Beijing Bans Talent and Others From Leaving China | China in Focus

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story, China tightens restrictions on who can enter and leave its borders. Plus details on risks of arrest and detention for Americans living in and traveling to China. Should the U.S. slow down AI development just because this new technology could destroy humanity or speed it up to beat China in the AI race? Casey Flemings, Chairman and CEO of Black Hawk Partners, weighs in. The strongest admission yet by the Pentagon on U.S. weapons in space. It aims to protect U.S. assets and deter the U.S.'s competitors, China and Russia. The Pacific Island nation of Palau stands by Taiwan despite pressure from China. The Palauian president sitting down with The Epoch Times' Jan Jekielek to discuss. China is tightening restrictions on who can enter and leave its borders. Starting today, Chinese authorities can block citizens from leaving the country if they violate technology export controls. Those who have harmed China's national security overseas can also be banned from leaving China after they return. Regulations are vague on what constitutes harming national interests. The change comes as Beijing restricts the outflow of talent in its technology race with Washington. And Americans living in or visiting China face risk of unjust arrest or detention. The State Department recently updated travel advisory for China, warning U.S. citizens could be detained without being told why. And they may only get limited counselor assistance due to Chinese regulations. Under Chinese law, Americans could be detained for conducting routine business and research in the public domain. They could also be detained for sending private electronic messages critical of the CCP. The State Department says Americans should assume that China's security service can read their emails, texts and social media posts sent to or from China. The same thing can happen if they have Chinese apps installed on their phone, even if they're outside China. The warning comes after two U.S. citizens had been wrongfully detained in China after traveling there for academic reasons. Zooming out, some people in China have already been denied passports or blocked from leaving. That includes activists, human rights lawyers and Falun Gong practitioners, adherents of a mind-body meditation practice that's been brutally persecuted. In 2021, Chinese authorities barred human rights lawyer Tang Jitian from traveling to Japan to see his daughter, who was dying of tuberculosis. Authorities said Tang was stopped because he may harm China's national security. He was later barred from attending his daughter's funeral. She was his only child. Some AI experts are warning that AI could take over the world or even destroy humanity. President Trump calls those warnings a hoax. Anthropic CEO Daryl Amadei is calling for slower AI development. President Trump, meanwhile, says slowing AI stands to benefit China. The White House is framing AI as a race against China. President Trump is scheduled to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington next week. To discuss all this, I spoke on Tiffany Meyer tonight on Monday with Casey Fleming, chairman and CEO of Black Ops Partners. He's a security advisor specializing in unrestricted warfare and the author of The Red Tsunami, The Silent Storm, Killing Your Freedom. Now, if this Trump-Xi summit is still on, that's in 10 days, the parties are expected to at least touch on AI. What are the concerns you think each side would bring up in these bilateral talks? Well, the bigger picture is very serious. So what we've got, Trump is actually very correct. This is about the future of the world. This is the Manhattan Project of our time, and whoever wins AI will win all the spoils of war. The other thing is you have to get inside the brain and inside the mind of your enemy, and they weaponize everything against the West, and this is nothing any different. And they have an all-out campaign against data centers, which power the AI development, also the whole AI throttling thing that came out over the last weekend. All of them are very, very serious at this time. Trump is right, we need to keep our foot on the gas pedal, but there is a problem. Our guys are coming out saying, hey, wait, Dr. Frankenstein says we created Frankenstein, now he's on his way out the door. So it's a very, very serious time, and they let the genie out of the box, and everybody needs to understand this is not for the faint of heart. Now, on that note, Anthropic CEO Dara Amadei highlighted the need to get China to agree to any guardrails put on the industry and his call for a slowdown. What did you make of his assessment of how and why? Well, the slowdown is a great concept. The problem is China will agree to everything like they've always done for the past 35, 40 years. They'll agree to and they will deliver nothing on it. So they're empty promises, empty commitments, and you can expect your enemy to keep their foot on the gas all the way through this thing. So it's a very, very serious issue, and China has already violated the terms of this open system, which is AI, by tracking NTD, tracking Falun Gong members, Shen Yun, using the power of the model. And that shows you just how powerful it is. They can take five years' worth of work and get it done in 30 days. And digging into that, the Chinese regime has said it won't be putting in AI guardrails, but the