Ant Group Sponsors Reality Competition Show About Programmers

“A two-episode series which debuted on Chinese streaming platforms last week has been described as the first reality competition to focus on programmers,” reports the I Programmer web site: The show, sponsored by the Ant Group, an affiliate company of the Chinese Alibaba Group, is called Ranshaoba tiancaichengxuyuan, which roughly translates to “Burn Bright! Genius Programmer,” and followed four teams engaged…

China’s President Xi Jinping Personally Pulled Plug on Jack Ma’s Ant IPO

Chinese President Xi Jinping personally made the decision to halt the initial public offering of Ant Group, which would have been the world’s biggest, after controlling shareholder Jack Ma infuriated government leaders, WSJ reported Thursday, citing Chinese officials with knowledge of the matter. From the report: The rebuke was the culmination of years of tense relations between China’s most celebrated entrepreneur…

China’s Leaders Vow Tech ‘Self-Reliance,’ Military Power and Economic Recovery

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: China’s Communist Party emerged from four days of meetings behind closed doors in Beijing declaring the country’s leader, Xi Jinping, a “helmsman” who would lead “the ship of socialism sailing into the wind and waves with determination.” At a time when other world leaders remain consumed by the coronavirus pandemic,…

The Battle Over Chips is About to Get Uglier

“We’re in a new world where governments are more concerned about the security of their digital infrastructure and the resiliency of their supply chains,” Jimmy Goodrich, vice president of global policy with the Washington-based Semiconductor Industry Association, tells Bloomberg. “The techno-nationalist trends gaining traction in multiple capitals around the world are a challenge to the semiconductor industry.” At once highly globalized…

Chinese Intelligence Compiles ‘Vast Database’ About Millions Around the World

Australia’s national public broadcaster ABC reports:
A Chinese company with links to Beijing’s military and intelligence networks has been amassing a vast database of detailed personal information on thousands of Australians, including prominent and influential figures. A database of 2.4 million people, including more than 35,000 Australians, has been leaked from the Shenzhen company Zhenhua Data which is believed to be used…

Texas A&M Professor Accused of Secretly Collaborating With China Amid NASA Work

CNBC reports:
A Texas A&M professor was charged with conspiracy, making false statements and wire fraud on allegations that he was secretly collaborating with the Chinese government while conducting research for NASA, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Monday… “Once again, we have witnessed the criminal consequences that can arise from undisclosed participation in the Chinese government’s talent program,” Assistant Attorney General…

China Secretly Built a Vast New Infrastructure To Imprison Muslims

In a series of investigations, BuzzFeed News used satellite images to reveal 268 newly-built internment camps for Muslims in the Xinjiang region. Longtime Slashdot reader wiredog shares the reports with us. Part 1: China Secretly Built A Vast New Infrastructure To Imprison Muslims
Part 2: What They Saw: Ex-Prisoners Detail The Horrors Of China’s Detention Camps
Part 3: Blanked Out Spots On China’s…

How China Targets Scientists via Global Network of Recruiting Stations

China is targeting top scientific and technological expertise in the U.S. and other advanced nations through an expanding network of 600 talent-recruitment stations world-wide, a new report partly funded by the U.S. State Department has found. From a report: U.S. officials have long warned that China uses recruitment programs to improperly obtain advanced technology. However, the research conducted by an Australian…

Trump Blew Up More Than Just TikTok and WeChat

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to ban dealings with ByteDance, owner of video-sharing sensation TikTok, appears to codify what his administration has already been warning. A second edict targeting messaging app WeChat and its parent, Tencent, seems weirdly overdue. The executive orders issued by the White House go beyond stopping average Americans from…

Why We Have a ‘TikTok Problem’

An anonymous reader shares an analysis: As national security expert Lucas Kunce notes, Facebook is in fact the reason we have a TikTok problem to begin with. When Twitter launched a TikTok-like product Vine years before, Facebook actively killed the product by refusing to let Vine access its APIs on the same terms other corporations got. Mark Zuckerberg personally made the…