FBI Raids Homes of Winnie Greco, Top Aide to NYC Mayor | China In Focus

welcome to China in Focus I'm Tiffany Meyer our top story homes of a top advisor to New York City mayor Eric Adams raided by the FBI we break down her China ties does tuvalu still prefer Taiwan over Beijing more on the Pacific island nation's latest diplomatic priorities reaffirmed by its new prime minister the driving forces behind the world's second largest economy are shutting down an article posted on the Wall Street Journal highlights China's struggling market and should insurance companies pay for organ transplants for Americans that are performed in China question comes as human rights groups point to the Chinese regime's orgon harvesting from prisoners of conscience an FBI raid on a top advisor to New York City mayor Eric Adams federal agents search the homes of Winnie Greco Thursday she's served as top adviser to Adams for a decade and served as his director of Asian Affairs this comes months after authorities rated properties owned by other associates of Eric Adams the move is part of a public corruption investigation when e Greco started making headlines long before the FBI rate Outlets like New York Post and the National Review have zoomed in on her ties to China here's a breakdown a New York Post report said Greco took beijing's money that was back in 2019 when her company received an unknown amount of money from the propaganda Department of a Chinese Communist Party agency Greco has also been active in events organized by an influence group led by the Chinese Communist Party the organization is called the Chinese people's Association for friendship with foreign countries and the state department has called out this influence group saying it has been trying to directly and mly influence state and local leaders to promote beijing's Global agenda she also went on a trip to China with Lan Wong one of the men that allegedly operated a Chinese police Outpost in New York City the two visited local officials there the justice department addressed arrested Lou last year in addition Greco was also listed as consultants of two Beijing backed organizations the fujian daily Southeast Network and The dongwang Association of America spokesperson for the mayor denied that Greco served as a consultant Greco is currently on leave ntid reached out to the New York mayor's office for comment but did not hear back before airtime a small nation in the Pacific holding out under pressure from Beijing the new prime minister of the island nation tuvalu said on Friday that it would maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan and our ties with taiwan's are are purely based on Dem Democratic principles and they have been very loyal to us and we have likewise been very loyal to them out of all the island nations in the Pacific Tu Valu is one of just three that still recognize taipe the Chinese Communist Party sees Taiwan as part of Chinese territory despite never having ruled it and as the Communist Regime expands its influence in the region some island nations there have switched recognition from Taiwan to beij largely due to pressure or incentives from the regime when Taiwanese president saying win took office 8 years ago Taiwan had 22 diplomatic allies now that number has dropped to 12 the US doesn't have formal ties with Taipei but is bound by law to sell weapons to the island so it can defend itself Tesla is unveiling new incentives including Insurance subsidies to woo consumers in China there the US Electric Vehicle giant is in a protracted price war against entrenched Rivals such as byd here's more Tesla is stepping up a price War over electric cars in China on Friday the firm rolled out a range of new incentives for buyers people picking up new cars from stock by the end of March can now get perks worth up to around $4,800 that includes discounts on insurance the move comes after it slashed prices on some models in January and February Tesla didn't respond to a request for comment on its latest moves but they add to a fierce contest with local firms including byd which has dethroned its us rival as the biggest maker of EVS on Friday it too offered new discounts cutting the starting price of one model by over 15% in February it had responded to Tesla's moves with even bigger price cuts of its own Tesla sparked the price War last last year in a bid to grab market share amid signs of softening demand for EVS it has since done discounts around the world forcing other automakers to respond Ford last month cut the price of its Mustang EV by up to $8,100 how should the West reach China's sluggish economy a Wall Street Journal article just released a number of charts that zoom in on the globe's second largest economy here's a look starting with China's real estate market and housing prices the two are seen as the engines of the country's economic growth but now they're plummeting fewer Chinese people want to buy houses and if they can manage it they prefer not to buy anything China's domestic consumption has seen an even deeper decline than the housing market both now sit at low levels investments in the private sector are also losing strength all the signs seem to point to one thing China is enduring a deflation that's not all tensions between China and the Western world are making trade even more difficult with mounting terrorists and restrictions Chinese authorities have few options to help the situation other than injecting more money into domestic factories and industries in the hopes of boosting business foreign investors are proactively looking for alternatives to China while foreign businesses join the trend and look to relocate elsewhere what's more China is facing its worst demographic crisis in decades media reports and investigations reveal a huge pandemic era death toll plus China's current birth rate is lower than it was in the World War II era those issues mean fewer workers and an aging population and to seal the deal Beijing is also grappling with staggering debt levels according to the Wall Street journal's analysis overall debt in China now equals more than 300% of its GDP in comparison the the journal says US debt is just over 250% of GDP China's economic growth is now lower than the prepandemic era and many experts are casting doubt on whether the economy will rebound under the Chinese Communist Party South Korea's president praising TI with Japan on Friday his comments come on a holiday in the country marking South Korea's Uprising against Japanese colonial rule today