Shanghai Hit by Strongest Storm in 7 Decades | China in Focus

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story. China's financial hub, Shanghai, hit by its strongest storm in seven decades. Over 400,000 have been evacuated. It's a little difficult to walk on a typhoon day in such winds, but it's not completely impossible to walk. An American pastor imprisoned in China for nearly two decades has finally been released. More on David Lin, who was arrested during a mission trip. TikTok and the Justice Department battling out in court. The Chinese-owned social media platform is challenging a law that could ban the app as soon as January. And for the first time, North Korea is showing images of a uranium enrichment site used for producing fuel for nuclear weapons. The strongest typhoon to hit Shanghai in 70 years, the financial hub was brought to a complete standstill Monday. After Typhoon Bibingka made landfall, here's a closer look. More than 400,000 people have been evacuated. All flights have been canceled. Passenger trains halted. Ports, ferry services, bridges and highways are also closed. Tourist destinations like the Shanghai Disneyland were also shut. It's a little difficult to walk on a typhoon day in such winds, but it's not completely impossible to walk. Packing top wind speeds of 80 miles per hour, this typhoon is the equivalent of a category one hurricane. Authorities issues it most severe typhoon warning. Coming up, heavy rainfall, coastal floods and large swathes of eastern China. Trees have been uprooted and branches strewn on the road. Similar safety measures were also adopted in the neighboring provinces. Shanghai rarely suffers direct hits from typhoon. They usually make landfalls further south. Category four storm just passed southern Hainan province last week. And there might be a round two. As Typhoon Bibingka flooded Shanghai streets, forecasters warned that another typhoon appeared to be taking shape where Bibingka first developed. And that it could hit the financial hub this week. The Chinese regime has released an American citizen and pastor who was locked up for nearly two decades. David Lin was on a missionary trip to China in 2006 when he was arrested and sentenced to life in prison. He was helping a group of house Christians at the time. The Chinese Communist Party requires Christians to register and worship at state controlled churches. Independent Christians who refuse to follow CCP approved doctrines are subjected to religious persecution. They are known as house Christians because they gather in private homes instead of public churches. But alongside Lin's release, freedom is still out of reach for another American pastor in China. Pastor John Cao was released from a Chinese prison in March after being arrested in 2017. But the Chinese regime refuses to issue him a passport, preventing his return to the US. TikTok is making its case Monday in a US appeals court against a law that would oust the app from the US. The removal is set for mid-January unless TikTok agrees to part ways with its Chinese parent company. Let's zoom in. The Chinese Communist Party is controlling content that 200 million Americans are exposed to every day on TikTok. This is at the heart of the argument hashed out in a US appeals court today. The problem is that that same data is extremely valuable to a foreign adversary trying to compromise the security of the United States. Knowing what Americans' patterns are, who their contacts are, where they go, who they interact with. China's ByteDance, which owns TikTok, has until January of next year to sell the app. Otherwise, TikTok will be removed from US app stores. That's under a new law Congress created in April pointing out national security concerns. TikTok said its data will not be weaponized and has not been weaponized against American citizens. Again, false. Published reports have shown that TikTok data, geolocation data has been used to surveil American journalists. But rather than divesting from the Chinese regime, TikTok and ByteDance aim to have the law overturned, arguing it's an attack on free speech, an argument that left judges unimpressed. Mere foreign ownership can't possibly be a justification because it would turn the First Amendment on its head. We have lots of publications that are owned by foreign entities and to say your foreign ownership casts your First Amendment rights into doubt. Many of your arguments want us to treat them like they're an agency. It's a very strange framework for thinking about our first branch of government. As of now, over 30 U.S. states have blocked TikTok from being installed on U.S. government devices, while more than a dozen countries have banned or partially banned the app. