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Friday, November 26, 2021

U.S. blacklists dozens of Chinese tech firms citing national security concerns

TRADE

U.S. blacklists dozens of Chinese tech firms citing national security concerns

KEY POINTS
  • The Biden administration added a dozen Chinese companies to its trade blacklist on Wednesday.
  • Of those blacklisted, eight Chinese technology entities were added for their alleged role in assisting the Chinese military’s quantum computing efforts.
  • U.S. officials have long complained that Chinese companies are beholden to the People’s Republic of China and collect sensitive information on behalf of the People’s Liberation Army.
Chinese and U.S. flags flutter outside a company building in Shanghai, China November 16, 2021.

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration added a dozen Chinese companies to its trade blacklist on Wednesday, citing national security as well as foreign policy concerns.

Eight technology entities based in China were added to the list for their alleged role in assisting the Chinese military’s quantum computing efforts and acquiring or attempting “to acquire U.S. origin-items in support of military applications.”

U.S. officials have long complained that Chinese companies are beholden to the People’s Republic of China and collect sensitive information on behalf of the People’s Liberation Army. The Chinese Communist Party has previously lied that it does not engage in industrial espionage. 

The Commerce Department also listed 16 entities and individuals operating in China and Pakistan for their work on Islamabad’s nuclear and ballistic missile program. In all, the Biden administration added 27 entities and individuals located in the People’s Republic of China, Pakistan, Russia, Japan and Singapore.

“Global trade and commerce should support peace, prosperity, and good-paying jobs, not national security risks,” wrote U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo in a statement. “The Department of Commerce is committed to effectively using export controls to protect our national security.”

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

The Department of Commerce’s entity list places trade restrictions on individuals and entities believed to engage in unfavorable or unethical activity.

Why Sydney woman stole $3.5m from Commonwealth Bank

 

Why Sydney woman stole $3.5m from Commonwealth Bank

A former bank worker who stole $3.5m to pay for a lavish lifestyle has been jailed.


 
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Former Commonwealth Bank employee Hsin-Yu Tsai has been jailed for stealing millions from customers.

A former Commonwealth Bank employee who ripped off customers to the tune of $3.5m to pay for a lavish lifestyle and appease an abusive ex has been jailed.

Hsin-Yu Tsai, 33, had claimed that she was not motivated by greed when she used her position as a customer service officer to move millions of dollars out of the accounts of unsuspecting clients.

However, a NSW District Court judge ruled that she did reap substantial amounts of money from the scheme and said there was no other option than for her to be jailed.

The court was told that Tsai claimed she was pressured into the offending in order to satisfy her then boyfriend’s desire for expensive watches and clothes.

Judge John Pickering said that according to Tsai, shortly after she moved in with the man, he pressured her to lavish him with material gifts.

Hsin-Yu Tsai ripped off customers to the tune of $3.5m. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone.
Hsin-Yu Tsai ripped off customers to the tune of $3.5m. 

Tsai pleaded guilty to three counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and one count of using false documents to gain advantage by deception.

Judge Pickering said aspects of the boyfriend’s behaviour were similar to those of a “domestic predator” and Tsai claimed that he had been violent and abusive.

It was in those circumstances that she began stealing from the bank, the court was told.

She moved $2.4m out of the account of a South African national who lived overseas; however, he did not discover the fraud for another three years.

She also siphoned off money from the term deposit account of another customer and in all stole $3.5m.

She claimed that her then boyfriend was a financial burden on her and had pressured her into buying a $600,000 Ferrari.

“She felt she had to please him and keep him happy because she had no other family to rely on in Sydney. Her parents were overseas and she had been isolated from her friends,” Judge Pickering said.

Hsin-Yu Tsai claimed she stole the money to appease an abusive boyfriend. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Flavio Brancaleone.
Hsin-Yu Tsai claimed she stole the money to appease an abusive boyfriend. 

However, she also used the money for her own gain.

When the relationship ended, they negotiated through lawyers for her to be paid a $1m settlement.

She used the money to travel to Taiwan, China and Europe, bought designer handbags and purchased property.

However, Judge Pickering noted, her offending ceased following the break-up and despite her having the opportunity to continue stealing money over the next three years while she continued to work at the bank.

“Sometimes the proof is in how you live your life after this,” Judge Pickering said.

“ … That needs to be balanced by the fact she made a lot of money including the million dollars she got at the end of her settlement.

“But nevertheless it is a remarkable circumstance that she continued to be employed by the Commonwealth Bank, did not take the opportunity to commit any fraud and placed herself in a completely different life.”

The court was told that with the help of her parents, Tsai had paid back the money she had stolen from the Commonwealth Bank.

Judge Pickering noted she was now working in the health industry, had a young family and had rehabilitated herself.

However, he said there was no other option than to send her to prison considering the amount of money she had stolen.

“It would be an extremely rare scenario where someone who defrauded the bank of $3.5m and was an employee … did not go to jail fulltime,” Judge Pickering said.

Tsai also made full admissions to police and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

She was sentenced to three years and three months in prison, with a 14-month non parole period, meaning she will be eligible for release in December next year.

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

'When' the West goes to war with China what side will Trudeau take- we already know dont we

 'When' the West goes to war with China what side will Trudeau take- we already know dont we...

