China In Eurasia

Welcome back to the China In Eurasia briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter tracking China's resurgent influence from Eastern Europe to Central Asia.

I'm RFE/RL correspondent Reid Standish and here's what I'm following right now.

The Hybrid War

Another undersea cable was severed in the Baltic Sea, this time between Latvia and Sweden, prompting Swedish authorities to board and seize the vessel that was sailing from Russia amid sabotage fears, as I reported here.

This comes as similar incidents damaging undersea cables have recently affected Taiwan, with suspicions there turned toward China.

Finding Perspective: The spate of incidents highlights growing tensions in both the Baltic Sea and across the Taiwan Strait.

The investigation into the January 26 incident in the Baltic has just begun, but the episode is the latest in a series of similar incidents in the Baltic Sea in which critical seabed energy and communications lines have been damaged.

In December, an oil tanker linked to Russia's so-called shadow fleet was suspected of damaging undersea links with a loose anchor. A month earlier, a Chinese ship was involved in a separate incident. A Chinese-flagged ship traveling from Russia also damaged a Baltic gas pipeline in October 2023.

Off the coast of Taiwan, an undersea data cable was damaged on January 3 and Taipei suspects China. Beijing has denied this, but Taiwanese officials say this is part of an uptick of similar episodes in recent years.

Taipei is also looking to learn from the experiences in the Baltic. The Financial Times reported that Taiwan's Coast Guard has now drawn up a blacklist of 52 Chinese-owned ships that Taipei says are part of Beijing's own "shadow fleet" and officials have also devised plans to board them.

Why It Matters: Analysts say the hybrid tactics are worrisome because they're often seen as a way to wear down and test the responses of an adversary as a precursor for a wider conflict.

While there is no smoking gun that connects Beijing and Moscow in what they're doing in Europe and Asia, the two are increasingly linked by a partnership whose main bond is their desire to change the global order.

As I reported here with my colleague Sashko Shevchenko from our reporting trip to Taiwan, China and Russia also appear to be taking lessons from one another.

"There shouldn't be any doubt that Russia is behind these incidents in the Baltic," Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania's former foreign minister, told me. "For China, there is no clear attribution, but if it wanted to build up pressure on Taiwan through a shadow war by cutting cables, there are lessons to learn about that from Moscow."

As Sashko and I also reported in Taiwan, the self-governing island is currently preparing for U.S. President Donald Trump's second term and is watching Washington's handling of the war in Ukraine for signals about what Trump 2.0 will mean for Taiwan.

Looking back at the hybrid tactics being used in the Baltic and around Taiwan, Chiu Chui-cheng, the minister of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, told us that "we don't see these as accidents, we see them as strategy."

Three More Stories From Eurasia

1. Could China Play A Role In Ending The War In Ukraine?

As Trump looks to end the war in Ukraine, could Beijing play a role in helping bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table?

The Details: It's a question that's been around since the early days of Moscow's full-scale invasion but has largely gone nowhere amid China's diplomatic and material support for Russia.

It came up again last week as Trump looks to leverage his personal relationship with Putin and meet face-to-face. As I reported here, Trump has also talked up sanctions and mixed in criticism of Putin while saying they can strike a deal.

The U.S. president then called for Chinese leader Xi Jinping to play a larger role in bringing the war to an end, telling reporters on January 21 that he's pressed Xi on the topic during a phone call, and that he has "a lot of…power, like we have a lot of power" to end the war but that "he's not done very much on that."

2. Chinese Christian Sect Finds A Foothold in Romania

The Church of Almighty God, one of China's largest Christian sects, is finding followers all over the world and making new headway in Romania, where the group's online efforts are drawing new converts to its controversial teachings and helping to grow its presence across Central and Eastern Europe.

What You Need To Know: My colleague Simona Carlugea from RFE/RL's Romanian Service tracked the group and its growing online presence, where it is preaching in Romanian through virtual sermons to tens -- and even hundreds -- of thousands of group members.

The Church of Almighty God (CAG), also known as Eastern Lightning, claims millions of followers worldwide but has been labeled a "cult" and persecuted inside China.

