DOJ Charges Chinese Nationals With Smuggling US Tech Parts to Iran | China In Focus 2024-02-02 02:33

welcome to China in Focus I'm Tiffany Meyer our top story a 133-year flow of us technology to Iran takes a hit us authorities charging four Chinese Nationals for allegedly smuggling American parts to sanction Iranian entities could a recent CBS News article land the company in legal trouble a US lawmaker is accusing it of aiding Chinese propaganda violating the truth and a potential breach of us sanctions a warning to automakers like Tesla from a major Human Rights group it's reminding car makers to keep materials tied to forc labor out of their supply chains when it comes to building cars inside China and how is Washington preparing for a potential invasion of Taiwan a closer look at how a round of critical military drills help arm Australia and the Pacific region against beijing's threat [Music] a huge amount of us technology allegedly went to supporting Iran the justice department charged four Chinese Nationals Tuesday that's over allegedly smuggling us- made electronic parts to sanction Iranian entities these parts could be used for making ballistic missiles and drones Iran is a state sponsor of terrorist and Washington has slapped economic sanctions on the nation aiming to the Iranian regime but Iran has close relations with Beijing China has risen as Iran's biggest oil and trading partner it has also helped Iran with its technological development the indictment represents the latest effort by us authorities to counter Chinese threats on us soil back in October FBI director Chris Ray warned about beijing's active attempts to steal American intellectual property and bring it back to China and other foreign adversaries over the last several years the agency has seen a 13 100% increase in economic Espionage cases with links to China back to the indictment of the Chinese Nationals authorities said the defendants used front companies in China and Hong Kong to funnel the flow and the effort lasted at least 13 years from 2007 to 2020 if convicted they face up to 35 years in prison the doj has issued arrest warrants though the suspects currently live in China to discuss more about concerns of smuggling sensitive us technology to Iran's military we sat down with Andrew thornbrook National Security correspondent for The Epic Times Andrew thornbrook thank you so much for joining us great to have you back on the show thanks so much for having me Tiffany it's a pleasure to be here now the justice department has charged for Chinese Nationals on Tuesday this is for allegedly smuggling us made electronic parts to sanction Iranian entities now the concern is that these parts could be used for making ballistic missiles and drones how concerning is all of this this is one instance in which we have numerous individuals who over the course of more than a decade essentially exploited uh loopholes in the US uh export regime to take sensitive Technologies out of the US into China where they then forward them to Iran um this is not the first time so even just last year we also had another similar case with parts being exported for potential use and weapons of mass destruction in Iran so this is an ongoing issue and it is quite concerning on that note the indictment said that the defendants used front companies in China and Hong Kong to then funnel the flow and that the effort lasted at least 13 years so given that time frame why did it take this long to discover it and how does that besp of the differences between say the US and China when it comes to handling cases like this so there there's always the question of how long was the fact finding and evidence building taking it's unclear how long we knew exactly that these were actually ending up in Iran for example uh but but yeah it's quite concerning there's other cases similar like the one I just spoke of with the wmds last year that also went on for decades that one goes back to the 9s and so these are spanned multiple administrations uh in the United States they've spanned multiple leaders in both Iran and China um so something that we have to really be focused on and and trying to curb right now and how does all of this fit into the new axes of evil that Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell was speaking of last year yeah you know I think we this has been on our radar for some time right we we we've been sort of dealing with this concept of the new axis with China Iran North Korea and Russia probably 20 years now and uh this is something that we're going to have to look out for right we just had uh former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for example testifying before Congress that um Iran and China are explicitly coordinating for the purpose of undermining the US and for stretching our resources thin um so really the question now is going to become I think why were these Technologies allowed to be exported to China in the first place you know why why is in the case that we were allowing such a sensitive technology to flow to the Chinese Communist party but only got upset about it when it went from there to Iran Andrew thornbrook thank you so much for your time thanks so much for having me Tiffany it's a pleasure to be here next Senator Marco Rubio is accusing news agency CBS of spreading beijing's propaganda tied to the weager ethnic group the publication describes the Shing Jang region as a happy home for the Wagers he says the article AIDS the Chinese Communist party's effort to quote obscure the truth in a letter from the senator to a CBS News executive on Wednesday he said quote CBS News chose to work with the propaganda Department of a genocidal political party by publishing a puff piece that does more to obscure the truth rather than expose it CBS news crews were invited to visit Shing Jang where most Chinese wegers live the trip was organized by a Chinese information office which many believe functions as a propaganda arm of the Communist Regime the article CBS later published denies many reports that detail basing suppression of the weers as for why CBS and its American News workers did not witness that suppression communist China faces multiple accusations linked to the Wagers on the world stage including genocide forced labor and forced abandonment of ethnic culture and religion