This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

After President-elect Donald Trump's monumental win in the 2024 presidential election, a trade war between the world's two largest economies is about to reignite, with diplomacy already deteriorating over China's warning to Trump over U.S.-Taiwan relations.

Spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. Liu Pengyu told Newsweek the question over Taiwan's ownership is the biggest point of contention between the U.S. and China, noting Trump should "abide by the One China principle."

"The U.S. government needs to earnestly abide by the One China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques and prudently handle Taiwan-related issues to avoid severe damage to China-U.S. relations and cross-Strait peace and stability."

Various reports have noted Taiwan could potentially enter into a new $15 billion arms deal with the U.S. which includes the purchase of F-35 fighter jets, retired navy warships, and Advanced Hawkeyes.

The potential deal would add to already existing agreements made to purchase missile systems from the U.S. in early October worth $2 billion, and another $20 billion in weapons Taiwan purchased in 2023, which Taiwan has complained has not yet been fulfilled.

Unsurprisingly, the arms deals between Taiwan and the U.S. raised the ire of China, which strictly maintains "Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory" through its One China principle, and cites international recognition of the principle as its legitimizer.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian said in late October his nation firmly opposed any military contact between the U.S. and Taiwan after Taiwan announced it was purchasing 1,000 attack drones from defense contractor AeroVironment and defense tech firm Anduril Industries – both American companies.

"Taiwan is a province of China. There is no so-called 'defense ministry' in the province. China is firmly opposed to any U.S. military contact with Taiwan. This position is consistent and unequivocal," Lin said, adding the American companies had been sanctioned.

Spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense Zhang Xiaogang said the U.S. had gone back on its promises to stop arming Taiwan.

"The United States has reneged on its promise and is intensifying efforts to arm Taiwan, emboldening the 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces, and pushing Taiwan closer towards the abyss of a military conflict," Zhang said.

The spokesperson then accused the U.S. of exploiting Taiwan, stating it was taking money to feed the military-industrial complex, and further blamed growing tension on Taiwan "separatists."

"Records have proven time and time again that the 'Taiwan independence' separatists and foreign interference are the source of chaos that undermines the status quo, causes cross-strait issues, and disrupts regional stability," Zhang said.

Established in the 1970s, the "One China" policy is the U.S.' way of acknowledging there is only one China, including Taiwan – which is officially called the Republic of China – but doesn't directly endorse China's sovereignty over Taiwan, according to Newsweek. Because of this, the U.S. can maintain an unofficial relationship with Taiwan.

During Trump's first term in office, his administration imposed high tariffs on Chinese goods imported into the U.S. in 2018. The move caused a blow to China's economy, however, relations further soured in 2020 when China's Wuhan Institute of Virology leaked COVID-19 from its labs, killing millions and disrupting the world's supply chains.

Trump has since promised during his campaign to slap at least 60% tariffs on all Chinese exports once he is back in the White House, but the Chinese Embassy has advised Trump against increasing tariffs, saying it will hurt both economies.

"There is no winner in a trade war, nor will the world benefit from it. Further increasing tariffs on Chinese products will only significantly drive up the cost of imported goods, inflict more loss on American companies and consumers, and will eventually backfire," the Chinese Embassy told Newsweek.

China has recently been trying to energize its economy with a series of stimulus packages after its property and infrastructure markets collapsed. Analysts have warned the $1.4 billion recently approved will do little to stimulate consumption, and is nothing more than a "debt-swap" program.

Part of the reason for China's lagging economy was the strict zero-COVID policies enforced on Chinese citizens during the pandemic, with the government keeping the restrictions in place longer than any other country, only removing them in December 2022, after protests swept the nation, according to the BBC.

The extended lockdowns cooled China's growth, while China's strengthening trade partnership with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as its rising prominence within BRICS, and the advantage it gained thanks to the Biden-Harris administration's weaknesses improved China's economy temporarily, but it is still in a very vulnerable situation.

The increasing pressure on China is likely to be further exacerbated by incoming American patriots to Trump's new administration, with appointees harshly criticizing China in the past, and being given top positions in the U.S.'s defense against China.

Dubbed a "China Hawk" by mainstream media, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., will be appointed U.S. Secretary of State, and is the first person to hold that position while simultaneously being sanctioned by China, according to Bloomberg.

A 58-page Senate report authored by Rubio titled The World China Made: 'Made In China 2025' Nine Years Later, details China's meteoric rise as a global superpower, and how it used the U.S. to get into that position.

In the report's foreword, Rubio states Communist China is "the most powerful adversary the United States has faced in living memory." Rubio notes China poses a far greater threat than Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia, simply because China can better compete against the U.S. economically, and also militarily.

