From Vietnamese Refugee to Navy Secretary: The Ultimate American DreamI China Insights

55 years ago, a four-year-old Vietnamese boy fled Saigon and came to the United States. Today, he stands at the highest civilian post in the U.S. Navy, commanding the most powerful naval force on the planet. He is President Trump's new appointee. Is Acting Secretary of the Navy Keo Xiong of Chinese-Vietnamese descent? Why did he earn Trump's trust? What is his true background? Hello everyone. This is Weiyu, watching the world. I'm Chen Weiyu. Today, we're going to share the story of Acting Secretary of the Navy Keo Xiong. Let's start by watching a short video. This is the scariest sound you'll ever hear when you live in a communist country. This was the last sound my parents heard when their fathers were taken away in the middle of the night, and they never saw their loved ones again. That's the sound of losing your freedom, the sound of living in constant fear. That's my family's real-life story. We escaped from Vietnam just days before Saigon fell to the communists. We were given a new life in the most generous country on Earth. America saved my life. I graduated from the United States Naval Academy, earned a master's in physics, and held fellowships at MIT and Harvard, before the left replaced merit with racial quotas. I've spent my life trying to repay my debt to America, my country, our country, with 25 years of service in Navy Special Operations, seeing combat in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia. I've been all over the world. Believe me when I tell you, if America fails, there's nowhere else to go. We need real fighters, not politicians, not bureaucrats, not keyboard warriors acting tough in a custom-made suit. Now, here in America, we must refuse to be intimidated. We must be fearless. In 2023, Gao Xiong posted a video on his own YouTube channel. He sat in front of the camera with a serious expression, then pounded his fist heavily on the table, making a deep thumping sound. He said, This is the kind of terrifying sound you hear when living in a communist country. This was the last sound my parents ever heard. After their father was taken away in the middle of the night, they never saw their loved ones again. What this video shows people is not a politician putting on a performance, but a man speaking from personal experience, a fear etched into his bones since childhood, and the deepest driving force behind his entire political career. Gao Xiong was born in Saigon, Vietnam in 1971. He is of Qing ethnicity, not Chinese. In 1975, he moved to the United States with his family as a refugee. He was only four years old at the time. His father was not an ordinary civilian. He was a high-ranking official in the Vietnamese government, serving as the deputy director of the Ministry of Agriculture. In the eyes of the communist regime, he was a marked target who had to be purged. They faced the dual threat of execution or being sent to a re-education camp. The escape was filled with life or death decisions. In her desperation, his mother sewed slips of paper with her children's identities into each child's clothing. On them, she wrote, This is my son, please take care of him. To prevent the family from being separated during their escape, they even faced the cruelest question of all. If not all the children could get away, which child should they leave behind? No one knows what decisions his parents made during those few hours, but one thing determined whether they could board that plane. And that was an American passport. His father, a high-ranking official, had once received a Rockefeller Foundation scholarship to pursue a PhD at Cornell University. During that time, Kaohsiung's older sister was born in the United States. It was precisely her American citizenship that made the whole family eligible for evacuation. Later, Kaohsiung wrote in his book that her American citizenship not only saved their entire family, but also paved the way for each of them to pursue the American dream. The first stop for that plane was Guam. Half a century later, when Kaohsiung returned to Guam as the U.S. Undersecretary of the Navy, he told local officials that this island was not just a strategic stronghold. It was the very first anchor point in his life, the place where, as a four-year-old boy, he first set foot on free soil. The content I share with everyone on this show is all carefully prepared by me, and I believe it's truly valuable. At the same time, the products I recommend to you during the show are the same. They've been carefully selected and personally tested by me. These are all high-quality products that have received great feedback. Now, this Korean Red Sea Cucumber is currently one of the best-reviewed products we've ever received. Many viewers have said it's really good. 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And you can adjust the delivery time or quantity at any time. If you decide you don't want it anymore, you can also cancel your pre-order delivery at any time. Of course, you can still choose to make a one-time purchase just like we usually do. If you use my discount code WEIU, you can also enjoy a 15% discount. After arriving in the United States, life didn't immediately get better. My father couldn't find a job in Northern Virginia, so our family was forced to move to West Africa, where my father worked as an agricultural expert for USAID. This Vietnamese official, who once managed his own country's agricultural department, was now using his expertise on the edge of the Sahara Desert to help another impoverished nation grow food. Gao Sheng spent the most important seven years of his childhood on this red soil. It was there that he learned the language and made friends. For the first time, he understood that a person can put down roots anywhere, as long as they're willing. He learned to speak fluent English by watching the TV show The A-Team, even though he had nothing. His parents never gave up on the importance of education either. It was the last armor they could give their child in a chaotic world. At age 12, he returned to Virginia and became a member of the first graduating class at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. This is one of the top public STEM schools in the United States, admitting only a few hundred students each year. As a refugee child from the red soil of Niger, he proved himself through his academic achievements. Later, in his memoir, Call Me American, Gao Sheng wrote about this journey. He wrote that he went from being a war refugee and battlefield officer to where he is now, using his own story to prove that the American dream is not out of reach. After graduating from high school, Gao Sheng was admitted to the United States Naval Academy. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a special operations officer. He specialized in explosive ordnance disposal and deep sea diving, carrying out special operations missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia. This is not a comfortable job. Explosive ordnance disposal is one of the most dangerous specialties in the military. Every mission is a gamble with death and promotion. On the night of July 16, 1999, Gao Sheng was chatting with colleagues at his commander's house when suddenly news broke on TV. John F. Kennedy Jr.'s private plane had gone missing off the coast of Massachusetts, with his wife and sister-in-law also on board. Gao Sheng's Navy diving team received the search and rescue mission. In the pitch black depths of the Atlantic, they eventually found the wreckage of the plane, as well as the three bodies. Gao Sheng said, We allowed America's son to rest in peace. For someone who was once saved by America, being able to use his own hands to return the beloved son of America's most cherished family to the earth meant far more than simply completing a mission. It was a way of repaying a debt, and also a form of protection. During his military career, he also took part in another famous salvage mission, recovering an ironclad warship that sank during the Civil War, as well as the remains of soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. For him, every set of remains brought up from the depths was more than just a mission. It was a chance for a family to grieve fully and say a proper goodbye. In addition to battlefield missions, Gao Sheng was also responsible for managing the Navy's Pentagon budget of up to $140 billion, and worked with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI's Joint Counterterrorism Task Force. He later earned a master's degree in physics from the Naval Postgraduate School and was awarded fellowship programs at both MIT and Harvard University. He once explained his motivation for joining the military in an interview, This country gave me everything. There was a time when I woke up and realized I didn't have a flag to stand under and call my own. But America took us in, gave us a home, and gave us opportunities. I am so grateful. That's why I served in the military for so many years. I wanted to give back to this country and everything it has given me. Gao Sheng's wife, April Licata, was born and raised in northern Virginia. She is a writer who has long been dedicated to encouraging families through faith, and she is the co-author of the best-selling book, Faith on the Front Lines. She has also published articles in The Washington Post and The Washington Times. Her greatest aspiration, however, is to be Gao Sheng's wife and the mother of their five children in order to support her husband's military career. She began homeschooling her children at home 10 years ago. This allowed her to continue supporting and being there for her children through multiple relocations and her husband's deployments. The couple has five children, including one adopted from Thailand and a set of twins. After moving a total of 13 times and traveling all across the United States and around the world, the family finally settled down in Purcellville, Virginia. Why does Trump admire Gao Sheng? It really comes down to a combination of factors. When Trump nominated Gao Sheng for deputy secretary of the Navy, he wrote on Truth Social that Gao Sheng is the embodiment of the American dream. As a refugee who came to our great country, he worked tirelessly to make the nation that took in his family proud. A child refugee who escaped from communist Vietnam, got into a top university through hard work, served in the military for 25 years, went to war and defended the country. This story is, by its very nature, the strongest embodiment of Trump's America First philosophy. The very existence of Gao Sheng itself refutes all the voices accusing Trump of racism. In addition, on several core issues that Trump and Secretary of Defense Hegsef care most about, such as opposing DEI and emphasizing combat readiness, not only does Gao Sheng agree, but he has also publicly expressed his views. Gao Sheng has written articles in The Washington Times criticizing American corporations over the past decade. The military and education systems are increasingly replacing meritocracy with woke ideology, which will have serious consequences for the country's future. He said that the enemy doesn't care whether you're white, black, brown or Asian. When words like these come from an Asian refugee, they're much harder to attack than if they were said by any white politician. In a Senate debate, Gao Sheng once said that what we need are the kind of tough men and women who are willing to pull out their own guts and eat them and then ask if they can have seconds. That's the kind of young people who can win wars. This idea is exactly the same as Hegsef's. So the two of them are extremely aligned when it comes to military culture. In July 2024, Gao Sheng was invited to speak at the Republican National Convention, becoming the center of national attention. On stage, he said, My name is Gao Sheng, America saved my life, and I seized the American dream. I love this country so deeply. His speech moved the entire audience and made the Trump camp recognize his political value and ability to inspire. Gao Sheng lost two elections, but he always stood with Trump and never complained. More importantly for Gao Sheng, being anti-communist isn't just a political stance. It's a lived experience. During his campaign, he compared the tactics of communism to certain trends he observed in American politics. As a child who escaped from communism, that terrifies me. This is exactly what the communists do. They want to take children away from their parents and hand them over to the state. That's not how things are supposed to be. As the father of five children, this is my right. And it's also my God-given responsibility to raise my kids. He also admitted that he believes the Democratic Party is heading in a socialist direction, which is exactly the same ideology his father once fled from. He believes that if his father were still alive to see the situation, he would be deeply worried. The withdrawal from Afghanistan hit him especially hard. He witnessed firsthand the Biden administration's chaotic exit from Afghanistan. That scene reminded him of the fall of Vietnam. It was that very moment that shattered his childhood world. And it was that kind of personal pain that ultimately drove him to enter politics. On April 22, 2026, U.S. Secretary of the Navy Farran officially resigned, and Deputy Secretary Gao Sheng took over as acting secretary. At this time, the U.S. Navy was simultaneously dealing with multiple global blockades, the war with Iran, and the growing threat of China's expanding Navy. Truly a turbulent period. His colleagues in the military saw that Gao Sheng demonstrated a remarkable ability to learn quickly on shipbuilding issues and manage the chaos caused by personnel changes effectively, earning him considerable credibility within the Pentagon. A Pentagon spokesperson stated that Gao Sheng embodies resilience and an America-first vision, qualities essential for maintaining U.S. naval superiority. After taking office, Gao Sheng issued a statement. My top priority is to take care of our Navy sailors and Marines, advance the shipbuilding program, and ensure national security.