China Stockpiles Gold for 22 Straight Months | China in Focus

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story. China is on a gold buying spree, making its largest monthly purchase since 2023. Why does Beijing keep stockpiling gold? With China making it increasingly clear that it aims to take Taiwan, what is the island's most effective weapon for winning international support? Joshua Wong, once a prominent figure in Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, now faces an additional prison term. Why did he plead guilty and is there a way out? UK human rights activist Benedict Rogers weighs in. And more than one-third of Gen Z Americans are viewing communism favorably. Florida is taking action in the classroom, requiring public schools to teach the history of communism. China continues to ramp up its gold purchases despite surging prices. China's central bank added more than 22 tons of gold to its reserves in August, raising the total to over 2,600 tons. That's according to data released Monday. The move marks China's largest monthly gold purchase since 2023. Up until now, China has been buying gold for 22 consecutive months. Analysts say Beijing is thinking long-term and not simply trying to time the market. So why has China been buying so much gold? Its gold buying spree began months after Russia invaded Ukraine, when the West froze Russian currency reserves held at foreign central banks. The move cut off Russia's access to over $300 billion in foreign currency reserves. Beijing seems to be learning the lesson. Experts told The Telegraph in 2024 that China was likely stockpiling gold to protect its economy. That way, Western sanctions would be less damaging if Beijing invaded Taiwan. China's gold reserve has been expanding steadily. Five years ago, gold accounted for just over 3% of China's foreign exchange reserve. This year, the share has jumped to over 9%. For Beijing, having more gold comes with other benefits. It helps diversify China's foreign exchange reserves, reducing its dependence on assets held in U.S. dollars. In addition, gold is still considered the ultimate form of payment. Having more gold at China's central bank can increase confidence in its currency. That would create more favorable conditions for the internationalization of the renminbi. The global financial system currently runs on the U.S. dollar. Beijing has long sought to challenge the dollar's dominance and undermine U.S. leverage. Chinese robots playing with humans, racing on the track, and even kickboxing. But they've been built by Chinese companies with the support of the Chinese Communist Party. So they're not just for fun. The PLA Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese military, called for faster deployment of cutting-edge robotic technologies in military training. In many Chinese robotics videos, Taiwan is portrayed as a potential enemy or a battlefield scenario. How is Taiwan trying to win international support in its rivalry with Communist China? Its most powerful weapon may be chips. Advanced semiconductors powering the AI revolution. Taiwan is positioning itself as a democratic, reliable chip supplier, signaling that like-minded partners can share in its semiconductor strength. Taiwan has been seeking to leverage its position as the dominant maker of the advanced chips, which are powering the AI revolution, to send a more nuanced geopolitical message. Not only is Taiwan a reliable partner and will continue to supply these chips, but it is also a democratic partner, somewhere that respects the rule of law, that has democracy, that believes in freedom. Taiwan really does have a world-beating, world-dominating position in the semiconductor industry. That is the envy of many other countries around the world. And this is why the United States, the European Union and Japan have been courting Taiwan for greater chip investment. For Taiwan, the chip industry is something that it has, in fact, for many years tried to use to help increase its international voice, its position on the world stage. Now, Taiwan is diplomatically isolated. Only 12 countries formally recognize it. These are mostly small developing nations. And China has been trying to squeeze its international space. So for Taiwan being able to say to the world, look, we have this massive major industry, which is going to define the shape of the global economy in the years and decades to come, is a very important political card that Taiwan has to play. Joshua Wong, once a prominent figure in Hong Kong's pro-democracy movements, now faces an additional prison term after his second conviction under a Beijing-imposed national security law. To discuss, entities Don Ma was joined by Benedict Rogers, senior director at Fortify Rights and co-founder of Hong Kong Watch. He's also the author of The China Nexus, 30 Years In and Around the Chinese Communist Party's Tyranny. Wong has been imprisoned since he was 24 years old. He was supposed to be released next year. Is there any basis right now for this new case? Well, you're absolutely right. And good afternoon. It's good to be with you again. Joshua has spent most of the last six years in prison, and he now faces the real possibility of spending the rest of his life in jail. He's the only person of all the people that have been charged under the national security law in Hong Kong, which came in in 2000. He's the only person to be charged twice under this law. And it does seem, of course, he's faced multiple other charges which have made up the sentences of the last six years. But it does seem that the Hong Kong authorities are particularly keen to keep him behind bars for as long as possible. Why is that the case? He spent six years already mostly behind bars. Why are authorities keen to continue to keep him behind bars? Well, I think probably the main reason is that he was very much the face, or at least one of the faces, of the pro-democracy movement, particularly the younger generation of the pro-democracy movement. And he was well connected and well respected by politicians around the world. He had access to senior political leaders in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other places. And of course, the charge that he is now facing, that he appeared in court earlier this week on, is the charge of collusion with foreign forces, which essentially just means talking to foreign people of influence, whether it's politicians or journalists or activists. But I think the reason they want to keep him is because they see that he is such an influential and courageous young leader. Can we just get your comments on whether you think there are serious legitimacy issues surrounding Wong's case, overall speaking, that is? Because some of the activities