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Byron Wan
@Byron_Wan
Los Angeles, CA
Joined November 2014
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US Coast Guard ships previously deployed in the Middle East are now operating out of Singapore and the Philippines to help challenge China’s assertion of power in the Pacific.
The six 154-foot fast-response cutters are part of the Coast Guard’s reimagined “expeditionary cutter squadron,” which can be sent anywhere in the world. Their first deployment is the western Pacific, where tensions have run high for years as China escalated what is called a gray-zone campaign to project control around Taiwan and the disputed waters of the South China Sea.
The cutters — the Coast Guard’s name for ships 65 feet in length or greater with onboard living accommodations — are approved to operate from Singapore and Subic Bay on the Philippine island of Luzon at least through Sep . While the US has previously deployed larger Coast Guard cutters to Subic Bay, it is the first time the smaller, fast-response cutters are operating from there.
The Coast Guard deployment is the latest step in Washington’s efforts to deter Beijing from moving on Taiwan or South China Sea features that are also claimed by other countries, including the Philippines and Vietnam. The US is dispersing its military footprint, upgrading austere airfields, testing advanced missile systems and training with more allied nations in increasingly complex exercises, all in an effort to convince Beijing that any military action would be too risky.
The command and logistics for the cutters are handled out of Singapore and that the vessels are rotating through Subic Bay.
The US military has been expanding its presence in the Philippines, a US treaty ally that would likely be a key operating base in any war over Taiwan. With Singapore, the US has a longstanding agreement to use its naval facilities to support certain US activities.
Beijing has also been leaning on its coast guard as it seeks to enforce control over an area through which trillions of dollars of trade passes each year. Chinese coast guard ships have intercepted Philippine vessels seeking access to military outposts or local fishing grounds, at times using water cannons and other pressure tactics to ward them off.
The US Coast Guard ships could help make up for US Navy vessels that were moved to the Middle East to support US operations during the Iran war.
The Coast Guard, whose missions include law enforcement and search-and-rescue, may also be a more palatable partner for some nations who might be wary of an overt US military presence, including Vietnam and some Pacific island countries that don’t have their own militaries.
The Coast Guard already bases ships in Guam and Hawaii, including what it calls an Indo-Pacific support cutter. That cutter has visited Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and other small island nations, where the US and China are competing for influence. On these missions, the Coast Guard crew often works with local law enforcement to patrol for illegal fishing or drug smuggling, and will board vessels for inspections.
Having ships in Singapore and the Philippines puts the Coast Guard much closer to South China Sea hot spots. The cutters are operating in support of US Pacific Command, which oversees a vast area from India to beyond Hawaii.
Still, deterring China in its backyard will remain a challenge for the US.
Beijing has invested heavily in its coast guard, which now has bigger ships with bigger guns that can spend more time out at sea, including the world’s longest patrol vessels. The coast guard integrated more with the Chinese navy and receives support from China’s maritime militia, groups of fishermen who on occasion conduct missions for Beijing.
The US Coast Guard, meanwhile, has struggled with outdated ships, slower-than-expected production of new vessels, and a manpower shortage. To keep up, it will also need more bases in the Pacific, where distances are vast.
https://t.co/wxeykT804m
Hong Kong, 2026…
https://t.co/ExPGVv8XWP
Omar Yaghi, the winner of Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2025, has left UC Berkeley and joined 🇨🇳 Tsinghua University to lead a new AI-driven research center.
The materials scientist will head a team working on ways that AI can transform the design and synthesis of new materials and shorten their development cycle “by orders of magnitude”.
Speaking at his appointment ceremony, Yaghi said he hoped to develop materials to tackle major environmental challenges such as water shortages, carbon neutrality and sustainable development.
He added that he also wanted to help train young scientists in AI-driven chemistry.
Yaghi was previously the James and Neeltje Tretter professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. He shared the 2025 Nobel Prize with Richard Robson and Susumu Kitagawa for their work on metal-organic frameworks, which are ultra-porous, spongelike materials created by linking metal ions with carbon-based molecules.
These and other related materials have the highest surface areas known to date, allowing them to capture and convert carbon, harvest water from desert air and absorb hydrogen to produce clean energy.
Zhou Zihui, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley, said Yaghi had trained about 200 researchers, nearly half of whom were Chinese.
“He spent a lot of time having one-on-one conversations with us. He often said Chinese students would take the initiative to think deeply about scientific questions and could quickly understand his ideas with just a little guidance,” Zhou told Shenzhen Satellite TV last year after his mentor was awarded the Nobel Prize.
Zhou said one of Yaghi’s lessons that stayed with him most was that scientists should think beyond research papers.
“When doing research, he told us not to just think about the science itself or publishing papers, but also how to make our work known to the world and ultimately change people’s lives.”
Yaghi was born to a Palestinian refugee family in Amman, Jordan, in 1965. He moved to the US at the age of 15 and earned his PhD in chemistry from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He previously held positions at Arizona State University, the University of Michigan and the University of California, Los Angeles, before heading to Berkeley.
