ExclusiveUkraine Intelligence: Russia to Train China on Fighting NATO Weapons

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story. China is supplying weapons to Russia and now Russia is reportedly planning to train Chinese troops using lessons from the war in Ukraine. What's really behind this deepening military alliance? Quad foreign ministers meeting in Washington D.C. focusing on concrete actions to counter China's growing power. And that's the next step in this great partnership is to actually begin to see concrete actions and steps being taken in conjunction with one another. Rare earth shipments are picking up, easing pressure on automakers, but supply chain risks still loom. We speak with an energy analyst to break it down. Hopefully the supply chain's issues that have, you know, come about over the last six months will start to be eased and prices can start easing as well. China's grip on rare earths giving Beijing major leverage in U.S. trade talks. We break down what rare earths are and why these metals are so critical. Russian President Putin says Moscow is ready for a fresh round of peace talks, and China's top diplomat Wang Yi is on a European tour promoting cooperation. But what's really behind these public gestures? New intelligence from Ukraine reveals Russia is planning to train Chinese troops to take on Western weapons, sharing lessons learned from its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Western nations say China is providing lethal support to Russia in its war against Ukraine, including drones, ammunition and other military gear. So what's China getting in return? Not just Russian oil, but boosted military readiness. Ukraine's defense intelligence says Russia plans to train 600 Chinese troops this year as its military bases and training centers. The focus, preparing them to counter NATO weapons. The training covers tank operations, artillery, engineering and air defense, all based on lessons from Russia's battlefield experience in Ukraine. Ukraine's President Zelensky recently revealed that China has stopped selling drones to Kyiv and other European countries while still sending shipments to Russia. Analysts say this growing military cooperation between Moscow and Beijing shows a shared goal, challenging the West's global influence and the current international order. At the same time, China seems to be laying the groundwork for its long-standing aim, taking democratic Taiwan under its control by force if necessary. That's despite Communist China never having ruled the island. Foreign ministers from the U.S., Australia, India and Japan met in Washington, D.C. Tuesday. These four countries are known as the Quad. They share concerns about China's growing ambitions. The group is pushing for concrete steps to counter the Chinese Communist Party. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is meeting with his Quad counterpart from Australia, India and Japan in Washington, D.C. What's on the agenda this time? One of the challenges has been something new like this is turning meetings and gatherings where we talk about ideas and concepts into a vehicle for action, into a vehicle for actually being able to take concrete actions. It's another example of the Trump administration's peace through strength approach, prioritizing realistic diplomacy backed by force. On the same day, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth met with India's foreign minister at the Pentagon. Mr. Minister, your visit today marks an important milestone in the ongoing series of high-level engagements between our two great countries. What we do in the Indo-Pacific, we believe is absolutely crucial to strategic stability. The Quad summit in Washington, D.C., reaffirmed the Trump administration's push to revive U.S. influence in the Indo-Pacific, aiming to counter an increasingly assertive communist China. The threat of mass shutdowns in the auto industry is easing. Chinese rare earth magnets are finally reaching automakers and suppliers worldwide, but automakers warn the risk of shortages is far from over. We spoke with energy policy analyst David Blackman about how the U.S. rare earth shortage could impact Americans. Take a listen. Well, the main way it trickles down to the average American is in a form of higher prices for, you know, technologies that use these rare minerals and the magnets they're made from. And pretty much any gadget we use in our daily lives, from your iPhone to your television, the computer we're communicating on here, those, any kind of digital electronics used, make some use in one form or another of these minerals or the magnets that are made from them. And so it's a big part of our daily lives. New data shows shipments from China are picking up. A European supplier's group says the approval rate for these shipments has jumped to 60 percent, up from just 25 percent recently. But U.S. orders are still seeing delays because they're being treated as low priority. On Friday, Ford's CEO said the company had to shut down factories in recent weeks due to magnet shortages. China has been limiting rare earth exports to the U.S. since April in response to tariffs imposed on Beijing's exports. Since then, shipments of rare earth magnets to the U.S. have fallen by roughly 75 percent. This has forced automakers to pause production not only in the U.S., but across Asia and Europe, all due to a shortage of critical parts. On Thursday, the White House announced a deal with China aimed at speeding up rare earth approvals. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson expressed confidence that this de-escalation will lead to a stronger flow of rare earth imports back into the country. China's rare earth exports are trickling back, but the U.S. is racing to secure its own supply. On Friday, Washington struck a deal with the Congo and Rwanda to boost stability and access to critical minerals. Here's more. The new agreement will bring billions of dollars in investment to the region. In return, the U.S. gains access to critical minerals and takes on a bigger role in ending the conflicts tied to those resources. The Congo is home to some of the world's richest deposits of coltan, cobalt and gold. It holds 60 percent of the world's coltan reserves and produced about 70 percent of global cobalt last year. Both minerals are key to making rechargeable batteries used in smartphones, EVs and other electronics. But the demand for these minerals has also fueled a decades-long war in the region. Right now, Chinese companies control about 80 percent of cobalt production in the Congo. That control has pushed many global tech and auto companies to rely on Chinese suppliers. In the past, instability largely kept U.S. mining companies out of the region. But the Trump administration wants to change that. It aims to end the conflict over minerals and bring more American investment into the region. This deal between the U.S. and the Congo is seen as the first step toward that goal. Rare earths are now a major battleground in the U.S.-China trade war, and China still holds a tight chokehold on this critical resource. These 17 silvery white metals power everything from smartphones to military gear, making them vital to the global economy and national security. Why does control over rare earth matter so much? Let's dive in. Rare earth minerals are used in almost every technology you can think of. They're present in cell phones, medical devices, wind turbines, weapons and much more. But what are they? And why are they important? And are they actually rare? So the term rare earth elements, it refers to 17 chemically similar elements within the lanthanide series. This is Professor Julie Michelle Klinger, a geographer and senior visiting fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences. So if you can picture the periodic table, it's that bar at the bottom, elements 57 to 71 plus scandium and yttrium. Reuters special correspondent on commodities Eric Onstadt has a bit of the history. The elements were first discovered by a Swedish miner in 1787 near a village called Ytterby, and that gives two of the elements their names, yttrium and ytterbium. There's another one called promethium, named after the Greek god that supposedly stole fire from the gods to give it to humans. China is by far the dominant producer. They account for 60% of mine production and 90% of processed rare earths. But interestingly, this wasn't always the case. In the 1980s, for instance, the United States was the biggest producer, and Europe had one of the biggest processing plants in the world. They're often described as the vitamins or the spice of industry because they have enabled our technologies to get smaller and faster and stronger and more resilient. Elements like lanthanum and cerium, some of the most common rare earths, are used in TVs and lighting, while the application of erbium and yttrium can range from nuclear power to lasers. There are two broad categories that have really got the spotlight. The first one is military uses, and that can be from night goggles to precision missiles to radar, and of course that is a very sensitive issue for nations wanting to guard their access to those kind of minerals. The second area is regarding the energy transition, and there are four specific rare earths that are used to make super strong permanent magnets that are used in motors for electric vehicles and for wind turbines. So that is key for most nations' zero carbon targets and cutting greenhouse gases. It's really because of the challenges, the heavy energy and resource and pollution risks that are associated with refining rare earth elements, that production has concentrated historically in so few places. Processing rare earths often involves the use of solvents, which can produce toxic waste. More environmentally friendly technologies are being developed, but they are not yet widely used. The other issue is that some rare earth deposits are radioactive. They include uranium and thorium, and so some countries are not interested in having that be mined in their country. But are they actually rare? Not really. They are found all over the world, and in terms of the deposits, no, they are not actually rare. What's rare about them is sometimes they're found in very small quantities, and in addition to that, they're mixed with all kinds of other minerals. The difficulty is sometimes extracting each single rare earth from all the other minerals that are involved in the deposit. Germany is asking Apple and Google to remove a Chinese AI app over data privacy concerns to target DeepSeek. Regulators say it could put users' personal data at risk. The German Data Protection Commissioner said she asked for the app to be removed because DeepSeek is illegally sending users' personal data