Pew Report: 8 in 10 Americans Hold Unfavourable View of China | China In Focus 2024-05-03 02:23

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story, American sentiment toward China plunges to its lowest point in years. A recent survey shows over 80 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of communist China. Well, again, I'd have to look at the specific reports that you're referring to, but we have seen, generally speaking, evidence and attempts to influence and arguably interfere, and we want to make sure that that's cut off as quickly as possible. One more Chinese app is under scrutiny, Timu, a mega online shopping platform from China, and 70 million Americans are using it. But is their personal data safe? The State Department urging China and Russia to make a declaration about nuclear weapons. Find out how artificial intelligence is involved. And the death toll jumps to 48 in the deadly highway collapse in southern China. A report shows the highway had just passed a safety check. We have reactions from local residents. U.S. sentiment toward communist China hitting a new low. New polls shows over 80 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of China, and over 40 percent label China as an enemy, the highest level since 2021. The survey comes from the Pew Research Center, also covered in the poll. About half of those surveyed believe limiting Beijing's power should be a top priority in U.S. foreign policy. They describe China's influence as large and negative and say they are critical of China's impact on the U.S. economy. And about eight and 10 Americans say they have little or no confidence in Chinese leader Xi Jinping to do the right thing when it comes to world affairs. The report added that Republicans are more wary of China than Democrats. American attitudes toward China turn critical following a series of events, the U.S.-China trade war in 2018, the COVID-19 pandemic, Beijing's human rights abuses, and its growing ties to Russia. Plus, Beijing's ambition to take over Taiwan. The poll comes on the heels of top U.S. diplomat Antony Blinken's China visit. He met with Communist Party head Xi Jinping and raised a number of issues, fentanyl flow from China to the U.S., unfair treatment of U.S. businesses, plus China's aid to Russia's war on Ukraine. Xi told Blinken that America should stop, in his words, saying one thing and doing another. Before Blinken left China, CNN released an interview with him where Blinken voiced a bombshell remark about China's attempts to Any interference by China in our election is something that we're looking very carefully at and is totally unacceptable to us. Well, again, I'd have to look at the specific reports that you're referring to, but we have seen, generally speaking, evidence of attempts to influence and arguably interfere, and we want to make sure that that's cut off as quickly as possible. The Pew Research report is based on a survey of 3,600 U.S. adults. It said the margin of error is around two percentage points. Could shopping on Timu send consumer data into Beijing's hands? That's the question mark hanging over the heads of the app's 70 million American users, as a new report reveals Timu's owner partners with a Chinese data collection agency. Here's more. Can Chinese apps in your phone double as children horses for Beijing? That debate is now spreading to Timu, one of the most downloaded apps in America. A new report says Timu's owner could share its data with Chinese military and police. Here's how that happened. Timu's Chinese owner partners with a data management agency, and it's that agency's job to help commercial firms share data with both the Chinese military and Chinese police. That agency is front and center in the Chinese Communist Party's effort to control data around the globe. The report says Timu's data could be useful for Beijing. That's in terms of understanding public opinion and consumers' decision-making habits. Users' profile information could also help Beijing shape propaganda campaigns directed at foreigners. The report comes from ASPI, an Australian think tank. Timu's Chinese owner is called Pinduoduo, an e-commerce giant in China. It's unclear if the owner has shared Timu's data with China. The report said it's reasonable to assume that's a possibility. Timu denies the allegation. The app's privacy policy, though, says personal information may be shared with its corporate parents. Plus, a law in China mandates that companies must hand over user data to officials if they ask for it. Timu boasts over 70 million users in the U.S. In 2023, Google suspended Timu's owner from the Google Play store, citing malicious software in the app. Apple also said Timu violated the Apple store's privacy rules. Washington is urging China and Russia to declare that only humans and never artificial intelligence would make decisions on deploying nuclear weapons. The U.S., France and Britain have all made that what the State Department called a clear and strong commitment on the matter. That's according to State Department arms control official Paul Dean on Thursday. He also said humans have total control over nuclear weapons is a quote, an extremely important norm of responsible behavior. As of now, Beijing has not responded to a request for comment. President Biden has been trying to communicate with China on both nuclear weapons and policy and the growth of artificial intelligence. Zooming in on Russia last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended a key nuclear arms deal with the U.S. The START treaty allowed Russia and the U.S. to inspect nuclear facilities as an effort to limit each other's nuclear arsenal. The U.S. is slapping Russia with hundreds of new sanctions, and over a dozen companies in China are in the crosshairs. It's one of the biggest moves yet against Chinese firms taken by Washington's sanctions, largely aimed at Moscow and its war on Ukraine. NTD's Sam Wong has more. On Wednesday, the Biden administration rolled out fresh sanctions targeting companies and individuals that are allegedly helping Russia's war against Ukraine. Of nearly 300 targeted suppliers, more than a dozen are based in China. These entities are accused of backing the Kremlin with military equipment, ranging from infrared detectors to drone components to pressure sensors used in missiles. The latest actions came after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's visit to China last month. Speaking to CCP officials, she warned that Chinese companies could face penalties that's if they help support Russia's offensive. Yellen cited an executive order signed by President Biden last year, which allows the Treasury to crack down on foreign financial firms for facilitating the flow of military goods to Russia. That's an important power, and it's one that we would be prepared to use if necessary. The sanctions were a coordinated effort between the Treasury and State Departments. U.S. officials have long voiced concern over Beijing potentially sending weapons to Moscow amid its war in Ukraine. During a separate trip to China, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia would struggle on the battlefield without any help from China. He added that Washington will address this issue if Beijing doesn't. Alongside China, the sanctions also target entities based in countries such as Belgium, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Meanwhile, the