Chinese troops knock on Afghanistan’s doorstep
China wants to build a power station in space
And, why are Chinese netizens calling this
woman ugly?
That and more on this week’s China news
headlines.
This is China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
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This week’s China news headlines.
“Remember, you never saw us here.”
That’s what this Chinese soldier
told a Washington Post reporter in Tajikistan.
I’m guessing that soldier has never met
a reporter before.
The soldier was shopping
in a small bazaar in southeastern Tajikistan,
near the borders with China and Afghanistan.
It’s about 85 miles from a secret Chinese
military outpost.
I mean, not so secret that you can’t see
it from satellite photos.
Or in this photo taken by the Washington Post
reporter.
Or from the reports of nearby villagers who
say
they’ve seen dozens, possibly hundreds,
of Chinese troops over the past three years.
But other than that,
nobody knows about
China’s secret military base in Tajikistan!
Unless you watch China Uncensored.
Or read the Washington Post.
China has invested heavily in Tajikistan
as part of the Belt and Road Initiative.
That’s Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s trillion
dollar
global infrastructure investment plan.
Basically, the Chinese regime
gives huge loans to poor countries.
The poor countries then use those loans to
pay
Chinese state-run companies to come build
stuff for them—
like roads and shipping ports.
And if they can’t pay the loans off,
Chinese officials might write off the debt
in exchange for some of the country’s
resources and/or infrastructure.
Hmm.
China has built coal plants, hospitals,
schools, roads, railways, and tunnels in Tajikistan.
In fact, “China, through a single state
bank,
held more than half of Tajikistan’s external
debt as of 2016,
up from none in 2006.”
The base in Tajikistan joins a variety of
other
Chinese ports and military installations
throughout the region.
Wow, India looks surrounded.
According to the Washington Post,
the Chinese soldiers in Tajikistan
might be technically paramilitary troops.
The Washington Post also says that US officials
are aware of the Chinese base,
but aren’t particularly concerned.
In fact they might feel
it provides greater security to the region.
But either way, this is a big deal.
China is putting troops on the border of Afghanistan
right at a time when the United States
is considering withdrawing troops from the
region.
But I say, let ’em!
The Brits had their turn.
The Soviets had theirs.
We Americans had ours.
It’s time... to let China fail in Afghanistan,
too.
It looks like China has added
a new locale to the Belt and Road Initiative:
space!
China is now looking at building
a solar power station in orbit.
Of course when I say China,
I mean the Chinese military,
since that’s who runs China’s space program.
Construction of an experimental base has already
begun.
And according to China's state-backed
Science and Technology Daily,
“Chinese scientists plan to build and launch
small power stations into the stratosphere
between 2021 and 2025.”
Those will then be upgraded into larger,
more powerful stations between 2030 and 2050.
Presumably by which point we’ll finally
get
those flying cars we were promised.
Now a solar power station in space makes a
lot of sense.
The China Academy of Space Technology claims
that,
by orbiting above most of the atmosphere,
the solar array will be 6 times as efficient.
I assume that’s...once they figure out a
way
to beam all that power back down to Earth.
Plus, then China can claim that the stratosphere
has been Chinese territory since ancient times.
This is Ren Zhengfei,
the founder of Chinese telecom maker Huawei.
He recently gave an interview with the BBC.
And he’s not happy with the US.
“There’s no way the US can crush us.”
That was his response to the global reaction
against Huawei
because of national security concerns.
Following the US’s lead,
a lot of countries are banning Huawei from
government contracts
and from building national 5G networks.
Many intelligence agencies are concerned
that Huawei’s phones and other telecommunications
equipment
could be used to spy on people.
But in response to that, the Huawei founder
said,
“The Chinese government has already clearly
said
that it won't install any backdoors.
And we won't install backdoors either.”
Well the word of a Chinese Communist Party
member
is good enough for me.
Incidentally, he also did confirm that Huawei
has a Communist Party committee,
but you shouldn't worry
because all companies in China have one.
I don’t know why the Communist Party
infiltrating every company
should make me *less* worried.
But anyway, you may recall that the US
had asked Canada to arrest his daughter,
current Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou.
She’s accused of violating US sanctions
on Iran.
But daddy says that’s just nonsense.
“I object to what the US has done.
This kind of politically motivated act is
not acceptable.”
Yes, it was politically motivated.
And definitely not because Meng was charged
with
13 specific counts from the State of New York,
including bank fraud,
money laundering,
and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
No, no!
It’s politically motivated!
That mean old Uncle Sam is jealous
of a Chinese company’s success,
and is trying to keep it down.
But you know who really gets it?
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jenny Shipley.
She told Chinese state-run media
we need to listen to China.
She praised China’s great progress.
And that Belt and Road Initiative?
That’s “one of the greatest ideas we’ve
ever heard globally”.
Yeah, it’s a way better idea than
the rest of the dumb ideas of the 21st century,
like smart phones.
Or blockchain.
Or Netflix.
Needless to say,
the former PM’s article
caused a bit of backlash in New Zealand.
New Zealand is currently reeling under the
revelation
of a widespread campaign of influence
waged by the Chinese Communist Party.
That includes a well placed parliament member
who used to train Chinese spies,
and a well-known New Zealand scholar
whose home was broken into by likely Chinese
agents.
