Report Claims “Restoration Party” Is Expanding Anti-CCP Activities
Yuan Hongbing, a Chinese legal scholar living in Australia, citing sources inside the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), claimed that an internal Ministry of Public Security document circulated after July 1 acknowledged widespread inaction and declining morale among officials responsible for China’s domestic stability maintenance system. According to Yuan, “lying flat,” bureaucratic inertia, and passive non-compliance have become increasingly common among local public security and grassroots officials.
The sources attributed the trend primarily to mounting fiscal pressures on local governments. Budget shortfalls have resulted in delayed or reduced salaries and bonuses for police officers, while grassroots officials—including neighborhood committees, township governments, and village Party branches—have also experienced prolonged delays in wage and subsidy payments. Yuan argued that these financial constraints have weakened the effectiveness of the CCP’s stability maintenance apparatus, particularly at the county and township levels.
Yuan also claimed that the same internal document identified an anti-CCP organization known as the “Restoration Party” (复国党), which reportedly advocates overthrowing Xi Jinping’s rule and replacing the current political system with a “Republic of China 2.0” framework. According to the report, the group has adopted a decentralized, cell-based organizational structure to expand its activities inside China.
Yuan further claimed that the Restoration Party has carried out operations in the Beijing–Tianjin region to seize what it describes as illicit wealth held by CCP officials, with the stated goals of assisting the public and financing anti-CCP resistance activities. According to Yuan, the group has conducted more than 100 successful operations and has also organized anti-CCP graffiti campaigns in multiple regions across China. He argued that declining enforcement by local stability maintenance authorities has created unprecedented opportunities for domestic resistance movements. The authenticity of the Ministry of Public Security document and Yuan’s claims could not be independently verified.
Source: NTDTV, July 15, 2026
https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2026/07/15/a104115463.html
Chinese Courts Rule Against Pension Suspensions in Two Falun Gong Cases
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has persecuted Falun Gong practitioners since launching its nationwide campaign against the spiritual group in July 1999. In addition to imprisonment and other forms of physical and legal persecution, authorities have also imposed financial penalties, including dismissals from employment and suspension of pensions. Although China’s laws protect citizens’ pension rights, Minghui.org has documented numerous cases in which Falun Gong practitioners have had their pensions suspended or been ordered to repay previously received benefits after serving prison sentences.
However, two recent court rulings have challenged this CCP’s longstanding practice.
One case involved Jia Fengxian, a 62-year-old retired government employee in Zhuozhou, Hebei Province. She was sentenced to seven months in prison in 2019 for distributing information about Falun Gong. In February 2026, the Zhuozhou Social Insurance Service Center suspended her pension and demanded repayment of approximately RMB 480,000 (US$71,000) in pension benefits, citing an internal government document. The agency also filed a civil lawsuit against her. On June 25, the court dismissed the case, ruling that the Zhuozhou Social Insurance Service Center and Jia Fengxian were not equal civil parties, making the agency’s civil lawsuit legally improper.
A second case involved Cui Zhongxin, 89, and his wife Qi Guoxin, 84, both retired employees of the Liaohe Oilfield system in Liaoning Province. After serving prison sentences related to their Falun Gong practice, the couple’s pensions were suspended in 2020. After years of unsuccessful petitions and legal challenges, the Liaoning Provincial High Court ruled on March 2 that the pension suspension was unlawful, ordered the authorities to restore the couple’s pension benefits and repay the withheld funds, and overturned the earlier lower-court rulings.
Source: Epoch Times, July 15, 2026
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/26/7/14/n14809468.htm
Chinese State-Owned Enterprises Reportedly Ordered to Replace Anthropic’s Claude Code
A notice circulating on Chinese social media claims that state-owned enterprises in Shandong Province have been instructed to investigate employees’ use of Anthropic’s Claude Code and other foreign AI coding assistants and replace them with domestic alternatives. The notice alleges that Claude Code contains a hidden detection mechanism that identifies users in China’s time zone or those accessing the service through proxy servers and transmits related information back to Anthropic’s servers.
The directive reportedly originated from provincial cyberspace authorities and was distributed throughout Shandong’s state-owned enterprise system. It follows a July 8 advisory issued by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which warned that certain versions of Claude Code contained a potential “security backdoor” and recommended uninstalling or upgrading the affected software.
