$11 Billion: US Approves Largest Ever Arms Sale for Taiwan | China in Focus

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Kevin Hogan, in for Tiffany Meyer. Our top story, the United States is moving forward with its largest ever arms sale to Taiwan, 11.1 billion dollars, aimed at countering Beijing's growing military threats. Taiwan is making a major change to its combat readiness. Its military can now immediately respond to any sudden attack from China, instead of waiting for orders from above. Well, the loss of Taiwan would be a strategic disaster on many levels. A new report says META made billions from fraudulent ads linked to China in 2024. How did META manage it? Shen Yun Performing Arts launching its 2026 global tour with Europe as its first stop. The Chinese Communist Party has been trying to suppress the group for 20 years now. Here's what a principal dancer said in response. They're spending their time and effort to repress us, and that means we are definitely doing something very, very correct. The U.S. government has collected one billion dollars in new tariff revenue after closing a key shipping loophole, the so-called de minimis rule. Chinese e-commerce giants like Timu and Xian had been exploiting it to undercut competitors. The largest ever arms sale to Taiwan. The U.S. approved 11.1 billion dollars in arms sales to Taiwan on Wednesday. It comes as Beijing ramps up military and diplomatic pressure on the island. The deal covers eight items, including HIMARS rocket systems, which have been used extensively by Ukraine against Russian forces. Additional items include howitzers, anti-tank missiles, loitering drones and parts for other equipment. That's all according to Taiwan's defense ministry. It said the package now requires approval from U.S. lawmakers, though Taiwan has widespread cross-party support. The Pentagon said the arms sales serve U.S. national economic and security interests by supporting Taiwan's continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and maintain a, quote, credible defensive capability. Pushed by the United States, Taiwan has been working to transform its armed forces. President Lai Ching-te last month announced an extra 40 billion dollars in defense spending, saying there was no room for compromise on national security. Washington has formal diplomatic ties with Beijing, but maintains unofficial ties with Taiwan and is the island's most important arms supplier. The U.S. is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, though such arms sales are a persistent source of friction with China. On Thursday, China told the U.S. to, quote, immediately stop arming Taiwan. If approved, this arms sale would be the second such package during President Trump's second term. The first was a 330 million dollar deal back in November. Taiwan is critically important to the United States. It's home to the world's most advanced semiconductors and holds a key geopolitical position in the Indo-Pacific region. Here's what Rick Fisher, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, had to say. Well, the loss of Taiwan would be a strategic disaster on many levels. Taiwan is right in the base of the first island chain. The first island chain essentially contains Chinese global power projection. So if the Chinese Communist Party were to take control of Taiwan, they would immediately work to turn it into a massive military base for their naval forces, air forces, missile forces, nuclear submarines. Taiwan would be an unsinkable aircraft carrier that they could use to blockade Japan, blockade South Korea, intimidate the Philippines, essentially force the Japanese, the South Koreans, and the Filipinos to do what the Chinese have long wanted, to basically decide between whether the Americans can guarantee their freedom with peace or whether they should surrender to the Chinese Communist Party's diktat, get rid of their alliances with the United States, and send American military power back to Hawaii. Taiwan making a major change to how it prepares for a potential Chinese invasion. The island's defense ministry said Monday that if China suddenly launches an attack, the Taiwanese military can respond immediately without waiting for orders from above. The move aims to prevent China from catching Taiwan and its allies off guard, such as by turning military drills around the island into an actual invasion. Three years ago, China launched a massive military drill that effectively surrounded Taiwan. The move comes after former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to the island. A Taiwanese military expert says this change on the island's defense posture would address a vulnerability. In the past, Taiwan's military would wait for orders from its command and control center on whether to respond and where to deploy the troops. But if the Chinese Communist Party launches a sudden attack or turns a drill into actual combat, then the command and control center might lose its contact with its chain of command or be lost in chaos. Su noted that giving lower-level commanders the authority to make decisions is turning Taiwan's defense system into a hydra. That way, Taiwan's military wouldn't lose its systematic defense capability if one of its heads were cut off. Each unit can fight independently, and it allows them to maximize their defenses. Taiwan says this is part of Beijing's strategy to harass the island without engaging in actual combat, aiming to wear down its armed forces by keeping them on constant alert. Its defense ministry added that China has been practicing attacks on Taiwan, sending warships further into the Pacific toward Australia and New Zealand. A new report says that MEDA received a significant number of fraudulent ads from China in 2024 and made billions from them. But the company says it takes measures to prevent scam ads on a global scale. And today's David Lam reports. A Reuters investigation says that MEDA was faced with high levels of fraudulent ads from China in 2024. China's authoritarian regime bans its citizens from using Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. But it allows Chinese companies to advertise to other countries on the platforms. As a result, MEDA's ad business was booming in China, reaching more than $18 billion in annual revenue in 2024. That's more than 10% of MEDA's revenue. But according to the Reuters report, MEDA found that almost 20% of that money was coming from ads for scams, illegal gambling, pornography, and other banned content. The company created