Voice of America Chinese Broadcast (September 17, 2026)

This episode covers multiple international and regional breaking news stories, including civilian casualties from Russian drone strikes in southern Ukraine, border conflicts between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, preparations for high-level US-China economic and trade talks, the trial of the new Au Kam San case in Macau, US visa restrictions on South Africa, updates on the deployment of F-15EX fighters at the US military's Kadena Air Base in Japan, China's implementation of new entry and exit regulations and the ensuing discussions, topics on the US-China summit and arms sales to Taiwan, and the European Parliament's adoption of a recommendation report on preventing foreign interference.

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Ukrainian officials said that Russian drones struck a passenger bus and a train in southern Ukraine on September 16, marking the latest attacks on Ukraine's transportation system. Police said the drones struck the bus near the frontline city of Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region in the morning, killing four men and one woman. The regional governor said on Telegram that seven other people were injured. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media that there was no military logic to this, calling it yet another brutal act, and urged the US and Europe to strengthen sanctions against Russia. In the Mykolaiv region, acting governor Georgii Reshpylov stated on Telegram that a drone attacked a passenger train, and all 168 passengers and crew members were evacuated with no injuries reported, though the train was hit twice more after the initial attack. Zelenskyy said a locomotive was also hit in Kovel, near the Polish border. Ukrainian state railways told Reuters that since the beginning of this year, Russia has attacked 1,700 railway facilities, exceeding the 1,206 recorded for the entire year of 2025. The department stated that 120 passenger cars, 304 locomotives, and 43 stations have been attacked this year. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X that this is not collateral damage, but a systematic hunting of people and an attempt to paralyze civilian life. Russia has not yet commented, and both sides deny intentionally attacking civilians. In an interview broadcast on CBS News on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said that no agreement has been reached to halt attacks on energy facilities. This followed a post on Truth Social on Monday by President Donald Trump stating that the two countries had agreed to stop such attacks. Zelenskyy said US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner recently floated the idea during a visit to Kyiv, and he told them that if there is a truce, it would mean an absolute halt to attacks on energy facilities.

In Lithuania, President Gitanas Nauseda said that the drone shot down by an Italian NATO fighter jet on Tuesday was an "Orlan" type, a drone model used by Russia. He stated that it was highly likely not a deliberate act against Lithuania, and that the drone was likely targeting Ukraine but veered off course due to Ukrainian electronic warfare. Polish prosecutors said on Wednesday that a drone washed up on a Baltic Sea beach was a Russian "Orlan-10" drone carrying a warhead, which had been disarmed. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that Russian air defense systems attacked 71 Ukrainian drones overnight. Acting Governor of Belgorod Oblast, Alexander Shuvaev, said that 1 person was killed and 4 were injured within a 24-hour period.

