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Global chip shortage hits China’s bitcoin mining sector

Global chip shortage hits China’s bitcoin mining sector

Reuters

Samuel Shen and Alun John

·3 min read

FILE PHOTO: Representations of virtual currency bitcoin are seen in this picture illustration

By Samuel Shen and Alun John

SHANGHAI/HONG KONG (Reuters) – A global chip shortage is choking the production of machines used to “mine” bitcoin, a sector dominated by China, sending prices of the computer equipment soaring as a surge in the cryptocurrency drives demand.

The scramble is pricing out smaller miners and accelerating an industry consolidation that could see deep-pocketed players, many outside China, profit from the bitcoin bull run.

Bitcoin mining is closely watched by traders and users of the world’s largest cryptocurrency, as the amount of bitcoin they make and sell into the market affects its supply and price.

Trading around $32,000 on Friday, bitcoin is down 20% from the record highs it struck two weeks ago but still up some 700% from its March low of $3,850.

“There are not enough chips to support the production of mining rigs,” said Alex Ao, vice president of Innosilicon, a chip designer and major provider of mining equipment.

Bitcoin miners use increasingly powerful, specially-designed computer equipment, or rigs, to verify bitcoin transactions in a process which produces newly minted bitcoins.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Samsung Electronics Co, the main producers of specially designed chips used in mining rigs, would also prioritise supplies to sectors such as consumer electronics, whose chip demand is seen as more stable, Ao said.

The global chip shortage is disrupting production across a global array of products, including automobiles, laptops and mobile phones.

Mining’s profitability depends on bitcoin’s price, the cost of the electricity used to power the rig, the rig’s efficiency, and how much computing power is needed to mine a bitcoin.

Demand for rigs has boomed as bitcoin prices soared, said Gordon Chen, co-founder of cryptocurrency asset manager and miner GMR.

“When gold prices jump, you need more shovels. When milk prices rise, you want more cows.”

CONSOLIDATION

Lei Tong, managing director of financial services at Babel Finance, which lends to miners, said that “almost all major miners are scouring the market for rigs, and they are willing to pay high prices for second-hand machines.”

“Purchase volumes from North America have been huge, squeezing supply in China,” he said, adding that many miners are placing orders for products that can only be delivered in August and September.

Most of the products of Bitmain, one of the biggest rig makers in China, are sold out, according the company’s website.

A sales manager at Jiangsu Haifanxin Technology, a rig merchant, said prices on the second-hand market have jumped 50% to 60% over the past year, while prices of new equipment more than doubled. High-end, second-hand mining machines were quoted around $5,000.

“It’s natural if you look at how much bitcoin has risen,” said the manager, who identified himself on by his surname Li.

The cryptocurrency surge is affecting who is able to mine.

The increasing cost of investment is eliminating smaller players, said Raymond Yuan, founder of Atlas Mining, which owns one of China’s biggest mining business.

“Institutional investors benefit from both large scale and proficiency in management whereas retail investors who couldn’t keep up will be weeded out,” said Yuan, whose company has invested over $500 million in cryptocurrency mining and plans to keep investing heavily.

Many of the larger players growing their mining operations are based outside of China, often in North America and the Middle East, said Wayne Zhao, chief operating officer of crypto research company TokenInsight.

“China used to have low electricity costs as one core advantage, but as the bitcoin price rises now, that has gone,” he said.

Zhao said that while previously bitcoin mining in China used to account for as much as 80% of the world’s total, it now accounted for around 50%.

(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Alun John; Editing by Vidya Ranganathan and William Mallard)

Lawmakers blasted the UK government for sharing ‘confidential’ information in private messages to TikTok execs

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Boris Johnson’s (left) senior aide Sir Edward Lister (right) was among those receiving the messages with TikTok 
Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images
  • British politicians reacted to Insider revealing the UK government told TikTok the ‘confidential’ identity of its next China ambassador.
  • One says Downing Street faces ‘serious questions’ on the tranche of messages, obtained under Freedom of Information laws.
  • They also showed the government trying to reassure TikTok over new national security powers.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

The UK government has “serious questions” to answer, lawmakers have said after Insider revealed it told TikTok the confidential identity of its next China ambassador before the appointment was confirmed.

