China Watch: PRC Activity Tracker

Hackers linked to China are exploiting vulnerable Roundcube servers at U.S. and Canadian universities to steal credentials and deploy backdoor malware, targeting academic researchers.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered an investigation into Mission Regional Medical Center after claims it offers 'birth packages' to foreign nationals, allegedly profiting from birth tourism. The term 'birth tourism' refers to expectant mothers traveling to the U.S. to give birth.

The US military structure treats cyberspace as a secondary function, lacking a dedicated service focused on building a specialized cyber warfare force. Cyber Command relies on existing services for recruitment and training, leading to inconsistent retention and expertise, as adversaries like China, Russia, and Iran target US networks.

Ukraine’s Military Intelligence (HUR) reported that China and Russia have conducted bilateral military internships, with over 180 Russian troops trained in China in November 2025 and over 550 Chinese troops trained in Russia.

The Select Committee on China urged Monumental Sports & Entertainment owner Ted Leonsis to sever ties with Alibaba, citing the Pentagon's recent designation of Alibaba as a company linked to the Chinese military. Chairman John Moolenaar requested information about the partnership between the sports teams' owner and Alibaba.

Chinese companies are shifting from Nvidia's AI accelerators to domestic alternatives amid US-China tensions, with 46% of future budgets allocated to local products. Tencent, Alibaba, and Huawei are leading this transition, supported by a 2 trillion yuan government initiative to build AI-driven data centers using domestic technologies.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has called for an investigation into Mission Regional Medical Center, alleging the hospital marketed 'birth packages in South Texas' to foreigners. Meanwhile, 4,000 nurses are on strike.

Former acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf warned that Chinese criminal organizations are infiltrating the U.S. hemp industry, posing public health and national security risks. He cited Oklahoma as an example where these groups operate a majority of hemp and marijuana farms, leading to issues like human trafficking and money laundering.

Former acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf warned that Chinese-linked actors and foreign criminal organizations are exploiting the U.S. hemp industry to distribute high-potency THC products, posing public health and national security risks. He cited evidence of these groups operating large-scale, unlicensed cultivation operations, particularly in Oklahoma, and linked them to broader criminal activities like human trafficking and money laundering.

A closed-door simulation involving insurers explored a scenario where China's Volt Typhoon hackers caused disruptions to the US water supply, leading to burst water mains and evacuated hospitals. The exercise revealed a potential nightmare scenario highlighting vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure.

A Chinese threat actor known as UAT-7810 is expanding its Operational Relay Box (ORB) network using new malware called LONGLEASH. Cisco Talos reports that UAT-7810, an advanced persistent threat (APT), maintains and proliferates LapDogs, an ORB network first identified in June 2025.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) enacted the 'Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress' on July 1, 2026, targeting Uyghurs, Tibetans, Southern Mongolians, Hong Kongers, Falun Gong practitioners, and others. The law criminalizes cultural preservation efforts, mandates Mandarin education, and enforces loyalty to the CCP, with provisions like penalizing interethnic marriage refusal and incentivizing surveillance.

AI distillation, a technique where models are trained using outputs from other AI systems, is becoming a competitive tool that threatens the profitability of major AI companies. US firms like Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google warn that rivals, including Chinese companies like Alibaba and Z.ai, may use distillation to replicate their models cheaply, undermining investments in data and computing power.

A Chinese military magazine reported that the US Navy's advanced warships, including the USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Zumwalt, have experienced fires, electrical failures, and propulsion issues, highlighting non-combat losses that expose systemic flaws in fleet capabilities.

DeepSeek is developing its own AI chip to reduce reliance on Nvidia and Huawei, aiming to reshape China’s semiconductor industry. This move aligns with Chinese tech companies’ efforts to design in-house AI chips amid US export controls eroding Nvidia’s market share and Huawei’s growing dominance.

The US Federal Communications Commission added California-based Digitalsystem Technology to a list of companies posing risks to US national security due to links to Chinese telecoms firms and its ownership by a Chinese national. The FCC denied the company permission to provide international telecommunications services, citing potential exploitation by Chinese threat actors.

The article challenges the narrative that Chinese birth tourism, a small industry, has been redefined by the United States as a national security threat. It frames this reclassification as a mischaracterization.

China is employing multiple strategies to bypass U.S. export controls on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines, including developing domestic alternatives and using stacked AI chips to enhance performance. The U.S. suspects China may have already acquired an EUV machine, though the source remains unspecified.

Chinese hackers tracked as 'UAT-7810' are developing LONGLEASH malware to expand their Operational Relay Box (ORB) network by targeting unpatched Ruckus routers and other internet-facing networking devices.

A U.S. Congressional committee has asked the owner of Washington’s NBA and NHL teams to cut ties with Alibaba, citing the Pentagon’s designation of the company as a Chinese military entity. The letter from Rep. John Moolenaar included a July 15 deadline and referenced Alibaba’s ongoing legal challenge against the Pentagon’s decision. The committee has previously scrutinized sports-related ties to Chinese companies, including Alibaba’s Olympic sponsorships.