China’s Shadow Net: How Police Are Building Digital Dossiers on Foreigners
An independent cybersecurity researcher using the alias NetAskari recently stumbled upon an unsecured Chinese police surveillance dashboard — and found his own passport photo, phone number, and high-speed rail seat history staring back at him.
The exposed system was a demo panel built for the public security bureau in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, a host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Though not yet fully connected to live data streams, the panel contained real datasets that revealed the ambitions of China’s evolving surveillance apparatus: a shift from standalone street cameras toward a predictive, always-on social control network.
The system’s reach is striking. Beyond standard China Central Telection (CCTV) feeds, it logs the exact train car and seat number when a target arrives by high-speed rail, captures facial recognition scans from ski resort turnstiles, and tracks fuel consumption, shopping locations, and visits to areas flagged as “frequent petitioning zones.” The goal, NetAskari noted, is to stitch together physical movements, spending habits, and digital footprints into a seamless “holographic dossier” — an approach comparable to U.S. data analytics firm Palantir.
Foreign nationals, particularly journalists and citizens from Five Eyes countries (the U.S., UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada), receive disproportionate attention. Some foreign correspondents are tagged for real-time tracking, triggering automatic police alerts the moment they enter a jurisdiction. This effectively renders covert on-the-ground reporting obsolete — authorities can anticipate a journalist’s itinerary via payment records and ticket purchases, and quietly pressure sources before any interview takes place.
The system also auto-generates social network maps from surveillance footage, visualizing who associates with whom and for how long. In 2025, Shanghai’s Putuo district police reportedly tendered a contract worth approximately $200,000 (around 1.45 million yuan) for a comparable “holistic personnel profile system.”
As NetAskari concluded in his report, within this infrastructure, people are reduced to data points — patterns to be monitored, predicted, and controlled.
Source: Deutsche Welle, May 20, 2026
https://p.dw.com/p/5E12T
Germany’s Media on the Putin-Xi Summit: China as the New Power Center
German media outlets have been closely watching the Beijing summit between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, with several prominent newspapers offering pointed analyses of what the meeting reveals about the shifting global balance of power.
The Handelsblatt argues that China is positioning itself as the gravitational center of a new world order — a nation that Washington, Moscow, and many others now feel compelled to visit. While this narrative carries a propagandistic edge, the paper acknowledges a real underlying truth: Russia needs China more than ever. Moscow’s war economy depends heavily on energy export revenues, and China is buying those exports in large volumes. That Putin brought along the heads of Gazprom and Rosneft signals clearly what was at the top of his Beijing agenda — energy, financing, and the uncomfortable exposure of Russia’s wartime vulnerabilities.
The Volksstimme of Magdeburg sees Russia as a textbook example of a powerful but ultimately dependent state under China’s system of influence. China does rely on Russian oil and gas, but Russian dependence runs deeper: Chinese goods — from cars to refrigerators — have become indispensable to a country mired in a war of its own making.
The Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung notes that Xi Jinping has little incentive to distance himself from Russia, given Moscow’s value as both a geopolitical partner and energy supplier. Yet beneath the surface, the asymmetry is growing. Russia needs China far more than the reverse, and the much-touted “strategic partnership” is increasingly a one-sided arrangement.
Finally, the Süddeutsche Zeitung frames it most starkly: the missteps of Trump and Putin are becoming Xi’s opportunity. As both Washington and Moscow entangle themselves in costly conflicts, Beijing is quietly and unimpeded consolidating its dominance.
Source: Radio France International, May 20, 2026
https://rfi.my/Cift
China Tightens Control Over Strategic Mineral Resources With New Regulations
China has unveiled a sweeping set of implementing regulations for its Mineral Resources Law, signed by Premier Li Qiang and set to take effect on June 15. The regulations span eight chapters and 79 articles, covering five major areas: strengthening the mining rights system, refining exploration and extraction rules, enhancing ecological restoration requirements, improving mineral reserves and emergency response mechanisms, and upgrading oversight and enforcement.
At the heart of the new framework is tighter full-chain management of strategic minerals deemed critical to national security — covering exploration, extraction, supply, storage, and sales. For minerals designated by the State Council, authorities may impose planning controls, output caps, and restrictions on who is permitted to mine them. Strategic minerals held in reserve may not be extracted without approval from the State Council’s natural resources authority, and illegal extraction involving these resources will be subject to harsher-than-standard penalties.
Foreign investors seeking to explore or extract mineral resources in China will also face national security reviews if their activities are found to affect — or potentially affect — national security.
Sun Xiaolei, a professor at Beihang University’s School of Economics and Management, said the regulations mark China’s institutional protection of mineral resource security entering a new phase. She noted that resources such as rare earths and lithium hold significant strategic value for national defense, energy transition, and overall resource security, and that the core thrust of the regulations is to prioritize resource security, tighten control over strategic minerals, and advance rule-of-law governance of the sector.
The regulations also require Chinese entities engaged in overseas mineral development to uphold national and public interests, comply with both Chinese law and the laws of the host country, and remain subject to oversight by relevant Chinese authorities and diplomatic missions abroad. Sun said such overseas activity would help China build a diversified mineral supply network and reduce its vulnerability to Western restrictions on critical mineral exports and technology cooperation.
Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), May 21, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202605210141.aspx
LTN: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Issued Unexpected Statement on CPU
Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) recently reported that, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang revealed during a visit to Taiwan on Saturday (May 23, 2026) that Nvidia is entering a brand new CPU market with a potential scale of US$200 billion, which will allow NVIDIA to reach a new peak of dominance in artificial intelligence.