State Department announced that China has refused to resume talks with the U.S. on nuclear arms control. According to the Pentagon, China has a total of more than 500 nuclear warheads in its stockpile, and that number is expected to break 1,000 by 2030. Sam Wong, NTD News. The White House said Thursday that Russia has been quietly shipping fuel to North Korea and that the action appears to violate a U.N. trade cap. The U.S. warns that it will work with allies to initiate follow-up sanctions against this violation. That's according to White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby. He said, at the same time that Moscow vetoed the panel's mandate renewal, Russia has been shipping refined petroleum from Russia to North Korea. Refined petroleum is a high-value crude oil product. Kirby's disclosure comes one day after Moscow blocked a U.N. panel's mandate renewal, which led to the group getting disbanded. The panel was designated to monitor North Korea's nuclear arms and missile programs, making sure they align with U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang. Next, Kirby said the U.S. would work with Australia, the E.U., Japan and several other allies to draft new sanctions against, quote, facilitating arms and refined petroleum transfers between Russia and North Korea. As of now, Moscow and Pyongyang haven't responded to requests for comment about Washington's accusation. According to U.S. intelligence officials, Russia and North Korea have been exchanging military equipment and other war resources. Earlier this year, the White House said Russia used ballistic missiles from North Korea to help its attack on Ukraine. Next, a breakdown of China's geopolitical chessboard from regime head Xi Jinping's Europe visit to fresh U.S. sanctions on Chinese firms. Joining us now to decode the communist regime's agenda is retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Robert Spalding, author of War Without Rules. General Spalding, thank you so much for joining us. Great to have you back on the show. Thanks. Great to be back. General, Chinese regime head Xi Jinping is traveling to Europe next week for the first time in five years. Now, this does come as the E.U. has been threatening tariffs on cheap Chinese imports like EVs. What makes the E.U.-China relationship either different or the same as the U.S.-China relationship? I think the Europeans are far more willing to allow the Chinese Communist Party to dictate terms when it comes to trade. The Germans just have a whole bunch of factories and other manufacturing in China. So it's really tied a lot more to the German economy than it is now to the United States. And so that's going to be a problem going forward because the Germans see that their financial future is tied to China. And that's something that we're going to have to break if there's going to remain an alliance to deal with this new Cold War. Now, in terms of the ongoing Ukraine war, the U.S. unveiled nearly 300 new sanctions yesterday. This is aimed at Russia, including Chinese entities which are, quote, responsible for developing and supplying dual-use aerospace, manufacturing and technology equipment to entities based in Russia. How big of an impact do you see these new tariffs? Well, you know, the Chinese Communist Party always finds a way to get out from under the tariffs. They've been moving a ton of manufacturing to Mexico. And so a lot of their products are coming through Mexico now tariff-free. So I would expect that they will continue to find loopholes here. I think what we need to do is go further and actually cut off their access to the American dollar through banks now. So a lot of people think this is, you know, over the top. But when you're in reality, when you look at their influence on our society, it is going to be much better for America when that happens. A lot at stake for sure. General Spalding, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. The Philippines says it has summoned a Chinese diplomat. The request comes after Chinese vessels fired water cannons at Philippine ships near a shoal in the South China Sea earlier this week. In a statement Thursday, the Philippines Foreign Ministry said it's protesting the harassment, ramming, swarming, shadowing and blocking dangerous maneuvers, use of water cannons and other aggressive actions of China's Coast Guard and maritime militia. The nation is demanding that Chinese vessels leave the vicinity immediately. British oil and gas company Shell is calling it quits on China's power market. That's according to Reuters. On Wednesday, the decision took effect at the end of last year. The company's departure includes power generation, trading and marketing businesses. Shell has been pulling out of various retail power markets lately to focus more on its profitable oil and gas ventures. But it's not abandoning its EV charging business in China. A spokesperson for Shell told Reuters the company sees it as a major growth market. Shell Energy China was among the pioneers of foreign-owned entities in China's carbon emissions and power trading market. In southern China, the death toll from a highway collapse has doubled, and details reveal the highway had just undergone safety checks as the local flood season began. The death toll now stands at 48, but it could top 50 as there are three other people who remain unidentified awaiting DNA testing. Beijing has a history of covering up disaster data, so the numbers remain unverified. The head of Chinese Communist regime Xi Jinping instructed local authorities Thursday to maintain social stability. Now many Chinese citizens are urging authorities to investigate the construction companies involved. Worth noting, the highway just underwent a safety check at the end of April. According to Chinese media reports, a section of the same highway also collapsed last April. New social media restrictions took effect Wednesday in China. The expanded state secrets law requires firms to take action if users post sensitive information, and today's Business Matters host Don Ma brings us a brief update. The so-called network operators include Tencent, ByteDance, and Weibo. The law mandates that they monitor information being shared. It also details how posts should be removed, recorded, and reported. The revised rules broaden the definition of sensitive information, and now it includes work secrets or information about the decision-making of state agencies. 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, 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. Why a majority of Americans are saying TikTok is a tool Beijing uses to influence US public opinion, with some accusing the app of spying on everyday Americans. More reactions to a new poll. I think that TikTok has a political bent, which serves the purpose of the Chinese government in order to provoke people in the United States. American miners taking on a Chinese monopoly. They say they are pushing for tariffs on key materials from China, essential for making the batteries in electric cars. Could the effort reshape the EV industry? And lawmakers in the Solomon Islands pick a new prime minister. How the move could push the Pacific Island nation closer to China. More on that after the break, here on China In Focus. Thanks for watching China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. See you tomorrow.