Dissent Grows in China: Anti-CCP Slogans Surface Ahead of Key Party Meeting

Welcome to China in Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story. With the trade truce deadline looming, US businesses want Washington to get tough on China, protecting America from Beijing's so-called delete America policies. Voices of disscent rising across China ahead of a major Communist Party meeting. Citizens calling for freedom and democracy with slogans like the CCP isn't China and the CCP is an evil cult. Beijing reacting furiously to Taiwanese President Linga's recent plea to President Trump. Meanwhile, the Pentagon considering a senior official for Indopacific affairs, someone who supports Taiwan spending 10% of its GDP on defense. British prosecutors preparing to bring two men to trial for allegedly spying for China, but the case was suddenly dropped. More on the decision and what might have led to it. and China's premier heading to North Korea for a rare visit. What this signals about Beijing's growing influence in the region. Washington has to be very concerned not only with the the strengthening relations between North Korea and China, but also the continuing seemingly very strong relations between Pyongyang and Moscow. [Music] The US China trade truce is expiring on November 10th and Washington is pushing for a new deal with Beijing before then. At the same time, the American business community is changing its tune, increasingly calling on the Trump administration to take a tougher stance on China. The message from the US Chamber of Commerce is clear. Be cleareyed and get tough. According to the Wall Street Journal, American businesses are not pushing to decouple from China. Instead, they want a fairer and more sustainable trade relationship between the two countries. This change in attitude comes after 25 years of working directly in the Chinese market. The chamber recently responded to a request from the US Trade Representative for input on whether China is following global trade rules. In its response, the chamber accuses Beijing of systematically violating its World Trade Organization commitments, breaking promises to open its markets, and increasing state control. Some of the problems include forced technology transfers, large state subsidies, and unclear laws that make it hard for foreign businesses to operate. The chamber also highlights actions by China designed to limit American competition in key industries, a series of policies the chamber calls delete America. These measures restrict US companies from entering certain sectors within China. In its recommendations to the Trump administration, the chamber outlines three key steps. Press China to lift tariffs on US farm products, especially soybeans and corn, to see if Beijing is serious about making a deal. secure steady and sustainable exports of critical supply chain materials like rare earths and other key minerals and protect fair competition by pushing back against China's delete America policies that keep US companies out of key industry contracts. The Chinese Communist Party is set to hold a key central committee plenary in Beijing on October 20th. But ahead of the meeting, anti-CCCP slogans have appeared in cities across China. Messages like the CCP is in China and the CCP is an evil cult suggest growing public dissent. Messages like the CCP is an evil cult have appeared in cities across Hub province near Beijing. Alongside the key information, a smaller line of text provides an explanation reading, "Marks believed in a satanic cult. Satan is a demon." This wave of public expressions of dissent comes just days after the CCP celebrated its 76th year in power on October 1st. Amid growing public frustration over the party's rule in August, slogans were projected onto a building in downtown Tongqing, one of China's four centrally administered cities. The messages declared, "Only without the Communist Party can there be a new China." And down with the tyrannical Communist Party. In April, banners were draped overpass in Chundu, the capital of Suchan province. The messages read, "The people do not need a party with unchecked power, and China doesn't need someone to point the way. Democracy is the way." Back in 2022, during China's CO lockdowns, a man named Pong Fa made headlines after hanging large banners on a bridge in Beijing. The signs called for freedom and democracy, with one reading, "We want votes, not rulers." With the CCP's fourth plenary session approaching, analysts say Xi Jinping could face internal pressure to give up some control. Meanwhile, scandals are surfacing around she's top ally, Tai Chi. He ranks fifth among the Chinese regime's top leaders. Allegations include claims that Sai's illegitimate son may be connected to the suspicious death of Chinese actor Yumong. Tai Chi was also named in a British espionage case, shocking British politicians. The FBI is investigating a series of alleged hacking attacks on top US law firms reportedly carried out by Chinese hackers. One of the firms targeted is Williams and Connelly. The firm is known for representing top political figures including Bill and Hillary Clinton. It's not known exactly what data they were able to access. Williams and Connelly have not commented on the culprit behind the hack. In an email to CNN, it says the hackers are believed to be affiliated with a nation state actor responsible for recent attacks on a number of law firms and companies. Suspected Chinese hackers have also hit other law firms and cloud computing companies in recent weeks. The US considers China to be the biggest state backer of cyber threats to national security. China has repeatedly denied conducting any hacking operations. A bipartisan effort in the Senate is looking to counter the threat China poses to the US and its allies in the Indoacific. A foreign relations subcommittee is investigating alleged illegal activities by the Chinese Communist Party. Entities Arian Pazdar has the takeaways from Tuesday's hearing. It is time to call out Beijing's behavior for what it actually is. It's illegal, coercive, aggressive, and deceptive. Republican Senator Pete Rickettts highlights the threat posed by China in the Indo-Pacific, warning that the US must take action. Democratic Senator Chris Coons agrees, saying China is America's main national security challenge. For years, the