Chinese Hackers Target U.S. Technology: Report | China in Focus

Welcome to China In Focus, I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story. A new cybersecurity report says Beijing is targeting U.S. tech in cyber attacks. It comes as China ramps up a massive push into AI, with hundreds of billions planned for new data centers. The Pentagon is flagging some of China's biggest companies as military-linked, while Beijing ramps up pressure on Taiwan. A Chinese-born Georgia resident accused of hiding his immigration history now faces a government effort to revoke his U.S. citizenship. Chinese Coast Guard ships harass commercial vessels near Taiwan, what the U.S. is saying about escalating regional tension. And Chinese money laundering networks are moving hundreds of billions for Mexican cartels, the financial fuel behind America's fentanyl crisis, a major new warning from Congress. A warning on growing Chinese cyber espionage. A new cybersecurity report says China is ramping up efforts to steal U.S. technology and intellectual property to advance its AI ambitions. That comes as China makes a major new push into the global race for artificial intelligence. Beijing's five-year plan includes building a nationwide network of AI data centers. U.S.-based cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike says China-linked hacking groups are increasingly targeting American tech companies. CrowdStrike says the hackers are seeking AI research, intellectual property and other sensitive information to help advance China's technological ambitions. According to the report, Tuesday, tech companies are being hit harder than any other industry. One China-linked hacking campaign alone targeted more than 340 U.S. organizations. CrowdStrike says China is using cyber espionage to help close the AI gap with the U.S. At the same time, Bloomberg reports, citing anonymous sources, that China plans to invest roughly $295 billion to build interconnected data centers across the country. Beijing plans to create the computing power needed to train advanced AI systems. The project would be operated largely by state-owned telecom giants, including China Mobile and China Telecom, and rely on domestic suppliers such as Huawei. Beijing aims to reduce dependence on U.S. technology and strengthen China's position in emerging fields like AI, quantum computing and humanoid robotics. China's investment push comes as major U.S. tech companies are expected to spend more than $700 billion this year on their own AI expansion efforts. The Pentagon is labeling some of China's largest companies as linked to its military that comes as China sends its largest military patrol ship toward Taiwan. The Pentagon is targeting some of China's biggest corporations, adding more than a dozen Chinese firms, including Alibaba, BYD and Baidu, to its list of Chinese military companies operating in the U.S. Officials say that these companies support the Chinese Communist Party's military-civil fusion, which uses private sector technology to advance Beijing's military capabilities. While the designation does not ban U.S. companies from doing business with them, it prohibits Pentagon contracts, and it also could raise concern among American investors and business partners. Analysts have long warned of China's espionage tactics through its civilian sector. China uses every point of contact to take down our society. 2017 national intelligence law of China actually codifies the obligation to commit acts of espionage. The move comes as Beijing increases pressure across the Indo-Pacific. Over the weekend, China deployed its largest maritime patrol vessel east of Taiwan, while Chinese Coast Guard ships entered restricted waters around Taiwan. Taiwan responded by dispatching its own ships, saying the Chinese ships were ultimately forced out. It comes as the CCP is upset with the recent military cooperation between Japan and the Philippines, which are working to define its maritime boundaries in disputed waters that China may claim as its own. Taiwan says Beijing's using those talks as justification for these increased operations near the island. At the same time, the U.S. is bolstering regional deterrence there. The State Department recently approved the sale of five Seahawk military helicopters to New Zealand in a deal worth roughly $1.5 billion. The move follows Chinese live-fire naval drills earlier this year in between Australia and New Zealand, all drawing concern of increased Chinese aggression across the region. For NTD News Washington, I'm Jack Bradley. Taiwan's military simulating the destruction of an invading Chinese force during a large-scale live-fire exercise along the island's central coast. The drill featured Taiwan-made Thunder 2000 rocket launchers, artillery, mortars and anti-tank weapons in a scenario designed to repel a Chinese amphibious landing. This time, we are simulating real combat, rapidly moving into position. This training is quite challenging for the soldiers. We will conduct tactical firing exercises again in the second half of the year, and we will train diligently. Military officials say the exercise was more realistic than past drills, emphasizing dispersed firepower, rapid