Saudi Arabia and the pro-Iranian Houthi rebels in Yemen launched a new round of airstrikes against each other on Wednesday, while frontline fighting remains intense in many provinces across war-torn Yemen. The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia has warned U.S. citizens not to travel to the Yemen border region due to the threat of terrorism. The U.S. Department of State maintains its travel advisory, stating that U.S. citizens should not travel to Yemen for any reason due to risks including terrorism, civil unrest, crime, health risks, kidnapping, and landmines. Recent Houthi rebel offensives in Yemen have led to the occupation of large areas along the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which are vital global trade routes. The U.S. has warned the Houthis against disrupting maritime shipping and urged the group to stop attacks within Yemen and on Saudi territory. On Wednesday, the Saudi-backed Yemeni authorities reported airstrikes against Houthi forces in Taiz and Marib provinces. Official media stated that the Yemeni army attacked Houthi militia strongholds, military camps, and personnel on the Kuda frontline in western Taiz. The government also stated that intense clashes occurred on the southern Marib frontline and claimed to have inflicted losses on the Houthi forces. The Houthis, designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., stated on Wednesday that they had launched two new airstrikes against Saudi Arabia, firing dozens of ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi Aramco facilities in Yanbu and launching ballistic missiles at the Khamis Mushait airbase. The Houthis claimed that Saudi Arabia had conducted over 450 airstrikes this week using F-15 and Typhoon fighter jets taking off from Khamis Mushait and Taif airbases, targeting Taiz, Lahij, Al Jawf, Hajjah, Marib, Saada, and Al Bayda provinces, and claimed to have shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter jet, though this claim has not been independently verified. The Houthis vowed to continue launching attacks deep into Saudi territory, targeting what they called Saudi military concentrations. The Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen's internationally recognized government, which includes countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Malaysia, reported on Wednesday that it intercepted a drone attempting to enter the airspace over Mecca, the holiest city in Islam, which drew strong condemnation from Muslim countries and leaders. Coalition spokesman Major General Turki Al-Maliki stated that Saudi air defense systems intercepted the hostile drone late Tuesday. Al-Maliki said in a statement that the safety of the two holy sites and pilgrims is a red line, and the Joint Forces Command of the Coalition will not hesitate to take necessary and deterrent measures against the terrorist Houthi militia and their hostile and terrorist acts. The United Nations stated that as many as 125,000 people have been displaced in Yemen this month.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that he will hold talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng this weekend. This is expected to be the final high-level negotiation window for both sides to reach economic and trade outcomes before the scheduled meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping next week. During a hearing at the House Financial Services Committee on September 15, Bessent stated that the U.S. and China have already held some very good private discussions regarding the Iran issue, and he looks forward to continuing these discussions during his meeting with He Lifeng this weekend. Bessent said, "I believe that relevant discussions will also continue during President Xi Jinping's state visit." Although Treasury Secretary Bessent clearly confirmed the talks for this weekend, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has not announced specific dates or locations. The Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing a U.S. official, that Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will host He Lifeng and the Chinese delegation in New York on Sunday for a final round of consultations before the summit to address unresolved economic and trade issues between the U.S. and China. Voice of America is still awaiting a response from the U.S. Treasury Department to a request for comment on the weekend U.S.-China talks. As of Wednesday, the Chinese government has not officially announced He Lifeng's visit or meeting arrangements, nor has it confirmed the full agenda for the talks. The Financial Times reported that the two sides will discuss artificial intelligence competition, China's rare earth export restrictions, and how to extend the U.S.-China trade and technology truce, which is set to expire in November. This truce was reached by Trump and Xi during their meeting in South Korea last October, at which time both sides agreed to pause further escalation of tariffs and export restrictions to continue negotiations on trade, investment, and critical mineral supplies. According to multiple people familiar with the matter, Beijing hopes to extend the truce until the end of Trump's current term, while Washington prefers an extension of only six months, as the U.S. side believes China has not yet fully fulfilled its commitments regarding the restoration of rare earth and rare earth magnet supplies.

On September 16, Macau held its first closed-door trial for a national security case, involving former pro-democracy lawmaker Au Kam-san, who is charged with subverting state power. Michael Polak, a London-based lawyer representing Au Kam-san overseas, stated that holding the hearing behind closed doors is tantamount to a sham trial. "His family is certainly worried about this trial, and from the perspective of international law, all signs point to this being a sham trial. We submitted a written submission to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention last week, pointing out that his current detention and his detention following his inevitable conviction in Macau would constitute arbitrary detention. The grounds we raised include that he is being subjected to discriminatory prosecution for his adherence to democratic beliefs, and that his right to a fair trial is not being guaranteed."