national security establishment has correctly identified China as our central national security challenge. Today's hearing will explore China's gray zone activities, which are increasingly offering Beijing an asymmetric advantage. The senator says such grayzone activities have been ignored by too many administrations in the past because they fall below the threshold of armed conflict despite violating international law. He gave a few examples. In Australia, a US treaty ally for the first time. We saw a large Chinese naval task group conduct a full circumnavigation of the continent and live fire exercises with no warning. an enormous show of force intended to intimidate Australia and send a signal to other regional states. Against Taiwan, record levels of incursion by the PLA into Taiwanese airspace and its economic zones, brazen election interference, cutting undersea cables, and much more. A witness at Tuesday's hearing said the solution to the problem is to develop a comprehensive national counter strategy. That's by using diplomatic,formational, economic, legal, cyber, and security instruments against China. Senator Rick Kettz asked the witness, a military veteran, how the US could implement these counter measures. When you say strategy, help us understand specifically what you mean we should be doing. Chairman Ricketts, thank you. Uh, you know, I think it begins with having somebody whose responsibility it is to organize the campaign. China knows how to fill in all of those gaps in our bureaucracy. So what however it is that we're organized, they will organize a counter campaign utilizing their sort of fusion, their civil military fusion uh organization to sort of push into the gaps. And so we need somebody whose job it is to build the counter IAD strategy and then to get everybody together. But despite China's ongoing aggression, many say the Communist Party is not as strong as it portrays itself to be. Another witness described China's many weak points. What are some specific steps that we could do that would remind communist China that they've got vulnerabilities as well? Let's not forget that the Chinese are almost wholly dependent on their food needs from other countries. These are countries where the United States has tremendous diplomatic leverage. Dr. Ratner mentioned energy vulnerabilities. These are pretty severe and intense for the Chinese. But also, we have to remember that the Chinese economy is currently in a state of disarray. He added that China's economy largely depends on exports to other countries and that this economic model is highly vulnerable to sanctions. He says the US needs to make clear that Chinese stateowned entities and banks could become targets of US financial sanctions. Arian Pastar, NTD News. Next, Beijing is expressing anger over a recent exchange between Taiwan and the US. Taiwanese President Ling just urged President Trump to maintain US security support, pointing to growing military threats from China. He made the comments in a US media interview aired Monday. Li said Taiwan's security is closely tied to US national security. He added that President Trump would deserve a Nobel Peace Prize if he can, in his words, stop China from invading Taiwan. The next day, China's Taiwan Affairs Office fired back with a strong statement criticizing Li's remarks. A Chinese official also repeated the regime's goal of bringing Taiwan under its control. China sees Taiwan as part of its territory despite never having ruled it. The US and Taiwan both reject that claim. Last week, US Ambassador to China, David Purdue, said Trump's Taiwan policy hasn't changed, and the US hopes the two sides can resolve their differences peacefully. Moving to Capitol Hill, President Trump's nominee for a top Pentagon post overseeing the Indoacific says Taiwan should aim to spend 10% of its GDP on defense. He made the remarks during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday. Watch. It was President Trump uh who said that Taiwan, which is an island that faces an existential threat from the People's Liberation Army, from the Chinese military, uh that Taiwan should spend upwards to 10% of its GDP on defense. I strongly support that. Raising Taiwan's defense budget is a top priority for the island's ruling party, the DPP. Taiwan plans to spend over 3% of its GDP on defense next year and aims to reach 5% by 2030. The US defense nominee praised Taiwan's president for boosting defense, but urged the island to quote, "do more and much faster. If confirmed, he says he would push the Pentagon to make Taiwan arm sales a priority." Coming up, British prosecutors preparing to bring two men to trial for allegedly spying for China, but the case was suddenly dropped. We're on the decision and what might have led to it. 40,000 stolen mobile phones smuggled from the UK to China in the past 12 months. British police are cracking down on phone thefts across London. And China's premier heading to North Korea for a rare visit. What this signals about Beijing's growing influence in the region. Washington has to be very concerned not only with the the strengthening relations between North Korea and China, but also the continuing seemingly very strong relations between Pyongyang and Moscow. More on that after the break here on China in Focus. Welcome back to China in Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Turning now to the UK. Is the Chinese Communist regime an enemy of Britain? The answer could decide the fate of two British men accused of spying for China. But their case in London was unexpectedly dropped. Here are the details. The men were charged last year with violating the Official Secrets Act. They were accused of providing information that might be useful to an enemy between 2021 and 2023. But prosecutors dropped the charges last month, saying the case no longer met the evidential threshold. Conservative Party lawmakers accused the Labor government of deliberately collapsing the trial to avoid upsetting China. UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer denied these allegations. He said the previous Conservative government, which was in power when the alleged spying occurred, did not refer to China as an enemy. Here's Star. We were disappointed that the trial didn't proceed but the position is very clear that uh the trial would have had to take place on the basis of the situation as it was at the time under the previous Tory government. So whatever their position was was the only position that could be presented at trial. So it wasn't as this government's position, it was the Tory government before position. Britain's chief prosecutor, Steven Parkinson, said his office did everything possible to prosecute the two men. He blamed the government for the collapse of the case. To prove the case under the Official Secrets Act, prosecutors would have had to show the defendants were acting for an enemy. Parkinson said his office was unable to do so because the UK government does not refer to China as an enemy or a threat to national security. 