U.S. Pushes Back on China's Influence in Southeast Asia | China in Focus

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story from maritime clashes to a potential fall summit. Secretary of State Marco Rubio lands in the Philippines with a firm message for China. America is staying focused on the Pacific. President Trump is taking aim at U.S. reliance on China. The Pentagon is rolling out tougher rules for defense supply chains. We'll break down what's in the order. Harvard University under investigation. The Justice Department says the Ivy League school may be providing financial aid to foreign students, presumably from China, at the expense of American students. And the space race between the U.S. and China. NASA's Artemis 3 mission is moving forward despite an explosion in May. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in the Philippines Tuesday for key regional meetings with ASEAN leaders. Officials from Japan, Australia, Russia, and the European Union are also taking part. Rubio wants to reassure allies that even with ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, Washington remains fully committed to the Indo-Pacific. Rubio warned that freedom of navigation cannot be taken for granted. In an opinion piece published in Philippine newspapers, Rubio said the U.S. remains committed to keeping the waters open and secure. He warned, quote, if those waters fall under the control of a power willing to use commerce as a geopolitical weapon, both the United States and the ASEAN states would face dire new threats to their sovereignty, security, and economic futures. The South China Sea remains a major flashpoint. Just one day before the ASEAN meetings, Chinese and Philippine personnel clashed near the Second Thomas Shoal. The Philippines accused China's Coast Guard of striking a Filipino Navy member with a baton. Beijing denied the accusation and blamed Manila for provoking the confrontation. The U.S. State Department condemned what it called China's dangerous and aggressive actions. Rubio says the U.S. will continue to honor its mutual defense commitment with the Philippines. U.S. Secretary of State Michael Rubio is set to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday on the sidelines of the summit. The two are expected to lay the groundwork for Chinese leader Xi Jinping's potential visit to the U.S. this fall. The planned meeting comes after President Trump accused Beijing of interfering in the 2020 U.S. election by stealing massive voter files. New disputes are also emerging between the two countries over visas and artificial intelligence. Despite those tensions, Rubio said Xi's visit to the U.S. is still expected to move forward in September. We anticipate that the trip is happening in September. They've continued to send over their teams to prepare for it. I've The latest escalation in tensions in the South China Sea. The U.S. is condemning China's actions following a confrontation with Philippine Navy personnel. The incident happened near Second Thomas Shoal on Monday. The Philippines says personnel from a Chinese Coast Guard vessel struck one of its sailors in the head with a wooden baton during a confrontation at sea. Beijing says Philippine vessels rammed one of its patrol boats first. The State Department says China's actions undermine regional peace and contradict its repeated commitments to resolve disputes peacefully. The U.S. also praising the Philippines for what it calls the professionalism and restraint shown by its Navy personnel. Washington is reaffirming a 2016 international tribunal ruling that says China's sweeping claims in the South China Sea have no basis in international law. The State Department says the U.S. will continue to stand with its allies and partners in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific. President Trump is taking another step to reduce U.S. reliance on China for defense production. On Monday, he signed an executive order making it much harder for military contractors to use Chinese suppliers for critical materials used in weapons systems. The order tightens rules for contractors seeking waivers to buy materials from China and other restricted foreign suppliers. Instead, the administration wants companies to source those materials domestically or from allied nations. Contractors will now have to prove they made exhaustive efforts to find alternatives. The Pentagon says defense contractors will be required to provide detailed information about their supply chains, from raw materials to finished weapon systems, and outline a plan to phase out prohibited suppliers. The goal is to identify foreign risks and reduce dependence on Chinese suppliers ahead of any potential future conflict. The order also calls for reviews of suppliers for foreign ownership, financial vulnerabilities and manufacturing risks. Companies that fail to comply or mislead the government could face penalties or even lose defense contracts. Are American students being discriminated in their own country? Harvard University is under investigation over its financial aid practices. The Justice Department says the school may be discriminating against American students in favor of students from China. The DOJ notes that Harvard is the American university receiving the most funding from foreign sources, and its greatest source is of foreign funding from China. The DOJ says these funds come with strings attached. They restrict how Harvard could use the funds, and they require Harvard to establish financial