Bessent: Trump, Xi Could Meet Four Times in 2026 | China in Focus

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson says tensions with China have eased, lowering the risk of conflict, as President Trump and Xi Jinping could meet up to four times this year. A new arrangement giving the U.S. full access to Greenland, including unrestricted military access with no payment required. So we're going to not have to pay anything other than the fact that we are building the golden dome. A warning from NATO. The alliance's top military commander discusses the risks of growing China-Russia cooperation in the Arctic. It's been both in the maritime domain with increased joint patrols as well as in the air domain with long-range bomber patrols being conducted jointly. And the legendary American hot dog brand Nathan's Famous is getting a new owner and it's now in the hands of a Chinese company. President Trump delivered a more than 90-minute address at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, outlining White House policy and U.S. strategy. He said the administration's efforts are aimed at defending Western civilization and global security. We're taking a closer look at what Trump said about China on energy. Trump criticized Europe for abandoning energy independence and buying wind turbines made in China. One thing I've noticed is that the more windmills a country has, the more money that country loses and the worse that country is doing. China makes almost all of the windmills and yet I haven't been able to find any wind farms in China. Did you ever think of that? It's a good way of looking at it. They're smart. China is very smart. They make them. They sell them for a fortune. They sell them to the stupid people that buy them, but they don't use them themselves. They put up a couple of big wind farms, but they don't use them. They just put them up to show people what they could look like. They don't spend, they don't do anything. They use the thing called coal mostly. China goes with the coal. They go with oil and gas. They're starting to look at nuclear a little bit and they're doing just fine. He also highlighted Bitcoin, backing digital assets and ordering the creation of a U.S. strategic Bitcoin reserve. The U.S. now holds an estimated over 200,000 Bitcoins. It's more than any other government and slightly surpasses China. I did it for two reasons. Number one, I thought it was politically good and it was. I got tremendous political support. But more importantly, China wanted that market too. It's just like they want the AI. And we've got that market, I think, pretty well locked up. If I didn't do it, we have to make it so that China doesn't get the hold of it. And once they have that hold, we're not going to be able to get it back. During the address, Trump outlined economic achievements from the first year of his second term for the fourth quarter of 2025. The Atlanta Fed's GDP Now model projects real GDP growing at an analyzed pace of 5.3 percent. When asked about the economic recession, he referenced the COVID-19 pandemic, pointing to unpredictable factors. This is something really bad happening in China. There are bodies laying all over Wuhan, right around that certain building that we talk about. I always said it came from Wuhan. And they were body bags. We saw it by satellite. And they said there are strange things happening in China. And so it began. And we ended up with the COVID and the whole world suffered. But I've always had a very good relationship with President Xi of China. He's an incredible man. What he's done is amazing. He's highly respected by everybody. And I do now. I mean, now I have good. It was very severely interrupted by COVID. I used to call it the China virus. But he said, do you think you could use a different name? And I decided to do that, because why should we have a problem over that? But I would do that. And they were a true diplomat. I was I became a diplomat for the first time. Well, you know, Marco Rubio. He said, let me teach you about diplomacy. Chinese leader Xi Jinping did not attend this year's Davos Forum. However, Trump said he's been invited to visit Beijing in April, where he's expected to meet with Xi. On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Besson said the U.S. relationship with China has reached what he called a very good equilibrium. He added that disagreements are now less likely to escalate Besson says Trump and Xi could meet up to four times this year. President Trump says the U.S. is negotiating an arrangement to secure full access to Greenland. According to the president, this will include full military access without the U.S. having to pay anything. Trump gave more details on the deal while on Fox News Thursday. It's total access. There's no end. There's no time limit. We're not doing 99 or 10 year or anything else. You know, I'm not going to have to pay anything. We're going to have total access to Greenland. We're going to have all military access that we want. We're going to be able to put what we need on Greenland because we want it. We're talking about national security and international security. So we're going to not have to pay anything other than the fact that we are building the the Golden Dome. Greenland is officially a part of Denmark. Greenland's prime minister said he hoped for Denmark insisted its sovereignty over the island was not up for discussion. Growing cooperation