Owners of NBA teams have a collective $10 billion invested in China, according to a new report released Thursday.
The NBA has been frequently criticized for doing business with China while refusing to speak against a myriad of issues plaguing the communist nation — including repression of ethnic minorities like the Uyghurs — even as coaches and star athletes lambast the United States for systemic racism. Now, a <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33938932/nba-owners-mum-china-relationship-more-10-billion-invested-there">new analysis from ESPN</a> found that the league’s 40 principal owners “collectively have more than $10 billion tied up in China.”
“The owners&#8217; myriad ties to the world&#8217;s second-largest economy leave their businesses vulnerable if they get on the wrong side of the Chinese government or the public there,” the analysis found.
ESPN commissioned Strategy Risks — a firm that quantifies companies’ exposure to China — which discovered that there are two primary ways that team owners find themselves financially tied to the Chinese economy. On one hand, “China has grown so large that it contributes significantly to the value of each team.” On the other, “many NBA owners also have substantial financial interests in China through their other businesses.”
Most notably, Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai — who co-founded Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba — has 53.5% of his net worth tied to China. Meanwhile, it is estimated that Sacramento Kings co-owner Paul Jacobs has over 30% of his net worth linked to the nation. Jacobs — the former CEO of Qualcomm — has over $200 million in shares of the technology company, which earned two-thirds of its total annual revenues from China and Hong Kong last year.
Memphis Grizzlies owner Robert Pera has an estimated $369 million of exposure to China through Ubiquiti, a wireless equipment manufacturer of which he is the founder and majority shareholder. Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta has an estimated $160 million in exposure through Landry’s, a restaurant chain that generates about $57 million annually in China. 
Charlotte Hornets owner and former NBA superstar Michael Jordan also has extensive Chinese business ties. 
“In 2020, Jordan and his brand pledged $100 million to the social justice movement in the United States,” ESPN reported. “The NBA committed $300 million, and other owners, including Tsai, made similar donations.”
Many NBA principal owners — such as the Philadelphia 76ers’ Joshua Harris — find themselves heavily linked to the Chinese economy through their investments in private equity and venture capital firms. &#8220;As the Chinese financial sector has increasingly opened to foreign investment in recent years, these firms are becoming more exposed to China by acquiring direct or indirect ownership stakes in Chinese companies,&#8221; Strategy Risks said.
Indeed, the NBA has made several overtures to the American social justice movement while remaining quiet on the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Chinese Community Party — which, as the gatekeeper of the Chinese economy, is quick to expel entities that object to its totalitarian agenda.
Former Boston Celtics player Enes Kanter Freedom — who grew up under heavy political repression in Turkey — has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/enes-kanter-slams-professional-sports-leagues-for-not-speaking-out-on-china-theyre-scared">blasted the NBA</a> for refusing to speak out about Chinese atrocities because they are “scared.”
“You know, you see, there’s so many athletes, so many actors, you know, so many singers and rappers out there,” Kanter told Fox News last year. “They’re scared. They’re scared to say a word because they care too much about their money. They care too much about their endorsement deals. They care too much about what the teams that they play for are going to say. But, you know, they should know one thing: It should be morals and principles over money. It shouldn’t be the opposite way.”