The U.S. State Department announced new visa restrictions on certain South African citizens, citing land expropriation and racial discrimination against the white minority Afrikaner population in South Africa. The measures were announced on September 15 by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also listed alleged discriminatory practices of concern to Washington, including racially discriminatory legislation, threats of uncompensated land expropriation, and the incitement of racial violence through inhumane slogans and banners. South Africa denied what it called a distortion of its domestic policy, while acknowledging that challenges do indeed exist in bilateral relations with the United States. President Donald Trump, during a meeting at the White House with visiting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on May 21 last year, had expressed the U.S. government's concern over the alleged discrimination against white farmers. President Trump played videos which he said substantiated the alleged persecution of white South African farmers. Ramaphosa denied the allegation, stating that he had not seen the videos, and insisted that discriminating against farmers was not his government's policy. The Trump administration subsequently offered refugee status to white South Africans determined to have suffered persecution in their home country. Rubio stated on Tuesday that South African leaders had failed to adequately respond to previously raised U.S. concerns, noting that this was what prompted the decision to implement new restrictions pursuant to the authority vested in the Secretary of State by immigration and international law. In a statement, Rubio said the United States remains deeply concerned about racially motivated crimes and state-directed discrimination experienced by Afrikaners and other minority groups in South Africa, including racially discriminatory legislation, threats of uncompensated land expropriation, and the incitement of racial violence through inhumane slogans and banners. Writing on the platform X, Rubio noted that the new visa restrictions target foreign citizens who formulate or facilitate policies in South Africa that promote racial discrimination, incite violence, or lead to uncompensated land confiscation. Rubio stated that these restrictions target individuals responsible for or complicit in formulating and implementing relevant laws or policies. South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola rejected the so-called unilateral visa restrictions announced by Rubio, stating that South Africa, as a sovereign nation, is committed to addressing past injustices and contemporary challenges. In a statement, he said that enacting laws to address national concerns over centuries of racial injustice is our sovereign right. Lamola emphasized that South Africa has enacted legislation aimed at preventing and combating hate crimes and hate speech, noting that the law binds both state and non-state actors. He expressed the necessity of seeking solutions between the two countries while acknowledging that bilateral relations face challenges.

Kadena Air Base in Japan, located just 600 kilometers from Taiwan, is the closest major U.S. Air Force base to Taiwan. The U.S. Air Force plans to replace the retired F-15C/D fighters with 36 new F-15EX Eagle II fighters in the future. The U.S. Air Force recently completed live-fire testing for the F-15EX, and the first F-15EX designated for deployment to Kadena Air Base rolled off the production line in the United States at the end of August, marking two important milestones for maintaining stability in the Western Pacific. After the F-15C/D fleet permanently stationed at Kadena Air Base is fully retired in 2025, the base's regional air defense and deterrence missions are currently being handled by rotational deployments of squadrons such as the F-22 Raptor and F-35A Lightning II. Kadena Air Base issued a press release stating that the first F-15EX Eagle II designated for permanent stationing at Kadena Air Base left Boeing's factory in St. Louis at the end of August and flew to the 142nd Wing of the Oregon Air National Guard for follow-up preparations, marking a significant milestone toward permanent deployment to Japan. Brigadier General John Gallemore, commander of the 18th Wing of the U.S. Forces Japan, stated in the press release that the wing is ready to welcome the F-15EX. The 142nd Wing of the Oregon Air National Guard is the first combat unit to be equipped with the F-15EX Eagle II. The wing conducted its first live-fire test at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada from late August to early September, verifying its air-to-ground strike effectiveness and achieving a historic milestone. Previously, the F-15EX had completed a series of tests to verify control surfaces and live-fire loading and bombing performance, but this was the first time a frontline combat unit completed such tests, which is expected to accelerate the pace of the U.S. military's F-15EX transition. The F-15EX is the most advanced fighter in the U.S. Air Force, equipped with advanced avionics, a payload capacity of 29,500 pounds, and the ability to carry up to 12 air-to-air missiles. The U.S. Air Force plans to deploy the F-15EX to Kadena Air Base in fiscal year 2027 and also plans to expand the F-15EX fleet to 267 aircraft. On Wednesday, among the three major stock market indices, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 1.21%, the S&P 500 index fell by 0.44%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index fell by 0.01%.

