China, North Korea Vow Closer Ties to Counter U.S. | China in Focus

Welcome to China in Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story. Xi Jinping is in North Korea as Kim Jong-un doubles down on his nuclear weapons. Is a new axis of power forming in Northeast Asia? Experts weigh in. Beijing sent four ships east of Taiwan on Saturday, sparking a tense exchange with Taiwan's Coast Guard. Why this area matters in a Taiwan invasion? Christian persecution in China continues. Two pastors and an elder from an underground church are said to be on trial this week for officiating a Christian wedding. A lone protester marking the Tiananmen anniversary has been detained. Zhang Chao took photos at Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4 and posted them online with a commemorative poem. He was And Beijing's infiltration of Canada is rampant. A former Canadian intelligence officer breaks it down. The brakes have been taken off. So the CCP has a free run in Canada and the people like me that have been speaking out about it, we've lost our voice. Chinese leader Xi Jinping is back in North Korea looking to reshape the geopolitical balance in Northeast Asia. Xi is pushing for deeper military ties and economic cooperation with Kim Jong-un. But it's Pyongyang's growing nuclear confidence and its booming military alliance with Russia. Could a new axis of cooperation put pressure on the U.S., Japan and South Korea alliance? Chinese leader Xi Jinping is in Pyongyang for a two-day state visit, his first in seven years. But the dynamic has changed. Compared with Xi's 2019 visit, North Korea is welcoming Xi with a much more aggressive stance. Just one day before Xi's arrival, Kim Jong-un's sister announced that the country's nuclear weapons program is absolutely not open for negotiation. Kim Jong-un can use this for domestic propaganda purposes to show that we the DPRK are a nuclear power and we have friends at the very top. He's got obviously a strong relationship with Vladimir Putin and by hosting Xi Jinping, by getting the Chinese to come to him, it does show a level of strength. North Korea added its nuclear weapons program to its constitution in 2023 and Kim Jong-un has declared the country's nuclear status irreversible several times this year. On Monday, South Korea's president publicly stated that Seoul firmly stands by its goal of complete denuclearization. Japan also said it is closely monitoring talks between Xi and Kim, including whether China and North Korea will discuss nuclear issues. While Beijing publicly maintains it wants a denuclearized Korean peninsula, Xi emphasized that China's support for Kim remains unchanged. Experts are questioning whether China has now practically accepted the reality of North Korea as a nuclear armed state. On the day of his arrival, Xi published an article in North Korean state media calling for deeper strategic cooperation while taking aim at the revival of militarism and hegemonism. Later that evening, Xi and Kim held a formal meeting. Xi proposed stronger military to military exchanges and broader people-to-people contacts following the reopening of cross-border travel. I think the message implicit from the Chinese side is Xi Jinping is saying, look, we are still the principal actor when it comes to North Korea. And I do think that one of the audiences is Russia, is Vladimir Putin, just to say what you're doing with North Korea is fine, but let's not go too far with this. These talks come as North Korea draws closer to Russia. The two nations upgraded their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership and signed a mutual defense clause. Kim Jong-un has even sent troops to aid Russia's war in Ukraine along with massive shipments of weapons. In return, Vladimir Putin is providing North Korea with advanced military technology. Another closely watched question surrounding Xi's visit is whether China is moving closer to the emerging security partnership between Russia and North Korea. Last month, Xi hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing just after President Trump's China visit. During talks with Putin, Xi once again promoted his vision of a multipolar world order. Observers are now closely watching whether Beijing will take further steps toward alignment with Moscow and Pyongyang. Xi Jinping aspires to become a leader of an anti-American bloc. Currently, the primary nations he can hope to court are Russia and North Korea, and perhaps certain countries of the global South, such as South Africa and Brazil. Furthermore, given that Trump is currently intent on alienating European allies, Xi may perceive this as a prime opportunity to win over Europe. However, European countries and Canada remain highly worried of the CCP, and CCP is still a long way from establishing itself as a distinct global pole. However, some analysts argue Xi's visit is a clear sign of what they describe as a new Cold War dynamic in Northeast Asia. As the U.S., Japan, and South Korea expand security cooperation, Russia and North Korea are also strengthening their ties. Xi's trip is seen as offering North Korea economic and security reassurances while also shaping a new strategic balance centered on Beijing. Beijing has sent four ships to waters east of Taiwan on Saturday, saying it's carrying out a special operation. This comes after