Voice of America Chinese Broadcast (July 9, 2026)

This edition of Voice of America Chinese broadcast covers multiple important international and U.S. domestic news stories, including NATO's declaration at the Ankara summit reaffirming collective defense and defense spending commitments; Trump's visit to NATO discussing strikes on Iran, Greenland, and meetings with multiple world leaders; the RIMPAC military exercises in Hawaii showcasing U.S.-Japan anti-submarine cooperation and data sharing; and the "Dear America" special exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington along with an exclusive interview with American-Chinese writer Han Xiu, marking the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.

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Hello everyone, welcome to the Voice of America Chinese broadcast. I am Xu Xiangyun. Every day, we bring you the latest updates on U.S. government policies and U.S.-China relations from the U.S. capital, Washington. President Trump praised NATO unity and significant progress in increasing collective defense spending, and NATO issued a statement reaffirming Article 5 on collective defense, while the RIMPAC military exercises in Hawaii showcased U.S.-Japan anti-submarine cooperation.

On Wednesday, on the final day of the Ankara summit, NATO issued a statement reaffirming Article 5 concerning collective defense. The statement also emphasized that NATO is fulfilling the commitments made at last year's Hague summit. Similar to the statement from The Hague summit, this year's statement still did not mention China. NATO leaders attending the Ankara summit released a six-point statement, with the first point being a reaffirmation of NATO's commitment to collective defense as stipulated in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty and the transatlantic bond—that an attack on one country is an attack on all countries. The first point of the statement also emphasized NATO unity. The second point emphasized NATO member states' commitment to increasing defense spending reached at last year's Hague summit. The third point of the statement is about building NATO 3.0, meaning European member states and Canada working together to reduce reliance on the United States and take on greater responsibility for European defense. Other contents of the statement include support for Ukraine and reaffirming that Iran cannot possess nuclear weapons. Like the statement from last year's Hague summit, the Ankara statement did not mention China. However, the NATO Secretary General briefly mentioned China and Russia during his press conference, stating that China and Russia have moved into the northern areas of NATO allies, and NATO must respond together.

At a press conference held in Ankara, President Trump praised the atmosphere of unity shown at the NATO summit. President Trump stated that he discussed with NATO leaders the tremendous progress made on the joint goal of alliance members raising annual defense spending to 5% of Gross Domestic Product. President Trump said at the press conference that he briefed NATO leaders on measures to expand U.S. production of defense equipment for sale to NATO member states. He said that several U.S. defense projects announced earlier this week include U.S. companies such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Anduril investing $3 billion. "Our equipment is effective, but we must produce them faster for other countries. I reported to the leaders on the steps we are taking to rapidly expand U.S. production." In addition to meeting with the leaders of 32 NATO member states, President Trump also held separate bilateral talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. He told Zelenskyy that the United States will allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot missiles and teach them the manufacturing methods. President Trump also stated that he has established a good relationship with Zelenskyy.

On the Iranian side, because Iran attacked three merchant vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz the day before, the United States launched strikes in response. On Wednesday at NATO, President Trump criticized Iran for violating the ceasefire agreement and stated that the temporary ceasefire had come to an end. President Trump vowed to launch further strikes against Iran. During his meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, President Trump praised Sharaa's governance and indicated that the United States might remove Syria from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

What are the key points of the declaration released by the NATO summit on Wednesday, especially regarding issues such as defense spending and support for Ukraine? Let's listen to the report from Ankara by VOA reporter Siyang. Well, Xiangyun, it's like this: about an hour ago, the NATO Ankara Summit issued the Ankara Declaration, which consists of roughly six points. The first point is the reaffirmation of NATO's collective defense, meaning Article 5—an attack on one country is considered an attack on all member states. The second point concerns the defense spending you just mentioned; they stated that this point mainly fulfills a commitment made by NATO at the Hague Summit, as Lin Feng just mentioned, to increase defense spending to 5%. During this meeting, NATO announced about 50 billion dollars in new procurement. As we noted at the time, they hope to use this to show U.S. President Trump that we have already converted our defense spending into real military strength. The third point is about building NATO 3.0, which means reducing dependence on the United States and having Europe take on NATO's conventional responsibilities. The fourth point is about Ukraine, stating that Ukraine has contributed to transatlantic security, and NATO will unswervingly support Ukraine in defending its freedom, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. The fifth point discusses how the alliance will continue to address the strategic competition and widespread instability in the broader security environment, which touches upon Iran; it states that NATO does not support and opposes Iran possessing nuclear weapons, and calls on Iran to fully respect freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. The sixth point expresses gratitude to the host country, Turkey. This statement does not mention China, just like last year, when China was not mentioned either. However, in the subsequent press conference, Rutte briefly mentioned that China and Russia are entering our northern region, and all our member states need to act closely together.

