Trump Seeks to Delay China Trip, Calls China to Help With Strait of Hormuz | China in Focus

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story. President Trump says he may delay his trip to China as he calls on Beijing to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, the Treasury Secretary hints at what might be holding up the trip. It would be a decision the President made as Commander-in-Chief to stay in the White House or to stay in the United States while this The U.S. and China have resumed trade talks in Paris, discussing tariffs, trade volumes, and a possible new Board of Trade. Officials say the talks aren't constructive as both sides prepare for a potential Trump-Xi summit in Beijing, though the dates may shift. China is ramping up military activity around Taiwan again. Warplanes and ships are back in the area, raising concerns about renewed pressure on the island nation amid the ongoing war in Iran. And a former U.S. Marine and intelligence analyst faces federal charges for allegedly sending top-secret U.S. defense information to two people, including one in China. And before we dive into today's news, here's a message from our 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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Just one day after calling for a team effort on the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump shared his thoughts on the upcoming China trip with the Financial Times. Trump says he wants to hear Beijing's response before his China trip, originally scheduled for the end of the month. But the president hinted he may delay the trip and didn't say for how long. On Monday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant shared more details on a possible delay of Trump's China trip. Take a look. The White House backed Besant's remarks, saying President Trump looks forward to visiting China, but the trip's date may be pushed back. She emphasized Trump's top priority right now is to ensure the success of Operation Epic Fury. China responded the next day, stopping short of saying whether it would send troops, but called on all parties to stop the military operation. According to official data, about 45 percent of China's oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz. The disruption of this key passageway has already raised China's gas prices, despite the country's large oil reserves. Iran's military has essentially closed the Strait amid military operations, threatening to attack any ship that tries to cross. Allied countries are responding to President Trump's call to secure the Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said efforts to reopen and secure the oil route would not be a NATO mission. Instead, he said the work would involve a broad alliance, including Gulf partners, European countries and the U.S. Ultimately, we have to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to ensure stability in the market. That is not a simple task. So we're working with all of our allies, including our European partners, to bring together a viable collective plan that can restore freedom of navigation in the region as quickly as possible. Starmer says the U.K. would not be drawn into a wider war in Iran. He discussed the Strait of Hormuz during phone calls with Trump the night before. The British Prime Minister also met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to discuss the matter. Germany's foreign ministers says NATO has no responsibility regarding the Strait of Hormuz. And EU's foreign ministers will discuss strengthening a naval mission in the region, but expansion to the Strait is not expected. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takeichi said the country has no plan to send naval escort ships. She plans to visit Washington this week for talks with President Trump on the Iran conflict. Meanwhile, South Korea says it will consult closely with the U.S. before making a decision. The U.S. and Chinese delegations resumed trade talks on Monday, which began the day before in Paris. Officials are exploring new managing mechanisms, including a possible U.S.-China Board of Trade. The Paris talks followed several meetings to ease tensions last year in Geneva, London, Stockholm, Madrid and the capital of Malaysia. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessett and Trade Representative Jameson Greer met again with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and Chief Trade Negotiator Li Chenggang. The meetings were very good. We've got a stable relationship. This is our sixth meeting in our economic consultations. The Vice Premier He Lifeng and I have developed great respect for each other. But really, the meetings are generated by the great respect that the two leaders, President Trump, Party Chair Xi, have for each other. Bessett remained tight-lipped on the details of China's Buy American promises, confirming that the trade volumes are being discussed. What we do discuss, exactly as you said, are our purchase commitments from the Chinese. And we also explain to them our new tariff regime and how that would work, the 122 tariffs that were implemented, Section 122, that were implemented right after the Supreme Court ruled against the President's use of IEPA. And we explain the Section 301 studies that Ambassador Greer and USTR will be doing, which should be completed by July. The U.S. has already launched a fresh Section 301 investigation into China. The latest probe targets Beijing's alleged failure to address forced labor practices. The result could trigger a new wave of tariffs in the coming months. China's International Trade Representative expressed serious concern over the move. Despite that, Li described the Paris talks as in-depth, candid and constructive consultations. Meanwhile, the U.S. and China are exploring new ways to manage trade and investment during talks in Paris. One possible body could be called the U.S.-China Board of Trade. According to U.S. Trade Representative Jameson Greer, this body would help identify which goods the U.S. should import from China and which it should export, focusing on areas of mutual benefit. Reuters reported another one might be the Board of Investment, which would address discrete investment issues that may arise between the two countries. The talks are aimed at paving the way for a summit later this month between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. But Trump suggested the trip could be delayed, and White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt confirmed Monday that the dates may be moved. Meanwhile, Beijing says it will remain in communication with the U.S. regarding the planned visit. While the U.S. rolls out military action in Iran, the geopolitical situation in the Western Pacific is also changing. The CCP had regularly sent military aircraft around Taiwan, but those flights paused for more than two weeks, prompting speculation in Taipei. On Sunday, Taiwan reported the return of large-scale Chinese Air Force activities around the island. On Saturday, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense detected 26 Chinese military aircraft and 7 naval vessels near the island. 