the two nations are faced with common challenges the Chinese Communist party and North Korea president yunak Yol said Soul would need International Help faced with a prospect of unification with North Korea unification is a challenging task that we cannot accomplish alone the International Community must pull its strength in a responsible manner soul and Tokyo have had some bitter historical disputes but ties between the two have improved proved under Yun that says nuclear threats from North Korea ramped up and Beijing began acting more aggressively Yun said he hopes relations with Japan will reach a higher level next year he added their security cooperation against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats has been strengthened lawmakers in Utah are advancing a bill aimed at combating a heinous crime overseas preventing Americans from inadvertently contributing to forced orgon heart harvesting the bill stops insurance companies from paying for organ transplants performed in China where the ruling Chinese Communist Party kills prisoners of conscience and steals their organs using them to support its organ transplant industry entities's Kevin Hogan sat down with cinia sun a researcher at The Fad dafa information center for more thank you for your time Kevin and honestly this legislation introduced by Utah in the larger context I would say it's incred incredibly important and it follows in the footsteps of Texas and Arizona who have legislation of their own to Target Force organ harvesting in China and when it comes to issues affecting Americans I would say that Force organ harvesting really targets Americans in the most nefarious fashion imagine your mother or your father needs a life-saving transplant and they're recommended by their doctors or other people that they Trust to go to China for reverse magic which can get them a heart a lung a kidney within two to four weeks as opposed to years right in America and I really think that more Americans need to wake up to this and the Utah legislation provides just that a way for Americans to say no I don't know where my organs are coming from I don't want to take another person's life just for this and I don't I refuse to participate in this is peace persecution a little background in this Cynthia hanu of New York she told Utah lawmakers at a Committee hearing she believed that her father was a victim of this organ trafficking he was healthy then he was detained died in detention in China in 2004 his body came back it was extremely thin he had stitches from throat to abdomen there was blocks of ice underneath it the police said that it was because of an autopsy but she said her family never authorized an autopsy she later found out that the Chinese regime kills people for their organ in order to boost up their transplant industry so this is just really just terrible here what's the scale that the Chinese regime operates this organ trafficking on I mean just to your point right um many estimate that this industry is a billion dollar perom industry this murder for profit um and on top of hu story which is incredibly sad and Incredibly gruesome to hear in the past year I've interviewed dozens of survivors from you know prisons in China who have recently escaped to different regions around the world and they're all following on practitioners who share a similar story while they were detained in custody while they were being tortured they were actually forced to have blood tests and physical examinations and this is something that's unheard of because they would call fall and go practitioners individually and not all people in custody so it was definitely something targeted it was something that was intentional just briefly here Cynthia what can people do if they are concerned are there petitions they can sign or anything like that yeah there's petitions all over um n transplant abuse has petitions but I would honestly recommend people to just tell people about it because if there isn't a supply for organs in China then there will be no more killing of Fallen practitioners and other innocent prisoners of conscience like these those poor organs so if if you just talk to your um family members who are in need of life-saving transplants if you inform your hospital if you work at a hospital or school then I think if word gets around I think that's something that could potentially be more powerful than legislation itself Cynthia Sun researcher at the Fallen dafa Information Center thank you so much for your update on this thank you next would' like to take a moment to share some of your comments about our show a number of viewers sent in comments on our top story on Thursday it covered how Chinese made high-tech cars could spy on Americans and that the Chinese Communist Party could have an off switch built into these cars even after they're sold to the US and run on American roads a viewer by the name bulging battery wrote in China has an off switch on a lot more than just automobiles another comment left by Diego silent joke that a Chinese car mysteriously stopped working after I had said Taiwan is a country and another viewer hindutva left a similar joke writing my Chinese car stopped working when I put Winnie the Pooh toy tied to the rear Vision verer a quick explanation of the Winnie the Pooh reference in China people often compared Chinese Communist Party head shiing ping to Winnie the Poo as a way of mocking the leader this started when people compared a photo of xiin ping and former president Barack Obama with that of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger don't forget to tell us what you think of today's show or if you have an idea for something you'd like to see us cover send us an email at China INF Focus and.com 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 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 up held in the balance by a booming organ transplant industry the lives of prisoners of conscience with the Utah now taking a stand against China's forced organ harvesting an expert breaks down how much average Americans are still in the dark launching a hundred space missions in just one year Beijing is setting an ambitious goal to challenge NASA's Supremacy in the final frontier another major Chinese real estate firm now teetering on on the brink of liquidation what does it say about the nation's economy as a whole we hear from residents in Shanghai we're on that after the break here on China in Focus thanks for watching China in Focus I'm Tiffany Meyer see you soon