New Tang Dynasty Express: U.S. Imposes Cold War Ban to Prevent CCP’s Spy Tactics

Hello audience, welcome to watch “New Tang Dynasty News”。Today，it’s Thursday, April 3, Eastern Time。

Today’s Focus:
Under the heavy blow of tariffs, the CCP’s end is the most miserable; Vigilance against the CCP’s “honey trap”, the US imposes Cold War sanctions; China and Russia target Musk, eyeing Starlink; Is the US withdrawing from NATO? Rubio announces the answer。

First, let’s talk about a major event that has shaken the world。

President Trump’s “tit-for-tat tariffs” have triggered a new round of global economic earthquakes. And in this wave of impact, the one suffering the most is the always tough CCP.

On Wednesday, April 2, Trump launched the “tit-for-tat tariffs” mechanism, imposing a new 34% tax on Chinese goods, in addition to the accumulated 20% before, totaling a staggering 54% tariff.

Investment bank UBS warned that the CCP’s annual economic growth could be halved as a result. Citigroup estimated that the export impact alone would be over 15%, and China’s GDP growth rate might drop by 2.4 percentage points.

Facing this tariff storm, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the US for violating rules in the name of “reciprocity” and firmly opposing it, emphasizing that retaliatory measures will be taken, reiterating that “there are no winners in a trade war”.

But experts’ analysis is very realistic. Ye Yaoyuan, a professor at the University of St. Thomas in the United States, pointed out that the biggest impact is actually on China itself. Because China’s exports heavily rely on the US market, now that tariffs have been raised to this extent, it’s like cutting off a large chunk of profit source. What’s even worse is that domestic consumption power in China can’t keep up, and there’s simply no way to digest these accumulated production capacity.

Thinking of turning to other markets? It’s not that easy。 Most countries along the Belt and Road have limited consumption capacity and cannot support China’s export scale. And if China really opens its market to allow Japanese and South Korean goods in, it would mean completely giving up its long-standing blockade policy, tantamount to self-harm。

Lu Zhiheng, chief economist at Yue Securities, also analyzed that the intensity of this tit-for-tat tariffs far exceed market expectations. Initially estimated that tariffs would not exceed 15%, the result soared to 34%. Coupled with the cancellation of tax-free cross-border e-commerce parcels, China’s e-commerce export industry has also been severely hit.

What’s more tricky is that the US is not only targeting the CCP this time, Vietnam, India, Japan, and the EU have not escaped, with tariffs ranging from 46%, 26%, 24%, and 20% respectively. Especially Vietnam, originally a popular destination for many Chinese companies to set up factories to avoid tariffs, is now also being “taken down”, with overseas companies left with no way out。

Global reactions are varied。 Norwegian Foreign Minister criticized that these tariffs may violate the spirit of economic cooperation within NATO, and will personally negotiate with the US Secretary of State. The Polish Prime Minister said that this would reduce Poland’s GDP by 0.4%, calling it “a heavy blow from our closest ally”. The Spanish Prime Minister even announced a $15.6 billion relief plan, urging Trump to return to the negotiating table。

Let’s talk about some news that sounds a bit incredible. The US government recently issued an unprecedented ban on its personnel in China, explicitly prohibiting them from dating or having any form of intimate relationship with Chinese citizens.

The ban was actually implemented by the former US Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, before his departure in January of this year, applicable to all US personnel stationed in China, including diplomats, family members, and contractors holding security clearances.

The Associated Press revealed that the policy has not been publicly announced yet, but has been formally conveyed to relevant personnel through internal oral and electronic means.

In fact, as early as last summer, the US had already restricted intimate relationships between embassy personnel and Chinese security or logistics personnel. But before Burns left, the ban was extended directly to “all Chinese citizens”, and was very strict. Once a romantic or sexual relationship with a Chinese person develops, you either have to apply for an exemption, or end the relationship, otherwise you have to resign and leave China.