Founded in 1989 in northeastern China by Zhao Weishan, a former physics teacher, the church is fixated on doomsday scenarios and holds that Christ has returned to Earth as a Chinese woman.

Arrests and alleged torture inside China have pushed much of the group abroad, where it has looked to find new converts.

3. U.S.-China Tech Race Heating Up

Less than two weeks after it looked like the Chinese-owned app TikTok was set to close in the United States, China has upped the artificial intelligence (AI) race by launching DeepSeek, which matches other market leaders for a fraction of the cost.

What It Means: As I wrote after Trump said he'd issue an executive order to extend the period for TikTok to find a non-Chinese buyer, the tech race between Beijing and Washington is just heating up.

DeepSeek's emergence represents something of a Sputnik moment for China. Five of the biggest technology stocks geared to AI -- chipmaker Nvidia and so-called hyperscalers Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms -- collectively shed almost $750 billion of market value before U.S. markets opened on January 27.

That could carry over into other areas of the tech competition as well, particularly for semiconductors and chip giant Nvidia if it proves true that DeepSeek was able to reach its heights without use of the company's most-advanced chips.

Across The Supercontinent

A Shakeup In Serbia: Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic resigned following weeks of mass protests demanding accountability for a deadly accident in Novi Sad where the collapse of a concrete canopy killed 15 people at the northern city's rail station.

Critics have blamed rampant government corruption for the tragedy, and some have taken aim at opaque contracts with Chinese construction companies that renovated and rebuilt parts of the station.

Serbian authorities said Chinese firms did not replace the roof that collapsed and that the contracts will not be publicly disclosed due to secrecy provisions in the deals.

Taiwan Chip Tariffs: Trump said on January 27 that he plans to impose tariffs on imported chips, pharmaceuticals, and steel in an effort to get producers to make them in the United States as he took aim at industry leader Taiwan.

The island is home to the world's largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), and is a key link in the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple and Nvidia.

New Delhi to Beijing: India and China have agreed to resume direct flights between the two countries after nearly five years, the latest sign of a rapprochement after high tensions over a deadly border dispute.

One Thing To Watch

A top Chinese official on January 27 denied suggestions from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency that the COVID-19 pandemic was triggered by the virus leaking from a lab.

The CIA issued a new public assessment about COVID just two days after former Republican lawmaker John Ratcliffe was sworn in as its new director. That assessment was issued with "low confidence" but it adds to lingering suspicions over the virus' origins and presents another flashpoint for tensions to rise between the United States and China.

That's all from me for now. Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you might have.

Until next time,

Reid Standish

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BUCHAREST -- Through online sermons and a bustling virtual community, a Chinese Christian group labeled as a "cult" and persecuted inside China is finding new members in Romania.

The Church of Almighty God (CAG), also known as Eastern Lightning, claims millions of followers worldwide and has had an online footprint in Romania since 2018. More recently, a flurry of WhatsApp groups and Facebook pages -- many with more than 50,000 members -- have sprung up in the last year alone. These pages are all in Romanian, but many of the administrators are based in other European countries, such as Spain, Greece, France, and Serbia, as well as some in Romania.

RFE/RL tracked dozens of online Romanian groups tied to the CAG, all with followings ranging from tens to hundreds of thousands of members, and with sermons held twice a day. While these are full of uplifting hymns and homilies, the church's core belief is that Jesus has returned to Earth as a Chinese woman to wreak the apocalypse.

"One of the reasons they are growing is because they are presenting a message that is attractive to people that already have a strong background in Christianity," Holly Folk, a professor at Western Washington University who has researched the CAG up close since 2016, told RFE/RL. "Most of the people who join already have a familiarity and it's not one you can easily jump into if you don't."

While much about the CAG remains quite secretive, including who is funding it and directing its operations in China and abroad, its growing following in Romania marks the latest chapter for the Chinese offshoot of Christianity as it spreads its message and grapples with pressure from Chinese authorities in China and abroad.

