China strikes back against the US
No Trade Deal till 2020?
And the Chinese Communist Party’s new nemesis
is...
Batman?!
That and more on this week’s China Uncensored.
This is China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
This week’s China news headlines!
...has been sponsored by Surfshark.
Because if you’re interested in the kind
of subversive news we cover,
you’ll want to protect your identity online.
The United States is really angering Beijing
with its new approach to China—
actually standing up for American principles.
I know, I never thought our politicians could
do it either.
“The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly
approved a bill
aimed at China's crackdown on its Muslim minority.
The Uighur Act of 2019 calls for the closure
of mass detention camps
in the province of Xinjiang.
It would see sanctions imposed on a member
of China's Politburo for the first time.”
Sanctioning a member of the Politburo is huge.
Unprecedented.
“We are sending a message to Beijing.
America is watching and we will not stand
silent.”
The Uighurs are an ethnic group that lives
here,
in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
For more on how “autonomous” the Chinese
Communist Party
lets the Uighurs be,
here’s Republican Congressman Chris Smith.
“Children ripped from the warm embrace of
their families
to be indoctrinated in Communist ideology
and forced to renounce their religious culture
and language.
Rape, sexual abuse and forced abortions of
women
being held in internment camps.
Forced labor on a scale that allows Chinese
companies
to profit from modern-day slavery.”
You know, that’s almost heartwarming.
Not the rape and modern-day slavery.
That’s terrible.
I’m talking about Democrats and Republicans
working together.
The Chinese Communist Party:
It brings America together.
The US Senate has passed a similar bill,
but now they have to vote again on the House
version,
before it goes to President Trump to sign.
This Uighur Human Rights Policy Act comes
shortly
after Congress pretty much unanimously passed
the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act
and the PROTECT Hong Kong Act.
And President Trump signed those into law
last week,
in spite of Beijing’s objections.
After the media freaked out that he might
not sign the bills.
And then freaked out when he did sign the
bills.
But even if the media coverage is a bit haywire,
the important thing is that the House of Representatives,
the Senate, and the White House all agree
on standing up
for freedom and democracy
and calling out China’s human rights issues.
As you can imagine, the Chinese Communist
Party
is not happy about all this unity
and talk of freedom and democracy.
They’ve worked so hard for years
to keep other countries from criticizing them!
Why isn’t it working anymore?!
And so the empire strikes back.
The Chinese empire strikes back.
“Beijing on Wednesday furiously condemned
a piece of American legislation calling for
a tougher U.S. response
to China's treatment of Muslim minorities.
A foreign ministry spokeswoman warned the
bill could impact
prospects for a deal ending a grueling trade
war.”
“Do you believe that if the U.S. takes measures
to hurt China's interests,
we will just sit back and let it happen?
I think for every erroneous action,
an appropriate price must be paid.
An appropriate price must be paid.”
Oh my gosh!
What are they going to do?!?!
“Several sources familiar with Beijing's
stance told Reuters
that the bill could jeopardize the so-called
phase one deal
already fraught with disagreements and complications.”
Ohhh, noooo.
It could jeopardize the trade deal.
How could things possibly get worse?
Oh geez, they suspended US port calls?
What a nightmare!
Anything else?
What?
They’re sanctioning American nonprofit groups?
Nooooo!
I’m sorry folks, but the US can’t stand
up
for human rights and democracy anymore.
The price is just too high.
“But the trade war,” you say.
Well, let’s see what’s going on there.
It hasn’t been great for China’s economy.
Capital investment by Chinese firms
saw its lowest growth in three years.
According to a Reuters analysis,
that’s because “a weakening economy,
tight credit and prolonged trade war with
the United States
dent sales growth and cash reserves.”
So the longer the trade war goes on,
the more it hurts the Chinese economy.
And now, Trump says he may have to
keep it going till after the US presidential
election next year.
Meanwhile, more mid-sized American companies
are moving out of China.
Now that doesn’t mean they’re coming back
to America.
Some are considering that,
but a lot of other ones are just diversifying
their supply chains to other Asian countries.
So you might be seeing fewer made in China
products
and more made in Vietnam.
Good old freedom loving communist Vietnam.
But there is one business that’s apparently
booming in China.
This is Yiwu city in Zhejiang province.