Insider published internal conversations between TikTok and senior government officials from January to June 2020, when the video app was reportedly negotiating to base its global headquarters in London.

The conversations took place even as TikTok was the subject of national security concerns in the US due to its ties to China.

Officials from the government’s trade department tried to reassure TikTok over wider plans to boost government powers to police foreign investments into the UK, the messages show.

The Department for International Trade (DfiT) also revealed, then asked TikTok to be “discreet” about, the news Caroline Wilson was likely the UK’s next ambassador to China, before the appointment was confirmed and four months before it was announced.  

Read the UK government correspondence with TikTok exclusively obtained by Insider

Politicians blasted the government for the revelations.

Labour MP Chris Elmore, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on social media, said the messages “leave a trail right to the Prime Minister’s own office.” Recipients on the messages included senior Downing Street officials such as Sir Edward Lister, then Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s chief strategic advisor.

Elmore added: “There are now serious questions that need to be answered by the UK government … We must all be concerned that strictly confidential information of national importance is being willingly shared with social media companies.

“We need to know what direction the Prime Minister gave to his staff to provide this information with TikTok, when did he first learn about this email exchange and what other sensitive information may have been shared from his office.”

“It is utterly contemptible to find ourselves yet again in the position where social media companies are operating in cosy back rooms to gain influence at the very heart of government.”

Andrew Lewer, a member of the China Research Group (CRG) of Conservative MPs launched by senior Tories last year to shape policy on China, was surprised by how the government acted.

He added attitudes to China have changed since the messages were sent last June. Conservative lawmakersare increasingly concerned about the UK’s trading relationship with China, particularly in light of atrocities against its Uighur minority population.

Insider originally requested the documents under Freedom of Information laws in July. 

“Reports of the contents of these documents serve to show how quickly sentiment within both government and the Parliamentary Party is hardening towards China,” Lever said, speaking personally rather than for the CRG.

“Some elements of these conversations, as reported, would be, at the very least, difficult to envisage happening now, even though it is less than a year later. They also illustrate the growing tension between China as a market for UK plc and its status as a human-rights abuser on a vast scale.”

Luke de Pulford, coordinator of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group of lawmakers whose members include former UK Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith and former US presidential candidate Senator Marco Rubio, was also worried.

He decried “the so-called ‘Golden Era'” of British-Chinese relations under past governments when “the UK sold out to China, shelving our values in the hope of economic gain.”

“Many key civil servants have yet to smell the coffee,” he said. “There cannot be business as usual or behind closed doors deals with states credibly accused of genocide.”

Fears of TikTok’s ties to China stem from the fact its parent company ByteDance, though registered in the Cayman Islands, is headquartered in Beijing. Lawmakers worry that the firm could be compelled to hand over information about users to the Chinese regime.

TikTok has repeatedly denied it would share user data with the Chinese Government if asked.

TikTok declined to comment and DfIT did not respond.

Outging US ambassador says world must end Taiwan’s exclusion

Outging US ambassador says world must end Taiwan’s exclusion

Associated Press
In this image made from a video screen shows and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft meeting virtually with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen (unseen) on Wednesday night, Jan. 13, 2021. Craft’s trip to Taiwan was canceled but Craft told Tsai: “The United States will always stand with Taiwan.” (The United States Mission to the United Nations via AP)

 EDITH M. LEDERER  

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — In a final swipe at China, the Trump administration’s outgoing U.N. ambassador tweeted that it’s time for the world to oppose China’s efforts to exclude and isolate Taiwan, drawing sharp criticism from Beijing.

To make the point even more graphic, Ambassador Kelly Craft accompanied the tweet with a photo of herself in the U.N. General Assembly Hall where the island is banned. And she carried a handbag with a stuffed Taiwan bear sticking out of the top, a gift from Taiwan’s representative in New York, Ambassador James Lee.

Taiwan left the United Nations in 1971 when China joined. Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province and has been using its diplomatic clout to stop its 23 million people from joining any organizations that require statehood for membership including the U.N. World Health Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization.

American relations with Taiwan warmed under president Donald Trump, largely due to strong bipartisan support in Congress, but also because his administration was willing to defy Beijing’s threats and promote Taiwan as an alternative to Chinese Communist Party authoritarianism.