between China and Russia in the Arctic is raising concerns for NATO. The alliance's top military commander, Alexis Grinkovic, warned about the situation Thursday. Watch. I think one of the most concerning changes in the security situation has been the growing collaboration between Russia and China in the Arctic. And we've seen that over the last several years. It's been both in the maritime domain with increased joint patrols, as well as in the air domain with long range bomber patrols being conducted jointly. Grinkovic said Western military leaders must consider not just current challenges, but also future threats from a growing Russia-China cooperation. Installation of new sensors and detection capabilities. So all of those things are constantly in our cross check. And we're constantly trying to enhance our posture and think of ways that nations can enhance our posture in the Arctic. So why is Greenland militarily so significant to the United States and the West? Geopolitical analyst Rod Martin explains. Greenland is the piece of real estate over which most Soviet era and now Russian era ICBMs would fly to get to the United States. It's essential for his Golden Dome missile defense program. It's also essential as the guard gate for waterways that are beginning to open up in the Arctic, either because of global warming or because of nuclear icebreakers really makes no difference. It's also the guardian of the Greenland-Iceland-UK gap through which Soviet and now Russian submarines would have to flow just as German U-boats did during World War II to threaten us in the North Atlantic. It is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, for heaven's sake. Guarding the North Atlantic is the whole idea. On Wednesday, President Trump abruptly ruled out the use of force to take over Greenland. He also stepped back from threats to impose tariffs on some European countries as leverage to seize Greenland. Trump added that a deal was in sight to end a dispute over the Danish territory. Rod Martin says this has always been President Trump's approach to negotiating with other countries. Donald Trump always does this. He always puts out maximal demands. He always refuses to take any options off the table, and that's how he starts every negotiation every single time. We've seen this over and over again. There was never any possibility that Donald Trump was going to invade Greenland. The absurdity is off the chart. It's like doing the Maduro raid on Santa Claus. It's just silly. And yet, the predictable pundit class went nuts, absolutely bought it, hook, line, and sinker. And so they made this a big deal. And the truth is, that was always the plan because the Europeans see this as a settled matter. It's inertia. They can't break out of it. The idea that an American president would actually do something concrete to change the status quo is just beyond them. And Donald Trump shook them into giving him their attention. So that's what's happened here, and that's what's happened with the tariffs. He didn't really intend to hit them with the tariffs either. He wanted to hit them over the head going into Davos enough that they would actually sit down in a room and talk. Earlier this week, President Trump criticized the UK for returning the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The Chagos Islands sit in the Indian Ocean and occupy a strategically important location. It also hosts a major U.S. military base, much like Greenland does in the Arctic. Diego Garcia is the largest and most strategically important island in the group. The UK returned the islands to Mauritius last year. The Trump administration supported this deal initially until this week when Trump described the deal as, quote, stupid. Geopolitical analyst Rod Martin weighs in. Europe is also on a track of electing socialists like Keir Starmer, who is in the process of giving away the Chagos Islands. You say, well, where the heck are the Chagos Islands? Well, they're in the Indian Ocean, and they host the most important U.S. base in the entire region, Diego Garcia. The Chagossians don't want it transferred to Mauritius. Mauritius is in the orbit of communist China. So we're effectively, in Starmer's case, paying a Chinese satellite to take over an American base. This is just insane. So when Trump looks forward not four years, but 40, he understands that Greenland could easily fall into China's orbit in the same way as Diego Garcia. That is not acceptable. Diego Garcia is halfway around the world. Greenland is next door. It is essential to hemispheric defense. Legendary New York hot dog brand Nathan's Famous is going to have a new owner, and this new owner is a Chinese-owned company. Smithfield Foods has agreed to buy the company for $450 million. Smithfield already had a hand in the business with an exclusive license to manufacture, distribute, market and sell products through retail. But that license is set to expire in 2032. The new deal allows Smithfield to fully take over. It's worth noting that Smithfield Foods is headquartered in Virginia, but owned by WH Group, a Chinese food company based in Hong Kong. WH Group acquired Smithfield in 2013 for roughly $4.7 billion. With regards to this case, lawmakers and regulators are raising concerns about foreign ownership in critical areas such as food and agriculture. The Chinese Communist Party's reach into U.S. critical infrastructure is under the microscope. Lawmakers warn Beijing is collecting Americans' data and could disrupt transportation systems nationwide. NTD's Washington correspondent Jeff Bradley has more. The electrical panel on one's roof, and those could in theory be remotely flipped off or even remotely made to overheat, causing electrical or even electrical fire or even explosion risk. The U.S. intelligence community assesses with high confidence that these actors are embedding quote sleeper software within our infrastructure to be activated at will. The Chinese Communist Party is collecting Americans' data through and has the ability to cause major outages in transportation infrastructure. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight probed these threats from China on Wednesday. That means foreign entities may have visibility into American facilities, American operations, and American vulnerabilities. Our adversaries may have the capability to conduct espionage or even cause outages in transportation infrastructure. If Beijing has full information on our society, that's how it can target all of its attacks. If China decides it's time, they can shut off our systems, they can interfere with our systems, they can destabilize our society. The Department of Homeland Security last February said there are tens of thousands of Chinese-made cameras connected to the internet in the U.S. and that these cameras lack basic security settings and can communicate with their manufacturers in China. These communication devices could be used to collect individuals' transportation data, could be used to hack into government systems, and could even be used to cause outages in major American cities. Back in September 2024, the House Select Committee on the CCP released a report detailing how a Chinese state-owned entity supplies nearly 80 percent of the cranes at U.S. ports. And the government has found communication devices embedded on these cranes that could be used to track port activity and enable cyber espionage. In the case of these devices, what we're talking about is an ability to both monitor and control and disrupt the infrastructure should it be in China's interest to do so. What we need to do is replace the electronics, rip and replace the electronics. The panelists recommend that Congress work to phase out Chinese-made parts in critical infrastructure with laws that bar federal funds from going to companies that utilize them. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Jack Bradley, NTD News. Coming up, the House Foreign Affairs Committee has approved a bill to tighten control over advanced AI chip exports to China. Could U.S. tech sales be slowed or blocked entirely? Japan is still waiting on billions in U.S. military equipment. Some orders are more than five years old. What's causing the delays? And the long-awaited TikTok deal set to close this week. Casey Fleming joins us to unpack why the security concerns are still there. China doesn't allow any foreign influence. Why do we allow foreign influence here? More on that after the break here on China In Focus. Welcome back to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. A House Foreign Affairs Committee has approved a bill to tighten congressional oversight of advanced AI chip exports to countries like China. The bill would ban sales of NVIDIA's most advanced blackball chips to China for at least two years. It also requires the Trump administration to notify Congress before approving advanced AI chip sales like the H200. The Trump administration approved those sales last week. This legislation also grants lawmakers the power to block exports to foreign adversaries like China, Russia, and Iran. In the past, Congress wasn't able to do so despite mounting national security concerns. The bill passed the committee Wednesday by a wide margin. It now heads to the full House for a vote. Some lawmakers say they are concerned the administration may become too lenient with high-end chip exports. And China Hawks warn that sending cutting-edge U.S. chips abroad may bolster foreign militaries. Japan is still waiting on billions of dollars worth of U.S. military equipment, and some of it was ordered more than five years ago. The report comes after Washington announced a major new arms sale elsewhere in the region last month. But questions are growing about how quickly the U.S. can actually deliver on those deals. Last Friday, Japan's government audit found that more than 100 U.S. military equipment orders valued at over seven billion dollars are still undelivered. Many of these contracts have been delayed for at least five years. Japan purchases arms through the U.S. foreign military sales program, where allied countries pay up front for American-made systems. But delivery dates are only estimates, and final costs aren't settled until the equipment actually arrives. The audit found delays usually happen when Washington takes time to finalize contracts or production schedules change. Shipments can also be delayed if the U.S. military needs the equipment for its own operations. The report comes as the Trump administration approved more than 11 billion dollars in arms sales to Taiwan last month. It's the largest U.S. weapons package ever for the island, and comes as China ramps up military pressure in the region. But Japan's experience raises a broader concern. There's no firm deadline to deliver these weapons once contracts are signed. What's next for