Chinese technology media reported that reverse engineering found Claude Code collected information such as users’ system time zones and proxy settings and attached hidden markers to certain network connections. However, a Chinese network engineer said such behavior does not necessarily indicate the existence of a backdoor, noting that many software products collect similar information for security and anti-abuse purposes. He argued that Beijing demands Chinese software to set up “backdoor” but warns about foreign software for “backdoor” activity, to reinforce public distrust of foreign technology.
Chinese technology media reported that reverse engineering found Claude Code collected information such as users’ system time zones and proxy settings and attached hidden markers to certain network connections. However, a Chinese network engineer said such behavior does not necessarily indicate the existence of a backdoor, noting that many software products collect similar information for security and anti-abuse purposes. He argued that while Beijing requires domestic software to incorporate “backdoors,” it simultaneously portrays similar data collection by foreign software as evidence of espionage or security risks, reinforcing public distrust of foreign technology.
Source: Epoch Times, July 18, 2026
https://www.epochtimes.com/b5/26/7/17/n14811411.htm/amp
Leaked China–Russia Plan to Counter Starlink Satellites
A July 10 investigative report by the Kyiv Post cites a leaked briefing from a Chinese military forum indicating that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Russia have discussed strategies to counter SpaceX’s Starlink satellite communications network as part of a broader framework for military-technology cooperation. The document, reportedly prepared by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), outlines a range of measures designed to degrade Starlink through kinetic attacks, electronic warfare, and cyber operations.
The briefing proposes three categories of countermeasures. First, it advocates cost-effective anti-satellite operations capable of destroying multiple low-Earth-orbit satellites with a single munition, potentially through anti-satellite weapons or other interception methods. Second, it recommends deploying high-powered electronic jamming systems to disrupt Starlink communications in targeted areas. Third, it outlines cyber operations aimed at compromising the network through malware implanted in Starlink ground terminals, potentially disrupting or disabling satellite communications.
Beyond military and technical measures, the document proposes diplomatic and regulatory efforts to constrain Starlink’s global expansion. It suggests that China and Russia coordinate through international organizations to argue that the rapid growth of Starlink’s satellite constellation increases collision risks and complicates space governance, while also challenging SpaceX’s use of radio spectrum and low-Earth-orbit resources. If authentic, the leaked briefing suggests that Sino-Russian military cooperation is extending beyond joint exercises to include coordinated strategies for undermining Western space-based communications infrastructure.
Source: Aboluo, July 15, 2026
https://www.aboluowang.com/2026/0715/2408385.html
Chinese Economist Admits Economy Has Remained “Too Cold” for Three Years
Public criticism of China’s economy by prominent Chinese scholars is relatively uncommon. However, at the 122nd China Macroeconomy Forum (CMF) on July 11, Li Daokui (李稻葵), dean of Tsinghua University’s Institute for Chinese Economic Practice and Thinking, acknowledged that China’s economy has remained “too cold” for the past three years and estimated the country’s broad unemployment rate at 10.2 percent.
Li argued that China’s greatest economic challenge is not a K-shaped recovery or widening economic polarization, but a prolonged, broad-based slowdown affecting the entire economy. He warned that strong performance in a few sectors cannot compensate for weakness across the broader economic base.
Li highlighted two indicators that he believes require urgent attention: broad unemployment and fixed-asset investment. His research team recalculated China’s unemployment rate by including discouraged workers who have stopped actively seeking jobs but still want employment. Based on this methodology, he estimated the broad unemployment rate at 10.2 percent, including approximately 24 million long-term discouraged workers, of whom about 13 million are between the ages of 16 and 24. He warned that persistently high youth unemployment poses a risk to social stability.
Li also pointed to the continued contraction in fixed-asset investment, noting that investment declined throughout 2025 and fell another 4.1 percent year-on-year during the first five months of 2026—an unusually prolonged downturn. He attributed the slowdown to the exhaustion of China’s traditional growth drivers, arguing that neither the property sector nor large-scale infrastructure investment is providing the economic momentum that fueled growth over the past two decades.
