2018 has been a big year in China News.
Here are the 10 biggest stories you need to
know.
This is China Uncensored.
Number 10
The Trade War Begins
Trump has shocked everyone as president.
All presidential candidates talk tough on
China.
But in Trump’s case,
he actually followed through.
In fact, here he is in 2011,
long before he ran for president,
laying out what would become future US policy
toward China.
Well what are you going to do.
What can you do?
So easy.
I’m going I’d drop a 25% tax on China.
And that may be coming true.
In July, this year,
Trump announced the first round of US tariffs
on China.
It was in response to decades of unfair trade
practices
and intellectual property theft.
And the trade war heated up quickly.
First, Trump announced a 25% tariff
on 50 billion dollars worth of Chinese imports,
divided into two chunks,
34 billion dollars to begin with,
then an additional 16 billion that came later.
The Chinese Communist Party was not happy.
“China has no choice but to fight back strongly
to resolutely protect its national interests
and the people's interests,
and to resolutely defend globalization
and the multilateral trading system.
We will immediately publish levies
of the same scale and same strength.”
And so China announced its own tariffs
on $50 billion dollars worth of American imports.
And then Trump responded with an additional
10% tariff on another $200 billion dollars
worth of Chinese imports.
“We’ve taken decisive action to address
our trade imbalance with China.
We’ve put tariffs on 250 billion dollars
in Chinese goods
and we could more than double that number.
But we hope for better.
The United States, though,
will not change course,
until China changes its ways.”
China did not change its ways.
It responded with an additional 60 billion
dollars in tariffs.
But the US buys more stuff from China than
vice versa:
So the US can hit China harder.
And the plan was, starting January 1, 2019...
the 10% tariffs on 200 billion dollars worth
of Chinese goods
would shoot up to 25%.
But on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in
December,
Trump agreed to delay those tariffs for 90
days.
That aims to allow both sides to reach an
agreement
on “structural changes with respect to
forced technology transfer,
intellectual property protection,
non-tariff barriers,
cyber intrusions and cyber theft.”
So, something to look forward to in the New
Year.
Maybe.
Number 9
Cold War 2
For years, the US policy toward China was
one of engagement.
If we keep engaging with the Chinese Communist
Party,
eventually they’ll reform and become a democracy!
Yeah, didn’t work.
So 2018 saw a major shift in US policy toward
China.
In July, just as the trade war was about to
kick off,
FBI Director Christopher Wray called China
the biggest threat to the US.
“I think China from a counterintelligence
perspective,
in many ways represents the broadest,
most challenging,
most significant threat we face as a country...
We have economic espionage investigations
in every state,
all fifty states, that trace back to China.”
Shortly after, the CIA said the US is in another
cold war,
this time with China.
“By their own terms, and what Xi Jinping
himself enunciates,
I would argue that...what they’re waging
against us
is fundamentally a cold war.
A cold war not like we saw during THE Cold
War.
But a cold war by definition.
A country that exploits all avenues of power
licit and illicit,
public and private, economic and military,
to undermine the standing of your rival relative
to your own standing without resorting to
conflict.”
Unlike the Cold War between the US and the
Soviet Union—
you know, the one that almost ended the world
in nuclear fire—
turns out, this new Cold War is even more
difficult.
“The United States and the Soviet Union
had minimal interaction in the economic and
academic spheres,
as the two sides maintained strict barriers
to mutual trade and academic exchanges.
Today, by contrast, the United States and
China
are deeply intertwined in economic, trade,
academic,
and other realms, posing unique challenges
for the United States across a range of areas.”
Let’s just hope Cold War 2 doesn’t lead
to World War 3
Number 8
Secret Agent Man
Meng Hongwei is the president of Interpol,
the world’s largest police organization.
Sorry, he *was.*
Sometime in September,
he disappeared in China.
You see, Meng Hongwei also was the deputy
minister
of China’s Ministry of Public Security.
I mean, until China’s Ministry of Public
Security arrested him.