Xiangyun Siyang, we know that NATO Secretary General Rutte stated before the summit that NATO first wants to show the world at the Ankara Summit that we are fulfilling the commitments made last year in The Hague, and that we will revitalize the concept of NATO 3.0—a stronger Europe, a stronger NATO. How did NATO demonstrate this at the summit? As I just mentioned, the first day of the summit kicked off with a defense industry forum. At this forum, NATO Secretary General Rutte announced a series of defense cooperation agreements worth the aforementioned 50 billion dollars, with the intention of showing the U.S. President that NATO is serious about boosting its own defense capabilities. Then, the concept of NATO 3.0 is something Rutte has been constantly pushing; as I mentioned just now, the meaning of NATO 3.0 is to have NATO take the lead in the defense of the European continent, with NATO taking charge rather than depending on the United States. This concept was also actually brought up by the U.S., which said we hope to establish a partnership rather than a dependency, Xiangyun.

President Trump arrived at the summit late Tuesday, and what kind of message did he convey? President Trump stated that he had a lot to say about NATO today and yesterday. He specifically mentioned that during a press conference in the morning with NATO Secretary General Rutte, he brought up the issue of Iran, saying that the ceasefire agreement with Iran was essentially over and that he was unwilling to deal with the Iranians anymore because it was a waste of time. He also criticized the United States and NATO member states, particularly Spain, stating that he had instructed the U.S. Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, to cut off all ties with Spain. He explained that this was because Spain refused to provide the U.S. with two military bases in March of this year during U.S. operations against Iran. Furthermore, during his meeting with Turkish President Erdogan yesterday, the President also criticized some NATO member states for failing to provide support for U.S. actions against Iran. The President then brought up Greenland, an issue that has sparked considerable controversy, reiterating that Greenland should be managed by the United States because Denmark has failed to provide adequate defense and security, and Greenland is currently surrounded by Russian and Chinese vessels. Lastly, regarding Turkey, he said the United States would consider lifting restrictions on Turkey and providing it with F-35 fighter jets; the reason for this was that Turkey had purchased an air defense system from Russia in 2020, which had prompted U.S. restrictions against Turkey.

Siyang, as we know, on July 7 during the Ankara summit, the NATO Secretary General held talks with representatives from the IP4—Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. What did they discuss, and how is it connected to China? Right, NATO Secretary General Rutte held a meeting on July 7, which was yesterday, with representatives from the IP4—namely Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, and Australia, as we just mentioned. The primary focus of their discussion was a candid exchange of views on the international situation, including Russia's aggression against Ukraine, China's aggressive posture in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, and North Korea's policies and actions in Northeast Asia. They agreed that the most crucial message is that the security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions is indivisible. This concept has actually been brought up consistently over the past two years; ever since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, people have been saying that today's Ukraine is tomorrow's Indo-Pacific, so this concept has persisted. More importantly, as we know, on July 6, the day before the NATO summit began, China test-fired a missile from a submarine, which attracted the attention of all countries. According to a statement by Japan's Ministry of Defense, they discussed this issue during the meeting between NATO leaders and the IP4 representatives, and expressed serious concern over China's missile test. Regarding China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, as mentioned earlier, their alliances and actions have prompted NATO Secretary General Rutte to state previously that each of them individually is already troublesome enough, and now they are acting jointly, which means NATO should pay close attention.

At this NATO summit, the growth of defense budgets among European countries has attracted much attention, and President Trump has also proposed that the United States will strengthen defense investment and production. Wang Weizheng, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Adelphi University in the United States, stated that NATO member states showing sincerity and keeping the United States within the NATO framework is one of the main goals of this summit. NATO Secretary General Rutte will do his utmost to explain to President Trump what steps we have taken since last year, and what actions these countries have taken now, in order to achieve the 5% target we discussed. Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Carney is pushing a new concept called the Defense Security and Resilience Bank. Basically, it is a new world bank, but this bank is designed to raise funds and support the military-industrial complex. Because if the security challenges are truly huge, you will immediately find that these European countries, much like the United States, have enjoyed peace for a long time; restarting the military-industrial complex and producing ammunition or tanks is not something that can be done overnight. If you go to a bank to borrow money and say you want to develop the military-industrial complex, the bank will not lend it to you. Therefore, the Canadian Prime Minister suggested starting afresh to build a new world bank dedicated specifically to providing credit guarantees and other functions. I think this concept is quite interesting, but it has just begun discussion. By the time it becomes a reality and money is actually delivered to these arms dealers for mass, rapid weapons production, I think it will still take several years. NATO must keep the United States; I cannot imagine a NATO without the United States. Right now, it seems that the relationship between the United States under President Trump's leadership and other NATO member states is facing a critical juncture. I think the biggest challenge for NATO in the future does not come from enemies or the outside world, but from themselves—specifically, whether the United States and European countries can persuade the United States to stay. However, European countries must also stand tall and do more themselves to ensure that this collective security organization, which has maintained peace in the European region for some seventy or eighty years, can continue.