an anti-fraud team to reduce the ads by half during 2024, also reducing revenue. But then the team was asked to pause its work and disbanded the China-focused team. MEDA spokesperson Andy Stone said the anti-fraud team focused on China was always meant to be temporary and that Mark Zuckerberg didn't order the team's disbandment. Zuckerberg's order to the teams was to redouble efforts to reduce harmful content all across the globe, including in China. Stone said MEDA's automated systems over the past 18 months have blocked or removed 46 million ads submitted through its Chinese business partners, usually before users saw them. Senators Josh Hawley and Richard Blumenthal have demanded a federal investigation into the scam ad problem. The report comes as China's Ministry of National Defense is under fire for creating a social media account on X on December 8th. Some users questioned how the authorities can access the platforms when ordinary citizens are prohibited from doing so. David Lam, NTD News. MEDA's main social media services, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp are banned in China. Chinese users can only access these platforms by using a VPN to bypass Beijing's internet blockade. The Chinese Communist Party does not allow this, and users could face arrest if they're caught. Shen Yun Performing Arts is officially launching its 2026 world tour with Europe as its first stop. One of the company's groups arrived in Paris, France on Tuesday. This year marks the 20th anniversary of Shen Yun's founding, making its opening performances in France especially noteworthy. Shen Yun's steadily growing popularity and consistently sold-out shows in France over the years reflect the strong appreciation European audiences have for the company. Let's take a look at this report from France. On December 16th, artists from the Shen Yun International Company arrived at Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport where they were warmly welcomed by fans cheering, welcome Shen Yun, as this year marks Shen Yun's 20th anniversary. The artists expressed both excitement and anticipation. I feel very honored and as very excited to be part of the first show of the 20th year and I'm just really really eager to show the audience all our hard work that we put in this year and to show what we have for this year. It feels honestly it does feel a little bit surreal because we spend half a year polishing, refining our performance especially working with the other choreographers and the crew and the production but as soon as that curtain opens up on the first show it's like wow this is real like this is the beginning of a new journey, a new 2026 Shen Yun show. Through classical Chinese dance and a unique blend of eastern and western music, Shen Yun artists aim to share hope and traditional values with audiences worldwide. The main message I want we want to show to the audience is one of hope and compassion you know it's like right now we're living in a very dark times you know a lot of hard stuff happening but then we want to show people that there's still hope in this world and maybe that hope is Shen Yun. Feeling that traditional values like truthfulness, compassion, tolerance, courage, dignity still is still alive and relevant in the world today. I think when you see this show you know you really see that there's a lot of hope it's very uplifting not only is it reviving traditional culture but it's demonstrating that when you do you know good things there and follow you know an upright path there are good outcomes to come from that you know so it's something very uplifting. What we portray and with Shen Yun is a traditional Chinese culture the real traditional Chinese culture China before communism and that is what the CCP is afraid of to have the world see to see what that how wonderful and how knowledgeable and great the Chinese people were without this totalitarian government repressing them. A lot of people I think they they really understand anything that the CCP is against is going to be good it's going to be worth watching if they're willing to invest their time energy and money this biggest government in the whole world right now they're spending their time and effort to repress us then that means we are definitely doing something very very correct. Over the years Shen Yun has been warmly embraced by mainstream audiences in France with performances nearly always selling out. This year box office results have once again reached new highs. According to the French presenter performances in nine cities are already completely sold out. By the end of January next year all 99 performances across 15 French cities are expected to sell out. Due to overwhelming demand ticket sales for Shen Yun's 2027 season in 10 cities have already opened in advance. On December 18th Shen Yun's 2026 global tour will officially begin in Amneville France located in the heart of Europe before traveling to five continents around the world. This season Shen Yun will perform in 170 cities across five continents including dozens in North America. To book tickets you can visit shenyun.com. Coming up the U.S. government has collected 1 billion dollars in new tariff revenue after closing a key shipping loophole the so-called de minimis rule. Chinese e-commerce giants like Timu and U.S. funds boost China's military including its nuclear technology. An investigation uncovers how the Chinese Communist Party is exploiting American taxpayers money. Over on Capitol Hill lawmakers are scrutinizing intel over its ties to China. The U.S. chip giant is weighing whether to equipment that some say could pose national security risks and the U.S. military strikes another alleged narco terror boat killing four. Some lawmakers pushed for congressional approval to block President Trump from striking drug boats. The attempt failed. More on that after the break here on China in Focus. Welcome back to China in Focus I'm Kevin Hogan. The Trump administration says it has collected 1 billion dollars in new tariff revenue after rolling back a key shipping loophole. That's according to new data from Customs and Border Protection. The de minimis exemption allowed packages valued at 800 dollars or less to enter the country duty-free. President Trump first closed the loophole for shipments from China and Hong Kong then expanded it worldwide in Customs officials say the change has increased seizures of unsafe and non-compliant goods by more than 80 percent. Tariff rates now range from 10 to 50 percent depending