During an interview at Nanjing University in November, Yaghi said the emerging field of AI materials chemistry — also known as AIMATRY — used the technology to create materials more quickly, more cheaply and more sustainably to solve specific problems.
He said scientists could now design materials with increasing precision instead of relying on trial and error, adding that the next step was to create materials with built-in instructions for specific functions “so the material itself functions almost like DNA”.
Yaghi is also a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has won China’s Nano Research Award multiple times and has long-standing collaborations with major Chinese universities, including Tsinghua, Nanjing, Fudan and Shanghai Jiao Tong.
https://t.co/UFzRbCUHOA
China's use of economic statecraft and espionage on Dutch strategic industries is meant to ensure systemic dependency and Beijing's global industrial leadership.
China also employs digital operations, legal pressure and physical threats in the Netherlands to achieve its aims, while exploiting the country's open governance.
The Netherlands is home to technologies that are difficult or impossible to obtain elsewhere. ASML is the only company worldwide to commercialize EUV lithography machines, which are crucial for producing cutting-edge semiconductors that power the best smartphones, data centers and weapons.
“Gaining access to Dutch know-how or influence over Dutch companies can have outsized strategic value because these firms occupy key positions in global value chains and have international leverage.”
“Talent-based espionage relies heavily on human intelligence, coercion of diaspora and academic infiltration, as seen in ASML-related IP theft cases.”
The Dutch semiconductor sector faces the highest risk, with China targeting companies such as ASML and NXP Semiconductors as well as limiting exports of related critical raw materials.
Over the course of 2025, China restricted rare-earth exports to counter what Beijing considers hostile Western trade policies, catching ASML in the middle. The Dutch company's complex optical systems rely on such materials, and ASML in late 2025 reportedly sounded fears that those restrictions would delay its shipments.
So far, the Dutch government's hands are tied. The country's anti-discrimination laws forbid espionage screening policies that target only 🇨🇳 nationals. The EU has an anti-coercion instrument for use against economic blackmail by countries outside the bloc, but EU leaders consider the tool a nuclear option.
"If there were evidence that semiconductor-related dependencies were being leveraged for coercive purposes, the instrument could in principle be relevant [...] but the EU is still very reluctant to use [it]. It was, however, created with China in mind, so I believe if push comes to shove, it might well be leveraged."
Vulnerabilities also appear in the Dutch maritime sector. Chinese state-owned companies COSCO Shipping Ports and China Merchants Port Holdings manage substantial cargo capacity in the Port of Rotterdam, a major European hub, as investors and terminal operators.
"For the maritime sector, interference is highly likely to take the form of cyber-enabled espionage, data access and calibrated disruption rather than overt sabotage. Even limited interference will highly likely have cascading effects on energy supplies, industrial production and NATO logistics, such as the delivery of NATO ships."
The Netherlands mostly exports specialized machinery and food to China, but runs a large trade deficit. The Netherlands faces a complex relationship with Beijing, needing to balance lucrative economic partnerships with growing national security threats and the erosion of strategic autonomy.
In a crisis such as a confrontation over Taiwan, Chinese leverage over strategic industries would constrain Dutch policy choices, delay military readiness or limit participation in allied responses.
“The risk is not necessarily immediate disruption, but the gradual narrowing of options available to Dutch decision-makers.”
https://t.co/6mpyIZALHE
![Byron_Wan's tweet photo. China's use of economic statecraft and espionage on Dutch strategic industries is meant to ensure systemic dependency and Beijing's global industrial leadership.
China also employs digital operations, legal pressure and physical threats in the Netherlands to achieve its aims, while exploiting the country's open governance.
The Netherlands is home to technologies that are difficult or impossible to obtain elsewhere. ASML is the only company worldwide to commercialize EUV lithography machines, which are crucial for producing cutting-edge semiconductors that power the best smartphones, data centers and weapons.
“Gaining access to Dutch know-how or influence over Dutch companies can have outsized strategic value because these firms occupy key positions in global value chains and have international leverage.”
“Talent-based espionage relies heavily on human intelligence, coercion of diaspora and academic infiltration, as seen in ASML-related IP theft cases.”
The Dutch semiconductor sector faces the highest risk, with China targeting companies such as ASML and NXP Semiconductors as well as limiting exports of related critical raw materials.
Over the course of 2025, China restricted rare-earth exports to counter what Beijing considers hostile Western trade policies, catching ASML in the middle. The Dutch company's complex optical systems rely on such materials, and ASML in late 2025 reportedly sounded fears that those restrictions would delay its shipments.
So far, the Dutch government's hands are tied. The country's anti-discrimination laws forbid espionage screening policies that target only 🇨🇳 nationals. The EU has an anti-coercion instrument for use against economic blackmail by countries outside the bloc, but EU leaders consider the tool a nuclear option.
"If there were evidence that semiconductor-related dependencies were being leveraged for coercive purposes, the instrument could in principle be relevant [...] but the EU is still very reluctant to use [it]. It was, however, created with China in mind, so I believe if push comes to shove, it might well be leveraged."
