China Pumps Billions to Save Ailing Property Sector | China in Focus

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story, China doubling down on saving its slumping real estate sector, asking debt-ridden local governments to buy homes that are yet to be sold. One big question, where is the money coming from? Russian President Putin is wrapping up his trip to China Friday. More on what the White House says about Beijing and Moscow's closer ties, plus what former President Trump says about the pair. Taiwan has reported a round of China-linked cyber attacks targeting government websites. The onslaught happening just as the island's new president-elect is set to take the helm next week. And President Joe Biden will dispatch a special delegation to Taiwan as its new president takes office next Monday. The group consists of former U.S. officials and will visit Taipei to represent the American people. China is making a big move to rescue its property sector, an industry that accounts for a quarter of the country's GDP, but is now mired in a crisis. Problem is, will it work? Here are the details. China is taking bold new action in a bid to revive its ailing property sector. Beijing said Friday that local governments would buy up some unsold apartments. Officials also promised forceful efforts to deliver unfinished homes. The move comes after years of turmoil in the sector. It all began in 2021 when officials started taking steps to tackle the massive debts built up by some property firms. Many major developers have since defaulted or gone under. That has left China littered with millions of unsold or unfinished homes. Previous steps to drive a rebound don't seem to have worked. Recent data have shown home prices, sales and investment all continuing to tumble. Now Beijing says local governments will buy apartments at reasonable prices, with many to be used for affordable housing. There was no detail on how long this would take or how it would be funded. Analysts note that local authorities in China are already some $9 trillion in debt. Separately, Friday, the country's central bank said it would cut mortgage interest rates and down payment requirements in a further bid to boost home buying. Markets welcomed the various announcements, with China's index of real estate stocks jumping 8% by mid-afternoon. An expert says China's efforts to rescue its property market would not solve the problem. Instead, they could create more issues down the road. For one, local governments have amassed huge debt, totaling over $9 trillion. They're running huge deficits, you know, across almost all local, municipal and provincial governments, you know, all over China. Business professor Frank Xie added Beijing would not be able to save all Chinese developers. There are so many developers. Some are government-related, some are related to high-ranking officials. How do you do the selection? Xie noted that corruption could also run rampant once funding from the Chinese regime is involved. He also said pricing on the unsold homes could become an issue, explaining that those price tags are currently inflated, meaning a buyout could quickly become costly for authorities. A new round of layoffs kicking off inside the local government of China's most populous province, Henan. Different local branches under the Chinese Communist Party are expected to sack at least half of their civil servants. The news sent shockwaves through China as civil service jobs are considered to be more stable. Analysts say it shows Chinese authorities and their departments are running out of money. Henan province's GDP ranks sixth in the nation, but it's deep in debt. Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded a two-day visit to China on Friday. In the joint statement published by both sides, Beijing and Moscow pledged to deepen their already close ties, especially when it comes to their stances on Ukraine and Taiwan. Here's more. According to the joint statement, Moscow supports any actions by Beijing to take control of Taiwan, and Beijing supports Moscow's territorial claims as well. Putin met with students at the Chinese University of Technology in the northern city of Harbin. The Pentagon has sanctioned the institute for its work with Beijing's military, including developing missiles. Here's the Department of State on Beijing's attempt to pull itself closer to both the EU and Moscow amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Fueling Russia's defense industrial base, as the People's Republic of China has, not only threatens Ukrainian security, it threatens European security. And Beijing can't achieve better relations with Europe while also continuing to support something like this. Patel also commented on Putin's decision to support Beijing's peace plan for ending the war, which favors Moscow. The solution is simple. The Russian Federation can just leave Ukraine. It can leave the territories that it's in in Ukraine. It can leave Crimea, and we'll have our peaceful solution. But time and time and time again, President Putin and the Russian Federation has indicated that they are not interested in doing that. Former President Donald Trump warned Thursday about the China-Russia alliance threatening the security of Taiwan. President Xi of China, I know him well, and President Putin of Russia, I know him well. They're right now together working on plans where they combine, where they get together and do damage, because that's ultimately what they're thinking about, doing damage. And you take a look at what President Xi said today, he fully expects to take Taiwan. He made that statement today. That's a big statement. On the economic front, Putin tried to convince Beijing to back a gas pipeline project that would direct natural gas to China. China and Russia also condemned the U.S. in the joint statement. This follows Washington's recent joint drills in the Indo-Pacific with Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan, in the face of Beijing's rising threats in the region. President Biden also signed a bill on Monday banning imports of Russian-enriched uranium, with some exceptions. The U.S. used to purchase an estimated billion dollars worth of this nuclear fuel from Russia every year. With a potential TikTok ban now on the horizon, how does the China-owned app influence U.S. politics and national security? To discuss, we're happy to have with us cybersecurity advisor at MySmartPrivacy, Rex Lee. Rex Lee, thank you so much for joining us. Great to have you back on the show. Tiffany, thank you for having me on the show. Now, speaking of TikTok, the French government has actually announced a ban on TikTok. This is on the island of New Caledonia. That is a French colony, which is seeing massive riots right now. Given that, how would you characterize the role of TikTok in the context of the ongoing geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China? If you