VP Pick Vance: China the Biggest Threat to the US | China in Focus

Welcome to NTD's China In Focus. I'm Fiona Ji filling in for Tiffany Meyer. Our top story, former President Trump's VP pick calling out the China threat. We unpack Senator J.D. Vance's position on China, from tariffs to foreign policy. That's the biggest threat to our country and we're completely distracted from it. China poses a deadly threat to Britain, according to the head of the UK's strategic defense review. More about the nation's new defense strategy. 40 Chinese banks disappearing from the country's financial map in a single week. Reports suggest bankruptcies linked to bad loans from the battered housing market are behind it. And a small town in China has been hit by a year's worth of rain in one day. That's as storms continue to lash other parts of the country. Before we dive into today's top story, we have some announcements to share. This week, NTD's Steve Lance and Tiffany Meyer will bring you live special coverage of the Republican National Convention. Former President Trump is expected to be officially nominated as the 2024 Republican presidential candidate at the event. Take a look. The biggest Republican event of the year. Four nights, thousands under one roof, officially nominating their candidate for president. America's comeback starts right now. Watch NTD's live special coverage with Steve Lance and Tiffany Meyer on The Nation Decides 2024. Republican National Convention, 6 p.m. Eastern from July 15th through the 18th on NTD News. Watch our special coverage of The Nation Decides 2024 tonight, Monday through Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern. Now, back to today's top stories. Former President Trump's new running mate emerging as tough on China. Senator J.D. Vance zeroing in on the China threat in one of his first interviews since getting the phone call from Trump. I think what President Trump has promised to do is go in there, negotiate with the Russians and Ukrainians, bring this thing to a rapid close so that America can focus on the real issue, which is China. That's the biggest threat to our country, and we're completely distracted from it. Some see Vance as a political wildcard. He's young, 39 years old, and has only been in the Senate for 18 months. In addition, he's a former venture capitalist, former U.S. Marine, and a best-selling author. His memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, recounts his experience growing up in a poor, rust-belt town. Where does he stand on China? Let's unpack it. Vance said this May that he supports broad-based tariffs on goods coming from China and protecting U.S. industries from competition. On foreign policy, Vance said U.S. military should focus on East Asia instead of Europe. He thinks Asia would be the focus of American foreign policy for the coming decades. He also argued that making Patriot system missiles for Ukraine would cost Taiwan if China invaded. If Beijing succeeds at taking the island, Vance said the U.S. could see another Great Depression. That's because America relies on the island for the most advanced semiconductors. Taiwan makes over 90 percent of them. The Chinese Communist Party sees Taiwan as part of China, despite never having ruled it. The U.S. doesn't have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but is bound by law to sell weapons to Taiwan so it can defend itself. Since becoming senator, Vance also pushed two bills targeting China. This March, he introduced a bill to restrict China from accessing U.S. financial markets. That's if Beijing continues to violate international financial law and manipulate their currency. Last year, he pushed another bill to limit Beijing's efforts to grow its financial influence on U.S. higher education institutions. The bill aims to require universities to report gifts from foreign adversaries of any value. Right now, they're only required to disclose the gifts if they're worth $250,000 or more. A prediction on what a second Trump term could mean for China's economy. New research published Monday said 60 percent tariffs on Chinese goods would slash the country's annual growth rate by more than half. And yet, tariffs of 60 percent or more is exactly what former President Trump has been considering if he's re-elected. In an interview with Fox, he said, quote, we have to do it. The research comes from UBS, the largest bank in Switzerland. UBS economists made the estimate in the scenario that China would lose some trade to other countries, that Beijing wouldn't retaliate, and other countries wouldn't slap more tariffs on Chinese goods. China is now facing major economic challenges. Crises in the real estate sector continue. Local governments under the Communist Party are loaded with trillions in debt, and consumer demand remains weak. China and Russia officially carrying out joint drills in the South China Sea Monday. Media reports say their naval forces destroyed a mock enemy submarine. The drill comes after a joint patrol in the western and northern Pacific Ocean. The South China Sea has been brimming with Chinese Coast Guard troops have fired water cannons at Filipino boats. That's in an attempt to block them from carrying out resupply missions to Philippine troops in the area. Worth noting, the Philippines is a U.S. treaty ally. China also seized a Taiwanese fishing boat near its coast. The world's