DOJ Charges 4 For Allegedly Exporting High-end Nvidia Chips to China | China in Focus

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story. President Trump met with New York City Mayor-elect Zora Mamdani, a self-described socialist, at the White House on Friday. Meanwhile, House lawmakers voted on a resolution to denounce socialism. This is not a Democratic issue. This is not a Republican issue. This is a moral vote against an ideology that has destroyed millions and millions of families. Lawmakers are exposing the Chinese Communist Party's attacks on religious freedom and why they pose a threat to Americans. The CCP fears the power of faith because it is a source of values and moral authority it cannot control. The DOJ is charging two Americans and two Chinese nationals for allegedly exporting NVIDIA AI chips to China. And over on Capitol Hill, lawmakers pushing to ban U.S. companies from buying Chinese chip-making equipment. China's restriction on rare earth exports has triggered global action. The European Union plans to invest in Australian critical minerals, joining the U.S. to secure key tech and defense supply chains. And U.S.-based GE Appliances is shifting its wash and dry production from China to the state of President Trump hosted New York City Mayor Alexander Mamdani in the Oval Office on Friday. Mamdani identifies himself as a socialist, while Trump labeled him as a communist. Trump told the media before the meeting that both he and Mamdani were, quote, looking for the same thing. We want to make New York strong. Mamdani will take office next year. It remains to be seen how these two will try to achieve the same goal with different outlooks. And the House of Representatives voted on a resolution on Friday to denounce socialism. Lawmakers made the case against the political and economic system. Florida Representative Maria Alvara Salazar introduced the resolution. The reason why we're introducing this resolution is to condemn the horrors of socialism. And I'm presenting just the facts. And I invite my colleagues on the other side to vote to condemn this nefarious ideology. This is nothing to do with political parties. This is not a Democratic issue. This is not a Republican issue. This is a moral vote against an ideology that has destroyed millions and millions of families, many of them. I serve those families in District Number 27, the heart of the city of Miami, the heart of the Cuban exile community, and now the Venezuelan community, and murdered more than 100 million lives, besides crushing hundreds of thousands of other families and individuals. Unfortunately, socialism and Marxism crushes the human soul. Salazar also took to Axios this week ahead of today's vote. The Republican posted in part, quote, socialism has never produced freedom or prosperity, only suffering and authoritarian control. The lawmaker added, quote, with this failed ideology gaining ground in the United States and throughout the hemisphere, I'm proud to lead this resolution and call out its dangers without hesitation. The House approved the resolution by a vote of 285 to 98, with two lawmakers voting present. Lawmakers on Thursday exposed the Chinese Communist Party's attack on religious freedom. They're emphasizing why the regime's actions pose a threat to Americans. One witness urged U.S. leaders to handle the issue as a matter of national security. And Denise Molina-Weiskopf brings us the highlights. The CCP fears the power of faith because it is a source of values and moral authority it cannot control. In search of global dominance, the Chinese Communist Party has sought to deprive people of their own spiritual consciousness. Witnesses at today's hearing expressed why this strikes at the heart of American values and threatens U.S. world leadership. Their intimidation and surveillance of individuals in the U.S. is a direct assault on U.S. world law. America being able to defend its value abroad also shows America's strength. And if it's not able to defend something that is so critical and so, so core to American values, then they see that as weakness. While the attack on faith has been present since the CCP's inception, the severity has only worsened over time. In 2022, Chinese leader Xi Jinping escalated attempts to eradicate the meditation discipline Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, with a special focus on the United States. The Chinese Communist Party fears Falun Gong more than anybody. Much more fearful of that, as I said, than of our aircraft carriers or nuclear weapons. They, they fear their own people. Why? Well, because they are afraid of losing control. They're not acting like a confident country. I think we should do the following, recognize a genocide against the Falun Gong being done by the Chinese government. They have sought to wipe them out. The Falun Impa Center reports that the regime is attempting to change public opinion and turn U.S. institutions against Falun Dafa through carrying out nearly 200 violent threats against its adherents, not limited to Chinese diaspora. Attacks have gone so far as CCP proxies attempting to weaponize the U.S. legal system to target a U.S.