on where the goods come from. The de minimis rule wasn't intended for mass commercial retail imports but Chinese companies like Timu and Xian have used it as a tariff loophole to undercut competitors. They ship low-priced goods directly from overseas, mostly from China, to U.S. consumers in individual packages. Because each shipment falls below the de minimis threshold the products can avoid import duties and much of the usual custom scrutiny. This allows the companies to sell items at much lower prices than U.S. retailers who must pay full duties on bulk imports. A settlement worth over 7 million dollars from three Chinese owned real estate companies. The payment was to settle an allegation from the Justice Department. These Chinese firms allegedly lied to obtain pandemic relief loans meant for small businesses in the U.S. but in reality they are part of a Chinese conglomerate with tens of thousands of employees worldwide. An attorney from Wisconsin said Congress created these loans to help American small businesses during the pandemic not to fund large Chinese owned corporations. The Chinese companies allegedly provided false information to obtain the pandemic relief loan and lawmakers are sounding the alarm. An investigation uncovers how the Chinese Communist Party is exploiting U.S. taxpayers money to fund its own military including sensitive nuclear technology. NTT's Melina Wisecup reports. In the past two years six billion dollars worth of research and more than 4,000 papers published within the Department of Energy involved collaboration with Chinese researchers. Half of that research is fueling China's defense and industrial base. Some of the Chinese entities involved are among the leading universities for defense and nuclear weapons research. This is according to a newly released report by the Select Committee on the CCP. The report is not hypothetical congressional investigators say. Detailing hundreds of instances in which Chinese researchers received awards after their collaboration with U.S. researchers led to breakthroughs. For example collaboration with the U.S. professor helped the CCP in its research into high-yield explosives in Chinese nuclear weapons development. At the same time lawmakers are pushing legislation to stop Americans from unknowingly propping up CCP entities that threaten U.S. national security. Congressman Andy Barr and Senator John Cornyn leading on the Fight China Act. We're codifying President Trump's America first investment policy with this legislation which will stop the flow of capital and know-how into these sensitive technologies that threaten our national security. The chairman of the China committee described the situation as deeply alarming and called on the Department of Energy to stop the exploitation and protect hard-earned taxpayer dollars. To address this lawmakers are calling for tighter rules like requiring the government to disclose research ties with China. The Department of Energy said it's reviewing the report and vows to ensure the integrity and security of DOE programs. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Melina Weiskopf, NTD News. U.S. lawmakers are scrutinizing intel over its ties to China accusing the chipmaker of putting national security at risk. The concerns come after a Reuters report revealed that the U.S. chip giant tested semiconductor manufacturing tools from a company linked to China. It's equipment that could be used in Intel's most advanced chip production. According to Reuters, Intel was evaluating chipmaking equipment from ACM Research, a U.S.-based company with deep operations in China. The tools were tested in Intel's cutting-edge manufacturing process, the technology behind its most advanced chips. That move is drawing sharp criticism from China hawks on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. Two of ACM Research's overseas units were sanctioned by Washington last year for allegedly supporting China's military and advanced chip ambitions. One senator called the move egregious, saying it could compromise America's most advanced semiconductor capabilities. Intel is facing intense scrutiny because it receives U.S. taxpayer support and is partially owned by the federal government. House China Committee Chair John Muellenaar warned there's no faster way for the U.S. to lose its edge in AI chips than by using China-linked manufacturing tools. While ACM Research is headquartered in the U.S., a lot of its research and development happens in China. The company also sells equipment to major Chinese chip makers, including firms tied to Beijing's military. Intel hasn't confirmed plans to move forward with the tools, but the testing alone has sparked debate over how far U.S. companies should go when its supply chains put national security at risk. The U.S. carried out another airstrike Wednesday on a suspected drug trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific, killing four people. The military says the vessel was operating along a known narco-trafficking route. Take a look. The military says the strike was ordered by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and no U.S. forces were injured. The military identified the four men killed as narco-terrorists. The strike is the latest in a series of strikes the U.S. has carried out on alleged drug boats, all part of President Trump's campaign to stop drug trafficking into the U.S. Some lawmakers are calling for these strikes to require congressional approval, but yesterday the House rejected a resolution that would have done that. The House also rejected a similar resolution that would have required Trump to seek congressional approval to carry out strikes on Venezuela. It comes as tensions with the Latin American country continue to escalate, with the U.S. blocking sanctioned oil tankers from going in and out of Venezuela. Beijing voiced its support for Venezuela on Thursday amid rising tensions in the region. Earlier this week, President Trump ordered a complete blockade of sanctioned tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. At the same time, Washington massed troops and warships nearby. China remains the largest buyer of Venezuelan crude oil. And that's all for today's China In Focus. I'm Kevin Hogan, and for Tiffany Meyer, If you have any feedback on the show, or if something you'd like to see us cover, send us an email at chinainfocus at ntd.com. For round-the-clock original news coverage, visit us at ntd.com or download our NTD app. Thanks for watching. See you soon.