Craft met in September with Taiwan’s New York representative and had been scheduled to visit Taipei last week, but her trip was canceled after then secretary of state Mike Pompeo banned all travel.

Undeterred, she held a virtual meeting with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen on the evening of Jan. 13, telling her: “The United States will always stand with Taiwan.”

Earlier that day, she went into the General Assembly Hall, stood at the speaker’s podium, and recorded a virtual address to Model U.N. students in Taiwan.

Craft followed up those events with a statement Tuesday — her last full day as ambassador — stressing that the United States “is determined to end” Taiwan’s exclusion and isolation, and predicting this will continue with the administration of newly inaugurated President Joe Biden.

“The U.S. position on this matter enjoys universal bipartisan support,” she said, “and so, even as the United States is preparing for a transition, I can speak with great confidence that the U.S.-Taiwan relationship will continue to grow and strengthen.”

She called Taiwan “a force for good on the global stage — a vibrant democracy, a generous humanitarian actor, a responsible actor in the global health community, and a vigorous promoter and defender of human rights.”

In a final salvo during Trump’s final hours in office on Wednesday, Craft tweeted her appeal for an end to Taiwan’s isolation and exclusion, saying: “All @UN member states should recognize the benefits of Taiwan’s meaningful participation in int’l organizations & the damage done by its continued exclusion.”

The spokesperson for China’s U.N. Mission, referring to Craft’s photo in the General Assembly Hall, tweeted back: “Without prior notice to the UN, you sneaked into the GA Hall to record the video. You have not only violated the guidelines for the use of UN premises but also broken the rules for prevention of COVID-19. You’re spreading virus literally. Time to stop!”

A spokesman for Craft responded Thursday saying: “Ambassador Craft was proud to speak with the youth of Taiwan from the floor of the U.N. General Assembly, to underscore the outrageous fact that Taiwan’s voice remains unwelcome in that Hall.”

In her speech to Taiwan’s Model UN, Craft told the students: “Stay firm, say the words of democracy even in the wake of this moment. Because one day, you, too, will be standing here.”

To reinforce her personal commitment, she ended her statement on Tuesday saying: “As my posting at the U.N. comes to a close, my mission will not be complete until the people of Taiwan have a voice.”

Top Republicans ask Biden for tougher response to China sanctions on Trump officials

Top Republicans ask Biden for tougher response to China sanctions on Trump officials

Reuters
  • FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo testifies before Senate Foreign Relations Committee
  • FILE PHOTO: House Hearing on Firing of Inspector General in Washington

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Top Republicans ask Biden for tougher response to China sanctions on Trump officials

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo testifies before Senate Foreign Relations Committee David Brunnstrom and Michael Martina  

By David Brunnstrom and Michael Martina

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Biden administration faced pressure from Republican lawmakers on its second day in office for a more forceful response to Beijing’s announcement of sanctions against the architects of former President Donald Trump’s tough China policy.

As Democrat Joe Biden was sworn in as president on Wednesday, China announced sanctions against outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and 27 other Trump officials in a striking repudiation of its relationship with the previous U.S. administration.

The Biden administration, which is seeking Republican support for a policy to “out-compete” China, responded by calling the move “unproductive and cynical” and urged Americans from both parties to condemn it. China, by making the announcement on Inauguration Day, appeared to be attempting to play into U.S. divisions, it said.

Jim Risch, the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations committee, said on Twitter that Beijing was “already testing the Biden Admin’s resolve to continue a tougher, competitive approach towards #China.”

“Together, Republicans & Democrats must show Beijing we will not be deterred from defending U.S. interests.”

Michael McCaul, the leading Republican on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, said the sanctions were “a brazen and baseless attempt to silence and intimidate” officials who had exposed abuses.

“The Biden administration and any country that values democratic principles must respond immediately and forcefully to demonstrate that coercion will not be tolerated,” he said.

Beijing announced its sanctions after Pompeo, who unleashed a barrage of measures against China in his final weeks in office, declared on Tuesday that China had committed “genocide and crimes against humanity” against Uighur Muslims.

