 2019.
The report also argued there were signs of a possible “serious biocontainment failure or accident” involving the Wuhan Institute of Virology during the second half of 2019.
In a 2023 Fox News <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1649035485648388097" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a>, Rubio said that China does not want the world to know how COVID started.
“This probably was a lab leak accident. Someone got infected, it has now spread across the world and the totalitarian Communist government in China doesn’t want the world to know about it.”
In an <a href="https://senatormarcorubio.medium.com/the-chinese-communist-party-is-dangerous-deceptive-and-self-serving-d7fdc7cb4890#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">op-ed</a> the same year, Rubio argued that the COVID origins controversy was only one example of broader Chinese infiltration efforts targeting American institutions and corporations.
“The Chinese Communist Party is dangerous, deceptive, and self-serving,” Rubio wrote.
Rubio pointed to reports claiming CCP members were embedded inside major Western companies and called for legislation targeting Chinese influence operations, espionage efforts, and military cooperation loopholes.
<h3>Rubio Warned About Chinese Espionage In America</h3>
Rubio has repeatedly warned that the Chinese government was using students, researchers, and businesses to advance Beijing’s military and intelligence capabilities.
In 2020, Rubio praised moves targeting Chinese students allegedly involved in stealing American research.
“Good move to address China using some students at our universities to steal research &amp; advance military capabilities,” <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1265951910886019072" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rubio wrote</a> regarding Chinese graduate students being expelled if they have ties to China’s military schools.
At the same time, Rubio warned Americans not to direct hostility toward ordinary Chinese citizens.
“This must be addressed in a targeted way while rejecting xenophobia,” Rubio added. “Remember, China’s govt often entraps its own people into this.”
Rubio also pushed <a href="https://joewilson.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-joe-wilson-r-sc-and-senator-marco-rubio-r-fl-introduce-the" target="_blank" rel="noopener">legislation</a> aimed at exposing Chinese influence operations inside American universities.
In 2018, Marco Rubio introduced the Foreign Influence Transparency Act, which sought to require organizations such as Confucius Institutes to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act if they promoted the political agenda of a foreign government.
“This legislation aims to bring greater transparency to the activities of foreign governments operating in the United States,” Rubio said at the time, arguing the bill would strengthen foreign funding disclosure requirements for colleges and universities while closing loopholes that allowed Chinese government-linked entities to operate on more than 100 American campuses.
With even Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-takes-a-spontaneous-2028-presidential-straw-poll-vance-or-rubio" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stoking speculation</a> as to whether his Secretary of State will run for president in 2028, it&#8217;s clear that Rubio isn&#8217;t going anywhere. No doubt Beijing is thinking a lot about that.

Sanctioned By China, Marco Rubio Represents America In Beijing

Marco Rubio

Taiwan

Chinese officials have made life difficult for White House staffers, American journalists, and Secret Service agents as several chaotic scenes played out on Thursday in Beijing during President Trump&#8217;s visit to the communist nation.
In one incident, a Secret Service agent accompanying the White House press pool was denied entry into a secure area because he was carrying a firearm, which is standard protocol for Secret Service agents providing protection in foreign countries, The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/14/world-news/us-chinese-officials-in-shouting-and-shoving-matches-behind-scenes-of-trump-xi-summit/">reported</a>. Chinese officials would only allow the agent to move into the secure area if he handed over his firearm, resulting in a standoff and heated argument.
The standoff reportedly delayed the press pool for 30 minutes as they tried to reach Trump&#8217;s motorcade. A second agent who had already been allowed into the secure area came back to escort the journalists. The chaos was captured on the BBC&#8217;s live feed from the press pool.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Secret Service agent, Chinese security get into standoff during Trump visit" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3AVw69F2Flk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
As reporters were held back, multiple people expressed their frustration with the Chinese official, telling him, &#8220;We have to go!&#8221;
&#8220;U.S. press, we are going!&#8221; one woman said as the reporters finally pushed through.
One person was heard calling the incident a &#8220;sh*t show.&#8221;
As they moved toward the motorcade, more Chinese officials ran toward them to try to stop them, according to the Post. The American journalists, however, made it to the president&#8217;s convoy.
In a separate incident on Thursday, a female White House staffer was trampled by Chinese reporters as the reporters attempted to get into the room where Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were set to meet. The White House aide was reportedly bruised in the incident, but she didn&#8217;t sustain any major injuries.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-set-to-land-in-china-for-high-stakes-talks-with-xi?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Daily+Wire&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=LIVE+UPDATES%3A+Trump+And+Xi+Agree+Key+Oil+Chokepoint+Must+Remain+Open">FOLLOW LIVE UPDATES</a>
The messy scenes took place shortly after China rolled out the red carpet for President Trump with a showy welcome as Trump stepped off Air Force One on Wednesday night. Trump and Xi engaged in bilateral talks for much of Thursday before the U.S. President accompanied Xi to a banquet at the Great Hall of the People.
&#8220;It was a fantastic day,&#8221; Trump said during a speech at the banquet. &#8220;And in particular, I want to thank President Xi, my friend, for this magnificent welcome.&#8221;
&#8220;We had extremely positive and productive conversations and meetings today with the Chinese delegation earlier,&#8221; Trump added.
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Xi Holds Welcoming Ceremony For Trump