Eastern Lightning Goes West

Folk says that the group is known for its heavily online presence, which developed in part because of security concerns faced by its members inside China, where it has been the target of a crackdown by the Chinese Communist Party for decades that has since sent many members fleeing persecution and claiming asylum abroad.

"There is a big concern about security. They're targeted in China and there is fear about their immigration status in a lot of countries," she said. "That's part of why things happen mostly online and you see fake names being used."

The CAG did not reply to RFE/RL's request for comment.

Founded in 1989 in northeastern China by Zhao Weishan, a former physics teacher, the church is fixated on doomsday scenarios and holds that Christ has returned to Earth as a Chinese woman named Yang Xiangbin, with whom Zhao claims direct contact.

After it was banned and classified as a cult by Beijing in 1995, Zhao reportedly fled to the United States where he received asylum in 2000. Yang is also believed to be in the United States.

Among the CAG's other tenets is that resisting the Communist Party, "the big red dragon," is a key test of fitness for salvation.

The fervency of church adherents and anti-communist beliefs, combined with the Chinese Communist Party's deep suspicion of Christianity and religious sects, has put the CAG in Beijing's crosshairs.

In one 2014 incident that was caught on camera and widely circulated in China, Chinese police alleged that CAG members beat a woman to death in a McDonald's after she refused to join them. Chinese authorities used the ensuing outcry to further crack down on the church -- launching a wave of arrests -- although experts say the episode was likely the work of a deranged individual and the CAG is not known for violence.

This pressure from the Communist Party has sent CAG members abroad. Many have applied for asylum in the United States and Canada, parts of Asia like Japan and Taiwan, and in Western Europe. Spain, where many of the group administrators for the CAG's Romanian presence are based, has been a leading European destination, with more than 500 asylum applications.

Massimo Introvigne, a sociologist and lawyer based in Italy who has researched the CAG for decades, wrote recently that some of these asylum claims have been denied recently and that Chinese authorities have played a role in trying to get the CAG members returned to China.

"Chinese embassies and consulates continue to supply authorities in the countries where the refugees arrive and courts of law with hostile information about the CAG," Introvigne wrote earlier this month.

The Romanian Chapter

All of the Romanian sermons attended by RFE/RL throughout January were online and while there were assurances that physical meetings would be coming soon, no specifics were shared in any of the groups.

One sermon of 30 people that RFE/RL joined in January was run by a woman using a Romanian name who said she was from Singapore but married to a Romanian man and living in Spain. The dozens of sermons attended over the course of a week were all conducted in Romanian and used the pacing and Christian imagery of an Orthodox church service, the predominant form of Christianity in Romania.

Some sermons were run by Romanians. One Romanian group admin -- a woman in her 60s who spoke to RFE/RL about her voluntary work with the CAG on condition of anonymity -- said that she took over the Facebook group after it was created by Chinese members of the church and that her role is to introduce potential new members to the CAG's beliefs. She herself converted and shared her own personal story.

"All my life I didn't have time to go to church, I raised my children while working and now I have found the answer to all my questions," she states, referring to the CAG.

The Romanian online community is growing.

The prolific Facebook and WhatsApp groups also link to YouTube pages that highlight a growing media footprint, which includes songs and slickly produced short films showcasing the CAG's beliefs. Some groups gained thousands of new followers in a single week, with more than 10,000 new posts in a month.

RFE/RL was not able to verify that all these members and posts were genuine, however, and many of the images and videos posted appear to be generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI), where they combined the CAG's teachings with Orthodox religious themes related to Romania.

Despite the heavy use of AI in generating posts across the groups, the CAG apparently has devout Romanian members.

One Romanian woman who delivered an online sermon said that despite adhering to the CAG, she still attends services at her local Romanian Orthodox church. She also told RFE/RL that there is a growing cohort of Romanian members and claimed they meet in person regularly.

"Members of the CAG believe in their message and want to draw in local members and elevate local leaders," Folk said. "You can't grow a tradition from a bunch of websites alone."

RFE/RL Romanian Service correspondent Simona Carlugea reported from Bucharest. RFE/RL China Global Affairs correspondent Reid Standish reported from Prague.