Los Angeles Lakers v Brooklyn Nets – NBA China Games 2019

NBA Owners Have $10 Billion Invested In China, Report Finds

40 NBA Owners Have $10 Billion Invested In China

China

Dr. Enver Tohti, a former physician in China, remembers the day with horror. The whistleblower said his chief surgeon approached him and asked, “Do you want to do something wild?” The surgeon then took Dr. Tohti and other medical professionals to the site of a public execution, pointed to one of the criminals, and told him, “As quick as possible, remove the liver and two kidneys.” 
“Then, I saw he was alive,” Dr. Tohti, who is now an Uber driver in London, recently <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH0F75tpD_A">told</a> Vice TV. 
Stories of China harvesting organs from live “donors” have proliferated for decades, but a new and credible scholarly article has exposed concrete evidence that China has engaged in the gruesome practice. Researchers Matthew P. Robertson of Australia and Jacob Lavee of Israel combed through 2,838 papers on Chinese organ transplantation published in medical journals, covering prisoner organ donations between 1980 and 2015. They <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ajt.16969">published</a> their findings on April 4 in an article titled “<a href="https://victimsofcommunism.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/AJT-Execution-by-organ-procurement.pdf">Execution by organ procurement: Breaching the dead donor rule in China</a>,” in the American Journal of Transplantation, a peer-reviewed journal. 
The pair looked for discrepancies between donors being declared “brain dead” and the circumstances of their medical treatment. According to the paper, in Western medicine one can only be declared brain dead after intubation and receiving the apnea test on a ventilator. In dozens of cases in China, they found that that did not take place. 
“The removal of the heart during organ procurement must have been the proximate cause of the donor&#8217;s death” in cases documented in 71 papers, they wrote.
In at least one case, “intubation took place after sternal incision as surgeons examined the beating heart” of the “donor.” (Emphasis in original.) They quote an account from a 1995 journal article: 
<blockquote>The donor was intravenously injected with heparin 3mg/kg 1h before the operation… The heartbeat was weak and the myocardium was purple. After assisted ventilation through tracheal intubation, the myocardium turned red and the heartbeat turned strong… The donor heart was extracted with an incision from the 4th intercostal sternum… This incision is a good choice for field operation where the sternum cannot be sawed open without power.</blockquote>
Robertson told me it is important that the media not misreport their data about live organ transplants. “It&#8217;s not that there were only 71 of this sort,” he said. “It&#8217;s 71 that we found.” 
He and his co-author are almost certainly undercounting the incidences when CCP officials killed prisoners by removing their beating hearts, because they counted only those officially documented in medical journals. “We don’t know how many transplants actually end up in a medical paper,” said Robertson. “It could be one in 100; it could be one in 1,000; it could be 1 in 10.” 
Hard numbers are difficult to come by, but estimates abound — and none of the numbers add up. In 2019, the China Tribunal <a href="https://chinatribunal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ChinaTribunal_JUDGMENT_1stMarch_2020.pdf">found</a> that Chinese physicians likely performed 60,000 to 90,000 organ transplants a year from 2000 to 2014, but the number of eligible organ donors registered in 2017 numbered only 5,146. Another estimate places the number of organs taken from Falun Gong practitioners at <a href="http://www.david-kilgour.com/2015/speech_04212015.pdf">41,500</a> over a five-year period. For his part, Robertson said once Chinese Communist Party officials perfected the process, they employed this form of organ removal “probably with all heart transplants” in the nation.
Allegations of Chinese Communist organ harvesting stretch back decades. U.S. congressional hearings on the topic go back as far as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/24/nyregion/us-says-2-chinese-offered-organs-from-the-executed.html">1998</a>. At a subsequent House hearing in 2012, representatives described how Chinese Communist Party officials ordered organs from prisoners the way others order hors d’oeuvres off a menu. “They were able to put in the order, and then the wardens at various prisons would fill that order,” <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-112hhrg75859/html/CHRG-112hhrg75859.htm">said</a> pro-life Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ). Between U.S. hearings, the United Nations broached the topic in <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/06/china-un-human-rights-experts-alarmed-organ-harvesting-allegations?LangID=E&amp;NewsID=27167">2006 and 2007</a>, but to no avail. 
All investigators agree that China targets prisoners for such organ donations — many of whom are imprisoned because of their faith. “The Chinese Communist Party has engaged the State in the mass killings of innocents, primarily practitioners of the spiritually-based set of exercises, Falun Gong, but also Uyghurs, Tibetans, and select House Christians, in order to obtain organs for transplants,” David Matas, a senior legal counsel for B’nai Brith Canada, <a href="https://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA16/20160623/105116/HHRG-114-FA16-Wstate-MatasD-20160623.pdf">told</a> Congress in 2016. 
Last June, a group of UN experts warned organ harvesting from disfavored minorities continues apace. “Forced organ harvesting in China appears to be targeting specific ethnic, linguistic or religious minorities held in detention,” they <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/06/china-un-human-rights-experts-alarmed-organ-harvesting-allegations?LangID=E&amp;NewsID=27167">wrote</a>. They found that Chinese officials performed blood tests and organ examinations on the prisoners (who were often held without charges) then logged the results in a database of living organ donors. 
&#8220;They performed three blood tests but gave me no results,” <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/china-falun-gong-harvesting-human-organs-huge-scale/3390235.html">said</a> Falun Gong practitioner Ma Chunmei, who was imprisoned in 2002. “After I was released from the camp, one of [the Falun] practitioners, who happened to be a doctor, told me they were doing a bone marrow test to see if my kidney was a match.&#8221;
The healthy lifestyle of religious practitioners, who eschew alcohol and cigarettes, makes their unsullied organs particularly valuable for transplantation. During testing, only bad news brings good news. Falun Gong adherent Jennifer Zeng <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/organ-harvesting-china-survivors-victims">said</a> she escaped forced organ donation in a Chinese labor camp only because she had Hepatitis C. But sometimes ill health does not spare prisoners, or the organ’s recipients, from the death penalty. A 14-year-old girl from Saudi Arabia <a href="http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA16/20160623/105116/HHRG-114-FA16-Wstate-DelmonicoF-20160623.pdf">died</a> after she received a tainted kidney transplant from a Chinese prisoner in exchange for $200,000, according to testimony offered by a Harvard Medical School professor at a congressional hearing in 2016. 
Unfortunately, the West does not have clean hands. Reports of Westerners traveling to China for illicit organ transplants proliferate. Also, “plastinated body parts from China have been sold to medical schools and universities throughout the Western world,” said Matas. 
Indeed, the United States has made the problem worse by exporting medical technology to Beijing. The U.S. has sold China extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machines, which prolong the amount of time human organs can be harvested. “Before ECMO, a victim’s few salvageable organs were worth maybe $250,000,” <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/06/01/chinese-dissidents-are-being-executed-for-their-organs-former-hospital-worker-says/">wrote</a> Stephen Mosher of the <a href="https://pop.org/">Population Research Institute</a>. “Now, with ECMO, every organ can be harvested — even the skin — and the victim is easily worth two or three times as much.” 
China officially denies these allegations and publicly claims it put an end to any disreputable organ donation practices in 2015. Robertson admitted that “2015 is the last year we had positive findings” for live human organ transplants in their data sample. “There are two possible explanations,” he told me. While it is possible that China kept its word, “it’s also possible that an order went out to medical journals to stop publishing this stuff, and it just happened to coincide with the 2015 ban.” 
“We’re skeptical of official claims,” he said.
Such well-founded allegations illustrate that China may commit virtually any human rights abuse with impunity. Despite decades of eyewitness testimony and expert confirmation, the West has applied no meaningful sanctions to those responsible. Under Pope Francis, even the Vatican has maintained and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/06/vatican-defends-inviting-chinese-ex-minister-huang-jiefu-to-organ-trafficking-talks">publicly defended</a> its cordial relations with Communist China.
These allegations also illustrate the legacy media’s perpetually favorable coverage of the People’s Republic of China. “China used to harvest organs from prisoners. Under pressure, that practice is finally ending,” The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/in-the-face-of-criticism-china-has-been-cleaning-up-its-organ-transplant-industry/2017/09/14/d689444e-e1a2-11e6-a419-eefe8eff0835_story.html">told</a> its readers in 2017. “China vows to battle corruption in organ harvesting,” <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/organ-transplants-china-1.3808084">reported</a> the Associated Press a year earlier. But human rights attorney Hamid Sabi told the UN Human Rights Council in 2019 that forced organ harvesting in China “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-rights-organ-harvesting/u-n-urged-to-investigate-organ-harvesting-in-china-idUSKBN1W92FL">continues today</a>.” 
Such silence makes it all the more important for Western media outlets to cover these atrocities. “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-enemy-within-how-americas-elites-sold-us-out-to-china">China and their advocates</a> will do everything they can to belittle or discredit” such findings, said Andrew Bremberg, a former ambassador and now CEO of <a href="https://victimsofcommunism.org/">Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation</a>. “And all too often, people in the U.S. and the West will do their best to ignore” them. 
But in order for such human rights abuses to end, the West must act. Thanks to Robertson and Lavee’s research, some of the doctors who took part in China’s forced organ harvesting are now known, Bremberg said. “But we don&#8217;t know all of their relationships with U.S. or other Western-based hospitals or universities, or whether they collaborate or publish with other Western academics.”
A bipartisan collection of legislators — Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Chris Coons (D-DE) and Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), and Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) — introduced the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act last March. The bill would <a href="https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/bipartisan-legislation-to-combat-forced-organ-harvesting-introduced-in-senate-and-house">allow</a> U.S. officials to identify and sanction those involved in organ harvesting, including revoking their passports. 
“It’s past time to hold Beijing accountable for these heinous acts,” said Sen. Cotton.
The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