"It [China] controls the largest industrial base in the world, fuels its factories with market-distorting subsidies and rampant theft," Rubio said, adding, "Beijing will have greater sway over which set of values defines the 21st century: liberty and representative government, or authoritarianism and oppression."

During an interview with World Over, Rubio questioned why no one holds China responsible for the blatant disregard for the U.S. when it comes to stealing intellectual property, but noted Trump will hold them accountable.

"Why do Chinese companies get to do whatever they want in our economy, but our companies do not? So all Donald Trump is saying is we're going to get along but we're gonna get along in an even playing field, not one in which China continues to be allowed to cheat and steal and get away with things that are bad for America," Rubio said.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The owner of a major newspaper influencing America, the Los Angeles Times, just days ago confirmed the publication would not endorse the Democrat nominee for resident as it had in past years.

Now owner Soon-Shiong has confirmed that the publication soon will have an all-new editorial board.

The abrupt change comes as legacy media outlets across America are trying to regain some semblance of integrity after having gone fully political for the Kamala Harris campaign in recent months.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

President-elect Donald Trump announced that the "great public servant, governor, and leader in faith for many years" and "highly respected" Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, will be the U.S. ambassador to Israel during the next administration.

U.S. government employee charged under Espionage Act on suspicion of leading top secret documents on Israel

A CIA official has been charged with disclosing classified documents that appeared to show Israel's plans to retaliate against Iran for a missile attack earlier this year, according to court documents and people familiar with the matter.

Two Israelis killed in Hezbollah missile strike on Nahariya

Two people were killed when a rocket exploded in the building in which they were working in the northern coastal city of Nahariya on Tuesday as the Hezbollah terror group fired dozens of rockets and drones at northern and central Israel.

Biden administration won't issue arms embargo against Israel

The U.S. State Department will not withhold arms from Israel, according to State Department officials, a month after the White House sent a letter to Israel stating the Jewish state had 30 days to improve the humanitarian conditions for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip or be subject to an arms embargo.

Netanyahu calls on Iranian people to 'not lose hope'

In the second message within months, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the Islamic Republic's regime fears its own citizens more than Israel; and looks to the future of blossoming ties, freedom, and prosperity for Iranians.

Islamic Jihad releases video of Israel-Russian hostage Sasha Trufanov

Palestinian Islamic Jihad released a proof-of-life video on Wednesday of Russian-Israeli hostage Alexander ("Sasha") Troufanov, who was abducted from his family home during the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and has been held captive in the Gaza Strip for 404 days.

Mossad issues warning to Israelis in Thailand over feared attack

Israel's Mossad intelligence agency warned Israeli tourists in Thailand to avoid a world-famous outdoor party this weekend, saying that the event may be targeted by terrorists attempting to murder Israelis.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

JERUSALEM – Israel/Middle East Morning Brief

Night of terror in Amsterdam as Mideast migrants torch a tram, run amok, shout anti-Semitic slogans

Anti-Jewish violence was visited on Amsterdam again Monday night as migrants reportedly of Middle Eastern extraction torched a tram, with footage catching the rioters yelling "Cancer Jews."

U.S. forces strike Iranian assets in Syria, in response to attacks on its personnel

U.S. CENTCOM forces conducted strikes against nine targets in two locations associated with Iranian groups in Syria in response to several attacks on U.S. personnel in Syria over the last 24 hours.

These strikes will degrade the Iranian backed groups' ability to plan and launch future attacks on U.S. and Coalition forces who are in the region to conduct D-ISIS operations.

Hezbollah drone strikes kindergarten near Haifa

Hezbollah continued firing rockets and drones throughout Tuesday morning, with a UAV striking a kindergarten near Haifa. The children and the teachers were in the safe room and there are no reports of injuries. The IDF is investigating why incoming rocket alert sirens did not go off in the immediate vicinity, although staff were aware of others doing so in the area.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Jena Griswold is a far-left Democrat secretary of state in the far-left state of Colorado.

She schemed with all Democrats on the state Supreme Court to try to take now President-elect Donald Trump off the 2024 ballot and was rebuked by the U.S. Supreme Court.

She played an integral role when Tina Peters, then a clerk in Mesa County, made a copy of the 2020 election results from her county and, in the course, exposed briefly an election systems password. She was sentenced to years in prison.

Now, in the aftermath of Griswold's own exposure of dozens and dozens of election systems passwords online for the 2024 election, she's being investigated by a coalition of prosecutors.

It is Westword that reported the office of the Denver district attorney is investigating, with help from the district attorney in El Paso County.

"Officials believe the leak originated in Secretary of State Jena Griswold's Denver-based office, but it involved current passwords for voting equipment in 34 Colorado counties, including El Paso," the report said.

The confirmation was made public only days after several affidavits were submitted alleging that the incident violated Colorado law limiting access to voting systems.

