Beijing Marks 2024 with Rare Admission on Economy | China In Focus 2024-01-02 02:36

big claims from China's communist leader during his new year's speech what's really going on with the country's economy and a warning directed at Taiwan another nation is escalating its War preparations with North Korea abandoning any prospects of peaceful reunification with the South instead it's vowing nuclear retaliation reflecting on the year 2023 has a new axes of evil emerged as a global threat this time the charged phrase doesn't mean the Middle East instead the shift in power is leaning towards communist China how are China and its allies connected and the Free World takes action to keep its military edge with a focus on [Music] Technology Happy New Year here and welcome to China and focus I'm Tiffany Meyer as much of the world celebrated 2024 with joy China's communist leader Xi Jinping shared a different story over the weekend China's economy is in trouble it's the first time she has made such a remark in his decades worth of New Year's messages acknowledging missing jobs and struggling businesses she warn of more economic challenges in the year ahead speaking about a wave of economic winds and rain the remarks followed new data from Beijing showing fresh signs of China's economic trouble the country's Factory activity hit a six-month low in December owing to limited orders both at home and abroad the economy was a major concern for China this year with issues ranging from a property downturn to Rising unemployment and mounting local debts they've also made their economy very difficult to invest in they've scared off a lot of their investors uh they've basically created a real estate bubble that's that popped when ever Grand you know went under so they've got a lot of structural challenges at Play On Top of the economic cautioning Xi Jinping added another layer to his new year message a fresh warning for Taiwan calling the reunification of Taiwan and China quote inevitable the comments come less than two weeks before voters on the self-ruled island elect a new leader the Chinese Communist Party claimed Taiwan as its own territory despite never having ruled it here's what taiwan's president said in her last New Year's address on Monday what is the future of cross streight relations I think it should be consistent with the principles of democracy that is finding the joint will of taiwan's people in order to make a decision after all we are a democratic country as for what course to follow in relations with China we have to follow the Democratic process shifting to the Korean Peninsula North Korea says it no longer wants to reunify with South Korea and Promises nuclear retaliation if confronted North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is walking away from the possibility of peaceful reunification with South Korea instead he's accelerating War preparations that's to prepare for any action he sees as aggression from the West the totalitarian state continued missile tests throughout 2023 in defiance of international sanctions it launched its first spy satellite in November and vows to launch three more in 2024 Kim blames soul and Washington for worsening relations with his country by trying to collapse his regime instead he's now bringing the north closer to current allies like China and Russia pongy Yang's threats are motivating greater cooperation between the US South Korea and Japan now we take a look back to the year of 2023 in 2002 President George W bush warned the US of a new axis of Evil threatening the world a phrase that came to define a big part of America's foreign policy in the coming decades and its focus on the Middle East now that term is making a comeback what we have now is an axis of Evil China Russia and Iran so this is the broadest threat to the Democratic world than we've had since before the Berlin Wall came down in 2023 experts say the Chinese regime's role in this new axis has only become more apparent and so when you look at all the challenges that the United States and the West in total faces around the world they every single one of them every single one of the challenges that the US and the West faces around the world you can tie directly back to China's support for that challenge the Chinese regime has boosted its military ties with Russia this year and has been giving crucial support to moscow's war on Ukraine that's by helping Russia evade Western Financial and other sanctions and supplying it with key technology meanwhile Russia has handed China submarine technology that could be a GameChanger in a potential war with us allies Putin and shiin ping have pledged to work together on high-tech weapons though the Chinese regime has portrayed itself as a neutral Peacemaker in the Israeli Hamas War its actions have suggested otherwise the conflict started with the Hamas terrorist groups crossb stealth attack on Israel on October 7th killing 12200 people and making it the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust since the attack the Chinese regime has blocked a us-led resolution to condemn hamas's attack and voted in favor of a Russian drafted one meanwhile its foreign minister has reaffirmed the Chinese regime's support for the Palestines quote just cause later a CNN analysis found that weapons used by Hamas militants appear to be made in Russia and China many like this Soviet bill 50 caliber machine gun appear to be Russian or Chinese Firearms relics from previous Wars that made their way into the hands of Hamas that's as the Hamas leader directly said in an interview that the organization wants to appeal to Russia and China the Chinese regime has reportedly used State media and social media to both support Hamas and undercut Israel and the US in the battle to control the narrative at the same time China has ramped up its support for Iran the country has long offered military training and financial aid to Hamas and was reportedly involved in hamas's October 7th attack uh China offers strong support for Iran and Iran is directly implicated in the war with support for Hamas the Chinese regime's support for Hamas and Iran may be tied to its bigger geopolitical Ambitions in the Middle East a region traditionally home to a strong us presence Beijing sees the region with great potential for its ambitious Global expansion plan the Belton Road initiative plus its increased investment and economic Partnerships with Arab Nations like Saudi Arabia and the UAE as well as Iran also in 2023 North Korean leader Kim Jun met with Chinese delegations and vowed to boost cooperation with the Chinese regime to a new high the Free World took action in 2023 to counter the Chinese regime's Global infiltration and expansion one of the most notable battlefields between the us. and China as the semiconductor sector this Technology's weight lies in what it can be used to develop military artificial intelligence America leads the world in advanced semiconductor design period full stop we're a couple years ahead of China no way are we going to let them catch up we cannot let them catch up so we're going to deny them our most cuttingedge technology it's with bipartisan support the Biden Administration has laid out multiple measures to cut the Chinese regime off from AI chip these include stopping some US exports of chips and chipm tools to China Banning certain us investments in the industry and adding a dozen chip related military tied Chinese companies to The