CCP's spy chief wrote in a recent piece that AI poses a threat to the regime's power and control, and that more regime oversight is needed. What does all this tell you? Well, communism and totalitarianism, which is the Chinese Communist Party, is all about oppression, power, and control. And what AI can do, the power of technology exponentially with AI, and don't forget quantum computing behind it that only makes AI even more powerful, can render a regime kind of useless because you can get many, many deep fakes to hit many people at the time, mock the Chinese Communist Party and the oppression and the control. So it's something that could absolutely threaten the regime. So that's why they have to get out in front of this thing and control it. And once again, this is the Manhattan Project of our day. Who wins AI is going to win the world. And going back to one of your earlier points, the U.S. government recently warned of Chinese AI companies targeting U.S. models with industrial scale distillation campaigns. Anthropic also recently released a new threat report highlighting novel cases of misuse, several from China. Given how aggressively the CCP has adopted AI for use against its political enemies and using foreign AI when Chinese models aren't enough, what kind of risk does AI in the hands of the Chinese regime pose for humanity? Well, the Chinese Communist Party have already shown you their hand. You know, Anthropic came out and said they've been using Claude against innocent people, people who are just speaking the truth on communism. And the CCP sees that as a threat to their regime. So they've already shown you their hand that they are weaponizing, you know, even on U.S. sovereign soil. They're using that tool against Americans, folks that are supporting the American world and the American view and American values. So they've already tipped their hand. That's exactly who the enemy is. They will stop at nothing and at no cost to dominate this platform and dominate the world. The Treasury Secretary taking questions this Tuesday on Capitol Hill, Scott Besant told lawmakers the state of the economy is entering a new era of strength here at home. And the hearing was interrupted by a Chinese Communist Party-backed group. NTD's Malina Weisskopf has the key takeaways. This morning's hearing mainly focused on America's place in the global economy, but Treasury Secretary Scott Besant also doubled down on the administration's economic message, listing accomplishments by the administration so far, like the rise in wages for lower-income Americans and the impact of the administration's tax cuts. Business activity has surged to a 52-month high. Besant's opening remarks interrupted by pro-Iranian protesters. Committee will be in order. Well, that's a November decision. This versus that. Lawmakers from both sides described them as Code Pink protesters and noted the CCP's involvement in financing such protesters. I assume it was Code Pink disruption of this hearing. And I should point out that Code Pink is chiefly financed by China and the Chinese Communist Party. One more reason to be concerned about China's role in international finance. Several lawmakers focused on China and the regime's efforts to purposely put other countries in debt, the CCP's trade imbalances and its investments in Iran. This widely talked about Belt and Road initiative has gone from a lending operation to a collection operation as they have bankrupted many or are bankrupting many of their borrowers. However, I'm concerned that China clearly and the UAE have done too little to sever themselves from trade and money movements from Iran. There was also a strong focus on how to keep the U.S. dollar on top amid the rise of cryptocurrency. Some of my colleagues today have claimed that crypto will destabilize the U.S. dollar. With stable coins, the highest demand stable coins are indeed U.S. dollar backed. The strongest revelation yet by the Pentagon on U.S. weapons in space serving as a deterrent and warning to China. U.S. Air Force Secretary Troy Mink said on Monday, Washington quote, has on orbit space control weapons capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversary action. This is the first time that the U.S. has publicly acknowledged that it possesses the capability to deploy a fully operational weapon systems in outer space serving as a deterrent to China. Mink gave no details about the weapons, but stressed the need for autonomous systems to keep the U.S. ahead of the number two power. Now, the really good news is that the United States is arguably the leader in autonomous systems in the world. But guess who number two is? When people look back at this moment, they will not judge us on whether or not we implemented these autonomous systems because eventually we're going to. But what we're going to be judged on is how quickly we operationalize them, right? That is whether we operationalize them fast enough to maintain our advantage. That's the challenge. Over the years, the U.S. had repeatedly warned that China and Russia have been using lasers or jamming techniques in space to endanger American satellites. The island nation of Palau is at the center of a dispute over Taiwan. It recently defended Taiwan's participation in the Pacific Islands Forum, despite pressure from China. Palau's president is sitting down with The Epoch Times' Jan Jekielek to discuss Beijing, the drug crisis, and his country's ties with Washington. Take a