‘He Was A Live Donor’: For The First Time, We Have Proof Of China’s Organ Harvesting Operation

Readers Pass

President Joe Biden claimed from the debate stage that his embattled son Hunter Biden &#8220;has not made money&#8221; from business deals with China — but an NBC News report published Thursday suggests that is not true, and that Hunter made millions between 2013 and 2018.
&#8220;My son has not made money in terms of this thing about — what are you talking about — China,&#8221; Biden insisted during a debate with former President Donald Trump, who repeatedly attempted to change the topic to Hunter&#8217;s alleged foreign business dealings.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Joe Biden in 2020 insisted Hunter “has not made money” from China.
Hunter actually made millions, starting when Joe was VP. Joe Biden lied. <a href="https://t.co/nL03U21ysX">pic.twitter.com/nL03U21ysX</a>
&mdash; Tommy Pigott (@TommyPigott) <a href="https://twitter.com/TommyPigott/status/1527278895833452544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 19, 2022</a></blockquote>
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But NBC <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/analysis-hunter-bidens-hard-drive-shows-firm-took-11-million-2013-2018-rcna29462">now says otherwise</a>, based on a thorough review of Hunter Biden&#8217;s hard drive and iCloud account as well as a number of documents that were released by Republicans on two separate Senate committees exploring the issue.
&#8220;From 2013 through 2018 Hunter Biden and his company brought in about $11 million via his roles as an attorney and a board member with a Ukrainian firm accused of bribery and his work with a Chinese businessman now accused of fraud,&#8221; NBC reports, adding, &#8220;The documents and the analysis, which don’t show what he did to earn millions from his Chinese partners, raise questions about national security, business ethics and potential legal exposure.&#8221;
And while the report sheds some light on the ongoing federal investigation into Hunter Biden, it also reveals more details about the <a href="http://dailywire.com/news/new-hunter-biden-emails-tout-access-to-white-house-china/">massive payouts</a> he took from China — payouts that President Joe Biden denied ever happened.
In the space of five years (2013-2018), Biden inked two deals with Chinese business interests for a total of $5.8 million — which accounted for more than half of the $11 million he brought in during that time.
&#8220;Biden’s most lucrative business relationship was acting as a consultant in a project with a company that belongs to a once-powerful Chinese businessman who is now thought to be detained in his homeland,&#8221; NBC reported. &#8220;According to business records referred to in the Senate report, Hudson West III, a venture funded by the Chinese oil and natural gas company CEFC and its chairman, Ye Jianming, paid $4,790,375.25 to Owasco P.C. over about one year.&#8221;
Owasco P.C., according to filings in Washington, D.C., was controlled by Hunter Biden.
Ye Jianming was accused of &#8220;economic crimes&#8221; by Chinese prosecutors in 2018, and he has not been seen in public since he was arrested and taken for questioning on reported charges of fraud and bribery.
According to the documents, Hunter Biden also did some work for an associate of Ye Jianming named Patrick Ho — who served three years in a U.S. prison for attempting to bribe officials to the tune of $2 million. Owasco P.C. received a $1 million payment that was listed as &#8220;Dr Patrick Ho Chi Ping Representation.&#8221; Ho was deported from the U.S. after serving his time.