Vulnerabilities also appear in the Dutch maritime sector. Chinese state-owned companies COSCO Shipping Ports and China Merchants Port Holdings manage substantial cargo capacity in the Port of Rotterdam, a major European hub, as investors and terminal operators.
"For the maritime sector, interference is highly likely to take the form of cyber-enabled espionage, data access and calibrated disruption rather than overt sabotage. Even limited interference will highly likely have cascading effects on energy supplies, industrial production and NATO logistics, such as the delivery of NATO ships."
The Netherlands mostly exports specialized machinery and food to China, but runs a large trade deficit. The Netherlands faces a complex relationship with Beijing, needing to balance lucrative economic partnerships with growing national security threats and the erosion of strategic autonomy.
In a crisis such as a confrontation over Taiwan, Chinese leverage over strategic industries would constrain Dutch policy choices, delay military readiness or limit participation in allied responses.
“The risk is not necessarily immediate disruption, but the gradual narrowing of options available to Dutch decision-makers.”
https://t.co/6mpyIZALHE](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HNOxQ6EbUAAI0DS.jpg)
Who to follow
John Culver
@JohnCulver689
Fmr National Intelligence Officer for East Asia, retired CIA analyst. Views solely my own. Like/retweets are not an endorsement.
Bethany 貝書穎
@BethanyAllenEbr
China/AI/technology. Now @aspi_cts. Was @axios @foreignpolicy @yale @HopkinsNanjing. Author BEIJING RULES, Financial Times Best Books of 2023
Chung Ching Kwong 鄺頌晴
@chungchingkwong
PhD Candidate in Law on data protection and data transfer|| Senior Analyst @ipacglobal | Views are my own
US Coast Guard ships previously deployed in the Middle East are now operating out of Singapore and the Philippines to help challenge China’s assertion of power in the Pacific.
The six 154-foot fast-response cutters are part of the Coast Guard’s reimagined “expeditionary cutter squadron,” which can be sent anywhere in the world. Their first deployment is the western Pacific, where tensions have run high for years as China escalated what is called a gray-zone campaign to project control around Taiwan and the disputed waters of the South China Sea.
The cutters — the Coast Guard’s name for ships 65 feet in length or greater with onboard living accommodations — are approved to operate from Singapore and Subic Bay on the Philippine island of Luzon at least through Sep . While the US has previously deployed larger Coast Guard cutters to Subic Bay, it is the first time the smaller, fast-response cutters are operating from there.
The Coast Guard deployment is the latest step in Washington’s efforts to deter Beijing from moving on Taiwan or South China Sea features that are also claimed by other countries, including the Philippines and Vietnam. The US is dispersing its military footprint, upgrading austere airfields, testing advanced missile systems and training with more allied nations in increasingly complex exercises, all in an effort to convince Beijing that any military action would be too risky.
The command and logistics for the cutters are handled out of Singapore and that the vessels are rotating through Subic Bay.
The US military has been expanding its presence in the Philippines, a US treaty ally that would likely be a key operating base in any war over Taiwan. With Singapore, the US has a longstanding agreement to use its naval facilities to support certain US activities.
Beijing has also been leaning on its coast guard as it seeks to enforce control over an area through which trillions of dollars of trade passes each year. Chinese coast guard ships have intercepted Philippine vessels seeking access to military outposts or local fishing grounds, at times using water cannons and other pressure tactics to ward them off.
The US Coast Guard ships could help make up for US Navy vessels that were moved to the Middle East to support US operations during the Iran war.
The Coast Guard, whose missions include law enforcement and search-and-rescue, may also be a more palatable partner for some nations who might be wary of an overt US military presence, including Vietnam and some Pacific island countries that don’t have their own militaries.
The Coast Guard already bases ships in Guam and Hawaii, including what it calls an Indo-Pacific support cutter. That cutter has visited Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and other small island nations, where the US and China are competing for influence. On these missions, the Coast Guard crew often works with local law enforcement to patrol for illegal fishing or drug smuggling, and will board vessels for inspections.
Having ships in Singapore and the Philippines puts the Coast Guard much closer to South China Sea hot spots. The cutters are operating in support of US Pacific Command, which oversees a vast area from India to beyond Hawaii.
Still, deterring China in its backyard will remain a challenge for the US.
Beijing has invested heavily in its coast guard, which now has bigger ships with bigger guns that can spend more time out at sea, including the world’s longest patrol vessels. The coast guard integrated more with the Chinese navy and receives support from China’s maritime militia, groups of fishermen who on occasion conduct missions for Beijing.
The US Coast Guard, meanwhile, has struggled with outdated ships, slower-than-expected production of new vessels, and a manpower shortage. To keep up, it will also need more bases in the Pacific, where distances are vast.
https://t.co/wxeykT804m
US Coast Guard ships previously deployed in the Middle East are now operating out of Singapore and the Philippines to help challenge China’s assertion of power in the Pacific.
