ExclusiveWill China’s Military Purge Delay Taiwan Takeover?

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story. Chinese Communist Party infighting is intensifying. Ten generals absent from a significant meeting in Beijing this week, a common step before they're officially ousted. Does this signal a delay in Beijing's timeline to take Taiwan? High-stakes talks at the White House failed to reach a consensus. After meeting with Vice President J.D. Vance, the Danish foreign minister said the U.S. takeover of Greenland is And is the Chinese regime fearing protests like those in Iran and preparing for that possibility? Video circulating online showed Chinese police drilling for riot control, including simulated scenarios of shooting at civilians. An unusual absence in Beijing this week. Ten generals did not show up at a huge meeting of China's top anti-corruption body, raising speculations that they may have been purged. In the past, Chinese officials would often disappear from high-profile events months before being officially ousted. But does their absence mean for Chinese leader Xi's grip on power and could it delay Beijing's timeline on taking Taiwan? NTD's Juliet Zong tells the story. Chinese Communist Party's infighting heating up. Ten high-ranking officials, including lieutenant and major generals, were notably absent from a big meeting of China's top anti-corruption body this week. China Affairs commentator Heng He told NTD that it's a common indication that they may soon be purged. These generals' absence point to real instability within the Chinese Communist Party. Purges on this scale only happen when fighting between factions has reached a very intense level. Under normal circumstances, purges should be rare instead of something that can happen any time. A major purge occurred just three months ago when nine top generals were ousted. That's along with the 10 generals who disappeared this week. Notably, they all belong to Chinese leader Xi's faction. China Affairs commentator Tang Jinyuan says the two purges indicate this isn't just an internal matter, but that Xi may have lost control over the military. This type of purge only means one thing. The anti-Xi Jinping faction now has taken over control of the military. That's how they've been able to carry out such a big purge against generals of Xi Jinping's faction. One prominent feature of the regime's power structure is that the leader's power is based on absolute control over the military and the guns. Tang says the opposing faction includes Zhang Youxia, second-in-command of China's top military decision-making body. It also includes Hu Jintao, the former leader of the regime, and Wen Jiabao, the former Chinese premier. So how would the power shakeup at the top impact Beijing's timeline to take Taiwan? I don't think the Chinese regime is capable of invading Taiwan in the short term. The opposing faction's disagreement with Xi Jinping on Taiwan comes down to this. If the American and Japanese militaries intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion, the opposing faction believes the regime would not be capable of fighting with them both militarily and economically. The ouster of these generals has undermined the Chinese military's combat capabilities. If Xi Jinping wants to take Taiwan, he relies mostly on the eastern combatant command, the navy, and the rocket force. China's rocket force is in charge of the regime's land-based nuclear and conventional missiles. But now a good number of the leaders and high-ranking officials across these three divisions have been purged. Juliet Song, NTD News. Danish foreign minister says it's, quote, The statement on Wednesday comes after talks with Vice President J.D. Vance at the White House. He added that fundamental disagreements between the Trump administration and European leaders haven't changed, despite ongoing discussions. President Trump calling anything less than Greenland in the hands of the U.S. unacceptable, citing national security. And the problem is, there's not a thing that Denmark can do about it if Russia or China wants to occupy Greenland. But there's everything we can do. You know, I can't rely on Denmark being able to fend themselves. They put an extra dog sled there last month. They added a second dog sled. That's not going to do the trick. This comes as Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio meet with the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland. And we, therefore, still have a fundamental disagreement. But we also agree to disagree. And therefore, we will, however, continue to talk. It is not a true narrative that we have, you know, Chinese warships all around the place. According to our intelligence, we haven't had a Chinese warship in Greenland for a decade or so. While top Danish officials say there are no Chinese ships near Greenland, major Chinese Communist Party media outlets echo these denials, alleging the U.S. is acting out of self-interest rather than national security. President Trump draws attention to a Danish intelligence report released last month that starkly warns about China's military goals in the Arctic. If you take a look outside of Greenland right now, there are Russian destroyers, there are Chinese destroyers and bigger. China's 2025 trade surplus had a record nearly $1.2 trillion. China posted the