look. Palau, a country of 18,000 people and over 300 small islands. For centuries, major powers have competed for influence there. It sits in what's called the second island chain, and it's one of only 12 nations that diplomatically recognize Taiwan. Its president says these factors make it a target, most recently by the Chinese regime. But because of our location, we're always going to be the center of interest, geopolitical interest. We were always a bullseye. Sir Angle Whipps Jr. has spent five years in the middle of this, and he describes Beijing's approach to diplomacy in terms most leaders won't say out loud. Every time I have meetings with the Chinese, what they've done is they first tell me how wonderful they are, and then they turn around and say, well, if you don't behave, we'll beat you up. First a promise, then the threat. The currency is tourists, and Palau's economy runs on them. They've told us, oh, we can build all the hotels you want, bring you a million tourists. But then if you don't switch, then we'll cut off the tourists. Switch, in this case, means to stop recognizing Taiwan. Whipps says the pressure doesn't stop at trade. It extends to how a country the size of Palau is treated by the Chinese regime. I was talking to a Chinese diplomat, and we were talking about our extended continental shelf, for example. And I was saying, well, there seems to be a misunderstanding at your government's level about our claim on the continental shelf. Maybe you can help us on it. And finally, they just got upset at me, and they said, well, you're a small country. You shouldn't have so much ocean. And now drugs are a major issue. Methamphetamine and cocaine are arriving on flights from Macau and Hong Kong. Whipps asked Beijing for help. He says they made one arrest, so he's turned to Washington. We're now about eight months into that. It hasn't quite happened yet, but it was an important issue that I brought up with the United States continuously. And whether it's homeland security assistance, it's VA assistance, it's FBI assistance, it's just attorneys to help us prosecute so that they know that the full extent of the law, these people know that we're going to come down on them. And presence is deterrence. Palau has been ruled by the Spanish, then Germans, then the Japanese. It later became an American trust territory. Whipps says the United States was the first power to give Palauans a chance to choose their own destiny. And he thinks that says something about the difference between the U.S. and China. And maybe that's a difference between maybe the Western world and sometimes China, because maybe they don't understand God's love. Maybe that's what we need to work on, is helping them understand God's love. Because I think if you understand God's love, then you understand how we should treat each other. For Whipps, Palau's independence is ultimately about having the freedom to choose who it stands with and how it is treated. It could end up costing a life. A horrifying crash in a car race in China prompted several teams to withdraw. It also exposed serious flaws in the race's security measures. Earlier this month, a Ferrari caught fire in a crash during the China GT Championship, leaving British driver Ollie Melroy severely injured and trapped inside the cockpit. Fire suppression staff from the Chinese event organizer either fled in fear or did not know how to operate the fire extinguishers. Another driver abandoned his own race and pulled Melroy from the burning wreck with his bare hands. He also used a fire extinguisher at the scene. Three court teams withdrew from the race. One of the drivers who withdrew said that Chinese event officials attempted to downplay the life-threatening rescue failures as minor mistakes and tried to shift the blame, adding that the organizing committee had lost all basic reverence for drivers' lives. China GT has since apologized for the accident. Coming up, 150 victories for Americans of faith in President Trump's second term. NTD Steve Lance sat down with Jennifer Corn, Director of the White House Faith Office, for insights. More on that after the break here on China In Focus. Welcome back to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Less than two years in, the Trump administration is celebrating 150 victories for Americans of faith. NTD's Steve Lance speaks with a woman who has helped drive that progress. Jennifer Corn, Director of the White House Faith Office, explains the coordination across nearly every federal agency that made it possible and how the U.S. is addressing the growing influence of socialism. Give us a sense of the functionality of the White House Faith Office and what you guys do. Thank you for asking that question, because a lot of times people will say, I haven't heard of the White House Faith Office, or what does the Faith Office do all day? Do you just pray all day? And we say, well, yes, we do pray all day because we are in Washington, D.C., and we are in the White House, so we do need prayer to get through the day. But the biggest thing for us is that we are working on policy that affects people of faith and that we give people of faith in America a voice in their own government, because so many times people will scream at you, this is a separation of church and state. The meaning of separation of church and state, for all your viewers, please, and they need to spread this around, is that the government can't dictate to them what religion to