Secret Service Agent, Chinese Security Get Into Standoff During Trump Visit

Secret Service

Xi Jinping

NEW YORK, May 13 (Reuters) &#8211; A New York man was found guilty on Wednesday of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government after a trial over federal prosecutors&#8217; allegations that he operated a &#8220;secret police station&#8221; on behalf of Beijing in Manhattan&#8217;s Chinatown neighborhood.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said Lu Jianwang, 64, should have alerted the U.S. Attorney General that he was a Chinese agent when he helped open the so-called police station in 2022. They also said he helped China&#8217;s government locate a pro-democracy activist living in California.
Lu was arrested in April 2023. He had pleaded not guilty to the three felony charges he faced: conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent, acting as an unregistered agent of China, and obstruction of justice.
A jury in Brooklyn federal court reached the verdict after a weeklong trial. Lu faces up to 30 years in prison.
&#8220;May today’s verdict send a message to other foreign agents–the FBI maintains its unwavering resolve to reveal and disrupt the clandestine operations of adversarial nations,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle in an announcement of the verdict.
The Justice Department has in recent years been ramping up probes into what it calls &#8220;transnational repression&#8221; by U.S. adversaries such as China and Iran to intimidate political opponents living in the United States.
CHINA CALLS CHARGES FABRICATED
China&#8217;s government has called the charges in the case &#8220;fabricated&#8221; and part of an effort to smear the country&#8217;s image. Beijing has said there are centers outside China run by local volunteers, not Chinese police officers, that aim to help Chinese citizens renew documents and offer other services.
In her opening statement on May 6, prosecutor Lindsey Oken said Lu &#8211; a naturalized U.S. citizen &#8211; had ties with Chinese law enforcement and met with officials who tasked him with opening the station during a trip to China in 2022.
Oken said Lu ran the station out of a nondescript office building in Chinatown. She said he started out by helping Chinese nationals living in New York with renewing driver&#8217;s licenses, which alone is a crime if not disclosed to the U.S. government.
Oken said Lu also agreed to help the Chinese government locate a pro-democracy activist living in the United States. Prosecutors did not allege that the activist was harmed.
John Carman, a lawyer for Lu, said his client agreed to open the center to help Chinese nationals who were unable to travel to the country to renew documents due to the COVID pandemic. But Carman said Lu was not tasked by the Chinese government to do so.
A co-defendant arrested alongside Lu, Chen Jinping, pleaded guilty in 2024 to conspiring to act as an unregistered Chinese agent.
The arrests followed a 2022 investigation published by Spain-based advocacy group Safeguard Defenders that reported China had set up overseas &#8220;service stations,&#8221; including in New York, that illegally worked with Chinese police to pressure fugitives to return to China.
&nbsp;
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Additional reporting by Karen Sloan; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

FILE PHOTO: Lu Jianwang arrives at Brooklyn federal court during his trial in New York City