movement and reduced preparation time. The training took place across eight positions along a 20-kilometer stretch of coastline facing China, and marked the first operational area live-fire use of the Thunder 2000 system in seven years. Taiwan regularly conducts such exercises as Beijing continues military pressure around the island. A major escalation in regional tension over Taiwan, in an extremely rare move, five Chinese ships claimed jurisdiction over waters near Taiwan. They questioned three commercial ships passing near the island about their point of origin and destination. Taiwan said Chinese ships began harassing them on Sunday and have since been expelled. Here is Taiwan's Coast Guard broadcasting to commercial ships that were questioned by Chinese vessels. This area is the maritime zone of Taiwan. China has no sovereign rights and no jurisdiction here. Maintain your normal navigation. There is no need to respond broadcast of Chinese government vessel. If you need any assistance, please immediately contact Taiwan Coast Guard vessel via radio or other means of communication. Taiwan's Coast Guard said commercial ships maintained normal navigation and were not approached by Chinese vessels. Taiwan's Cross-Strait Affairs Agency condemned Beijing's move, saying it violates international law and undermines regional security. The U.S. State Department is urging Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic and economic pressure against Taiwan, saying Washington expects differences to be resolved by peaceful means. The Chinese regime has increased pressure on Taiwan, sending ships near the island several times this month. Last Saturday, Beijing sent four vessels to waters east of Taiwan, saying it was conducting a special operation. And last Friday, Chinese and Taiwanese Coast Guard vessels faced off near Pratis Island, a Taiwan-controlled island in the South China Sea. A bipartisan group of senators urging the administration to close a route for the Chinese military to gain access to advanced U.S. technology. Senators Jim Banks and Andy Kim sent a letter Monday to an arm of the U.S. Commerce Department. They urged the administration to tighten rules on ship manufacturers, including TSMC. The goal is to prevent them from producing advanced AI chips for overseas subsidiaries of Chinese companies. TSMC is a Taiwan-based chipmaker that manufactures over 90 percent of the world's most advanced microchips. The senators wrote, should the gap remain unaddressed, it would substantially undermine every other restriction the United States has imposed on China's access to advanced computing capability. According to Bloomberg, Taiwan authorities are considering tighter export controls on Right now, if sellers in Taiwan violate U.S. rules by exporting advanced AI servers to China, there is no law in Taiwan that treats it as a crime. As Congress sharpens its focus on China, New York Democrat Tom Swayze is joining the House Committee examining Beijing's economic, military and human rights policies. He stressed that the United States is in what he called a strategic competition with China that affects the economy, national security and global standing. The committee was established in 2023 and renewed in 2025. It has issued reports on issues ranging from China's influence of the United Nations to Taiwan defense policy and human rights abuses. Swayze co-led the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which was signed into law in December 2021. He was also the lead Democrat in introducing the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act. The legislation targets China's state-sanctioned practice of harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience, such as practitioners of Falun Gong. A growing partnership between Chinese money laundering networks and Mexican drug cartels. Witnesses testified before a House committee Tuesday, saying these financial networks help cartels move billions in illicit proceeds, while fueling the fentanyl trade and other forms of transnational crime. NTD's Washington correspondent Jack Bradley reports. These networks are not comprised of petty criminals. They are professional money launderers who move billions through our financial system. Chinese money laundering networks are the financial lifeline, enabling Mexican cartels to flood America with fentanyl and thereby destroy communities. A House financial services hearing exposing how these drug cartels launder billions through these Chinese networks. Chinese money laundering networks have become the financial fuel for cartels to poison Americans and threaten our borders. We're seeing a silk road of crime across the Americas. According to Treasury Department data between 2020 and 2024, more than $300 billion in suspicious activity linked to suspected Chinese money laundering networks have been identified. Witnesses described these networks enabling cartels like Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and the Jalisco New Generation cartel. Chinese companies sell cartels fentanyl precursor chemicals. Cartels put those into pills and then sell those drugs into the U.S. That cash is transferred or sold back to China by money brokers through underground banking networks, shell companies, trade transactions and cryptocurrency. That allows cartels to access those funds abroad, including purchasing more fentanyl precursor chemicals from China. Several witnesses say that the Chinese Communist Party has the capabilities to crack down on these networks, being an authoritarian regime and all, but chooses not to. China has one of the largest surveillance networks globally. There's other individuals that are moving these funds that are probably politically connected in China. China's looking the other way. Is that your analysis? 