On September 15, China began implementing new entry-and-exit regulations to further strengthen control over the entry and exit of its own citizens and foreigners. Since these new regulations were promulgated on July 31, they have continued to attract widespread attention. Human rights organizations and scholars say that China is turning border control into a normalized governance tool, and China's borders have effectively become a prison affecting millions of people. Entitled regulations on exit-and-entry management, the document contains a total of 19 articles, covering various aspects such as the prevention of outbound security risks for Chinese citizens, application requirements for the entry and exit of personnel including foreigners, numerous restrictive measures, and the management of intermediary services. The Beijing government claims that these new regulations aim to safeguard national security and regulate border management, but observers generally believe that these clauses have significantly expanded the government's power to issue exit bans. Teng Biao, a human rights scholar at the City University of New York, said in an interview with Voice of America on Thursday that China has actually had many restrictions on entry and exit for a long time, and this new regulation has actually refined some of the previous rules. Henry Gao, a law professor at Singapore Management University, told Voice of America in an interview on August 5 that the new regulations are a major restriction on citizens' personal freedom and the right to leave the country. The new regulations actually shift the decision-making power to restrict citizens' freedom to leave the country from what should have been decided by judicial organs to administrative organs, without providing adequate and effective channels for judicial remedy. After the new entry-and-exit regulations came into effect, the targets restricted from leaving the country will expand from specific groups to all personnel leaving China from Chinese ports, especially artificial intelligence researchers and entrepreneurs. Analysts say that the expressions used in the new regulations, such as posing a potential threat to national technological security, are broad and vague in definition, which may have a major impact not only on experts and entrepreneurs in sensitive fields including AI, but also on Chinese citizens at home and abroad, and even ordinary foreign nationals. The practice of China's entry-and-exit regulations turning border control management power into a black hole has triggered widespread attention and discussion on social media inside and outside China, with many netizens expressing their concerns and even panic. In response, on September 10, Chinese officials successively released relevant debunking content stating that the new regulations are mainly aimed at illegal activities such as cross-border gambling, telecommunications fraud, and illegal transfer of technology overseas, rather than restricting the normal travel of ordinary people. Chinese officials also stated at the same time that normal travel, visiting relatives, studying abroad, doing business and other activities will not be affected. Shen You-chung, deputy minister of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, said on Monday at a seminar discussing China's new entry-and-exit regulations that although officials of the Chinese Communist Party claim that the regulations aim to maintain national sovereignty and security, they essentially institutionalize the CCP's existing strict border control. Shen You-chung reminded the Taiwanese public to face the political environment of the Chinese mainland prudently and carefully evaluate the necessity of traveling to the Chinese mainland. Human rights scholar Teng Biao told Voice of America that since Xi Jinping came to power, restrictions on entry into and exit from China—not only for Taiwanese citizens but also for overseas people including those from European and American countries—have been much greater than in the eras of Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao. On the day the new regulations came into implementation, the human rights organization Safeguard Defenders released an investigation report entitled Lockdown China: Rapid Expansion of Exit Bans, pointing out that China's use of exit restrictions has experienced explosive growth in recent years, with nearly 200,000 mentions of exit restrictions in the Supreme People's Court judgment document database alone in 2025.

