China Stages Warships, Fighter Jets near Taiwan | China in Focus

Welcome to China in Focus. I'm Paul Graney, in for Tiffany Meyer, our top story. Taiwan responding to China's latest military drills around the island. It's condemning the Chinese regime's actions as a threat to regional security. As this confrontation continues to escalate, the risk of conflict between the two sides will only continue to accumulate. China is quietly expanding the factories that build its nuclear weapons. Experts say it could change how quickly Beijing responds to an attack. We break down the potential implications. U.S. tariffs have raked in over $200 billion this year. We take a closer look at how President Trump has used them to reshape trade. And Cambodia and Thailand have finally signed a ceasefire deal. Now both the U.S. and China are racing to take credit. But who actually brought peace to the region? All eyes on Taiwan. On Monday, Beijing deployed its military, surrounded the island, and carried out live fire drills. China's military said the drills will continue on Tuesday. Taiwan condemning the move, adding that it's closely monitoring the situation. Here's a spokesperson from Taiwan's presidential office. Watch. Our country expresses strong condemnation of the Chinese authorities disregarding international norms, and using military activities and means to threaten neighboring countries. Well, I have a great relationship with President Xi, and he hasn't told me anything about it. I certainly have seen it, but he hasn't told me anything about it. And I don't believe he's going to be doing it. No, nothing worries me. Nothing. The drills involve China's army, navy, air force, and rocket force. The rocket force is the part of the military that operates China's land-based nuclear missiles for deterrence and long-range strikes. They aim to blockade the island from both air and sea, which encircles the island tighter than before. China also carried out simulated strikes on land and maritime targets. It's worth noting China kicked off these exercises 11 days after Washington announced an $11.1 billion arms sale to Taiwan. That's the largest ever weapons deal for the island. It also comes after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takeichi warned that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo that was back in November. And despite the drills disrupting Taiwan's airlines, the government says people have nothing to worry about and are safe. Meanwhile, the Taiwanese defense ministry responded quickly, vowing to defend the island's sovereignty and democracy. Taiwan warns that the CCP's aggression is increasing in both intensity and scale. Because we must take appropriate measures under the premise of ensuring our national security and sovereignty. As this confrontation continues to escalate, the risk of conflict between the two sides will only continue to accumulate, and it will not help to resolve differences or disputes. The latest drills are a step up from previous exercises. The last one was back in April. They marked China's sixth major round of war games since 2022. That's when then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island. The Chinese regime sees Taiwan as part of its territory, even though it has never ruled the island. Taiwan rejects the claim, with the president saying only the Taiwanese people can decide their future. And following China's move, Russia's top diplomat said Moscow would support China if tension escalates. China and Russia have conducted joint military drills in the region for years. And China is rapidly expanding its nuclear weapons program, building up missile stockpiles and upgrading the factories that produce nuclear warheads. Experts say the changes point to a shift in how quickly Beijing could respond to a nuclear attack. Satellite imagery provided to the Washington Post Sunday and Chinese publications show major upgrades of facilities tied to nuclear warhead production. It includes locations that make nuclear pits, and the explosives that trigger nuclear reactions. The expansion comes as China grows its nuclear stockpile faster than any other country. Just last week, the Pentagon reported that China is deploying over 100 long-range nuclear-capable missiles that can reach the U.S. It's also expanded activity at its main nuclear test site, fueling speculation about preparations for future testing. At the same time, Beijing is improving early warning systems that could allow it to detect incoming missiles and launch a counter-strike within minutes. It's a major shift from its long-standing policy of delayed retaliation. Experts warning that moving toward faster nuclear response times increases the risk of unintentionally starting a nuclear war. President Trump says tariffs are creating great wealth and unprecedented national security for the United States. In a social media post on Saturday, he said the trade deficit has been cut by 60 percent and mentioned third-quarter GDP growth of 4.3 percent. And of all the trading partners, the U.S. runs the largest trade deficit with China. Entity's Washington correspondent Jack Bradley breaks down what's at play. Tariffs, my favorite word, tariffs. President Trump has taken an aggressive approach to tariffs over the past year. And whether you're for or against them, they've created a major change in the global economy. Critics have argued that tariffs on goods fall onto the consumer, but it's not immediately clear that prices on certain tariffed goods have gone up. And the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report on the annual inflation rate shows that it dropped from 3 percent to 2.7 percent last month. Now, President Trump has many reasons behind these tariffs, and one of the main ones is to rebalance unfair trade practices