Putin Visits Xi in Show of 'No-Limits' Partnership | China In Focus 2023-10-18 01:45

The Middle East, Ukraine and energy, two No Limits partners, are due for in-depth talks in Beijing. A trade forum there is bringing together world leaders, including Taliban officials. Over $1.9 million. That's how much Stanford is willing to pay the Justice Department. We look at the controversy behind the settlement. Chinese fighter jets soaring too close for comfort as a Canadian plane carried out a mission. Officials in Ottawa calling the 15-foot near-miss aggressive and unsafe. Wealthy Chinese nationals are sending their money out of China for safety, despite strict regulations. What does the money outflow mean for the global economy? What do you think? Let us know below. And subscribe if you haven't already. Welcome to China In Focus, I'm Tiffany Meyer. Amid the turmoil in the Middle East, Russia's president is flying to Beijing to meet who he called a dear friend. But there's more to his trip on the sidelines of Beijing's Belt and Road Forum. Let's zoom in. Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin to Beijing on Tuesday, kicking off the Belt and Road Forum overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war. Putin is slated to speak after Xi on Wednesday at the forum. The two will also meet one-on-one later that day. A Kremlin spokesman said, they're likely to discuss the ongoing conflict between Israel and terrorist group Hamas. They will exchange opinions. Putin's visit comes amid the Middle East crisis after Hamas attacked Israel earlier this month. Despite Washington's strong support for Israel, neither China nor Russia have directly condemned the terrorist group. Here's what retired Navy officer Lieutenant Stephen Rogers had to say about their meeting. They're all serving each other's purpose with regard to their goals and objectives in taking Taiwan and taking Ukraine and taking Israel. While Putin and Xi hold talks on Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden will be in Israel for a show of support. Another topic on the Wednesday meeting's agenda, energy. These are significant projects, multifaceted, including those with the People's Republic of China. I mean the construction of a gas pipeline system through Mongolia to China. Putin has said the pipeline project would move ahead at what he called a good pace. The deal would help redirect Russian gas supplies to China that had gone to Europe. Russia has increased energy supplies to China as the West has imposed sweeping economic sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine. Putin's Tuesday visit to Beijing marks his highest profile overseas trip since being accused of war crimes in Ukraine. More export restrictions on China. This round taking new routes through third-party nations. Washington on Tuesday expanded licensing requirements for chip exports to more than 40 countries under U.S. sanctions. The policy seeks to prevent third-party players from smuggling American-made semiconductors into communist China. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the measure aims to keep China from accessing critical U.S. technologies for military use. Also on the receiving end of this rule, U.S. tech giant Nvidia. Last year, the company barely met Washington's previous export threshold by sending watered-down microchips into the Chinese market. Putin's visit to Beijing comes amid expectations of a ground offensive in Gaza by Israel. Israeli troops and tanks are lining up at the border. And reports say an operation against the Hamas terrorist group could happen at any moment. And a warning, some of the following footage may be disturbing for some viewers. NTD's Jason Perry has the details. Israel has been launching relentless airstrikes on Hamas targets since the terrorist group attacked Israeli civilians over a week ago. At the same time, Hamas has continued firing rockets into Israel. And now, over a week into the war, Israel is gearing up for a ground offensive into the Gaza Strip to destroy the Hamas terrorist group. I spoke with Rick Fischer, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center about the upcoming ground offensive, and he described it as nothing short of a meat grinder. The terrain of Gaza is going to be very difficult, ruined buildings everywhere, bombed out buildings. And as for the possible occupation of Gaza to prevent another terrorist attack on Israel, Fischer said this. There is really no other way for Israel to prevent a similar occurrence other than to occupy Gaza, build a new government, and to spend probably a generation building a citizenry that understands the rule of law, understands the obligations of free people, and understands the necessity to live in peace with neighbors. This is in sharp contrast to President Biden's recent comments that it would be a mistake for Israel to occupy Gaza. And amid the war's smoke and horrors, Fischer highlighted a significant behind-the-scenes player. Overlaying this whole war has been the support of China. China's political, commercial, and military and technology support of Iran over the last 40 years has enabled Iran to turn the proxies of Hezbollah and Hamas into weapons able to wage war against Israel. With the attack of Hamas, China has basically come clean. It is now all but a declared enemy of the state of Israel. Fischer explained that this war proves that the Chinese Communist Party wants to destroy freedom in the Middle East. Jason Perry, NTD News. A $1.9 million settlement between one of America's top universities and the Justice Department. In early October, Stanford agreed to pay the huge sum to settle an allegation that the university failed to tell the government about its Chinese funding when applying for federal research grants. The settlement document said between 2015 and 2020, Stanford applied for grants from a number of government agencies, the Army, Navy, NASA, and the National Science Foundation. But the university failed to mention a key point. The same professor applying for federal funding also received or would receive money from two Chinese institutions, Fudan University and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Under U.S. law, universities must disclose foreign funding. The purpose is to prevent sensitive research that the U.S. pays for from helping foreign countries. Fudan is one of China's top universities. In 2019, the school amended its charter, pledging to follow the Chinese Communist Party's leadership. Freed Australian journalist Chen Lei bears her soul in her first interview after emerging from a Chinese prison. She returned home to her children last Wednesday after being held for three years by Beijing on so-called national security charges. She shed tears at the airport when she saw her family watch. Released Australian journalist Chung Lei bears her soul in her first interview. She returned home to her children last Wednesday after being held for three years by Beijing on national security charges. Sometimes I feel like an invalid, like a newborn, and very fragile. And other times I feel like I could fly. And I want to embrace everything. And I enjoy everything so intensely and savor it. When you get to the airport, who's the first person you see? Is it Penny Wang or is it your kids? My kids running at me and my mum, who has aged a lot in the past three years. And we just all screamed. So they've