-based dance company by the name of Shen Yun. It was founded by Falun Dafa practitioners to expose the persecution and to revive traditional Chinese culture. I asked the chairman of the commission, as well as witnesses, what's at stake if Americans don't take this threat seriously? 95% of Americans would find that offensive. Wait, you got communist Chinese intimidating American citizens over Xi Jinping wanting to shut down religion? Here, every human being has, in his heart or her heart, a sense of freedom, human dignity. If they want to practice religion, and that is something that these dictators fear. And they oppress it, and they oppress it aggressively with billions of dollars that they spent in the most high-tech surveillance systems the world has ever seen. So if they're so scared of religion, we should be backing it. We will change China or China will change the world. And that's the level and scale of battle we're at now. Ambassador Brownback is urging U.S. leaders to treat this as a matter of national security and to use tools like economic sanctions to fight for spiritual freedom. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Melina Wyskup, NTD News. U.S. authorities on Thursday charged two Americans and two Chinese nationals for allegedly trying to export supercomputers and NVIDIA AI chips to China. The semiconductors involved could support China's military. Officials say the group received nearly $4 million in return. NVIDIA's AI chips are highly sought after by Beijing because they could accelerate China's military capabilities. Artificial intelligence is central to U.S.-China competition, and AI microchips are the backbone of that race. China seeks to become the world leader in AI by 2030. Washington has put export controls in place to prevent China from getting advanced AI chips from NVIDIA. The four defendants allegedly exported hundreds of NVIDIA AI chips to China illegally through Malaysia and Thailand. They set up a shell company to export those chips. Three of them have been detained and one has been released on bond. They're all facing up to 20 years in prison. NVIDIA's CEO said the company's business in China is 100 percent out, saying it went from having a Back in April, Washington banned NVIDIA from selling its H20 AI chips to China. But President Trump later reversed course and gave NVIDIA permission to sell the chips if the U.S. government gets 15 percent of the revenue. But the Chinese regime reportedly banned its biggest tech companies from buying NVIDIA's AI chips. The regime is cranking up pressure on companies to boost domestic semiconductor development and cut reliance on NVIDIA's chips. Lawmakers are pushing to block U.S. purchases of Chinese chip-making equipment. A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced the Chip Equipped Act on Thursday to that end. The act would bar companies receiving Chips Act funding from buying specialized semiconductor manufacturing equipment from firms owned or controlled by the Chinese regime. Lawmakers say the Chips Act was designed to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the U.S. They add that it's common sense to make sure this technology doesn't benefit foreign adversaries. China's export restrictions this year have made it clear just how shaky the critical mineral supply chains can be. Following the U.S., the European Union is ready to invest in Australian critical minerals. On Friday, the EU Trade Commissioner said the bloc had completed its first round of special projects to secure key supply chains. Among them, the EU is prioritizing Australian critical mineral projects after facing shortages of rare earths and lithium. These minerals are vital to industries like AI and defense. The model comes from Japan, which has secured its critical mineral supplies by strategically investing in mines and processing plants. Back in 2010, China imposed a ban on rare exports to Japan. Even though the ban wasn't officially announced, Chinese customs halted shipments for several weeks. This created significant pressure on Japan's high-tech industries and prompted Tokyo to diversify its supply sources. The EU could participate in the Australian projects through equity stakes, long-term supply deals or joint investments. The EU Trade Commissioner said more details would be announced soon. In October, the U.S. and Australia signed a critical minerals and rare earths framework to secure supply chains, countering China's dominance. Each country will commit at least $1 billion over the next six months to launch new mining and refining projects. China's exports on rare earth magnets fell for the second straight month, dropping 5.2% in October. According to Chinese media outlets, China's rare earth exports to the U.S. jumped 56% in October from the previous month, reaching their highest level since January. However, from January to October, China's total rare earth exports to the U.S. were down more than 20% compared with the same period last year. GE Appliances is shifting its washer and dryer production from China to Kentucky. On Thursday, the company announced more than $150 million in new supplier contracts. GE says it's also investing $490 million to retool a plant at its Louisville complex, which will create 800 new jobs. Production of the new models is slated to begin in early 2027. GE Appliances says the reshoring effort will raise domestic supplier spending by more than 3%. Coming up, Senators on Capitol Hill are reviewing U.S.