Entity list the administration is also racing to Clos loopholes that give the regime access to American AI chips on the local government level Florida escalated its counter measures against Chinese infiltration this year the state has banned public universities from taking money from or partnering with entities from China other laws restrict land ownership in Florida by Chinese citizens and prohibit the use of Chinese owned social media like Tik Tok and WeChat on government devices zooming out to other parts of the world earlier this year the US also convinced the Netherlands and Japan to get on board both now restrict the Chinese regime's access to Machinery used for advanced chip making over in Europe Italy is pulling out of the Chinese regime's belt and Road initiative the plan promises massive Chinese investment in infrastructure but is seen by the US and many experts as a scheme for the CCP to buy influence and infiltrate other countries National Security Italy is the only major Western power to have signed on to The Pact and is now leaving to realign with its American and EU allies in Asia Asia Japan raised its military spending to a record high in 2023 aiming to counter China's military threats with more missiles and ships the country also bolstered security and economic ties with Southeast Asian countries to cope with what critics call the Chinese regime's Maritime aggression and economic coercion for many Americans 20123 has made Chinese infiltration feel closer to home in January photos of a giant white balloon caused a huge stir the aircraft was later reported to be a Chinese spy balloon it flew across the US and was said to be able to gather intelligence from several sensitive American Military sites us officials say similar balloons from China have flown over more than 40 countries 2023 has also seen a record number of Chinese Nationals flooding in through America's Southern border many of them military AED men and it has lawmakers and foreign policy experts worried chairman of the house Homeland Security committee said many of these Chinese migrants have known ties to the Chinese Communist party's military he said the alleged insertions are very likely using Russia's template of sending military personnel into Ukraine adding China is doing the same in the United States experts have voiced fears of potential Chinese spies sneaking in while hiding amongst Reg migrants border patrol agents caught over 24,000 Chinese citizens at the Mexican border in 2023 by September that's more than 12 times the previous year and a 7,000 per increase from 2021 China's economy is not doing well the message confirmed by none other than Chinese communist leader cing ping but what exactly made 2023 so troubling for the Chinese economy it looks pretty serious a lot of the biggest banks who've been um and the hedge funds that have been very pro-china um you know bullish on China uh seem to be pulling back to say the least 2023 was a bad year for the Chinese economy consumer spending and Manufacturing have struggled to recover from the country's covid-19 lockdowns youth unemployment has reached a record high to the point that Chinese authorities said they would no longer publish the data the real estate sector once made up a quarter of China's GDP but lately it's played with bankruptcies and if its property bubble finally bursts it could crush many local governments under debt those local branches under the Chinese Communist Party heavily rely on selling lands to developers to stay funded to make things worse the Chinese market has never been a scarier place for foreign investors due to the worsening geopolitical environment foreign investment into China turned negative for the first time since records began in 1998 in this year's third quarter China saw an outflow of over1 billion doll and investor confidence doesn't seem to be coming back about 90% of the foreign investment that entered China stock market in 2023 has reportedly left take Goldman Sachs the invest bank has been a longtime Champion for investing in China but now it's regretting its bet on China's post-pandemic reopening boom as Chinese stock fell over 15% in 2023 Goldman Sach currency head is announcing that China no longer correlates with Emerging Markets likewise the World Bank forecasts that China's economy will slow sharply in 2024 calling its recovery fragile beijing's effort to to block an American company from performing around the globe reaching a US Ally in 2023 an ntid investigation caught Beijing on record during an attempt to block Shin Yin from performing in South Korea Shin Yin is the world's Premier classical Chinese dance company based in Upstate New York in a recorded phone call a Chinese Embassy spokesperson spoke not only about intervening but also defaming the company here's what he said that the Chinese Embassy have been informing the Korean side of Chinese position against the the sh perform shinan is known for its portrayals of classical Chinese culture including the persecution of religious Believers such as Fallen gong practitioners investigations have found that the Chinese Communist party is blocking shenyun due to its portrayal of traditional Chinese culture and the ccp's efforts to suppress it the this admission sheds light on China's efforts to influence policies and muzzle companies even on foreign soil the discovery has drawn attention from the US state department and multiple lawmakers next we'd like to take a moment to share some of your comments about our last show commenting on our report about thousands of people in central China taking to the streets to protest the death of a local teenager Glenn Robinson wrote this makes me realize that Chinese people want freedom and democracy just like everyone else how can Chinese people overthrow their evil dictators Timothy Chong wrote in with a question asking I thought China was oppressive how can they protest without police violence when talking about Mass protests people associate the idea with photos of Tanks lining the streets of Beijing in 1989 when the Chinese Communist Party violently suppressed a pro-democracy student movement but in recent years the Chinese regime has more often used another method to punish protests with the goal of reducing Global attention authorities retaliate against protesters afterwards it happened after China's blank paper movement demonstration one year ago as well as to those who've been fighting for their rights after their homes were forcibly torn down by the state coming up new year new warning China's leader cautioning Taiwanese voters ahead of the is's critical elections plus more insight on China Taiwan Dynamics China's year 2023 marked by surging deaths overflowing hospitals and packed parking lots outside funeral homes what satellite images reveal about China's public health woses and holiday decorations made in China could be linked to force labor a closer look at the latest allegations facing Beijing and more after the break here on CH China in Focus that's all for today's China in focus on YouTube we're now sharing a shorten version of our program here after being demonetized for more than two years if you'd like to support us consider donating find us at donorbox.org china-- Focus or subscribe to our partner platform epic TV where you can watch our full episodes here's what to look out for in our second half thanks for watching China and focus I'm Tiffany Meyer and see you tomorrow [Music] [Music]