Taiwan Condemns China’s ‘Shameless’ Thanks | China In Focus

Welcome to China In Focus, I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story, Taiwan lashing out at China, calling the regime quote, shameless. This after Beijing accepted global concern on Taiwan's behalf after a powerful earthquake. We appreciate the international society's sympathy and concerns over Taiwan. Hundreds are still trapped after Taiwan's most powerful quake in 25 years, the latest on local rescue efforts. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is back in China for the second time in a year, and this time she comes bearing a strong message for Beijing. And rare storms unleashed typhoon-like winds on southern China, killing at least seven. Some of the victims ripped out of their high-rise apartments, including a teenage boy. Before we turn to today's top story, we'd like to share an announcement. We have a special report coming up this Saturday on how the United States helped communist China grow strong enough to take on the West. Here's a sneak peek. From less than 1% of the world's gross domestic product to a massive 19%, that's the marker of China's development in just three decades. How did the communist country grow so fast and who helped it along? Never in history has one country funded the rise of its enemy, which is what the United States has done. It's an existential threat where the Chinese Communist Party is seeking to essentially destroy the United States, who they believe is the one country that can stand in their way of achieving this great rejuvenation of China. Across the board, you can pick a topic and you can see the pernicious influence of the Chinese Communist Party. And we're in this Cold War situation, this period of intense security competition that we must now resolve. Tune in this Saturday at 8.30 p.m. Eastern time to learn more. A thank you is sparking fury in Taiwan, its government calling China, quote, shameless after Beijing used a deadly disaster to echo its political stance. Taiwan was hit by a 7.4 magnitude earthquake Wednesday, the strongest in 25 years. The disaster killed at least nine and injured over 900 others. As sympathy and support poured in for Taiwan, China's deputy representative to the United Nations said this. We appreciate the international society's sympathy and concerns over Taiwan. The Chinese Communist Party sees Taiwan as part of its territory and has pledged to take Taiwan under control by force if necessary. Beijing also claims the right to speak for Taiwan on the international stage. Despite that, the CCP has never ruled Taiwan, and the island's ruling party staunchly rejects Chinese sovereignty. Taiwan was quick to hit back at Beijing's remark, its foreign ministry calling out China for, quote, the shameless use of Taiwan earthquake to conduct cognitive operations internationally. Taiwan uses the phrase to describe Beijing's psychological warfare tactics. In a statement, Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council also rebuffed an aid offer extended by Beijing. A Taiwanese expert told them that China's offer is, quote, not real kindness because of Beijing's constant military threats against the island. Worth noting, Taiwan detected nine Chinese warships and 30 fighter jets operating near the island just after the quake struck. Outside Asia, the White House said it's monitoring the earthquake and its impacts. We are standing by, the United States is standing by on the ready for any necessary assistance. Over 50 countries have expressed support for Taiwan as it recovers. In Taiwan, emergency personnel are searching for earthquake survivors, many of those who've been rescued were trapped inside mines, while some of those still awaiting rescue were hiking in a mountainous national park when the disaster struck. Taiwan authorities say 70 people were rescued from two separate quarries, but one person was killed by falling rocks at one of the sites. The total death toll now sits at 10. At least four were killed inside Taroko National Park, a popular tourist attraction near the quake's epicenter. Over 1,000 people were injured. More than 700 people are still stranded, but most of them are in contact with rescue teams. Some 42 people are missing, many of them are believed to be in Taroko National Park. As for damages, entire sections of the highway collapsed on the island's eastern coast, and landslides continue to pose a threat. Workers have started tearing down damaged buildings near the epicenter. Inside a Taiwanese hospital, a surveillance camera caught the moment maternity workers rushed to protect newborn babies when the earthquake struck. Video shows staff at the Masharee Maternity Center rushing to hold onto wobbling cots while another staff member ran into the room to help. The supervisor of the maternity center said despite their fears, the instinct to protect their young patients kicked in immediately. Of course we were scared, very scared, but I think this is the natural instinct of maternity staff. They are patients, and the safety of the babies is of utmost importance. Residents in Taiwan recalled their fear after the island's worst earthquake in more than two decades. NTD's Andrew Thomas dives into how locals are reacting to the natural disaster. School children were terrified when an earthquake hit the eastern Taiwanese city of Hualien yesterday. One staff member described the chaos. We could hear children screaming in the school. Indeed, it lasted for about a minute, and all the children were terrified. Even when the tremors eased, some children couldn't walk. They were crying as they evacuated the building. Linda Chen surveys the damage to her apartment. Her family believes it's now too dangerous to live in following yesterday's 7.2 magnitude earthquake. A 6.4 quake severely damaged their previous apartment in 2018. This is the second time one has forced her family to move. Yesterday, when I was tidying up the apartment, I saw on the wall the record of the child's growth that I made, and I saw how this spot was damaged and felt really sad. I was thinking how the house could turn into something like this, and how the memories seemed to be destroyed all of a sudden. Chen's son said he didn't risk spending too much time inside his old house. It was cracked all over the place, so I didn't dare to stay in it for too long. It feels like it's about to fall after the next quake, and the walls are all cracked. Too outrageous, too serious. Over 300 aftershocks followed the deadly quake, forcing people into emergency shelters. Most of Hualien avoided major damage. Andrew Thomas, NTD News. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arrived in China Thursday with plans to press her Chinese counterparts on China's quote unfair trade practices and industrial overcapacity. Yellen calls them a threat to the global economy. We've agreed that it's important to both of us that we don't want to decouple our economies. We want to continue, and we think we both benefit from trade and investment, but that it needs to be in a level playing field. Yellen said last week that China's state support has led to substantial overinvestment in steel, aluminum and other industries. This led to cheap exports of solar panels, electric cars and lithium-ion batteries, which forced manufacturing to contract in other countries. Yellen said the U.S. would consider imposing tariffs and other trade barriers on China to protect its industries. The trip comes right after President Biden spoke to Chinese regime leader Xi Jinping over the phone. This is Yellen's second visit to China within just a year. Amid Yellen's China trip, White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said Thursday that the U.S. does not support Taiwan independence. I can tell you that President Biden was very, very clear that nothing's changed about our one China policy. We don't support independence for Taiwan, but we also don't want to see the status quo changed in a unilateral way and certainly not by force. While Secretary Yellen meets for talks on China's dumping, America's $34 trillion national debt is having a devastating impact on interest rates and the cost of living for Americans. NTD's Steve Land sat down with Steve Hayes of America's For Fair Taxation to discuss how this debt will play into the November election. Steve Hayes, thank you so much for joining. I'm delighted to be with you, Steve. I'm looking forward to this. Same here. Great to have you, Steve. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in China meeting with top officials, including Xi Jinping. She discussed with reporters yesterday the administration's concerns about China's overcapacity and the spillovers that Chinese subsidies are having on the United States. She didn't offer any specific plans to discuss tariffs or trade restrictions. Didn't rule that out, however. What message do you hope she'll bring to China that will protect the United States and the American people? Well, I'm hoping that what she'll bring is that if they don't clean up what they're doing in terms of, you know, literally trying to destroy business over here by subsidies and by the way they import things, because they know if they bring product over at a low enough price that U.S. businesses will not be able to stay in business long enough to compete because they're not getting the same subsidies. So they're trying to drive these people out of business and then they can raise the prices from China and have free reign. So what I believe she needs to do is what President Trump did, is let them know that there are going to be consequences to that type of action and that retaliation is actually something that we are quite capable of doing, not only by restricting their imports, but by relocating and giving incentives to do things which are happening now in countries outside of China. And that's really a huge problem for them. Next, the most severe storms in over a decade are hitting southern China and they're hammering Jiangxi province. At least seven deaths are linked to the extreme weather. Some of them ripped from their high-rise apartments during sleep. The wind and rain were blowing in, so I hurried into the room. I called for my wife, but there was no response. I couldn't find her. The tragedy happened around 3 a.m. last Sunday. According to Chinese media, high winds pulled Wang's wife out of her window and she fell to her death from their high-rise apartment. A similar incident happened at another home in the same residential compound. A 60-year-old woman and her teenage grandson saw the outer walls of their home destroyed and were quickly ripped outside. Videos and photos from the area reveal typhoon-like weather engulfing cities there, with residents describing the scene as horrific, like doomsday. In this clip, strong winds suddenly blasted a large window. This mother's quick reflexes allowed her to grab her toddler, narrowly avoiding another tragedy. And at this critical moment, a father managed to protect his daughter from a falling door. In this video, a group of restaurant staffers worked to stop a roof from giving into the strong winds, one of them also blown into the air. This clip comes from a Chinese college dorm where four students braced themselves against a door but couldn't stop the winds from getting inside. The extreme weather has also brought hailstorms to some areas, pelting locals for five days so far. According to the Emergency Flood Control Headquarters in Jiangxi Province, tens of thousands of people across nine cities are impacted, plus over $20 million in losses. The local authorities warned Thursday that more extreme weather is still headed for some parts of the province. 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 dash in dash focus, or subscribe to our partner platform, Epic TV, where you can watch our full episodes. Just click the link down below. Here's what to look out for in our second half. What's the truth behind China's messaging inside and outside its borders? Founder of Media Research Initiative in the Middle East exposes how the CCP tells one story to its people and another to the outside world. It is to counter the American unicorn world with its values. The Chinese hack that roiled Washington and compromised email accounts of top US diplomats could have been prevented. Discover why in a new report that's blaming Microsoft for security blunders. Thanks for watching China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. See you tomorrow.