most powerful military alliance, NATO, called China a decisive enabler of Russia's war on Ukraine. The joint drills are expected to wrap up on July 17th. The U.K. kicking off a defense strategy overhaul Tuesday, and the person leading the charge calling China a deadly threat to Britain. George Robertson is the former Secretary General of NATO and the former British Secretary of Defense. He said the U.K. is confronted by a deadly quartet of nations increasingly working together, namely China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. Previously, the U.K. has refrained from calling China a threat. Officials often refer to China as a strategic challenge. When asked about this shift, Robertson said the NATO summit last week made it clear that the challenge of China was something that had to be taken very, very seriously. NATO is the world's most powerful military alliance. The bloc called Beijing a, quote, decisive enabler of Russia's war against Ukraine, its strongest rebuke yet against Beijing. The review would set Britain's defense policy for the next decade. This comes as U.K.'s new prime minister promised to end the shrinking of the British military. Keir Starmer said he would increase defense spending from 2.3 to 2.5 percent of GDP. The review also aims to modernize Britain's nuclear arsenal. It will release its first report in 2025. In the Pacific Ocean, two island nations are strengthening their ties with communist China. On Tuesday, China pledged a $20 million boost to the Solomon Islands government budget. NTD's Tiffany Meyer spoke with Casey Fleming, CEO of Black Ops Partners, to discuss the changing dynamics in the Pacific. The Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are strengthening their ties with China. Why is the U.S. and its allies worried about this? Because the CCP, China, is positioning themselves to have bases around the Pacific. So it's very concerning. It's really what happened in World War II that gave the Japanese an advantage. So when you look at the strategy of the CCP and then Russia, Iran, North Korea, and so on, where the world is headed today in this alliance for communism and to change the world order, it's very concerning. So it means that we have to match it and pump up our bases as well in the Pacific. And the Solomon Islands are about a thousand miles from Australia, a key U.S. ally in the region. Now, the island nation made headlines two years ago after a secret deal with Beijing was revealed, raising alarm bells in the West that Beijing could use it as a military base. How serious of a threat would that be? An extremely serious threat. Having military bases strategically placed throughout the world or throughout the region where you're expanding war efforts, suggesting that, say, Taiwan goes to the next level and it starts to spread through the Pacific. Having the Solomon Islands or Vanuatu or other ones in Africa, South America, and so on, if you're looking at the future of a kinetic world war, those are strategic bases and they are very difficult to unseat when you have a wartime effort. Expanding on that, these Pacific islands played a crucial role during World War II. How would this change the dynamic in case of an all-out war in the region now? It would give much more of a deep-seated presence with supplies, ammunition, troops, and so on, anchoring the CCP in strategic areas throughout the Pacific. And like I said, it's easily spread throughout the rest of the world, which the CCP has been doing with other continents as well. Now, when it comes to the battle for the Pacific, the U.S. did make strides in the island nation of Palau, which is under the U.S. Compacts of Free Association or COFA. But the U.S. Marine Corps recently rebuilding a Japanese airfield on one of the islands there. How do you read this move? Are we inching closer to war, or is this to increase deterrence against a war? It's increasing deterrence against war. The United States will not declare war on someone if we have not had war declared on us. The problem is you have to look at the CCP's aggression over the past 20 and 30 years, both economically, militarily, and all the whole, the gray zone as well. So you have to look at your adversary. They call us their enemy, so apparently we're their enemy. You have to look what they're doing. So yes, we have to do measured responses to continue to act in an effort of deterrence. Casey Fleming, CEO of Black Ops Partners Corporation, thank you so much for joining us. Could China weaponize minerals to help its geopolitical ambitions? China is still importing more copper than last year, even though domestic demand is low. Let's take a closer look. China has stockpiled a lot more copper than usual this year, with reserves reaching their highest level in over four years as of June 7th. This, according to inventories registered with the Shanghai Futures Exchange. And here's where it gets even more interesting. Beijing has kept ramping up copper imports, even though China's domestic demand for the construction material is low. In the first five months of the year, China imported over 2 million tons of refined copper. That's about 60% of global copper and marks a nearly 9% uptick from the same period last year. In a House committee hearing in June, Gregory Wisher, principal of Dei Gratia Minerals, said that China's current stockpiling activities are similar to