Hamas Attack: US-China Power Contest in Middle East | China In Focus

Israel declaring war on terrorist group Hamas after an unprecedented attack. The United States stands with Israel. How are the world's strongest powers responding to the move made by a staunch American ally? Fentanyl, the Ukraine war, and fair trade. U.S. senators raising all three issues during a rare meeting with the Chinese Communist Party leader in Beijing. We made clear we don't think that level playing field exists right now. What's next for U.S.-China relations? A new report exposing decades of Chinese funding in New York politics. An investigation reveals China's state propaganda department has been funneling hundreds of thousands or more into Empire State candidates for office. Once a global growth engine, now a no-go zone. What's scaring Wall Street sharks away from China? What do you think? Let us know below and subscribe if you haven't already. Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. A new war breaking out in the Middle East where almost half of the world's oil gets pumped. Israel, a key U.S. ally, has come under a surprise attack. What does the onslaught say about the U.S.-China power competition in the area and how is Beijing involved? Here's more. A new conflict putting the world on alert. Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on Saturday firing thousands of rockets toward Israel, America's staunchest ally in the Middle East. Citizens of Israel, we are at war, not in an operation or in fighting rounds, but at war. The rockets devastated parts of Israel, burning cars and damaging houses. This is Israel's 9-11 and Israel will do everything to bring our sons and daughters back home. The attack killed at least 900 in Israel, the country taking on its revenge on Hamas by pounding airstrikes, killing over 500 Palestinians. The U.S. is sending its most advanced aircraft carrier and other warships to support Israel. In this moment of tragedy, I want to say to them and to the world and to terrorists everywhere that the United States stands with Israel. We will not ever fail to have their back. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen posting on X, formerly Twitter, expressing her condolences to the victims of the attack. Israel's embassy in China also posting on X, voicing hope for support and aid from Beijing. The Chinese foreign ministry said it's concerned about the escalation and hopes to see a ceasefire. China didn't condemn Palestine. While visiting Beijing, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer urged Chinese leader Xi Jinping to stand with Israel. We also, a bunch of us, made the request that China use its influence on Iran to not allow the conflagration to spread. How are China and Iran involved in this? Here's a breakdown. Israel and Palestine are deadly rivals, and Hamas is one of the terrorist organizations that controls Palestine. Israel is the single largest recipient of U.S. military financing. China, on the other hand, is doing a strategic dance. It's Israel's third largest trading partner, but has been showing support for Palestine. At the same time, China props up Iran, which sends money and weapons to Hamas. Both Iran and Hamas want to wipe out Israel. According to a 2014 report from cybersecurity website Krabs, Chinese military hackers stole sensitive information on Israel's missile defense system. And because of it, there are suspicions that China might have lent a hand to Israel's enemy. A key Biden administration strategy tested by Hamas' unprovoked attack on Israel. The White House has said it would focus on bringing calm to the Middle East, then focus on China. As President Biden pledges unwavering support for Israel, some Republicans are criticizing him for releasing frozen Iranian funds. Hamas and other terrorist groups could benefit from the money. NTD's Jeremy Sandberg has more. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that Iran has not been able to spend a single dollar of the $6 billion in funds. unfrozen in a U.S.-Iran prisoner exchange in September. The account is closely regulated by the U.S. Treasury Department, so it can only be used for things like food, medicine, medical equipment. House Foreign Affairs Chief Mike McCaul says he's concerned about the $6 billion in lifted sanctions. I don't think it played a part in this event, but it certainly could play a part in any future terror activities. McCaul and his panel's ranking Democrat, Gregory Meeks, are pushing for the immediate passage of a resolution pledging support for Israel. He says there's no time to wait with China and Iran watching and intends to get it to the floor by unanimous consent even if a speaker is not in place. And what kind of message are we sending to our adversaries? Democratic Senator Joe Manchin on X called the attack appalling and pledged commitment to Israel. Senator Chris Murphy urged lawmakers to set aside politics and show support. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise called for the Biden administration to be held accountable for what he called appeasement of Hamas terrorists. House Homeland Security Republicans said on X they are closely monitoring the situation and its implications for Homeland Security. Jeremy Sandberg, NTD News. More on the situation in Israel. India believes Chinese technology was used by Hamas to bypass Israeli defenses this weekend. NTD's Chris Spears spoke with economic and national security analyst Antonio Graceffo about the Chinese regime's role in this new war. Antonio Graceffo, thank you for joining us. Chinese regime leader Xi Jinping said over the weekend that Israel should grant independence to Palestine. We know that the Chinese Communist Party, there's always some kind of a hidden agenda behind the scenes with them. Why might it be in the CCP's advantage to advocate for independence of Palestine? Thank you. Yeah, in addition to calling for an independent Palestine, he's also refused to condemn these attacks on Israel over the weekend. And there's a number of reasons why China would benefit from closer ties with Palestine. This includes undermining U.S. hedge money in the region and also oil, economic interest that China is trading with both Iran and Saudi Arabia, and they need Israel to be out of the picture. Now, we know Iran backs Hamas by providing funding and equipment. You've noted that China and Russia both bypassed trade sanctions on Iran, helping them financially. Given this, how should we view China and Russia's role in the attack? So, there's definitely a link in that, you know, China underwrites the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran is credited with having supported, Hamas credits them with having supported their invasion, helping them plan it, giving them the go ahead. We also suspect that Chinese technology was used to breach Israel's defense perimeter. And should the international community hold China and Russia accountable for this indirect financial assistance? And if so, what should that look like? I think that's definitely