data on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the country's exports to the U.S. fell 20 percent, mainly due to President Trump's tariffs. Chinese policymakers' push to diversify beyond the U.S. paid off as exports to non-U.S. markets boomed. Producers have tried to build global scale and fight off trade pressure from the Trump administration. They have shifted focus to Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America. And that helped cushion the economy against U.S. tariffs and tensions with Washington. There will be more challenges for Beijing heading into this year, that as global capitals have grown more worried about China's trade practices and overcapacity. Economists expect China to continue gaining global market share this year, bolstered by Chinese firms setting up overseas production hubs to combat U.S. and EU tariffs, as well as strong demand for lower-grade chips and other electronics. But Beijing still faces further questions about how long it can counteract a property slump and weak domestic demand by shipping cheap goods to other markets. European countries are pushing back against Chinese goods flooding in at dumped prices. The European Union is also targeting electric vehicles from China. Under the new rule, Chinese automakers must either voluntarily limit the number of electric cars they export to Europe or face tariffs. They would also need to agree on minimum prices for these vehicles. Last August, the European Union imposed anti-dumping duties of nearly 30 percent on imports of Chinese decor paper. Decor paper is used to coat furniture and is widely used in interior design, construction and other industries. Investigations found that Chinese imports were sold at dumped prices, harming competition across Europe. President Trump took his economic message on the road on Tuesday, addressing the Detroit Economic Club. He celebrated the use of tariffs to counter China. NTD's Washington correspondent Mario Tzu brings us more from Detroit. President Trump strongly defending his tariff strategy here in Motor City, warning of a crisis if the Supreme Court rules against his tariffs. Now, an anti-tariff person is a pro-Chinese person. Can you believe this? A case brought about by people that are China-centric, foreign-centric, but China-centric. I wouldn't want it if I was China either. You know, China's one of our biggest taxpayers right now. The United States has officially greenlit NVIDIA's H200 chip sales to China. The move is expected to kickstart the company's sales of its second most powerful artificial intelligence chips. Some conditions apply. China cannot receive more than half the total quantity of chips sold to U.S. consumers. The chips must also first be inspected by a third-party lab to confirm their technical AI capabilities before being exported. President Trump announced in December he would allow the chip sales in exchange for a 25 percent cut to go to the U.S. government. That means NVIDIA pays a quarter of the income from its chip sales to China to the U.S. government. The move comes despite concerns the communist regime could use the technology to supercharge its military or boost China in the AI race. NVIDIA says its H200 chips supercharge generative AI with game-changing performance and memory capabilities. It is still less advanced than NVIDIA's best chip, Blackwell. Turning to the Middle East, the Trump administration has designated three branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist groups on Tuesday. They're based in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt. The administration said these organizations pose a risk to America's national interests. Meanwhile, Iranian activists are calling on foreign leaders to support people protesting the Islamic regime. Pressure on the regime is increasing as international leaders keep calling for peace in Iran. NTD's international correspondent, Arian Pozdar, has the latest. Be our voice and don't support our governor. An Iranian activist in Italy calling on foreign leaders to support the Iranian people and not the regime. Last week, the Iranian regime cut off its people from the outside world by shutting off the internet and phone services. The activist says the situation has gotten so bad that even doctors can't communicate with each other. That's despite hospitals being overrun, with reports saying around 2,000 people died during the protests so far. They don't have connection between themselves. They cannot call the other doctors and help to come to the hospital. The United Nations is weighing in as well. A spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights criticizes Iran's security forces for targeting protesters. The killing of peaceful demonstrators must stop. The labeling of protesters as terrorists to justify violence against them is unacceptable. The foreign policy chief for the European Union says the Iranian regime could fall within a short period of time, similar to how the Assad regime in Syria fell recently. The EU plans to keep supporting the Iranian people. We are also putting more sanctions on the ones who are using the violence against the peaceful protesters to show that we are condemning these actions. She added that change in Iran primarily has to come from the Iranian people. Ariane Pasdar, NTD News. Recent videos circulating online show