ExclusiveQuad to Spend $20 Billion on Cooperation to Counter China | China in Focus

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Kevin Hogan, and for Tiffany Meyer, our top story. The U.S., Australia, India, and Japan are bolstering their cooperation to counter China, more on their $20 billion plan to secure critical minerals, energy, and maritime security. Taiwan is tracking a second Chinese military patrol around the island in just one week, calling Beijing the main source of instability in the region. A historic naval shift in Seoul, South Korea announces plans for its first-ever nuclear-powered submarines aimed at countering threats from the North. And an American journalist who's lived in China for more than a decade is now facing a U.S. criminal charge accused of acting as an unregistered agent for Beijing. Critical minerals, energy, and maritime security are key areas where Indo-Pacific powers are stepping up efforts to counter China. Here are the major announcements from Tuesday's meeting of foreign ministers from the U.S., Australia, India, and Japan, the group known as the Quad. The first is the launch of the Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Corporation initiative, which is going to leverage each of our country's surveillance capabilities in the Indo-Pacific to enhance information sharing. Related to that is also the expansion of the Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness Initiative, which provides and can provide near real-time commercial maritime domain awareness data to countries throughout the Indo-Pacific. Sixty percent of global maritime trade passes through the Indo-Pacific. The Quad also said they remain concerned about the situation in the East China Sea and the South China Sea. In those waters, China has been turning disputed coral reefs into artificial islands and arming them with missile systems, raising tensions with neighboring countries. Chinese vessels have also sprayed water cannons at Filipino ships and entered disputed waters near Japan. Energy was also a top priority during the meeting. And we know the consequences for our region of the Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz and what that means for our energy security, for our economies, and for our people. Rubio said the Quad will roll out an initiative aimed at securing a stable energy supply for the Indo-Pacific. Through this initiative, the partners will work to identify areas of cooperation in technology and management and policy and international market analysis and emergency response exercises. Japan has released oil from its strategic reserves to ease shortages. Australia has also turned to countries like Singapore to shore up supplies. Meanwhile, as the Quad meeting unfolded, China said cooperation between countries should not target third parties. The Quad is spending big to address key challenges tied to China. The group plans to invest $20 billion to secure critical mineral supply chains. The U.S. and India have signed a pact to strengthen rare earth supply chains. We'll announce the Quad Critical Minerals Framework, which will guide each of us to leverage economic policy tools and coordinated investment to strengthen critical mineral supply chains, including in mining and processing and in critical minerals recycling. The problem is especially severe for Japan, as China has halted exports of certain rare earth products amid diplomatic tensions. These minerals are critical for defense and semiconductor production. And for the first time, the Quad will also work together on a port infrastructure project. The partners plan to work with Fiji to upgrade port infrastructure across the Pacific Islands. Escalating tensions in the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan says it's tracking a second Chinese joint combat readiness patrol around the island in just one week, calling Beijing the main source of instability in the region. Here's a Taiwan defense ministry official speaking on the situation Tuesday. Based on our understanding, China's joint combat readiness patrol has already ended, and we are able to keep track of all related developments. In addition, the Chinese Liaoning aircraft carrier is currently operating in the western Pacific, and we are continuously utilizing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to monitor its activities. Taiwan's defense ministry says it detected 29 Chinese military aircraft and seven naval vessels operating near the island. It says most of the flights cross the median line in the Taiwan Strait. That line is an unofficial boundary in the Taiwan Strait that separates Chinese and Taiwanese military activity. Taiwanese officials say it's the second such patrol in a week. It comes shortly after the Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, where Taiwan was discussed. Over the weekend, China deployed more than 100 ships around the first island chain, an area that stretches from Japan through Taiwan and down to the Philippines. The Chinese regime continues to claim Taiwan as part of its territory, despite never having ruled it. Taiwan's president has rejected Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying only its people can decide the nation's future. South Korea has unveiled an initial road map for developing nuclear-powered submarines. The Ministry of National Defense