prosecutors are pointing to actually occurred before the national security lock took effect. So essentially, the government is, to my understanding, is taking actions that was lawful when it happened, and then calling it illegal after new laws were enacted. So can you just comment on all this? That's exactly right. In fact, to my knowledge, I can't recall any significant contact with key foreign political figures after 2000, after the national security law came in. So you're exactly right. This law is being applied to Joshua retrospectively, and it's completely illegitimate. Firstly, what Joshua did should not, in any normal society, be considered a crime, talking about democracy, about freedom, about human rights, talking about the values that are enshrined in the Sino-British Joint Declaration that China promised to respect in Hong Kong. So none of what he's done should be a crime, and certainly it shouldn't be applied retrospectively, which is what's happened. Why do you think Wong, why do you think he thought it was best to plead guilty to the new charges? Well, I can only offer my opinion. I can't obviously speak for him, but I assume that the calculation was made that if he pleaded guilty, he might receive a slightly more lenient sentence than if he pleaded not guilty. But the reality is that's a calculation that no one really knows whether it will be successful in any significant way. And the message the world needs to hear is that he shouldn't be on trial at all, and he shouldn't be in prison at all. And him pleading guilty doesn't mean he's acknowledging any crime. I would assume it means that he thinks that might result in a more lenient sentence. Right. Potentially. I mean, is there any way at all to push for a more lenient sentence, maybe through diplomatic, legal, political pressure, any way to make that happen? Definitely. I mean, I think there should be as much international pressure as possible, not actually just to get a more lenient sentence, but actually to demand his release, because as you said in the introduction, he's already spent more than six years in prison. He shouldn't spend a day more. But if we can't succeed in getting him released quickly, then a more lenient sentence is certainly preferable to a life sentence. So every diplomatic tool should be used. The United Kingdom has a particular responsibility. And let's remember Joshua was born in Hong Kong before the 1997 handover. So although he may not technically be a British citizen in legal terms, he was born in what was a British colony. So Britain has a real responsibility to him. But I hope that the United States, where Joshua is well known, he's well known to policymakers in a bipartisan way, I hope the US will put pressure on, particularly with President Xi Jinping expected to visit Washington later this month. I hope President Trump and the administration will make Joshua's case alongside many other cases a priority to raise with Xi Jinping. More than one third of Gen Z Americans have a favorable view of communism. Countermeasures are on the way. Starting this year, Florida requires public schools to teach the history of communism, including the atrocities committed under communist regimes abroad, like China's Cultural Revolution. To discuss entities, Jack Bradley was joined by Erica Donald's Chair of Education Opportunity at the America First Policy Institute. Take a look. Now, I want to get right to it. Florida required instruction on communism for decades until that requirement was repealed in 1983. Why is it so important for children to learn about the dangers of communism now? Well, it's hard to believe that with over 2 million people in the state of Florida, residents whose families or they themselves led communist or socialist authoritarian regimes, that this was removed when I was just three years old and has not been explicitly taught in our schools. But it does show in the polling, Gen Z has a more favorable view of socialism than capitalism and would go so far as to have a favorable view, 38% of them, of communism. So that shows that we are not doing our job in the schools to show how dangerous communism and collectivism has been around the world for all of human history. You know, Florida has been on the front line of this. It was the first state to ban or among the first to ban critical race theory in public schools. How is that policy preventing, helping to prevent ideological indoctrination and the whitewashing of history in the classrooms? Well, we believe in teaching history, but we want students to learn the whole history of both America and of the world. That is what has been missing. And when you talk about CRT and some of the programs that were in not just Florida schools, but of course, some of them are still in schools around the country that had a biased view of American history, very radical and racially driven. And that was damaging racial relations. You just did a story about how now the Trump administration is saying that private schools can no longer have entrance based on race. We have become such a racially charged society. And a lot of it is because of the curriculum that we saw in our public schools. And that thanks to governor Ron DeSantis, we're rooted out here in Florida. And Erica, I just want to mention some numbers here. We have a Cato survey finding that 54 percent of Gen Zers have a favorable view of socialism. And there's another survey that found that only 13 percent of eighth graders are proficient in U.S. history. So what happens when we fail to teach our younger generations the reality of socialism? We have a travesty of civic literacy here in our country. Those numbers are abysmal. And that is why our students are growing up and not knowing how to be civically engaged. They don't know the rights in the First Amendment. And how are they going to defend them if they don't even know what they are? Many of them, and I believe the number is 40 percent, think that violence is OK in response to speech that you don't like. This has long term implications for American culture and for Western civilization as a whole. We have to do a better job of teaching our children as they grow up how to be civically engaged. What are their rights under the Constitution? Why did our founding fathers frame the American population in our society this way? Why is this the best that has ever existed in the history of the world so that they can defend this republic and ensure that it continues for generations to come? Coming up, the European Union signs a new partnership with Greenland, expanding cooperation from fisheries to critical raw materials. It comes as major world powers increasingly turn their gaze to the strategically important Arctic Island and the U.S. focusing on