China sent ships near the island several times this month. Here's what a Chinese Coast Guard told Taiwan Coast Guard personnel. Both Taiwan and mainland belong to one China. These waters are under China's jurisdiction. Taiwan's Coast Guard pushed back. China does not have any sovereignty in waters east of Taiwan. You have violated international law by entering our waters without permission. Please turn around immediately and leave our waters at once. China said deploying ships near Taiwan was in response to a move from Japan and the Philippines. Both countries have agreed to start settling the border of their exclusive economic zone, an area extending 200 nautical miles from their coast where countries have exclusive rights to economic activity. Notably, Japan's and the Philippines' exclusive economic zones overlap east of Taiwan. A Japanese expert told BBC that the real intention behind the EEC negotiation is to get ahead of Beijing to take control of a critical area. If a conflict over Taiwan breaks out, waters east of the island would be a key route for U.S. and Japanese supplies, making it a critical area for Beijing. Taiwan on Monday said China has been using negotiations between Japan and the Philippines as an excuse to escalate tensions in the region. Just this month, China has sent Coast Guard ships and research vessels multiple times near Taiwan. On Friday, Chinese and Taiwanese Coast Guard vessels faced off near Padis Island, a Taiwan-controlled island in the South China Sea. Three members of an underground church in eastern China's Anhui province go on trial this week beginning Tuesday. Two are pastors and one is an elder. They were arrested in June last year and charged with what authorities call organizing an illegal gathering. Prosecutors pointed to activities such as officiating a Christian wedding and welcoming home fellow Christians after they were released from detention for their faith. Private Bible study meetings are also considered illegal outside state-approved religious venues under Chinese Communist Party rules. Ahead of the trial, their wives released an open letter inviting diplomats from major western countries to attend the hearings as observers. Rights activist Zhang Chao from eastern China's Shandong province was detained on Friday after commemorating the Tiananmen massacre in Beijing. Zhang had taken photos on Beijing's Tiananmen Square Thursday and later posted them on social media along with a commemorative poem. He was later taken away by police. 37 years ago on June 4th, the Chinese Communist Party opened fire on students and citizens demanding freedom and anti-corruption reforms resulting in thousands of deaths. What is a hybrid war waged by Beijing against the west and how does affect the U.S. and its neighbor Canada? Yanya Kellick sat down with Scott McGregor, a former Canadian armed forces intelligence operator, to discuss. He is also co-author of the Mosaic Effect, how the Chinese Communist Party started a hybrid war in America's backyard. There's a concern around this arrangement that Canada has entered into and some of that stems from the fact that Canada is about to allow China to come into Canada and make money and that money is going to go back to China and as we know China is working with the Russians and the Russians are engaged in a conflict in Ukraine. Well Canada is also sending money to Ukraine so we have a little bit of a conflict of interest when it comes to who we're actually supporting and undermines some of the confidence within the intelligence and security industry or community. That's concerning in itself but the public isn't quite aware of all of the circumstances and that's where I think there needs to be more dialogue, some sort of understanding about exactly where we came from and how we got there. Is it surprising to you that there's a strategic partnership given your work over the last several years that I've been following quite closely? It came as quite a shock. Having briefed and presented to every intelligence agency in the United States, all of the agencies in Canada for over a decade about the threat from the CCP, the fact that we've engaged in this strategic alliance undermines a lot of that work and it cuts the legs out of the people that have been trying to bring awareness to the threat of China to Canada and North America. If I recall, in the previous liberal government in Canada, some progress actually had been made. This is a significant shift in policy. This is what I'm trying to get at. Maybe you can explain to those of us that don't know the nuances we have in being based here. Certainly. There was starting to be a bit of a movement that changed sentiment towards China. People were beginning to understand just how infiltrated Canada is by the CCP, the United Front Work Department, and some of the other actors such as the MSS, which is Chinese intelligence, and the People's Liberation Army. Some of the operations that are conducted in Canada, people are starting to become more aware of just how infiltrated we are and the threats that they pose, from money laundering to foreign interference, infiltrating our universities, etc. So yes, there was a change and it came quite suddenly. When the new prime minister came into power, that's when we saw this shift that people started to identify a little bit more with the United States becoming a threat to Canada. Suddenly, China didn't look so bad. I'm not sure exactly where that sentiment comes from, but it's disarming the people that have been trying to raise awareness around the CCP threat. So extrapolate a little more on the economic relationship and this unprotected border relationship, which I think you were kind of hinting at. I was, and I'm glad you asked that. So the economic piece is really critical. 