100%. I mean, we have to basically call out the Chinese for turning a blind eye to these criminal activities. China is a command state. If they want to end something, they can end something. If they want to do something, they can do something. We need to call them out and tell them that they are the largest transnational criminal actor in the world and they are the largest money launderer in the world. As fentanyl remains the leading killer of Americans aged 18 to 45, lawmakers say that breaking these Chinese money laundering networks is key to starving these cartels. Jack Bradley, NTD News, Washington. Coming up, a Chinese-born Georgia resident accused of hiding his immigration history now faces a government effort to revoke his U.S. citizenship. And NASA announces four astronauts for the Artemis 3 mission. We break down the crew and the goals of the lunar mission after the break here on China In Focus. Welcome back to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Can U.S. citizenship be taken away? The Justice Department is moving to strip citizenship from 17 individuals convicted of serious crimes. One of them is a 50-year-old Chinese-born Georgia resident. A Chinese-born Georgia resident is accused of concealing a prior deportation order and immigration history by using a different identity before becoming a U.S. citizen in 2006, according to federal prosecutors. The Justice Department says the 17 cases announced Monday involved defendants who originally came from several countries, including China, India, Mexico and Vietnam. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a naturalized U.S. citizen can have their citizenship revoked under certain circumstances. Illegally procuring naturalization, concealing a material fact or willful misrepresentation can lead to revocation of citizenship. In the announcement, Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen said, quote, if you come here, break our laws and lie in your immigration proceedings, you forfeit that privilege. Possible abuse in immigration programs like temporary protection status and parole were brought up to the House Oversight Committee. NTD correspondent Jason Blair has the takeaways. The Biden administration flooded our country with millions of illegal aliens, unvetted. The impact has been to reduce working class wages, to strain our social system, our education system, our health care system, and to culturally transform the United States. The House Oversight Committee examines past and present immigration policies for issues, possible abuses and ways to move forward. Why would Democrats oppose borders and oppose citizenship requirements to vote in our elections? And I think that the answer is, of course, because they believe that they gain politically from open borders. When the Republicans are pushing through a second reconciliation or funding package to provide billions in additional funding for immigration enforcement, we do in this room have an obligation to ask whether those resources will uphold constitutional rights and human dignity. One witness says that many past presidents have abused the parole and temporary protection status or TPS immigration programs. Presidents have used parole to allow in foreigners who have no right to be here in any number, any one they want, for any reason, for as long as they want. And the presidents have used TPS to let people who have already illegally entered the country stay indefinitely. Another witness tells lawmakers that illegal immigrants have been good for America. The evidence in this congressional record for 20 years is clear. Immigrants strengthen the country economically, culturally, demographically, they don't cause crime, etc. Center for Immigration Studies Director Mark Krikorian suggests reforms to the parole and TPS programs. Repeal the TPS statute. There's no need for it. ICE can always withhold, suspend deportation for 60 days or 90 days if there's some problem. Cap parole. Numerically limit grants of parole. Throughout the hearing, Democrats demanded accountability for the Trump administration's immigration enforcement efforts, while Republicans criticized recent DHS funding standoffs, as well as pushed for more ICE and CBP funding, as well as proof of citizenship voting requirements. Reporting in Washington, D.C., Jason Blair, Entity News. Reporters are Tom Homan says New York City will soon see its largest ever deployment of ICE agents. You can expect more ICE agents go to New York because Governor Hoko signed legislation that ended our 287G agreements, where one agent can arrest one bad guy, turned over by a jail. Now we've got to send a whole team to look for that guy. So she took the efficiencies of the jails away in the 287G agreement. 