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Melina Wisecup, NTD News. With the U.S. presidential election less than two months away, one major question is looming. Are Trump-era China tariffs here to stay? Former President Trump said he would slap 60% tariffs on goods from China, plus a 10% tariff on goods from other countries if he's re-elected. Vice President Kamala Harris's position is less clear. The Biden administration has kept Trump-era tariffs. President Biden also raised tariffs on a slew of goods, from semiconductors to electric vehicles to solar panels. Those measures will take effect later this month. Here's a quick rewind. Trump imposed tariffs on over $300 billion worth of Chinese goods in 2018. The move was designed to pressure Beijing into buying more U.S. goods. At the time, the U.S. was buying far more Chinese goods than it was selling to the country. The net difference stood at over $400 billion. To level the playing field, Trump forced Beijing into a trade deal. The Chinese regime agreed to buy over $200 billion worth of U.S. goods. But those tariffs have sparked debates. Importers and U.S. consumers have to pay more when tariffs are raised, while tariffs also help protect domestic industries from foreign competition. One example is the electric vehicle sector. China dominates the industry and can sell its EVs with much lower price tags than their Western-made competition. That's because Chinese carmakers are backed by state subsidies. The U.S. auto industry is protected by a 25 percent tariff on Chinese EVs imposed during the Trump administration. Biden has since doubled down, hiking the rate to 100 percent. Zooming out, economist William Li told The Epoch Times that tariffs can be used strategically, such as offering incentives to boost domestic industry, instead of just relying on tariffs to save jobs. Tariff revenue can also be funneled to industries that take hits from price increases caused by tariffs. Next, Chinese and Russian naval forces ended six days of joint drills in the Sea of Japan Monday. The exercises were part of the largest drill after Russia entered the post-Soviet era. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Russian troops, 400 warships and over 120 warplanes participated in the large-scale exercise. At least 15 other countries were invited to observe the drills. Japan described the growing military activity by Moscow and Beijing near Japanese territory a grave concern. Russia and China have sought to deepen their military cooperation in order to counter the U.S. and its allies. China's interest in taking control of Taiwan, coupled with Russia's war on Ukraine, have brought the two powers closer than ever. What's more, Washington's resolve to help Taiwan and Ukraine defend themselves has pushed Russia and China even closer together and further from the West. China has not condemned Russia for its war on Ukraine to date, after two and a half years after it began. For the first time, North Korea has shown images of the uranium enrichment site that produces fuel for its nuclear weapons. The reveal came when regime leader Kim Jong-un visited the facility last Friday. Here's more. North Korea displayed images of the centrifuges that produce fuel for its nuclear bombs for the first time on Friday. In a state TV report, leader Kim Jong-un visited the uranium enrichment facility and called for a greater production of weapons-grade material to enhance the nation's nuclear arsenal. It's a rare look at a critical piece of the country's nuclear program, which is banned under multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions. The state media report did not make clear when the visit occurred nor the facility's location. The report said Kim urged workers to produce more materials for tactical nuclear weapons and saying the nuclear arsenal was important for self-defense against threats from the U.S. and its allies. Hours later, South Korea's unification ministry condemned the North's reveal. North Korea's illegal development of nuclear weapons is a clear violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions and poses a serious threat to peace on the Korean Peninsula and the world. Under no circumstances will we or the international community ever accept North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons, and they must clearly recognize this. Kim highlighted the need to grow centrifuge numbers to exponentially increase nuclear weapons production, which may indicate that North Korea's tactical nuclear designs rely primarily on uranium. This is significant, as developing highly enriched uranium is generally less complex than plutonium. One study suggests North Korea may have produced enough fissile material for up to 90 nuclear warheads, though about 50 are believed to be assembled. What are some of the main takeaways from China Week on Capitol Hill? From drones to biotech to trade, House lawmakers have been voting on a string of bills designed to counter China. Roughly 30 bills were put to a vote, but not all will become law. NTD's Steve Lance was joined by Congressman Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin to discuss. Wisconsin Congressman Tom Tiffany, thank you so much for joining us. Good to join you today, Steve. Congressman, this week the House passed 25 pieces of legislation to protect Americans regarding the military, economic, ideological, and technological threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party. Seeing support from both sides of the aisle, what message does this send to China, and which measures will have the most impact? It's heartening that people on both sides of the aisle understand the great concern with communist China, because you have not been awake if you don't see the challenges that China is posing to the free world and to the United States. Congressman, you have introduced a bill. It's titled No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval. First off, what are your concerns with this potential