ExclusiveTrump Administration to Launch $12 Billion Rare Earth Stockpile

Welcome to China In Focus, I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story, a historic move to reduce the U.S.'s reliance on China. The Trump administration is launching a $12 billion rarer stockpile. President Trump is welcoming China to buy Venezuelan oil, but only under Washington's rules and with U.S. dollars. How is he giving the U.S. an edge in both energy and currency dominance? Going forward, every barrel of Venezuelan oil China buys will be under U.S. control. Reinforcing the dollar's role in global trade and strengthening the very system Beijing has spent more than a decade trying to dismantle. Germany's foreign minister is visiting Singapore on Monday, drawing a clear line on global ties. Not in equidistance to the United States and China, we will always be closer to the United States. Despite trade tensions and disagreements with the U.S. over Greenland, Germany warns that China still poses risks to Europe's security and economy. And a Chinese military hospital ship blocked Brazilian authorities from an inspection. Now questions are swirling about what the ship was doing there and in 13 other countries. And before we dive into the news, here's a message from today's sponsor. As we report every day, global markets are becoming more uncertain. China's growing economy and growing tensions with the U.S. are reshaping the financial landscape. And China is buying gold at record rates to diversify its foreign reserves and decrease its reliance on the U.S. dollar. It isn't just countries that can use gold to protect their wealth, it's individuals as well. That's why we believe in protecting what's real. Physical gold and silver from American Hartford Gold offer stability when markets turn unpredictable. Unlike paper assets, these are tangible stores of value that have weathered economic turmoil, political instability and inflation for centuries. 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The $12 billion initiative is called Project Vault. $10 billion of it will be financed by a loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank, while another $1.67 billion will come from private capital. The Trump administration said the move is aimed at reducing U.S. reliance on communist China. It will stabilize prices for private companies and serve civilian needs rather than serving just the defense industrial base. Rare earth minerals are critical components in manufacturing everything from cars to semiconductors, fighter jets and phones. China currently dominates the world's rare earth supply chain with 70 percent of the mining and 90 percent of the processing. President Trump's move came after the Chinese regime threatened to restrict its rare earth export last year. A dozen companies are on board with the project, including General Motors, Boeing and Google. Rare earth stocks soared after the news broke out. And in Japan on Monday, they successfully retrieved rare earth-rich seabed mud from a depth of about four miles for the first time. The mud is believed to contain four rare earth metals that are used in electric vehicles and a variety of high-tech products. The U.S. is welcoming China to buy Venezuelan oil, but only under Washington's playbook and with dollars. President Trump reiterated the message on Saturday aboard Air Force One. Take a look. You know, we welcome China. We've already made a deal. Despite U.S. sanctions, around 80 percent of Venezuelan oil was sent to China last year with heavy discounts. But all that changed after the U.S. captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, along with naval crackdowns on the shadow fleet transporting Venezuelan oil. As a result, China received no Venezuelan crude in January. But this doesn't mean China will never get any oil from Venezuela. As Trump seeks to rebuild Venezuela's economy and boost sales of both U.S. and Venezuela's oil exports, China comes into play. Here's what President Trump said when he met with oil executives earlier last month. Watch. I assume you agree that China would like to be doing a lot of business there by buying oil. And I want to just tell President Xi and President Putin, but more so in this case President Xi, because they do need a lot of oil and we are open for business in the United States and we are open for business in Venezuela. Right? In terms of oil, like, you know, few people have ever seen, actually. So you're dealing with us directly. You're not dealing with Venezuela at all. We don't want you to deal with Venezuela. Some experts say Trump's approach goes beyond boosting the U.S.'s energy leverage. They believe it also serves as a strategy to support the dollar's stability. China affairs analyst Dr. Jason Ma, who has worked with NTD for years, sheds light on the matter. Going forward, every barrel of Venezuelan oil China buys will be under U.S. control, reinforcing the dollar's role in global trade and strengthening the very system Beijing has spent more than a decade trying to dismantle. The Chinese Communist Party has long sought to replace the U.S. dollars with Chinese currency, the renminbi, through economic forms like BRICS. China, Russia, Iran and Venezuela have been trading oil and other commodities with renminbi and other currencies, sidestepping U.S. sanctions as a result. China has recently removed its top general and shaken up its military leadership. On Saturday, President Trump weighed in on the developments. As far as I'm concerned, there's one boss in China, that's President Xi. That's the president. Are there any concerns about stability? I think President Xi is the boss. I watch it very closely. He's highly respected in China. He's the boss. Zhang Youxia, China's top general and Xi's second in command, was put under investigation about a week ago. Liu Zhenli, chief of staff of the commission's joint staff department, was also under investigation. Their purge was a surprise as the two are members of China's highest-ranking military decision-making body. Now the seven-member body is left with only Xi and one other general. The rest have all been ousted. Authorities accused Zhang and Liu of corruption and challenging the governing structure of China's military. In communist China, these allegations usually refer to people Xi Jinping deems as threats to his rule. It's the highest-profile purge to date of senior military leaders in decades. Zhang's purge was unusually fast. It took less than two weeks from him disappearing from the public view to the official announcement. It usually takes the regime months or years to oust an official at a senior-level position. Zhang Youxia is commonly seen as opposing Xi Jinping's plan to make the Chinese army ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. As someone with real combat experience, Zhang believes China needs more time to catch up to the U.S. military. After his purge, China tightened control over fuel supplies last week, a critical component of combat readiness. Taiwan responded with air force and naval drills. Germany's foreign minister is rejecting the idea of balancing between the U.S. and China. In Singapore, he sent a clear message. Berlin will always be closer to Washington than Beijing and warns against embracing China despite strains with the U.S. China is still the same body and the Chinese system is still the same and the goals are the same and the threats for us for the international rules-based order and for our economy are still the same. Then running with open arms to President Xi and saying all the problems vanished in this very moment and we are only heading to become your big partner, this would be the wrong answer, I would say. Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadepohl said on Monday during a visit to Singapore that despite disagreements with Washington over tariffs and Greenland, the United States remains Germany's and Europe's most important ally. I would reiterate that still the United States is the most important partner to Europe and to Germany. Still our security for Europe depends on the United States. Wadepohl has drawn a clear line not just on global ties but also on the Taiwan Strait. During a visit to Japan last August, he criticized China for repeatedly threatening to unilaterally change the status quo. He stressed that the United Nations Charter's ban on the use of force applies equally to the Taiwan Strait. And in an interview last October, he described the Taiwan Strait as a vital global trade route, warning that any military conflict there would have serious consequences for the global economy. Wadepohl also emphasized that Germany defines its own one-China policy, not Beijing. China strongly condemned those remarks and the German Foreign Minister's planned visit to China later that month was canceled, citing schedule conflicts. When Wadepohl did visit China in December, he urged Beijing to ease export restrictions on rare earths and semiconductors. He also called on China to use its influence with Russia to help end the war in Ukraine. This trip marks Wadepohl's first visit to Singapore since taking office. He has been pushing for the European Union to expand free trade agreements with Asia-Pacific partners. After his Singapore trip, he will travel to New Zealand and Australia. What has a Chinese military hospital ship been doing while visiting 14 countries across the Pacific and South America? Questions intensified in Brazil, one of its stops, after local health authorities were blocked from inspecting the ship. They were there to investigate the allegation that the Chinese ship provided medical service to locals without authorities' permission. Brazil's top health agency was blocked from inspecting the ship. A consultant was blocked too. He went there to investigate on behalf of state-level Brazilian authorities. He told the Epoch Times that the Chinese council, along with several Chinese military personnel, blocked him from inspecting the ship. The consultant said Brazil doesn't need humanitarian aid since there are enough doctors in Rio de Janeiro where the ship was docked. Chinese authorities said the ship didn't provide medical care. Worth noting, the ship was on a tour visiting 14 countries from Micronesia to Latin America. Before arriving in Brazil, Chinese state media said the ship had provided medical treatment to more than 21,000 patients in countries including Fiji, Nicaragua and Jamaica. Evan Ellis is a Latin American research professor at U.S. Army War College. He told the Epoch Times that the Chinese ship may have been conducting intelligence gathering. Coming up, a Grammy for the Dalai Lama and sharp criticism from China. What's behind the controversy? A recent report reveals Chinese crime organizations laundering billions through cryptocurrency schemes last year. And the Pentagon's latest defense strategy, building strength at home while keeping a close eye on China. An expert breaks it down. We're going to have a defense industrial base. We're going to have an economy that can take on China, get away from these dependencies. More on that after the break here on China In Focus. Welcome back to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. The Dalai Lama took home his first Grammy over the weekend for his audio book, Meditations, the Reflections of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. China pushed back on Monday, calling the award a political stunt. The country says it opposes the use of international awards to spread anti-China politics. The Dalai Lama has lived in exile in India since 1959 after the Chinese communist regime seized control of Tibet. Many see him as Tibet's spiritual leader who's calling for more self-rule from China. The Chinese regime governs Tibet as an autonomous region, but faces repeated accusations of trying to erase Tibetan language, culture, and identity. And a viewer of China In Focus wrote to us wanting to know more about resources in Tibet. Tibet is home to salt lakes that hold some of the world's largest lithium reserves. Lithium is a key element in batteries for electric vehicles, phones, and laptops. Some Chinese companies moved into Tibet to get a hold of this metal, facing opposition from locals concerned about environmental damages. Lithium isn't a rare earth mineral, but Chinese scientists say Tibet may hold significant potential for rare earths. However, mineral development there is limited by environmental and geological factors. A new report is highlighting the massive scale of Chinese crypto-based money laundering. Chain Analysis, a firm that tracks cryptocurrency transactions, estimates those groups move more than $16 billion in illicit funds through crypto. It made up a significant share of the global illegal crypto economy last year. In a report released Tuesday, Chain Analysis says Chinese money laundering networks were responsible for nearly 20 percent of all illegal crypto activity last year. That works out to about $44 million a day. A lot of this activity is coordinated on Telegram, where private chat groups advertise laundering services. Cryptocurrency remains appealing because it allows money to move across borders quickly, and it has less regulations compared to traditional banks. But experts say it's just one layer of a broader laundering operation. Many of these networks also move money through legitimate-looking businesses like casinos, where inflated revenue can disguise criminal activity. Since at least 2022, Southeast