to China. She told Apple and Google they need to review the request quickly and decide whether to block the app in Germany. DeepSeek's privacy policy states that it stores significant amounts of personal data on servers in China. The commissioner said the has not given her agency enough proof that the data is safe. She also warned that Chinese authorities have wide access to user data from companies based in China. Coming up, China's manufacturing sector is contracting for the third straight month. What that means for the world's second largest economy amid ongoing trade tensions. A major recall vote is coming up in Taiwan. Grassroots organizations say this is a chance for Taiwan to say no to the Chinese Communist Party. It is a critical moment where the people of Taiwan are standing up and saying no to the CCP. And could the U.S. strike to denuclearize Iran be sending shockwaves all the way to China? We talked to an expert for the inside analysis. B-2s pulling off this operation suggest America may not be finished just yet. And China should have some second thoughts about this. More on that after the break here on China In Focus. Welcome back to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Now we turn to China's economy. New data shows China's manufacturing sector continues to decline, a sign of ongoing challenges amid trade tensions. Let's take a closer look. Fallout from a trade war between the U.S. and China continues to weigh on the world's second largest economy. Despite Beijing's stimulus efforts, China's manufacturing activity has contracted for a third straight month. June saw a slight improvement from May, but the official purchasing manager's index for both months came in below 50. That's considered the threshold between expansion and contraction. Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows the June PMI at 49.7. This was in line with analysts' forecasts and just barely edged up from May. June was the first full month since China and the U.S. reached a trading truce in London. At the same time, inventory and employment at factories both declined. As for China's non-manufacturing PMI, which covers service and construction activity, the National Bureau of Statistics reports that that number edged up in June to 50.5. Turning to Taiwan, a major grassroots push is underway to root out Chinese Communist Party influence in local politics. Activists have launched an unprecedented recall campaign, targeting lawmakers they say are too cozy with the Chinese Communist Party. Several now face special recall votes later this month and could be ousted from office. Let's zoom in. Taiwan will hold a recall vote this month that could affect nearly a quarter of its lawmakers in parliament. The effort targets members of a single political party. It could swing control of the legislature back to the party of President Lai Ching-te. This recall movement reflects the precious civic power of Taiwan's people, aiming to restore national order, resist CCP annexation and protect the country. Many participants are office workers, students and homemakers, acting voluntarily. No party can control or stop them. They're standing up for Taiwan's safety. Lai won the presidency last year, but his party lost its parliamentary majority. Since then, the opposition-controlled parliament has passed a series of measures, including budget cuts. Grassroots groups accuse the opposition of serving Beijing's interests by weakening Taiwan's defenses. At one point, more than 100,000 protesters gathered outside the Taiwanese parliament. The opposition party has vowed to fight what it calls a malicious recall, coming just months after the last parliamentary election in January 2024. The recall vote is set for July 26 and targets nearly three-fourths of the opposition party's lawmakers. The U.S. Operation Midnight Hammer to denuclearize Iran has sent ripples across the geopolitical landscape. To discuss the Chinese Communist regime's response, NTD's Carrie Dunst was joined by Colonel Grant Newsham, senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy and author of When China Attacks. Thanks for joining us this morning, Colonel Newsham. How did Beijing initially respond to Israel's surprise strike? And then, how did it evolve as the U.S. entered into the fray and neutralized the three nuclear facilities? Well, from fairly early on, the Chinese blamed Israel for all the trouble, and they would make calls for de-escalation, for ceasefire, etc. But you see their response has been something very typical, which is, when there's presented with a big surprise, they don't quite know how to respond. So it has been a lot of platitudinous statements, as I said, condemning Israel, calling for a ceasefire. And they haven't really insinuated themselves into the activities in the Middle East, partly because I think they don't have much influence. They don't have much credibility. And they don't have too many sticks to wield, unless it's on Iran, which you could tell Iran, look, we're not going to buy any of your oil, and China buys 90% of it. But I don't think they're willing to do that. So you're seeing the real limits on Chinese power projection capability, but particularly their influence. And even now, their activity, it looks like somebody who's on their back foot, making statements, trying to bring your allies together here, as such as they are. But they don't really