Vance Confirms Chinese Hackers Breached His Phone; North Korea Launches ICBM | China in Focus

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story, Republican Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance confirming China hacked his phone and he believes they reached former President Trump's tomb. More on what's been revealed. Is the United States sleepwalking into World War III? Senator J.D. Vance expressing concerns about the potential dangers ahead. Get his take on China and Taiwan. The solution here to prevent war is to make it as costly as possible for the Chinese to invade Taiwan in the first place. Top diplomats from Washington and China clashed at the U.N. meeting over China's bolstering of Russian defense forces. We have the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war. And North Korea's a foreign minister is in Moscow pledging support for Russia quote until victory day. That's amid reports that Pyongyang's military is fighting for Russia in the Ukraine war. It is confirmed GOP Vice Presidential candidate Senator J.D. Vance said Thursday his phone was hacked by China and that he believes the former President Trump's phone was hacked as well. Vance made the remark in an interview with Joe Rogan Thursday. He said it's unclear what information Chinese hackers got a hold of though he doesn't believe they can access his encrypted messages sent in the signal app. Information on top candidates phones could be highly valuable for Beijing. Who they called and texted, how often they talk to someone and how long they talk to them. This comes after the New York Times reported that China hacked into Trump's and Vance's phones sending unnamed sources. The reports that hackers were able to breach the phones through infiltrating Verizon's system. It said hackers also reportedly targeted VP Kamala Harris's campaign staffers and Senator Chuck Schumer. Hours before news of the hack broke the FBI said that it was investigating a breach into US commercial telecommunications infrastructure. The agency didn't specify whether it was referring to the smartphone breach. Vance said authorities told him that Chinese hackers breached his phone by using the same backdoor infrastructure that's used to legally spy on Americans under court order. After September 11th 2001 the US passed a law called the Patriot Act allowing lawful spying on American phones to detect terrorist activities. Telecom providers such as Verizon and AT&T built infrastructure to accommodate the request. Hacking has become a go-to for foreign election interference. The Justice Department charged three Iranian hackers for allegedly breaching a Trump staffers account, stealing private documents and emails and linking them to the media and the Biden administration. In a town hall where the college students in North Carolina Thursday, Trump's running mate JD Vance had a message for Gen Z. He urged them to vote to avoid World War three and a potential draft. He pointed to the South China Sea and tensions between China and Taiwan as areas of particular concern. Take a listen. The solution here to prevent war is to make it as costly as possible for the Chinese to invade Taiwan in the first place. Everyone will tell you that if the Chinese establish territory in Taiwan if they establish a beachhead in Taiwan it becomes very hard and a lot of people get killed. So you prevent them from doing that and the way you prevent them from doing that is to make sure they've got enough weapons to defend themselves. Again prevention is the best way to stop a war. The VP nominee told students quote we are sleepwalking ourselves into World War three and that they might be drafted to fight it because of incompetent leadership. Vance of the Biden Harris administration hasn't done enough to ensure China doesn't invade Taiwan. He argued that because the White House is sending so many resources to Ukraine, there's not enough for Taiwan and that makes the Chinese regime more likely to invade the island. Vance promised that the situation would change with Trump as president. The US and South Korea are conducting their first-ever joint live-fire exercise. They're responding to a missile test by North Korea. The northern regime says it's the world's strongest missile. NTD international correspondent Ariane Pazdar has the latest on the growing tension. The US and South Korea on Friday conducting their first-ever joint live-fire exercise. They used unmanned aerial vehicles as part of the efforts to demonstrate the military readiness. South Korea and the US have been expanding their military drills. That's to cope with threats from North Korea. Now this first-ever exercise comes just one day after North Korea said it launched a major ballistic missile test. The regime calls it the strongest and most powerful strategic missile around the globe. And on Friday North Korean state media published a new video of the launch. South Korea and Japan say the missile flew higher than any previous North Korean missile, setting new records for flight times. The missile splashed into the sea off the coast of Japan. This comes as more and more North Korean troops are confirmed to be near Ukraine. As many as 8,000 of those North Korean forces have been deployed to the Kursk region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky strongly criticizing allies. He accuses them of showing quote zero response to Russia's alliance with North Korea. Putin is checking the reaction of the West and I believe that after all these reactions Putin will decide and increase the contingent. North Korea's foreign minister is in Moscow on Friday. She says that we are sure that until the day of victory we will firmly stand alongside our Russian comrades. On Thursday the US said it's working with Japan to find a proper response to North Korea's missile test. Ariane Pasdar, NTD News. North Korea's decision to send troops to Russia is escalating. On Thursday Deputy US Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Wood spoke about the latest developments and condemned China for its large-scale support for Moscow as the war in Ukraine persists. China continues to downplay its large-scale support for Russia's defense industrial base, providing materials key to Russia's defense production. China cannot credibly claim to be a voice for peace when it enables Russia to wage the largest war in Europe in decades. China's support to Russia is decisive. China's support is prolonging the war. The Chinese shipments