expects the first launch in the mid-2030s. The submarine will use low-enriched uranium fuel. It will be developed and built in South Korea. Nuclear propulsion would allow the new submarines to stay underwater much longer and provide greater mobility than existing submarines. The nuclear-powered submarine, which will be built on the basis of a strong South Korea-U.S. alliance, is a symbol of our will to take responsibility for peace and security on the Korean Peninsula. On Tuesday, South Korea's Ministry of National Defense published the basic plan for the development of nuclear-powered submarines in the Republic of Korea. Last October, President Trump announced that he had signed off on a plan for South Korea to build nuclear-powered submarines with some of the vessels to be built in the U.S. The restoration of wartime operational control is a core element of independent national defense and will be an opportunity to further underscore South Korea's status as the principal defender of the Korean Peninsula. Going forward, we will finalize a detailed road map for the restoration of wartime operational control, including the timing of the transition, through close consultations between South Korea and the United States. Seoul has been countering North Korea's submarine-launched nuclear and missile threats for some time. It has also sought to join an elite group of nations operating nuclear-powered submarines in a move that could reshape Asia's security landscape. On Tuesday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea fired several projectiles, including at least one short-range ballistic missile, toward waters off the country's west coast. The missile flew roughly 50 miles. Turning now to the Middle East, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that a deal with Iran could still be days away. His comments come just a day after U.S. forces carried out defensive strikes in southern Iran. I think like anything with something like this, it's going to take a couple of days to settle on even down to the disagreements over a word, sentence. So we'll have to work through that. On board his plane, Rubio spoke to reporters a day after U.S. forces carried out what Washington called defensive strikes in southern Iran. The straits have to be open. They're going to be open wherever they are. So they need to be open. What's happening there is unlawful, it's illegal, it's unsustainable for the world, it's unacceptable. Despite a ceasefire in place since early April, U.S. Central Command said on Monday it had carried out fresh strikes designed to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces. Meanwhile, Iranian news agencies reported that Iran had shot down a hostile stealth drone using a new air defense system. The U.S. attacks came as Iran's top negotiator and its foreign minister were in Doha for talks on a potential deal with the U.S. to end the three-month conflict. Citing a Middle East diplomatic source, Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported that the U.S. and Iran were discussing a plan to open the strait about 30 days after reaching a deal to end hostilities. President Donald Trump on Monday posted on Truth Social that talks are progressing, but warned it will be, quote, a great deal for all or no deal at all. Tensions remain high across the region, with Israel saying it will intensify strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon. The fighting between Israel and Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon is intensifying again. The latest clashes are threatening to end a temporary ceasefire between the two sides. NTD's international correspondent Arian Pasdar has the latest. Smoke is seen rising into the sky above southern Lebanon on Tuesday, as Israel strikes Hezbollah targets along a strategic river. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday instructed his military to intensify strikes against Hezbollah targets. This after the terrorist group kept attacking Israeli positions as well as sending fighters and weapons into southern Lebanon despite a temporary ceasefire. The Lebanese government thus appealed to Hezbollah to stop the attacks and respect the ceasefire agreement. In response, the terrorist group called on the Lebanese people to take to the streets and overthrow Lebanon's government. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday saying Hezbollah's actions are reckless. The problem is not Lebanon and Israel, the problem is Hezbollah. Just last night, Hezbollah put out a statement calling for the overthrow of the Lebanese government. And it just reminds you of who you're dealing with here, by the way, an Iranian proxy, 100 percent Iranian proxy. Israel always has a right to protect itself. Every country in the world does. And so if Hezbollah is going to launch missiles or launches missiles at them, Israel has every right to respond to that or to prevent that from happening. Before the renewed strikes, the Israeli military issued multiple warnings in Arabic urging Lebanese residents in certain areas to evacuate before the attacks. Arian Pasdar, NTD News. And a quick update on the U.S. blockade against Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. Central Command reports that as of Tuesday, 108 commercial vessels in total have been redirected, blocked from entering or exiting Iranian ports. That's