Report: US Funding Contributed to Over 1,000 China-Based Patents | China in Focus

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story. The Pentagon, NASA and other key government agencies are dumping U.S. taxpayer dollars into China, funding their research in strategic fields. House China hawks share their concerns with us. Jake Sullivan meeting with China's Xi Jinping as he wraps up a high-stakes three-day visit. What he said about a potential Every time I meet with Chinese officials, I raise the issue of election interference. Two lawmakers asking the Pentagon to add a Chinese battery maker to a blacklist while they say it's a military company operating on U.S. soil. And for decades, China has challenged the U.S. in its efforts to gain control of the Indo-Pacific We review how presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris could choose to respond. Semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and biotech. Official data shows the Pentagon, NASA and other key U.S. government agencies have funded China-based researchers in these sensitive fields for 14 years. And the U.S. government has granted over a thousand U.S. patents to them. That's according to data from the U.S. Patent Office reviewed by Reuters. These 1,020 U.S. granted patents have one thing in common. At least one of their inventors is based in China. And they all received U.S. government money to conduct their research. Over 30 percent of these patents are in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology fields, which both Washington and Beijing see as strategic industries. The Pentagon and NASA are also among the sponsors. The patents cover a wide range of technology, including semiconductors, chemical engineering and medical technology. In an email to NTDA, Congressman Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select China Committee, said, quote, it's alarming that U.S. taxpayers have unwittingly funded over 1,000 patents claimed by Chinese entities, with the Department of Defense accounting for nearly 100 of these patents. Another spokesperson of the committee called China a foremost adversary to the U.S., adding, what could the DoD be funding that is not for military use in China? The House China Committee said a decades old pact named the U.S.- China Science and Technology Agreement, or STA, could be a tricky part. The pact allows U.S. government agencies to aid China's innovation, which would hopefully get shared with the U.S. as a diplomatic tool. Now, the pact is waiting to be renewed. But the House China panel is calling on the government to scrap it instead. Washington has said the Chinese military must be blocked from benefiting from the pact. But now lawmakers are voicing doubts due to the Chinese Communist Party strategy, a civil-military fusion. That refers to how civilian or dual-use resources in China are often used to support the Chinese military. China has surpassed the U.S. to become the world's leading filer of patent applications in recent years. And it's not hiding its global technology ambitions. Also under Chinese law, inventions first born in China must pass a probe by the Chinese Patent Office before they're allowed to apply for patents in the U.S. The head of the U.S. Patent Office, Kathy Vidal, has warned in April that U.S. patents in China are facing infringement threats due to poor deterrence, especially in the pharmaceutical field. Fourteen hours of talks, but no agreements. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan wrapped up his China visit on Thursday. Every time I meet with Chinese officials, I raise the issue of election interference and laying down a clear marker that it's unacceptable for any nation to interfere in the U.S. election. And this trip was no different in that regard. And I also raised our concerns about steps that the PRC has taken with respect to the intersection of economics and national security and the impact that that has had on Western businesses and on supply chains. On the last day of his China visit, Sullivan met with the head of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping. Sullivan aimed at easing tensions between the two countries ahead of the U.S. election in November. And Xi told Sullivan Beijing was committed to a stable relationship with Washington. During his three-day trip, Sullivan had 14 hours of discussions with Chinese officials and reached zero agreements. The talks covered a wide range of topics from fentanyl, the U.S. election to Russia, Taiwan and the South China Sea. Both sides did agree to bring the talks to the highest level. Sullivan said it's likely that President Biden and Xi Jinping will meet at APEC and the G20 meeting later this year. It is likely that both President Biden and President Xi will be at APEC and the G20 later this year. The likelihood is they'll both be there. And if they are, it would only be natural for them to have the chance to sit down with one another. In his final months in office, President Biden has pushed direct diplomacy to influence Xi Jinping and keep tensions at bay. Democratic candidate Kamala Harris is expected to pursue a similar strategy. Was Jake Sullivan's China trip a success? To discuss, Steve Lance with NTD Capital Report sat down with Brian Kavanaugh, Senior Vice President at American Global Strategies and former Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Brian Kavanaugh, thank you so much for joining us. Absolutely. It's great to be here in person today. President Biden will speak with his counterpart, the leader of the Communist Party, Xi Jinping, in the coming weeks. Is this a sign of success for Sullivan's meeting going to China? And what does this tell us about China's approach to the U.S.? So if you go back to November of 2022, the U.S. has been on a diplomatic healing tour with China and trying to repair some of the diplomatic damage. We had a bit of a setback early in 2023 with the balloon that flew across the country, and I think they did some real work to recover the relationship by November of 2023 when President Biden met with Xi in person in San Francisco. I want to counter that, though, at the same time that you're kind of in a lame duck presidency. In the last couple of weeks, you've seen the President's schedule diminish tremendously. So when you step back and you look at it through all those various perspectives, what you're looking at here is a continuation of a relationship to try and repair any of the damages you've seen done over the last several years. I mean, to that point, what would you expect to, say, come out of that conversation with all of the dynamics that you just outlined? So if I'm China, what they're trying to do is really sharp their economy. It's bleeding from within. And you look at the real estate market, it's gone almost upside down. As a result, they spent a lot of money investing in manufacturing and to their own detriment, actually, because now they've over capitalized and overproduced products and they're flooding the global market. And now you see countries like Canada is now imposing tariffs on Chinese EVs, similar to the exact same tariff the United States is imposing. The EU is contemplating what their tariffs will look like on Chinese EVs. And I was even reading where Turkey, Thailand, other countries are imposing trade tariffs that they had not imposed previously on China, all in retaliation for this overproduction of products. So if you're China, they're looking for some kind of economic lifeline. I don't see any reason why the United States should be lending out an economic lifeline to China. And if you're the Biden administration, you really need to demonstrate success in the fentanyl crisis. And again, as we just discussed, we haven't had a lot of success there. I don't anticipate a lot of success. Interesting. Brian Kavanaugh, thank you so much. Thank you very much. Let me be here. Two U.S. lawmakers urging the Pentagon to add a Chinese battery maker to a blacklist. Companies on this blacklist cannot receive U.S. military contracts. The lawmakers leading the call are Congressman John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select China Committee, and Senator Marco Rubio. They accused the company CATL, or CATL, of bolstering Chinese military ambitions, saying it qualifies for the blacklist. In a letter to the U.S. defense chief, the lawmaker said state subsidies allowed CATL to seize over one-third of the global electric vehicle battery market. And the company has positioned itself to become the primary battery supplier of the Chinese military. The letter also said the Chinese Navy's submarines could soon be powered by lithium-ion batteries, and that is possible due to the Chinese market's advance led by CATL. CATL denies the allegations. This February, an American utility company removed CATL batteries from the largest Marine Corps base, following lawmakers' concerns about CATL's links to the Chinese Communist Party. CATL also supplies batteries to companies like Tesla and German carmaker BMW. The use of those Chinese batteries has sparked controversy in Michigan. There, U.S. auto giant Ford is building a new plant to manufacture electric vehicle batteries, and it plans to source technology, equipment, and even some workers from CATL. Countries in the Indo-Pacific region have partnered with the United States for more than 200 years. Through trade and exchange, the nations involved have prospered and grown. But China's increasingly assertive behavior in the region has created numerous challenges for the U.S. NTD's Arlene Richards explores how the two presidential candidates view these challenges. The United States has been what the State Department calls an Indo-Pacific nation for centuries. U.S. engagement in the region marks a history of trade, exchange, shared sacrifice, and mutual benefit. According to the State Department, the region is home to more than half the world's population, and it accounts for 60 percent of global GDP, as well as two-thirds of global economic growth. In 2019, $1.9 trillion worth of U.S. trade passed through the region. But for decades, Beijing has challenged the status quo and the rule of law, asserting sovereignty in the South China Sea, despite an international court rejecting Beijing's claims in 2016. The Trump and Biden administrations have called out China for its human rights abuses against Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang and its provocations toward Taiwan and other countries in the East and South China Sea. Both administrations have touted their commitments to Pacific island nations. During his administration, former President Trump outlined a goal for promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific at a time when China's presence across the region was growing. He shared his vision at the 2017 APEC summit in Vietnam. Today, I am here to offer renewed partnership with America, to work together to strengthen the bonds of friendship and commerce between all of the nations of the Indo-Pacific. What the countries and economies represented here today have built in this part of the world is nothing short of miraculous. A document declassified at the end of Trump's term details his framework for the region. The framework recognized the challenges from China to the Indo-Pacific nation's sovereignty. Vice President Kamala Harris has personally spoken on behalf of the Biden administration. In a virtual address to the Pacific Islands Forum in 2022, Harris vowed to improve Washington's diplomatic attention there. The United States is a proud Pacific nation and has an enduring commitment to the Pacific Islands, which is why President Joe Biden and I seek to strengthen our partnership with you. The United States will launch the process to establish two new embassies in the region. In separate remarks during a speech in Japan, Harris called out China for its behavior in the East and South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. The candidates are not exactly in agreement about defending Taiwan. We will continue to support Taiwan's self-defense consistent with our long-standing policy and the United States will continue to deepen our unofficial ties. Should the U.S. help defend Taiwan if it means going to war with China? Well, I don't want to say it because if I'm in the position of president, I don't want to say what I'm thinking. If I answer that question, it will put me in a very bad negotiating position. Trump said Taiwan took all of America's chip business and the U.S. should have stopped it. Both administrations agree on one issue. On Taiwan, I reiterated the longstanding U.S. one China policy. That policy has not changed. It's guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, three joint communiques, the six assurances. The one China policy doesn't view Taiwan as an independent sovereignty. The U.S. stance acknowledges that China claims the island but doesn't recognize it. As president, Trump wavered on his support for the one China policy but ultimately he supported it. At times, he used his support of the policy as a bargaining tool in the U.S.-China trade war. Arlene Richards, NTD News. Coming up, many U.S. companies are rethinking their presence in China. More on what's triggering the shift from once vying for a slice of the Chinese market to distancing from it. A new flashpoint in the South China Sea following clashes between China and the Philippines. It all ties back to a small shoal there, but not the one most often making headlines. Beijing announcing it won't impose tariffs on brandy from the European Union for now. The decision comes ahead of a looming EU vote on whether to slap tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles. More on that after the break here on China In Focus. Welcome back to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Many U.S. companies are rethinking their presence in China. Top U.S. technology company IBM is the latest to shut down its research operations in the country. This highlights the tough business climate and weak economic recovery plaguing the world's second-largest economy. An Australia-based Chinese dissident points to the worsening conditions in China to explain IBM's decision. And it's not just the economy and the aftershocks of Beijing's extended lockdowns during the pandemic. Online surveillance has many companies feeling unsafe. Zhang said that while the communist regime has made the business environment tough for foreign investors, Chinese people are bearing the brunt. Thousands will lose jobs after IBM's withdrawal, and the regime will feel the impact. I think China will take some steps to try to keep IBM. Though he says he's not optimistic, he believes the core conflicts between the U.S. and China in politics and military are likely to continue and affect investor confidence. In June, the U.S. ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, told CBS that more money is leaving China for the first time in 40 years than is coming in from foreign investors. Businesses in China face risks from intellectual property theft and an expanded espionage law. In February, Foxconn, Apple's largest manufacturer, announced a new factory in India. It's part of Apple's efforts to diversify its supply chain from China and expand into countries that are more stable and friendly toward the U.S. A new flashpoint in the South China Sea between China and the Philippines. In the past week, vessels from both countries have clashed near the Sabina Shoal, and a toll in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone. Beijing also lays claim to it. The Sabina Shoal makes media headlines much less than the Second Thomas Shoal, the site of now frequent and violent clashes between Chinese and Filipino soldiers. As tensions rise in the region, the Philippine Coast Guard has expanded its monitoring to the waters around the Sabina Shoal since April. Filipino scientists found crushed coral and observed more Chinese ships in the area. China denies the