CHINA BUILDS WORLD'S LARGEST FUSION ENERGY REACTOR
China is building the world's biggest laser-ignited fusion energy research center to support research on nuclear weapons and power generation. Satellite photos of Mianyang, Sichuan show four outlying "arms" housing laser bays and a central experiment bay that will hold a target chamber containing hydrogen isotopes which the lasers will fuse to produce energy. Although the layout of the PRC's facility is similar to the $3.5 billion U.S. National Ignition Facility in California, which in 2022 achieved "scientific breakeven" – that is, generating more energy from a fusion reaction than the lasers pumped into the target – the experiment bay of China's new research center is about 50% larger. (Reuters, January 28, 2025)
PRC INFLUENCE OPERATION PUSHS FOR OVERTHROW OF SPAIN'S GOVERNMENT
This month, a PRC social media influence operation known as Spamouflage posed as the human rights group Safeguard Defenders to spread online calls for Spain's government to be toppled. Dozens of accounts across social media platforms masquerading as Safeguard Defenders seeded videos and images criticizing the response of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government, as well as that of Valencia regional officials, to tragic floods in October that killed 224 people. Spamouflage has repeatedly targeted Safeguard Defenders since 2022, when the Madrid-based NGO published a report on China's network of secret police stations in Europe. Since 2017, Spamouflage has targeted various countries, including the U.S. and Canada, but this is the first time the group has directly called for the overthrow of a foreign government. (MSN, January 30, 2025)
FLORIDA POLICE BUST SMUGGLING OPERATION, DETAIN 26 CHINESE MIGRANTS
Police in Coral Gables, Florida discovered two vans transporting 26 Chinese migrants – 9 women and 17 men – the second human smuggling operation the city has uncovered in less than two weeks. "We believe they came by boat... through a secluded area in the southern end of Coral Gables. There was documentation, there was currency, this is not something where people were against their will," said Coral Gables Police Chief Edward James Hudak. Two armed smugglers, a Cuban and a Puerto Rican, were accompanying the migrants. Earlier, on January 17, about 20 Chinese migrants were discovered in a U-Haul truck. (CBS, January 28, 2025)
MASSIVE DAM IN TIBET ALARMS CHINA'S NEIGHBORS
Beijing has approved construction on the Motuo Hydropower Station on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo river in Medog County, Tibet. The dam, which will be in a 500-meter-deep canyon, will harness the kinetic energy of a 6,500 foot drop in the river to produce 300 billion kwh of energy per year – triple the capacity of the Three Gorges Dam, the world's biggest. But earthquakes threaten the safety of China's dams in Tibet. This month, cracks were discovered in five hydropower dams in Tibet after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck Shigatse, killing more than 120 people. The dam's construction, which is expected to take at least a decade, will require mass excavation of the area. (New York Times, January 27, 2025)
CHINA'S SPIES RECRUIT U.S. CLEARANCE HOLDERS
PRC spies are trolling LinkedIn and other networking sites, seeking to lure those with a U.S. government security clearance into sharing sensitive information. "On professional networking sites, members of the military, former members of the military, list their résumés. It exposes their expertise. And through that, it makes targeting by an intelligence service simple to accomplish," says Kevin Vorndran, head of the FBI's counterintelligence division. Over the last two years, the FBI has identified a dozen such cases and brought charges against four people recruited by undercover PRC agents. In one case, a U.S. Navy engineer received $15,000 to take pictures and videos of restricted areas at the military base where he worked. (CBS, January 27, 2025)
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China Policy Monitor No. 1623
Related Categories:
Cybersecurity and Cyberwarfare; Energy Security; Intelligence and Counterintelligence; Border Security; China; Europe; Southeast Asia; United States