China’s Economy Losing Steam: New Data Disappoints | China In Focus

The world's second largest economy is losing steam. With its recovery in peril, will the spillover hit the US? A new trade trend. Mexico now beating out China as the top exporter to the US. We look at the dynamics. Fentanyl now a hot topic on the senator floor. A bill could slap sanctions on China over the drug's production. And it's already boasting bipartisan support. And one of Taiwan's top presidential candidates. Planning a stop in the US on his way to Paraguay. The transit plan, announced as the US climate envoy, spends four days in Beijing. What do you think of the chain of events? Let us know below. And subscribe if you haven't already. Welcome to China In Focus, I'm Tiffany Meyer. We're more than halfway into 2023, and China's economic recovery is losing steam. The latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics appears grim. The nation's GDP grew just 0.8% from April to June. That's compared to over 2% in the first quarter. How China deals with this slowdown is a concern for global investors and policy makers. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen explained China is a very substantial importer for many countries around the world. So when Chinese growth slows, it impacts growth elsewhere. You know, there's talks about potentially the government in Beijing to really have a fiscal stimulus package potentially proposed here in the next number of weeks. And if it's in that sort of a dire condition, I do think there are some potential negative spillover effects for not only the United States, but the rest of the industrialized world. China's economy is facing a number of challenges. Consumers are less willing to spend money, and retail sales dipped in June. Also private businesses make up the backbone of China's economy, but they're hesitant to make new investments. Private businesses are also holding back on new hires, yet they're the biggest source of employment in the nation. China youth unemployment is hitting another record high. For 19 to 24 year olds, the unemployment rate is over 20%. And that figure could jump higher as college students graduate and enter the labor market. On top of all this, China's property market is bogged down with its own problems. Investment in this sector plunged almost 8% in the first half of 2023. Demand is also weak and sales are down. To boost the economy, China's central bank has cut some key interest rates, but analysts say the measures aren't enough. A new trend in bilateral trade. For the first time in 15 years, Mexico is beating out China as the top exporter to the U.S. That's for the first half of 2023. Data from the U.S. Commerce Department shows American imports from China are down 25%. Imports plunged in a number of sectors, especially semiconductors. Meanwhile, U.S. imports from Mexico and Canada are taking first and second place. Southeast Asian countries are also sending more to the U.S. China became the biggest exporter to America in 2009. It has since remained at the top, though the export volume took a dip after former President Trump slapped tariffs on China. President Biden has kept the tariffs in place. The recent breach of White House emails through Microsoft spotlighting how China's hacker armies are getting more sophisticated. Instead of the crude smash and grab methods used years ago, they're now focused on stealth. NTD's Faye Corder has the details. China's hackers are becoming more and more sophisticated in their attacks on the U.S. Before, hacks from China would immediately raise loud alarms. Everyone could easily see the hack, as well as the fact China did it. And Americans would then know how to guard against future hacks. The methods were quite crude. But now, China's hacks are stealthy. Hackers hide deep inside computer networks for months or even years, quietly monitoring what's going on and gathering data. One method they use is they avoid hacking the main computers. Instead, they hack peripheral devices, such as printers, routers or the Internet of Things devices. This could include smart TVs. The malware would be actually loaded into the operating system of a device. And then the device is activated on the network and then can spread to other devices. And this is typically how these hacks are happening today. Rex Lee is a security advisor at MySmart Privacy. He says that because everything is connected to a network these days, hacking into one item can connect you to every item. The recent attack on Microsoft email accounts, including those of high-profile officials like Gina Raimondo, may have used this method. Experts say it may be the stealthiest attack ever discovered. These attacks worry Americans because they could compromise valuable information. The biggest thing would be critical infrastructure, going after the power grid. All you have to do is take the power grid out and people are pretty much defenseless. Lee has little confidence America can protect itself well. He says that the government's cyber infrastructure is extremely outdated and many organizations don't have the highest encryption standards because those standards may be too expensive. Faye Quarter, NTD News. News from Washington, D.C. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wants to sanction China over fentanyl. A drug that's taken the lives of tens of thousands of Americans. He says drug production sites in China have the total acceptance and acquiescence of the Chinese regime. To fight it, Republican Senator Tim Scott and Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown introduced a new bill. If passed, it would require President Biden to sanction key international criminals and use the money to fund law enforcement. Now, Schumer is also pitching in, pushing the bipartisan measure to amend an upcoming defense bill. It's time for this to stop. He told a news conference that he hopes it will pass and believes it will with strong bipartisan support. Schumer says the amendment would authorize the White House to declare fentanyl trafficking a national emergency. The bill will be brought to the floor this week and it's expected to pass with strong bipartisan support. A two-day summit in Brussels, reuniting the EU and Latin America. Leaders from the two sides gathered Monday after an eight-year break. Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe need each other more than ever before. The long separation compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and Brazil's departure from a regional organization of Latin American and Caribbean states. Despite the meeting's success, the nations have a lot to talk about. Uncertainty and division are swirling around issues like Russia's war in Ukraine, trade and deforestation. And this happens against the backdrop of China's growing assertiveness abroad. China has steadily been pushing for more trade in Latin America and expanding its influence there, something the EU has emphasized keeping an eye on. In talks with Brazil's president, Funderlayan stressed how important it was to de-risk their economies. The term has become EU code speak for distancing from Beijing while trying to avoid angering Chinese authorities. At the same time, trade is roaring between the EU and Latin America. The latest data showing a nearly 40% rise in the last 10 years. Now totaling $414 billion. Investment is growing too, with the EU injecting 45% more money into the bloc in the same time frame, a whopping $777 billion. It's a strong framework as leaders in the nation face another hurdle. The EU already has trade agreements with more than two dozen Latin American and Caribbean nations, but it also has an unsigned trade agreement with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. The deal has remained in limbo for five years without being ratified. An update from the International Monetary Fund. The agency is hinting that it might let countries use the Chinese yuan to repay their debts. That says the IMF confirmed that Argentina paid up the equivalent of $1.1 billion owed using Chinese currency. The payment is part of a $44 billion loan deal. At the same time, Argentina's foreign currency reserves fell sharply after a drought cut grain exports, which are paid for in U.S. dollars. Plus its peso has weakened under 109% annual inflation. What could that mean for the U.S. dollar? NTD's Kevin Hogan speaks to James Gorey, the author of The China Crisis or A Breakdown. James, what are the risks of allowing countries to repay their debt in yuan given that China has been called a currency manipulator? Well, the risk of that, the dollar is no longer the sole reserve currency of the world. It's certainly a blow to its standing, its prestige, and sends the message that the yuan is an alternative currency. So how significant is this step forward for the Chinese yuan as a global alternative currency? I think it's huge. Bear in mind that BRICS currency is going to be announced next month. That may well be a gold-backed currency. And BRICS, of course, China is a part of that. So there is a definite move and effort between China, Russia, and many other countries to dethrone and de-dollarize the dollar, the economy. So what should Americans know right now in light of this? Well, they should know that when China is making the effort, and other nations are, to dethrone the dollar and de-dollarize the international trade system, it's not just a currency, but it's the actual trade system itself. I mean, China wants to replace the entire financial system with a more China-centric one, not simply replacing the dollar and keeping the same system that the dollar and the U.S. was about. So I look at the international system as being very, very threatened, and China wants to replace it. And in a way, they want to replace the dollar with the yuan in the current dollar-denominated system. That doesn't bode well for them. James Gory, the author of The China Crisis, thank you so much for your time today. My pleasure. The Biden administration's climate envoy, John Kerry, arrived in Beijing Sunday. Discussions are centered on renewing commitments from the U.S. and China to reduce methane emissions. An expert weighs in on the visit. I do think we should cut the ties to China for anything climate change and as well as for furthering the communist agenda here in the United States