Few companies receive as much attention as Nvidia. As one of the most important players in the artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem, Nvidia’s role is often seen as a benchmark for the entire AI field. Jensen Huang’s unexpected statement will propel Nvidia from a graphics chip company into an AI hardware giant, and ultimately into a comprehensive AI application ecosystem company. Huang pointed out that Nvidia’s upcoming Vera Rubin platform includes a central processing unit (CPU) specifically designed for intelligent agents and artificial intelligence. This transformation also opens up new revenue streams for Nvidia and could be a key step in the company’s development.
Nvidia’s latest quarterly revenue reached US$81.6 billion, an 85 percent year-over-year increase. More than 92 percent of this revenue came from its data center business. In the foreseeable future, data center hardware will remain Nvidia’s primary revenue source, but the launch of the Vera Rubin platform positions the company to become one of the world’s leading CPU suppliers.
Source: LTN, May 23, 2026
https://ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/5447290
Mexico and EU Signed A New Agreement to Expand Non-US Trade
Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao recently reported that, Mexico and the European Union just signed a trade agreement aimed at reducing tariffs on each other’s goods, with both sides hoping to reduce their dependence on trade with the United States. This agreement is an extension of the 2000 Mexico-EU trade agreement.
Mexican President Jacques Sinbaum emphasized that “exploring other areas” is crucial as both Mexico and the European Union face tariff offensives from U.S. President Donald Trump. The EU is Mexico’s third-largest trading partner, after the U.S. and China.
The new agreement eliminates most trade and investment barriers while promoting trade in auto parts. The auto parts industry is most affected by U.S. tariff policies. Mexico has agreed to recognize and protect the geographical signs of hundreds of food and beverage products originating from specific regions of the European Union, meaning these products are protected from counterfeiting. The new agreement also reduced tariffs on more products and granted tariff-free access to pasta, chocolate, potatoes, canned peaches, eggs, and certain poultry products.
Source: Lianhe Zaobao, May 23, 2026
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/news/world/story20260523-9094830
CNA: Google and Blackstone Launch New AI Company to Challenge Nvidia
Primary Taiwanese news agency Central News Agency (CNA) recently reported that, Google and Blackstone Group plan to jointly establish an artificial intelligence (AI) cloud company using Google’s proprietary chips. Blackstone Group, the world’s largest alternative asset management firm, is expected to invest US$5 billion in equity and hold a majority stake in the unnamed startup.
Sources familiar with the matter revealed that Google will provide the new company with software, services, and hardware, including a dedicated chip known as a Tensor Processing Unit (TPU). Google senior executive Benjamin Treynor Sloss will become the new company’s CEO.
This is Google’s largest attempt to date to sell its self-developed chips and commercialize them. This move will intensify the direct head-to-head competition between Google and Nvidia, the dominant player in the AI computing market.
As the computing power required to train and run advanced AI models reaches unprecedented levels, Google and Blackstone Group decided to join forces. Currently, most large AI companies rely on the computing infrastructure built around Nvidia-based chips, at least to some extent.
Source: CNA, May 19, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/ait/202605190035.aspx
People’s Daily: Global Sixth-Generation Fighter Development Advances Amid Competition and Uncertainty
People’s Daily republished an article from China’s National Defense Newspaper examining global trends in the development of sixth-generation fighter aircraft.
Amid ongoing regional conflicts, rapid advances in artificial intelligence, and shifting national strategies, sixth-generation fighter development is entering a phase marked by both urgency and uncertainty, with major powers accelerating programs despite high costs and coordination challenges.
The UK, Japan, and Italy are advancing the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), recently awarding a £686 million ($930 million) contract and moving into coordinated development, while seeking additional partners such as Canada to share costs. The United States is pursuing parallel Air Force (F-47) and Navy (F/A-XX) programs, both receiving renewed prioritization and funding. In contrast, the France–Germany–Spain-led FCAS project remains stalled due to disagreements over design and industrial roles.
Although there is no unified definition of a sixth-generation fighter, most concepts emphasize advanced stealth, AI-assisted decision-making, and manned–unmanned teaming. Development is shifting from single-platform performance toward integrated, multi-domain combat systems capable of real-time coordination across land, sea, air, space, and cyber domains. At the same time, some countries are pursuing joint development to enhance long-term defense autonomy and reduce reliance on platforms such as the F-35.
Source: People’s Daily, April 22, 2026
http://military.people.com.cn/n1/2026/0422/c1011-40706277.html
Report Alleges China’s State Security Unit Targets Catholic Church and Vatican Ties
An article published by Modern Diplomacy, a media outlet in Europe, claims that a unit within China’s Ministry of State Security, known as the “9th Bureau,” plays a central role in controlling religious affairs and conducting related intelligence operations. The report describes the bureau as monitoring underground churches and treating Vatican-linked institutions as channels of foreign influence.
According to the article, clergy who refuse to join the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association face pressure to comply, including efforts to merge the underground churches into the official system. The objective is described as aligning religious activities with state directives and reducing the Vatican’s influence over Chinese Catholics.
The report also alleges that China’s security apparatus has carried out cyberattacks targeting Vatican email systems and Catholic organizations in Hong Kong during sensitive negotiations over bishop appointments, with the aim of gaining leverage in talks.
It further states that Chinese authorities monitor Taiwan’s Catholic community and its ties with the Vatican, and may seek to weaken these connections, raising concerns about implications for religious freedom and Taiwan’s international space. Source: Set News (Taiwan), May 4, 2026
https://www.setn.com/News.aspx?NewsID=1832948