Chinese Agent Found Guilty In NYC ‘Secret Police Station’ Case

Communist China

New York

New York City

Police

President Donald Trump called Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and offered him a last-minute invite on his trip to China, a source familiar with the matter told the Daily Wire.
Hours after the call, Huang met the president in Alaska and boarded Air Force One. 
A Nvidia spokesperson said, “Jensen is attending the summit at the invitation of President Trump to support America and the administration&#8217;s goals.” Last week, Huang told CNBC host Jim Cramer, “If invited, it would be a privilege, it would be a great honor to represent the United States.”
Huang is one of several CEOs to join the trip. Seventeen top executives were <a href="https://x.com/mmcassella/status/2053868662562390065">reportedly</a> invited, with Cisco’s Chuck Robbins turning down the invite due to a conflict with the company’s quarterly earnings report.
CNBC initially <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/12/nvidia-ceo-huang-trump-china-trip-chip-sales.html">reported</a> on Tuesday that Huang was not invited to the trip. A source familiar with the matter confirmed to the Daily Wire that the executive was not invited until later. 
However, President Trump called out the network via <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116565066757116256">Truth Social</a> Tuesday night. “CNBC incorrectly reported that the great Jensen Huang, of Nvidia, was not invited to the incredible gathering of the world’s greatest businessmen/women proudly going to China,” the president wrote. “In actuality, Huang is currently on Air Force One and, unless I ask him to leave, which is highly unlikely, CNBC’s reporting is incorrect or, as they say in politics, fake news.” 
Trump says he will be asking President Xi to “open up China so that these brilliant people [CEOs traveling with Trump] can work their magic.” 
In the past, Huang has lobbied the Trump administration to allow Nvidia to sell chips to China. While Nvidia is not permitted to sell its Blackwell chips, the company’s most advanced chips, Trump loosened export controls to allow for sales of Nvidia’s H200s. 
Critics of an anti-open stance toward China argue that such a policy will incentivize the country to build competing AI processors. Skeptics argue American AI chips could help China’s military to weaponize software against the United States. 
It is unclear how much control over exports will be the focus of President Trump’s summit with Xi. On the docket for the trip, conversations surrounding tariffs, trade practices, and China’s relationship with Iran appear to take precedence.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang

Trump Gives China-Friendly CEO Last Minute Invite To Beijing

Artificial Intelligence

CNBC

In a very literal sense, Taiwan is moving westward toward China, and there’s nothing that can be done about it. The tectonic plates that have shifted over millions of years, creating the island’s mountain terrain, are also driving it slowly and irrevocably toward the mainland. That notoriously craggy terrain is expected to act as a deterrent to any attack from the People’s Liberation Army from across the Taiwan Strait, a lane of the Pacific which runs as narrow as 100 miles and for the most part shallower than 100 meters. For the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan lies just out of reach. It is the military equivalent of skipping a smooth rock.
Taiwan’s position as a locus of China’s ambitions go beyond the temptation of seizing hold of the island’s burgeoning chip industry. It is the path to becoming a true ocean-ruling power, breaking out of the chain of Western-allied archipelagos that run along the Pacific Ring of Fire. To extend the PLA’s untested forces and grasp Taiwan isn’t just a matter of national pride to further the One China policy. It is a giant step toward the global dominance China’s leader, Xi Jinping, wants to transform into an inevitability — his lifetime’s legacy for the PRC.
For critics who have questioned the interests of the United States in its military support for Taiwan, the explosion of the semiconductor industry came at an unfortunate time. Beyond the obvious American interest in defending against the expansion of China’s brutal communist regime, Taiwan is now dominating the global foundry of chips — including more than 60 percent of the market overall, and 90 percent of the most advanced versions, central to the pursuit of artificial intelligence dominance. Taiwan&#8217;s innovations made their independence essential at exactly the same time protectionists and isolationists wanted to press the case the island is utterly dispensible.
How very inconvenient.
The question that confronts Donald Trump now as he wings his way to the long-anticipated meeting with Xi Jinping is how clearly he will make that importance known. There is no security, market, or historical incentive at this point to concede the long-held position of the United States toward Taiwan — bolstered most recently in a December package that included $11 billion in weapons for the island. But there is the question of how dedicated the Taiwanese are to their own defense, after the opposition to Taiwan’s president — who holds the largest portion of legislative seats — nixed a major package that would’ve significantly increased their defense spending, opting for a half measure that cut back on domestic drone production and their air defense systems. The opposition’s leader, Cheng Li-wun, has courted accusations that she’s working to diminish the island’s deterrence capability — a storyline that only grew after she chose to <a href="https://breakingdefense.com/2026/05/taiwans-parliament-passes-pared-back-supplementary-defense-budget/">meet</a> with Xi Jinping in person last month.
For the people of Taiwan, there is also the question of time. Opposition to the acceptance of China taking over their republic is largely the view of older members of society, and the youngest people on the island seem increasingly open to the idea. The constant influence of PRC-backed social media campaigns and outreach efforts to exert soft power over the minds of youths absolutely has something to do with this. For a population that is facing a gargantuan decline — their fertility rate fell to the lowest in the world last year at 0.7 — perhaps all China will have to do is wait them out.
The PRC has telegraphed its Taiwan-related intent for this meeting all along. It wants to tempt Donald Trump by appealing to his personal vision as a peacemaker — particularly in the context of the Iran conflict — by asking for an alteration to stated U.S. policy, or just to have the president declare publicly that he opposes Taiwan’s independence. The propaganda victory alone would send a shudder through the island’s political leadership and would be a coup for Xi Jinping, even if it may seem like a low-cost offering from President Trump for potential economic gain.
In this context, the meeting this week takes on a whole new importance when it comes to dictating the future — not just for AI in the West, but for Donald Trump’s legacy as a world leader. He has restored a hardened focus on America’s interests, particularly in the Western Hemisphere. As dedicated as he is to ending Iran’s chances at becoming a nuclear power, some of his advisors might use that effort’s uncertainty as a justification for sacrificing America’s interests in Taiwan.
If there’s one thing we know about this president, it’s that, as much as he listens to those around him, he keeps his own counsel on the right path forward. There is no wisdom in being remembered as the president who gave China what it craves most. And in a brutal sense, so long as the PRC’s energy is directed at this one infuriatingly productive mountainous island the size of West Virginia, it is spending less time on everything else it would like to do to become the global superpower of Xi Jinping’s dreams. Trump is a gambler, wagering the cost of breaking norms and diplomatic rituals on his, and America’s, strength. Today, that is a cost worth paying.

