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00:00Hello, Telusor English presents a new episode of China Now, a web media's production that
00:14showcases the culture, technology and politics of the Asian giant. In this first segment,
00:20China Currents dives into the top stories of the week, including new Chinese sanctions
00:24lists on U.S. armed companies and new bonds issued to improve people's livelihood, among
00:30other topics. Let's see. China Currents is a weekly news talk show from
00:37China to the world. We cover viral news about China every week and also give you the newest
00:43updates on China's cutting-edge technologies. Let's get started.
00:56Welcome to China Currents, your weekly news report on what's happening in China. I'm Lisa.
01:01In this episode, China has issued a new sanction list on U.S. armed companies, and the USAF
01:08will be significantly affected. China conducts a new round of exercise in the Taiwan Strait.
01:15China issued US$320 billion in bonds to improve people's livelihoods. First, let's see how
01:23the USAF will be affected by China's sanctions. On 10 October, China announced a new sanction
01:30list targeting eight U.S. armed companies and 10 of their executives. These individuals
01:36will no longer be able to obtain any Chinese visas, including entry to Hong Kong and Macau.
01:42Their assets in China have been frozen and they are prohibited from engaging in any transaction
01:49or collaborations with companies or individuals in China. Why might it be a big problem for
01:55the U.S. Air Force? Well, because David Sutton, director of Asia Pacific at Lockheed Martin,
02:01is on the sanction list. For the U.S. Air Force, Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jets
02:07are expected to be their primary stealth aircraft of the future. Over 1,000 have already been
02:14ordered and eventually more than 3,000 will be supplied to the U.S. and its allies.
02:19The F-35 was intended to be the next showcase product following the F-22 to rival China's
02:26J-20 stealth fighter jets. However, internal reviews revealed that even the F-35's ability
02:33to fly was actually built on the covert use of Chinese-made parts. Now, with China's sanctions,
02:40this practice can no longer be hidden. According to a 2022 report by Politico,
02:46the secret was uncovered by the Defense Contract Management Agency in August 2022.
02:53It discovered that Chinese-made parts were the magnets contained in the F-35's
02:58turbomachine pumps. Lockheed Martin spokesperson Laura Seifert said in an interview with the War
03:04Zone magazine that the turbomachine is part of the Integrated Power Package, the IPP,
03:11which is the primary component of the electric power and thermal management system. She explained
03:17that the IPP supplies electrical power to start the engine and provides conditioned
03:22lead air for cooling aircraft systems. In other words, if this critical component fails,
03:28the F-35 could blackout mid-flight and even fail to start.
03:34After this secret was revealed, the Pentagon's response was interesting. On the one hand,
03:39they seemingly couldn't accept that such a crucial component relied on Chinese manufacturing
03:44and immediately halted deliveries of the F-35. On the other hand, according to Politico,
03:51the Pentagon announced in October 2022 that the investigation had concluded and deliveries
03:57resumed, stating that the new batch of jets no longer contained Chinese-made parts.
04:02As for the aircraft already delivered with Chinese components, William Laplante,
04:07the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, signed a national security waiver,
04:12meaning the Defense Department would not replace the parts of those aircrafts.
04:17Now, by reviewing the F-35 crash archives in Air and Space Forces magazine, we can see that
04:23prior to October 2020, there were only two recorded incidents involving the F-35 in the US.
04:31However, since October 2020, there have been seven additional incidents, with the failure rate
04:38tripling. The most recent F-35 crash occurred on May 28, 2024, at Cutland Air Force Base in New
04:45Mexico. According to ABC, the pilot was flying the jet on behalf of the Defense Contract Management
04:51Agency. A Lockheed Martin spokesperson said the jet was being transferred from Fort Worth,
04:57Texas, where the company's F-35 factory is located, to Edwards Air Force Base, California,
05:04for modifications and testing. The stop at Cutland was made to refuel.
05:10The aircraft encountered issues shortly after takeoff, specifically with the vertical takeoff
05:16and landing system. Air and Space Force magazine reported that the accident bears a few similarities
05:22to the crash of an F-35B at Lockheed Martin's facility in Fort Worth, Texas, in December 2022.