87%, depending on who you want to listen to, 87% of trade comes from Canada to the United States. Without that money, Canada is in a real spot. And right now, you're hearing about Canada looking for other partners where we can sell our goods. The fact of the matter is that logistically, getting those goods to market is more expensive than it is to work with the United States, who already is there. I'll give you a for instance. The oil sands in Alberta deliver heavy crude. And the reason that we don't refine it in Canada is we don't have the refineries to do it. Texas does. So moving the oil to the United States is a no-brainer. It's the only place that it can go. Trying to get it to market somewhere else, especially somewhere like China, is going to set us back even further. So the issue is, who is someone that we've worked with in a trusted relationship in combat? Economically, we've always had support. Politically, we may not always agree on certain aspects of everyday life, societal things. But when it comes to the Chinese, the threat is so much greater. We're attacked every day by the Chinese in many ways, mainly through cyber, but also through infiltration of our institutions and threatening our diaspora, elite capture, all of these things that academics have written about, I've written about, and you see in the news lately. So we have to find a way to bring awareness again to the real threat, which is China and not the United States. And to watch the full episode, visit the Epic TV website at theepictimes.com, Epic TV, and search American Thought Leaders. Coming up, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth honors D-Day veterans in France. Meanwhile, nuclear talks with Iran continue. More on that after the break, here on China In Focus. Welcome back to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth commemorating the 82nd anniversary of D-Day, while also addressing growing tensions in the Middle East. The Pentagon Chief honoring World War II veterans in France as the Trump administration continues negotiations aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. 82 years ago today, the survival of Western civilization hung in the balance. Dark forces had swept across Europe. Hitler boasted that his Atlantic wall was impenetrable, but our enemy made a fatal miscalculation. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth joined veterans, troops, and world leaders in Normandy this weekend to mark the 82nd anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Hegseth honoring the sacrifice of Allied troops who stormed the beaches of France during World War II. This is not merely a resting place. It is a monument to the unyielding spirit of the American warrior, a testament to the supreme sacrifices our warriors made to liberate an entire continent from the grip of tyranny. The D-Day landings on June 6, 1944 involved more than 133,000 Allied troops storming the beaches of Normandy in one of the largest military operations in history. More than 4,000 Allied troops lost their lives that day. Hegseth describing the extraordinary courage shown by American troops under enemy fire. The ramps of those boats dropped, and our men threw themselves, hurled themselves into the waves and onto the blood-stained sand. The courage, the sheer courage that it took to charge into that hailstorm of machine gun fire and artillery, almost unfathomable. Hegseth also warning that the lessons of D-Day remain relevant as the West confronts modern threats. Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies, which is in Spain, in Italy, in Greece, and Bulgaria. Boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not. The men who fought and died here restored freedom to Europe. That freedom must be maintained by this generation of leaders and warfighters. Or what they fought for was merely temporary. Hegseth concluding by inviting attendees to join him in prayer for the memory of the fallen and the inspiration to live with that same honor, devotion, and gratitude. The war secretary also using the trip to address ongoing tensions with Iran. Hegseth telling reporters the Trump administration remains committed to negotiations. Right now, the president is committed to getting a great deal for the United States of America that ensures they never get a nuclear weapon. I watch him every day in that pursuit. He's dedicated to it, and we are prepared at the War Department, if that does not happen, to do what needs to be done. The comments come as the U.S. and Iran continue talks over reopening shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz after months of regional attacks and military escalation. 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 ChinaInFocus and NTD.com. We'd love to hear from you. For on-the-clock original news coverage, visit us at NTD.com or download our NTD app. Thanks for watching. See you tomorrow.