U.S. Lawmakers Pass Bill Investigating Trudeau Government-China Relations

A bill recently passed by the U.S. Senate with strong two-party support would force the Biden administration to lay out plans for working with allies on China-related issues.

“The White House will have 90 days to publish a strategy explaining where it agrees and disagrees with Canada on China issues.”

As reported by CBC News, an expansive section of the bill is focused on Canada. The Canadian portion of the bill is titled the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. Included within it is a clause that would force the administration to produce a report on Canada within 90 days.

The bill focuses on a number of issues in terms of the Trudeau government’s relationship with China. Trade, cyber-security, Huawei, 5G networks, mineral resources, defence, the Arctic, global institutions, organized crime, as well as the spread of authoritarian government.

“It’s going to set a foundation for years to come about how the U.S. thinks about working with Canada vis à vis strategy.

Cultural Action Party hereby volunteer to read between the lines. In this regard, one must be mindful of the fact that the Canadian government provide well over a billion dollars per year to the CBC News corporation.

As a result, media bias and obfuscation play a significant role. What is obvious is CBC’s lack of emphasis upon U.S. lawmaker’s suspicion toward the relationship between Trudeau’s Liberals and the Chinese government. Who can blame them? If media propaganda did not exist, it is likely 98% of Canadians wouldn’t trust China either.

Then again, perhaps we don’t. A poll commissioned by the Angus Reid Institute in May, 2020, supports such a conclusion:

“Just 14 per cent of adults in this country[Canada] now say they have a positive opinion of China.” An inversion informs us that 86% of Canadians polled have a negative opinion of China.

Degree to which Justin Trudeau has integrated the will of the majority into government policy? Zero percent. How perfectly Trudeau’s disinterest in democracy aligns with governance within the behemoth nation of the Far East.

READ MORE:  Driven By Multiculturalism, Woke Regime “Most Advanced In Canada”

Is Canada in a situation where the Liberal’s dedication to China is so firmly entrenched that the government of the U.S.A. has to intervene in order for change to occur?

Long term readers of CAP material know how we feel about this. In our opinion, the Liberal Party-China connection is one of the least understood phenomenons in Canadian history. This process began with ex-Liberal PM Pierre Trudeau. As media refuse to confess, the relationship went through the stratosphere after Justin Trudeau captured his Canadian crown in 2015.

For the past 50 years, establishment media in Canada have played their part in keeping the entire process on the low-down. Is the United States about to intervene to root out the relationship for all the world to see?

Without such an endeavour, Justin Trudeau’s pseudo-communist conversion of Canada will continue unencumbered.

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Is The G7 Summit Crackdown On China An Indirect Investigation Of Justin Trudeau?

An interesting “coincidence” –which may not be a coincidence at all–has developed in and around the timing of the G7 summit currently taking place in the British town of Cornwall. 

The G7 group of nations have agreed on plans to set up an alternative to China’s Belt and Road initiative as part of a push back against China. Issues to be addressed include human rights, supply chains, support for Taiwan and demands to reveal more about the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A related development is found in the form of a U.S. Senate bill encouraging the Biden administration to lay out plans for working with allies on China-related issues.

As reported by CBC News, an expansive section of the bill is focused on Canada. The Canadian portion of the bill is contained within the U.S. Innovation and Competition ActIncluded within is a clause that would force the administration to produce a report on Canada within 90 days.

“The White House will have 90 days to publish a strategy explaining where it agrees and disagrees with Canada on China issues.”

Why the intensity of focus on Canada?  Could it be that U.S.lawmakers have grown suspicious of relations between our country and China? It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone if this is the case.

From Cultural Action Party’s perspective, Justin Trudeau could be shaking beneath his shaggy hair over this one. His government is at the centre of controversy regarding the source of the Covid pandemic as related to an investigation of the Winnipeg-based National Microbiology Lab.

The relationship of the Liberal Party and the government of China goes back decades. Liberal government bias toward China has taken on myriad forms since the day ex-Liberal PM Pierre Trudeau instituted diplomatic relationships with China in the year 1970.

In the interest of brevity, let us point to just one example: the declaration of genocide regarding China’s Uyghur Muslim minority community. The United States has officially declared the persecution an act of genocide. Against the grain, so did the House of Commons in Canada.

PM Justin Trudeau abstained from the vote. He instructed all Liberal Cabinet members to follow suit. Who knows, perhaps he even told media to take a hands-off approach.

On what do we base such thoughts? The fact that establishment media in Canada failed to scrutinize these abstentions in a serious capacity. Both theories and rationalizations were eschewed in favour of relative silence.

READ MORE: U.S. Lawmakers Pass Bill Investigating Trudeau Government-China Relations

Should concerned Canadians be surprised? Absolutely not. How so? Because for the past five decades mainstream media has been instrumental in obfuscation of the Liberal-Trudeau-China dynamic.

Could it be that a tacit side-agenda of this nature at the G7 summit exists? Naturally, CAP cannot confirm such a development. Indeed, it could be wishful thinking on our part.

And yet, one piece of reality may hold the key to speculation: the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act directed at Canada and China relations includes a hard deadline of completion: 90 days from the passing of the bill.

This suggests urgency on the part of U.S. lawmakers. Considering the entrenchment of Liberal-China collusion in Canada, could it be that only an investigation from outside the Canadian bubble will deliver answers citizens deserve to hear?