05:30According to Wikipedia, this was the first time an issue with the vertical takeoff and landing
05:35system had been reported for the F-35. Fortunately, the pilot survived, thanks to the ejection seat
05:41that was made in the UK. Now, regardless of whether the US Air Force regrets its decision
05:47to phase out Chinese-made parts, this sanction list launched by China will help them complete
05:52this process. Lockheed Martin will no longer be able to access its fund in China or directly
05:58procure any parts from the country. Moving forward, we may observe further changes in the
06:03reliability of F-35s delivered after October 2020. Of course, China doesn't intend to rely solely on
06:11sanctions to defend the country. On the 14th of October, the PLA conducted a joint military drill,
06:18codenamed Joint Sort 2024B, in the Taiwan Strait, with vessels and aircraft approaching Taiwan
06:26from different directions. The drill came after a speech from the leader of the Taiwan authorities,
06:32saying that Taiwan is not subordinate to China and that Beijing does not have the right to
06:38represent Taiwan. Spokesperson of the PLA Eastern Theater Command, Li Xi, noted that the joint drill
06:45focused on subjects like Sea Air Combat Readiness Patrol, blockade on key ports and areas, assaults
06:52on maritime and ground targets, as well as joint seizures of comprehensive superiority. He
06:58emphasized that the drill also serves as a stern warning to the separatists of Taiwan Island.
07:05Meanwhile, the China Coast Guard organized a fleet vessel to conduct law enforcement patrols
07:10and maritime control operations around Taiwan, including the waters near Dongyin Island and
07:16Mazu Island, as part of a patrol encircling the island. In this operation, the China Coast Guard
07:23deployed six formations, which is double the size of the comprehensive law enforcement drills
07:29conducted on May 23rd. Notably, among the vessels deployed was the 10,000-ton ship numbered 2901,
07:37the largest vessel currently in the China Coast Guard fleet. Interestingly, the tonnage of this
07:43vessel has surpassed that of the U.S. Navy's Ticonderoga-class cruisers and the Alibag-class
07:49destroyers. Yet, it's just a Coast Guard ship, not even a warship. In response to the Mainland
07:55China's drill, the United States Department of State emphasized it remains committed to its
08:00longstanding one-China policy in its official statement. In addition to the military, China
08:06has also taken steps to boost its economy. On the 12th of October, China's Ministry of Finance
08:11announced that over the next three months, China will issue 2.3 trillion yuan in special bonds to
08:18alleviate local government's debt pressure and improve people's livelihood, which is roughly
08:24about US$320 billion. From January to September, China's public budget expenditure reached US$280
08:32billion, reflecting a 2% increase compared to the previous year. According to the official
08:38statistics from the Ministry of Finance, these funds were primarily allocated to several key
08:44areas. Social security and employment spending rose by 4.3%, educational expenditure increased
08:51by 1.1%, and spending on agriculture, forestry, and water climbed by 6.4%. Additionally, urban
08:59and rural community expenditure experienced a growth of 6.1%, while housing security spending
09:06grew by 2.5%. Housing security could be one of the most popular topics for Western media to
09:13hype the China collapse. Just last month, the New York Times report titled with
09:19Why it's so hard for China to fix its ailing economy claimed that the danger is that the
09:25government could have fewer fiscal resources to deploy to keep things from unraveling. However,
09:31on the 12th, Liao Ming, Vice Minister of Finance of China, said that in the past three years,
09:37the central government had allocated about US$7 billion to build 6.6 million indemnificatory
09:44apartments for Chinese citizens. In China, indemnificatory apartment refers to government
09:50provided housing aimed at meeting the needs of low- and middle-income families. Additionally,
09:57China has implemented a tax rebate policy encouraging people to trade their old homes
10:03for new ones. They've also reduced the interest rate on housing provident fund loans by 0.25%
10:10points, which will save residents across the country a total of US$2.8 billion in interest
10:17payments each year. And that is all for today. Thank you for watching this episode of China
10:22Current. If you have any thoughts or comments about our show, please reach us at the email
10:26address below. We look forward to hearing from you. See you next time.
10:35We have a short break now, but we'll be right back with us.
10:38Welcome back to China Now. This week's Speak Softly shares how Capital's founder, Charles Liu's
10:43speech on green technology delivered this year in Abu Dhabi. Let's see.