"We will cooperate with [Denver's] investigation and provide resources as needed," said Kate Singh, of the El Paso office. "This office will review the investigation conducted by the Denver DA's office to determine if further investigation should be conducted, and which office is best suited to complete any additional investigation."

Westword noted that for four months, "hundreds" of those election system passwords were posted on Griswold's state website.

"The Colorado Republican Party broke the news five days after Secretary Griswold says her office learned of the blunder, on October 24," the report said.

There have been calls for her to resign, but she has refused. Libertarians had wanted a hand count of ballots in affected counties, but a judge refused.

State law calls for district attorneys to investigate when an affidavit is filed alleging a violation of the law, the report said.

Griswold has claimed to regret the error, which she blamed on an employee who was dismissed.

Her office said the blunder did not compromise the state's election integrity because two passwords are needed to access each machine.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Joe Biden has used dozens, probably hundreds, of executive orders from the desk of the White House to try to install in America a biased election system, using federal agencies to recruit supporters, "diversity" agendas around the world, and much more to which Americans, by and large, object.

Expect them to vanish on Jan. 20.

That's the day that President-elect Donald Trump is scheduled to be inaugurated, and analysts are advising there will be numerous changes that day.

The Washington Examiner predicted Trump "will waste no time working to undo the efforts of his predecessor, President Joe Biden when he retakes office next January. Much of what Trump is expected to do will simply be undoing what Biden did to him upon winning the White House four years ago."

Biden, for example, signed 24 executive orders during his first eight days in office, sparking charges of hypocrisy from Republicans who pointed out Biden had claimed executive orders should be limited "unless you're a dictator."

Trump already has indicated there will be action that day.

Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt explained that at least "tens" of orders are imminent.

"We know that he promised to sign an executive order to secure the southern border, something the Harris-Biden administration has refused to do. We know that, on Day One, he's going to launch the largest mass deportation operation of illegal immigrants in American history."

The "Remain in Mexico" practice might come back that same way.

CATO Institute scholar Andrew Gillen said the Biden-Harris regime's demand to promote the transgender ideology also won't stand long, especially with women's sports.

"The cultural stuff is what I think we'll see on Day One. Fighting against what Trump calls wokeness and being anti-DEI. I wouldn't be surprised to see executive action on those," Gillen said.

Trump also has confirmed plans to work on the Deep State, and expected is an order called Schedule F, which, the report said, "would allow him to fire some federal employees who previously enjoyed job protections."

Trump had begun that process in his first term, only to have Biden reverse it and Deep State employees then finalize a rule against reclassifying workers. Trump wanted that ability because, during his first term, there were several instances of federal workers openly defying and opposing the president's work. The new rule means it might take him longer to move in that direction.

The report explained Republican strategist John Feehery suggests Trump do as much as possible.

"He should reverse every single Biden EO, especially the ones regarding immigration, the border, and crime. Then he needs to reverse every executive order that has anything to do with COVID-19 and education. Then he needs to dive deep into any of the transgender stuff. I think he needs to be as aggressive as legally possible. The election was a mandate, and Congress will move too slow for the American people."

Trump himself, has promised, "Many things will be done on day one. Your head will spin when you see what's going to happen."

Trump also has suggested that many of those J6 protesters, in jail sometimes for years for offenses as dire as trespassing, maybe get pardons.

He's also talked about halting the propaganda being used in schools to promote "critical race theory or transgender insanity."

One firing that is expected, if he does not quit first, would be special counsel Jack Smith, who has handled multiple lawfare claims against Trump as part of Biden's weaponized Department of Justice.

Smith already reportedly is considering ways to back down on his "insurrection" and "classified documents" claims.

Trump also has promised to take action on inflation, which has been a stunning 22% plus since Biden and Harris took office.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Congressional committees already have determined that the FBI "improperly interfered in presidential elections in coordination with social media companies," and now U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, chief of the Judiciary Committee, wants to know what the bureau still is doing to monitor Americans' social media posts in order to "censor lawful speech."

Jordan has dispatched a letter to the FBI's Christopher Wray, instructing the FBI to provide a "briefing" on the work of the bureau's Foreign Influence Task Force to use "software" and other means to violate "the civil liberties of citizens of the United States."

Jordan explained the committee already has heard testimony that under Wray's leadership, the FBI "played a key role in prebunking a true story concerning the Biden family's influence peddling ahead of the 2020 presidential election. We have also learned that the FITF continues to coordinate efforts with social media companies leading up to the 2024 election to monitor and flag social media posts, by both American citizens and foreign actors, 'indicative of potential criminal conduct,'" Jordan wrote.

That testimony, coming from an analyst, explained the FBI then uses the name and content of the posting to insist that social media companies censor it.

