U.S. Military Shifts Focus From Europe to Indo-Pacific

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story. President Trump signals tariff cuts for China in exchange for China's fentanyl crackdown. NVIDIA's AI chips and soybeans are also up for discussion. And we're going to be, I hope, making a deal. I think we're going to have a deal. The U.S. is pulling troops from Europe, redirecting its attention to the Indo-Pacific amid growing tensions with China. Plus, what Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in Japan about countering the China threat. China's unprecedented military buildup and its aggressive military actions speak for themselves. And we see the threat to free people. Detailing the CCP's persecution of faith groups over the past century to today, the CCP has not let up in its suppression of religious freedom. The latest on the China forum hosted by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in D.C. A high-stakes meeting is about to happen. President Trump is set to meet with Chinese regime leader Xi Jinping on Thursday in South Korea. Trump says his focus is on trade negotiations with China. He noted that he's expecting to reduce U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods in exchange for Beijing's commitment to crack down on fentanyl. President Xi of China is coming tomorrow here, and we're going to be, I hope, making a deal. I think it'll be a good deal for both. And that's really a great result. That's better than fighting and going through all sorts of problems. Fentanyl is now the leading cause of death in the U.S. for people between the ages of 18 to 45. A majority of fentanyl precursor chemicals come from China. Beijing has always accused Washington of using fentanyl to blackmail China. But the regime softened its tone ahead of the two leaders' meeting. A foreign ministry spokesperson said China sympathizes with Americans over the fentanyl crisis. The spokesperson added that China remains open to continuing such cooperation with the U.S. China's purchase of U.S. soybeans is another key point in the talks. China has stopped buying U.S. soybeans amid a record harvest. Reuters reported Wednesday that Chinese state-owned companies purchased three cargoes of U.S. soybeans. China is a major market for U.S. soybeans. About 60 percent of U.S. soybean exports go to China. Back to trade talks. Trump is also expected to discuss rare earths, Nvidia chips, Russia's war in Ukraine, Taiwan, TikTok, and the release of Jimmy Lai with Xi. Lai is a media mogul and one of Hong Kong's most prominent critics of the Chinese Communist Party. Trade and tech tensions are expected to take the spotlight at the APEC summit Thursday. That's as President Trump plans to discuss Nvidia's cutting-edge AI chips with Chinese regime leader Xi Jinping. Trump called Nvidia's latest Blackwell AI processors, quote, the super-duper chip. He's referring to the company's most powerful chips used to train AI models. Though U.S. export restrictions have prevented the sale of these chips in China, Trump hinted he might allow a less powerful version into the country. The comment came after his recent meeting with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Wednesday. Beijing recently blocked Nvidia imports over claims of national security concerns. This effectively barred the company from the Chinese market for now. Analysts say the ban could be temporary and could be part of Beijing's leverage in trade talks with Trump. Meanwhile, Nvidia has been developing a chip specifically for China. It could be more powerful than the H20 models already offered to China. But experts warn that exporting these chips could close the gap on America's AI advantage over China. The Trump administration is shifting its focus back to the Indo-Pacific, where the Chinese Communist Party has become increasingly aggressive. On Wednesday, Romania said the U.S. plans to reduce American troop station on NATO's eastern flank close to Russia. According to Romania's defense minister, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told Europeans they need to boost their own defenses. That's as the U.S. shifts its attention towards the Indo-Pacific region. We were informed at an official level, as a ministry, by our ambassador to NATO, the military attache for defense. This reassessment of the posture is part of a broader strategy announced at the beginning of the year by the United States of America. About 1,000 American troops would remain in Romania. The Pentagon said the decision to cut troops doesn't mean the U.S. is withdrawing from Europe or a signal of reduced commitment to NATO. On Wednesday, Hegseth described the relationship between the U.S. and Japan as critical in keeping both countries safe and responding to threats from communist China. As the minister and I discussed today, the security situation around Japan and in the region remains, as he said, and we agree, severe. The threats we face are real and they are urgent. China's unprecedented military buildup and its aggressive military actions speak for themselves. That's why President Trump's peace through strength agenda is so important. We don't have to stand here and