Intel agencies set to show Xi Jinping’s hidden wealth U.S. intelligence agencies are preparing a congressional report detailing the hidden wealth of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders, including Xi Jinping, due before the end of the year. The report, mandated by the fiscal 2026 Intelligence Authorization Act, aims to expose billions in assets held indirectly by senior communist leaders through family members and financial proxies. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are collaborating on the public assessment, which covers Mr. Xi, the six other Politburo Standing Committee members, and the 25-member full Politburo. Lawmakers demanded this new, highly specific release of nonpublic intelligence after criticizing an earlier March 2025 ODNI report as a four-page summary overly reliant on public press reports. Previous estimates, such as a June 2024 Congressional Research Service report, placed Mr. Xi’s hidden family wealth at $707.2 million, though congressional aides suspect the true figure is significantly higher. The forthcoming disclosures are expected to complicate President Trump’s recent efforts to forge closer trade relations with Mr. Xi, whom he recently praised for his intelligence and stature. Senators urge Energy to block Chinese access to U.S. labs Senators Tom Cotton and Mike Lee have formally urged Energy Secretary Chris Wright to ban Chinese nationals from accessing sensitive information and facilities at U.S. National Laboratories. The lawmakers cited Department of Energy data showing that as of September 2025, approximately 3,200 Chinese nationals worked at or visited the labs, with about 2,100 formally employed. These foreign nationals recorded over 5,000 physical or electronic access instances in 2025, raising serious concerns regarding foreign intelligence collection and the transfer of critical technologies to Beijing. The senators highlighted a historical pattern of vulnerability, pointing to a 2022 private intelligence report revealing that 162 former Los Alamos scientists had returned to China over three decades to assist in advanced weapons development. Tensions rise at disputed South China Sea shoal Recent Chinese deployment of a floating platform near the disputed Scarborough Shoal has escalated tensions between Beijing and Manila over the resource-rich South China Sea territory. The 300-square-foot platform, equipped with a communications antenna, sparked fears in the Philippines of a permanent Chinese militarized presence before it was removed several days later. China claimed the temporary platform was meant for scientific coral reef research, despite the nation's ongoing pattern of building military bases on surrounding islands in defiance of a 2016 international tribunal ruling.