You may have missed it within the flurry of Chinese Communist Party espionage stories over recent weeks -- again highlighting a phenomenon that's been underway for many years -- but it was a big one. "Five former University of Michigan students have been charged after they were caught allegedly covering up spying on a National Guard training center in Michigan for the People's Republic of China (PRC) while a training operation with the Taiwanese military was taking place," Fox News reported in October. The details of what happened leave little doubt that these former Michigan students were operating as a CCP spy cell. When they were caught in the vicinity of the training exercises, they made up excuses about being members of the media who were in the area "photographing a meteor shower and believed they were in a campground.' But that lie was exposed shortly thereafter:
Four months later, one of the men, Renxiang Guan, was interviewed by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officers at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport before traveling to South Korea and China. He told investigators he and others had taken a trip to northern Michigan to see shooting stars, but he was unable to recall where they went. CBP officers then searched his electronic devices and found images of the Grayling Military Installation, including military vehicles and other equipment. The data from an external hard drive showed the photographs had been taken during the time that live firing exercises were taking place, around two hours before the sergeant major encountered the students.
Communist spies. And the disturbing incident has now resulted in additional fallout, beyond the charges:
The University of Michigan has ended a two-decade partnership with a Chinese university after five Chinese students were caught photographing training exercises at Camp Grayling last year.
— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) January 13, 2025
President Ono said the university “must…prioritize our commitment to national security.” pic.twitter.com/7gCUsnx7SM
It seems as though the people running things in Ann Arbor -- both the adult and student leadership -- have run out of patience with Chinese spies and Hamas supporters alike. Meanwhile, it looks like CCP espionage is about to suffer another setback when TikTok is effectively banned in the United States, starting the day before Donald Trump assumes office. Congress passed legislation to this effect on a bipartisan basis and it was signed into law. Last week, the Supreme Court appeared to be rather hostile to TikTok's legal arguments in trying to counter its fate:
The Supreme Court appeared inclined...to uphold a law requiring TikTok, the popular social media platform, to be sold or face a ban in the U.S. The justices are likely to announce a ruling by the end of next week, before the deadline to sell the app on Jan. 19...TikTok’s lawyer argued to the court that the law — which passed through Congress with rare bipartisan support — violated the First Amendment. A group of creators who sued the government over the law made a similar pitch. TikTok is paying their legal bills. However, the government’s argument that TikTok’s Chinese ownership posed a potential threat seemed to resonate more with the justices. Several of them appeared troubled by the possibility that China could use data culled from American users for espionage or blackmail...ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, could still avoid a ban by selling the app.
I've seen speculation, based on the way oral arguments went in the case, that this could be a 9-0 decision. The fact that TikTok's CCP-controlled parent company won't sell seems to give the game away:
The fact that TikTok would rather stop service in America than divest from its ownership by a company run by an enemy state is fairly straightforward proof that it needs to be shut down.
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) January 12, 2025
Donald Trump was in favor of banning TikTok, but has changed his tune lately, preferring to lead negotiations on the issue upon taking office. But the law was duly and overwhelmingly-enacted, and the statute sets the relevant deadline. It should stand. Trump could certainly help negotiate a return of TikTok, in some form, under new ownership -- with the ban serving as strong leverage. There are potential buyers lining up. But will the Chinese ever be willing to sell the American piece of their super-valuable propaganda and espionage tool? Their steadfast refusal to do so, even as a ban became inevitable, shows where their priorities lie. I'll leave you with this:
Yes, and not just TikTok. Every Chinese company is required “to assist or cooperate with the Chinese government’s intelligence work.” In fact, no Chinese company may resist any demand from the Communist Party. https://t.co/ov8KRKRjhn
— Gordon G. Chang (@GordonGChang) January 10, 2025
Serious threats (a follow-up to this post):
Wray confirms that Chinese hackers (Salt Typhoon cyber actors linked to the Ministry of State Security) have intercepted the phone calls of members of the U.S. government: “Some people, we believe that they have collected their content, the actual communications of those people.” pic.twitter.com/3C09VTjGyP
— Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) January 13, 2025