tell Japan what it needs to do, because we both look out at the world and see the threat of a Chinese military buildup, and we see the threat to free people, and we have to defend our own countries and stand alongside each other. Hegseth also called for an early implementation of Japan's plan to increase defense spending. Japan regards the security environment surrounding the country as the gravest since the end of World War II. That's partly because of China's military expansion and North Korea's missile and nuclear programs. The U.S. has made a trade breakthrough with South Korea. President Trump made the announcement on Wednesday. Trump said the two countries had reached a deal and had pretty much finalized it. His comments came at a dinner hosted by South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, after a lavish welcome and gift-giving as Trump was awarded the country's highest decoration. The allies unveiled a deal in late July under which Seoul would avoid the worst of U.S. tariffs on its imports. That was by agreeing to pump $350 billion of new investments into the U.S. in return for lower tariff rates. But talks over the structure of those investments had been deadlocked. President Lee's aides said he and Trump agreed Seoul can split its promised investment fund into $200 billion in cash, and those can be paid in installments of $20 billion. The other $150 billion is to be spent on investments in shipbuilding, which South Korea has promised to help Trump restore. Trump's comments sent the South Korean won up against the dollar. Investors hope an agreement will remove uncertainty for the Asian country's trade-reliant economy. Without a deal, South Korean makers of cars and steel must pay U.S. tariffs of 25 percent rather than the 15 percent agreed in July. Sentiment of anti-Chinese Communist Party running high on Wednesday in South Korea. Protesters gathered to oppose Chinese regime leader Xi Jinping's visit there for the APEC summit. Xi also plans to meet with President Trump on Thursday. The protesters held signs, wore costumes and waved flags reading lies and deception out to voice their resistance to the Chinese regime. Meanwhile, China Today said it absolutely will not rule out using force over Taiwan. Beijing is striking a much tougher tone than a series of articles in state media this week that pledged benign rule if the island comes over to Beijing. Here's organizer of the rally against the CCP. South Korea seems to be working well now as a democratic country. But there are so many contradictions in a government that lacks legitimacy. It is never the will of the people that this government is acting pro-China. The people are still trying to promote friendship with Western world-free countries. They want it. They don't want communism. A protester said the current Korean government should be blamed for the high tariff imposed on the country as it has not shown belief and trust in the United States. Traders and investors are on both sides of the Pacific, hope the sit-down will ease months of trade tensions. Asian powers are quickly positioning while the U.S. and China are getting ready to hammer down a slew of key issues. First up, President Trump reassures the world that his stance on Taiwan won't be challenged by Chinese regime leader Xi Jinping. Here's the president talking to the press on Tuesday. Watch. How much do you expect Xi to try to push you on Taiwan? I don't know that we'll even speak about Taiwan. I'm not sure. He may want to ask about it. There's not that much to ask about it. Taiwan is Taiwan. Trump's remarks came as concerns rose over whether he would sell off Taiwan to get a trade deal with China. Last Friday, Taiwan said it was not worried, said in close cooperation with the U.S. But Beijing refused to back down. Hours after Trump's comments, a Chinese spokesperson said that Beijing will never rule out using force to take Taiwan. The Chinese communist regime sees Taiwan as its own territory, despite never having ruled it. Moving to Rare Earths, Trump inked a flurry of deals these days with Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, all aimed to help the U.S. diversify rare earth supply chains and curb China's dominance. These agreements will be incredible victories for all of us. When America thrives, our partners thrive, and our alliances thrive with all of the countries. The Indo-Pacific thrives, and that's good for all of us. And the entire world becomes safer and greater than ever before. That's Trump speaking at APEC CEO's lunch on Wednesday. This came a day before his meeting with Xi. How is China feeling while observing all these developments during Trump's Asia trip? NTD's Steve Lance talked to Dennis Walder, former National Security Council director for China. I think it's quite embarrassing to the Chinese that the president signed an agreement with the over their border dispute. Where was China? And similarly, in the Middle East peace process, where was China? President Trump is proving to be a very effective international negotiator, and the Chinese are not looking that good. Some analysts say China won't just sit around and watch the U.S. expand its influence in Southeast Asia. On Wednesday, just three days after Malaysia agreed to ease the ban on rare earth exports to the U.S., the country rolled back its decision, saying the ban will remain in place. It's worth noting Malaysia relies on Chinese technology to refine rare earths. Riley Walters, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, shed light on Southeast Asia's balancing act amid U.S.