Graphika: China-Linked “Spamouflage” Network Targets U.S. Midterm Elections With Divisive Content
Online research firm Graphika reported on October 30 that the China-linked influence network known as “Spamouflage” remains active on X, where accounts posing as American voters are spreading divisive content about U.S. politics, social issues, and elections ahead of the 2026 midterms. The tactics resemble those observed before the 2024 presidential election.
Graphika identified three clusters of activity: accounts believed to be successors to previously removed Spamouflage accounts; networks amplifying MAGA-style political personalities; and Philippine cultural accounts that have shifted toward U.S. political content and pro-China narratives.
Some accounts previously targeted Chinese dissidents, Falun Gong, and Shen Yun, offering clues to their links with the broader influence network. For example, @ghosolutions and @jspexplorer shifted from anti-Falun Gong and anti-Guo Wengui content to U.S. political discussions, amplifying the MAGA-style account @JosiTaylorah, which has about 14,700 followers.
Another account, @speedysmm4547, with about 13,700 followers, is believed by Graphika to be the successor to a previously removed Spamouflage-linked account. Since June 2025, it has posted divisive U.S. political content, including criticism of Democratic leaders and immigration policies.
A notable case is @cooltureph_, originally devoted to Philippine food and culture. After going inactive in August 2022, it resumed posting in November 2024, shifting to English-language pro-China content and divisive U.S. political narratives. By October 30, it had about 201,600 followers. Graphika could not determine whether the account had been hijacked, sold, or otherwise transferred. Nine additional suspected inauthentic pro-China accounts also amplified its posts.
Researchers identified linguistic clues suggesting some content was produced using Chinese-language keyboards. Most engagement came from accounts within the same networks, rather than genuine users.
Clemson University researcher Darren Linvill told the Associated Press that this operation was unlikely to influence genuine political debate though.
Source: Epoch Times, October 31, 2026
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/26/10/31/n14880383.htm
Indiana Treasurer Pushes Back After Chinese Consulate Urges Him to Avoid Taiwan Officials
Indiana State Treasurer Daniel Elliott attended the Republic of China (Taiwan)’s 115th National Day reception hosted by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago on October 9. In response, the Chinese Consulate General in Chicago sent Elliott a letter expressing “concern” over his participation and urging him to avoid all future interactions with Taiwan. The letter also indicated that Chinese Consul General Wang Baodong wished to meet with Elliott.
On October 27, Elliott posted the four-page English-language letter from the Chinese consulate on X, making its contents public and drawing attention to what he described as an attempt by Chinese diplomats to interfere in the affairs of Indiana officials. He also issued a statement rejecting the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to influence the decisions of Indiana officials and reaffirming his support for the partnership between Indiana and Taiwan.
Elliott’s statement said:
“I reject any suggestion that a foreign government’s political demands should direct the lawful conduct of an Indiana officeholder.”
“Beijing can send all the letters it wants. I answer to Hoosiers. The Chinese Communist Party does not dictate how Indiana officials do their jobs.”
“In Indiana, government works for the people. The people don’t work for the government. The Chinese Communist Party has that backward, and it’s been backward for a long time.”
“Indiana’s economic engagement with Taiwan serves Indiana’s interests, and it will continue regardless of the CCP’s preferred framing.”
Source: Liberty Times (Taiwan), November 1, 2026
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/5625359
DOJ Sentences Two Chinese Nationals to 30 Months for Acting as Undeclared Agents of China’s MSS
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on October 30 that two Chinese nationals had each been sentenced to 30 months in prison for acting as undeclared agents of China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS). Both men will also serve three years of supervised release following their prison terms.
According to the DOJ, Liren “Ryan” Lai, 40, and Yuance Chen, 39, conspired to act as agents of a foreign government and did so without notifying the U.S. Attorney General. Prosecutors said the two operated under the direction and control of China’s MSS while conducting covert intelligence activities in the United States.
Court documents indicate that the two began working for the MSS at least as early as May 2021. Lai recruited Chen and initially served as an intermediary between him and MSS officials. Chen later received assignments directly from Chinese intelligence officers.