with other countries that have been putting up trade barriers against the U.S. for years and also to encourage domestic manufacturing. Trump said that these tariffs have already been encouraging trillions of dollars in U.S. investment. Companies know that if they build in America, there are no tariffs, and that's why they're coming home to the USA in record numbers. They're building factories and plants at levels we haven't seen. AI automobiles were doing what nobody thought was even possible, not even remotely possible. There has never, frankly, been anything like it. One year ago, our country was dead. We were absolutely dead. Our country was ready to fail, totally failed. Now, we're the hottest country anywhere in the world. And that's said by every single leader that I've spoken to over the last five months. In that year-end address, President Trump said to the nation that he's sending $1,776 bonus checks to 1.45 million military members. Trump says that the income made from tariffs made it possible. And the checks are already on the way. Nobody understood that one until about 30 minutes ago. We made a lot more money than anybody thought because of tariffs, and the bill helped us along. Nobody deserves it more than our military. And I say congratulations to everybody. And by the way, we now have record enlistment in our military. And last year, we had among the worst recruitment numbers in our military's history. What a difference a year makes. Now, President Trump also said that he used the threat of tariffs to end certain wars, such as between India and Pakistan, Cambodia and Thailand, and between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, just to name a few. Trump has also used tariffs as part of a separate negotiation with other countries on a range of issues, including on illegal immigration and drug trafficking. He lowered tariffs on China by 10%, for instance, all in exchange for curbing fentanyl precursor chemicals to the U.S. He also placed tariffs on Mexico and Canada to stem the flow of fentanyl, other drugs, and also illegal immigration to the U.S. Now, on the domestic front, Trump said that tariffs could be used to potentially lower or eliminate federal income taxes, pay off the national debt, and send dividend payments worth $2,000 to low- and middle-income families next year. The Supreme Court is hearing a case on whether to uphold or reject Trump's tariffs under an emergency law. If it's rejected, it could result in the U.S. having to refund all of the collected tariff money, which now amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars. And Trump has called this case the biggest threat to U.S. national security and could render the nation financially defenseless. Reporting by Jack Bradley, NTD News. The U.S. and China are both vying to expand their influence in Southeast Asia. This time, it's through brokering a peace deal between Thailand and Cambodia. NTD's Flora Hua has more. On Monday, the foreign ministers of Thailand and Cambodia met with their Chinese counterpart in China's Yunnan province, near the area where the conflict took place. It's Beijing's attempt at staging its role as a mediator between the countries, just two days after both sides signed a ceasefire deal. The weeks-long conflict has killed more than 100 people and displaced more than half a million civilians. On Sunday, President Trump praised leaders from both countries for taking what he called fast and decisive action to stop the fighting. He added that the U.S. was proud to help bring the conflict to an end. Earlier in July, Trump threatened both countries with possible tariff hikes if the conflict continued, though that ceasefire was broke earlier this month. Flora Hua, NTD News. And coming up, the U.S. is racing back to the moon as competition with China heats up. Beijing vowing to land astronauts within five years. We break down where both countries stand in this new space race after the break, here on China In Focus. Welcome back to China In Focus. I'm Paul Graney. The Senate has confirmed billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to lead NASA. It comes as the Trump administration pushes to return Americans to the moon as quickly as possible amid growing competition from China. Beijing has pledged to land astronauts in the moon by 2030. So where do the U.S. and China stand in the new space race? NTD's Tiffany Meyer speaks to Rick Fisher, senior fellow with the International Assessment and Strategy Center for Insight. Rick, I want to talk about power projection because it's not just, you know, the sea and the land. There's also a race, if you will, in space. We saw this year, especially Trump's pick for NASA director. Talk about a refocusing on getting back to the moon. Of course, also Mars. But he was really prioritizing the moon. And we know that China is saying they're on track to get to the moon or landing humans there by 2030. First, how are you reading this race back to the moon? Where does the U.S. and China stand right now? If China controls the moon, then the democracies on Earth will not be able to access it and its resources to try to break free of the hegemony of the Chinese Communist Party. That's how they think and that's how they're operating. So the moon race or the second moon race is very, very important. The Chinese, yes, because they're focusing on a lighter, smaller set of spacecraft and moon architecture. They are on a good path to getting to the moon as they've promised by 2030. The United States, on the other hand, is experiencing great turbulence in formulating the correct and least expensive, but most effective moon architecture to get back to the moon. The second moon race is all about building an infrastructure on the moon that could switch to toward defensive military missions