President Trump said he is not worried that Chinese President Xi Jinping will cancel their scheduled meeting in Washington later this month over arms sales to Taiwan. Previously, Japanese media reported that Beijing had warned Washington that if the U.S. side approves a new batch of arms sales to Taiwan before the summit, the Chinese side will cancel the meeting. While attending the Irish Open at a golf course in Ireland on Sunday, Trump was asked by reporters if he was worried that the summit would change due to U.S. approval of arms sales to Taiwan. He responded that he was not worried about it, saying that they have a very good relationship, that he wants to get along, and that they do too. He also stated that the two sides will get along well. Trump plans to host Xi Jinping at the White House on September 24, but the Chinese side has not yet officially announced Xi Jinping's visit to the U.S. Kyodo News of Japan reported on Saturday, citing multiple sources familiar with U.S.-China relations, that the Chinese side has informed the U.S. side that if Washington approves any new arms sales to Taiwan before the two leaders' meeting later this month, Beijing will cancel the meeting. The report also stated that the Trump administration is eager to show diplomatic achievements before the congressional midterm elections in November, and therefore attaches great importance to this summit. Trump met with Xi Jinping in Beijing in May this year. At that time, Xi Jinping emphasized that the Taiwan issue is the most important issue in U.S.-China relations and requested that the U.S. side handle the Taiwan issue with extreme caution. Trump stated that he had discussed the issue of arms sales to Taiwan with Xi Jinping but had not made any commitments. He also claimed that arms sales are an important bargaining chip in negotiations with the Chinese side, and therefore he would temporarily suspend the approval of a $14 billion arms sale package to Taiwan. Taiwan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung refuted reports on Tuesday in Taipei that Beijing is trying to threaten the U.S. not to approve arms sales to Taiwan by canceling the U.S.-China summit. In an exclusive interview with a Taipei Pop Radio program, Lin Chia-lung said that the so-called claim that China is demanding the U.S. not approve arms sales to Taiwan before the Trump-Xi meeting is actually a cognitive warfare tactic habitually used by the Beijing authorities, and he believes China is just trying to justify itself. Lin Chia-lung said that China actually wants to manage Trump and wants to create a situation where the U.S. and China jointly manage Taiwan, but that is not the case. Communication between Taiwan and the U.S. is very good, and it is we who need to manage China. He said that Taiwan certainly supports the U.S. in stabilizing its relationship with China, but this has nothing to do with harming Taiwan's interests, because Taiwan's interests are the interests of the U.S., including Taiwan's location on the first island chain in the Indo-Pacific, the non-red supply chain, and the global democratic value chain. These three chains are precisely the common interests of Taiwan and the U.S., and diplomacy is built on the basis of national interests. When there are no common interests in the Taiwan Strait, how could the U.S. sacrifice Taiwan to harm its own interests?

On Tuesday, the European Parliament adopted the recommendation report of the Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield, demanding that the EU strengthen precautions against foreign interference and reduce dependence on foreign technologies in critical sectors. The report adopted by the European Parliament on Tuesday lists Russia as Europe's primary external threat, while explicitly calling for curbing malicious cyber and hybrid operations from countries such as China, Iran, and North Korea, and demanding a crackdown on the use of artificial intelligence to create disinformation to interfere in elections. Regarding technology supply, the report proposes reducing dependence on Chinese hardware and American technology companies. The European Commission stated in June this year that the EU relies on non-EU suppliers for more than 80% of its digital products, services, infrastructure, and intellectual property. Artificial intelligence particularly requires massive computing resources. On September 14 in Vienna, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde cited research showing that Europe possesses about 5% of global AI computing power, while the United States has about 75%. She advocated for increasing Europe's computing resources and developing models capable of running on European facilities. The previous day, U.S. President Donald Trump stated in Ireland that the United States is leading China in the field of artificial intelligence and that he hopes to maintain this advantage. The use of American services in Europe is already quite widespread. A January investigation by the Dutch public broadcaster into approximately 16,500 domain names used by governments, hospitals, schools, and critical enterprises found that 67% of them used at least one American cloud service, including websites and email services. Hans van der Velde, a strategic analyst at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, told Voice of America that some enterprises he has interacted with worry that switching to European services would reduce work efficiency, noting that as long as efficiency and current production levels can be maintained, they are willing to overlook certain security concerns. Stephen Nikola Bartulica, a Croatian Member of the European Parliament, told Voice of America that the EU must cooperate with the United States but also support its own enterprises so they can take the lead in this evolving field. Van der Velde said that the enterprises he interacts with are more vigilant toward Chinese suppliers, consulting him about the security risks of using products from DeepSeek, Huawei, and ZTE. Taking DeepSeek as an example, its privacy policy states that online services process and store users' personal data within China, and the company also states it adopts technical, managerial, and physical measures to protect data; however, using the company's online services is different from running models on local computers or servers. Rogier Creemers, an assistant professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands, said that risk assessments should also be based on specific applications.