11:08Your Highnesses, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I'm really honored to be here,
11:15especially on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations
11:21between China and the UAE to address the issue of green tech. I'm honored also because
11:30less than a year ago, COP28 was held successfully here in the UAE, and that's where the leaders of
11:39the world and the elite in the sector came and gathered to address this critical issue,
11:50the issue which will impact the rest of the world for many, many decades to come. It will even
11:57involve whether or not the earth will survive. Look at that chart. Even though 127 countries
12:05committed to improving their performance in carbon emissions, this is what we see.
12:14Continued deterioration of the situation. This is weather anomalies, and it's very, very dangerous
12:21where we're headed. And this is not just one country because it's the whole earth that's
12:27impacted. This is the weather anomaly chart, and this is the number of deaths chart.
12:36But this is the significant part, too, for developing countries, especially the amount of
12:41money that is lost because of weather problems or climate issues, and makes it very, very difficult
12:50for developing countries to continue to develop and improve their livelihood of their people if
12:57weather continues to take away from the wealth of the earth. Let me just start by talking about
13:05outlook for green technology. There are two sides to technology. One side is the demand side,
13:13one is the supply side. In terms of demand for energy, it's increasing all the time.
13:20And it's increasing, as you know very well, much faster than people have projected
13:27for a number of reasons. One major reason is developing countries need to grow.
13:32And to grow, you need to have electricity. That's on the demand side. On the supply side,
13:40there's an issue of whether or not new and renewable sources of green energy
13:47can continue to meet where the demand is. It's very, very difficult to meet the demand
13:54as it stands now. But to meet the demand that is forthcoming, that is continuing to grow,
14:02some in astronomical growth levels, for example, which we will touch on later,
14:10on AI, for example, the demand on power will be incredible. So,
14:21on the supply side of electricity, 40 percent are still by fuel.
14:31And still, a significant portion is contributing to the impact on the CO2 emissions.
14:49Now, what has happened with new and renewable sources of energy is that wind, solar are the
14:59are the biggest contributors to new and renewable deployment worldwide.
15:07And in this regard, there is good news because of what happened in China.
15:14Solar is now a significant portion of energy supply in China. Over 37 percent now of China's
15:26energy is new and renewable, and the bulk of it is solar. This is a chart of
15:33solar making up 75 percent of new and renewables worldwide. And China is a major contributor
15:43in this. You can see with this chart, the red being China, of course, in terms of contribution.
15:52And also, in 2023, both wind and solar installations in China increased by 50 percent.
16:03So, it's continuing to grow. What happened in the process that is significant is China,
16:11because of the market size, creates economies of scale and supply chain,
16:17and supply chain, allowing China to produce all the new and renewable equipment at a fraction of
16:27the cost of elsewhere. We have a situation in which the price of solar is now cheaper than
16:34coal, and the price of solar is now 90 percent reduction from what it was 10 years ago.
16:42So, it becomes available to anyone and everyone. It is hoped that in China, by 2028,
16:5360 percent of new energy supply requirements will be through new and renewables. You can see
17:03utility-scale solar and wind power capacity of the top 10 countries. China is the majority,
17:12it's the bulk of it. So, I think it's recognized by all that China has the capacity to produce this
17:20at a very cheap price, so that it could be used by the rest of the world and contribute to
17:28reducing carbon emissions for everyone.
17:32This is what's happening with solar and wind. Wind is getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
17:39This propeller is 19 tons, and moving it about is not easy, around mountains and so on,
17:49but it's the most efficient wind blade that exists now and is now widely used in China.
18:02So, two things. One is it's getting bigger and bigger. The solar farms are getting bigger, too.
18:09Solar farms are one gigawatt to start, and now they're talking about even more than that.
18:16Ladies and gentlemen, one gigawatt means 1.5 million panels.
18:24Think about what that means in terms of building, constructing, and maintaining.
18:30I have some stories to tell about that that would be interesting.
18:35So, they're getting bigger is one thing. The other thing is they're getting smarter.
18:41Internet of Things allows data to flow, and AI allows data to be analyzed and studied,
18:49and circumstances and situations to be analyzed like in never-before ways.
18:58And then, this is mixed energy. Wind turbines, especially offshore, have a problem
19:07in terms of transmitting it onto shore because it's pretty far off the shore,
19:13and the undersea cables are expensive and difficult to lay out. So, what China has done
19:21is developed a combined system of wind and hydrogen. What you see there is something
19:31that could be moved about. It's a hydrogen generator without using fresh water. Using
19:39seawater can produce hydrogen cleanly, and then it becomes wind power converted to hydrogen.
