00:00Chinese President Xi Jinping closes out one of the Communist Party's key meetings of the year,
00:08the fourth plenum in Beijing. The meeting sets the tone for the country's next five-year economic
00:13plan to be finalized next spring. China wants independence from countries like the U.S.
00:18in critical technologies like chips and AI. But those lofty goals come as the country experiences
00:24slowing economic growth, a struggling real estate sector, and falling exports. That's due in large
00:30part to U.S. tariffs. In Taiwan, some worry that Washington might soften or recalibrate its stance
00:36on Taipei to clench a China trade deal, even as Beijing steps up military pressure across the
00:41Taiwan Strait. Local experts say that if China wants to become the world's leading tech powerhouse,
00:47cross-strait peace remains key.
00:54While observers in Washington say Beijing might avoid putting Taiwan on the bargaining table.
01:13But what I've been hearing more recently is actually the Chinese don't want to set the precedent that this
01:18is up for negotiation, right? They don't want to introduce this into the equation because they want
01:22to be able to say, we have a principled approach to Taiwan. And so we're not going to talk about it,
01:27talk about this at all with the Americans right now, especially since they don't have
01:31that kind of trust in Trump that whatever they agree to, he'll actually stick to it.
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