287G program is a place where we get thousands of criminal aliens from. Speaking to reporters this morning, Homan said the move comes in response to a new legislative package signed by New York Governor Kathy Hoko last month. It bans law enforcement officers from wearing masks and prevents state and local agencies from taking part in civil immigration enforcement. It also prohibits federal authorities from using state and local facilities for immigration enforcement purposes. Last month, Homan warned Hoko against signing the legislation. He said he's keeping his promise to send more ICE agents to New York as a result. Several other Democratic-led states, including New Jersey, Virginia and California, have enacted similar laws. Four astronauts will be going to space in the Artemis 3 test flight next year. It's the next step in NASA's effort to return humans to the surface of the moon. So to the Artemis 3 crew, we wish you Godspeed on the journey ahead. You carry the fire of exploration from generations past, the confidence of this agency and the support of this nation and the dreams of millions who will be cheering you on knowing that what others believe to be impossible happens to be what we do best here at NASA. Three Americans are part of the crew, Andre Douglas, Frank Rubio, and Randy Bresnik. Douglas will be a first-timer to space. Italian astronaut Luca Taramitano rounds out the group of four. The crew is expected to launch late in 2027 aboard the Orion capsule on a test flight into low-Earth orbit. Artemis 3 could involve docking with both lunar landers from SpaceX's Starship and Blue Origin's Blue Moon. The mission is set to last around two weeks. It will try out different technologies that will be vital to returning astronauts to walk the moon as soon as 2028. NASA says it wants to use this mission to reduce risk for future crewed moon missions and to ensure the U.S. will beat China back to the moon. Prada is taking a step into aerospace technology, working with Axiom Space. The luxury fashion company has developed a new astronaut underlayer featuring integrated ventilation systems for future lunar missions. Spacewear just got a high fashion upgrade. Italian luxury brand Prada has unveiled a new inner garment that NASA astronauts will wear on upcoming missions to the moon. The move highlights Prada's push to become the first major high-end fashion house in space. Its body-hugging suit, created in collaboration with Houston-based Axiom Space, features ventilation tubes knitted into the garment. The product follows Prada's 2024 reveal of a spacesuit for NASA's planned Artemis 4 moon landing in 2028. The move comes at a difficult time for the luxury goods sector. After two years of decline, the industry had begun to stabilize. But the war in Iran, which broke out at the end of February, hurt global travel and luxury spending well beyond the Middle East. Prada hopes its new venture will align the brand with cutting-edge technology and maybe one day help it win sales from wealthy space tourists. Other companies such as Under Armour are also entering the race. Chat GPT Maker OpenAI confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering recently, joining rival Anthropic in a push toward the stock market. Here are the details. OpenAI has filed for a U.S. share listing. That was according to a statement from the company on Monday. The Chat GPT Maker did not disclose the size or terms of the offering and said no timeline had yet been set. Reuters has previously reported that the firm is targeting a valuation of $1 trillion, with a market debut as early as September. At that valuation, OpenAI would set the stage for three trillion-dollar IPOs in quick succession, posing a massive test of investor appetite for high-growth tech stocks. Elon Musk's SpaceX will be first out of the gate this week. It's set for a potentially record-breaking listing that could see it raise $75 billion at a valuation of $1.75 trillion. Then there is OpenAI rival Anthropic, the outfit behind Claude Code. It said earlier in June that it too had filed for a listing and has only recently done a funding round that valued it very close to the trillion mark. If that leaves OpenAI to go last, one analyst said there could be concern over whether investors have the appetite for three such enormous IPOs in quick succession. Others have expressed concern there could be little money left over for smaller deals. Critics also ask if the Chat GPT firm can sustain its meteoric growth. While OpenAI has said its revenue is growing fast, it has also told investors it doesn't expect to be profitable before 2030. It also faces a growing host of competitors, not least IPO rival Anthropic. That's all for today's China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. If you have any feedback on the show or have something you'd like to see us cover, send us an email at chinainfocus at ntd.com. We'd love to hear from you. For around-the-clock original news coverage, visit us at ntd.com or download our NTD app. Thanks for watching. See you tomorrow.