World Food Program USA’s Annual McGovern-Dole Leadership Award Ceremony

Joe Biden Claimed Hunter Did Not Make Money From China — NBC Says Otherwise, Brings Receipts

Joe Biden Claimed Hunter Did Not Make Money From China — NBC Report Says Otherwise

2020 Election

Communist China

Hunter Biden

Joe Biden

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk issued a warning on Monday about the rising economic power of China — and how the United States can remain competitive.
During an interview with the “All In” podcast, the world’s richest man said that Americans must “stop the infighting” amid the growing hegemony of China.
&#8220;What we’re going to see with China, for the first time that anyone can remember who is alive, is an economy that is twice the size of the U.S., possibly three times the size of the U.S., and it’s going to be very weird living in that world,&#8221; Musk explained, as reported by <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/elon-musk-tesla-warns-us-stop-punching-ourselves-face-compete-china">Fox Business</a>. &#8220;So, we better stop the infighting in the U.S. and stop punching ourselves in the face. There’s way too much of America punching itself in the damn face, it’s just dumb, and think about, hey, &#8216;We gotta be competitive here.’”
With $23 trillion in economic output last year, the United States presently <a href="https://www.bea.gov/news/2022/gross-domestic-product-fourth-quarter-and-year-2021-second-estimate#:~:text=Current%2Ddollar%20GDP%20increased%2010.1,(tables%201%20and%203).">boasts</a> the world’s largest economy. However, China — which <a href="https://www.china-briefing.com/news/chinas-2021-gdp-performance-a-look-at-major-provinces-and-cities/">boasts</a> a $17.7 trillion economy and has <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/china/overview#1">averaged</a> 10% annual GDP growth since 1978 — continues to expand its consumer sector and draw attention from businesses in the Western world.
&#8220;There’s a new kid on the block that’s going to be two to three times our size,” Musk warned. “We better step up our game and stop infighting.&#8221;
Amid the rise of China, Musk urged American businesses to stand down from political controversies. &#8220;The point of a company is to produce useful products and services for your fellow human beings,&#8221; Musk said. &#8220;It is not some political gathering place.&#8221;
Indeed, Musk has formerly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-condemns-rising-woke-trend-in-corporate-america">condemned</a> American companies’ efforts to make businesses more “socially conscious” — including Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), an investment and management philosophy that seeks to promote progressive causes in addition to maximizing shareholder returns.
Earlier this year, when software entrepreneur Marc Andreessen criticized ESG funds’ willingness to “make the weapons required to fight wars with hostile regimes we buy energy from” and simultaneous refusal to invest in energy companies, Musk pointed out that “ESG rules have been twisted into insanity.”
Musk, an independent voter, also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-announces-hes-switching-to-vote-republican">revealed</a> that he will begin to branch out and support Republican candidates. “I have voted overwhelmingly for Democrats, historically,” Musk acknowledged. “Like I’m not sure, I might never have voted for a Republican, just to be clear. Now this election I will.”
The billionaire has also been highly critical of President Joe Biden. After the commander-in-chief’s State of the Union address in March, for instance, Musk called <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-hits-joe-biden-hard-after-state-of-the-union">attention</a> to Biden’s decision to ignore Tesla in favor of Ford and GM’s new electric vehicle ventures.
“Ford is investing $11B to build electric vehicles — creating 11,000 jobs across the country,” read a post from Biden’s Twitter account as the State of the Union speech concluded. “GM is making the largest investment in its history — $7B to build electric vehicles, creating 4,000 jobs in Michigan.”
“Tesla has created over 50,000 US jobs building electric vehicles &amp; is investing more than double GM + Ford combined,” the billionaire entrepreneur responded as an “fyi to person controlling this twitter.”

Elon Musk

‘We Gotta Be Competitive Here’: Elon Musk Issues Dire Warning About The Rise Of China, Pushes Back Against Corporate Wokeness

Elon Musk Warns About China's Rise: 'There's A New Kid On The Block'

Economics

Economy

United States

A Boeing 737-800 that plunged vertically into a mountain range in China earlier this year was intentionally crashed by someone in the cockpit, U.S. officials say.
The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-eastern-black-box-points-to-intentional-nosedive-11652805097?mod=hp_lead_pos2">reported</a> Tuesday that flight data from the plane&#8217;s black box &#8220;indicates someone in the cockpit intentionally crashed&#8221; the China Eastern Airlines plane back in May.
A person familiar with the assessment from U.S. officials said that “the plane did what it was told to do by someone in the cockpit.”
The assessment from U.S. officials also relies on the fact that Chinese authorities have not indicated that there were any mechanical or technical issues with the plane that could have contributed to the crash.
&#8220;Neither Boeing Co. nor air-safety regulators have been working on any service bulletins or safety directives stemming from the crash,&#8221; the report added. &#8220;Such messages would be used if authorities believed there was a need to alert airlines and pilots to problems the flight crew encountered in the accident or detail needed fixes to the aircraft.&#8221;
While officials have turned their focus to the actions of the pilots, the report cautioned that officials have left open the possibility that someone broke into the cockpit and crashed the plane.
The plane had been cruising at just over 29,000 feet on March 21st when it then plunged more than 20,000 feet in under a minute before later slamming into the ground. All 132 people on board the flight were killed in the crash.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
A Boeing 737 has crashed in China with 132 people on board. 
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for an &quot;all-out effort&quot; in rescue operations for the passengers and for any safety hazards to be investigated.<a href="https://t.co/kNtjxwrjTG">https://t.co/kNtjxwrjTG</a> <a href="https://t.co/W7x92XA4wr">pic.twitter.com/W7x92XA4wr</a>
&mdash; USA TODAY (@USATODAY) <a href="https://twitter.com/USATODAY/status/1505918402061287431?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The report did not give any indication as to whether investigators were looking at the incident as potential act of terrorism or a suicidal individual.
The South China Morning Post, which is owned by the Chinese Alibaba Group, reported back in March that the flight data “depicted a battle for control of China Eastern Airlines flight” as the plane had temporarily recovered altitude followed by a second nosedive that took the plane straight into the ground.
Australian aviation expert Neil Hansford noted at the time that even if the plane had suffered a total loss of power that &#8220;no aircraft plummets to the ground from 20,000 feet in two minutes with an event at 8,000 feet.&#8221;
“I think aircraft technical failure can be ruled out and it will be an external event … I would get on a Boeing 737-800 in an instant with an Australian carrier, so my suggestion would be it won’t be Boeing or aircraft technical related,” he said. “It is very unlikely the pilot passed out as the non-flying pilot would have been able to very safely take over the flying and land the aircraft.”
He said that pilot suicide was among the leading likely causes of the crash.
U.K. aviation expert Sally Gethin said that she believed that &#8220;there had already been a catastrophic incident on board for it to be able to drop so dramatically in that way.&#8221;
This report has been updated to include additional information.