Liao Yanfen, deputy director of the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub, also pointed out that facing the military supply chain formed by Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran, European countries indeed need to seriously consider the necessity of strengthening defense production. From the perspective of Chinese observers, a block formed by Russia, China, North Korea, and even Iran has created a supply chain, especially in weapon systems, defense systems, and related industrial integration. Whether this will continue to consolidate in the future, and even see further development after the Russia-Ukraine war, is a point worth noting. This relates to the competition issues in the defense industry and production sector we just mentioned. Since Russia currently uses a vast amount of artillery shells, ammunition, and drones on the battlefield—much of which relies on Chinese manufacturing capacity, while human resources largely depend on North Korea—their integration has become increasingly tight. Therefore, the final question is: since the industrial integration between China and Russia is already so close, how does Europe plan to resolve this problem? This is a major issue involving economics, raw materials, and the defense sector overseen by NATO.

Amidst China's rare recent test-firing of a submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile, which sparked regional anxiety, the world's largest RIMPAC exercise is intensively underway in Hawaii. Voice of America reporters on the scene witnessed the U.S. Navy's P-8A and Japan's P-1 maritime patrol aircraft, and exclusively interviewed front-line commanders from the U.S. and Japan. The U.S. commander emphasized that allied forces are prepared to share Taiwan Strait data in real time, while the Japanese commander stated that Asia must never allow a situation similar to the invasion of Ukraine to occur. Please watch this report from Hawaii by Voice of America reporters Wang Yuhe and Jiudao. I am now at the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station in Hawaii, attending the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft Media Day for the 2026 RIMPAC exercise, taking a close look at how multiple nations carry out maritime patrols, deploy aviation forces, and conduct joint cooperation. Behind me is the U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, specifically designed for anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions. Right around the time of the exercise, following China's rare test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile from a nuclear submarine in the South China Sea into the Pacific on July 6, countering potential threats has taken on heightened practical significance for the participating nations.

Voice of America interviewed Colonel Matt Leetch, Commander of the US Joint Task Force, on site. He emphasized that the core purpose of the RIMPAC exercise is to ensure that participating nations can respond to conflicts at a moment's notice. This truly reflects the significance of us exercising submarine tracking here. A total of five submarines are participating in this year's Rim of the Pacific exercise, giving all partner nations the opportunity to continuously track submarines. In challenging water environments, under harsh sea conditions, or amidst the strong winds you see right now, and we must hand over tasks among different partner nations—this completely simulates the operations we would take at our duty stations during a real-world mission if we had to respond to a conflict, allowing various countries the opportunity to gather together to train, build relationships, and genuinely trust one another. In March of this year, a US P-8A Poseidon patrol aircraft flew through the international airspace of the Taiwan Strait. The US side emphasized at the time that this action demonstrated the United States' firm commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, and that a core function of the patrol aircraft is to transmit detected underwater enemy situations in a timely manner to allies and friends via encrypted data links. If a crisis occurs in the Taiwan Strait, how prepared is your force in terms of sharing data with allies? This is also one of the core parts of why we are holding the Rim of the Pacific exercise here. We have integrated allies into all staff command and control systems. I am the Joint Task Force Commander responsible for responding to specific mission assignments, and we have partner nations leading these operations. What we are practicing is precisely how to share data: when we discover a submarine in our operational sea area, can we transmit intelligence in a timely manner to our commanders, allies, and partners through data links and secure networks? What I want to say is that we are here right now, at this very moment, proving that we can act together to achieve this and are ready to respond.

Faced with escalating geopolitical tensions, the Japan Self-Defense Forces participating in this exercise have become an indispensable and crucial force for maintaining Indo-Pacific security. The aircraft behind me now is a P-1 maritime patrol aircraft equipped by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, which is also a large fixed-wing anti-submarine patrol aircraft independently developed by Japan, mainly used for missions such as maritime patrol, anti-submarine warfare, and sea area surveillance. Regarding the stability of the Taiwan Strait, Commander Maejima, of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force air unit stationed at the Naha base in Okinawa, Japan—just a one-hour flight from Taiwan—stated in an exclusive interview with Voice of America the day before yesterday that Japan will never allow any acts that undermine regional security to occur, and that Japan will never allow a situation similar to the Russian Federation's invasion of Ukraine to happen in the Asian region. Therefore, Japan is making every effort to maintain a safe and secure environment, so I believe our actions in this Rim of the Pacific military exercise will contribute to this. The Japanese Ministry of Defense recently lodged a protest against China's frequent military activities, urging the Chinese side to reconsider missile incidents that may threaten Japan's airspace security. Our actions in the Rim of the Pacific military exercise will help contribute to a free and open ocean, while being closely tied to our defense and deterrence capabilities. The P-8A and P-1 patrol aircraft normally perform high-alert anti-submarine and maritime surveillance missions and are rarely open to the public; their appearance at the Rim of the Pacific military exercise provided a rare opportunity for a close-up understanding.

