Trump: The Seized Iranian Ship Has ’A Gift From China’ | China in Focus

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story. President Trump tells CNBC what was found on the seized Iranian ship from China. He appears to be expressing renewed frustration with Beijing. We caught a ship yesterday that had some things on it which wasn't very nice, a gift from China. Taiwan's president has canceled a planned Africa visit after several countries denied overflight access. The island nation says China pressured them to block the route. NATO is slamming Russia and China over their nuclear weapons policies, accusing Beijing of a secret arms race and Moscow of making reckless threats. Japan can export advanced weapons to other countries for the first time since World War II. It's a major boost for other countries in the Indo-Pacific region seeking to counter Beijing's military threats. And as Apple transitions to a new CEO, we take a look back at Tim Cook's legacy, his strategy deep in ties with China driving growth but also creating long-term risks. The stakes are high following the seizure of an Iranian vessel that had traveled from China. President Trump responded Tuesday when asked about what was on board the ship. His comments come just a day after Beijing said it was concerned over the U.S. seizure of the vessel. NTD's Flora Huang has the latest. President Trump dropping a bombshell message during his interview with CNBC on Tuesday sharing the latest U.S. findings on the seized Iranian ship. We caught a ship yesterday that had some things on it which wasn't very nice, a gift from China perhaps, I don't know. But I was a little surprised because I have a very good relationship and I thought I had an understanding with President Xi. The vessel in question is an Iranian cargo ship named the Toast Cup. Suncom said the ship attempted to move through the U.S. blockade despite being given repeated warnings to turn back. But it did not comply. U.S. forces intercepted the vessel and took it into custody. Now what the president shared is from an ongoing U.S. investigation. The Toast Cup raises multiple red flags. First, it is part of an Iranian state-owned shipping company sanctioned by the U.S., Britain and the EU. The countries say vessels under this company help facilitate Iran's illicit activities. And more notably, the Toast Cup frequently visits China. Maritime data shows the ship spent much of last year sailing back and forth between China and Iran. Most recently, it made stops at two major transport cities at the end of March, Shanghai and Zhuhai City, especially the Golan Port in Zhuhai City, a major hub for heavy industry and liquid chemical storage. That includes precursors used to make solid rocket fuel for ballistic missiles. China responded Monday, saying it is concerned over the U.S. seizure. But it didn't say what the vessel was carrying when it left China. President Trump said days ago that Chinese regime leader Xi Jinping had given him assurances that China is not supplying weapons to Iran. I mean, you're seeing it all over the place to Iran that China is giving weapons. And I wrote him a letter asking him not to do that. And he wrote me a letter saying that essentially he's not doing that. And just before that, President Trump threatened 50 percent tariffs on China if it's found to be doing otherwise. The military conflict in the Middle East is putting Iran-China ties in the spotlight. Last week, reports emerged that a Chinese spy satellite likely helped Iran monitor and potentially target U.S. military assets in the region. And earlier, CNN intelligence reporting says China was preparing to send Iran shoulder-fired missiles amid the war. Flora Hua, NDT News. Despite no official confirmation from Iran as of Tuesday afternoon, another round of peace talks is expected before the ceasefire expires Wednesday evening. President Trump says military operations would likely resume if no deal is reached in the upcoming talks. Taiwan's president has canceled a planned trip to Africa, accusing China of pressuring countries along his flight route to block him. President Lai Ching-de says he called off this week's visit to Eswatini. Several African nations on Tuesday had suddenly denied his aircraft permission to fly through their airspace. Here's what Taiwan's presidential office said about the situation. This type of behavior, using coercive, means unprecedented in the international community to force third countries to alter their sovereign decisions. Not only impacts flight safety and violates relevant international regulations and conventions, but also constitutes an open interference in another country's internal affairs, undermines the regional status quo, and further hurts the feelings of the Taiwanese people. Taiwan says Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar revoked those overflight approvals without warning. It believes China pressured them to do it, possibly with threats of economic sanctions, including revoking debt relief. All three countries notably owe significant debt to China tied to trade and