TikTok now that the long-awaited deal is set to close this week? Are the security concerns still present? And how has the Chinese Communist Party used it as a tool for cognitive warfare? Joining us to unpack it all is Casey Fleming. He's the CEO of business warfare and counterintelligence company Black Ops Partners, and author of the book Red Tsunami, The Silent Storm Killing Your Freedom. Casey Fleming, thank you so much for joining us. Great to have you back on the show. Great to be back. Now, reports know that the TikTok deal is set to close this week, but it does seem that ByteDance, a Chinese company, or China still controls the algorithm. So does this deal solve any of the security concerns that have been raised over the years? Absolutely not. It's really window dressing. Because ByteDance, which is a CCP-owned company, ByteDance still owns 20 percent, and they still own the algorithm. So nothing has been changed. And incidentally, you can't buy software by changing the owner, which they really didn't, because ByteDance still owns 20 percent and the algorithm. You can't change the that's all directed to storing information and reporting it back to the CCP. To your point, ByteDance has a domestic one for China called Dalin, whereas TikTok is the international version, very different algorithms in terms of what they push. Expanding on what you were talking about, though, talk to us about the cognitive warfare aspect of TikTok. Cognitive war is just one of the over 100 methods of unrestricted warfare. Cognitive warfare means breaking down the recipient's brain, the target's brain, and controlling it for not just now, but for the rest of their lives. So this constant hitting with lies, if you tell a lie long enough, according to Lenin, if you tell a lie long enough, it becomes the truth in the subject or the target's mind. So taking over a child's mind or a young adult's mind or an adult's mind, you take it over for life. So what they're programming our children to be and to think is that the United States, you know, to hate the United States. It's a broken system. It's unfair. It's not equal. And the communist model is the only way to go. And it only cares about people and it only cares about peace. And it's all propaganda. We know that that is 100% propaganda. So one other point, the child's brain doesn't finish developing until age 25. And that's the executive function, the prefrontal cortex. And now there's a report saying it doesn't finish developing until age 32. So in this rapid growth and clay type mold and molding situation, the damage that's done during this period is exponential compared to a 40-year-old, say. And when it comes to solutions, you know, everyone's always asking, what can I do, right? You actually have a great toolkit, if you will, or a survival guide, your own book called The Red Tsunami. Give us a sense of what people can do. Give us some hope here. Well, first, and I'm not plugging in the book. The book is not about me. The book is about you, the audience. So number one, get the book into the hands of everybody you can. It's based on counterintelligence, top counterintelligence and other intelligence experts around the world have rung in and endorsed the book. We also quote many of them inside the book. So get the book in your hands, your family's hands, and even people across the aisle that may not see the you do, because it's meant to be the olive branch, the discussion tool to get us talking again, because we're violently apart and against each other, left versus right, right versus left, young against old, you name it. And that's all by design by the Chinese Communist Party and the Russians. And the more that we can start talking and having dialogue again, that really weakens the enemy, which is trying to certainly take us all over. So that's number one. Number two, stop buying. You know, you vote every day with your wallet. Stop buying Chinese goods and services. You know, pay a little bit more for, you know, allied or U.S. made goods. But stop buying Chinese goods and services and stop buying from companies that are heavily invested in China, because you're only accelerating your own destruction and your own demise because they are absolutely at war with you. We've talked about it before. It's called unrestricted war. And it's it's not your government got you here. They're not going to fix this. And in a lot of cases, they are corrupted and they are compromised. Some of our congressmen take Chinese communist money in their reelection packs. And that goes for, you know, Wall Street that loves Chinese money and Chinese markets and so on. And it doesn't matter what the cost is, whether it's our freedom, which it definitely is our freedom and all that. So stop buying Chinese goods and services. The third thing is write your congressman and tell him no more foreign influence. Ban all foreign influence. China doesn't allow any foreign influence. Why do we allow foreign influence here? Foreign influence is for one thing, to destroy your rights as an individual. Foreign influence is just it's against everything we stand for. And again, it's against your human rights and your your your American rights as well. 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 China In Focus at NTD.com. We'd love to hear from you. Around the clock original news coverage. Visit us at NTD.com or download our NTD app. Thanks for watching. See you tomorrow.