look at it through an industry perspective, social media platforms are simply surveillance and data mining platforms, and the companies that create them are the largest data brokers in the world. They're in the trillion-dollar information trafficking industry, which means that they utilize technology more for their benefit. Now you can see how misinformation can be spread easily through automation, through people who are on the platforms such as intelligence agents, and so forth. So now you can see the threat that these platforms pose to elections, politics, news, and so forth. Given all of that, expand on for us the potential implications of this U.S. law that could either force a divestment or a ban of TikTok in the U.S. in terms of both American users and investors, particularly when it comes to significant stakes in the company of someone like Jeff Yass. Jeff Yass owns 7 percent of all of ByteDance, not just TikTok North America. The problem with Mr. Yass's investment here, or him donating money to candidates, is it's being earned through a company that's beholden to the Chinese Communist Party that's in the data broker business that develops surveillance and data mining platforms that utilizes applications such as social media as a means to monitor, track, and data mine the end user. This is why these platforms are a security threat to everyone. It's not just TikTok. It's any intrusive app or platform that supports targeted advertising rooted in surveillance capitalism, which means that there's going to be surveillance and data mining technology built into these apps. Earlier you brought up the ByteDance's ties to the Chinese Communist Party. In what ways has the Chinese Communist Party weaponized TikTok for these hybrid warfare purposes? ByteDance in 2024 is still lobbying the Defense Authorization Act of 2024. Now you've got to ask yourself this question. Why is a social media company lobbying a DoD bill? They've lobbied other bills associated with the Supreme Court and the Department of Homeland Security. New for 2024, they're influencing other laws that impact our privacy and security as a country. Rex Lee, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. A surprising announcement from Microsoft to its China-based employees. They should consider relocating abroad. What's behind the urging? NTD's Business Matters host Don Ma has the details. Microsoft is reportedly asking some of its China-based staff to consider transferring outside the country. This is according to a Wall Street Journal report as well as Reuters. This comes as the U.S.-China relations are strained amid a race for cutting-edge technology. Washington has been trying to limit Beijing's access to advanced chips used in AI applications. There are concerns that the technology can be used to strengthen China's military. Microsoft is asking about 700 to 800 people who are involved in machine learning and other computing-related work to consider relocating. This is according to the Wall Street Journal. The employees are mostly engineers of Chinese nationality. And they were recently offered an option to transfer to the U.S., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. NTD, though, could not independently verify those details. A string of cyber attacks just ahead of Inauguration Day. Taiwan's Security Bureau has reported a litany of Chinese cyber breach targeting the island's government websites. This comes as Taiwan's president-elect William Lai is set to be sworn in next week. Reports say the number of attacks has jumped from one million per day to a staggering 2.5 million per day. That's since Taiwan's January 13th presidential election. Beyond cybersecurity, officials said Beijing has established proxy groups aimed at influencing all sectors of Taiwanese society, even setting up overseas police outposts near language schools. Their main targets include students, politicians, business leaders and intellectuals. Taiwan's president-elect William Lai will be sworn into office next Monday. And the White House is sending an unofficial delegation to the island this weekend to celebrate the inauguration. Orval Schell, the director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at Asia Society, said Washington is walking on a delicate tightrope between deterring China and supporting Taiwan. I think if you go to Taiwan or Asia, I think everybody is painfully aware that when a big power that's filled with grievance like Russia or China starts talking about invading another territory because they view it as theirs, it's very dangerous. Does that mean Xi Jinping is about to invade Taiwan? I don't think so. But it does mean that we have to be very careful in terms of our strategy to do everything possible to deter that impulse. The Biden administration announced Wednesday that two former senior U.S. officials and a scholar will be headed to Taiwan. Officials added that the move will certainly upset China, but it's unlikely to draw an excessive response. The trip comes as the U.S. and China try to stabilize relations. Washington has made it clear that it doesn't support Taiwan independence, but will deter Beijing's aggression towards Taiwan and provide the island with the means to defend itself under U.S. law. Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China and a core interest. Although the Chinese regime has never ruled the island, William Lai, the next Taiwanese president, is known for his tough on China policies. A decision from Canberra for Australian lawmakers are set to attend Taiwan president-elect William Lai's inauguration despite pressure from Beijing. For news of their planned trip went public, China issued a statement warning that it hopes Australia and China would work together to avoid unnecessary damage to their relationship. Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China and has vowed to take it under control by force if necessary. That's despite the island never having been ruled by the communist regime. The Chinese regime staunchly opposes relations between foreign countries and Taiwan. One Australian senator said, quote, 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. It's the season for summer travel. While planning for a study tour to America, a group of Chinese students got their visa applications rejected. Reason, they were told to lie to the U.S. embassy. Record numbers of illegal Chinese immigrants streaming across the southern border. A congressman says they could have nefarious motives. More on recent house testimony. There is a serious national security concern, and we should be looking closely at individuals coming from communist China. And the China-Russia partnership is strengthening. How could their stronger ties affect the Ukraine war? An intel officer weighs in. More on that after the break here on China In Focus. Thanks for watching China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. See you soon.