infrastructure deals. Eswatini is one of only 12 countries that still maintains formal ties with Taiwan. Lai was said to attend a major royal anniversary event there. He also criticized what he called China's suppressive actions. Lai says they highlight the risks authoritarian governments pose to global stability, while stating Taiwan won't be isolated. The Chinese Communist Party hasn't commented on the canceled trip, but continues to claim Taiwan as its territory despite never having ruled it. Meanwhile, China is signaling a deeper push into Africa. Chinese leader Xi Jinping says Beijing is willing to work with African nations to address spillover effects from the Middle East conflict. NATO is stepping up its criticism of Russia and China over their nuclear weapons policies, urging both countries to work with the U.S. to improve stability and transparency. The North Atlantic Council released a statement Monday backing Washington's position on nuclear arms. It also criticized Moscow's rhetoric and Beijing's rapid nuclear buildup. In the statement, NATO said, quote, Russia has violated crucial arms control commitments and employed irresponsibly threatening nuclear rhetoric. China continues to rapidly expand and diversify its nuclear arsenal without transparency. The alliance also pointed out that both countries are strengthening ties with nations that pursue nuclear weapons programs. For the exact size of each country's arsenal remains classified. Estimates from the Federation of American Scientists put Russia at about 4,400 nuclear warheads, the United States at roughly 3,700, and China at around 620. The Pentagon's latest annual report on China's military power says Beijing is undergoing the fastest expansion of its nuclear arsenal in its history. It adds that growth rates are exceeding earlier U.S. estimates and that transparency remains extremely limited. U.S. officials project that China could field more than a thousand deployable nuclear warheads by 2030 and potentially reach around 1,500 by 2035. At the same time, U.S. Strategic Command has repeatedly warned in public hearings that China's nuclear buildup is changing the global strategic balance. It says this places the United States in an era where it must deter two nuclear peer competitors simultaneously. This comes ahead of next week's United Nations review conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Rising global tensions and the future of arms control are expected to take center stage. The question is whether this unified NATO stance will push Beijing and Moscow closer to the negotiating table with the U.S. Japan scrapped a ban on lethal weapons exports Tuesday, including warships, missiles and other weapons. It marks a shift in the country's post-war pacifist policy. The first major deal is that Australia has signed contracts to buy Japanese military ships for $7 billion and China is not happy about the agreement. Here's more on that. Japan is scrapping restrictions on its exports of weapons. The move marks a big step away from the pacifist restraints that have shaped its post-war security policy. It's also meant to give a big boost to the country's defence industrial base. Companies like Mitsubishi Heavy Industries can build complex weapons systems including submarines, fighter aircraft and missiles. But for decades they've had to rely on one customer, Japan's self-defence forces. Now overseas sales could help such companies build revenue, cut costs and boost capacity. The changes approved by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government retain a commitment to strict screening, controls on transfers to third countries and a ban on sales to nations involved in conflict. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara set out the changes on Tuesday. Today no country can safeguard its own peace and security on its own. To protect both national and regional peace, it is important to further promote the transfer of defence equipment and strengthen the deterrence and response capabilities of allies and like-minded partners. Japan is already taking steps to bolster its military, increasing its spending and buying missiles, jets and drones to deter any threat from China. It's also developing a next generation jet fighter with Britain and Italy for deployment in the mid-2030s. Beijing responded to Japan's move, saying the international community should stay vigilant against Japan's re-militarization. China is working on new charging technology for drones, one that could keep them in the air far longer by beaming energy to them from the ground. Chinese researchers have tested a system that sends power to drones while they are flying. In demonstrations, it kept drones airborne for hours, even as both the drone and charging system were moving. The goal is to reduce reliance on batteries. The technology is still in early stages. Tests showed significant energy loss, with most power not reaching the drone, and unstable performance. The U.S. and other countries are also exploring similar ideas, including laser and radio-based systems. The campaign