said you shared a document. I mean, we're talking about a government briefing before you went on air, right? Yes. Yeah. And essentially you broke an embargo. Yes. By a few minutes. Yes. And that's the accusation against you? Yes. I mean, when I heard that, I gasped. Cheng was a former anchor for a Chinese state television. She was detained in 2020 on suspicion of sharing secrets with another country. In 2022, she was tried in a closed courtroom and details of the verdict were not made public until last week. Cheng said she could not disclose details of her case, which is seen as an example of Beijing's hostage diplomacy. Her return signals a warming of ties between Beijing and Canberra. A mid-air spat between Canada and Beijing, and now a Canadian general is kicking up concerns. A Chinese fighter jet cut off a Canadian patrol plane as it flew over international waters off the coast of China Monday and dropped flares in its flight path. Reporters on board the patrol plane added that other Chinese fighter jets got a little too close for comfort, coming as close as about 15 feet from the aircraft. The Canadian general said the fighters became very aggressive, to an unsafe and unprofessional degree. He added that Canada wanted to avoid anything that could result in loss of life. Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair described the incident as dangerous, reckless and unacceptable. China's foreign ministry responded Tuesday, alleging the Canadian plane, quote, illegally intruded into what China considers its airspace. Beijing claims virtually all of the South China Sea as part of Chinese territory. Canada said the flight was part of a United Nations mission involving the US, Japan and France, designed to enforce sanctions against North Korea's nuclear program. Hundreds of millions of dollars are pouring out of China, with investor fears growing about China's teetering economy. How bad is it? And how does the involvement of Chinese money impact the global economy? Experts break it down. Billions of dollars in China investment are reversing course and flowing out of China. A Bloomberg report anticipates the flow could reach 150 billion dollars by the end of the year. What triggered the flood? China expert and branch president of the Epoch Times Hong Kong, Guo Jun, says making money in China may become more difficult and that financial security isn't guaranteed. Chinese regulation blocks citizens from transferring more than 50,000 dollars a year to foreign countries. But China's wealthy have discovered other ways of getting their money out. Many Chinese people choose to transfer their assets abroad through underground banks. A more advanced method is to transfer money through foreign trade transactions to avoid the high cost of using underground banks. Liang Xiaohua is a former chief compliance officer working in asset management in China. His work involved anti-money laundering efforts. He explained that using advanced payments, false contracts and employee salaries are among other options for moving money. Another tactic, purchasing foreign properties. A group CEO at a Malaysian real estate agency told CNBC that it's a common option to diversify wealth out of China. Despite the high price tags, wealthy Chinese buyers spend about 1.23 million dollars per property on average. A third of them are purchasing in California, home to America's most expensive housing market. Outside the U.S., the Chinese wealth outflow is also impacting Australia. Lawmakers there are calling on the Albanese administration to ban foreigners' possession of property in the country, particularly from China. Country Garden facing a major trial this week. The struggling Chinese giant could soon join the growing list of Chinese developers that have defaulted. With the company's debt deadline approaching, will the company be able to make a payment on time? Here's more. Giant Chinese property developer Country Garden could be on the brink of default. The firm has to make a 15 million dollar payment on some bonds by Tuesday when a 30-day grace period ends. If it doesn't, its entire stock of offshore debt will be deemed in default. And the chances of a payment seem slim. Country Garden last week warned that it couldn't meet all its offshore debt obligations. It's already missed payments on some other bonds, although their grace periods are yet to expire. Now, non-payment would make it just the latest Chinese developer to default. The whole sector has faced a mounting crisis as home sales slow. Data from J.P. Morgan shows developers accounting for 40% of the country's home sales have defaulted since 2021. But with $17 billion in offshore bonds and loans, Country Garden could have an outsize impact, with default there setting the stage for one of China's biggest ever debt restructurings. Investors around the world will also be watching to see how much fallout ripples through the global financial system. With jitters mounting, analysts expect Beijing will soon have to step in with more measures to prop up its ailing property sector. Alongside the Country Garden crisis, how many more developers in China are battling financial problems? The country's eighth largest developer, Gemdale, is also on the list. After the company's chairman resigned on Tuesday, exchanges of the stock plunged the daily 10% limit. Its onshore bonds also kept declining until trading then was suspended. Shadowed by a dark real estate market plus the leadership changes, Gemdale owes almost $2.9 billion. At the same time, another property developer called Ai Yuan is looking to restructure its own debt, holding almost $3.5 billion of it. To do that, the developer will have to convince three-quarters of its creditors to ink the plan. Eleven more Chinese developers are currently under threat of delisting. Beijing is sending a new set of instructions for its state-owned banks to extend loan due dates for local governments under the Chinese Communist Party. The new loans will span a longer time and come with lower interest rates. The move will give local agencies more time to pay back the money they borrowed and pay less interest. It appears to be part of a broader effort, as Beijing looks to reduce debt risks in a slowing economy. Economists are concerned that cities and towns with a lot of debt pose a significant risk to China's economy. That's amid a deepening property crisis, years of over-investment in infrastructure and huge spending to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Local state agencies have racked up nearly $12.6 trillion in debt. Or more than three-quarters of the country's economic output in 2022. That's all for today's China InFocus 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. A no-limit partnership getting stronger on the sidelines of the Israel-Hamas war. As conflict in the Middle East demands attention from world leaders, Beijing and Moscow are shaking hands. Notable common ground between the two. Both have criticized Israel and are staying silent on terrorist group Hamas. How will the meeting impact the battle in the Gaza Strip? To find out, we sat down with Aryeh Lightstone, a former senior advisor to the U.S. ambassador to Israel. The full episode is available on our partner platform, Epic TV. To sign up, click the link down below. Thanks for watching China InFocus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. See you tomorrow.