Germany's actions from before World War II. Assistant researcher Xiaowen Wang from Taiwan's Institute for National Defense and Security Research told NTD that she believes Beijing is preparing for conflict between China and the even a world war. She also says she believes there's a transition happening. The US-China conflict is gradually shifting towards rare earth minerals as a battleground, according to current perspectives. Last August, China announced export restrictions on two critical chip-making materials, gallium and cadmium. In December, China banned the export of technology used to make rare earth magnets. Su Zhiyun, director of the Strategic and Resource Institute in Taiwan, told NTD that China aims to monopolize global supplies of those minerals. Since 2018, the United States has been wary of China's dominance in rare earths and precious metals, seeking to diversify supply chains and reduce risks. As a result, while China still exerts some influence over these minerals, its impact has reduced compared to previous years. Last month, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party announced the formation of a bipartisan group. It's tasked with addressing China's control over critical mineral supply chains. China's economy is still struggling to recover post-pandemic. Recently, more than 40 banks in China have merged or closed entirely. China reported 337 banks are now considered high risk. According to a report from Chinese media, more than 80 banks have disappeared in the first half of this year. Despite much of the world having recovered from pandemic closures, China's real estate sector remains in peril. 3,800 Chinese banks are struggling with bad loans tied to the housing market. Chinese media reported that at least two of the country's largest state-owned banks are closely examining their bad debts related to real estate. According to data from the People's Bank of China, there are nearly 340 high-risk banks, with total assets amounting to more than $9 trillion. Given the communist regime's history of covering up unfavorable data, the actual number of high-risk banks could be higher than reported. As of late 2023, the bad loans across all Chinese commercial banks amounted to more than In southwest China's Guizhou province, bad loans in the real estate sector surged about three times in 2022. The bad loan ratio skyrocketed from less than 1 percent to over 20 percent. Sales at a Switzerland-based holding company fell below expectations last quarter. The luxury group, Cartier-owned Richemont, on Tuesday blamed a slump in Chinese demand. Sales rose just 1 percent to over $5.5 billion, below analysts' projections of a 2 percent rise. Richemont said all regions delivered growth except for the Asia-Pacific, where sales dropped 27 percent in China. However, those struggles were partly offset by a strong performance in Japan, where Chinese travellers seized on the weaker yen to snap up luxury products. Sales rose in Europe and the Americas, however, and some market watchers were relieved Richemont's figures were not even worse after a tough start to the week for luxury brands. Burberry-sourced shares plummeted after a profit warning, while Germany's Hugo Boss cut its sales guidance for the year on weak demand. Richemont shares were up around 1 percent in early trade. Almost a year's worth of rain in a single day. The downpour submerged a small town in central China's Henan province Tuesday. That's as extreme storms that battered the south this summer moved north. The town logged 24 inches of rain in 24 hours, the most anywhere in China. That's according to national weather forecasters. Authorities also put in place the most severe flood control measures for the city today. Northern China has been on high alert for heavy rain since yesterday. Beijing suspended many train lines in suburban areas, following an early warning for thunderstorm and flash floods. The region where Henan, Shandong and Anhui provinces meet would see particularly heavy rainfall today. Natural disasters coupled with extreme temperatures cost China nearly 13 billion dollars in the first half of this year. We're talking about heavy snow, 22 strong earthquakes, plus landslides, mudslides and flooding on the Yellow River and in southern provinces. Beijing officials say these events have affected almost 33 million people. Official data shows hundreds of people have died, tens of thousands of houses have been destroyed and over 11,000 square miles of crops have been damaged. Something to keep in mind, the Chinese regime has a record of under-reporting disaster casualties. That's to protect its global reputation. 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. The German foreign minister warns of growing Russian and Chinese influence in Africa, why she says the West has a lot at stake. It is no coincidence that China and Russia in particular are making very, very large investments on the African continent. Breaking the ice, the US, Canada and Finland teaming up to build icebreaker ships and counter Chinese and Russian polar ambitions. And a luxury slowdown is hitting Burberry harder than its rivals. Rising costs are making US and European shoppers cautious, while China's property crisis and youth unemployment will demand. More on that after the break, here on China In Focus. Thanks for watching China In Focus. I'm Fiona Ji. See you tomorrow. Bye.