Just before it did so, Beijing also said it wanted to cooperate with the Biden administration, even after Biden’s choice to succeed Pompeo, Antony Blinken, said he agreed with his assessment.

A Republican House Foreign Affairs Committee staffer said responses could include counter-sanctions or tightening of existing measures, adding: “This latest move was a serious escalation.”

The Biden administration, which is still setting up its full Asia policy and other government teams, did not immediately reply when asked if it planned a response.

Beijing’s sanctions ban the 28 officials and immediate family members from entering China and they and any companies or organizations associated with them from having dealings there.

China has repeatedly rejected accusations of abuse in Xinjiang, where a United Nations panel has said at least one million Uighurs and other Muslims have been detained in camps.

Blinken told his Senate confirmation hearing China posed the most significant challenge to the United States of any nation, and that he believed there was a very strong foundation to build a bipartisan policy to stand up to Beijing.

Some Republicans and others are concerned Biden may soften Trump’s hardline approach to secure cooperation on other goals, including combating climate change and North Korea.

Some in the U.S. business community saw China’s move as a shot across the bow, not only at Biden, but potentially at companies, banks, consulting firms, think tanks, and universities that have dealings with former U.S. officials.

“This team doesn’t have the luxury of six months to study the issue,” one private-sector China policy analyst said of the Biden administration. “It requires a near term response that goes beyond signaling.”

The source spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of backlash from China.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Michael Martina; editing by Grant McCool)

China blasts ‘gross interference’ by EU lawmakers on Hong Kong

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AFP
Members of the European Parliament on Thursday passed a resolution calling for “targeted sanctions” against Chinese and Hong Kong officials held responsible for recent arrests of activists

   

China on Friday hit back at an EU resolution condemning its crackdown on Hong Kong democracy activists, accusing European lawmakers of “gross interference” in its governance of the city.

Members of the European Parliament on Thursday passed the resolution calling for “targeted sanctions” against Chinese and Hong Kong officials held responsible for recent arrests of activists.

The lawmakers also said they “regret” the handling of a landmark investment deal with China pending ratification by MEPs, saying that talks over the deal should have been seized “as a leverage tool aimed at preserving Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy, as well as its basic rights and freedoms”.

But Beijing struck back on Friday and urged EU lawmakers to “face up to the reality that Hong Kong has returned to China”.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the resolution showed that some MEPs had “confused right and wrong” and engaged in “gross interference in the affairs of China’s Hong Kong”.

The European Parliament should “stop any form of meddling”, Hua said at a regular press briefing.

Following huge and often violent pro-democracy protests in 2019, Beijing imposed a draconian national security law on Hong Kong last year that effectively criminalised much dissent in a city supposedly guaranteed key liberties and autonomy.

It also toppled the legal firewall between the two territories, giving China jurisdiction over major national security cases and allowing its security agents to operate openly in the city for the first time.

Nearly 100 people have been arrested since the law came in and could face life sentences if convicted.

Uighur refugee Gulbahar Haitiwaji: ‘The Chinese want to eradicate the Uighurs’

Uighur refugee Gulbahar Haitiwaji: ‘The Chinese want to eradicate the Uighurs’

https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/the-interview/20210121-uighur-refugee-gulbahar-haitiwaji-the-chinese-want-to-eradicate-the-uighurs

Gulbahar Haitiwaji lives in France and belongs to China’s Uighur minority, a mainly Muslim community from the northwestern province of Xinjiang. Back in 2016, her life changed dramatically. Summoned to return to China under a spurious pretext, she was thrown into prison then sent to a “re-education” camp. She recounts the appalling conditions of her detention in a new book entitled “Survivor of the Chinese Gulag”. The Chinese “want to wipe out the culture and the tradition of the Uighurs and eradicate the Uighurs themselves”, she told FRANCE 24. 

Biden admin blasts China for ‘cynical’ Inauguration Day sanctions on Trump officials

Biden admin blasts China for ‘cynical’ Inauguration Day sanctions on Trump officials

NBC News

Adela Suliman and Isabel Wang

 That didn’t take long.

Within hours of President Joe Biden’s inauguration, his foreign policy team began wrangling with one of the administration’s biggest challenges: China.