-China arm wrestling. I think for a lot of these Southeast Asian nations, it's constant hedging between the United States and China. Trump is, of course, having much higher demands of these countries and these economies, and so they are in a way hedging. It doesn't necessarily mean that they're getting closer with the United States. I think they are still very skeptical of this administration and what his Indo-Pacific strategy can look like. It's also not as if they are getting closer with China either, I would say. Besides trade deals, Trump received nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize twice within a week from Cambodia and Japan. Asian leaders praised Trump for his efforts in mediating long-rooted regional conflicts, including the one between Thailand and Cambodia and the one between India and Pakistan. Coming up, detailing the CCP's persecution of faith groups. Over the past century to today, the CCP has not let up in its suppression of religious freedom. The latest on the China Forum, hosted by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in D.C. The FCC is cracking down on Chinese-made telecom gear over national security concerns. Find out which companies are being targeted and what it could mean for U.S. networks. And with President Trump in South Korea, there's focus on whether South Korea will be the latest to deploy nuclear power to submarines. Rick Fisher joins us to unpack the latest missile threats from China that's fueling this move. More on that after the break here on China In Focus. Welcome back to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. The Chinese Communist Party's suppression of faith has sought to extinguish the human spirit for over a century. The atrocities in China continue to this day as members of faith communities are arrested, tortured and killed. This was a topic of discussion at the China Forum, hosted by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in the nation's capital on Tuesday. NTD's Washington correspondent, Jack Bradley, has the details. The Chinese Communist Party has killed more of its own people than any other regime in the history of mankind, and nobody else is even close. The Chinese Communist Party's atrocities and human rights abuses on full display. The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation wrapping up its annual China Forum on Tuesday. The conference detailed the CCP's suppression of religious freedom. The CCP has waged war against faith groups for a century, with party leaders launching campaigns of suppression to control religious communities in China. One of the most recent cases involves the Zion Church, which saw 30 of its pastors and members arrested or disappeared earlier this month. Why does China invest billions of dollars each year to oppress religion? And it's not just Christians and it's not just Muslims. It's everybody. It's everybody. It's Tibetan Buddhists. It's Falun Gong. And I would argue Falun Gong get the worst of all of it. Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient spiritual practice from China that came to the public in the early 90s. It has meditative exercises and is based on the principles of truth, compassion, and forbearance. It spread rapidly, with over 100 million people practicing by 1999. But because of its popularity and moral teachings, the CCP launched a persecution against its followers that continues to this day. With the party's stated goal of ruining their reputations, bankrupting them financially, and destroying them physically. The CCP has even used forced organ harvesting as a means to persecute Falun Gong, along with Christians, Muslim Uyghurs, and Tibetan Buddhists. This should move from being just a human rights issue to a national security issue. It is the most organized domestic group inside of China that could stand up to the regime, our people of faith. The panel also raised issue with how the world's opening business ties with the CCP backfired. And for too many years, we in the West told ourselves a comforting lie, that if we just engaged with China economically, if we brought them into the global trading system, they would gradually liberalize. Instead, the CCP used our openness to strengthen its repression. The forums held as President Trump meets with the Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping in South Korea. Trump said that he would raise the issue of the CCP allowing its fentanyl to enter the U.S. via drug cartels as one of the first issues. But they actually had a direct government subsidy for chemical companies in China that would manufacture the precursor for fentanyl that's poisoning hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Panelists urged bipartisan unity in Congress on this issue, sanctions against CCP officials involved in