You can see why some folks
might be a bit upset by what Jenny Shipley
wrote for the People’s Daily.
But, in her defense, she said the article—
which has her by-line—
well, she never actually wrote it.
Apparently, People’s Daily just took
a previous interview with her
and turned it into an opinion piece.
So she didn’t write it, but she did say
those things.
Sounds like Shipley and the People’s Daily
were made for each other.
Speaking of listening to China,
did you know who the world’s biggest victim
of hacking is,
according to Chinese authorities?
It’s China.
Which is why China is hitting back against
Australia
for claiming China was behind a recent cyber
attack
on Australian political parties.
It’s just like Huawei.
A victim of a western powers.
What’s that Shelley?
Oh, Australia’s cybersecurity chief actually
said
they weren’t sure which country was behind
it?
Ahh, I see.
Australia merely said,
“Some unknown country hacked us,”
and China’s response was,
“Well we didn’t do it!
How dare you accuse us?!
We get hacked all the time.
You’re crazy.”
Well, that sounds like a very normal
and completely not guilty reaction.
Speaking of aboveboard Chinese technology,
a Chinese tech company called SenseNets
apparently left sensitive personal information
of its clients
in an an open database that could be accessed
by anyone.
Now normally,
that’s an unbelievably stupid lapse in data
security.
But in this case,
it turned out to be partly a good thing.
Why?
Well, the people in SenseNets’ database
were actually the Uighur people of Xinjiang.
And the leak showed that the Communist Party
has been keeping very close tabs on them.
The records tracked everything from a person’s
ID number,
birthday, address, ethnicity, employer...
as well as updated GPS coordinates
that could tell if, for instance,
this particular person was visiting a mosque.
As one online security expert put it,
“Who in their right mind runs a database
which is completely open
and gives any visitors full administrative
rights
so then those database records can be manipulated
by anyone with an internet connection?”
No wonder China is the world’s biggest victim
of hacking.
Also, a victim of Neptune, god of the Sea.
Because “a storm in the English Channel
damaged S-400 anti-aircraft missiles
that Russia was shipping to China”
Which makes me wonder,
what was a Russian ship doing in the English
Channel?
Anyway, the cargo contained
these kind of S-400 Russian anti-aircraft
missiles.
They’re a Chinese favorite.
In fact, China is under US sanctions
for buying weapons just like this from Russia.
But I wouldn’t want you to worry that
the accident means China won’t have enough
anti-aircraft missiles.
Two other Russian shipments did make it through.
And Russia has said it will replace the damaged
weapons by 2020.
That’s the kind of customer service Russia
has become known for.
And finally, this is 25-year-old Jing Wen,
a Chinese model who’s worked for Chanel
and Prada.
And this is a recent ad by Zara featuring
her.
She is a disgusting insult to China.
That’s apparently what Netizens in China
are calling her.
Like, literally, they’re using the hashtag
“insult to China.”
You see in Asia, and particularly China,
they really like white skin.
I’m not being racist!
This is a real thing.
It’s not because they want to look like
caucasians.
It’s because historically whiter skin meant
you weren’t a peasant working out in the
sun all day.
But Zara’s decision to showcase Jing Wen’s
freckles
seems to have really riled up a lot of people.
Or at least a very vocal minority.
One person wrote that showing Jing’s Wen’s
freckles
was imposing Western beauty standards on Asian
women,
and “For those women to be called the most
beautiful in Asia
feels like discrimination to the rest of us.”
Now while this might seem totally bonkers
to you,
it gets weirder.
State-run media actually wrote a reasonable
response,
saying people who were complaining
were being way too sensitive.
“Their [complaints] show over-sensitivity
and a lack of cultural confidence.
It shows they are so afraid of being hurt
that they tend to take a defense gesture
against any move they do not understand.”
Okay hold on,
that’s not just reasonable for Chinese state-run
media.
That’s the most reasonable thing I’ve
ever heard said
in any media in the last couple years.
If only they felt the same way
when a Chinese dissident speaks out.
And before you go,
it’s time when I answer a question
from a fan of the show
who supports China Uncensored
on the crowd funding website Patreon.
BlueFox asks,
“Chris, with both China and Russia
claiming they have these weapons
like those space lasers.
Do you think that the US
is taking there claims seriously or not?”
In case you don’t know,
Blue Fox is referring to this recent Pentagon
report.
The report says “China and Russia, in particular,
are developing a variety of means to exploit
perceived US reliance on space-based systems
and challenge the US position in space.”
So it’s more than just lasers.
Is the US taking this seriously?
I’d say it is.
It seems the general consensus is that
the US has fallen behind China and Russia
in terms of space defense.
This is something defense and security agencies
have been saying for a while now.
And it’s one of the main reasons President
Trump
wants to create a Space Force.
Because whether we like it or not,
space warfare is already here.
And yet, still no flying cars!
Thanks for your question, Blue Fox.
So why am I answering questions on the show?
It’s because a lot of advertisers
don’t dare to work with a show
that criticizes the Chinese Communist Party.
So we rely on support from viewers like you
on the crowdfunding website Patreon.
Answering your questions on the show
is one of my ways of saying thank you.
So head over to patreon.com/chinaucnensored
to find out how you can keep China, uncensored.
Thanks for watching.
Once again I’m your host Chris Chappell.
See you next time.