40,000 stolen mobile phones sent to China in just 12 months. British police have cracked down on the thefts in London, arresting members of a major international criminal gang. NTD's international correspondent Malcolm Hudson has more for us. British police said they have broken up an international criminal gang suspected of smuggling 40,000 stolen mobile phones to China over the last 12 months. It's their largest operation against phone theft to date, resulting in 46 arrests over the last two weeks. Police said the gang could be behind about 40% of all the phone theft in London, which like other global cities has seen a surge in the number of devices stolen in recent years, driven by a lucrative international market and facilitated by fast getaways on ebikes. Police said operation echo steep started last year after a box containing around a thousand iPhones was discovered at a warehouse near London's Heathro airport. It was being shipped to Hong Kong with almost all the phones having been stolen. Adding that the criminal group specifically targeted Apple products because of their profitability overseas. They were paid up to $400 per Apple phone, which could be sold for up to $5,000 in China. Police said that behind every stolen phone is a victim. Some people lost photos of deceased relatives. Others were violently assaulted during the robberies. London Mayor Sadi Khan thanked the force for responding to Londoner's concerns, calling it an industrialcale crime. He also called on the mobile phone industry to assist authorities by making it impossible for smugglers to use stolen phones. A call the police reiterated. They want phone manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung to do more to support police and protect their customers, especially around phone security and reuse. According to data from insurance companies Square Trade, nearly two in every five phones stolen in Europe is taken in the UK. Crime and Policing Minister Sarah Jones said Operation Echo Steep sent a clear message to criminals saying the government is putting more police on the streets and arming them with stronger powers to tackle criminals and make streets safer. Malcolm Hudson, NTD News. Chinese Premier Lee Ch is heading to North Korea on Thursday. He's set to spend 3 days in Pyongyang, marking the 80th anniversary of North Korea's ruling party. Lee's upcoming visit makes him the most senior Chinese regime official to attend a North Korean military parade in decades. China's foreign ministry says strengthening relations with North Korea remains a key part of Beijing's foreign policy. For more on what this visit could mean for the region, we spoke with Bruce Klingner, senior fellow at the Mansfield Foundation. He specialized in Korean affairs for more than 30 years. Take a listen. Uh over the decades, North Korea has played off chi its relations with its allies, China and Russia uh against each other so that neither had as much influence over Pyongyang as one might expect. Uh North Korea has also used its relations or its engagement with Washington and Seoul and Tokyo also as a way of minimizing Chinese and Russian influence over North Korea. But in the last year or so, we've seen that the the strained relations brought on by North Korea increasing its relations with Russia. Um that that had strained relations with Beijing. But it seems in the last year or so uh that those strained Chinese North Korean relations have thawed. Analysts say the trip is part of China's balancing act, maintaining ties with North Korea while managing complex relations with the US and South Korea. Some warned that this growing cooperation is something the US cannot overlook. Washington has to be very concerned not only with the the strengthening relations between North Korea and China, but also the continuing seemingly very strong relations between Pyongyang and Moscow. uh and then the the trilateral meeting in Beijing really affirm that this is if not a a trilateral alliance at least a very strong trilateral partnership which each country is benefiting from. So from Russia, North Korea is getting food and fuel and funding and and some level of military technology a and but China remains North Korea's principal trading partner. The visit to North Korea also comes as China's foreign minister met with his South Korean counterpart on Tuesday ahead of the Apex summit. Chinese leader Xi Jinping is expected to travel to South Korea later this month to attend the summit. While he's there, he could sit down with President Trump for trade talks and discuss the denuclearization of North Korea. Both uh the South Korean and US presidents are very eager to have meetings with Xi Jinping. uh for President Ejong, it's uh a status symbol as well as an affirmation of the importance of South Korea on the world stage. Uh and Trump is very eager to have a meeting with Xi Jinping. uh even if Trump seems uh unlikely to attend the the APEC meetings itself, uh he's eager for a meeting with shei if not to resolve the the tariff dis to dispute uh but for what Trump would see as an affirmation of the importance of Trump uh and the importance of the US China relationship. So I I don't think there's any problem with um the Chinese premere going to North Korea and then Xi Jinping going to South Korea. Lee's trip signals that China sees value in deepening ties with North Korea even as the US remains focused on curbing the country's nuclear program. 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 chinainfocusenttd.com. We'd love to hear from you. For roundtheclock original news coverage, visit us at ntd.com or download our NTD app. Thanks for watching. See you tomorrow. [Music]