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After the founding of the People's Republic of China by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1949, Han Xiu, a Chinese-American writer and the first anti-American citizen permitted to stay in China, reflected on her 30 years of experience in China as the United States marked the 250th anniversary of its founding. She stated that America's greatness stems from its political system, the ballots in the hands of its people, and the right to freely express opinions. The United States is a nation of immigrants; people from all over the world brought their cultures and beliefs to this blessed land. Our ancestors paid with tremendous labor, blood, and life to win the independence and true freedom of this land. Later, we also had the Civil War to ensure that everyone is equal—a concept that took deep root in the United States, which is a magnificent creation. There are many dangers, and many dangers happen; simply put, in a democracy, if there are 100 people present, there will be 150 different opinions, right? And everyone expresses their own views, and everyone feels they are right. This is democracy. But we hold a ballot in our hands to elect the leaders of our small counties, our governors, and our president. Do not belittle any American president; the person working in the White House, this master of the White House, represents the hope of the vast majority of American voters. Some presidents do very well, and some presidents do not do so well, but they are still chosen by the voters. Yet every American president serves for four or eight years, and they cannot serve for a lifetime; they cannot do whatever they want. Why? Because the United States has the separation of powers, we still have Congress and we still have courts, so everything tends to be relatively complex. Sometimes the transparency is too high, and everyone is discussing it endlessly, but people have the right to speak and the right to express their opinions.

At the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., a special exhibition titled "Dear America" has been launched, examining this land and its revolutionary history through more than 100 precious works of art from the late 18th century to the present. The year 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., serves as an important outpost for these nationwide celebrations. Let us now take a look at some classic patriotic paintings. To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, the National Gallery of Art is holding the special exhibition "Dear America," examining this land and its revolutionary history through more than 100 works of art from the late 18th century to the present, capturing artists' unique interpretations of the American experience. Every painting in the exhibition halls presents a critical moment in American history, connecting the complete footprint of this country from its birth to its maturity. In this portrait titled George Washington Before the Battle of Trenton, the painter Peale recreates the heroic posture of George Washington as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army directing his troops near the end of the Revolutionary War in 1781. The mullein beside the horse's hoof symbolizes righteousness and light, while the dark weeds beside it represent the British colonial forces, which are being heavily trampled under the feet of Washington's warhorse. The painting The House of Representatives was created in 1822 by Samuel Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, who wanted to use it to praise the American democratic system in operation. In the painting, the hall of the House of Representatives glows under the lights as it prepares to open an evening session. Morse spent four months in Washington personally painting every single congressman, judge, and journalist. The Civil War was a turning point in American history; this huge bronze relief commemorates the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, the first official unit composed of African Americans at the time, as they resolutely marched toward the casualty-heavy Battle of Fort Wagner. Completed shortly after the Civil War, the work became one of the very few public monuments paying tribute to abolitionist heroes. Viewing the exhibition, citizens re-experienced the 250-year journey of America's founding through the faces depicted by the brushes. What shocked me the most was that the paintings showed the struggles, turbulence, love, and joy of all kinds of people in America. Regardless of whether their appearance was the same as mine, what deeply moved me was everything the country has achieved over the past 250 years.

As for what the American spirit actually is, visitors of different generations also gave their own answers. For me, the American spirit is working hard, enjoying life, not worrying about tomorrow, and forgetting the troubles of the past; please enjoy the present. Although days are sometimes difficult, please persevere. Regarding the American spirit, older generations may have a very clear definition, but our generation sometimes feels a bit lost. To be honest, I don't have an answer, but I hope we are on the right track to finding the answer. The American spirit means having the freedom to be oneself, learning different cultures here, welcoming others, and simply living one's life well. In the National Gallery of Art, the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States is not just a date in history books, but a dream and practice woven together by countless people. This is a reporting piece by Voice of America reporters Wang Yuhe and Liu Enming. That is all for today's Voice of America Chinese broadcast. Thank you for listening. You can also listen to the Voice of America Chinese broadcast on the Voice of America Chinese Department's YouTube channel or social media platforms like Facebook, and you can search for Voice of America on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to listen to our programs at any time. I am Xu Xiangyun, and we will see you next time.