The six 154-foot fast-response cutters are part of the Coast Guard’s reimagined “expeditionary cutter squadron,” which can be sent anywhere in the world. Their first deployment is the western Pacific, where tensions have run high for years as China escalated what is called a gray-zone campaign to project control around Taiwan and the disputed waters of the South China Sea.
The cutters — the Coast Guard’s name for ships 65 feet in length or greater with onboard living accommodations — are approved to operate from Singapore and Subic Bay on the Philippine island of Luzon at least through Sep . While the US has previously deployed larger Coast Guard cutters to Subic Bay, it is the first time the smaller, fast-response cutters are operating from there.
The Coast Guard deployment is the latest step in Washington’s efforts to deter Beijing from moving on Taiwan or South China Sea features that are also claimed by other countries, including the Philippines and Vietnam. The US is dispersing its military footprint, upgrading austere airfields, testing advanced missile systems and training with more allied nations in increasingly complex exercises, all in an effort to convince Beijing that any military action would be too risky.
The command and logistics for the cutters are handled out of Singapore and that the vessels are rotating through Subic Bay.
The US military has been expanding its presence in the Philippines, a US treaty ally that would likely be a key operating base in any war over Taiwan. With Singapore, the US has a longstanding agreement to use its naval facilities to support certain US activities.
Beijing has also been leaning on its coast guard as it seeks to enforce control over an area through which trillions of dollars of trade passes each year. Chinese coast guard ships have intercepted Philippine vessels seeking access to military outposts or local fishing grounds, at times using water cannons and other pressure tactics to ward them off.
The US Coast Guard ships could help make up for US Navy vessels that were moved to the Middle East to support US operations during the Iran war.
The Coast Guard, whose missions include law enforcement and search-and-rescue, may also be a more palatable partner for some nations who might be wary of an overt US military presence, including Vietnam and some Pacific island countries that don’t have their own militaries.
The Coast Guard already bases ships in Guam and Hawaii, including what it calls an Indo-Pacific support cutter. That cutter has visited Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and other small island nations, where the US and China are competing for influence. On these missions, the Coast Guard crew often works with local law enforcement to patrol for illegal fishing or drug smuggling, and will board vessels for inspections.
Having ships in Singapore and the Philippines puts the Coast Guard much closer to South China Sea hot spots. The cutters are operating in support of US Pacific Command, which oversees a vast area from India to beyond Hawaii.
Still, deterring China in its backyard will remain a challenge for the US.
Beijing has invested heavily in its coast guard, which now has bigger ships with bigger guns that can spend more time out at sea, including the world’s longest patrol vessels. The coast guard integrated more with the Chinese navy and receives support from China’s maritime militia, groups of fishermen who on occasion conduct missions for Beijing.
The US Coast Guard, meanwhile, has struggled with outdated ships, slower-than-expected production of new vessels, and a manpower shortage. To keep up, it will also need more bases in the Pacific, where distances are vast.
https://t.co/wxeykT804m
Hong Kong, 2026…
https://t.co/ExPGVv8XWP
Hong Kong, 2026…
https://t.co/ExPGVv8XWP
🇺🇸 Elsa Reichmanis, Professor and Carl Robert Anderson Chair in Chemical Engineering at 🇺🇸 Lehigh University + Director of the International Advisory Committee for 🇨🇳 State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials and Foreign Chair of the International Academic Committee for the Center for Advanced Low-Dimensional Materials at 🇨🇳 Donghua University (东华大学), was one of 9 foreign scientists receiving the 2025 China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award.
Reichmanis is recognized as one of the leading experts and innovators in optical lithography and photoresists. What could possibly go wrong?
https://t.co/RSOlxyTnDM
https://t.co/gSa4gQkxk9
https://t.co/Cy5rIKT5o9
🇺🇸 Elsa Reichmanis, Professor and Carl Robert Anderson Chair in Chemical Engineering at 🇺🇸 Lehigh University + Director of the International Advisory Committee for 🇨🇳 State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials and Foreign Chair of the International Academic Committee for the Center for Advanced Low-Dimensional Materials at 🇨🇳 Donghua University (东华大学), was one of 9 foreign scientists receiving the 2025 China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award.
Reichmanis is recognized as one of the leading experts and innovators in optical lithography and photoresists. What could possibly go wrong?
https://t.co/RSOlxyTnDM
https://t.co/gSa4gQkxk9
https://t.co/Cy5rIKT5o9
Omar Yaghi, the winner of Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2025, has left UC Berkeley and joined 🇨🇳 Tsinghua University to lead a new AI-driven research center.
The materials scientist will head a team working on ways that AI can transform the design and synthesis of new materials and shorten their development cycle “by orders of magnitude”.
Speaking at his appointment ceremony, Yaghi said he hoped to develop materials to tackle major environmental challenges such as water shortages, carbon neutrality and sustainable development.
He added that he also wanted to help train young scientists in AI-driven chemistry.
Yaghi was previously the James and Neeltje Tretter professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. He shared the 2025 Nobel Prize with Richard Robson and Susumu Kitagawa for their work on metal-organic frameworks, which are ultra-porous, spongelike materials created by linking metal ions with carbon-based molecules.