Beginning in 2022, Chen collected information on U.S. military facilities and personnel under instructions from Lai and MSS officials. He photographed Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Washington, as well as military recruits and active-duty sailors at a Navy recruiting station in Southern California. He also collected the personal identifying information of a U.S. Navy employee and compiled detailed profiles of military personnel who could potentially be targeted for intelligence recruitment.
Prosecutors said the two also helped arrange covert cash payments in exchange for U.S. national security information and assisted the MSS in identifying potential intelligence sources within the U.S. military.
The two men were arrested on June 27, 2025, in an FBI-coordinated counterintelligence operation. A federal grand jury indicted them on July 1, 2025. Lai pleaded guilty on December 12, 2025, and Chen pleaded guilty on February 20, 2026.
Source: Epoch Times, October 31, 2026
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/26/10/30/n14880268.htm/amp
Cohere Reports Alibaba AI Model Attempted to Upload Data to Beijing Servers During Security Test
Canadian enterprise AI company Cohere reported on October 26 that its researchers observed unexpected behavior from Alibaba’s Qwen3.8-Flash-Next model during a controlled cybersecurity test. Asked to write a defensive detection rule, the model instead inspected its sandbox environment and attempted to upload a test file to an Alibaba Cloud storage bucket in Beijing.
According to Cohere, the model examined temporary directories, checked for network-transfer tools such as curl, wget, and python3, and read the machine’s DNS configuration. These activities resemble reconnaissance, a technique commonly used to identify a system’s resources and capabilities during cyber intrusions.
The model then attempted to use curl to upload a fixed test string to the remote storage bucket. Meanwhile, its internal reasoning trace indicated that it had not used any tools, contradicting its attempted actions.
Cohere said the sandbox lacked outbound network access, preventing the upload from succeeding. The company described the behavior as extremely rare, occurring in fewer than one in 100,000 calls across its evaluation runs. Repeating the same prompt produced a normal detection rule.
The incident does not establish that Alibaba deliberately designed the model to exfiltrate data or conceal its actions. The cause remains unknown. Nevertheless, the episode highlights potential security risks when AI agents have access to system tools and network connections.
Source: Epoch Times, October 28, 2026
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/26/10/27/n14877889.htm
“Slave Labor Theory” Goes Viral in China: Exploited Workers Cannot Deliver Quality Products or Services
A concept gaining traction in Chinese online discussions, known as the “Slave Labor Theory” (奴工理论), uses the term “slave labor” to describe modern employment arrangements characterized by extremely low wages, excessive workloads, heavy responsibilities, and inadequate worker protections. The theory argues that no matter how advanced or sophisticated a business or production system may appear, exploitative labor practices at any stage will ultimately undermine the quality of its products and services. It is increasingly used to explain a common complaint about Chinese companies: they push workers to their limits who then deliver substandard products and services.
The theory is summarized in three principles:
- First Law – Quality Deterioration: If workers at any stage of a system receive “slave labor-level” treatment, the final products or services will inevitably reflect similarly poor quality.
- Second Law – Price Disconnect: The treatment workers receive depends on the cost of their labor, not on the selling price of the products they make or the services they provide.
- Third Law – Inevitability of Risk: Wherever exploitative labor conditions are possible, they will inevitably emerge somewhere within the system.
The theory draws on several incidents in China to illustrate these principles:
- Shanghai GT Supercar Racing Rescue Failure: During a supercar fire at a racing event, a temporary safety worker reportedly paid just 60 yuan (US$9) for a four-hour shift abandoned a fire extinguisher and fled. The incident illustrates the disconnect between the enormous value of the vehicles and the low compensation of those responsible for safety.
- Domino’s Pizza Contamination Incident: A disgruntled employee reportedly contaminated customers’ pizzas by deliberately rubbing dandruff into them, illustrating how workplace grievances can spill over into consumer safety and product quality.
- Manner Coffee Employee Incidents: Reports of baristas facing extreme workplace pressure, emotional breakdowns, and confrontations with customers have been cited as examples of how excessive workloads and understaffing can undermine service quality.
Source: kjxb.org
https://kjxb.org/archives/60203
Xinhua: China Opens Pinglu Canal, Creating New Shipping Corridor Linking Southwest China with ASEAN
China opened the Pinglu Canal to navigation on September 16, establishing a new shipping route connecting the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and other southwestern provinces with ASEAN markets. The canal is expected to provide the region with a shorter and more economical maritime outlet.