Boeing 777-300ER Airplane

Boeing 737 That Nosedived Into Ground Was ‘Intentionally Crashed,’ Report Says

China Eastern Airlines Plane That Crashed In May Was 'Intentionally Crashed,' U.S. Officials Say

Boeing

Plane Crash

Several major U.S. defense contractors have been linked to the Chinese government, according to a new report.
A new <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/us-defense-contractors-china-ties">report</a> from Fox News reveals that three of America’s most prominent defense contractors have ties with firms connected to the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/china">Chinese government</a>, which critics say present a number of challenges to national security.
The report says that Raytheon, Boeing, and Bell Flight “maintain relationships” with firms connected to the Chinese government. Some consultants have pointed out that doing business with Chinese government linked entities entails a variety of risks.
“Doing a relatively significant amount of business in China changes the risk profile now more than ever for any U.S. company, whether for compliance, cyber, reputation, security or other risks,&#8221; Isaac Fish, CEO of Strategy Risks, told Fox.
Fish added that companies should keep in mind the possible danger of “exposure” to the Chinese Communist Party.
&#8220;Those risks are particularly critical for companies that safeguard U.S. national defense and security,&#8221; Fish added. &#8220;U.S. defense contractors need to better understand their risk exposure to China and the Chinese Communist Party, so they can reduce their China risks to better serve the needs of the U.S. military and national security.&#8221;
Pratt &amp; Whitney (P&amp;W) and Collins Aerospace Systems, both subsidiaries of Raytheon, have numerous business ventures in China, with several enterprises with a state owned venture affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army.
P&amp;W does business with the China Aviation Industry Corporation as well as Xi’an Aircraft, both companies on the Treasury Department’s Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List.
The purpose of this list is to denote entities in China which are suspected of working in conjunction with the Chinese military.
Collins Aerospace also is being scrutinized for its China ties. With nine business enterprises and 15 locations, Collins says on its website that it has shown its commitment to China for 40 years.
“Our growing presence in China has been made possible by our company’s significant investments in the country, as well as strong corporate and personal relationships that have been formed over the last three decades,” the company <a href="https://www.collinsaerospace.com/who-we-are/Global/Asia/China">explains</a>.
Collins reportedly works with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, AVIC, as well as the China Electronics Technology Company.
Both Bell Flight and Boeing distanced themselves from any connection to conducting military business with China.
A spokesperson told Fox that Bell, “does not do any military business in China and remains committed to supporting safe operations for the civilian helicopter communities in China, including corporate, energy, health and public safety.&#8221;
Boeing also disavowed any ties to the Chinese military telling the outlet that it &#8220;not sell Boeing defense platforms to the Chinese military.&#8221;

Orders For U.S. Manufactured Goods Decline By Largest Margin In

Prominent U.S. Defense Contractors Linked To Chinese Government: Report

U.S. Defense Contractors Linked To Chinese Government: Report

National Security

Raytheon

The U.S. Army is officially ditching the M4/M4A1 carbine for a new service rifle that fires a much more powerful projectile that will be critical to the U.S. Army&#8217;s ability to outgun emerging near-peer competitors like China.
The U.S. Army announced last month a 10-year contract with Sig Sauer to manufacture two Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) variations: the XM5 Rifle, which will replace the M4/M4A1 carbine; and the XM250 Automatic Rifle, which will replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon.
Both the M4/M4A1 carbine and the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon relied on firing the 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge. The new NGSW rifles will fire a new 6.8x51mm cartridge that are more accurate and are more lethal against emerging threats than both the 5.56x45mm and 7.62x51mm ammunition.
&#8220;Both weapons provide significant capability improvements in accuracy, range and overall lethality,&#8221; the U.S. Army <a href="https://www.army.mil/article/255827?linkId=161673485">said</a> in a statement. &#8220;They are lightweight, fire more lethal ammunition, mitigate recoil, provide improved barrel performance, and include integrated muzzle sound and flash reduction.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Army?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Army</a> is getting new arms for the force.
Read the full story about these two Next Generation Squad Weapon variations (the XM5 Rifle and the XM250 Automatic Rifle) and the 6.8 Common Cartridge Family of Ammunition.
➡️ <a href="https://t.co/JuvkGXVLjQ">https://t.co/JuvkGXVLjQ</a> <a href="https://t.co/9l5ImOBkqk">pic.twitter.com/9l5ImOBkqk</a>
&mdash; U.S. Army (@USArmy) <a href="https://twitter.com/USArmy/status/1516855222504726533?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The NGSW rifles will also be paired with a game changing fire control system that will give U.S. soldiers a major advantage on the battle field.
&#8220;The XM5 and XM250 will be paired with the XM157 Fire Control, a ruggedized advanced fire control system that increases accuracy and lethality for the close combat force,&#8221; the statement continued. &#8220;The XM157 integrates a number of advanced technologies, including a variable magnification optic (1X8), backup etched reticle, laser rangefinder, ballistic calculator, atmospheric sensor suite, compass, Intra-Soldier Wireless, visible and infrared aiming lasers, and a digital display overlay. It is produced by Sheltered Wings Inc. d/b/a Vortex Optics, Barneveld, Wisconsin.&#8221;
The contract was awarded to Sig Sauer after several companies competed 27-months for it.
The new 6.8x51mm cartridge &#8220;uses a patented lightweight metallic case designed to handle pressures higher than conventional ammunition, resulting in dramatically increased velocity and on-target energy in lighter weapons,&#8221; the company <a href="https://www.sigsauer.com/blog/us-army-selects-sig-sauer-next-generation-squad-weapons-system">said</a> in a statement. &#8220;The U.S. Army’s procurement of the NGSW System marks the beginning of an era where combat weapons are coupled with a suppressor as standard issue equipment.&#8221;
U.S. Army Brigadier General Larry Q. Burris <a href="https://www.army.mil/article/255909/army_officials_brief_the_media_on_the_next_generation_squad_weapon">said</a> that their goal to win on the modern battlefield is to achieve &#8220;a clear, decisive and sustainable overmatch against our near-peer adversaries.&#8221;
He said that the need to overmatch &#8220;near-peer adversaries&#8221; was more pressing today than at any other time in recent history as Russia is fighting a war in Europe and China is increasingly becoming aggressive throughout the Pacific.