These and other related materials have the highest surface areas known to date, allowing them to capture and convert carbon, harvest water from desert air and absorb hydrogen to produce clean energy.
Zhou Zihui, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley, said Yaghi had trained about 200 researchers, nearly half of whom were Chinese.
“He spent a lot of time having one-on-one conversations with us. He often said Chinese students would take the initiative to think deeply about scientific questions and could quickly understand his ideas with just a little guidance,” Zhou told Shenzhen Satellite TV last year after his mentor was awarded the Nobel Prize.
Zhou said one of Yaghi’s lessons that stayed with him most was that scientists should think beyond research papers.
“When doing research, he told us not to just think about the science itself or publishing papers, but also how to make our work known to the world and ultimately change people’s lives.”
Yaghi was born to a Palestinian refugee family in Amman, Jordan, in 1965. He moved to the US at the age of 15 and earned his PhD in chemistry from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He previously held positions at Arizona State University, the University of Michigan and the University of California, Los Angeles, before heading to Berkeley.
During an interview at Nanjing University in November, Yaghi said the emerging field of AI materials chemistry — also known as AIMATRY — used the technology to create materials more quickly, more cheaply and more sustainably to solve specific problems.
He said scientists could now design materials with increasing precision instead of relying on trial and error, adding that the next step was to create materials with built-in instructions for specific functions “so the material itself functions almost like DNA”.
Yaghi is also a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has won China’s Nano Research Award multiple times and has long-standing collaborations with major Chinese universities, including Tsinghua, Nanjing, Fudan and Shanghai Jiao Tong.
https://t.co/UFzRbCUHOA
US seismologist Youlin Chen was arrested by Chinese state security officers at Beijing International Airport on Nov 5, 2024.
photo: Chen and his wife Yufang Rong
Omar Yaghi, the winner of Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2025, has left UC Berkeley and joined 🇨🇳 Tsinghua University to lead a new AI-driven research center.
The materials scientist will head a team working on ways that AI can transform the design and synthesis of new materials and shorten their development cycle “by orders of magnitude”.
Speaking at his appointment ceremony, Yaghi said he hoped to develop materials to tackle major environmental challenges such as water shortages, carbon neutrality and sustainable development.
He added that he also wanted to help train young scientists in AI-driven chemistry.
Yaghi was previously the James and Neeltje Tretter professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. He shared the 2025 Nobel Prize with Richard Robson and Susumu Kitagawa for their work on metal-organic frameworks, which are ultra-porous, spongelike materials created by linking metal ions with carbon-based molecules.
These and other related materials have the highest surface areas known to date, allowing them to capture and convert carbon, harvest water from desert air and absorb hydrogen to produce clean energy.
Zhou Zihui, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley, said Yaghi had trained about 200 researchers, nearly half of whom were Chinese.
“He spent a lot of time having one-on-one conversations with us. He often said Chinese students would take the initiative to think deeply about scientific questions and could quickly understand his ideas with just a little guidance,” Zhou told Shenzhen Satellite TV last year after his mentor was awarded the Nobel Prize.
Zhou said one of Yaghi’s lessons that stayed with him most was that scientists should think beyond research papers.
“When doing research, he told us not to just think about the science itself or publishing papers, but also how to make our work known to the world and ultimately change people’s lives.”
Yaghi was born to a Palestinian refugee family in Amman, Jordan, in 1965. He moved to the US at the age of 15 and earned his PhD in chemistry from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He previously held positions at Arizona State University, the University of Michigan and the University of California, Los Angeles, before heading to Berkeley.
During an interview at Nanjing University in November, Yaghi said the emerging field of AI materials chemistry — also known as AIMATRY — used the technology to create materials more quickly, more cheaply and more sustainably to solve specific problems.
He said scientists could now design materials with increasing precision instead of relying on trial and error, adding that the next step was to create materials with built-in instructions for specific functions “so the material itself functions almost like DNA”.
Yaghi is also a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has won China’s Nano Research Award multiple times and has long-standing collaborations with major Chinese universities, including Tsinghua, Nanjing, Fudan and Shanghai Jiao Tong.
https://t.co/UFzRbCUHOA
Omar Yaghi, the winner of Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2025, has left UC Berkeley and joined 🇨🇳 Tsinghua University to lead a new AI-driven research center.
The materials scientist will head a team working on ways that AI can transform the design and synthesis of new materials and shorten their development cycle “by orders of magnitude”.
Speaking at his appointment ceremony, Yaghi said he hoped to develop materials to tackle major environmental challenges such as water shortages, carbon neutrality and sustainable development.
He added that he also wanted to help train young scientists in AI-driven chemistry.
Yaghi was previously the James and Neeltje Tretter professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. He shared the 2025 Nobel Prize with Richard Robson and Susumu Kitagawa for their work on metal-organic frameworks, which are ultra-porous, spongelike materials created by linking metal ions with carbon-based molecules.
These and other related materials have the highest surface areas known to date, allowing them to capture and convert carbon, harvest water from desert air and absorb hydrogen to produce clean energy.