allegations. Manila recently deployed a vessel to the Sabina Shoal to assert its territory. An expert from the Maritime Transparency Project at Stanford University says Manila's decision to send the ship likely annoyed China. In apparent response, China anchored a Coast Guard ship more than five times the size of the Philippines' vessel near the same shoal in July. Experts believe both Beijing and Manila are watching to see how Washington will react. Under a defense treaty, the U.S. is obligated to defend the Philippines if it were to come under an armed attack. Europe left with room to breathe after trade talks with China. Beijing says it won't impose tariffs on brandy from the European Union for now. But some say the tactic could become a bargaining chip later. Beijing said Thursday that brandy imported from the European Union had been sold in China at a price point below market value. But China has decided to hold off on imposing tariffs. Beijing's move ahead of an upcoming decision in October when EU countries will decide whether to add duties of up to 36 percent on Chinese-made electric vehicles. Ninety-nine percent of China's brandy imports last year came from France, meaning China's decision is a high-stakes one for Paris. France is one of the most influential members in the EU bloc and is a supporter of tariffs on Chinese-made EVs. A Hong Kong court finding two former news editors guilty. They're accused of publishing so-called seditious content on a pro-democracy media website. The former editors of Stand News were charged under a law that's been increasingly used to target dissent. This is the first sedition conviction against any journalist or editor since Hong Kong's handover from Britain to China in 1997. The two editors, Chung Pui-kun and Patrick Lam, who wasn't there for the verdict, could face a maximum jail term of two years. Stand News was once a leading online media platform in Hong Kong, featuring a mix of critical reportage and commentary. And critics of this case, including the US government, say the verdict reflects deteriorating media freedoms in the city. Stand News was raided by police in December 2021 and had its assets frozen, leading to its closure a few days later. The editors pleaded not guilty. When testifying in court, Chung said the site had simply sought to reflect a spectrum of voices, including pro-democracy advocates. NTD's eighth international Chinese martial arts competition preliminaries are set to kick off this Friday, with the final scheduled for Monday next week. The competition aims to promote Chinese martial arts, propagate martial morality, and revive traditional culture. NTD's Chris Spears caught up with Ben Hedges, the official host and commentator for the event, to learn more. Ben, it's great to have you. It's great to be in the studio. Now, Ben, this competition focuses on traditional Chinese martial arts, but I know that there's also modern Chinese martial arts. Can you compare and contrast the two for us? Right. Well, traditional martial arts in China are thousands of years old. They were mostly started by the Buddhist monks or Taoists from the mountains who passed down these things to people, and then they spread throughout society. And many of these, or pretty much all of these martial arts, will have sort of a strategy. For example, you have animal styles that mimic the movements of animals, like the tiger style or crane style, the praying mantis style, which uses the strategy of a praying mantis in combat. But when you start mixing these styles, you get something that doesn't really accord with the original idea of what a style was about and the original strategy, which was thought up by some high-level person in Chinese history. So when you compare it with MMA, MMA is basically a mixture of different traditional martial arts styles, but it's now neither this nor that. Now, Ben, you're talking about the inner meaning. I know that the head judge for this competition, Mr. Youfu Li, talks about what he calls martial virtue. I mentioned it in the introduction to this segment. I'm wondering what you can tell us. What does that mean in your understanding of that concept? Right. Well, you know, martial virtue, virtue obviously means to be a good person, to follow a sort of code of conduct in your life. And in Chinese society, the whole society, if you ask any professor of Chinese history this, they'll tell you that this is the case. The whole society was based on something called cultivation, xiulian, cultivation of one's conduct. That's what the whole society was based on. And the martial arts was no exception. It was based on people who have good morality. Next, an announcement for all the martial arts fans out there. Soon, we are going straight into the heart of NTD's 8th International Traditional Chinese Martial Arts Competition. Get ready to meet a contestant whose martial virtue brings more than just skill to the mat. More on that coming up tomorrow here on China In Focus. That's all for today's China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. If you have any feedback on the show or have something you'd like to see us cover, send us an email at ChinaInFocusNTD.com. We'd love to hear from you. For around-the-clock original news coverage, visit us at NTD.com or download our NTD app. Thanks for watching. See you tomorrow.