US Trying to 'Choke' China’s Military: Raimondo | China In Focus

The U.S. working to choke out China's military development by cutting off access to cutting-edge semiconductors. A closer look at military power rankings between the U.S. and China and their allies. Plus, the Pentagon is launching a new project aiming to reverse Washington's biggest military weak point. What do you think of the efforts? Let us know below and subscribe if you haven't already. Welcome to China In Focus, I'm Tiffany Meyer. Choking out China's military, that's Washington's latest plan, according to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. She made the comment in an interview with CNBC over the weekend, just after her visit to China last week. Here's the clip. Well, we are trying to choke their military capacity. So if they feel that, that means our strategy is working. We are not going to, certainly on my watch, we are not going to sell the most sophisticated American chips to China that they want for their military capacity. Raimondo says her Chinese counterparts asked her to relax U.S. export controls during her visit, but that she was crystal clear it wouldn't happen and that there was no room to negotiate on matters of national security. The Commerce Secretary says it's not decoupling, it's de-risking, and that there's still billions of dollars of commerce to be done in certain microchip sales to China because the vast majority are not the cutting-edge ones the U.S. is concerned about. Rumors are mounting among U.S. companies that China is uninvestable. Raimondo says recent raids on U.S. businesses without explanation and regulatory actions against Micron with no transparency put a chill on the entire business community. She told CNBC that American business wants to and is ready to compete. But the recent actions, the counter-espionage law, et cetera, have just made it an unlevel playing field, and that's what has to stop if U.S. business can compete there effectively. She suggested a Boeing deal is a good action to rebuild confidence. Jeremy Sandberg, NTD News. The U.S. is looking to slow China's military development. But just how strong are the communist country's forces? According to the Global Firepower Index for Military Strength this year, the U.S. still tops the list, followed by Russia and China. Of the globe's ten strongest military powers, six are allies to Washington. Out of them, Pakistan is friendly with both the U.S. and China in certain areas, while India is dependent on Russian weapons, complicating its stance. Only Russia remains a strictly Chinese ally. In its efforts to counter the Chinese military, Washington faces a problem. China has more ships, more missiles and more people. The U.S. does have more advanced technology, but it's still concerning in the case that 20 Chinese aircraft could open fire on a single U.S. fighter jet. But the U.S. has a trick up its sleeve, using autonomous systems to help bridge the manpower gap. The U.S. Defense Department announced a new project is in the works. A statement last week explained it would churn out thousands of autonomous systems over the next two years, including drones and other unmanned aircraft. On the other hand, the U.S. is boosting its military support for Taiwan. The island is working to ward off the shadow of a Chinese invasion. It's widely believed that if war between China and Taiwan broke out, the conflict would reach a much wider scale than the one between Russia and Ukraine. It could even risk triggering a third world war. Just days ago, the U.S. approved another arms sale to Taiwan. The 80 million dollar deal stands out because it's the first sale to the island under a program that is typically reserved for sovereign states. The Chinese Communist Party claims democratic Taiwan as its own territory, though it has never ruled the island. Taiwan staunchly rejects Chinese sovereignty. Washington has stated that the deal does not indicate a change in policy towards Taiwan or its status. The U.S. has inked a number of weapons sales to the island under both Trump and Biden. Last year, Taiwan complained about delayed weapons deliveries after manufacturers shifted their supplies to Ukraine. Compare this 80 million, which essentially will end up being loans, to the 100 plus billion going to Ukraine. And those are grants. And the relative value to the American people is a lot lower. U.S. support for Taiwan is based on bipartisan consensus, and Washington is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself. Will President Biden soon come face to face with China's Xi Jinping? Biden is looking to meet with his Chinese counterpart at an upcoming summit, but Xi Jinping might not make an appearance. With a group of 20 summit just days away, speculations are flying. Here's more. Beijing confirmed that Chinese Premier Li Qiang will attend the summit in New Delhi this week, but didn't answer whether Xi Jinping will appear, following reports last week that he could skip the event. The last meeting between Biden and Xi was at the G20 summit last year. Biden's latest comment was made on Sunday. Are you disappointed that President Xi is back? I am disappointed, but I'm going to get to see him. Ties between the U.S. and China remain fraught, despite Washington's visits this year in a bid to restart talks. Meanwhile, India and China remain locked in a standoff along their shared border. Beijing recently angered New Delhi with a new national map. It reaffirms Chinese claims to disputed territories. The new map has also prompted aggravation from China's neighbors surrounding the South China Sea. China claims 90 percent of the disputed waters as its own, even areas that are more than a thousand miles away from China's border. A large economy built on a shaky foundation, China is seeing a surge in workers' unrest across a number of major industries. The number of protests that broke out so far this year already exceeding all of 2022. NTD's Sam Wang brings us an overview. As of early September this year, labor rights watchdog China Labor Bulletin has recorded over 900 worker protests throughout the nation. What's more, an earlier report suggested that the figure could rise to 1,300 by the end of the year, a post-pandemic peak. One key factor