Wood mentioned include weapons components and a missile technology. The UN meeting also called out Chinese companies that have helped Russia make long-range attack drones. Washington imposed sanctions on nearly 400 entities Wednesday including Chinese entities for their ties to Moscow's invasion. China's ambassador to the UN dismissed the American diplomats accusations and accused Washington of smearing Beijing and harming Chinese entities. Wood also touched on the North Korean forces in Russia right now. DPRK is the formal name of the North Korean military. We just received some information just coming in minutes ago that indicates that there are right now 8,000 DPRK soldiers in Kursk Oblast and I have a very respectful question for my Russian colleague. Does Russia still maintain that there are no DPRK troops in Russia? That's my only question and my final point. Thank you. Earlier this week three top US diplomats sat down with the Chinese ambassador to Washington. They urged Beijing to use its influence curtail cooperation between Russia and North Korea to de-escalate tensions. Beijing has stayed silent since then. On Thursday Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed that about 10,000 North Korean soldiers are deployed in Russia. He and Defense Chief Lloyd Austin hosted their South Korean counterparts in Washington the same day to discuss next steps in deterring the Moscow alliance. Chinese regime-linked firms are buying American farmland. Senator Tom Cotton just called a national security threat while speaking to Fox. He also noted that Chinese companies can't take their money overseas without the approval and oversight of the Chinese Communist Party. For a closer look entities Chris Spears spoke to Brian Reisinger, journalist and author of Land Rich Cash Poor, My Family's Hope and the Untold History of the Disappearing American Farmer. Well it's a pretty shocking amount. Overall China owns about 384,000 acres of American agricultural land. A good amount of that is in the heartland, places like the middle of the country. And that's on top of the fact that the amount of land owned by foreign adversaries has increased by 15% in just two years. And so this is a pretty shocking increase that has people rightly concerned about the security of our farmland and our food supply. Yeah I'm wondering what are they doing with this land? There's a number of things. One is there's a lot of interest from the Chinese standpoint of just destabilizing America. So just as they own our debt, our national debt from our government, just as they do a lot of things to manipulate prices, they also want to destabilize us from our food supply standpoint. And then so much of this land interestingly is near military installations. And so they're also very clearly thinking about our broader national security. So explain to the skeptics out there why this is of a concern. I mean, Senator Tom Cotton talks about how, you know, nothing really happens in China. Nothing major happens in China without the Chinese Communist Party's approval and oversight. Why should we be concerned about these Chinese firms buying up land in the U.S.? He's absolutely right. There are accidents when it comes to China. It's a very deliberate part of a plan. And they want to get their hands on our farmland because they know that they can destabilize America in a variety of ways if we let them. And one of the biggest challenges that we have is with the loss of so many of our family farms, 45,000 per year for the past century. We have a situation where there are fewer and fewer farms and our food system has become more vulnerable. We saw that during COVID, when we saw the supply chain get locked up and there were higher prices for consumers and farmers couldn't sell their goods. So the Chinese know that if they can mess with our food supply, that's another place where they can very deeply destabilize us. All right, Brian Reisinger, thank you so much for your insight on this. Absolutely. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on. Coming up, torrential rain lashing Shanghai as a typhoon makes landfall in China. Officials are now keeping close watch on rising water levels to monitor flood risk. The European Union is strengthening its defense cooperation with U. S. Allies in the Indo-Pacific. After signing its first security pact with Tokyo, the next stop is South Korea. We would like to further deepen cooperation and dialogue in all areas related to security and defense with the European Union. And Russia is seeking an unfathomable sum of money from one of the globe's biggest tech giants, Google, the amount more than the world's entire GDP. More on that after the break here on China in Focus. Welcome back to China in Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Typhoon Kong Ray made landfall on China's eastern coast on Friday. Authorities are keeping a close eye on rising water levels over concerns of flooding, torrential rain and strong gales in Shanghai. That's as the typhoon lashed the Chinese financial hub. Today, all ferry services are closed. Some high speed trains have also been suspended. Local rivers are also experiencing strong currents, though the typhoon has weakened into a tropical storm. Rain and strong winds enveloped cities in the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang. Moving over to Taiwan, the typhoon has already swept through the island, which is cleaning up the mess. The death toll now stands at two. One person's truck was hit by a falling tree, while another died from an electric pole. More than 500 people were injured. The typhoon is expected to barrel toward Japan later today. Is the Arctic becoming an emerging battleground between U. S. And China led alliances? Michael Straga is the first U. S. Ambassador at large for Arctic affairs. He called growing cooperation in the region between Russia and China concerning, but he added that Washington is closely watching the situation and has stayed vigilant and diligent. Russia and the United States are among eight countries with territory in the resource rich Arctic. China calls itself a near Arctic country and wants to create a new shipping route there, especially as polar ice sheets recede with rising temperatures. Many are calling November 5th the most consequential U. S. Presidential election ever. And with it just days away, what's really at stake? We spoke with Grant Newsom, retired Marine colonel and author of When China Attacks for details. Grant