Source: United Daily News (Taiwan), July 14, 2026
https://money.udn.com/money/story/5603/9626860
CCP Hosts International Media Tour Promoting Long March Legacy and Development Model
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) recently organized an international media tour to commemorate the 105th anniversary of the Party’s founding and the 90th anniversary of the Red Army’s Long March. Invited by the CCP International Department, representatives from political party-affiliated and mainstream media organizations in 21 countries visited Jiangxi, Guizhou, and Ningxia to retrace the Long March route while learning about the CCP’s governance philosophy and China’s development achievements.
During the tour, participants visited key Long March historical sites as well as manufacturing, technology, and agricultural enterprises that Chinese authorities showcased as examples of modernization in former revolutionary base areas. Stops included intelligent manufacturing facilities in Jiangxi, the National Big Data (Guizhou) Comprehensive Pilot Zone, and automated agricultural processing plants in Ningxia.
The delegation also attended the July 9 international symposium, “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the World,” held in Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The event brought together more than 120 foreign political party leaders, diplomats, scholars, and media representatives from over 50 countries. Chinese organizers presented both the symposium and the media tour as platforms to promote the CCP’s governance model while portraying the Long March as a source of resilience and inspiration with global relevance.
Source: Xinhua, July 9, 2026
https://www.news.cn/politics/20260709/e49e3b0b8a964198bbd34e714be7430b/c.html
Kimi K3 Identifies Itself as Claude, Reviving Debate Over China’s AI Distillation Practices
China’s Moonshot AI recently released its latest large language model, Kimi K3, claiming performance comparable to leading models such as Claude and GPT-5-class systems. Chinese media have promoted Kimi as a domestic alternative to Claude and ChatGPT. However, user testing has reignited questions over whether the model was trained using outputs generated by Anthropic’s Claude.
Screenshots circulating online show a user said, “hey kimi hows it going!” and Kimi K3 responded with: “Hey! Doing well, thanks for asking! Quick heads up though—I’m Claude, not Kimi. Kimi is a different AI assistant (made by Moonshot AI). Easy mix-up, no worries!”
Similar behavior was previously observed in Kimi K2.5, which occasionally identified itself as Claude after extended conversations or when asked directly about its identity. The behavior resembles patterns described by Anthropic, that models distilled or trained on Claude-generated outputs may inherit Claude’s self-identification and response characteristics.
The incident has renewed scrutiny of Chinese AI developers’ use of model distillation—a technique that trains smaller models on the outputs of more advanced systems to reduce development costs and accelerate deployment. OpenAI has previously accused DeepSeek of improperly using ChatGPT-generated data. In addition, Anthropic alleged in a June letter to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee that operators linked to Alibaba’s Qwen AI laboratory used nearly 25,000 fraudulent accounts to generate approximately 28.8 million interactions with Claude in an effort to harvest model outputs. The repeated identity confusion exhibited by Kimi has fueled further speculation that Chinese AI developers may be relying extensively on distilled outputs from leading U.S. models.
Source: NTDTV, July 19, 2026
https://www.ntdtv.com/b5/2026/07/19/a104116746.html
PLA Daily Calls for New Counter-Drone “Three Attacks, Three Defenses” Training
A commentary published by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Daily argues that the PLA should modernize its long-standing “Three Attacks, Three Defenses” (三打三防) training doctrine to address the growing role of unmanned systems in modern warfare. The article contends that as drones increasingly reshape the battlefield, counter-drone operations should become a core component of military training to enhance combat effectiveness and battlefield survivability.
The proposed “Three Attacks” focus on targeting small drones, large unmanned platforms, and the command-and-control nodes that support drone operations. The article calls for improving troops’ ability to detect, track, and engage low, slow, and small aerial targets, while also developing capabilities to disrupt and destroy larger unmanned platforms and the networks that enable coordinated drone operations.
The corresponding “Three Defenses” emphasize countering drone reconnaissance, defending against mass drone swarm attacks, and protecting critical assets from precision strikes by loitering munitions and other unmanned weapons. The article advocates strengthening low-altitude surveillance, electronic warfare, camouflage and deception, rapid battlefield maneuver, and integrated air defense capabilities to improve the PLA’s resilience against evolving drone threats.
Source: People’s Daily, July 16, 2026
http://military.people.com.cn/n1/2026/0716/c1011-40761831.html