Rep. Gallagher Indicates He Received Death Threats | China In Focus

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story. Top house China hawk Micah Gallagher is stepping down from Congress. Alongside his departure, he's hinting at death threats and SWAT visits, which he says his family didn't sign up for. A bombshell from FBI Director Christopher Wray, he says Chinese hackers are preparing to attack U.S. infrastructure. Details on his serious warning. All of this with the goal of giving the Chinese government the ability to wait for just the right moment to deal a devastating blow. The Chinese regime is rolling out a new military force designed to handle network info systems. What does the branch mean for China's cyber warfare with the West? And U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken accusing China of being the primary contributor to Moscow's war in Ukraine. That's through providing Russia with critical parts for weapons. As for what the effort is fueling. Biggest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War. And you don't have to just take that from me. This is what I heard around the table at the G7. Before we dive into death threats directed at a top China hawk in the house. First, a dire warning from the head of the FBI. Chinese hackers have infiltrated U.S. telecommunicators plus energy and water facilities. And he says they are preparing to attack when the time is right. Here's more. A sinister plan over a decade in the making. We found persistent PRC access in our critical telecommunications, energy, water and other infrastructure sectors. All of this with the goal of giving the Chinese government the ability to wait for just the right moment to deal a devastating blow. PRC is short for China's official name, People's Republic of China. On top of the sectors mentioned above, Chinese hackers also targeted over 20 U.S. pipeline operators. Officials warn the China threat is closing in. From the FBI's perspective, these threats are not over the horizon. They're upon us now. It's unclear if the FBI has cut off the Chinese hackers' access. Here's what Ray said. At the FBI, we've mobilized across the organization to thwart China's schemes to steal and sabotage their way to the top. NTD reached out to the FBI for comment. The agency said it doesn't have anything to add to Ray's remarks. The intel chief said the FBI doesn't have enough resources to deal with cyber attacks from China. You took all of the FBI cyber agents and cyber intelligence analysts and focused them exclusively on China. So forget ransomware, forget Iran, forget Russia. Chinese hackers would still outnumber FBI cyber personnel by at least 50 to one. He estimates China's prepositioning might be part of its game plan to deter the U.S. He estimates China's prepositioning might be part of its plan to deter the U.S. from defending Taiwan. The Chinese Communist Party sees Taiwan as part of China, despite never having controlled it. The U.S. doesn't have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but is bound by law to sell weapons to the island so that it can defend itself. Death threats and late-night SWAT team visits, those incidents raised by Congressman Mike Gallagher as he departs from Congress. Gallagher is stepping down Friday. Three days ago, Gallagher described his decision to leave Congress as more than wanting to prioritize being with his family, adding he signed up for, quote, the death threats and the late-night SWATing, but they did not. The lawmaker has Gallagher has played a key role in raising awareness about threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party. Under his leadership, the House-elect China Committee has shined a light on various dangers, from Beijing's growing military might to its efforts to steal Americans' genetic information. His departure leaves Republicans with an even thinner majority in the House, meaning Speaker Johnson can only afford to lose one vote to pass bills if Democrats are not on board. Gallagher's seat will remain vacant until the next election. Representative John Muellenaar will take over as the chair of the House-elect China Committee. TikTok might be at a major turning point sooner rather than later, as Congress fast-tracks a divest or ban bill tied to aid for Ukraine and Israel. Before the big vote expected this weekend, U.S. lawmakers are condemning the Chinese embassy for reportedly lobbying against the TikTok bill. They say it proves the bill is important. The bill would require TikTok to separate from its Chinese parent company ByteDance, or else be banned from U.S. app stores. Politico reported on Wednesday that the Chinese embassy met with congressional staffers to lobby against it. The bill has passed the House with bipartisan support and is currently pending in the Senate. Senate Intelligence Committee leaders say the Chinese embassy's actions show that the CCP considers TikTok a strategic asset for influence operations in America. Democratic Senator Mark Warner said it comes as no surprise. That's because the bill, quote, would put American data and TikTok's potential for malign influence out of the hands of the CCP. Republican Senator Marco Rubio said the lobbying efforts of the Chinese embassy revealed their true agenda, protecting TikTok as a strategic asset for Beijing and the Chinese Communist Party to influence the United States. The tentacles of communist China reaching into American society. What are the regime's motives and how is Washington responding? Congressman Tim Burchett sits on the House Oversight Committee. He joined NTD's Steve Lance earlier to discuss. Speaker Johnson plans to introduce a previously passed bill forcing and mandating ByteDance to divest from TikTok. ByteDance or TikTok came out yesterday saying that the House of Representatives is using foreign aid to influence freedom of speech in the United States. What's your response to TikTok? Oddly enough, the American form of TikTok is not even allowed in China. And the version they have is very sedated, I would say. You have the Communist Chinese Party who own stock in the corporation and has members that are on the board. It's a complete infiltration. And the thing that they do is they market things to our kids, the transgender thing, which just wasn't a thing several years ago. Now, media sources, you talk to folks that kids are going through this. And where did they diagnose it? They diagnosed it on TikTok. Now we have a member of our own intelligence committee, a Democrat member that had a relationship with a Chinese communist spy apparently. And then we had a US senator who's no longer with us. Her driver for over 10 years was a Chinese communist spy. Yet, Americans, we want our pizzas in 30 minutes or less. That's about our attention span. I'm guilty of that. The Chinese realize that. And they have a plan much more developed in over a long period of time. And it's basically a conquest of this country. And the thing is now, what really is most shocking to me, they'll take us without a shot. They'll get us from within. And we will just hand that to them. And we're doing that constantly here in this country by allowing the mistreatment of