the Western Hemisphere. How will the U.S. oil deal with Venezuela help reach that goal? We sat down with Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart. More on that after the break here on China In Focus. Welcome back to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. The European Union signing a security pact with Greenland and Denmark on Monday. This comes after President Trump pointed to the island as a national security risk due to threats from Russia and China. The head of the EU unveiled plans for more than 230 million dollars of investments in Greenland and closer ties with the Danish Arctic Territory. The EU has long provided funding to Greenland, mainly to pay for fishing rights and support its education system. But this time the focuses have shifted. Jason Perry has the details. It's 200 million euros of new investments for Greenland this year and next year. And this partnership package focuses mainly on three domains or strategic priorities. We call them the big C's. Connectivity, clean energy, critical raw materials. The Prime Minister of Denmark, which handles the overall security of Greenland, sharing her thoughts as well. We have been working intensively, the three of us, in getting the European Union even closer to all parts of the Kingdom of Denmark, including Greenland. And now we have something substantial, still things to discuss and to develop, but the path is really good. The Prime Minister of Greenland been saying that the three were going on a boat trip and that they'd share more details in the coming days. The move to strengthen the security of Greenland comes after President Trump pointed to the island as a national security risk due to Russia and China. He accused Denmark of being unable to protect the world's largest island. They say that Denmark was there 300 years ago or something with a boat. Well, we were there with boats too, I'm sure. We need Greenland for national security. And if you take a look at Greenland, you look up and down the coast, you have Russian and Chinese ships all over the place. We need it for national security. We have to have it. The Heritage Foundation says Denmark lacks the scale, resources and power projection capacity to secure Greenland alone against sustained Russian or Chinese pressure. Greenland has about 57,000 people and sits on a key Arctic route with growing interest in its strategic location. Jason Perry, NTD News. The agreement between the EU and Greenland reflects the island's growing importance to major powers including the US, Russia, China and Europe because of its strategic location and rich mineral resources. Melting ice is also opening access to previously difficult to reach resources and shipping routes. The Trump administration remains focused on securing the Western Hemisphere. How will the US oil deal with Venezuela accomplish that goal? NTD's Jack Bradley sat down with Congressman Maria Diaz-Balart. Take a look. Now, I want to start with the Venezuelan oil fields, the massive deal that the US has just done. Eight months ago, the US sent forces to capture Maduro. Now, we have one of the biggest oil deals of all time. 17 oil fields, the US has majority control, 65 million barrels, billion barrels worth of oil. What is the significance of this and what is the Trump administration trying to achieve through this? It's actually a good deal for the United States. It's also a really good deal for Venezuela and it's a great deal for the national security interests of the United States. Those oil fields, not all of them are totally in production right now, but a lot of those that are, are right now being done by Chinese companies. Those are out. They basically are being kicked out of that. Just seven months ago, Maduro was in control. All of our adversaries were in Venezuela. That's changed dramatically. It, however, has to lead to elections in Venezuela. Until there are free democratic elections, it will not be done. It will not be over. The administration is very clear about that. They've stated that this is the second phase of three phases in that transition towards elections. In the meantime, the administration has wanted to, in essence, shore up the Venezuelan economy as much as possible. Venezuela was the richest country in South America. Then socialism or communism took over and it became among the poorest. The administration is first trying to stabilize the economy. It's also helping our economy. It's also helping our national security. The second phase is starting to now change the institutions so that you can have real democratic elections. The third stage, which is the final stage, is to have true elections so the Venezuelans can choose democratically their leaders. Then that will be the end of this very important transition that is only possible because of the leadership of President Trump and his administration. It seems like that first step is being accomplished. We had 60 Cuban bodyguards during the time of Venezuela's dictator Maduro capture. We had Chinese and Russian companies buying those oil fields. Just most recently, today, the State Department announced that they're sanctioning Raul Castro's grandson, among several others. As for regaining the control of the Western Hemisphere, why is that important to do? When you look at the Western Hemisphere pre-Trump, it wasn't looking good. You had Venezuela, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Cuban dictatorship. China was there. Iran's presence was there. Obviously, Cuban presence was there. That now has changed dramatically. But let's be clear. The person who's there now, this is not an ideal person. She's part of the regime, but she is being forced to do everything that the Trump administration is demanding of her. Maybe slower than we would like, but she's doing everything that the Trump administration is demanding of her in order to have a transition towards true democratic elections. They're strengthening the economy. When you have elections, you hope that the new democratic leader will inherit a country that's somewhat functioning, that isn't in total chaos, that has got some security, semblance of real security, somewhat of an economy. That is what this administration is doing. They're forcing this woman who was there, the interim dictator, to take these decisions and head in the right direction. While it continues to head in the right direction, then it's okay for that interim dictator. But the administration is very clear. The end goal is freedom, democracy for the Venezuelan people, and also to make sure their adversaries do not have a base of operations in our own hemisphere. 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 ChinaInFocus at NTD.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.