aid programs, quote, with preference for students from particular countries. The department says the Ivy League school appears to be providing financial aid to foreign students, presumably Chinese students, to the detriment of the American citizens. The DOJ is investigating whether Harvard is violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by discriminating based on national origin. It says, quote, every American student should have an equal opportunity to compete for college scholarships, grants, and other kinds of financial aid and benefits. The role Cuba has played in fostering 21st century communism and subversion within the U.S., now revealed in a State Department report released Monday. The document details how foreign governments are helping radicalism take root on American soil. Antony's Fiona Ji reports. According to a new report from the State Department, the Cuban regime has been waging a, quote, long war of attrition organized around espionage, infiltration, sabotage, proxy networks, and a revolutionary infrastructure designed to turn America against itself. Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiling this report on Monday, which is titled Cuba, the Capital of 21st Century Communism. The report echoes recent warnings shared by President Trump. Someone has these situations in Venezuela and Cuba should make clear under a new doctrine. And it is a doctrine. We will not allow hostile foreign influence to gain a foothold in this hemisphere. The report also describes links between the Cuban regime and numerous extremist movements that are familiar to Americans. And this is a point that Secretary Rubio has emphasized in the past. The Cuban regime's sprawling intelligence and ideological network helped to build the far left in our country and in our hemisphere. And it remains inextricably linked to the far left groups and movements across and beyond the West. A key point here is that Cuba consistently seeks to target and recruit diehard supporters of the communist cause. Because of this, American universities have actually become one of their main focuses. John Suarez, executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba, recently explained this to NTD. They've identified, typically they've identified university students, they recruit them early, and they encourage them to go into government. One of the more notorious examples is Ana Belen Montes, Puerto Rican background, relatives who are FBI agents. They recruited her at graduate school in the DC area and encouraged her to go to work in the Pentagon. And she rose up the ranks to become the top person dealing with Cuba. These strategies, according to the State Department, have allowed the Cuban regime to infiltrate America's democratic procedures. The report describes a leaked video in which a Cuban official briefed American activists on how to take advantage of congressional votes, lobbying plans, and nationwide organizing campaigns in order to advance Cuban interests. And this trickles down into everyday American life. The report reveals Cuba's access to city councils, universities, trade delegations, churches, hospitals, and local activists, all of this allowing Cuba to influence American policymaking on both local and national levels. Outside the US, the Cuban regime is known to support Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iranian-backed terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. The State Department also says that China and Russia, in taking advantage of Cuba's geographical proximity to the US, have, quote, both reportedly tripled their intelligence agents on the island over the past three years. Ultimately, the State Department concludes Cuban communism helped to create the current narrative of modern left-wing radicalism. This is a radicalism that hinges not on any economic class conflict, but rather on racial, social, and even civilizational grievances. These findings are really important to consider, especially as we see the rise of Marxist ideology and far-left candidates ahead of the midterms here in the US, as well as when we consider other foreign communist regimes, namely here the Chinese Communist Party, and their threats to Western democracy and stability. Reporting from Washington, DC, Fiona Ji, NTD News. A new front in the trade war is looming. President Trump unveiled 50% tariffs on a wide range of imports from Canada Monday, targeting about $20 billion worth of goods. The move comes in response to what the US administration called Canada's discriminatory treatment of American-made cars, alcohol, and dairy goods. Fresh off the back of his meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the FIFA World Cup final, President Donald Trump on unveiled 50% tariffs on a wide range of imports from Canada. The US administration said it was in response to what it called the discriminatory treatment of American-made cars, alcohol, and dairy goods. The US Trade Representative's Office said that the tariffs would apply to nearly $20 billion of imports from Canada. That's about 5.2% of the worth of goods that the US imported from Canada in 2025, according to the US Census Bureau data. The new levies will take effect in 30 days and will include goods ranging from dairy products to cement and hockey gear, among others. US Trade Representative Jameson Greer said that Canada, quote, continues to retaliate against the United States for its efforts to rebalance trade. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement that his government has made comprehensive proposals to resolve trade disputes with Washington, and asserted that Trump's past tariffs violated the North American trade pact between Canada, the United States, and Mexico. However, Carney also struck a conciliatory tone, saying that, quote, Canada stands ready to engage intensively to address outstanding issues with the US. Over the past two years, only two countries have opted to retaliate against President Trump's tariffs instead of negotiating with the United States, China, and Canada. The Trump administration is set to announce more trade actions connected to forced labor. US Trade Representative Jameson Greer says they will take action soon. Greer did not provide a timeline on potential trade actions. Section 301 of US Trade Law authorizes investigations into unfair trade practices. Greer was responding to a report that the administration plans to announce tariffs on dozens of countries soon. President Trump's temporary 10 percent global tariff is scheduled to expire on Friday. The administration has been working on a new tariff strategy in a bid to rebuild tariff pressure. It follows the Supreme Court's decision striking down President Trump's global tariff policy in February. NASA's Artemis 3 mission is still on schedule. Next year's test of orbital docking and lunar landers is going ahead, despite an explosion involving an unmanned Blue Origin rocket in May. The Artemis program aims to put astronauts back on the moon in 2028. NASA's Space Launch System rocket will launch a crew aboard Orion, a deep space capsule built by Lockheed Martin. Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are developing landers designed to transport astronauts between lunar orbit and the moon's surface. Artemis 3 will serve as a test run in low earth orbit. Four astronauts will fly aboard Orion and test operations with versions of SpaceX's Starship human landing system and Blue Origin's Blue Moon. The mission is slated for next year. Coming up, this year marks the 27th anniversary of the start of the deadly persecution of the Falun Gong meditation practice in China. We spoke with Steve Lance, host of NTD's Capital Report and executive producer of the award-winning documentary, Unbroken, the untold story of Shen Yun. More on that after the break here on China In Focus. Welcome back to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. This year marks the 27th anniversary of the start of the deadly persecution of the meditation practice Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong. To raise awareness of another year of human rights violations carried out by the Chinese Communist Party, Falun Dafa practitioners and human rights advocates will hold a rally and march in our nation's capital. Watch our special coverage July 23rd on Thursday at 11 30 a.m Eastern, presented by NTD's Carrie Dunst and Stefania Cox. We'll take you to the historic Lincoln Memorial for the rally, give you an excellent view of the march and bring in guests to unpack the Chinese regime's persecution campaign in China and around the world. See you there. The commemoration events come at a time when more and more evidence of the Chinese Communist Party's transnational repression of the faith are coming to light. In the United States, the performing arts group Shen Yun, founded by Falun Gong practitioners, has been experiencing escalating threats and acts of sabotage linked to the communist regime. For more on the subject, I spoke with Steve Lance on Monday. He's the host of NTD's Capital Report and executive producer of the award-winning documentary Unbroken, The Untold Story of Shen Yun. Steve, thank you so much for joining us. Always great to have you. I want to discuss the film with you in just a moment. But first, for viewers who may not know what happened 27 years ago today, why is this day commemorated by millions of people around the world? Hey, Tiffany, it's great to be on the program. So yeah, today is a very significant day in the Falun Gong community, a very sad day, actually. July 20, 1999, 27 years ago today, we really saw an unprecedented persecution campaign launch that became the largest centralized persecution on the planet. There were 100 million people practicing Falun Gong inside of China at that time, according to the CCP's own internal estimates. And it was because of that number, it outnumbered communist party members. At that time, there were only 60 million in the communist party. And so although they supported it, they actually embraced it, they sponsored Falun Gong, the spiritual practice as sort of a cultural phenomenon. People were having improvement in their mind, body, and spirit. Many senior officials inside of the government were all practicing this. But there was that one dictator, and that sort of alludes to the perils of communism, that's all it took. The top person, he saw it as a threat, was extremely jealous, and then condemned it, began to round up practitioners, putting them in forced labor camps, subjecting them to torture, eventually murder. And it really escalated into one of the most egregious crimes against humanity that we've ever seen on this planet in about 2006, which was the uncovering that it was taking place in China, the practice of forced live organ harvesting. They were taking Falun Gong practitioners at scale throughout China, rounding them up, matching their blood, and taking their organs, and then killing them and disposing of the bodies. I know it sounds like a sci-fi