be. It does not mean that people of faith do not have a voice in their government, and that's what the White House Faith Office does. We work on policy for the president with the Domestic Policy Council and all the other departments and agencies, and we give Americans a voice in their own government. And correct me if I'm wrong, it's also not the law of the land, separation of church and state. Absolutely. It's just organizations who truly want no faith in any part of America, and we're heading down communism and socialism, that they just want it completely out of public life. And we're here to say that you're allowed to talk about your religion freely, whether it's at work or whether it's in your home or in the public square, and that is your right here, just like everybody else in this country who has an interest, whether it's farmers or business leaders, you name the group, people of faith also have rights too. Speaking of some of those policy issues, the president, President Trump, just recently truthing out 150 victories for people of faith since taking office, and your role as Director of the Faith Office has had a huge part to play in that. What are some of the most significant victories that come to mind for you? Well, first, thank you for acknowledging. So President Trump the other day said, I want to post that out, which is just when the president's thinking about religious freedom, we are so honored, and everyone should know that the really truly cares about religious freedom. The beginning of this White House Faith Office, I don't think a lot of people really know, and I think it's important to talk about, because there has never been a White House Faith Office in the West Wing as a direct report to the president working on policy. So that's historic in itself. But two years ago, Pastor Paula White, who is President Trump's pastor, and myself went to him at Mar-a-Lago with a four-page plan that said, President Trump's White House Faith Office. And he read over it, and he loved it. And he made some tweaks, and he asked some questions about how do we do this, or can this be done? And unlike any other politician who would say, thank you so much, I'll get back to you, or run it by 10 other people, he said, I love it. He called Susie on the phone and said, walk her through this. When I get reelected, I want this faith office in the West Wing. And so first of all, I think we need to talk about that. And what a unique thing, because of President Trump, we have this faith office. And so again, the other day when he said, I need that list, I want to post it out, we were so eager to get the list to him so that he could post it. But some of the biggest things, I mean, there's so much we could go over, right? 150 is a lot. And we hope that people do go to whitehouse.gov to look up the list themselves, to read it, to spread it to other people, because it's such a beacon of freedom for the rest of the world to know that this government is protecting people of faith. So number one, the creation of the White House Faith Office, that's one of the biggest ones. Creating the Religious Liberty Commission. I don't know if a lot of people know about that, but Dan Patrick is the head of that commission. And we have great people like Franklin Graham, Kelly Shackelford, Bishop Barron on there. So people of all faiths serves on that commission. And then we have an advisory group to people of all faiths. And we've met in the last year, seven times and had seven hearings with over 100 people who are giving their testimony, whether it's in the medical field, the education field, in the military, just regular citizens who had been discriminated because of their faith. And then we give 12 recommendations to the president on what we do to protect people of faith. Creating the task forces on anti-Semitism, combating anti-Semitism, and combating anti-Christian bias. One other thing, and I'll stop there because there's a lot, but we did a documentary called By Dawn's Early Light, which people could watch for free online. We knew people weren't going to read a 100-page report, but they would watch a 90-minute documentary. And so it's called By Dawn's Early Light. And that outlines all the discrimination that we found in all the different departments and agencies and the things that we fix. I think that's the biggest thing, is that every cabinet official and the president fixed what was wrong in the last administration and what discriminated against people of faith. For example, Navy SEALs who wanted religious exemptions and literally zero people got religious exemptions for taking the COVID vaccine. Think about that. We fired Navy SEALs, people who are willing to sacrifice their life, what they do for a living for our country, and the Biden administration fired them. The president said, anybody who would like to come back, we'll reinstate you with back pay. So those are just a few of the things. One other thing I'll mention, because I think this is impactful, is there were pro-life people who were praying silently outside an abortion clinic, not blocking it, not doing any interference, physical. And they were jailed. These are like 70, 80-year-old grandmothers and grandfathers who were praying outside an abortion clinic. They were jailed. The president pardoned them. And so again, I can go, we could go for an hour talking about all the things that we've done for religious freedom. 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.