zooming out Senator Rubio also warned that the process of creating the CBS story might have violated us sanctions that's by working with restricted Chinese state run entities the article titled the rebranding of Shing Jang by Elizabeth Palmer was published early January entity reached out to CBS for comment but did not hear back before airtime Human Rights Watch releasing a warning for automakers with operations in China urging them to make sure that materials involving forced labor are kept out of their supply chain the automakers that were called out Tesla Volkswagen and byd the Human Rights group said it found evidence that aluminum producers in Shing Jang hired workers from stateb labor transfer programs China uses aluminum produced in Shing Jang to manufacture Automotive Parts those parts then get sold to car makers around the world the companies are responsible under United Nations principles to ensure forced labor is not used in their supply chains Shing J is China's number two region for aluminum production Volkswagen told Reuters that it takes a Firm Stance against forced labor and immediately investigated any allegations Tesla did not respond to a query from Reuters Toyota said it would closely review The Human Rights Watch report and that it expected suppliers to respect human rights tensions are rising between the US and China as the potential for a Beijing invasion of Taiwan looms how is Washington preparing for possible War here's a closer look nd's Dave Martin has the story rewind to August 2023 a round of high-profile military drills between the US and Australia were in full swing called the Talisman saber exercises they practiced amphibious Landings ground combat and air operations but besides deepening cooperation they also held a discreet value US officials told told Reuters that the drills created new stockpiles of military equipment that were left behind in Australia after the drills ended it included roughly 330 vehicles and trailers and 130 containers in warehouses in Southeastern Australia that gear would prove enough to supply about three logistics companies with as many as 500 or more soldiers and could power a future drill a natural disaster or a a war the Pacific r region would be one of the greatest choke points and potential vulnerabilities if conflict broke out over Taiwan the move Falls in line with efforts to shore up possible weak points and boost Western preparedness is Taiwan bracing for potential division of its highest political power President elect William lie is known for being tough on Beijing but Tan's legislature elected a new speaker who's accused of being proing the speaker huu denies the allegations he's from the Island's largest opposition party the guing dong he would be responsible for hosting visiting foreign lawmakers even though DPP secured a historic third term by William Li's win it lost its majority in the parliament some in Taiwan Express concerns about a potential divisive government if the legislative Yen becomes a place where the kuming tong controls the majority and holds the power of the president of the legislative y doesn't that mean that our voices will be silenced again the legislative D is taiwan's Parliament 2024 could Mark a lot of uncertainties for Taiwan it just elected a new president a man that Beijing threatened would bring the island closer to war taiwan's biggest backer the US will also choose its leader this year how will the next man in the Oval Office Drive three-way relations between the US China and Taiwan I think if Biden's reelected you'll see a lot of continuity uh he's been fairly strong and signaling support for Taiwan and I think that will probably continue with Trump who knows I mean I think uh one cannot easily project from a trump first turn to a trump second term I think it could be different in some way taiwan's President elect William lie pledged to work closely with the US and bolster taiwan's defenses while on the campaign Trail Beijing claims Taiwan as part of China despite never having ruled it the US is bound by law to sell arms to Taiwan so that it can defend itself the power gap between the two sides is growing China's defense budget stands at over $200 billion 11 times that of Taiwan Beijing also has over 2 million active duty service members Taiwan 180,000 once's more China has been expanding its nuclear Arsenal Taiwan does not have nuclear weapons Bonnie Lynn director of the China power project argues the US should do more to make sure Taiwan can defend itself taking that widening power Gap into account speaking at a panel hosted by taipe economic and cultural office Tuesday she cautioned it's a judgment every us Administration has to make about how much more Washington can do without triggering a major reaction from Beijing she also added that after speaking to Leading Taiwanese experts they're ALS more concerned of China using a variety of non-military means to cor Taiwan another expert cautioned that the US should shore up a vulnerability in its own military posture China has developed missiles and uh submarines and so forth that have a possible ability to sink American aircraft carriers or with missiles to hit American air bases even as far away as Guam but also those bases in Japan so the United States is is in that sense vulnerable to Chinese attack he noted the US military needs to disperse its forces to more locations instead of relying too much on concentrated areas of force that's all for today's China INF focus on YouTube we're now sharing a shorten version of our program here after being demonetized for more than 3 years if you'd like to support us consider donating find us at donorbox.org chin in- 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 Philippine submarines could soon dive into the disputed Waters of the South China Sea the country planning its first ever submarine purchase to counter Chinese aggression a Hong Kong court has convicted four people of rioting charges during a pro-democracy movement in 2019 what happened that year more on the events behind the so-called crimes and a candid conversation with a prominent human rights Advocate dishing out some strong words about China well China's the worst in the world right after the break here on China in Focus thanks for watching China and focus I'm Tiffany Meyer see you [Music] tomorrow