up from 97 last Friday. This is part of ongoing U.S. efforts to pressure Iran economically in the broader conflict. U.S. launches strikes in southern Iran. Targets included missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to place mines, according to CENTCOM. Iran says the United States has violated the ceasefire. The U.S. says because it was defensive in nature, it was not a violation. On the topic, my colleague Don Ma spoke with Thomas Speciale earlier on Tuesday. He's a former senior advisor to the DNI on counterintelligence and security and former senior intelligence collection strategist for domestic extremism at the National Counterterrorism Center. Take a look. Iran says the United States violated the ceasefire. The U.S. says it was defensive in nature, so it's not a violation. Can you give us your take here, Thomas? Yeah, I think it's important to be very clear that these were Iranian small boats. Their Navy's been, for all intents and purposes, completely decimated except for these small Iranian speed boats that potentially throw mines into the water. We've been planning for this type of thing for many, many, many years. I think the other important thing to remember is that whoever the people that the administration is negotiating with may not have complete and absolute control over factions within the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps that may be conducting these military operations that have to be dealt with. I expect that the negotiations will go on. I don't think that there'll be any interruption in that. The real problem with the negotiations right now is the actual people that are in charge of, that are probably in control of the highly enriched uranium. That is a fundamental element of this negotiation, that Iran cannot retain possession of the highly enriched uranium, and they can't be allowed to enrich in the future. Trump is absolutely not going to negotiate except for the removal or the destruction of that highly enriched uranium and preventing them from ever doing it again in the future. Until that is negotiated, it's going to continue on this course until the Iranian government, whoever's in charge of that highly enriched uranium, makes that negotiation. I think it was last week, maybe earlier, there was a question posed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio about whether he thinks the U.S. is being strung along by Iran. He said, we don't know until we know. That's what he said. What do you think about that? I think that's a polite way of saying that the people that they're negotiating with don't necessarily have complete control over the IRGC or the more religious zealots in Iran that would continue to disrupt the negotiations. I think that's a polite way of saying, we're going to hold the line until they get control of these people, and eventually we're going to get a negotiation. I think that's just a polite way of saying, we won't know until we know, basically. What is your gut feeling here about the prospects of the deal? Do you think it's closer than before? Well, like I said, I think that the IRGC or actors within the IRGC are going to try and thwart or disrupt negotiations. And eventually the Iranian people are going to get frustrated with that. And they're going to go to them and they're going to say, you've got to stop doing this because you're actually working against the people of Iran. You're not working for the people of Iran, you're working against them. And that's always been the case. I mean, that's been the case really for 47 years. I've been working in Iran for a long time, and one of the things that I would regularly say at every one of our planning sessions and every one of our meetings is, we've got to remember that the regime is not the people of Iran, and the Artesh is not the regime. The Artesh is the people and the regime is the IRGC and the Ayatollahs. And so there is a difference. And that's something I think more Americans need to understand. We talk about this a lot as it's like the country of Iran, we're at war with the country of Iran. I don't think we're at war with the country of Iran. We're at war with the fundamentalists, the Shia fundamentalists in Iran that have been a thorn in the side of the entire Middle East. The Iranian Shia have been fighting the Arab Sunnis for decades, for centuries really. And so because of that, when we talk about this, we've got to make a clear distinction between the Iranian Shia fundamentalists and the Iranian people who just want to live in peace and in harmony with their neighbors, and they don't want to be at war with everybody all the time. Okay, so in addition to that, what do you think about President Trump saying that Arab countries should formally recognize Israel through the Abraham Accords? What do you think about that? What's the significance? Yeah, this is one of those things that the president has been able to do, the Abraham Accords that he did years ago, and that has been able to survive. And for him to go to the Iranian people and say, you can also join the Abraham Accords as well, basically to bring sort of a harmony into the Middle East. And these Arab countries want that. They want harmony in the Middle East. I think they're exhausted. I think that the wars that have gone on recently over the last several decades, the people are very