Chinese police conducting riot control drills on city streets. The trainings follow anti-Islamic protests that have surged across Iran in recent weeks. It's become the largest and most intense unrest the country has seen in years. Back to China, one clip shows armed police practicing shooting at people who are throwing water bottles and bricks towards them in a simulated riot scenario. Some analysts say the Chinese communist regime's intensified police trainings may be aimed at preparing to suppress mass protests like the ones in Iran. Highway officials are issuing an urgent warning after deadly crashes have been linked to Chinese replacement airbags. They're saying the inflators have led to at least 10 crashes and resulted in two deaths. After previous crashes, all of the drivers had their airbags replaced by ones made by a Chinese manufacturer known as DTN. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, these airbags were likely illegally imported. The highway administration says the DTN airbag inflators malfunctioned in crashes, sending large metal fragments into drivers' chests, necks, eyes, and faces. The crashes involved Chevrolet Malibus and Hyundai Sonatas, though officials could not confirm the risk is limited to these makes and models. The highway administration is urging drivers to check their vehicle history and stop driving immediately if one of these inflators is found. A heavy blow to Beijing's ambitions in Southeast Asia, a crane in Thailand collapsed onto a passenger train on Wednesday, killing at least 32 people. The crane was from a China-backed high-speed railway project aimed at connecting China to several Southeast Asian countries. As part of the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing's ambitious plan to project power around the world. The accident occurred after a construction crane collapsed onto three carriages in Sikhu District, about 140 miles northeast of Bangkok. The train was traveling from the capital to Ubon Ratchathani when the crane, which was part of a high-speed rail project, fell onto it, causing it to derail and briefly catch fire. Authorities say more bodies remain trapped inside the wreckage, but recovery efforts were paused after the crane shifted, posing further danger. Transport minister Pipa Trachakitrakarn said 195 passengers were on board and ordered a full investigation. Images from the scene show overturned carriages and firefighters battling flames as smoke billowed. The elevated line under construction is part of Thailand's planned high-speed rail network, which is being built above existing tracks. The collapsed section is part of a Beijing-backed high-speed railway project connecting China with Southeast Asia. The section where the accident took place had a budget of over five billion dollars, and it's closely tied to China's Belt and Road Initiative. The U.S. has long criticized the initiative as a debt trap. Fatal accidents on projects involving Chinese companies have also raised safety concerns. In response, a Beijing spokesperson said Wednesday that the collapsed section was being built by a Thai company. A Thai official said the project's contractor is Italian-Thai Development, while a Chinese company handled the design and construction supervision. Coming up, more than 200 rooms underground and just one yard away from UK's most sensitive communications infrastructure. China's planned embassy in London raises international concerns. More on that after the break here on China In Focus. Welcome back to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Concerns are rising over plans for a massive new Chinese embassy in London and what's underneath it. Planning documents suggest the underground rooms of the proposed embassy would sit dangerously close to some of the UK's most sensitive communications infrastructure. The proximity is raising security concerns in both the UK and the U.S. Here's more. The proposed Chinese embassy will cover about 237,000 square feet and include more than 200 rooms underground, making it China's largest embassy in Europe. That's based on planning drawings obtained by the Daily Telegraph earlier this week. Notably, the documents show one basement room located just over three feet away from high-speed fiber-optic cables. Those cables carry financial transactions, emails and online messages for millions of users, linking UK data centers to transatlantic cables connecting to the United States. One senior U.S. official told the Telegraph that Washington is deeply concerned about adversaries exploiting critical infrastructure belonging to close allies. And House China Committee Chairman John Muellner says he opposes a plan, warning American data could also be at risk. The UK is expected to decide whether to approve the embassy before January 20th. It comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer prepares for a possible visit to China later this month. Protests in Iran are growing, fueled by economic collapse, drought and repression. It's raising a critical question. Could the regime fall? More than a decade ago, the Arab Spring swept across the Middle East. It was a wave of pro-democracy protests. Many of those involved fought for political reform. But some uprisings led to chaos, violence and widespread instability. What lessons should the U.S. take from that experience this