makes the 900 totals so significant. Most protests in China get squashed in their early stages. Few dare to raise complaints about the country's regime due to fear or backlash. Among all professions, construction workers are leading the fight. They have launched 50 protest incidents on average per month, usually owing to overdue paychecks. Here's why. A shrinking real estate market has left property developers stocked up on empty housing. And with no one buying, it's becoming difficult for the companies to pay their contractors. The founder of China Labor Watch, a New York-based non-profit organization, said that China has yet to come up with a solution to battle the economic downturn. China has yet to implement any financial rescue measures. There is no stimulus either. Public consumption isn't looking too great, not to mention the decrease in exports. All of these factors are contributing to companies losing businesses and wage arrears. This is happening very often. The unpaid wage problem isn't a limited one. It's also found its way into the checkbooks of state-owned companies. The government is still coming, but we can't handle it. From January to May, manufacturing saw the largest increase in protest numbers, particularly along the coast. That's as slowing global demand puts a chokehold on China's outbound shipments. As of this June, exports from China saw a sudden plunge, marking a worse-than-expected 12-point-4 percent drop compared to the previous year. Sam Wang, NTD News. A property slowdown is hitting Shanghai. Residents in the Chinese financial hub are buying fewer homes while fearing for the economy. Beijing rolled out a string of measures last week to revive China's debt-riddled property sector, including lower mortgage rates for first-time homebuyers. But they don't seem to be enough to tempt residents like freelancer Li Yang. For now, I wouldn't want to buy a house. To be honest, no matter what policies come out, it won't reach the point where ordinary people would want to buy a house. John Lam, head of China and Hong Kong property at UBS Investment Bank Research, expects more easing measures to be announced soon. But he still believes property transactions will fall by about 15 percent in the second half of the year. If the sales continue to decline or do not have material impact from the policy easing, then we may continue to see the price decline here. Leading developer Country Garden is scrambling to avoid default, and fears of contagion to other property firms are mounting. There are concerns developers may struggle to complete projects. It's not just the cost of borrowing putting buyers off. White-collar workers are taking pay cuts, and unemployment is high. Russia-Ukraine war impacts are still coming to light. Chinese cars are grabbing market share in Russia after the departure of Western brands. They now account for half of Russia's auto import market. Highlighting the change, Chinese cars dominated a recent car show in Moscow. Customers there made positive remarks about the Chinese vehicles on display. I'm a little bit surprised by what I've seen here. I think that very soon the Chinese cars will surpass even the European ones. Be it electronics or transmission, interior design, everything is remarkable. Showing off sleek four-door SUVs and EVs models, Chinese carmakers are capitalizing on the departure of American, European, Japanese and South Korean players. Those brands used to dominate the market before the invasion of Ukraine. Data shows imported Chinese cars now account for nearly half of Russia's market, compared with just 7 percent two years ago. And it's a lucrative business. Official figures from China showed in the first half of this year, Chinese carmakers' exports of passenger cars to Russia has increased more than six-fold year-on-year, and valued at 4.6 billion dollars. Five of China's biggest banks slashed interest rates on Friday. The cut targets an economic slowdown, focused on troubled developer Country Garden's debt crisis. The company just delayed an important deadline for creditors to vote on whether to postpone payments. The vote is a key hurdle Country Garden faces as it fights to avoid default. Here's more. Embattled Chinese developer Country Garden hit the deadline for a crunch vote on its debt, and then moved the deadline. The vote on delaying payments on a $535 million bond is a key step in its bid to avoid default. Creditors had been due to give their answer by 10pm Thursday in Hong Kong, but late at night the company pushed that back by 24 hours. It said bondholders needed sufficient time to prepare, and didn't respond to a request for comment. Country Garden is China's largest private developer. It's weighed down by liabilities that totaled $194 billion as of the end of June. Almost $15 billion of debts are due to be repaid within a year. That leaves investors wondering if it's set to be the latest casualty of China's ailing property sector, and what fallout a collapse might cause. Real estate accounts for about a quarter of the country's economy, but the sector has been in trouble since Beijing began a crackdown on the massive debts accumulated by developers. Over the last few days, the Chinese government has rolled out support measures in a bid to calm investor jitters. The most recent measure saw the country's central bank cut mortgage interest rates for first-time buyers. That's all for today's China In Focus on YouTube. I'd point out sharing a shortened version of our program here, after being demonetized for two years. Here's what to look out for in our second half. Chinese leader Xi Jinping could be a no-show for the upcoming Group of 20 summit, though he did manage to attend a BRICS meeting in Africa last month, as China seeks to band together with the group's other members, Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa. Why is Africa so important for China, and what harm could a partnership between them spell for the U.S.? We hear from Gregory Copley, President of the International Strategic Studies Association, for his take. The full episode is available on our partner platform, Epic TV. To sign up, click the link down below. Thanks for watching China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. See you tomorrow.