genocide, and gathering persecuted groups from China to share their stories with the White House and global leaders. Reporting by Jack Bradley, NTD News. The FCC is ramping up its crackdown on Chinese-made telecom gear coming into the U.S. On Tuesday, the agency said it's tightening its control due to national security risks. The crackdown targets major Chinese firms like Huawei and ZTE. Their products range from smartphones to home security cameras. For years, U.S. officials have warned that Chinese-made networking equipment could pose a security risk. Those devices may contain hidden backdoors, giving China access to sensitive U.S. data. Earlier this month, the commission blocked a Hong Kong telecom provider from connecting with U.S. networks. A company known as HKT is partially owned by China Unicom, one of the firms on the FCC's restricted list. FCC Chair Brendan Carr says the crackdown is already having an impact. Major U.S. retailers have pulled millions of banned Chinese devices from their websites. But he also warned the effort could have trade-offs, like higher costs for U.S. tech firms and slower rollout of new technologies, such as 5G. President Trump touches down in South Korea, the latest stop on his Asia tour. Part of the focus? What if these negotiations revised the South Korea-U.S. nuclear cooperation agreement, which would supply nuclear-powered submarines? But why the focus on this technology? And what are the tensions from China and North Korea in the region? To unpack the regional tensions, we spoke with Rick Fisher, senior fellow on Asian military affairs at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, for more. South Korea's leader was kind of trying to double down on the U.S. allowing South Korea to receive fuel for nuclear-powered submarines. There's a lot of focus on the waters right now and also land missiles. On that note, actually, there's been rising concern, if you will, of China's stockpile, or if they have one, of missiles, especially more long-range ones. Talk to us about what you're watching for in terms of China's missile capabilities. Well, in their September 3 military parade, the Chinese revealed many new missile systems that are accelerating their ability to threaten the United States forces in Asia and the forces of our allies like South Korea, Japan, and our close partner, Taiwan. The United States is trying very hard to ramp up its own missile production. This is going slow, but in the next two years, we will be producing more missiles that can deter China at the theater level. Now, the Pentagon, in its annual reports on China's military, estimates that China has over 3,000 theater-range ballistic and cruise missiles. The United States also has many missiles in Asia, but not nearly that number. And China's missiles, many of them, perhaps hundreds, maybe a thousand or more, could be armed with nuclear warheads. The United States does not have any land-based tactical nuclear warheads in Asia. We have some on our strategic nuclear submarines, but we don't even have tactical nuclear bombs in our bases in Asia, like Guam or elsewhere. This is a huge asymmetry and could very well come into play if there is war, which is why allies like South Korea and, more quietly, Japan, are interested in nuclear-powered submarines. They want submarines that can dwell at sea for lengthy periods and that they can be armed with at least cruise missiles and medium-range ballistic missiles to provide some level of deterrent against China and in South Korea's case, against North Korea as well. Now, I've heard President Trump talking about the Golden Dome. Do you see something like that countering this threat from China? It will very much be part of our ability to deter China, yes. President Trump wants an initial Golden Dome capability created before he leaves office. He will get something, but it will have to grow. The Golden Dome is a long overdue requirement for the United States. The old doctrines and ideas of mutual assured destruction, that we can threaten China, we can threaten Russia with total nuclear destruction, these do not deter China, Russia, and North Korea anymore. The American nuclear arsenal is too small. President Trump is reluctant to build up the American nuclear arsenal. He instead wants to redirect the nuclear competition towards strategic defense with his Golden Dome initiative. That's very laudable. It is highly preferable that the United States be racing in terms of defensive strategic systems, rather than offensive strategic systems. But China and Russia also have to follow suit. Yes, indeed, they're interested in their own missile defense systems, but they also cooperate, and they'll be cooperating in terms of missile offense, nuclear missile offense, and missile defense, which means that any American national missile defense has to be accompanied by a much larger American nuclear offensive capability, both at the strategic level and the theater level. Definitely a lot at stake here for sure. Rick Fisher, as always, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, Tiffany. 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.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.