of transnational repression is raising concerns in Canada. Lawmakers hearing testimony on Monday that the Chinese Communist Party is targeting the Falun Gong spiritual group beyond China's borders. NTD's Daniel Monaghan has the key takeaways. Testimonies in the Canadian Parliament about the Chinese regime's escalating suppression beyond China's borders. Combining this information, lawfare and the hoax bomb threat targeting Shen Yun and Falun Gong. In Canada alone, 20 hoax bomb and shooting threats in two years, among over 270 violent threats worldwide. Speaking to members of Parliament, the national coordinator of the Falun Dafa Association of Canada saying two leaked Chinese Communist Party documents reveal CCP leader Xi Jinping directly ordered a new coordinated campaign in 2022 to suppress the spiritual practice Falun Gong globally. Shen Yun Performing Arts is a classical Chinese dance company based in New York. It was founded by leading classical Chinese artists who practiced the spiritual discipline to revive China's traditional culture. Parliament member Fred Davies says Shen Yun is one of the most popular shows in North America. I believe it performed at the National Arts Center here in Ottawa for 19 straight years, but it has been canceled. The evolution of the threats against the show. But six of eight scheduled performances in Toronto were recently canceled after threats were sent to the Four Seasons Center for the Performing Arts despite police determining the threats were not credible. In Vancouver, similar threats were reported, but the shows went ahead. Falun Dafa Association senior researcher Maria Chong says the CCP's transnational repression against Falun Gong is a sustained global campaign. What is happening on Canadian soil is a direct encroachment on sovereignty, democratic values, and fundamental freedoms. Falun Gong is a spiritual practice centered on the principles of truth, compassion, and forbearance practiced in over 100 countries. In 1999, the CCP launched a systematic campaign to eradicate it due to its popularity. For 27 years, the CCP has deployed a full spectrum of transnational repression against the Falun Gong community worldwide, including disinformation, surveillance, intimidation, harassment, assault, political manipulation, pressure on groups and institutions that work with the community, cyber attacks, and threats to family members in China. Witnesses say without consequences, the transnational repression campaign is likely to continue. Daniel Monaghan, NTD News. Coming up, as Apple transitions to a new CEO, we take a look back at Tim Cook's legacy. His strategy deepened ties with China, driving growth, but also creating long-term risks. And in the world of smart devices, there are more components that can pose national security risks than many realize. And even the parts that connect these devices are now under scrutiny. An expert weighs in. More on that after the break here on China In Focus. Welcome back to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. As Apple prepares for a leadership transition, we look at Tim Cook's legacy and Apple's longstanding ties to China. The company says longtime hardware chief John Ternus will succeed Cook as CEO while Cook moves into an executive chairman role. During his 15 years at the top, Cook reshaped Apple by tying it closely to China, both as its manufacturing hub and one of its biggest markets. When he took over in 2011, Apple was already heavily reliant on Chinese factories. That shift had begun in the early 2000s when Cook was serving as Apple's COO and helped move much of the company's production to China. Large-scale manufacturing was faster and easier to scale due to cheap labor and parts. But it also created massive supply chain dependence on Beijing. At the same time, Tim Cook expanded Apple's footprint inside China's market. But that growth came with trade-offs. To maintain access, Apple had to navigate trade tensions between Washington and Beijing. It also made deals in China that put users' cloud data under state-linked companies and limited some features to follow Beijing's laws. That raised concerns about data privacy and government access to sensitive information. Tim Cook took a diplomatic approach in Beijing while lobbying U.S. officials to shield Apple's supply chain from tariffs and trade restrictions. Supporters say his actions made Apple one of the world's most valuable companies in America. Critics argue he left the company exposed, both economically and politically, as tensions between the U.S. and China continue to rise. As the world modernizes with automation and AI, from smart appliances in the home to smart factories with cranes and forklifts, a new security risk is emerging. Electronic parts called cellular modules help connect these devices to the internet. A new report by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy says two Chinese companies control almost half of the global market share for these modules. They say this could potentially give the Chinese communist regime a backdoor into homes, power