film, a horror film. It really is, but it's real life. And it was taking place in China and continues 27 years and counting happening right now. And given what you just laid out there, Steve, the House has already passed the Falun Gong Protection Act, and it's now awaiting a vote in the Senate. If it becomes law, what would it do and what significance would it have? It's actually a very significant piece of legislation, which is gaining a lot of bipartisan traction. This persecution is a very nonpartisan or bipartisan issue in the United States. You have Senator Cruz who introduced it on the Senate side, previously Senator Rubio did before he left to become the Secretary of State. You have Democratic Senator Merkley of Oregon, who is also co-sponsored. There's a few other Democrats that have just come on, many other Republicans, Senator Ron Johnson, another one. And why this piece of is so significant, because it actually addresses the issue of forced organ harvesting. It requires an annual report on some of these crimes against humanity through the State Department, which would elevate this to the level of the executive branch. And it becomes thrust into the domestic policy. It's not just something foreign. It's something that would have to be recognized, talked about, examined. And there are real consequences too, if this bill were to pass for those participants inside of China who are participating in this persecution, if they were to ever come to the United States. And Steve, let's turn to the documentary now, Unbroken, the untold story of Xin Yue. You are the executive producer. Tell us about the film and the performing arts company Xin Yue that's featured in it. What inspired you to tell this story? Yeah, you know, Tiffany, so I have been with NTD through different periods of my career for nearly two decades. I'm dating myself now. But when I first came to NTD in the early 2000s, I was focusing on the Chinese Student and Scholar Associations, otherwise known as CSSAs, which are essentially instruments of the Chinese government that are directly connected to the various Chinese embassies and consulates. So I've always had sort of an eye on the CCP's infiltration and influence inside of the United States. Shen Yun, as the viewers might know, is a classical Chinese dance company based in New York with a tagline, China before communism. So naturally, with that type of a tagline, you're going to draw the attention and ire of the CCP. And Shen Yun was established by Chinese American Falun Gong practitioners. And their mission was to raise awareness about all the things that we just laid out, the persecution. One thing we didn't mention, on top of the actual persecution, the physical things that came along with it, the torture, the forced labor, the organ harvesting, there was a propaganda campaign that was tremendous that really tried to demonize Falun Gong and prevent the world's people, the world's media, Western media from reporting on it appropriately. And so Falun Gong practitioners inside of the United States, they set up various organizations and entities with the sheer mission to just really get the word out. And Shen Yun, part of their mission is to talk about it. It's to establish and reintroduce traditional Chinese culture and traditional culture. And so this is a long way of answering your question, I know. The reason why we did this is we started to see the New York Times take an unusual interest in this group. They started to write a variety of hit pieces. It was one negative article, two, then three, then four. And that really started to catch our attention. I have watched the Shen Yun show. I have seen the reaction of audiences after they came out and people love it. And so to all of a sudden see these pieces targeting Shen Yun, it really caught our attention and we decided to look into it. And there's an investigative track. There's a human interest track where we track the dancers and follow them and really try to understand their process. But there's an investigative track as well that shows a lot of interesting parallels to the CCP's propaganda efforts against Falun Gong in the New York Times reporting. And Steve Congressman Marlon Stutzman is holding a policy panel this Wednesday on a transnational repression. And I understand that the film Unbroken will also be shown as part of a special presentation there. What do you hope policy makers take away from the film and what would you like to see Congress do next? It's a pretty big deal. As you know, CCP influence, I don't have to tell you, Tiffany, China, and Focus, your other program, but their clause and your documentary, Hollywood Takeover, people should watch it if they haven't. The CCP is in every industry and every sector. They're in our media. They're in Hollywood, as we learned from your film. They're on Wall Street. They're also on Capitol Hill. So to have this screening on Capitol Hill, to give staffers, to give members of Congress a really clean and fresh idea of what might be happening if they do get a visit from the Chinese embassy and give them the actual truth. And it's not just the embassy that is spreading propaganda about this group. You have the New York Times. So it's going to be a great event. We're very excited. As you mentioned, members of Congress, a lot of policy makers, DC think tanks and folks here. It's going to be Wednesday at the Capitol Hill Visitor Center. That's all for today's China in Focus. 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.