Zhou Zihui, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley, said Yaghi had trained about 200 researchers, nearly half of whom were Chinese.
“He spent a lot of time having one-on-one conversations with us. He often said Chinese students would take the initiative to think deeply about scientific questions and could quickly understand his ideas with just a little guidance,” Zhou told Shenzhen Satellite TV last year after his mentor was awarded the Nobel Prize.
Zhou said one of Yaghi’s lessons that stayed with him most was that scientists should think beyond research papers.
“When doing research, he told us not to just think about the science itself or publishing papers, but also how to make our work known to the world and ultimately change people’s lives.”
Yaghi was born to a Palestinian refugee family in Amman, Jordan, in 1965. He moved to the US at the age of 15 and earned his PhD in chemistry from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He previously held positions at Arizona State University, the University of Michigan and the University of California, Los Angeles, before heading to Berkeley.
During an interview at Nanjing University in November, Yaghi said the emerging field of AI materials chemistry — also known as AIMATRY — used the technology to create materials more quickly, more cheaply and more sustainably to solve specific problems.
He said scientists could now design materials with increasing precision instead of relying on trial and error, adding that the next step was to create materials with built-in instructions for specific functions “so the material itself functions almost like DNA”.
Yaghi is also a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has won China’s Nano Research Award multiple times and has long-standing collaborations with major Chinese universities, including Tsinghua, Nanjing, Fudan and Shanghai Jiao Tong.
https://t.co/UFzRbCUHOA
China's use of economic statecraft and espionage on Dutch strategic industries is meant to ensure systemic dependency and Beijing's global industrial leadership.
China also employs digital operations, legal pressure and physical threats in the Netherlands to achieve its aims, while exploiting the country's open governance.
The Netherlands is home to technologies that are difficult or impossible to obtain elsewhere. ASML is the only company worldwide to commercialize EUV lithography machines, which are crucial for producing cutting-edge semiconductors that power the best smartphones, data centers and weapons.
“Gaining access to Dutch know-how or influence over Dutch companies can have outsized strategic value because these firms occupy key positions in global value chains and have international leverage.”
“Talent-based espionage relies heavily on human intelligence, coercion of diaspora and academic infiltration, as seen in ASML-related IP theft cases.”
The Dutch semiconductor sector faces the highest risk, with China targeting companies such as ASML and NXP Semiconductors as well as limiting exports of related critical raw materials.
Over the course of 2025, China restricted rare-earth exports to counter what Beijing considers hostile Western trade policies, catching ASML in the middle. The Dutch company's complex optical systems rely on such materials, and ASML in late 2025 reportedly sounded fears that those restrictions would delay its shipments.
So far, the Dutch government's hands are tied. The country's anti-discrimination laws forbid espionage screening policies that target only 🇨🇳 nationals. The EU has an anti-coercion instrument for use against economic blackmail by countries outside the bloc, but EU leaders consider the tool a nuclear option.
"If there were evidence that semiconductor-related dependencies were being leveraged for coercive purposes, the instrument could in principle be relevant [...] but the EU is still very reluctant to use [it]. It was, however, created with China in mind, so I believe if push comes to shove, it might well be leveraged."
Vulnerabilities also appear in the Dutch maritime sector. Chinese state-owned companies COSCO Shipping Ports and China Merchants Port Holdings manage substantial cargo capacity in the Port of Rotterdam, a major European hub, as investors and terminal operators.
"For the maritime sector, interference is highly likely to take the form of cyber-enabled espionage, data access and calibrated disruption rather than overt sabotage. Even limited interference will highly likely have cascading effects on energy supplies, industrial production and NATO logistics, such as the delivery of NATO ships."
The Netherlands mostly exports specialized machinery and food to China, but runs a large trade deficit. The Netherlands faces a complex relationship with Beijing, needing to balance lucrative economic partnerships with growing national security threats and the erosion of strategic autonomy.
In a crisis such as a confrontation over Taiwan, Chinese leverage over strategic industries would constrain Dutch policy choices, delay military readiness or limit participation in allied responses.
“The risk is not necessarily immediate disruption, but the gradual narrowing of options available to Dutch decision-makers.”
https://t.co/6mpyIZALHE
China's use of economic statecraft and espionage on Dutch strategic industries is meant to ensure systemic dependency and Beijing's global industrial leadership.
China also employs digital operations, legal pressure and physical threats in the Netherlands to achieve its aims, while exploiting the country's open governance.
The Netherlands is home to technologies that are difficult or impossible to obtain elsewhere. ASML is the only company worldwide to commercialize EUV lithography machines, which are crucial for producing cutting-edge semiconductors that power the best smartphones, data centers and weapons.
“Gaining access to Dutch know-how or influence over Dutch companies can have outsized strategic value because these firms occupy key positions in global value chains and have international leverage.”
“Talent-based espionage relies heavily on human intelligence, coercion of diaspora and academic infiltration, as seen in ASML-related IP theft cases.”