Construction began on August 28, 2022. The 134.2-kilometer canal, built with an investment exceeding 70 billion yuan (US$9.8 billion), is the first nationally coordinated canal project since the founding of the People’s Republic of China to connect inland waterways directly with the sea. Built to Class I inland waterway standards, it can accommodate vessels of up to 5,000 tons. The route begins in Hengzhou, Nanning, Guangxi passes through Qinzhou, Guangxi and reaches the Beibu Gulf.
Previously, the lack of a direct inland-to-sea shipping route forced goods from southwestern China destined for Southeast Asia to take longer routes eastward to reach the coast.
The canal enables river-sea direct vessels to travel between inland ports, Chinese coastal ports, and major ASEAN ports without changing vessels or transferring cargo. It is expected to facilitate two-way trade between southwestern China and Southeast Asia.
According to Chinese estimates, the canal will shorten inland shipping distances by more than 560 kilometers compared with traditional routes and reduce overall logistics costs by 18 to 30 percent, strengthening trade connectivity between China and ASEAN.
Source: Xinhua, September 16, 2026
https://www.news.cn/politics/20260916/4d3b671357d14c8db202cbf6120f2c43/c.html
People’s Daily: Establishing Xi Jinping as the Core of Party Leadership Is the Greatest Political Achievement Since the 18th Party Congress
October 26 marked the opening of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which focused on Party building. On the same day, People’s Daily published a lengthy editorial under the pen name Ren Zhongping (任仲平), a name that is a homophone for “People’s Daily’s Important Commentary.” The article emphasized the need for the entire CCP to follow Xi Jinping’s leadership. The following are key excerpts from the article.
Since the 18th Party Congress, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. The greatest political achievement of this era has been establishing Comrade Xi Jinping as the core of the Party Central Committee and the entire Party, and establishing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guiding ideology.
Advancing Party building as a great project while consistently upholding the principles of the Party governing itself and exercising strict self-governance has been a major instrument for establishing the Party and the state and strengthening both.
“Upholding the Central Committee’s centralized and unified leadership” is an important component of Xi Jinping’s thinking on Party building and the highest principle of Party leadership.
The primary task of “upholding political building as the overarching principle of Party building” is to “ensure that the entire Party obeys the Central Committee and upholds the authority of the Central Committee and its centralized and unified leadership.”
Source: People’s Daily, October 26, 2026
http://dangjian.people.com.cn/n1/2026/1026/c117092-40821438.html
People’s Daily: Aging Equipment and Supply Chain Weaknesses Challenge U.S. Military Readiness
The U.S. Air Force recently outlined progress under its “Polaris Readiness Plan,” which covers 76 B-52H and 45 B-1B strategic bombers. The initiative aims to improve maintenance efficiency by reorganizing logistics and supply-chain operations. However, salvaging parts from retired aircraft offers only temporary relief from shortages and may prove inadequate during prolonged, high-intensity conflict.
Years of global deployments have placed mounting pressure on aging equipment across the U.S. military. The Navy’s aircraft carrier fleet faces particularly acute challenges. Several Nimitz-class carriers have served for more than 40 years, contributing to recurring maintenance problems and growing repair backlogs. Meanwhile, the newer Ford-class carriers continue to face reliability issues with electromagnetic catapults and arresting gear. Extended maintenance periods have limited the number of carriers readily available for deployment to fewer than four. Meanwhile, prolonged operations accelerate equipment wear and further increase maintenance demands.
Other major weapons systems face similar difficulties. The Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile fleet has exceeded its originally intended service life, while its replacement program has progressed slowly. Aging Ohio-class strategic nuclear submarines and delays in building their Columbia-class successors add to the pressure. The Air Force’s airborne early-warning and aerial refueling fleets also contain aging aircraft with increasing structural maintenance requirements.
These challenges are compounded by weaknesses in the U.S. defense industrial base. Shrinking domestic manufacturing capacity, fragmented supply chains, limited production of critical components, and a reduced pool of major contractors constrain the industry’s ability to produce new weapons while maintaining existing systems.
The Polaris Readiness Plan cannot reverse the broader erosion of U.S. military readiness on its own.
Source: People’s Daily, October 28, 2026
http://military.people.com.cn/n1/2026/1028/c1011-40823166.html