have a very obvious, thought out strategy or plan for dealing with this. And that's not surprising, given the way the Chinese communist regime operates. Do you think U.S. backing of Israel against Iran has any deterrence capabilities or qualities in the way that the Asia Pacific theater is arranged, with Beijing bullying some of its neighbors? I think it does. There was always a sense in some quarters, and I think in China as well, that while America was Israel's ally, that there were such limits on it. And there was a point at which the Americans would not go, and really wouldn't back Israel in a serious fight. Well, this recent event involving the B-2s and the strikes on the nuclear facilities really suggests otherwise. So what you saw on display was a display of capability, the U.S. military's ability to do things that are often pretty good. And also the will. This administration had the will to stick its neck out and get in with Israel in these specific attacks. And those are two things that apply to any theater, not just to the Middle East. And China must wonder, is this a different America than we were thinking about? Because you hear it said by the Chinese for a long time, America's on the decline, we're on the rise. And while B-2s pulling off this operation suggests America may not be finished just yet, and China should have some second thoughts about this. General Dan Cain described a 15-year effort. They studied every detail of the Fordow nuclear facility. Does the U.S. do the same kind of detailed monitoring of China's military sites? I think we probably do. You know, one has always hoped that, as things go on, that America has some really smart guys in some hidden offices somewhere who are coming up with things that will surprise us. And you've seen this every time we get into a fight, suddenly the Americans pull out something that nobody's seen before and is ahead of everyone else. And I think that this is not the only operation like this that we have going. It'd be premature to write off the Americans as the Chinese were starting to do and as some other countries have as well. And as noted, it's not just the Chinese who see what we've got, but it's allies and other adversaries who think maybe they've underestimated the Americans. There's, of course, the possibility they think, well, this administration is just a one-off, and if we wait them out, we'll get someone like previous administrations, other than Trump one, that generally are not willing to stick their necks out too far. You kind of mentioned this concept of smart U.S. service members hidden away in a room, really doing some deep work. Was the effectiveness of the bunker buster in particular worrisome to the Chinese regime? I think it is. It lets you get at targets, which normally you would think that they're safe. You just can't do anything to it. Though there are limits to how far the Americans might go with this, or the Chinese would have to worry. Partly because Chinese air defenses are different than Iran's. They're better, almost by definition. Taking on China would be a harder target. You would be in a very serious war, World War III, as soon as you employed these kinds of weapons. So it does suggest America has a capability that could cause some trouble and might have some more capabilities up their sleeve, which would give the Americans an advantage in a fight, say over Taiwan. And China may not have calculated for that. But the B-2 and this particular bomb, that itself causes some concern, but it's probably not going to cause a drastic change in Chinese thinking or behavior. Yeah, it seems like the tight coordination with Israel being able to very quickly assert ownership of the skies allowed for the subsequent steps in that multi-step operation. Now, as we finish up, Colonel, I just want to get your view on how China's challenges with the economy might affect their ability to execute militarily. I'm afraid that China has always given priority to the military. Even when economic times haven't been good, the military always gets its cut, and then some. And that is something we've seen for the last 30 years. So while it does have some economic problems, and these are serious, they are putting the money into defense. And you look at the PLA, the Chinese Navy and Air Force, out and about in the Pacific and the things they're doing, say, with aircraft carriers recently, it demonstrates a priority focus on the military and improving capabilities. So unless we're willing to really cause the Chinese communists some real economic problems, I think they should be able to have the resources to adequately fund their military, even though 600 million Chinese live on five bucks a day, and an awful lot of them don't have flush toilets. So when it's a choice between guns and butter, the Chinese regime will always go with guns. And that's where the money gets allocated. A lot to look out for. Appreciate your insights this morning. Colonel Grant Newsham, thanks so much. Have a great weekend. Thank you. Glad to be here. That's all for today's China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. If you have any feedback on the show or have something you'd like to see us cover, send us an email at ChinaInFocus at NTD.com. We'd love to hear from you. For on-the-clock original news coverage, visit us at NTD.com or download our NTD app. Thanks for watching. See you tomorrow.