The Dutch semiconductor sector faces the highest risk, with China targeting companies such as ASML and NXP Semiconductors as well as limiting exports of related critical raw materials.
Over the course of 2025, China restricted rare-earth exports to counter what Beijing considers hostile Western trade policies, catching ASML in the middle. The Dutch company's complex optical systems rely on such materials, and ASML in late 2025 reportedly sounded fears that those restrictions would delay its shipments.
So far, the Dutch government's hands are tied. The country's anti-discrimination laws forbid espionage screening policies that target only 🇨🇳 nationals. The EU has an anti-coercion instrument for use against economic blackmail by countries outside the bloc, but EU leaders consider the tool a nuclear option.
"If there were evidence that semiconductor-related dependencies were being leveraged for coercive purposes, the instrument could in principle be relevant [...] but the EU is still very reluctant to use [it]. It was, however, created with China in mind, so I believe if push comes to shove, it might well be leveraged."
Vulnerabilities also appear in the Dutch maritime sector. Chinese state-owned companies COSCO Shipping Ports and China Merchants Port Holdings manage substantial cargo capacity in the Port of Rotterdam, a major European hub, as investors and terminal operators.
"For the maritime sector, interference is highly likely to take the form of cyber-enabled espionage, data access and calibrated disruption rather than overt sabotage. Even limited interference will highly likely have cascading effects on energy supplies, industrial production and NATO logistics, such as the delivery of NATO ships."
The Netherlands mostly exports specialized machinery and food to China, but runs a large trade deficit. The Netherlands faces a complex relationship with Beijing, needing to balance lucrative economic partnerships with growing national security threats and the erosion of strategic autonomy.
In a crisis such as a confrontation over Taiwan, Chinese leverage over strategic industries would constrain Dutch policy choices, delay military readiness or limit participation in allied responses.
“The risk is not necessarily immediate disruption, but the gradual narrowing of options available to Dutch decision-makers.”
https://t.co/6mpyIZALHE
🚨 Youlin Chen, a Chinese-born American seismologist who has published US-funded work on detecting North Korean nuclear tests, has been detained in China for nearly two years and faces trial on spying charges.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Mar 19 designated Chen as “wrongfully detained,” making his release a top US priority. The Trump administration has withheld a public announcement to allow space for high-level diplomacy aimed at securing his freedom, according to his wife, Yufang Rong.
Chen, who became a US citizen in 2011 and lives in Boston, Massachusetts, is the only American currently held in China designated as wrongfully detained.
Rong expressed concern that Beijing has decided even before putting Chen on trial to find him guilty of espionage, a crime that in China carries a possible sentence of up to life in prison or even the death penalty for cases deemed especially grave.
“I believe they will convict him no matter what and the trial will be behind closed doors,” said Rong, who is also a seismologist but does not collaborate on her husband’s work.
US embassy officials have visited Chen several times, but Chinese officials are always present, preventing him from speaking freely, said Rong. She retained a Chinese lawyer, but he was allowed to see Chen only after he had been detained for more than 13 months.
Chinese officials have interrogated her husband more than 100 times about his work on the seismographic signatures of North Korean nuclear tests, said Rong.
Eric Lebson, a former US national security official whose hostage advocacy organization, Global Reach, is advising the family, said he believes China wants to use Chen’s expertise to improve its ability to conceal underground nuclear weapons tests through a technique called decoupling.
Lebson said a similar concern was expressed by experts on nuclear testing consulted by his group.
The Trump administration in Feb accused China of trying to mask a low-yield underground nuclear test blast on June 22, 2020, using the technique in which a device is detonated inside a large underground chamber to reduce the magnitude of the shock waves it produces.
China denies conducting the test.
Lebson said that Chen is employed by a US government contractor, and has never had a US security clearance or performed classified work.
His research on North Korean test blast seismic waves has been funded by the State Department and the Air Force Research Laboratory. It was done in collaboration with Chinese academics, it used publicly available Chinese data and is viewable on the internet.
A Dec 2020 paper by Chen examined the magnitude of North Korea’s six known nuclear test blasts and ways to differentiate their seismic signatures from those of earthquakes.
The cover page states that the paper was written for the State Department’s arms control bureau and “approved for public release.”
Under China's state-secrets law, Chinese authorities retain broad powers to retroactively classify public data, such as official statistics, as national security secrets, potentially implicating anyone who possessed or shared previously open-source information.
Chen was arrested by Chinese state security officers at Beijing International Airport on Nov 5, 2024 as he prepared to fly home to Boston after visiting family and lecturing on his work at two universities.
At the beginning of his detention, Chen was subjected to “harsh conditions,” including being forced to sit all day on a hard stool without being allowed to stand, read or exercise, and was unable to obtain medications for his diabetes and other health problems.
Since then, it has been difficult to learn the conditions of his confinement. Chen has lost 30 to 40 pounds (13.6 to 18.1 kg), is given insufficient food with little protein, fruits or vegetables, and receives only poor-quality medications.