time? To dig into that, we spoke with Gregory Copley, president of the International Strategic Studies Association, for his insight. Now, it does seem there's a lot of factors this time around. The protests do seem a little different from past ones. The big question now is, will the regime fall? I want to zoom out a bit, though, in terms of the Middle East region, because over a decade ago, we had the Arab Spring protests. Some areas did see improvement, but some actually saw a growth, if you will, of terror or terrorism. Given that, what lessons can the U.S. draw from what happened with the Arab Spring to maybe make sure that this time around, Iran doesn't become a new hub of terror? Well, I think every uprising, rebellion, if you like, like the Arab Spring, or the Iranian Revolution of 78, 79 itself, the current revolt in the People's Republic of China, they all have their own individual characteristics. So, we have to look at the motivation of the people revolting, if you like. What can happen, I think, in Iran is somewhat more comprehensive than has happened with the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring was meant as a tactical gesture. It was heavily supported by the Muslim Brotherhood. It was heavily supported by the Obama administration in the United States at the time. So, it had a different motivation, therefore had a different duration. It didn't seek a total overthrow of governments with any coherent plan. What we're seeing now is the fact that the Iranian public has been reluctant to move against the clerics because they basically didn't have leadership, for the one hand. They also didn't have a clear line of success. When we saw the, if you like, the protests against the Shah in 1978, what that was all about was that the Shah had raised expectations of the public so much that he could never properly satisfy them, or at least at the rate that the public wanted. So, you had people expressing their discontent, not the fact that things were getting worse, but the fact that they weren't getting better fast enough. Right now, you've got this multitude of factors motivating the crowds in Iran. One is the water shortage. They're basically in a massive drought, which is impacting every single person in Iran. You've got the collapse of the currency. You've got the decades of oppression. And what we saw is that people will tolerate all of these levels of oppression and disaster if there is no sign of hope. Now, what the Israeli, particularly the Israeli attacks on Iran, did last year, the 12-day war, essentially, was that it raised the hopes of the Iranian public. So, they've opened the skies again. Yes, it is possible. And yes, it does seem like they will get some support. Now, the fact that the United States president has come into this saying he will support the people has given great heart, although he hasn't indicated just how he would or could do that, because he's going to be reluctant to put boots on the ground, certainly not permanent boots on the ground. He's also got to face the fact that Iran is not Venezuela. To Russia, Iran is a vital asset now. It's finally got control, if you like, of Iran, or at least sufficient control that it can run its supply lines across from the Russian Federation down to the Indian Ocean. This is something which Russia, having sought this for 300, 400 years, is reluctant to surrender. So, there's going to be some interesting play going on, which will govern how the U.S. responds. So, the fact is that yes, this is the worst crisis that the clerics in Iran have faced. Yes, it does have some similarities to the Arab Spring. But Iran, being a non-Arab country, acts very differently. The people are far more stable, responsible, more urbanized in many respects. So, they will go at this with a strong resolve and, in fact, try to develop an ongoing control of the government. Nobody, however, has really planned for what that next phase is. Not the U.S., not the Iranian opposition itself. You could argue that Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has some coherence in his plan, but he doesn't have a good team around him. He is barracking from the sidelines. He's calling for the Iranian people to go onto the streets, which is causing enormous casualties. We're acknowledging a couple of protesters dead at this stage and probably an equal or larger number of Revolutionary Guard personnel killed and police. The question is, what's going to happen immediately the institutions of government are occupied and whether the family of Ali Khamenei and other leaders, the President and the like, flee the country. That's going to be critical. And certainly, Khamenei has been getting family members and a lot of assets out of Iran on flights in the last few weeks and months on Russian Ilyushin-76s, very large heavy transport aircraft. The question is whether Khamenei himself will fight to the end or whether he will get out is debatable. We think of the clerics as being, shall we say, religious people, but, in fact, the leadership has proven fairly venal. Certainly, the family of Khamenei has not been very religiously or piously controlled. So, it could end very suddenly, but it could end also with an initial last lashing out by the Revolutionary Guard with missiles against Israeli targets. 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.