Doesn’t it sound like going back to the Cold War era? Indeed, such bans have been almost extinct for decades. But looking back at history, these policies are not uncommon. In 1987, the US had imposed a comprehensive ban on diplomatic personnel and residents towards the Soviet Union and China, from forming love or sexual relationships with local people. After the end of the Cold War, such restrictions have been relaxed。

Political commentator Li Lin believes that with the imposition of similar regulations on US diplomatic staff in China, it indicates that the US and China are effectively in a state of hostility. The future relationship between the US and China is expected to become even more tense.

US intelligence experts pointed out that the CCP still widely uses the “honey trap” to obtain intelligence. In pre-departure security training in China, American personnel are repeatedly warned to be cautious of people close to them.

Peter Mattis, Chairman of the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington, D.C. think tank, said that Chinese individuals who have relationships with US foreign diplomatic personnel are likely to be threatened and coerced by China’s national security department and forced to provide intelligence。

In fact, the “honey trap” not only targets foreign personnel, even scandals have erupted in the US domestic political arena. In 2020, American Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell was exposed for his relationship with Chinese female spy Fang Fang, resulting in a major blow to his image. Multiple intelligence experts pointed out that China has long been spreading “honey traps” globally, not only seducing politicians, but also infiltrating from low-level staff to interns。

According to Fox News, there are at least hundreds, or even thousands of Chinese spies active in the US, who are skilled at disguising their identities, speaking fluent English, and using social media to get close to their targets. Once successful, they will use photos or videos to threaten them to cooperate, otherwise their scandals will be exposed and their reputation ruined.

At the same time, China itself is also tightening its personnel controls. For example, if the spouse of a Chinese official holds a foreign nationality, they will be restricted from promotion; many diplomatic personnel staying abroad for too long will be forced to be recalled; military and police personnel cannot leave the country without authorization and definitely cannot engage in romantic relationships with foreigners.

Next, let’s turn our attention to the latest developments in US-Russia diplomatic game。

This week, Russian President Putin sent two “unpleasant-looking at each other” delegations secretly to Washington, to start a new round of negotiations with the Trump administration on the ceasefire in Ukraine。

According to the Russian media Agentstvo as quoted by Newsweek, the two delegations sent by Putin were “openly contradictory”. One group was led by Kirill Dmitriev, head of the State Sovereign Wealth Fund, and the other was composed of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and presidential advisers, who had already clashed during the Saudi talks in February.

Dmitriev himself confirmed on Telegram that he was in Washington negotiating with the Trump administration, and said that the US-Russia communication mechanism in the Biden era had been destroyed, and now he hopes to restore contact through Trump and to start political and economic cooperation。

At the same time, Bloomberg pointed out that although the Kremlin is preparing for continued war, it still sees Trump as the best chance to achieve a ceasefire. Russia hopes to negotiate a “acceptable” agreement, the conditions include Ukraine abandoning NATO membership, recognizing Russia’s control of Eastern and Southern Ukraine territories. However, if Trump makes too many concessions, he may be accused of being “soft on Russia”.

More subtly, while Russia is making overtures, the US Treasury Department announced new sanctions against Russia. However, Russia was not listed on Trump’s new tariff policy taxation list. A White House spokesman explained that there was no substantial trade between the US and Russia, and sanctions are more powerful than tariffs.

Bloomberg revealed that Russia is trying to attract the Trump team to restart bilateral economic relations through incentives such as Arctic resource development and rare earth cooperation. The Trump camp is considering launching an economic reconstruction plan for Ukraine, which includes infrastructure and natural resource investment control。

Negotiating a ceasefire on one hand, and preparing for war on the other. This week, Russia announced the conscription of 160,000 new recruits this spring, the largest scale in 14 years. Although the official claim is that the new recruits will not be sent to the front lines, given the continuous conflict, this statement has also raised many questions。

What cards is Putin playing with this “double delegation” attack? Will Trump become his only hope for betting on peace? We will continue to keep an eye on it。

Now let’s focus on the latest developments in global space warfare.