if possible. The Chinese space program is all dual use. Everything is controlled by the People's Liberation Army. So when Chinese astronauts go to the moon, they will be quickly ready to transition to military missions, in my opinion at least. The United States is trying to get there first to try to set a precedent for peaceful use of the moon to put that kind of pressure on the Chinese not to militarize the moon, but to the degree to which China is militarizing low Earth orbit and militarizing cislunar space. It puts a lot of pressure on the United States. I mean, given all that's at stake that you just laid out there, I want to take a step back first and look at why maybe it's so much harder this time 50 years later to get back to the moon. What are maybe the biggest differences between the Artemis programs or missions now versus the Apollo ones? Well, the Apollo mission was far more well funded than Artemis. Apollo basically cost about two to three times as much as the current Artemis program is projected to cost. And in addition, the Apollo program was focused on a single space launch vehicle having to just go to the moon once to achieve one mission. The Artemis program envisions using at least two space launch vehicles that will be sent separately in two separate launches from the Earth, then dock in lunar orbit to take payloads or people down to the surface of the moon. China is doing the same thing, but with smaller, lighter, easier to build, simpler to operate space launch vehicles. The United States, however, is trying to gain an advantage, especially with the decision to use the SpaceX Raptor as a manned cargo moon landing vehicle. It can potentially take up to 100 tons of cargo to the surface of the moon. That would give the United States an amazing advantage in terms of the goal of populating the moon and making sure that China is not able to outflank us out there. Digging into some of the differences, if you will, I mean, China has a history of kind of reckless endeavors. You see, you know, space debris landing in different places, whereas in the U.S. there is a lot of regulatory and environmental concerns and, you know, the public opinion as well, because, you know, the last moon missions were during the Cold War, where there was a lot of public support behind that race to get to the moon. How do you see those factors fitting in here when it comes to how the U.S. and China are doing? Well, China, of course, doesn't have to seek public support for any of its military or space programs. The Chinese Communist Party simply does whatever it takes to gain more and more power, global leverage, and to advance its goals for global hegemony. The United States, of course, has to present its lunar program as a basic good for the United States and for other countries. It has already gathered 60 nations into its Artemis Accords coalition, based on the Artemis Accords, which basically commit all the signatories to peaceful behavior on the moon. 60 countries signing up for this, it's an amazing thing. And so that also puts pressure on the United States to follow through, to make sure that we can develop the systems that can take American astronauts and the astronauts eventually of our partners as well to the moon. I want to dig into the crafts, if you will, that you were talking about, right, because China's building a pretty light one. The Artemis 2's mission manager, Matthew Ramsey, was saying part of what makes this program a lot harder, if you will, than the Apollo missions was that it's also going to Mars, not just the moon. That's kind of the goal here. So what makes these crafts so much different, I guess, a much further distance, but talk to us about the challenges facing this mission and going beyond the moon to Mars versus the Apollo that was kind of just trying to land humans there and go back home. Yes, Apollo missions were direct. They were short. The astronauts were basically in space for a little less than two weeks, including their time on the moon. All that's well and good. For the future, for long-term stationing on the moon and then going to Mars, there are just a myriad of problems that have to be overcome, pretty serious technical problems. One of the most profound is how to avoid the radiation that is much more prevalent in the moon, in the transit between the Earth and the moon and Mars, and then, of course, the radiation that will be present on Mars. The Earth is shielded from this radiation by our wonderful atmosphere, but this atmosphere does not exist on the moon, and it's very thin on Mars. So when we go to the moon, we're likely going to have to very quickly figure out how to build structures under the surface of the moon, and ditto for Mars. So getting heavy equipment to the moon and Mars dictates that our space vehicles are going to have to be much larger. Elon Musk's vehicles are designed for these kinds of missions. They're going to have to grow larger, and we're also going to have to develop some kind of fission or nuclear-powered engines to propel these craft. Reliance on chemical-based propellants while being manufactured from minerals and resources that we can gather on the moon and Mars, nuclear-powered systems will be able to produce far greater thrust, and by simply flying much faster, reduce the time and radiation exposure in transit between the Earth and Mars, and help to solve at least that one problem. Well, definitely a lot to watch for here. Rick Fisher, as always, thank you so much for joining us. Tiffany, thank you. That's all for today's China In Focus. I'm Paul Graney. If you have any feedback on the show or you 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 round-the-clock original news coverage, visit us at ntd.com or download our NTD app. Thanks for watching. See you soon.