EXCERPT FROM THIS ARTICLE: 

“It is very clear that Chinese attempts to compromise critical infrastructure are in part to pre-position themselves to be able to disrupt or destroy that critical infrastructure in the event of a conflict, to either prevent the United States from being able to project power into Asia or to cause societal chaos inside the United States — to affect our decision-making around a crisis,” said Brandon Wales, executive director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). “That is a significant change from Chinese cyber activity from seven to 10 years ago that was focused primarily on political and economic espionage.”

The number of Chinese migrants entering the US at the southern border has reached a record high — sparking national security concerns over possible spies.

Customs and Border Protection officials apprehended 24,048 Chinese citizens at the border with Mexico over the 2023 fiscal year ending in September — more than 12 times the 1,970 arrests in the previous fiscal year.

It is also a more than 7,000% increase from 2021, when just 323 Chinese nationals crossed the border during strict pandemic travel bans and lockdowns.

The trend further highlights how migrants worldwide are aware of the disastrous controls at the US border — while also increasing fears of possible Chinese spies sneaking in while hiding with regular migrants.

“Clearly that border is a big opportunity,” Rebecca Grant, a national security analyst at IRIS Independent Research, recently told Newsweek

.

“Some of those people want to come here and have a better way of life, but I think some of those Chinese [nationals] quite possibly are here to spy and report back at a minimum,” she warned.

In fact, Grant said she is “99% certain that at least a little bit of this is [the] Chinese military infiltrating for reasons harmful to our national security.

“Is it one person, is it a hundred, is it a thousand — we don’t know, but the fact that we have to ask this question is outrageous,” she told the outlet.

PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK ABOVE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AND TO VIEW THE PHOTOS

For decades, China and Middle Eastern autocracies have been pouring billions of dollars into American and other foreign universities. Such funds support students from their countries but can also support academic programs that propagate these countries’ world views.

China’s so-called Confucius Institutes, for instance, which push the Chinese Communist Party’s agenda on college campuses and seek access to U.S. technological prowess, have garnered much international attention. Including these institutes and other efforts, China contributed $1.2 billion to American colleges between 2014 and 2020. It has spent roughly another $1 billion since 2020.

Middle Eastern countries’ donations draw much less attention. Between 2014 and 2020, Muslim-majority countries together donated $4.86 billion to American higher-educational institutions, representing 29 percent of all foreign donations.

Qatar and Saudi Arabia were responsible for much of this largesse. The two countries together invested $3.7 billion in American higher education and were cumulatively responsible for 2,303 grants, gifts, and contracts, of which 422 exceeded $1 million and 17 exceeded $50 million in value. Most of the largest gifts came from Qatar to Cornell and Carnegie Mellon.

Qatar’s role is particularly troubling, since the country is often an ally to both Iran and Hamas. The country also backs other terrorist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, and is home to the most important Middle Eastern media outfit, Al Jazeera. Along with Saudi Arabia, Qatar is among the largest donors to Palestinian organizations and causes.

(more…)

Hundreds of thousands of migrants from all over the world are making their way to the Southwest border, with U.S. and Mexican authorities reporting a surge in apprehensions of people from Asia and Africa as human smuggling networks widen their reach across the globe.

Arrests at the Southwest border of migrants from China, India and other distant countries, including Mauritania and Senegal, tripled to 214,000 during the fiscal year that ended in September from 70,000 in the previous fiscal year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. Fewer than 19,000 migrants from Asia and Africa were apprehended in the fiscal year ended September 2021.