grids, ports, hospitals, transportation networks and ship-to-shore cranes. To explore the risk and the solutions, NTD Securities was joined by Rick De La Torre, a retired CIA senior operations officer. He's also the CEO and founder of Tower Strategy. Rick, it's good to see you. Thank you for joining. How embedded are these two Chinese companies? We have Q-Satel and Fibocom in the U.S. Extremely embedded. See, what we're talking about here are small embedded cellular modules, and these are chips that are built into everyday devices across the United States, not just phones, but routers, industrial equipment, logistic systems, backup communications, even parts of our own U.S. critical infrastructure. So with these modules, what they can do is they connect directly to the cellular networks, the cellular towers, much like our mobile phones do, and that means they can transmit data independently, sometimes without the operator even realizing that it's happening. So on its face, that sounds like a technical issue, and it's really not. It's a national security issue because under Chinese law, companies are required to cooperate with state intelligence services, and that's not theoretical. That's written into their own legal framework. And Rick, I want to understand, is this technology bidirectional in that certainly it sounds like it has the ability to send back a signal, but could it transmit a signal that might render any of those things we were discussing compromised? Right. So I think you have to accept that when you have Chinese manufactured components embedded inside U.S. systems, you have to assume that those systems could be accessed, they could be monitored, they could be leveraged whenever Beijing decides to do so. And that creates three very real risks. Well, the first one is surveillance, right, where they can collect and transmit data. The second one is access. Those modules can be compromised or designed with hidden capabilities that they can act as entry points into other networks. And the third is disruption. And you can imagine in a crisis scenario, those same components could be used to interfere with communications or infrastructure. And we've already seen warning signs of this with the Chinese. We know that there are Chinese-built equipment that keeps showing up in the U.S. port systems with unexpected communications capabilities. And Rick, I was hoping you could refresh our audience on the situation that happened years ago with Huawei and ZTE. There was bipartisan support to rid those companies from having a substantial presence in the U.S., particularly with any government devices. But how did that come about, and how would you assess the effectiveness of that exercise of removing those two Chinese companies, Huawei and ZTE? Extremely difficult. I mean, everyone knows about Huawei. That's certainly one, and to a lesser extent, ZTE. But these chips and chip technologies are very persistent, very pervasive throughout the entire supply chain of manufacturers. These chips can be used in everything from toys and toasters to washing machines and then in military and industrial applications that are critical. It's really hard. So sometimes the real challenge isn't what's coming, but it's what's already here. These components are already embedded across these systems. They're in the supply chain. They've been there for years. And when you focus on what's the cost of trying to remove those, it can be rather extensive. But how can you put a cost sometimes on national security? So this is a long-term strategic problem, and it's something that we've got to fix and we've got to get done right. How would you propose going about fixing it? Well, I think the administration has been doing a good job through its executive orders and through other legislation, some states too, like the state of Florida is another one, taking a focus on Chinese manufactured goods that do have implications in national security and framing out that not just China, but really no foreign country, especially adversarial countries, should have their components, their products built into US critical systems. Very few countries actually follow that path. I can assure you there aren't many American-made components in computer systems and cell phones being used in critical structures within China. So why would we want to have that here in our country? So luckily, a lot of the IP and technology that powers the world in this area, not just in cellular communication chips, but in logic chips and passive electromechanical components, most of them are made here or were designed here, excuse me, in the United States. We just need to bring that manufacturing either back here to the United States or near shore them with allied countries where we can have a better control over the supply chain. Well, thanks for sharing your insights with us, Rick de la Torre. As I tell my kids, don't presume you have privacy if you're using an electronic device. 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 chinainfocusatntd.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.