Then they said the investigation against him
was very timely,
absolutely correct and rather wise.”
Meng was also linked to disgraced former security
czar Zhou Yongkang.
I’ve talked about Zhou Yongkang before.
He’s the one who looks like a fleshy Thwomp
from Super Mario Brothers.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping purged Zhou Yongkang
because he’s tied to former Chinese leader
Jiang Zemin.
And Zhou Yongkang was one of his top guys
in charge of China’s police.
So Meng was tied to that.
Ok, I know it sounds complicated.
So let me sum it up:
Everyone is corrupt.
The thing is, Meng Hongwei was one of
the few Chinese nationals who held important
positions
in international organizations.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said
at the time
it was a sign that China was ready to
“take on bigger responsibility and make
greater contribution
to push for global law enforcement.”
But...that did not work out.
Number 7
Another fateful arrest, eh…
In December, on behalf US authorities,
Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou.
She’s the CFO of Huawei,
one of China’s biggest telecom companies.
She’s not related to the Interpol guy,
Meng Hongwei.
Just another Meng.
Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou faces extradition
to the US
for allegedly violating US sanctions on Iran.
Obviously, Chinese state-run media said her
arrest
was a huge violation of human rights.
Of course, their immediate arrest of a Canadian
citizen
right after that happened was totally cool.
The US State Department is considering
issuing a travel warning to US citizens going
to China.
But either way, this is a huge challenge to
the Chinese regime—
one that wouldn’t have been thinkable even
a year ago.
Number 6
Google changes its view on evil
Back in May, Google removed its famous
“don’t be evil” motto from its code
of conduct.
Well timed!
Because a few months later,
a Google employee leaked documents that the
company
was secretly building a censored search engine
mobile app for China.
The secret project is called Dragonfly.
China has a pretty big internet market:
750 million Internet users.
That’s bigger than the entire population
of Europe.
Basically, there’s a ton of money Google
could be making in China.
And now that Google isn’t concerned about
not being evil,
they can finally tap into it.
Top people at Google have been scrambling
to deny it,
without ruling out the possibility that they
might try
to get back into China in the future.
You know, to help spread information.
But Google has faced a lot of criticism.
Amnesty International protested.
And 500 Google employees signed a letter
calling for Google to drop Dragonfly.
And just recently, the CEO had to testify
before the House Judiciary Committee.
And in a turn of events that is totally not
suspicious,
Google’s office in Beijing caught fire.
It happens.
Number 5
Presitator for Life
Did you know Xi Jinping is one of the
most popular leaders of China ever?
Yeah.
When he was “elected”
by China’s National People’s Congress
in 2013,
it was almost unanimous.
I say “almost,” because one person voted
against him.
I’m sure that one guy won’t make the same
mistake again.
But at the beginning of 2018,
the National People’s Congress decided Xi
Jinping is so great,
he should stick around a little longer.
Like forever.
“The Communist Party this weekend announcing
a proposal to scrap the two-term limit for
presidents,
meaning Xi Jinping could stay on indefinitely.”
“Changes to the constitution in the last
year
have made Xi the most powerful Chinese leader
since Mao Zedong—the founder of the People’s
Republic—
who died in office, having never retired.”
That was a move I predicted back in 2016.
That Xi would become, not quite a dictator,
not quite a president, but more of a presitator.
And now, he’s presitator for life.
And while they took presidential term limits
out of the government’s constitution,
they also added something:
Xi Jinping Thought for New Era.
It’s a special brand of thought that’s
All Xi,
All the Time.
Number 4
Bumps in the Belt and Road
Malaysia had been a cornerstone of the Belt
and Road Initiative.
That’s China’s trillion dollar investment
scheme
that has trapped many countries in debt.
And even though a lot of this investment is
from so-called private Chinese companies—
it’s all connected to the Chinese Communist
Party,
including being financed by state-run banks.
But on the bright side,
Chinese state-run media make some pretty catchy
songs about it.
“The Belt and Road is how, oh oh oh oh”
But this year, Malaysia hit the brakes on
the Belt and Road.
