Sean Tseng

Reporter @EpochTimes covering U.S.–China relations, trade, defense, AI & CCP politics. Mechanical engineering background. English / 中文. DMs open for tips.

[Sean Tseng @SeanTseng]

Holding 10 million yuan ($1.4 million) or more in a Chinese bank may be enough to get someone barred from leaving, veteran China commentator Cai Shenkun told us.

“You may have deposits in China on paper, but I’m afraid they no longer belong to you,” he said.

In late August, border police at Shanghai Pudong pulled aside a Chinese graduate student flying back to Tokyo, an insider told us. He was asked about his income, his family’s assets, and any large household debts. One false answer could later bar him from leaving.

Analysts say the timing of China’s new exit rules comes down to money. With a struggling economy and weak consumer spending, local governments—short on land revenue—have turned to fines, back taxes, and asset seizures.

“Tightening controls now will actually accelerate the flight of money and people,” Frank Xie, a business professor at the University of South Carolina–Aiken, told us.👇

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[Sean Tseng @SeanTseng]

An American journalist spent years on the payroll of China’s Ministry of State Security.

What made him useful? He could fly into the United States anytime he wanted.

He met people Beijing wanted to assess, handed them communication devices, and passed along information — all while working as a columnist and editor for Chinese state media.

He got two years.

The more interesting part is how ordinary the rest of the method is. Much of what Beijing does in the U.S. never has to break a law. It just uses the access an open society hands out for free. 👇

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[Sean Tseng @SeanTseng]

China Nominates Communist Party Official to Lead WHO After US Exit
https://t.co/J3xUtcDucw

[Sean Tseng @SeanTseng]

China has nominated senior Communist Party health official, Song Li, to lead the WHO after the United States left.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said the move shows China’s “firm support for multilateralism and the WHO.”

The agency is cutting thousands of jobs after losing its largest donor, the United States. The Trump administration has accused it of bias toward China during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Song heads the Department of Women and Child Health at China’s National Health Commission. She earned a doctorate at Peking University, studied global health as a visiting scholar at Harvard, and sits on a WHO advisory group on maternal and newborn health, according to her WHO biography.

Song joins six declared candidates from Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Qatar, Botswana, Indonesia, and Spain. The WHO’s 34-member Executive Board, which China joined in May, will pick three finalists in February, and member states will elect the winner in May 2027.

Filling the Void

U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. withdrawal from the WHO in January 2025, citing the WHO’s “inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states.” His order noted that China, despite its 1.4 billion people, “contributes nearly 90 percent less to the WHO.”

Beijing has since stepped in. With Washington gone, China has become the largest payer of the agency’s mandatory dues. Its annual bill is set to rise from about $87.6 million in 2025 to $137.8 million in 2026, reflecting a 20% increase that member states approved in May 2025, according to WHO calculations. At a WHO pledging event during that month’s World Health Assembly, China’s contribution to the agency’s fundraising drive was listed only as “to be confirmed.”

[Sean Tseng @SeanTseng]

😂

[SMX 🇺🇸 @iam_smx]

Lord Elon Musk, Scam Altman, and Dario requesting GPUs from King Jensen is absolutely hilarious 😂

[Sean Tseng @SeanTseng]

We are paying Chinese companies to make us more dependent on China.

Illinois gave Gotion $165M for a "battery plant" that mostly snaps finished Chinese cells into packs. The cell factory they promised? Never came.

A battery expert told me it's "the reverse of what one thinks."👇

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[Sean Tseng @SeanTseng]

This is genuinely well scripted.

[MAX @maxxmalist]

The race for AGI

Script: Sherpa by Pocket FM
Video: Seedance 2.5

[Sean Tseng @SeanTseng]

@JanJekielek Thanks @JanJekielek !

[Sean Tseng @SeanTseng]

After careful deliberation, the WNBA will circle back… on what a woman is.

[ESPN @espn]

A WNBA task force of team presidents and general managers met Wednesday and discussed transgender athletes but did not arrive at any eligibility rules, according to a statement sent to ESPN by a league spokesperson.

https://t.co/woN41EFRHC

[Sean Tseng @SeanTseng]

🔥READ: The Inner Workings of Beijing’s Security Machine Revealed https://t.co/IPcVRuJHi1

[Sean Tseng @SeanTseng]

A Beijing pastor was ordered to install a surveillance camera in his sanctuary. He said no.

Seven years later, police charged him with internet and business offenses.

No spy hunt. No dramatic raid. Ordinary cops, ordinary statutes, a provincial city far from the capital. That's the design.

The Stasi needed one full-time employee per 165 East Germans. Beijing gets further with 10 to 15 million ordinary citizens recruited to do the watching.

Read my full article breaking down China’s full security apparatus in the link below👇

[Sean Tseng @SeanTseng]

The Inner Workings of Beijing’s Security Machine Revealed https://t.co/IPcVRuJHi1

[Sean Tseng @SeanTseng]

Analysts think the wall eventually cracks, and that it happens through jobs — plants built in North America, then pressure to let the cars in.

"The states will probably fight for it," one told me, "even if there is a federal blockade."

@leixing77

[Sean Tseng @SeanTseng]

The cost to Americans doesn't require a single Chinese car to cross the border.

Roughly 10% of U.S. auto production goes to Canada. Every point of share Chinese brands take there comes out of American-built vehicles.

Meanwhile the US trade deficit with Mexico went from $63B in 2016 to $171B in 2024 — even as the China deficit narrowed. Production rerouted, not reshored.

@SamFiorani @ScottPaulAAM @KeepitMadeinUSA

[Sean Tseng @SeanTseng]

The gap almost nobody has noticed: the cars can't be sold in the US — but nothing currently stops a Canadian owner from driving one across the border.

Companion bills from @SenatorSlotkin and @RepHaleyStevens would close it, barring Chinese-brand vehicles from entering at all, even for a day trip.

[Sean Tseng @SeanTseng]

You can't buy a BYD in the United States. Canadians can, starting this fall.

Canada's quota is too small for any Chinese brand to profit on — 3.6% of the market. So why bother?

Analysts told me Canada was never the target. The one next door is.

my in-depth report 👇

https://t.co/sUipkyxrNP

[Sean Tseng @SeanTseng]

Canada attached no equivalent conditions to its quota.

No requirement to keep driver data in Canada. No requirement to replace the Chinese software.

A former senior Canadian official calls these cars "rolling sensors" — microphones live, still transferring data when the car is switched off and plugged in.

@M_Johnston1

[Sean Tseng @SeanTseng]

The first BYD, Geely and Chery dealerships open this fall in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.

What keeps those cars out of the US isn't the tariff. A Commerce rule bars China-owned automakers from selling connected cars there at all — even ones built on American soil.

Polestar assembles its flagship SUV in South Carolina. Barred anyway, because Geely owns it.

@ChinaSelect @RepMoolenaar @berniemoreno

[Sean Tseng @SeanTseng]

America's AI build-out runs on a material most people have never heard of.

China refines 70% of the metal it's made from. Prices are up 250%. One major supplier is sold out through 2028.

When Beijing eased its minerals controls in the trade truce, this was the one it didn't touch.

China’s Two-Front Squeeze on America’s AI Build-Out https://t.co/qlyTXSfzS9 via @epochtimes

[Sean Tseng @SeanTseng]

Why Beijing Is Dropping Its ‘Get Rich’ Propaganda https://t.co/23qwEKheCe via @epochtimes