Newsom. Thank you so much for joining us. Great to have you back on the show. I'm glad to be here with the U. S. Presidential election. Now, just days away, many are calling this consequential. You actually have a recent piece out titled America's most consequential election in a lifetime. Give us a sense. What is at stake here? What areas could we see changes? I know we say that every election is the most important ever, but this one I could see it being their last one. In a sense, we just might have one party rule for a good long while, if not forever. We don't get this one right. And I want to say that is that there's very much a sort of a no holds barred approach to all of this, particularly coming from one side, and it is the Democrats. And it's our system has always been one where there's give and take. You know, you know, sometimes your guys win. Sometimes they don't. And one side takes power, and you just wait your turn. You make your case, make your arguments, and you'll have another fair election. But here it seems as though there is there's an intention, um, to end that. And I'm very much afraid of the outcome of this election if it's not a certain doesn't turn it out a certain way. And you look at how sort of the other side, this one side is talking about things like, um, packing the Supreme Court, basically doing away with one of the three main pillars of our our democracy. Now, this worked very well for a long time. Um, you have them talking about, uh, overriding state electoral rules. So there's just one national rule for running elections as very different than the way our system has always worked. And that's a very good way to keep control of things if that's what you're what you have in mind. Additionally, there's this demonization of the other side, and you started noticing this about 30 years ago during the Clinton era. And it wasn't just the people who thought differently were misguided or had sort of the wrong opinions, but rather came to be that not only were they wrong, they were evil and needed to be destroyed. You know, there is a balkanization that's taking place, and I think it's intentional in this society in our society, and this is not healthy. That used to be a limit to how much damage, uh, any administration could do Republican or Democrat now doesn't seem like there is. And it seems like there's an intentional move, as I said, to establish one party rule in this country that the demonization that's taking place comparing Donald Trump to Hitler and fascist and this and that this is not how a civilized society continues. It's not how the United States of America is going to continue by throwing these this sort of language around. You notice Mr Trump was came within a hair's breadth of having his brains blown out, and this doesn't seem to have been much of investigation lot at stake here as well. Grant Newsham, thank you so much for your time. No pleasure. Always glad to be here. Europe is seeking to enhance its security cooperation with a key U. S. Ally in the Indo Pacific. On Friday, the European Union signed the first ever defense pact with Japan. This political framework deepens our ability to tackle emergency threats together and towards a future where our values, our common values of democracy, human rights on the rules base international order will continue to guide our way. We would like to further deepen cooperation and dialogue in all areas related to security and defense with the European Union. The security agreement covers a wide range of cooperation, including joint drills, sharing defense and space security information and joint development of military gear. As for handling threats on the horizon, Japan has previously called China its greatest security challenge. That's as Beijing keeps boosting Chinese military's presence in the Indo Pacific. After talks in Tokyo, the European Union's top diplomat is now headed to South Korea, where he's likely to discuss North Korea's recent actions, including launching missiles and sending troops to Russia. Zooming further out, the EU's incoming foreign policy chief, Kaja Kalas, last month vowed to prevent threats from Russia and partly China from undermining Europe's security. She's expected to take office after a November hearing of the next EU Commission. Beijing lashing out at Vietnam, demanding the country in its educate its fishermen to keep out of waters claimed by China. This comes after Vietnam urged Beijing to immediately release a group of Vietnamese fishermen. Chinese troops detained the fishermen near the Paracel Islands, a contested area in the South China Sea. It's unclear how many of them are being held. Multiple countries claim parts of the South China Sea, though China claims almost all of it. An international court ruled Beijing's claim invalid back in 2016. Last month, Vietnam protested after Chinese law enforcement boarded a fishing boat and used metal bars to beat the ship's crew. Four were seriously injured. Russia is finding one of the world's biggest tech companies, an amount that's more than the world's entire GDP. Let's take a closer look. The Kremlin says Google refused to pay fines for blocking pro Russian channels on YouTube. This week, Russian state media reported that Google has to restore those channels or face mounting charges. If the fine isn't paid within nine months, it starts to double every day. This unfathomable sum of money is more than the entire world's GDP. 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 China in Focus NTD dot com. Would love to hear from you for around the clock. Original news coverage. Visit us at NTD dot com or download our NTD app. Thanks for watching. See you soon. Coming up on NTD, stay tuned for America's hope with Kelly Wright tonight, a discussion about the persecution of Christians. Jeff King from the International Christian Concern and Todd Nettleton, vice president of Voice of the Martyrs USA, share their stories about the persecution that Christians face around the world and know they rise in anti christian sentiment. They also emphasize the resilience and hope people of faith exhibit in the faith of persecution. That's tonight at 10 p.m. After China in Focus. Thanks for watching. See you soon. This historical election, you need the best political team. We bring the data driven, unbiased reporting you won't find anywhere else. We cut through the noise so you can make informed decisions. Stay with NTD for the news that matters to you. What do you think? We are NTD.