19:50Wind power converted to hydrogen means that it could be stored and transported.
19:56This was actually successfully tested in July of this year.
20:05So, we have new renewables getting bigger, smarter, and multifaceted. Combination use
20:17of different technologies. I won't get into details on hydrogen energy because it's probably
20:25it's probably not going to be really significant within the near future, but there are a number
20:33of studies which indicated countries are beginning to look at hydrogen more seriously
20:37as a means of safe transport and storage. So, potentially, there could be about $500 billion
20:44worth of investment in about five to seven years, but it could be seen as a really good transitory
20:52or intermediate term solution. Now, this is the interesting one, nuclear fusion.
21:03As you can see in the chart that this is a test, laboratory test in Shanghai, and
21:14we're talking about 120 million degrees centigrade power being generated for over 400 seconds.
21:27Now, the test has improved on previous records of 100 seconds, 150 seconds, and so on and so forth.
21:35Fusion is basically, I guess the only way to describe it is a mini sun
21:42on earth, and this is ultimately going to be the most efficient, the cheapest, and probably
21:51the only true pollution-free generator of power. There is a lot of progress,
22:01a lot of progress, but there are no clearly delineated scientific route to addressing this,
22:11addressing the technological and engineering issues that have to be addressed.
22:17It will probably take another 10 years before this is all defined. So, within the next 10 years,
22:24the other means are still more important, but scientifically, it's China and Europe
22:31which are most advanced in fusion technology development. Now, I'd like to address a few
22:40green technologies plus key issues.
22:47Transition from fossil fuel to new and renewable sources of energy will lead to a lot of issues.
22:54Competition. We see the competition for fossil fuels, and we will see competition for
23:06minerals that's required for new and renewables. We'll see competition for supply chains
23:14for new and renewables. We'll see competition worldwide for control over the distribution and
23:24production of new and renewables. Ultimately, in this context, I think there are two issues
23:36that I think are significant that has to be addressed. That is fairness and justice.
23:44Developed countries have been developing for a long time, have been emitting CO2 for a long time,
23:51and has been polluting the air that is impacting the rest of the world for a long time.
24:01Now, you can see this from this chart, how much has been
24:07pumped into the air by the developing nations and in recent years by China.
24:14This is one reason why China is working very hard on promoting new and renewable sources of energy.
24:21This is figures for the top CO2-emitting countries from 1750, industrial revolutions begin
24:30and to 2021. G7 countries cost 44.6% of all human-caused CO2 emissions,
24:43and there is a responsibility of the developed countries to address this issue with nuclear
24:49power plants, with new and renewables. So, I think it's important in terms of fairness and just
24:58justice and fairness for developing countries to receive support from the major developed countries
25:08in promoting new and renewable sources of energy that can help them develop and have
25:14sustainable development. Current climate funding is really insufficient. There have been a lot of
25:23commitments by developing countries. So, I think this is something that should be brought to the
25:30attention to the rest of the world, and COP28 certainly has done that, and I think this will
25:36continue to happen. Again, sorry to talk about China so much, but China is very big in this
25:44sector. China is very big in this sector. In every aspect of new and renewable, China is a leading
25:51player, and the reason is very simple, of course, because China's market size, its economy, its scale,
26:00and the most important part is government focus, policy focus, and government drive toward improving
26:12their carbon emissions. I have some examples of how the Chinese government has done it.
26:19For those of you who might have gone to China 10 or 15 years ago, you will recall that Beijing
26:27was a city under a haze. Remember the concept of PM2.5? The pollution that was in Beijing that
26:36was horrendous and hopeless? In three years, everything cleaned out. Skies were blue.
26:44An area was clean. How did they do it? Government commitment to do it. They did it.
26:50There are several ways. One is to change all coal-fired power plants to gas. That's one.
27:01Second is homes that were using coal for heating change to gas. So, for a while, there was shortage
27:10of gas in China, and a lot of LNG had to be imported, but when people get used to it,
27:21they think and they realize that it's a lot better to use gas. The other part that was really good
27:28was that education. People were educated, were told about what caused this PM2.5 pollution, and
27:40young people started to look out for cleaner solutions, and people started to do engineering
27:47studies on pollution reduction and pollution control. So, I think education is a very
27:56significant portion of what goes into a society to move toward a greener future.
28:03This is a story that I want to tell that is now a reality.