Asia has become a major hub for these operations. Countries like Cambodia and Myanmar have seen an increase in casinos and scam centers tied to organized crime. They usually operate in areas with less regulations and more corrupt local officials. The Pentagon released its latest defense strategy last week, which renews the goal of building strength at home while keeping a close eye on China. The approach has drawn some criticism in reports and from some members of Congress who say it downplays the China threat. To discuss it, NTD's Arlene Richards was joined by retired U.S. Marine Colonel Grant Newsham. He's a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy and author of When China Attacks, A Warning to America. Take a look. My reading of this latest strategy is to put equal emphasis on building strength in the homeland and deterring China. But some critics view this approach as being soft on China. So what's your take on the latest report when it comes to deterring the Chinese Communist Party? Well, these reports usually leave most people a little bit unhappy. They don't get what they want. They don't see the language they want. They think the priorities go somewhere else. But if you read it closely, what it's calling for is dealing with China from a position of strength and taking on China out in the so-called first island chain—that's the Western Pacific, from Japan to Taiwan to the Philippines and down to Malaysia. And it is ultimately saying, look, we want to get along with China. We want a decent peace with them. But we are going to deal with them from a position of strength, and we're going to have a military that can do it. But as importantly, we're going to have a defense industrial base. We're going to have an economy that can take on China, get away from these dependencies. So it doesn't say a few things that it might have. It doesn't mention Taiwan, for example. It doesn't mention that China is conducting political warfare beyond the first island chain all the way to Latin America. But it does get the basics right. Now, this plan emphasizes what it says matters most to Americans, and this includes security, freedom and prosperity. But to achieve those goals, the document says it requires building up American defenses and neutralizing threats. So what is President Trump's strategy for seeking respectful relations with China while keeping a clear eye on its goals toward global dominance? Well, that's one of the paradoxes of this, and it may be unsolvable, is that the report talks about having a decent peace, not strangling, not humiliating China, not seeking regime change, and really to reach a peace that China can live with in the Asia Pacific and elsewhere. But the problem is that while the Americans may want that and think it's reasonable, well, that's not China's objective. China's objective is to dominate and ultimately to drive us out of the Asia Pacific region for starters. But the idea is to offer China a deal. And if they don't take it, we're going to be ready to deal with them if necessary. It talks about strength without confrontation. But to the Chinese, anytime one shows strength or an effort to defend themselves, that is confrontation from their perspective. So I'm not sure exactly how this can work out. But some of the language in the NDS is a little bit too conciliatory, in my opinion. And it does talk about restarting or having solid military-to-military engagement and communications with the Chinese. And that has been tried for a long, long time, and it really hasn't produced anything of use. The Chinese understand us, and they understand what we're trying to do. And the idea that somehow they just don't understand America, I think that's missing the boat. But in some ways, an American conceit that if people just talk to us, they might come to like us. But that said, the basics of this report are pretty good, in my opinion. Now, speaking of things that have been tried for a long, long time, Air and Space Forces Magazine reports that past presidents made efforts to pivot their focus from Europe and the Middle East to China. Now, how were their strategies toward China different from what Trump is doing now? Well, the Obama administration, they're the ones who started the pivot. And that was really just a way to distinguish themselves from George Bush and his so-called forever wars in the Middle East. There was actually no substance at all to the pivot. The Obama administration proved to be extremely weak when it came to dealing with China. The Biden administration was slightly better. But at the same time, it didn't really push China very much or nearly as much as it should have. You remember the dressing down Jake Sullivan, Tony Blinken, and Kurt Campbell took in Anchorage, Alaska, when Chinese diplomats lectured them fiercely for half an hour. And they just sat there and took it. And that kind of typified the fundamental Biden administration approach, although they did do some good things when it came to trade restrictions, etc. But the Trump administration is one that understands the China threat very well. You saw how the first Trump administration dealt with China. It was the first one ever to take on China with any sort of backbone. This time around, they're doing it a little bit differently. But there is an effort to do things China doesn't like. And that includes building up the military. You saw President Trump talk about the Golden Fleet. It's not mentioned in the report, unfortunately. And there is some talk of actually rebuilding the U.S. Navy, having a strong military, but also getting to the revitalization of America's industrial base, which is essential, and the importance of the economic strength when it comes to dealing with China. And if President Trump could, I think we'd have seen a much stronger approach taken to China. But the Chinese are playing their rare earth chokehold that they've got over U.S. industry and other dependencies, such as pharmaceuticals. And that has really forced Mr. Trump to back off more than he would like. But he is, once again, he's doing things that China doesn't like. And for one thing, for example, he's also talking about America's allies having to do more for their own defense. China does not want to see America with capable allies who are able to operate with us and who are able to defend themselves. So he, as I say, he's carrying on from his first term, doing it a little bit differently. And a couple other things. He's gone after Venezuela. He's gone after Iran. If he goes after Cuba, these are things which really hurt and embarrass the People's Republic of China. 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 chinainfocusintd.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.