TOPSHOT-TAIWAN-SKOREA-US-CHINA-DIPLOMACY

Trump Holds The Future Of Taiwan In His Hands

Foreign Policy

President Donald Trump’s high-stakes trip to China this week comes as the ongoing conflict with Iran threatens to complicate already fragile relations between Washington and Beijing. 
While trade is expected to dominate talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, U.S. officials are also pressing China to use its leverage over Tehran as the situation escalates.
China remains the largest buyer of Iranian oil, giving Beijing significant influence at a time when Iran&#8217;s actions in the Strait of Hormuz are impacting global energy markets. Attacks on commercial vessels in the area have raised concerns of broader disruptions.
Following Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi&#8217;s trip to China last week to meet his Chinese counterpart, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he hopes Beijing will privately pressure Iran to stop threatening shipping routes. 
“I hope the Chinese tell him what he needs to be told, and that is that what you are doing in the straits is causing you to be globally isolated,&#8221; Rubio said. &#8220;You’re the bad guy in this, you guys should not be blowing up ships, you should not be putting mines, you should not be trying to hold hostage the global economy.”  
Rubio argued that China’s export-driven economy would ultimately suffer if Iran continues disrupting global trade routes and energy flows. 
Despite those concerns, the Trump administration, which had long anticipated this meeting, is walking a fine line to keep the Iran conflict from derailing broader negotiations with Beijing.
Trump sought to downplay the issue shortly before departing for China on Tuesday, telling reporters he expects to discuss “a lot of things” with Xi but does not believe Iran will be a major topic of conversation. Trump added that he has Iran “very much under control.”
Still, administration officials have made clear that they do not want the Iran conflict to overshadow the broader relationship with Beijing.
“We don’t want this to be something that derails the broader relationship or the agreements that might come out of our meeting in Beijing,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said last week, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-xi-iran-sanctions-trade-48b0ca751712ce473ffcd207997928af">according to the Associated Press</a>.
Despite the effort, tensions over Iran have continued to escalate. 
Last week, the State and Treasury Departments announced new sanctions targeting Chinese and Iranian entities accused of supporting Tehran’s military and weapons programs, including firms tied to satellite imagery used in strikes against U.S. forces during Operation Epic Fury.
The sanctions targeted companies connected to Iran’s procurement networks for drones and ballistic missile components, with U.S. officials warning the administration is determined to prevent Tehran from rebuilding military capabilities damaged during recent American and Israeli strikes.
Beijing condemned the move as “illegal unilateral pressure” and activated a blocking statute that bars Chinese entities from complying with certain foreign sanctions.
During Araghchi’s trip to Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi defended Iran’s right to maintain a civilian nuclear energy program. The Trump administration believes Iran has for years sought to pursue a nuclear weapon under the camouflage of a civilian nuclear program.
The economic stakes for Beijing are significant. Roughly 45% to 50% of China’s crude oil imports pass through the Strait of Hormuz, and more than half of China’s crude oil and nearly one-third of its liquefied natural gas imports came from the Middle East in 2025, <a href="https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/implications-of-the-conflict-in-the-middle-east-for-chinas-energy-security/">according to Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy</a>.
Official Chinese government data shows approximately 42% of China’s crude imports come from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates. Analysts <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/chinas-heavy-reliance-iranian-oil-imports-2026-01-13/">estimate</a> that another 12% comes from Iran, despite Beijing officially reporting no Iranian imports since 2022, as much of the oil travels through Iran’s sanctioned “dark fleet,” which uses disguised shipping methods and falsified tracking data to evade U.S. sanctions.
“Xi is increasingly exposed. China remains heavily dependent on energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz while facing slowing growth, pressure on industrial production, and major investments at risk inside Iran,” Rich Goldberg, a former Trump administration official and senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told The Daily Wire. 
“At the same time, U.S. energy exports are pulling Asian importers into longer-term strategic alignment with Washington. Beijing has a great deal riding on what Trump chooses to do next,” Goldberg added.
Reports that China was considering selling surface-to-air missiles to Iran also raised alarm in Washington because the systems could potentially threaten U.S. helicopters and aircraft operating over Iranian territory. Beijing denied the reports and warned it would respond to additional U.S. penalties.
The United States has increasingly targeted those networks as part of a broader effort to economically isolate Tehran both through sanctions and the blockade. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has reportedly threatened secondary sanctions on Chinese banks tied to Iranian accounts.
Despite those pressures, analysts say China still has substantial short-term energy reserves that could help cushion disruptions in Gulf shipping routes. According to geospatial analytics firm Kayrros, China currently has roughly 1.39 billion barrels of oil in storage — enough to cover around 120 days of net crude imports at current levels.
Still, experts warn that those reserves are not a long-term solution if the conflict intensifies or the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted. Smaller Chinese “teapot refineries,” many of which rely heavily on discounted Iranian crude, could face pressure first because of thin profit margins and dependence on cheap imports.
The conflict has also complicated China’s broader relationships throughout the Middle East. 
After the United States and Israel launched strikes during Operation Epic Fury, Iran responded with rocket and drone attacks targeting multiple countries, including Bahrain, Cyprus, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates — many of the same countries Beijing relies on for trade and energy imports.
In Kuwait, officials recently accused an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps team of attacking Bubiyan Island, where China is helping fund the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port project. Kuwaiti officials said the armed group clashed with security personnel before being apprehended, leaving one Kuwaiti servicemember injured. Kuwait condemned the incident as a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty and warned that it reserved the right to self-defense.
That has left China attempting to balance ties with both Tehran and its regional rivals while avoiding becoming too publicly involved in ceasefire negotiations. Analysts say Beijing has deliberately kept a relatively low diplomatic profile in order to avoid blame if negotiations collapse.
Trump’s meetings in Beijing are now expected to test whether China is willing to use its economic leverage over Tehran, or whether the war with Iran is becoming another major flashpoint in the growing rivalry between Washington and Beijing.

XI and Trump

Trump’s Beijing Showdown Comes With A Dangerous Wildcard

Iran

Operation Epic Fury

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