people. And we write a stern letter or we put some bogus embargo on a product. And they just go around it. Tennessee Congressman Tim Berger, thank you. Thank you, brother. TikTok has 24 hours to provide a risk assessment report on its new app TikTok Lite. The app launched this month in France and Spain. The European Commission says it's concerned about the app's potential impacts on children and users' mental health. It wants more details on those risks and what the company is doing to mitigate them. The European Union industry chief issued the order two months ago. He began investigating TikTok over possible violations of user privacy and other concerns. TikTok says the new app is aimed at users over 18. China is zeroing in on modernizing its military. Beijing announced Friday it's establishing a new military arm named the PLA Information Support Force. What could the new force mean for cyber warfare? In fact, these large-scale cyber attacks from China have been occurring continuously and are funded by Chinese authorities. Previously, they fell under the Strategic Support Force. And now it's just established a new force. But in fact, it's something the Chinese military have been doing for decades. Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping said the new branch aims to improve the structure of China's defense and military systems, aligning with modern developments and focusing on cyber and network-essential operations. Beijing also said the ultimate goal of setting up this new force is to help China fight and win in modern warfare. Worth noting, the arm is led by the CMC, China's Central Military Commission. The CMC plays a similar role to the U.S. Pentagon, but is directly overseen by the regime leader Xi Jinping. Beijing's launch comes amid rising Chinese aggression in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea and strained relations with Washington. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized Chinese support for Russia's military on Friday, speaking in Italy following a gathering of G7 ministers. Blinken said China is currently the main contributor to Moscow's war in Ukraine, accusing the Chinese regime of providing Russia with critical components for weaponry. He added that if China wants good relations with Europe, it can't also be helping Russia. But when it comes to Russia's defense industrial base, the primary contributor in this moment to that is China. We see China sharing machine tools, semiconductors, other dual use items that have helped Russia rebuild the defense industrial base that sanctions and export controls had done so much to degrade. If China purports, on the one hand, to want good relations with Europe and other countries, it can't, on the other hand, be fueling what is the biggest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War. And you don't have to just take that from me. This is what I heard around the table at the G7. Washington has warned China not to aid Moscow's war efforts since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The war launched just weeks after Russia and China declared a no-limits partnership. U.S. officials earlier this month said China was providing Russia with drones, missile technology, satellite imagery and machine tools. President Joe Biden also raised the issue with Chinese regime head Xi Jinping in a recent phone call. The U.S. Treasury targeting 16 individuals and two entities. They were involved in the production of drone engines used in the attack on Israel. That's according to the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. The U.K. is also targeting Iranian military organizations and individuals connected to Iran's drone and ballistic missile industries. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has stated that more actions will be taken against Iran in the future. World leaders are urging caution to prevent violence from escalating further. At the same time, Israel has pledged a response to the Iran attack. American retirement money might be getting funneled into Chinese companies. That's according to a new report by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Here's a brief update from Entity Business Matters host Don Ma. Wall Street is putting billions of dollars into blacklisted Chinese companies. This is according to a new report by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. The congressional investigation found that Wall Street used billions of dollars of American retirement savings to buy shares in index funds that include more than five dozen blacklisted Chinese companies. And the probe focused on world's largest asset manager BlackRock and index provider MSCI. And the investigation found that American financial institutions funneled 6.5 billion dollars last year to 63 Chinese companies blacklisted by the U.S. Apple said Friday it removed WhatsApp and Threads from its app store in China after being ordered to do so by the Chinese regime. Both apps are owned by Meta, formerly known as Facebook. An app tracking firm says messaging apps Telegram and Signal were also removed from the store. Removing the app suggests China's increasing fear of foreign messaging services beyond its control. It also signals less leeway for Apple in China. Apple said China ordered the removal of the apps over national security concerns and said it's obligated to follow the laws in the countries where it operates even when it disagrees. These apps and many foreign apps are normally blocked on Chinese networks by the Chinese regime's extensive system of censorship. They can only be used with tools that go around the restrictions. Some experts on China's tech industries said the order could be related to a new rule that requires all apps in China to register with the government or risk being removed. Before we go, we'd like to share an announcement about an upcoming NTD special. Has the world forgotten October 7th, Israel's 9-11? Kelly Wright traveled to Israel to speak to survivors and the family members of hostages. They vow never to forget as they combat anti-Semitism and fight for freedom. Watch Hope for Israel, an NTD News primetime special on Friday, April 26th at 10 p.m. Eastern here on NTD. 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 three years. If you'd like to support us, consider donating. Find us at donorbox.org slash china-in-focus or subscribe to our partner platform, EpicTV, where you can watch our full episodes. Just click the link down below. Here's what to look out for in our second half. A U.S. aircraft taking flight through the Taiwan Strait. China scrambling fighter jets to monitor the American flames every move despite its flag over international waters. Chinese companies are getting a chilly reception in the U.S. except on university campuses. Find out how Chinese money is making its way into America's higher education. They can make a university seemingly in the middle of nowhere become look very prestigious by offering them international partnership well beyond the Ivy Leagues. We look at the details. More on that after the break here on China In Focus. Thanks for watching China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. See you soon.