going to happen. We've shown that the Ukraine war is showing that the U.S. is very willing, the international community is more willing now to use secondary sanctions. Over the weekend, I believe 25 more Chinese companies were sanctioned for supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. And now there's going to be massive sanctions on Russian and Chinese companies that support Iran. And in order to prevent and stop terrorism in the Middle East, do measures against the Chinese Communist Party also need to be considered here? Well, it certainly needs to be considered. I mean, Iran is known to be a state sponsor of terrorism around the world, and they export the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. They're present in Syria and various places around the world, also supporting Hamas, who's all over the world. So clearly, Iran is sponsoring these groups, and they're getting a lot of their money from China. And now, we know China and Xinjiang targets Muslims there. But in this instance, they're supporting Muslims. You know, this seems double standard. Yes, China tries to present an image to the world that they're supporting Muslims, and they've got all the Belt and Road Muslim countries to basically keep quiet about what's happening in Xinjiang. Palestine is keeping quiet about what happened in Xinjiang. And so China presents themselves to the world as a friend of the Muslims, and they say that the United States is an enemy of Muslims. All right. Antonio Graceffo, thank you again. A rare meeting is happening in Beijing. Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping now holding talks with U.S. congressional leaders for the first time in eight years. What are the key takeaways? Let's take a closer look. We have 1,000 reasons to improve China-U.S. relations, and not a single reason to ruin them. That's what Xi told U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday. Schumer is in Beijing with a delegation of six senators. We welcome this competition. However, we do not seek conflict. During the meetings, Schumer said the top goal of the delegation's visit is to seek fair trade between the two countries. He also raised issues like Chinese companies supplying chemicals for fentanyl production and China's potential support to Russia in its war against Ukraine. We made clear to President Xi that America wants fairness and stability. At the foundation of the relationship must be a level playing field for American businesses and workers, as well as responsible competition. We made clear we don't think that level playing field exists right now. The delegation will also visit South Korea and Japan as part of a three-country tour. The trip comes as Beijing and Washington try to lay the groundwork for a possible meeting between President Biden and Xi Jinping in November. A million dollars in Chinese money reportedly greasing the wheels of New York's political system. An exclusive investigation from Newsweek is calling out cases of funding from Beijing landing in dozens of lawmakers' pockets. The report reveals decades of donations, mainly from community groups. The groups are closely linked to Beijing's United Front Work Department, which takes direct orders from the Chinese Communist Party's top body. Experts in the West accuse it of serving as a propaganda and espionage arm and of aiding Beijing's transnational repression. Here's a list of just a few that have gotten backing. Former New York Senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. New York Congress member Grace Meng, who named a day after a Chinese businessman in her district after taking thousands in donations. The man is now facing charges for acting as a Chinese agent and helping Chinese authorities force a U.S. resident back to China against their will. As for others, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York Governor Kathy Hochul. The money also went to candidates for New York's city government, state assembly and senate, plus district attorney, attorney general, judges and the governor's office. Based on the findings, in the past 10 years alone, these Beijing-linked community groups spent at least $600,000. Newsweek reports that over 600 groups have links to the United Front Department in the U.S. 130 of them are based in New York. Donations from similar groups have been identified across the country. Once a market-airy foreign investor wanted a slice of, now a no-go zone. Times have changed and foreign businesses are thinking twice about sending people to China. Tammy Krings is chief executive of ATG Travel Worldwide. She told the Wall Street Journal that about 25 percent more U.S. companies canceled or delayed business trips to China in recent weeks. Dale Buckner, chief executive of U.S. security firm Global Guardian, told the Journal that American companies are also imposing more security measures for their employees in China, including background checks and keeping an eye on social media. That's to make sure employees don't share anything online that Beijing could deem anti-China. Those could include posts supporting pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong or speaking out against forced labor in Xinjiang. Posts like these could put employees at risk of detention in China. The self-censorship is even going as far as checking if employees have ever served in the U.S. military or have any dual nationalities. Both could also be problematic in China. All this came after the Chinese regime barred two executives of foreign companies from leaving the country. One is a senior executive at U.S. risk advisory firm Kroll. The other is a senior investment banker at Japanese firm Nomura. Washington, giving the green light to a new proposal. Two major South Korean chipmaking firms will be allowed to send American-made equipment to their China plants. That's to allow the world's two biggest memory chipmakers to operate in the world's biggest chip arena in the long term. Samsung and SK Hynix are exempt from a license requirement by Washington. It restricts American-made microchip technology from flowing into China. According to South Korea's presidential office, the decision is already in effect. Samsung and SK Hynix are ranked as two of the world's largest chipmakers. The companies have invested billions of dollars in their semiconductor facilities in China. That's all for today's China In Focus on YouTube. We're now 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. Shots fired in the Middle East. A deafening explosion inside Israel sent one of Washington's biggest allies into an all-out war over the weekend. Terrorists launched a surprise attack on Israeli soil. As death toll continues to climb, China is calling for a ceasefire while reiterating its support for Palestine, where the terrorist organization is based. What is China's stake in the region? And is Beijing going to draft a peace deal? To discuss, we have Brandon Weikert, a geopolitical analyst and senior editor for 1945.com. 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.