He was charged with espionage on May 1, 2025, but has not yet stood trial.
https://t.co/X9uI0KB4Z7
July 9: Lijuan “Angela” Chen was sentenced to two years and six months in jail for using counterfeit postage to ship millions of parcels in a scheme prosecutors say caused the US Postal Service to lose more than $150 million.
Chen pleaded guilty in April 2024 (https://t.co/jfsUbZMPkR) to federal counts of conspiracy and forging and counterfeiting postage stamps.
Along with the prison sentence, Chen was ordered to pay restitution of over $158 million.
Pursuant to her plea agreement and a court order, Chen has forfeited her interest in 12 homes, four certificates of deposit and six insurance policies.
Chen provided shipping and postage services to businesses, including e-commerce vendors operating out of China, that sought discounted USPS rates for mailing their products within the US.
“The vast majority of the postage used by Chen and her business to ship goods within the United States is counterfeit.”
Chen’s Industry-based business received parcels from the vendors and others, applied shipping labels showing postage purportedly paid, then arranged for the parcels to be transferred to US Postal Service facilities to be shipped across the nation.
A Postal Service analyst estimated that from Jan 2020 to May 2023 Chen and her employees shipped over 9 million mail parcels containing counterfeit postage, resulting in estimated revenue losses to the government of over $150 million.
Chen’s shipping business was previously operated by her husband, Chuanhua “Hugh” Hu, who fled to China two days after being interviewed by postal inspectors in Nov 2019.
https://t.co/7YBj827ruU
US seismologist Youlin Chen was arrested by Chinese state security officers at Beijing International Airport on Nov 5, 2024.
photo: Chen and his wife Yufang Rong
🚨 Youlin Chen, a Chinese-born American seismologist who has published US-funded work on detecting North Korean nuclear tests, has been detained in China for nearly two years and faces trial on spying charges.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Mar 19 designated Chen as “wrongfully detained,” making his release a top US priority. The Trump administration has withheld a public announcement to allow space for high-level diplomacy aimed at securing his freedom, according to his wife, Yufang Rong.
Chen, who became a US citizen in 2011 and lives in Boston, Massachusetts, is the only American currently held in China designated as wrongfully detained.
Rong expressed concern that Beijing has decided even before putting Chen on trial to find him guilty of espionage, a crime that in China carries a possible sentence of up to life in prison or even the death penalty for cases deemed especially grave.
“I believe they will convict him no matter what and the trial will be behind closed doors,” said Rong, who is also a seismologist but does not collaborate on her husband’s work.
US embassy officials have visited Chen several times, but Chinese officials are always present, preventing him from speaking freely, said Rong. She retained a Chinese lawyer, but he was allowed to see Chen only after he had been detained for more than 13 months.
Chinese officials have interrogated her husband more than 100 times about his work on the seismographic signatures of North Korean nuclear tests, said Rong.
Eric Lebson, a former US national security official whose hostage advocacy organization, Global Reach, is advising the family, said he believes China wants to use Chen’s expertise to improve its ability to conceal underground nuclear weapons tests through a technique called decoupling.
Lebson said a similar concern was expressed by experts on nuclear testing consulted by his group.
The Trump administration in Feb accused China of trying to mask a low-yield underground nuclear test blast on June 22, 2020, using the technique in which a device is detonated inside a large underground chamber to reduce the magnitude of the shock waves it produces.
China denies conducting the test.
Lebson said that Chen is employed by a US government contractor, and has never had a US security clearance or performed classified work.
His research on North Korean test blast seismic waves has been funded by the State Department and the Air Force Research Laboratory. It was done in collaboration with Chinese academics, it used publicly available Chinese data and is viewable on the internet.
A Dec 2020 paper by Chen examined the magnitude of North Korea’s six known nuclear test blasts and ways to differentiate their seismic signatures from those of earthquakes.
The cover page states that the paper was written for the State Department’s arms control bureau and “approved for public release.”
Under China's state-secrets law, Chinese authorities retain broad powers to retroactively classify public data, such as official statistics, as national security secrets, potentially implicating anyone who possessed or shared previously open-source information.
Chen was arrested by Chinese state security officers at Beijing International Airport on Nov 5, 2024 as he prepared to fly home to Boston after visiting family and lecturing on his work at two universities.
At the beginning of his detention, Chen was subjected to “harsh conditions,” including being forced to sit all day on a hard stool without being allowed to stand, read or exercise, and was unable to obtain medications for his diabetes and other health problems.
Since then, it has been difficult to learn the conditions of his confinement. Chen has lost 30 to 40 pounds (13.6 to 18.1 kg), is given insufficient food with little protein, fruits or vegetables, and receives only poor-quality medications.
He was charged with espionage on May 1, 2025, but has not yet stood trial.
https://t.co/X9uI0KB4Z7
ICE has taken custody of 🇨🇳 Lijuan Zhao from a prison in Erie County, Pennsylvania, after she served a 140-day sentence for conspiracy to commit an offense against the US.
Zhao is a Chinese national who entered the US illegally. She is in removal proceedings.
https://t.co/FGDfMD2TiW
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