Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 120

Xi Jinping’s Purges Have Escalated. Here’s Why They Are Unlikely to Stop

The final months of 2024 witnessed a new wave of purges in Xi Jinping’s China. On November 28, the Defense Ministry announced the suspension from his duties of Admiral Miao Hua, the number four military leader below Xi, who oversaw the political and organizational work of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Miao’s ouster makes him the third PLA general in charge of political and

Torbjørn Færøvik: Da formann Mao møtte den allmektige Josef Stalin

På himmelen skinner bare én sol. Men er det plass til to?I 1949 opprettet Mao Folkerepublikken Kina etter mange års krig. Stalin sendte sine varmeste gratulasjoner, men forholdet mellom dem hadde aldri vært særlig godt.Stalin betraktet Mao med mistro og hadde ved en anledning omtalt ham som «margarinkommunist». Mao hadde jo seiret ved hjelp av fattige bønder, og ikke klassebevisste arbeidere –

How a CIA informant stopped Taiwan from developing nuclear weapons

In January 1988, one of Taiwan’s most senior nuclear engineers defected to the United States after passing crucial intelligence on a top-secret program that would alter the course of Taiwan’s history. Colonel Chang Hsien-yi was a leading figure in Taiwan’s nuclear weapons project, a closely guarded secret between the 1960s and ‘80s, as Taipei raced to develop its first nuclear bomb to keep pace

PST: Nasjonal trusselvurdering 2025

"Kinesisk etterretning forsøker å få innsyn i politiske beslutningsprosesser og å kartlegge lokale og nasjonale beslutningstakere og per soner som kritiserer Kina. For å oppnå dette vil Kina fortsette å utføre cyberspionasje mot norske myndigheter, virksomheter og organisasjoner. Kinesisk etterretning vil også forsøke å rekrut tere norske borgere for å få tilgang til sensitiv og gradert

Human Rights Watch: World Report 2025

"Over a decade into President Xi Jinping’s rule, efforts to centralize control has led to heightened repression throughout the country. There is no independent civil society, no freedom of expression, association, assembly or religion, and human rights defenders and other perceived critics of the government are persecuted. The government considers the culturally and ethnically distinct Tibetans

I survived Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party’s purges. What's happening in the US now reminds me of the CCP’s Central Cultural Revolution Group.

Watching the Trump administration’s so-called “Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)” bulldoze through government institutions, I cannot help but be reminded of the Central Cultural Revolution Group (CCRG), a pivotal organization in the early years of China’s Cultural Revolution from 1966-1976. I was three years old when the Cultural Revolution was launched by the Chinese Communist Party’s

Thailand’s secret deportation of Uyghurs to China a win for Beijing, snub to US

The secret deportation by Thailand of dozens of Uyghurs to China that has sparked international condemnation is a diplomatic win for Beijing and a snub to the United States and the United Nations, who had long warned that the men would face torture and imprisonment if they were returned home. The 40 men had fled China in 2014, arriving in Thailand where they were arrested and later spent more

Exclusive: US intel shows Russia and China are attempting to recruit disgruntled federal employees, sources say

Foreign adversaries including Russia and China have recently directed their intelligence services to ramp up recruiting of US federal employees working in national security, targeting those who have been fired or feel they could be soon, according to four people familiar with recent US intelligence on the issue and a document reviewed by CNN.The intelligence indicates that foreign adversaries are

Rubio accuses China of ‘reverse’ Opium War via fentanyl

 U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday suggested Beijing may be “deliberately” flooding America with the synthetic opioid fentanyl, in a “reverse” form of the mid-1800s Opium Wars that enfeebled China’s international standing. U.S. officials blame fentanyl for ravaging communities and causing the overdose deaths of tens of thousands of Americans a year. Mexican transnational

Report: China has half a million Uyghurs in prison or detention

China still has more than half a million Uyghurs in prisons or detention centers and has expanded its repression of the ethnic group, a new report says, despite Beijing’s assurances that the northwestern region of Xinjiang has returned to normalcy. Another 3 million Uyghurs were subjected to forced labor in 2023, according to the 30-page report by the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of