"Although the analyst testified that the FBI uses this tool to pursue 'criminal conduct,' when questioned about the nature of the software tool and the scope of the FBI's use of it, agency counsel repeatedly prevented the analyst from fully answering the committee's questions. Therefore, we write to obtain additional information in order to understand whether the FBI has or could use this software tool to censor or infringe upon lawful speech, particularly Americans' political speech."

A report from Just the News noted the briefing is requested before a Nov. 26 deadline.

The Biden influence operations long have been a massive scandal that reportedly netted the family members millions of dollars, but has yet to be fully explored or explained.

Apparently it was that family members, specifically Hunter Biden, would be paid for their ability to interact with the then-vice president regarding various U.S. policies and actions.

In fact, one of the controversies involved Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company, paying Hunter Biden $1 million a year to be on its board, even though he had no expertise in the industry.

One issue was that Burisma was under investigation in Ukraine at the time for corruption. Joe Biden, on a trip there, threatened Ukraine with the loss of American aid if they did not fire the prosecutor immediately.

They did, and he returned to the United States to brag about his influence.

Congress earlier reported the deals apparently netted the Biden family tens of millions of dollars.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Amid an exploding scandal about how much Kamala Harris spent to campaign for president, some $1 billion, and how much she still owes, millions, and what she paid those celebrities to endorse her, some, without investigating, accused singer Lee Greenwood of being paid by the Trump campaign.

It deteriorated quickly for the accuser, who was informed by none other than Lee Greenwood himself that he has been paid … exactly nothing.

"I have received $0 from the Trump Campaign or the Trump Organization to perform/appear at Trump Rallies or Events. I have supported President Trump since 2015 without any form of payment. My wife worked for him for over 20 years prior to him running for president. I am happy to have stood by him and that he has used my song since the beginning," said the singer, whose "God Bless the USA" has been featured at Trump events.

It was "MeadowShadow" who had started the fracas, stating, "Let's be fair. Find out how much Trump campaign paid 'celebrities' like @TheLeeGreenwood…"

Another commenter pointed out that, "You don't need a billion dollars to run a campaign when people actually like and support you."

Harris continues fundraising even now, apparently to pay off her campaign debt.

A comment at Twitchy explained, "It turns out Kamala Harris actually PAID those famous entertainers to perform AND endorse her, from Oprah Winfrey (who denies it BUT we've seen the receipts, Harpo) to Beyoncé and Lizzo … not to mention Cardi B. who read her endorsement from her phone. MILLIONS and millions of dollars spent on famous people because Team Harris thought that would somehow appeal to everyday Americans."

It cited then the accusation about Greenwood, which "didn't go over so hot."

"Hey, just because Kamala had to buy people, that doesn't mean Trump did as well."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A New York judge who heard a lawfare case against President Donald Trump by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has ordered a delay on all proceedings, even though sentencing was scheduled just days away, instead telling prosecutors to file comments with the court for "appropriate steps going forward."

The case that was heard by Judge Juan Merchan, whose daughter was making money promoting Democrat talking points while her father was ruling against Trump in a courtroom, stems from business actions that would have been misdemeanors had they been filed before the statute of limitations expired.

But Bragg claimed they still could be prosecuted, and even that they were felonies, because of some other unspecified crime to which they contributed.

The jury, which was astonishingly told by the judge that their decision didn't have to be unanimous, was from the leftist enclave of Manhattan and returned a guilty verdict to 34 counts.

The trial reached the level of tabloid headlines because former porn star Stormy Daniels testified about payments made to her by Trump's former legal representative.

The case is one of multiple lawfare cases brought against Trump by Democrats in order to try to prevent him from running for president in 2024 or winning.

Those cases are disintegrating now at various paces, as federal practices do not allow the prosecution of a sitting president, and Trump is to be inaugurated on Jan. 20.

Merchan earlier had delayed the sentencing in the case until after the election, just won by Trump in a landslide.

At that time, constitutional expert and George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said that the delay likely was because Trump's popularity rose with each development in the courtroom.

At the time, Turley said, "Any sentencing that Merchan would have come down with, I think, would have not been particularly welcome by most of the public. It would have reminded them of this campaign against the former president."

Turley pointed out that Merchant had taken steps that made him appear one-sided, including an "excessive" gag order on Trump.

The jury claimed Trump falsified business records relating to reimbursing his then-attorney Michael Cohen for a nondisclosure agreement with Daniels.

Democrats have demanded that Merchan imprison Trump in the case, as part of their lawfare against him.

The judge also has a confirmed record of donating money to Democrat ideologues.

Trump's lawyers have called for dismissing the case entirely.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Protecting democracy was a catch phrase that Democrats have used for years to explain their hatred of now President-elect Donald Trump.

He was, after all, they said, a "Hitler." He would be a dictator. He would use the military against his political opponents, jailing them and worse.

The only salvation for America's "democracy" would be to keep Democrats, in this election Kamala Harris, in power, they said.