28:14We have a situation in which China is moving heavily into solar, and the solar power plants
28:22are getting bigger and bigger. As I mentioned before, one gigawatt is 1.5 million panels.
28:291.5 million panels. Now, if you have panels, they have to be maintained. They have to be maintained
28:37how? To make sure that it doesn't crack, or there are cracks which have to be solved, and then
28:44the chips inside are still functioning properly. The wires inside are not broken, but for things
28:51which are sitting out in the air, with water, rain, with sun, with sand possibly,
29:02of course things will crack. Things will go wrong. As my friend here knows, if one cracks
29:10seriously, the entire line stops producing. The whole row of panels stops producing,
29:18and that's very significant in terms of efficiency of production of electricity for solar panels.
29:25So, in China, talk about ingenious solutions. They found a way of doing this without having to have
29:34people with a monitor checking one panel by one panel. 1.5 million panels takes a long time to
29:42check. They're using drones, and the drones will flash a near-infrared light on the panels
29:53and take a photo, and then using AI, they can decipher which panels are in what shape.
30:02Are they okay? And then immediately, they can address the defunct panel, the panel that is
30:11having problems. So, in addition to human renewable sources of energy, drones,
30:21AI, these are things all contributing to improve the situation in the sector. I think this is
30:30something that really should be spread as broadly as possible worldwide, because from what I know,
30:38in the Middle East, the building of large-scale solar farms are more prevalent than micro-scale
30:50or distributed, and that means if you don't maintain them properly, then you're wasting your
30:57money. I've prepared some other things on China, but I don't think I should talk about China much
31:06more. But the only thing that I would like to talk about in this context... Oh, this is an
31:13interesting slide. I forgot about this slide. Solar farms. This is in Ningxia Province. It is
31:25Gobi Desert. It is a desert condition. Because of the solar farm, wind supply,
31:34the amount of wind was reduced by 50%. So, as a result, grass started to grow,
31:43and grass, when dried up, becomes very dangerous to fire. So, what happens? They started raising
31:52sheep or goats to eat the grass. So now, this solar farm actually has 20,000 goats. So,
32:03the farmers around are actually very, very happy that this is possible.
32:09I think there are a couple of things on the horizon which are significant.
32:13I think it's important to think about what China can do for the rest of the world in this context.
32:20I have a story to tell about that, speaking to a very senior OAU official.
32:27He talked about the growth of Africa in the last decade, and he said,
32:32Charles, we have to thank Shenzhen. I said, what? Thank Shenzhen? Why Shenzhen?
32:40He said, the last 10 years, Africa developed very quickly. One reason is because of the
32:46development of smartphones. Smartphones, meaning Huawei and ZTE building out the
32:564G network in Africa, and the suppliers of Shenzhen, because of their manufacturing capacity,
33:05was able to produce cell phones, smartphones, for $45 a piece for Africa. Now,
33:13why is that significant? Because Africans, 90% of them didn't have bank accounts.
33:19They couldn't do financial transactions. But with smartphones, they were able to do
33:25financial transactions. They were able to do information flows, and contact, and
33:33study more about the rest of the world. So he said, Shenzhen is able to do this,
33:41and it's been very helpful to Africa. I'm hoping that in new renewable sources of energy,
33:48same thing could happen. Same thing could happen where China's economy is at scale,
33:54and manufacturing powers could help the rest of the world in the same way. I call this
34:01the Chinese way of bringing everybody in through abundance, instead of keeping people out
34:08through scarcity. For UAE, I think UAE has abundance of capital, especially long-term
34:17capital. And UAE also has something which I think is really sorely needed in a lot of countries,
34:25that is the vision. Looking at what UAE has done in the sector of AI, which is something
34:32that we've been following very, very closely in China as well, it is definitely a country
34:42where the leadership has vision, and is looking forward to innovation at the very tip of the
34:51pyramid. And I hope UAE can work with China in this context. You have deployable capital,
35:01but even more than that, your investments have given you a lot of IP rights.
35:07And these IP rights, if you leave it in the laboratories, it doesn't do very good,
35:14doesn't do very much good. But if it's combined with China's manufacturing powers, and its
35:20capacity to deliver to the rest of the world, I think will be very, very valuable. Thank you.
35:35And this was another episode of China Now, a show that opens a window to the
35:39present and future of the Asian giant. Hope you enjoyed it. See you next time.