exhausted, and rightly so. And the hope is that the Abraham Accords will be expanded and incorporate other Arab countries, and ultimately, potentially Iran, the people of Iran, to have a harmonious relationship with each other, as opposed to these terror wars that have been going on. You know, the Sunni terrorists and the Shia terrorists are really what are causing all the problems. It's not the people of the Middle East. It's the Islamist fundamentalists on both sides of the debate that are fighting among each other. And then ultimately, anybody that goes in there to try and help becomes an enemy of one side or the other. Okay, just one final question here, Thomas. What is your assessment, your overall view of how the U.S. has approached negotiations, from initially bombing Iran and then having a ceasefire to this point? What is your assessment of that in trying to get a commitment of no nuclear weapons? Yeah, the way Iran is operating or has operated in the past, we cannot allow Iran to have nuclear weapons, because they will literally threaten everyone. And because the fundamentalist branch of the debate is essentially a death cult. They basically worship death. And so, you cannot give weapons like that or allow a group of people like that to have weapons, because they don't have the same ethics that the modern Western world does, or really, the modern world does. They're still living in the seventh century caliphate type mentality. I think my overall assessment is that this was something that has needed to be done for years and years and years. In fact, I called this the Iran castration war plan back in 2011 to 2014, where you eliminate the power projection capability of the Iranian regime. And you essentially force the turnover from the fundamentalists into the hands of the more, I don't want to say more peaceful, but the non-fundamentalists in Iran. And that is going to then change the entire dynamic of the Middle East. And that's ultimately what's happening. I am very, very happy with how things are going. I think that you're negotiating with people who are very proud people, who have a very proud European heritage. And so, they want to feel respected in the negotiation. And I think that that's another big thing that I think a lot of people don't understand, is that, and I think Trump does a very good job of it, and Marco Rubio is doing a great job of it, of respecting the Iranian people and not respecting the tyranny and the terrorism that they've projected all around the world for all these years. So, we've got to negotiate in sort of mutual respect. And I think Trump is doing that. I think the only thing that's holding up these negotiations right now is the IRGC fundamentalists and ultimately their willingness to accept that they can't have nuclear weapons and they've got to turn over or destroy the highly enriched uranium. Once those two things are resolved, I think you're going to see, I think our children are going to have a very different experience with the Middle East over the next 20 years as a result of this. I'm very, very happy about what's going on. Coming up, an American journalist who's lived in China for more than a decade is now facing a US criminal charge, accused of acting as an unregistered agent for Beijing. More on that after the break here on China In Focus. Welcome back to China In Focus. I'm Kevin An American journalist and political commentator who's lived in China for more than a decade is now facing a criminal charge in the US. He's been accused of acting as an unregistered agent for the Chinese communist regime. Federal investigators say Thomas Paukin II prepared confidential reports for a Chinese handler who claimed the information would be passed to Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Court documents also say Paukin helped connect the handler with another person seeking a role in the Trump administration. According to the FBI, Paukin told agents he refused to provide classified information to his handler, but Paukin believed there was a strong chance the other individual could eventually share sensitive material with China. Paukin's attorney says the case is not about spying or mishandling classified information. Instead, he says prosecutors are accusing Paukin of failing to properly register work tied to a foreign government. The charge carries a potential prison sentence of up to 10 years if convicted. Mexican authorities have captured the nephew of infamous drug kingpin Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. Mexico's security secretary said he was arrested in Nogales. The official added that a search warrant executed in Tapachula resulted in the seizure of 1,500 pounds of cocaine, over 150 guns, and 18 grenades. Guzman is the former leader of Mexico's powerful Sinaloa cartel. He's currently serving a life sentence after being convicted in 2019 on drug trafficking conspiracy and murder charges. His nephew's capture follows the arrest of Sinaloa's former public security secretary. He appeared in a U.S. court earlier this month after his arrest in Arizona on charges of taking bribes from the cartel. That's all for today's China In Focus. I'm Kevin Hogan. 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. And for round-the-clock original news coverage, visit us at ntd.com or download our NTD app. Thanks for watching. See you soon.