11 planes crossed the Taiwan Strait median line. From February 27, Chinese military aircraft largely disappeared around Taiwan, with only sporadic small-scale flights. Beijing offered no explanation, fueling speculation in Taipei about its intentions. When I was in the military, before a major exercise or deployment, we would often stand down reducing flights and repairing all weapons and equipment. Only test flights for newly fixed aircraft were allowed. Nothing else flew as we were preparing for deployment, exercises, or potential combat. The reduction of Chinese military flights is mainly political, due to the ongoing two sessions in China and Taiwan's defense budget review. By temporarily cutting or suspending incursions, China is using cross-domain tactics to create the illusion that Taiwan does not need to spend on defense. Some experts say the temporary disappearance could be due to Beijing adjusting its pressure on Taiwan ahead of President Trump's planned March 31 visit, or Xi Jinping's ongoing purge Reporting from Taiwan, Chou Yi-chu, NTD News. A former U.S. Marine in Texas County, Missouri, is facing federal charges after prosecutors say he shared classified national defense information with people who weren't authorized to receive it. One of those messages allegedly went to someone believed to be in China. Seth Chambers was indicted Friday on two counts of willfully transmitting national defense information. Chambers previously worked as a Marine Corps intelligence analyst and later as a civilian contractor in Iraq. Prosecutors say he held a security clearance, allowing him to access highly classified material, including top secret information. According to court documents, Chambers allegedly sent excerpts from classified government documents to two different people. The first was in December 2022, when a white paper containing passages from classified material was sent to someone in Maryland. The second allegedly happened in April 2023, when similar information was sent to someone believed to be in China. If convicted, Chambers faces up to 10 years in federal prison on each count. Two lawmakers are warning that the Trump administration's decision to allow exports of advanced AI chips to China could threaten U.S. national security. On Monday, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congressman Gregory Meeks criticized the Trump administration for approving sales of urging Congress to pass bipartisan legislation to keep advanced American technology out of Beijing's hands. The lawmakers say the chips could be used for military purposes, strengthening China's technological and defense capabilities. The approval follows a decision by President Trump in December to allow limited chip sales to China. Warren and Meeks say they are concerned the move could undermine U.S. economic and national security if stronger safeguards aren't in place. Coming up, arbitrary detention, families torn apart, and torture with electric batons. We take a closer look at the Chinese regime's campaign against Christians. State security agents did not even allow this pastor to take care of his dying mom. More on that after the break here on China In Focus. Welcome back to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. From tearing families apart to torturing Christians with electric batons, we take a closer look at the Chinese regime's campaign against this religious community. American Thought Leader's host Jan Jekielek spoke with Pastor Bob Fu for Insight. Take a look. The reason I am so concerned with the dehumanizing rhetoric ramping up is because that's always sort of a prequel to atrocity crimes. We've seen this phenomenon for those of us that look at crimes against humanity often. There's always that part that happens because basically, even in whatever society, whatever totalitarian dictatorship, most people are not psychopaths and they need to be kind of tricked in their minds into treating someone or a group as less than or other, or maybe they're bad, they're doing bad things, they're harming society. This is how it's always portrayed. Or they're lesser than I am. They're kind of less important. As you pointed out, this is what was done to the Falun Gong in 1999 with massive propaganda being pushed through the system, but also to ethnic minorities, to the Tibetans and Uyghurs in particular, who are kind of demoted in terms of their level of humanity in the rhetoric itself. Can you give me some examples maybe of what you've seen with Christians in this respect? I remember even back to 2002 when I received a stack of handwritten testimonies about torture from mostly a group of Christian ladies who was tortured in a most inhumane nature. Those Christian ladies, I think at least I still have that written form, they use their own blood, finger blood, just fingerprinted, basically testifying how truthful they shared. I mean, from strip off their clothes, totally naked, to eight of the electric sock batons, torturing them from head to toe, including their private parts. One lady even described she was taken to a provincial police academy in a dorm, like four or five policemen, half naked, and basically put her naked and start torturing her with the electric sock batons. She was crying out, basically asking the Lord to take her life. You and I, we know our Christian faith. We rarely heard any Christians would commit suicide. That is doctrinally not even allowed. But she just was tortured so severely, she was asking the Lord to take her life, that she said she would rather to be in the presence of the Lord than being tortured that way. Then, all of a sudden, an electric sock baton was put into her mouth, into her mouth, and she passed out. Then she was taken even to an ER room in a local hospital. Even the hospital nurse started rebuking this policeman and said, what did she do any wrong for this young lady to warrant such a torture against this lady? I also read testimonies like that. One Christian lady, during her interrogation, the interrogator specifically put a piece of paper and wrote a letter to God, like forced her to stoop on the name of God. This is a purposely deliberate destruction of your conscience by force. They tried to remind me, of course, what happened to some Falun Gong practitioners. During the interrogation, they put Mr. Li Hongzhi's name or picture there. Then, I have read testimonies, other testimonies of these Tibetan monks who were forced to do the same thing on the portrait and picture of Dalai Lama, basically to step on and have to shout a slogan like something utter hatred toward their spiritual leader. This kind of treatment is in alignment with the similar Communist Party's ideology and doctrine. I know you have a book coming out, analyzed from the very deep theoretical analysis, why communism in the end is the source of this kind of evil. I've seen, even as recent as just in 2025, when the CCP launched the largest wave of persecution against urban house church movement, like the Zion Church, many of their family members were being mistreated that way too. One of the house church pastors from Zion Church in Beijing, when he was being arrested and put a handcuff, and her mom, who was a very elderly lady, was in front of him and had a heart attack. Even in the most ordinary circumstances, you would let the son at least comfort his mom a little bit who was dying. Those state security agents did not even allow this pastor to take care of his dying mom. Somebody else had to call an ambulance to rescue her in the emergency room in the local hospital. You have seen the family members went to the Beihai City detention center, where the 18 arrested are being held. I think this is happening across the board. 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.