of America. Meanwhile, one of Taiwan's top presidential candidates for the island's upcoming race has an announcement. He plans to stop by the United States during his trip to South America. The statement anchored Beijing. Lai Ching-de is also the chairman of Taiwan's ruling party, as well as the island's current vice president. Another Taiwan official commented on Lai's U.S. travel plan, calling it usual. China's foreign ministry filed a diplomatic complaint with Washington. Beijing protests any official interaction between the U.S. and Taiwan. Washington has expressed the transit won't count as an official visit. It's a solemn time for adherence of Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa. Over two decades ago, the practice came under massive persecution in China, all for exercising the right to follow three tenets, truthfulness, compassion and forbearance. NTT's Kevin Hogan found out how some Falun Gong practitioners in New York spent their Saturday. I'm here in lower Manhattan in Chinatown where hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners are out here on this hot summer day to bring awareness to the brutal persecution this group faces in China. We spoke to some onlookers and although this repression has been going on for nearly 24 years, they didn't know and became aware about it because these people are exercising their right to free speech. Other bystanders said the parade is bittersweet, the niceness and the beauty of the cultural elements featured in this parade alongside the gruesome facts of detainment, torture and killing of Falun Gong practitioners because of their faith. A Falun Gong practitioner we spoke to said her mother was very sick, but then after taking up the practice in 1996 in China, she became well and that's when her whole family started to practice. Then on July 20th, 1999, the ruling Chinese communist regime launched its persecution against the group. So when I was only nine years old, I still remember several policemen broke into my home in China. They took my parents away in front of my grandparents who were in their 70s and 80s and took my parents away when I was only nine years old in front of me. I was crying so hard and then they took my parents away and sent them into labor camp and they were there for more than one year. I'm so sorry that happened to you and your parents. And how were you able to stay strong after that time? It was very difficult because all the media and everyone, everybody around you, you know, they would believe in the government. Even if you try to tell them about your personal experience, some of them will believe, but some of them wouldn't believe you. So you do feel kind of isolated in an environment like that. The parade showcases rich Chinese culture from the lion dance, look at them go, to the influences of Buddhism as seen in the lotus float. And of course, the waist drummers or Yao Gu in Chinese. A drummer shares with us her experience with the practice. Before I practiced Falun Gong, I had hypothyroidism. I had to be on medication all my life. After practicing Falun Gong for 24 years, I have never taken a single pill. I'm 70 years old. I'm very healthy. Falun Dafa has made my life better. I'm full of hope for my life. I'm grateful to Mr. Li Hongzhi for bringing light and hope to the world. After the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, we decided to use this traditional Chinese style of drum dance as a means to better spread the truth about the persecution to the Chinese people. The practitioners are calling for an end to the persecution, which includes the state-sanctioned harvesting of organs from practitioners against their will at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party or CCP. And as you see here, according to the Tui Dong Center, many Chinese people have quit the Communist Party and its two affiliated youth groups, about 415 million, whom the Global Service Center calls the hope of China. Banners read, eliminate the CCP, save America. These practitioners are calling on Americans to visit nccp.com and sign the petition. That's over today's China In Focus on YouTube. We're now sharing a shortened version of our program here after being demonetized for two years. Here's what to look out for in our second half. An eyebrow-raising travel advisory coming from the US State Department. It's warning Americans to think twice about traveling to China due to the risk of wrongful detention. Over in Europe, one Romanian teacher shares a harrowing experience that now serves as a cautionary tale. NTD's British Thought Leaders host Lee Hall sat down with Mariusz Balow, who was wrongly imprisoned in China for eight years. What did Balow witness in China's infamous forced labor system, and how did he survive something he says would destroy many? And they say that, you know, you did this and you did that, and that's automatically accepted. But the really terrible thing is that they use your family against you. The full episode is available on our partner platform, APOC TV. To sign up, click the link down below. Thanks for watching China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. See you tomorrow.