SKOREA-US-MILITARY-COMPETITION

U.S. Army Is Officially Ditching The M4 Rifle For Something Much More Powerful

U.S. Army replacing M4/M4A1 carbine with XM5 rifle

Guns

Rifle

U.S. Army

Major movie studios censoring or altering content to appease China has been one of the biggest stories in Tinseltown for several years now. A new report, however, reveals that at least one entertainment company wasn’t willing to play that game.
Multiple unnamed sources told the Hollywood trade publication, <a href="https://puck.news/the-chinese-had-one-note-on-spider-man/">Puck</a>, that Sony Pictures refused to make changes to its 2021 blockbuster “Spider-Man: No Way Home” in order to secure a release in the Middle Kingdom.
According to the outlet, &#8220;Chinese regulators&#8221; (China’s National Film Administration answers to the Chinese Communist Party) were bothered by “patriotic” scenes in the movie’s climactic action sequence at the Statue of Liberty. The CCP asked Sony to cut shots that clearly showed Peter Parker and his squad of good guys battling villains on top of Lady Liberty. When the Japanese-owned company rebuffed that request, censors then asked producers to minimize the statue or darken scenes that included it so it would be less noticeable.
Once again, Sony said no. As a result, China banned the film.
Analysts estimate that Sony’s decision to pass up the rich box office potential in the world’s largest movie market likely cost the film between $170 and $340 million.
That said, the web-slinger’s latest outing managed to rake in huge profits even without the help of Chinese audiences. It was the top-grossing movie of 2021 and the third highest-earning movie of all time, just behind “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Avengers Endgame,” earning $800 million domestically.
While “No Way Home” may represent the biggest movie Sony has declined to change to please Xi Jinping, it’s not the only one. The studio famously stood behind director Quentin Tarantino in 2019 when he refused the Chinese government’s request that he make changes to “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” the film many critics call his magnum opus. The CCP reportedly did not like the way the historical drama portrayed Bruce Lee, a national hero in China.
While the two-time Oscar winner is known for insisting on final-cut rights in all his contracts to prevent studios from tampering with his work, he told <a href="https://deadline.com/2020/01/quentin-tarantino-oscar-nominations-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-star-trek-bounty-law-tv-series-1202829629/">Deadline</a> Sony “absolutely backed me, 100%.” He revealed that while he would have been willing to make minor changes, “there is a certain line you cannot cross.” That line, he said, included censoring content for political reasons.
“To actually remove an entire scene because the country finds that scene objectionable?” Tarantino asked rhetorically, “No.” Chinese regulators ended up putting the film “on hold” and never later released it to theaters.
Still, even those studios who are notoriously willing to kowtow to China are finding it more difficult to release films in the country. The CCP sent shock waves through Hollywood when it started denying release dates for a number of Marvel films, including “Black Widow,” “Eternals,” and “Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings,” a movie that was, ironically, in many ways specifically tailored to appeal to Chinese audiences.
Now that the CCP is letting fewer Hollywood films into the country, there’s less financial incentive for studios to preemptively shape content to pass muster with Chinese censors, meaning more studios may soon be following Sony’s lead, albeit for different reasons.

Spider-Man Explores Singapore During His Time In Town For “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”

Sony Refused To Censor ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ For China, Sacrificing Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars

China wanted Sony to cut patriotic scene from “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” Sony refused.