And that’s thanks to the surprise election
of the 92 year old prime minister Mahathir
Mohamad.
One of the reasons he got elected
was his criticism of Chinese investment.
“None of our people are employed as workers.
None of our companies are used for designing
and planning and supervising, et cetera.
We gain nothing.”
He’s now canceled several major Chinese
investment projects.
And following this example,
other countries are starting to rethink Chinese
investment, too.
That seems to be a theme for the year.
Number 3
A love triangle
In 2017, President Trump spent
a lot time wooing Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
“A relationship with you and China is a
very important one to me.”
“The United States,
the feelings we have for China is a very warm
feeling,
and I really believe it’s only going to
get warmer.”
But in 2018,
Trump meet with another of Asia’s fearless
leaders.
“It was the handshake seen around the world….
Tuesday’s meeting is the very first
between a North Korean leader and a sitting
U.S. president.”
“Get a good picture so we look nice and
handsome and thin.”
A photo that makes this guy look handsome
and thin?
They’re photographers, not miracle workers.
But Trump really laid it on thick.
“Two men, two leaders, one destiny.”
Believe it or not, that’s a promo video
made by the White House.
But besides TV ratings,
there may be another good reason Trump
put so much effort into his meeting with Kim.
It helps him create a direct relationship
with North Korea,
without China in the middle.
China and North Korea have always been close.
From Deng Xiaoping
To Jiang Zemin
To the guy we all forgot about
To a reluctant Xi Jinping.
China always saw North Korea as strategically
valuable.
If the western world wanted to talk to China’s
nuclear crazed neighbor to the North,
China got to be the middleman.
And that gave China a lot of political leverage.
Want to talk to North Korea?
Best play nice with China.
But this handshake changed all that.
So it’s probably no wonder that after
Trump had the meeting with Kim Jong-Un,
Trump was ready to launch the trade war with
China.
A little less to worry about.
Number 2
Deal with the Devil
The officially atheist Chinese Communist Party
has long been fighting the Vatican
over who has the right to appoint Catholic
Bishops in China.
Yeah, really.
The Party has even in some places demanded
Christians take down pictures of Jesus
and replace them with pictures of Xi Jinping.
So it was a bit of a surprise to everyone
that all year long,
the Pope was trying to strike a deal with
the Chinese Communist Party.
And he eventually succeeded.
That was despite desperate pleas
from Hong Kong Cardinals who were like,
you know, this is probably a bad idea.
The Pope agreed to recognize seven bishops
appointed by Beijing.
Granted, two of them had mistresses
and one had been excommunicated.
But I guess Pope Francis decided to take what
he could get.
The problem is—
and I know this will shock you—
the Chinese Communist Party has already reneged
on its deal.
And they disappeared a Catholic Bishop
that the Pope had appointed earlier.
And finally, it’s time for the biggest China
news story of 2018.
Number 1
Uighurs
The biggest story of the year—
in terms of its impact on actual people—
has come from Xinjiang in western China.
As state-run media put it, the government
has set up
vocational training schools to create employment
and promote stability for all the Uighur people
living there.
And nothing proves they're vocational training
schools—
and definitely not prisons—
like the tools of the trade.
Purchase requisitions for one of those vocational
schools
shows that they purchased police batons,
electric cattle prods, handcuffs, and pepper
spray.
Important training tools.
Currently, there may be over a million Uighurs
in what might be more accurately described
as internment camps.
Which is perfect in a way.
Because it leaves plenty of room for the million
non-Uighurs
the Chinese regime sent over,
to stay in the homes of their families,
and spy on them.
China has built an advanced surveillance state
inside Xinjiang.
So really it’s not that different from anywhere
else in China.
Except for all the ethnic genocide.
So those are the top 10 Chinese news stories
of 2018.
Which was your favorite?
And hey, since it’s the start of the new
year,
why not let me know in the comment section
below
about how you first found China Uncensored.
Thanks for watching.
Once again I’m your host Chris Chappell.
See you in 2019!