I’ve talked about the city before,
on a Christmas episode,
The Chinese city that makes your Christmas.
They manufacture everything.
Loads of Christmas items sure,
but also most of the flags in the world.
Not just country flags, but political slogan
flags.
And they’re predicting Trump will be reelected.
See, in 2016, five months before the last
presidential election,
the people of Yiwu noticed more people were
ordering Trump flags than Clinton flags.
And so they predicted that Trump would win.
Yes, a tiny Chinese manufacturing city was
more accurate
at predicting election results than the New
York Times.
Of course the 2020 election is still a ways
out.
Maybe 5 months before the election,
the good people of Yiwu might notice people
ordering a very different flag.
But while relations between China and the
US may be strained,
relations between China and Russia are doing
great!
They’ve just opened a natural gas pipeline
linking Siberia to northeastern China.
It’s the biggest energy project for Russia
since the fall of the Soviet Union.
How nice for them.
This is part of what the Chinese Communist
Party
is calling the Polar Silk Road.
China wants a slice of the shipping lanes
and natural resources of the Arctic.
The US Geological Survey estimates the Arctic
holds
about 13% of the world’s undiscovered oil
reserves
and 30% of the natural gas reserves.
The northernmost part of China
is still almost 1000 miles from the Arctic
Circle.
But don’t worry, China is still labeling
itself a “near Arctic state.”
And that means our new cold war
can happen in a place that’s actually cold.
Speaking of frosty relationships,
the Chinese telecom giant Huawei is in trouble.
And for once, not with the US—
but actually inside China.
Apparently, there’s been a huge social media
backlash
inside China against the company.
Which is bad because the Chinese government
has been trying to make Huawei a rallying
point for patriotism.
Except, “New details came to light in the
case of a former employee
who was arrested and jailed for 251 days
following an unproven accusation of blackmail
from the company.”
Yeah, that’s not a good look.
According to the New York Times,
“Many Chinese proudly abandoned their iPhones
for Huawei phones.
But the backlash to the jailing of a longtime
employee
after a labor dispute has made it clear that
people in China
are starting to sour on the company.”
And Huawei is getting on the wrong side of
the US, too.
According to the US Commerce Secretary,
Huawei is trying to convince its suppliers
to break the law by moving offshore.
Huawei is on a US trade black list over national
security concerns.
But it’s hard to enforce that on overseas
suppliers.
So Huawei is trying to convince American suppliers
to get around US national security concerns
by going overseas.
So, I’m in the market for a new phone.
But there’s no way I’ll do Huawei.
I would just like to remind everyone that
the China-Pakistan friendship is unbreakable.
Also, more than 600 Pakistani girls were sex
trafficked to Chinese men.
But don’t worry, that’s going to stop.
Not the sex trafficking.
That will continue.
The investigation into the sex trafficking,
that will stop.
According to AP, “Officials with knowledge
of the investigations
say that is because of pressure from government
officials
fearful of hurting Pakistan’s lucrative
ties to Beijing.”
So you see, when the US State Department labeled
China
as one of the worst human trafficking offenders,
they got it all wrong.
China is the best human trafficking offender.
Speaking of unbridled disasters,
remember that Chinese scientist who genetically
engineered actual human babies?
He edited a gene to make the twins immune
to HIV.
Too bad he couldn’t make himself immune
to public backlash and house arrest.
Speaking of not actually being immune, the
twins.
Turns out, the twin girls are probably not
immune to HIV.
That was a lie.
But they may have unintended mutations!
And finally, Batman has run afoul of Chinese
censors.
Frank Miller’s new graphic novel The Dark
Knight Returns: The Golden Child
uses this image of a young Batman throwing
a molotov cocktail.
But my favorite state-run media the Global
Times
helped set off a firestorm of criticism in
China
by saying it was a reference to Hong Kong
protests.
Or riots as they call it.
After the backlash, DC Comics showed
that it knows a thing or two about heroes...
and how not to act like one.
They quickly removed the image.
Which led, I’m happy to say, to more backlash
against DC.
And that does it for this week’s China News
headlines.
What do you think?
Leave your comments below.
And this episode has be
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And in many cases, by the government.
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Once again, I’m Chris Chappell.
See you next time.