Censorship

Marvel

Sony

Spiderman

Statue of Liberty

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger warned on Friday that the semiconductor shortage will last until 2024.
Certain manufacturing tools remain unavailable, which threatens to constrain chipmaking capacity, the executive told <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/29/semiconductor-shortage-intel-ceo-says-chip-crunch-to-last-into-2024.html">CNBC</a>.
“That’s part of the reason that we believe the overall semiconductor shortage will now drift into 2024, from our earlier estimates in 2023, just because the shortages have now hit equipment and some of those factory ramps will be more challenged,” Gelsinger explained.
“We’ve really invested in those equipment relationships,” Gelsinger continued while discussing the diversification of chipmaking away from Asia, “but that will be tempering the build-out of capacity for us and everybody else, but we believe we’re positioned better than the rest of the industry.”
CNBC noted that Intel is investing heavily in semiconductor factories in the United States and Europe.
Many Asian economies introduced harsh lockdown measures in response to COVID-19, creating bottlenecks in the global semiconductor supply chain. Some automotive companies have been forced to limit or pause production due to the problem — worsening inflationary pressures as vehicle prices <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/used-car-prices-inflation-29k-average-edmunds/">surge</a> at the highest rate in decades.
Tesla, for instance, is not <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tesla-wont-produce-any-new-models-amid-chip-hell-semiconductor-shortage">producing</a> any new models in 2022. “The rate of growth will depend on our equipment capacity, operational efficiency and the capacity and stability of the supply chain,” Tesla said in a shareholder presentation announcing the company’s fourth-quarter 2021 earnings. “Our own factories have been running below capacity for several quarters as supply chain became the main limiting factor, which is likely to continue through 2022.”
In response, many companies are racing to erect new manufacturing facilities, even as local officials encourage production in their states.
For example, Samsung is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/samsung-to-build-17-billion-chip-factory-in-texas-marking-largest-ever-foreign-investment-into-the-state">building</a> a $17 billion semiconductor factory in Taylor, Texas — marking the largest foreign direct investment in the state’s history.
“Companies like Samsung continue to invest in Texas because of our world-class business climate and exceptional workforce,” Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) said last November in response. “Samsung’s new semiconductor manufacturing facility in Taylor will bring countless opportunities for hardworking Central Texans and their families and will play a major role in our state’s continued exceptionalism in the semiconductor industry.”
Meanwhile, Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-ill-invest-in-microchip-semiconductor-manufacturing-so-chinese-cannot-hold-our-supply-chain-hostage">announced</a> in January that he would invest the state’s funds to increase microchip and semiconductor manufacturing in Florida so that the Chinese Communist Party could not “hold our supply chain hostage.”
“We have to start standing up as Floridians and Americans,” DeSantis said at a press conference. “We cannot be captive. Key sectors of our economy should not be captive to some of these foreign nations, particularly outfits like the Communist Party of China.”
“And then even when you have allies like Taiwan, how that could impact, if there was a disruption there, could throw a lot of this through the loop even more than we’ve seen over the past year and a half,” he continued. “So the more we have this capacity within our own country, but particularly within our own state here in Florida, the more opportunities there’s going to be for people and the more secure both our economic supply chains will be and our national security.”
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest growing conservative media companies for breaking news, investigative reporting, sports, podcasts, in-depth analysis, books, and entertainment for a reason: because we believe in what we do. We believe in our country, in the value of truth and the freedom to speak it, and in the right to challenge tyranny wherever we see it. Believe the same? <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">Become a member now and join our mission</a>.

Cars on production line in factory

Major Tech CEO Warns Chip Shortage Will Last Much Longer

Intel CEO Warns Chip Shortage Will Last Much Longer

Chinese Communist Party

COVID-19

Intel

Supply Chain

Technology

&#8216;Die Another Day&#8217; actor Kenneth Tsang was found dead on Wednesday while staying in a COVID quarantine hotel in Hong Kong.
Tsang, best known for his role in the 2002 James Bond film, also starred in &#8220;Rush Hour 2&#8221; with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, as well as the 1998 film &#8220;The Replacement Killers.&#8221;
“Kenneth was a trailblazer who came from the golden age of Hong Kong cinema, and his fearless talent helped break down barriers for Asians in Hollywood,” his manager Andrew Ooi <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/28/movies/kenneth-tsang-dead.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> The New York Times.
“We stand on his shoulders and those that came before him,&#8221; he added.
The actor had been staying in a quarantine hotel after returning from Singapore on Monday as part of a mandatory requirement for people entering Hong Kong from other countries. His death was discovered by hotel staff on Wednesday morning, <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/3175679/hong-kong-actor-kenneth-tsang-dies-tsim-sha-tsui-quarantine-hotel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to</a> the South China Morning Post.
No cause of death was listed. However, Tsang reportedly had tested negative for COVID-19 the day before his death and was vaccinated. He was 87 years old.
&#8220;Born in Shanghai, Tsang began acting after obtaining an architecture degree at the University of California, Berkeley, making his debut in 1955. In 1969 alone, he was credited in more than 20 movies and continued working up to the time of his death,&#8221; Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/kenneth-tsang-dead-quarantine-china-hotel-singapore-travel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. &#8220;Tsang was married three times and had a son with his first wife, Lan Di, and a daughter with his second wife, Barbara Tang,&#8221; the report added.
Tsang reportedly appeared in more than 200 films. &#8220;During his 65-year film career, Tsang appeared in more than 220 films, several television shows, and was often featured in the popular Bigen commercial for hair dye,&#8221; People <a href="https://people.com/movies/bond-actor-kenneth-tsang-dies-at-87-while-in-covid-19-quarantine/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a>.
His manager also took to Instagram to comment on the actor&#8217;s death.
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&#8220;Dear Kenneth, thank you for being a friend. It was an honour to work with you over all these years. I will miss your wise counsel, laughter and our dimsum lunches with you and Lina,&#8221; Ooi <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc3P6JhpW-J/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>.
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&#8220;May you rest in eternal peace and be remembered for all the wonderful movies that you made. If you see my grandma in heaven, please say hi for me, she was a big fan who told me all about you when I first started watching your films. I will miss you,&#8221; he added.
In March, Shanghai <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/teslas-shanghai-plant-remains-closed-as-citys-covid-19-lockdown-continues" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suddenly imposed</a> a widespread lockdown in response to reports of rapidly rising COVID-19 cases. The Daily Wire&#8217;s &#8220;Morning Wire&#8221; podcast recently addressed the strong government restrictions.
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<div>
At one point half of Shanghai — the financial capital of China — went into lockdown in response to what authorities believe is a COVID-19 outbreak that is getting out of control, &#8220;Morning Wire&#8221; noted.
Some companies with factories in the city, such as Tesla, suspended manufacturing for a few days, while others were allowed to continue in a closed-loop system.
</div>
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The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies for breaking news, investigative reporting, sports, podcasts, in-depth analysis, books, and entertainment for a reason: because we believe in what we do. We believe in our country, in the value of truth and the freedom to speak it, and in the right to challenge tyranny wherever we see it. Believe the same? <a class="in-cell-link" href="https://utm.io/ueuP8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Become a member now and join our mission</a>.