WHO treaty, and how would requiring Senate approval solve these concerns? So the concern and the reason that the bill came forward is that we found we can't trust the World Health Organization to be a neutral arbiter. You go all the way back to the end of 2019, which was the beginning of the pandemic. Taiwan was warning the world that there was something strange going on at that Wuhan lab in China. The World Health Organization poo-pooed it, they swept it under the rug, and they protected communist China and their role in what happened. And so with that as the setup, we said if the Biden-Harris administration is going to enter into any accords with the World Health Organization in regards to pandemic preparedness, you have to have it subject to a vote as a treaty in the United States Senate, because it's very similar to a treaty, what they're calling for. And this is all about transparency and accountability. It passed through the House this week and moves on to the Senate. So Congressman, some of these initial institutions, whether it be the United Nations, the WHO, really have a sort of a profound communist Chinese presence there and influence. So how much of our own American sovereignty is at risk if this treaty were to be in effect? That's what this is all about. Should we turn over the health of the American people to an international body? And when we see the results in a variety of ways that the United Nations has given the world, as well as the World Health Organization, they cannot be trusted. We need to protect American sovereignty. So for example, with an agreement. Congressman Tom Tiffany, really appreciate you joining us. Good to join you today, Steve. Coming up, charging ahead in the trade war over electric vehicles. Italy's foreign minister announcing the country's support for EU proposed tariffs on Chinese EVs. A criminal conviction for wearing a t-shirt printed with a protest slogan. Hong Kong made its first conviction under the city's new security law. And a concerning trend, top Chinese investment bankers detained, passports seized, and stock market executives resigning in waves. More on Beijing's latest clampdown on its financial sector after the break here on China In Focus. Welcome back to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Italy is backing the European Union's tariff plan on Chinese-made electric vehicles. The country's foreign minister announced the decision on Monday ahead of a meeting with Beijing's commerce minister Wang Wentao. Wang is currently on a trip to Europe with the goal of stopping the tariff hike. The EU plans on imposing more than 35% levies on Chinese-made electric vehicles. That's on top of its standard 10% import tax on all foreign cars. Italy remains a major player in the auto industry and has sought to bring Chinese car manufacturers into the country. Across the pond in the U.S., Chinese EVs are also causing concern. Ford's CEO Jim Farley is rattled. And this time, it's not by Tesla. The Wall Street Journal reports Farley is alarmed by what he calls an existential threat from China's electric carmakers. The Journal reports Farley was alarmed by what he saw during a visit to China. Local automakers racing ahead in the EV market. Their rapid progress is raising fears for Ford and the broader auto industry. There's more to do to hold the Chinese regime accountable for the fentanyl crisis. That's what Senate Leader Chuck Schumer said as he pressed the Biden administration on the issue. Schumer wrote that companies in China continue to fuel this crisis despite efforts in the United States to curb the flow of fentanyl. The companies sell chemicals to Mexico which are then used to make and export fentanyl into the United States. He's now urging the Biden administration to use law enforcement to crack down on these Chinese companies and on fentanyl related money laundering. The U.S. has designated China as a major illicit drug producing country. Schumer says the Biden administration should maintain this into 2025 if the CCP does not make progress on the issue. The Senate leader also warning there's gaps in U.S. law about the chemicals needed to make fentanyl. Hong Kong convicted its first resident under the new national security law. Under it, a man called for wearing a t-shirt with a protest slogan printed on it. Here's more. The slogan is liberate Hong Kong revolution of our times and a yellow mask printed with the shorthand of another slogan five demands not one less. Chu said he wore the t-shirt to remind the people of the protests he could face up to 10 years in prison. Protesters frequently chanted these slogans in the massive pro-democracy protests in 2019. Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997 under the promise that Beijing would keep its freedoms of assembly speech and press for 50 years. But the Chinese regime imposed a national security law in 2020 which critics say dramatically eroded Hong Kong's freedom. This March, the city passed a new security law expanding on the national security law. China's latest corruption probe is targeting the country's financial sector. Since August, several bankers have been detained and many have had their passports seized. At the same time, over 1,100 executives at Chinese stock market companies have resigned in recent weeks. Here's the latest. Beijing is increasing its scrutiny of the country's nearly 9,000 investment bankers. This is a typical move of the Chinese Communist Party. Right now, they focus on the corruption probe in the financial sector, with some bankers being investigated and banned from traveling abroad. Alongside investigations and travel bans, many of them have been compelled to accept drastic pay cuts as well. David Jun Huang, former chief economist at China Enterprise Capital Union, told NTD that securities firms in China suffer from severe corruption issues due to their mostly state-owned status. Many of them transfer their wealth overseas. To prevent this, their passports and travel plans require approval from the authorities. This is to stop them from leaving China with the money. As the clampdown targets securities firms, Chinese media reports that Chinese stock market companies are seeing a wave of resignations from top executives. Within about five weeks since August, over 1,100 executives at companies listed on the Chinese stock market have resigned, mostly from financial institutions. Du Wen is a former legal advisor for a branch of provincial government in China, under the Chinese Communist Party. He previously fled China and now lives in Belgium. Wen wrote on X that executives are quick to sense serious market problems. Now they are resigning en masse. This suggests that a total collapse of the financial system in China might be just around the corner. Tuesday marks an important occasion across Asia, the Moon Festival. Also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, the traditional Chinese holiday is celebrated with mooncakes and family gatherings. To mark the occasion, practitioners of meditation and faith group Falun Gong held a parade in Brooklyn. Their goal? To spread a message of positivity. Here are the highlights from Saturday's parade. With harmonious melodies and forward momentum, the Tianguo Marching Band led the Mid-Autumn Festival parade. They were immediately followed by a dragon dance team and the gentle lotus flower dance team, which added to the visuals of the parade. My favorite thing about this parade is lion dance and dragon dance. It's very good. I saw the lotus team, and there are a lot of people today. It's good. It's everything good. I support them. I hope they can keep their faith. Falun Gong practitioners who recently came to the United States from China joined the procession. I'm actually very excited because you don't get this kind of opportunity at home. I'm happy that as a DAFA practitioner, I'm finally overseas, and we can participate in the march without worrying about the danger of being arrested or sentenced for distributing a leaflet or telling the truth to a person on the mainland. The Mid-Autumn Festival is an important gathering time for many Chinese families, and many Falun Gong practitioners are unable to see their families because of persecution and illegal detention. The second portion of the parade is dedicated to ending the persecution of Falun Gong. This banner marks the 25-year-long brutal persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party, which began on July 20, 1999, and continues today. Since the persecution began in 1999, my mother was often arrested and taken to brainwashing classes and re-education classes. I was only 12 or 13 years old at the time. The Communist Party is a dictatorship, and their system of government is not sound. The CCP relies on intimidation and deception to make the Chinese people afraid. The wave of resignations from the Party has given a big boost to the people, and many people are no longer afraid of the Communist Party. Everybody can do whatever they want to do because here it's free. Like I saw a lot of people, they come with their family, their kids, and then they try to enjoy a little bit. The third segment of the parade is dedicated to the 430 million Chinese people who declare their withdrawal from the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated youth groups. As the tide of the three withdrawals moves forward, the international community has become more concerned about the threat of the CCP, and many people are not afraid of the CCP anymore. The parade, which stretched over 20 blocks, attracted the eyes and ears of many. Many attendees received small lotus flowers from parade members dressed in costume to During the parade, an unnamed Asian man attacked two female Falun Gong practitioners. According to witnesses, the attacker spat on one member and struck a parade coordinator in the back and head. The attacker then fled to a nearby bank. The parade organizers have filed a police report. Falun Gong is also known as Falun Dafa. The group is heavily persecuted in China. Those taking part in the parade expressed their gratitude for being in a free country and condemned the ongoing persecution on faith and religious freedom in China. Coming up on NTD, stay tuned for America's Hope with Kelly Wright. Tonight, a discussion with Cheryl Shumley, the host of the Bold and Blunt podcast, and opinion editor at The Washington Times. Hear her dive into issues ranging from the 2024 presidential election to Israel's war with Hamas, and America's standoff with China. Plus, Shumley describes her belief that the media can do more to promote hope and faith over fear and division. That's tonight at 10 p.m. after China In Focus. Thanks for watching. See you tomorrow.