After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022, Musk’s space service company SpaceX’s Starlink demonstrated powerful military utility on the Ukrainian battlefield, playing an important role in Ukraine’s communication. Therefore, Starlink has become the main target of attack as Russia and China upgrade their space electronic warfare capabilities。

Since May 2024, the Ukrainian army has begun to experience disruptions in Starlink connections. Ukrainian officials say this is due to Russia using their electronic warfare systems to interfere with Starlink operations。

A report released on April 3 by the Secure World Foundation (SWF) in the United States shows that in the Russia-Ukraine war, Russia primarily uses two key systems, Tobol and Kalinka. What are their functions?

The Tobol system was originally designed to protect Russian satellites from interference, but is now being used to disrupt satellite communications and navigation systems.

US military documents indicate that Russia has specifically deployed at least three Tobol comprehensive facilities against the Starlink signal over eastern Ukraine.

Another Kalinka system, known as the “Starlink Killer”. This electronic warfare platform can detect and interfere with the signal exchanges between Starlink satellites, specifically targeting the disruption of Ukrainian drones and military communications. The report states that the Kalinka system can detect terminals connected to Starshield. Starshield is the military version of Starlink with stronger security features。

The SWF report also warns that China has invested heavily in developing anti-space operational capabilities in space electronic warfare. The Chinese military places a strong emphasis on gaining the initiative at the beginning of a conflict, which likely involves attacks on satellite networks to disrupt enemies’ communication and navigation systems。

In 2022, China explicitly stated that during an armed conflict with the US, commercial satellite networks such as Starlink would be targeted。

The SWF report also tracked the development of anti-space technologies in 10 countries including the US, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, South Korea, and the UK, and concluded that while global countries are continuing to research and test kinetic anti-satellite weapons, they are actively deploying non-kinetic technologies such as electronic warfare and cyber operations。

US officials said that as reliance on space assets continues to increase, competition over control of space rights will intensify, pulling commercial operators like SpaceX more into the crossfire of geopolitical tensions。

Next, let’s look at a piece of news, which is whether the US will withdraw from the important “circle of friends”.

Rumors about the US withdrawing from NATO have been circulating on the Internet for a while. Last month, Musk also reposted a post by Utah Senator Mike Lee on the X platform, saying “We really should (withdraw from NATO). It doesn’t make sense for the US to foot the bill for Europe’s defense.”。

What is the Trump administration’s stance on this matter?

Today, April 3, US Secretary of State Rubio gave the official answer. He told reporters at his first NATO foreign ministers’ meeting, “President Trump has made it clear that he supports NATO and we will continue to stay in NATO.”。

However, Rubio also conveyed a clear message: “If NATO is to be stronger and more robust, each member country must enhance its combat capabilities.” President Trump “is not against NATO, but against a NATO that cannot fulfill treaty obligations.”。

Trump had suggested that NATO member countries should raise defense spending to 5% of GDP. But what’s the reality? Currently, some European countries, including Belgium, Italy, and Spain, have not yet reached the current 2% standard for defense spending。

Rubio said that raising defense spending to 5% is, of course, not possible “within a year or two”, and the US hopes allies will present a feasible roadmap to build a NATO capable of self-defense. He also said that the US will take on the same responsibility。

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, who was present, noted that Europe has committed to pushing for the largest increase in defense budgets since the end of the Cold War, but there is still room for further efforts. He believes that “total spending by Canada and Europe should exceed 3%”.

Rutte also warned that NATO faces long-term threats from Russia, as well as the growing challenges of China, North Korea, and Iran. The increasing links between these four countries are making the connection between the Indo-Pacific and Europe more interconnected.

Rubio made it clear that the US is shifting its strategic focus towards the Indo-Pacific. Rutte stated that this transition “will be carried out in a very coordinated manner.”。

Thank you for watching this issue of “New Tang Dynasty News”, goodbye.