Kenneth Tsang

‘Die Another Day’ Actor Dies In COVID Quarantine Hotel

Celebrities

Death

Hollywood

James Bond

Quarantine

President Joe Biden declared $7 million more in income on his tax returns than he claimed on government transparency reports following his time as Vice President, and at least $5 million of the extra income is unaccounted for, according to <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10728521/Financial-records-reveal-Joe-Biden-5-2million-unexplained-income.html">The Daily Mail.</a>
Between 2017 and 2019 the future president and First Lady Jill Biden reported $16.5 million in gross income on federal tax returns released by the Biden campaign. Most of the income was for speaking and writing engagements, the site reported, yet filings with the Office of Government Ethics covering the same period showed just $9.6 million in income for the couple.
Emails from a laptop abandoned by Biden&#8217;s son, Hunter Biden, appear to reference shady international business deals, including one with the government-controlled Bank of China. Still, no conclusive evidence has emerged that Joe Biden made money from his son&#8217;s activities. But the unexplained income continues to raise questions.
“Evidence of the president&#8217;s financial and business connections to Hunter continues to grow,&#8221; Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told the outlet. &#8220;It&#8217;s imperative for the first family to show the American people the transparency that they deserve.”
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), who has been investigating Hunter Biden&#8217;s business dealings, said the news of the missing millions of dollars is “another disturbing piece of information that raises questions that deserve answers.&#8221;
The younger Biden&#8217;s laptop contains a trove of damning photos, text messages, and emails, including one that appears to suggest Joe Biden had a 10% stake in one of Hunter Biden&#8217;s deals. Another email appears to indicate Joe Biden paid his wayward son&#8217;s $737,000 legal bill at one point.
&#8220;I spoke with Hunter today regarding his bills,&#8221; Hunter&#8217;s assistant Katie Dodge wrote in a January 2019 email to bookkeeper Linda Shapero and Biden aide Richard Ruffner. &#8220;It is my understanding that Hunt&#8217;s dad will cover these bills in the short-term as Hunter transitions in his career.’”
Earlier this month the White House<a href="https://rollcall.com/2022/04/15/bidens-paid-24-6-percent-tax-on-610k-income-return-shows/"> stated</a> that Biden’s 2021 tax return disclosure was “once again demonstrating his commitment to being transparent with the American people about the finances of the commander in chief.”
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies for breaking news, investigative reporting, sports, podcasts, in-depth analysis, books, and entertainment for a reason: because we believe in what we do. We believe in our country, in the value of truth and the freedom to speak it, and in the right to challenge tyranny wherever we see it. Believe the same? <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">Become a member now and join our mission.</a>

Over $5 Million Missing From President Biden’s Transparency Reports, Report Says

Income Tax

Office of Government Ethics

Transparency

China is developing a system to track asteroids that could be hurtling toward Earth.
One key part of the plan: should an asteroid be heading straight for Earth, the system would take it out, <a href="https://www.bloombergquint.com/politics/china-plans-system-to-take-out-asteroids-hurtling-toward-earth">according</a> to Bloomberg News.
&#8220;To test the system, China intends to send a spacecraft toward an asteroid in 2025 or 2026 to study it and then change its course,&#8221; the news agency reported, citing Wu Yanhua, deputy director of the China National Space Administration.
&#8220;China’s aspirations for its space program have ramped up tensions with the U.S. The two sides have sparred over SpaceX satellites that Beijing said came dangerously close to its space station, prompting the government of the Asian nation to criticize SpaceX in a memo to a United Nations committee that oversees operations in space. Earlier this month the Pentagon said China and Russia continue to deploy weapons that can attack U.S. satellites,&#8221; Bloomberg reported.
The U.S. space agency began a mission late last year, launching spacecraft that is expected next month to intercept and deflect a pair of asteroids far out in deep space to keep them from threatening Earth.
Dubbed the DART Mission, or the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sent a spacecraft to a pair of asteroids — the Didymos binary — on November 24 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
If all goes as planned, DART will smash into one of the two asteroids, known as Didymoon, at roughly 13,500 mph nearly a full year later, between September 26 and October 2, 2022.
Didymoon is more than 500 feet wide and orbits a much larger space rock known as Didymos, which is five times as big.
Didymoon came relatively close to Earth in 2003 — at least in space terms. The asteroid came within 3.7 million miles. “Of the two asteroids, Didymoon is more likely to hit Earth, given there are more space rocks its size that NASA and the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) have yet to observe,” the Daily Mail reported.
NASA considers any near-Earth object (NEO) as “potentially hazardous” if it comes within 0.05 astronomical units (4.6 million miles) and measures more than 460 feet in diameter, said the Mail. “According to the U.S. space agency, there are just over 25,000 NEOs, but many more are waiting to be discovered.”
“DART will be the first demonstration of the kinetic impactor technique, which involves sending one or more large, high-speed spacecraft into the path of an asteroid in space to change its motion,” NASA said in a statement.
Back in 2017, NASA explained what the kinetic impactor technique is.
“Kinetic impaction involves sending one or more large, high-speed spacecraft into the path of an approaching near-earth object. This could deflect the asteroid into a different trajectory, steering it away from the Earth’s orbital path. NASA demonstrated on a small scale with the Deep Impact mission of 2005. If preparations were made in advance so that kinetic impactors were available upon detection, the National Academy of Sciences would require a warning time of at least 1 to 2 years for smaller asteroids,” NASA said.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to josephcurl@dailywire.com and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

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