The U.S. labeled as “unproductive and cynical” a slew of sanctions China imposed on outgoing Donald Trump officials just as the inauguration was taking place.

“Imposing these sanctions on Inauguration Day is seemingly an attempt to play to partisan divides,” Emily Horne, a spokeswoman for President Biden’s National Security Council, told Reuters on Wednesday. “President Biden looks forward to working with leaders in both parties to position America to out-compete China.”

China responded by criticizing the outgoing administration, and calling for healing and better relations between the two countries — even using a line from Biden’s inauguration speech.

“I believe if both countries work together, better angels in the U.S.-China relations could defeat evil forces,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a press briefing on Thursday.

In his speech emphasizing the need for unity to triumph over division, Biden on Wednesday said: “Through struggle, sacrifice and setbacks, our better angels have always prevailed,” — a phrase borrowed from Abraham Lincoln’s 1861 inaugural address.

The rhetorical exchange follows four years of worsened U.S.-China relations, with Trump and members of his team blaming the Covid-19 pandemic on China, using racist terms to describe the virus and criticizing Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong protesters and its Uighur Muslim minority.

During this time, the countries — the world’s two largest economies — also became locked in a damaging trade war.

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Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to Washington attended Biden’s inauguration with an official invitation, a first, which could indicate the new president will continue with Trump’s increased support for the self-governed island that Beijing claims as part of China.

However, while it has signaled that it will maintain pressure on Beijing, Biden’s team is widely expected to take a more traditional, diplomatic and multilateral approach than Trump’s did.

China placed sanctions on 28 Trump officials on Wednesday, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro and Alex Azar, the Health and Human Services Secretary. The measures bar travel to Hong Kong, Macao or mainland China, and restrict any organizations they run from doing business there, according to a statement from China’s Foreign Ministry.

In his final weeks in office, Pompeo unleashed a barrage of measures against China, and said Tuesday that Beijing had committed “genocide and crimes against humanity” against its Uighur Muslim population.

China has repeatedly rejected accusations of abuse in its Xinjiang region, where the United Nations says at least 1 million Uighurs and other Muslims have been detained in camps.

Biden’s choice to succeed Pompeo, Antony Blinken, said Tuesday he agreed with Pompeo’s assessment. He told his Senate confirmation hearing there was “no doubt” China posed the most significant challenge to the United States of any nation.

China’s telecom giants ask for Wall Street relisting

China’s telecom giants ask for Wall Street relisting

·2 min read

China Telecom sign with Chinese flags
China Telecom sign with Chinese flags

Three Chinese telecom giants have asked the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to review its decision to delist them.

The NYSE initially said it would delist China Unicom, China Mobile and China Telecom on 7 January based on a Donald Trump executive order.

After a surprising U-turn in which the US stock exchange changed its mind it eventually settled on delisting them.

Following Mr Trump’s departure from the White House, the three companies have now requested a review from the NYSE.

In near-identical statements the telecoms firms, which are state-backed in China, said they “had complied strictly with the laws and regulations, market rules as well as regulatory requirements”.

The executive order from former President Trump barred Americans from investing in public companies the US government says has links with the Chinese military.

Incoming president Joe Biden has already started overturning some of Mr Trump’s executive orders although its is unclear if he will address the many that have concerned Chinese companies.

Dramatic U-turn

The NYSE agreed to delist all three on 31 December, but within days it reversed the decision based on “further consultation” with regulatory authorities.

But that reversal was short lived, with the NYSE announcing just days later that it would press ahead with its initial decision to delist based on “new specific guidance” from the US Treasury Department.

Stock market index providers MSCI, FTSE Russell and S&P Dow Jones Indices all removed the telecoms firms from benchmarks this month, wiping a combined $5.6bn (£4.1bn) off the value of their Hong Kong-traded shares.

The three companies earn all of their revenue in China and have no significant presence in the US.

Like many other large Chinese companies, they have a dual listing in the US and Hong Kong.

There are currently more than 200 Chinese companies listed on US stock markets with a total market capitalization of $2.2tn (£1.6tn).

Shares of all three companies edged slightly lower on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday.