-Taiwan cooperation. Experts warn that if Taiwan falls, the impact on the U.S. would be severe. Meanwhile, Taiwan is flexing its military strength, unveiling two new cutting-edge Navy vessels. No apology from Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi to China. Her latest comments on Friday explained. And amid ongoing tensions with China, Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi's popularity is skyrocketing. Retired Marine Colonel Grant Newsham joins us to unpack the historical elements at play. More on that after the break here on China In Focus. Welcome back to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Speaking of Capitol Hill, a panel of experts warned the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday that if Taiwan falls to the Chinese Communist Party, it would trigger another Great Depression and change the way of life in the U.S. for decades. NTD's Washington correspondent, Jack Bradley, has more. Whether or not we effectively deter the PRC from taking over Taiwan by force, whether through quarantine or invasion, is probably the most decisive issue this committee and this Senate will have to address. A panel warns the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that a Chinese Communist Party takeover of Taiwan would put our economy into the worst state it's been since the Great Depression. Obviously, it's the economic cost of war itself, which would be 10 percent of global GDP, a Great Depression, essentially a second Great Depression. Will we bring back manufacturing? And if we don't stand with Taiwan, I think it'll be very hard to do that. The CCP is aiming to take over Taiwan in the near future. It's one of its stated goals and China is having the world's largest military buildup. And it's also increasingly been conducting military exercises, or what General Admiral Paparo has been saying, as rehearsals near Taiwan. Taiwan is also the world's largest semiconductor producer. Now, the CCP has been continually working to infiltrate and subvert world organizations like the United Nations, and in doing so, stripping Taiwan of an international voice. The Chinese have become very influential in places like the World Bank and the IMF, and of course, all of the UN agencies. These are places where not only is Taiwan barred from participating, but China is just setting the agenda. But in the United Nations, their citizens can't even walk through the door. High school students even participate in a tour of the United Nations. Another aspect of this is the U.S. policy of strategic ambiguity, meaning not stating whether they would come to defend Taiwan if attacked, even though it's expected they would. Japan has this policy, but the prime minister recently said that if Taiwan were attacked by China, they would be forced to defend it militarily. A Chinese consul general then threatened to cut the head off of the Japanese prime minister. And the panel, though, does agree that the policy of strategic ambiguity does serve the U.S. It gives the president of the United States, regardless of administration, the most decisional flexibility in a crisis or a contingency. It also incentivizes Taiwan to invest in its defense. If the United States said we would defend Taiwan under all circumstances, that it might actually provoke the attack that we're seeking to deter. The panel recommends the U.S. strengthen deterrence now by selling more arms to Taiwan or face a crisis that could hit the U.S. harder than any conflict in modern times. Reporting by Jack Bradley, NTD News. Taiwan is putting some of its newest military might on display. It unveiled two advanced Navy vessels following Beijing's deployment of its own latest aircraft carrier earlier this month. Taiwan showed off the Dawu and the Yushan on Thursday. The Dawu is Taiwan's first domestically built rescue ship, equipped with an underwater drone, a dive bell and a decompression chamber. That gear lets the vessel carry out deep water search and salvage missions down to 500 meters and respond to shipwreck emergencies. The Yushan, meanwhile, is a long-range amphibious transport ship. It's built to move troops and cargo from sea to shore over long distances, improving disaster response time and executing humanitarian missions. Taiwan's unveiling comes after China commissioned its third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, earlier this month. Meanwhile, a Reuters report on Thursday claims China has been rehearsing an invasion of Taiwan using its cargo ships and civilian ferries. The report says a dozen civilian vessels were spotted heading to a beach in China's Guangdong province for the exercises. Taiwanese and U.S. experts estimate China can only move about 20,000 troops with its Navy alone. That's why the added capacity from these merchant ships could be critical, especially if China believes it needs more than 300,000 troops to take Taiwan. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi commented on Friday on the recent conflict with China. She insisted there were no changes within her government's definition of an existential threat, which triggered tensions between Japan and China. What becomes an existential threat depends on individual cases and its situation. The Japanese government will make a general judgment based on all the information. Since Japan enacted the legislation for peace and security under Prime Minister Abe, we have been repeatedly explaining this fact, and so have I. The government's position has been consistent. The Japanese foreign minister says the government is willing to continue necessary interactions with China while observing the situation calmly. The conflict has spilled over in other areas. About a dozen concerts with Japanese musicians in major Chinese cities were abruptly cancelled this week. And music venues across China were warned by authorities that concerts with Japanese musicians for the remainder of 2025 may be cancelled. And the Chinese cruise operators are scrambling to avoid Japanese ports as Beijing and Tokyo engage in diplomatic dispute. Tourism was also hit hard. In just three days, about half a million flight tickets from China to Japan were cancelled. This happened after Beijing warned its citizens strongly not to travel to Japan. As tensions with China continue following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's comments on Taiwan, what political and historical factors are at play? We sat down with retired Marine Colonel Grant Newsham, senior fellow of the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies and author of When China Attacks, for insight. On that political front, digging into Takaichi's comments themselves, given Beijing's response so far. Some are calling her comments on Taiwan off the cuff. Some may be that it was more anticipated. There was an idea that Beijing would retaliate. And some articles are saying that, you know, this is helping to boost Takaichi's opinion among the public. How are you reading that? I think she was trying to answer a question in the diet. And she was trying to be too precise. And it was as hypothetical a question as you can possibly have. And I think she got into trouble on that regard. But she didn't say anything that anybody should have taken offense to. It was nothing nobody didn't know or hasn't heard before, even from other prime ministers. And distilled to the basics, she was saying, yes, Taiwan is really important to Japan. And it is possible that if China attacks Taiwan, that Japan will have to respond. That's all she said. This is not surprising. And it's not anything new. So the Chinese, of course, they don't act as a response to anything. Everything they do is pretextual. In other words, they're looking for an excuse to do something they already want to do. And they want to go after Prime Minister Takaichi and to destroy her. One of the sort of ironic aspects, not ironic and probably not coincidental, is that the diet member who asked the question in the diet that caused all this firestorm was a fellow named Okada Katsuya. His family owns a huge retail operation in Japan that also has very extensive business activities in China. In about 2012, when he was deputy prime minister, the Japanese defense forces were going to do a really tiny amphibious exercise down in Okinawa. The Chinese complained, and Okada got to the prime minister and apparently convinced him to cancel the exercise. It was like two days before it was going to go ahead. Okada got the exercise canceled. It is widely believed, and I've never heard anyone say it wasn't true, that he did that to protect his family interests, family business interests in China. So did he just come up with this question to ask in the diet? I don't think so. So the Japanese, unfortunately, the political class, the business class, the official class, there's a lot of what you would call Chinese proxies, and the Chinese political warfare has been very effective. And that is part of what you're seeing going on here. But keep in mind at the same time that Takaichi's popularity has just skyrocketed after this incident happened. So something close to 70% of the public actually supports her. The more China does, the more the Japanese public sort of digs in their heels. 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 ChinaInFocusNTD.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 soon.