California WeChat users claim China surveillance in lawsuit

California WeChat users claim China surveillance in lawsuit

AFP
“There is no reasonable alternative to WeChat for anyone wishing to maintain regular contact with the Chinese-speaking world,” reads a lawsuit claiming the mobile app is used for spying on Chinese government critics

   

California WeChat users sued its parent company Tencent on Wednesday, saying the mobile app is used for spying on and censoring users for the Chinese government.

US-based nonprofit Citizen Power Initiatives for China (CPIFC) filed the suit in Silicon Valley, joined by a half-dozen California residents in urging a state court to order Tencent to change its ways and pay damages.

“As the global erosion of democratic values shows little sign of relenting, this lawsuit is part of our attempt to slow that erosion, and to perhaps help turn the tide, by relying on the rule of law,” CPIFC president Yang Jianli said in a release.

“Democracy depends on being able to communicate free of politically motivated censorship, and hopefully this lawsuit will help Chinese-speaking Californians, who make up so much of the Chinese diaspora, do just that.”

Tencent’s relationship with the Chinese government enables it to keep competition out of the market while honing its algorithm to better censor or mine user data, the suit argued.

“There is no reasonable alternative to WeChat for anyone wishing to maintain regular contact with the Chinese-speaking world,” the suit contended.

California WeChat users and others “sacrifice a panoply of speech, privacy, and other rights as a condition of using WeChat,” according to the suit.

CPIFC described itself as a US-based nonprofit encouraging a transition to democracy in China.

“For all that a WeChat user can do on the WeChat platform, what they cannot readily do – including in California – is send messages perceived as critical of the Party-state,” the lawsuit contended.

“Such messages tend to be blocked, censored, deleted, and can lead to the blocking, suspension, or deletion of the user’s account.”

Comments made on WeChat by users in California to family members in China have led to visits from security agents in that country, according to the lawsuit.

Tencent could not be reached for comment.

Before leaving office this month, former US President Donald Trump ordered a ban on Alipay, WeChat Pay and other apps linked to Chinese companies, saying they could route user information to the government in Beijing.

The executive order is to take effect in February, barring reversal by President Joe Biden.

Biden administration calls China sanctions on Trump officials ‘unproductive and cynical’

Biden administration calls China sanctions on Trump officials ‘unproductive and cynical’

Reuters
Inauguration of Biden as 46th President of United States

 Michael Martina  

By Michael Martina

(Reuters) – China’s move to sanction former Trump administration officials was “unproductive and cynical”, a spokeswoman for President Joe Biden’s National Security Council said on Wednesday, urging Americans from both parties to condemn the action.

Around the time Biden was sworn in as president on Wednesday China announced sanctions against “lying and cheating” outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and 27 other top officials under former President Donald Trump, a striking repudiation of its relationship with Washington under Trump.

China’s foreign ministry said Pompeo and the others had “planned, promoted and executed” moves that had interfered in its internal affairs. It banned the ex-officials and immediate family members from entering China, and restricted companies associated with them from doing business in the country.

“Imposing these sanctions on Inauguration Day is seemingly an attempt to play to partisan divides,” Biden’s National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne said in a statement to Reuters.

“Americans of both parties should criticize this unproductive and cynical move. President Biden looks forward to working with leaders in both parties to position America to out-compete China,” Horne said.

Pompeo, who unleashed a barrage of measures against China in his final weeks in office, declared on Tuesday that China had committed “genocide and crimes against humanity” against Uighur Muslims.

“This so-called determination by Pompeo is nothing but paper,” a Chinese foreign Ministery spokesperson said in response. “This U.S. politician is notorious for lying and cheating, is making himself a laughing stock and a clown.”

China has repeatedly rejected accusations of abuse in its Xinjiang region, where a United Nations panel has said at least 1 million Uighurs and other Muslims had been detained in camps.

Biden’s choice to succeed Pompeo, Antony Blinken, said on Tuesday he agreed with Pompeo’s assessment.

He told his Senate confirmation hearing there was “no doubt” China posed the most significant challenge to the United States of any nation, and that he believed there was a very strong foundation to build a bipartisan U.S. policy to stand up to Beijing.

(Reporting by Michael Martina and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Tom Hogue and Raju Gopalakrishnan)