China’s economy is a disaster
Because of mismanaged Covid policy
But worst of all, there’s still a massive coverup going on
That and more on this week’s China News Headlines.
Welcome to China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
This episode is sponsored by Surfshark.
Whenever you go online, especially to look into controversial topics like government
cover ups, you should be using a VPN like Surfshark to protect your identity.
China is facing two major disasters right now: The economy, and Covid.
A year of large-scale Covid lockdowns wrecked the Chinese economy in 2022.
But the Chinese Communist Party—the CCP—spent billions to build up its specialized Covid
economy, including mass testing, quarantine camps, disinfecting crews, etc.
So at least there were jobs.
Even if it was mainly jobs for these guys.
It was perfect for people who always wanted to be a ninja, but also a janitor.
Then in December, the CCP made a sudden policy U-turn.
They ended Zero Covid—because they knew they couldn’t keep suppressing the virus
like it were information, religious dissidents, political dissidents, everyday citizens, reality…
you get the point.
I mean, they definitely tried, but Covid infections were already spreading out of control, even
before they ended Zero Covid.
They also ended Zero Covid because the policy was bankrupting the state.
But that has created its own wave of problems.
Medical companies that made test kits and PPE are losing business, so now they’re
laying off workers or simply not paying them.
And it’s hard for those workers to find new jobs—since the rest of the economy is
in shambles.
And that means unrest.
Here you can see workers at a Covid test kit maker in Chongqing throwing things at the
police.
These workers are chanting “Pay Me Back!
Pay Me Back!”
This kind of thing is happening across the country.
A lot of the Covid workers are migrants from the countryside.
They want to travel home for Lunar New Year, but the companies haven’t paid them for
all their work.
And it’s especially upsetting because those same companies that are now laying people
off made big profits last year—from the government.
The province of Guangdong alone spent 22 billion dollars on Zero Covid over the last three
years.
So basically, local governments spent a lot of money that put them even deeper into debt,
certain companies made huge profits, and workers didn’t get paid.
Before long, these ninja janitors will start brawling.
And you don’t want to fight a ninja janitor, because they always sweep the leg.
Meanwhile, with the end of Zero Covid, cases of infection in China are skyrocketing.
One study says Covid cases are at 900 million.
Which would mean about two thirds of the entire Chinese population has gotten infected.
Making this worse is that “Hundreds of millions of Chinese are traveling to their hometowns...ahead
of the lunar new year on [January 23rd].”
But don’t worry, because according to China’s Covid czar, infections have dropped to a low
level!
A low level, relatively speaking.
What does relatively low even mean?
No one has any idea, because of the CCP’s coverup.
For example, how many people in China have died from Covid?
Well, officially, China reports 60,000 Covid deaths since early December.
That’s more than ten times their previously admitted figure of just 5,000-some deaths.
But the thing to remember about China’s official statistics is, they always have a
political purpose.
Which means they’re usually a lie.
In this case, a MASSIVE lie.
If the same percentage of people die in China from Covid as in the US, the real number of
deaths in China is easily in the millions.
Meaning, there’s a huge tragedy happening in China right now, and very few people have
any idea.
But the truth is, we just don’t actually know how many people have died.
And the CCP is working hard to make sure the world never knows.
At the end of last month, Chinese authorities stopped publishing daily COVID data.
They also essentially stopped testing people.
Because if you don’t test them, then they can’t prove they had Covid.
And now, doctors are discouraged from citing COVID on death certificates—just to ensure
that in the future, there’ll be no easy way to ever find out how many people died.
It’s a massive coverup on top of a massive coverup.
It’s like Inception.
Only instead of being in a dream and it ending abruptly, we’re in a nightmare that lasts
forever.
It’s hard for the Chinese Communist Party to earn people’s trust when they’re claiming
hardly anyone is dying from Covid.
Tell that to these people, waiting in long lines for a crematorium in Shanghai.
Yep, they’re standing outside with their dead loved ones, waiting for a chance to cremate
them.
And the CCP says hardly anyone is dying?
You know, they could cremate people a lot faster if only the CCP would put their gaslighting
to better use.
Another downside to the Party covering up how bad Covid is, is it means local officials
can’t justify putting lots of resources into helping people who are sick.
So the Chinese masses have to take the Covid fight into their own hands.
There are long lines at Chinese pharmacies, with people trying to buy basic drugs, like
Ibuprofen to reduce fever.
Does standing for hours out in the cold also help bring your temperature down?
The only thing people in China aren’t lining up to do right now is congratulate the CCP
on a job well done.
People have turned to social media for help.
Like phone apps and WeChat groups where people offer to share their unused medicine with
each other.
Which is actually really nice.
But the CCP does not think this is so nice.
Because it means “citizens are now gaining real-world experience in effectively living
without the party.”
And “The traumatic experiences risk upending the social contract that underpins the Communist
Party’s legitimacy: An acceptance of one-party rule in return for competent governance that
keeps people safe and improves their lives.”
Well, with 900 million people infected despite years of lockdown...I’m not sure people
feel competent governance has kept them safe or improved their lives.
And after the break, the Chinese Communist Party really needs money.
*Your* money.
Welcome back.
The Chinese Communist Party is in a difficult financial situation.
Three years of Covid lockdowns and supply chain problems have badly hurt manufacturing
and exports.
Not to mention all the money the government spent on Zero Covid stuff, that turned out
to not actually stop Covid.
Samuel Bankman-Fried made better, more honest investing decisions than the CCP.
So this week, China sent its Vice-Premier to the World Economic Forum in Davos—to
beg for money from the global elite.
Fortunately, the global elite have finally realized that the Chinese Communist Party
lies about everything, and...aw, who am I kidding?
The global elite took the bait.
“I know we’ve been burned by this the last 47 times.
But *this* time will definitely be different.”
The CEO of the multi-billion-dollar money management firm Fidelity International said
we should definitely keep putting our money in China.
And US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with the Vice-Premier, and came out of that
meeting saying, ‘hey, let’s not have conflict with China, ok?’
The US doesn’t want conflict…
with the regime that openly wants to destroy the US?
Janet Yellen said the US and China can still work together on “macroeconomic cooperation
and climate finance”.
Oh, good.
Let’s work with China on climate change!
For example, by buying solar panels produced in Chinese factories powered by government
subsidies, coal power, and even forced labor.
It’s Win-Win mutual cooperation.
The CCP gets the US’ money, and the US gets to feel like using solar panels makes them
good people.
China has a new home-grown airplane that could break Airbus and Boeing’s duopoly on plane
manufacturing.
It’s called the C919.
It’s China’s first domestically-built large passenger aircraft.
It’s built by Comac, a state-owned company.
They’re still doing test flights.
But already state-run media is promoting it like it’s some kind of major victory.
And China of course wants its own knockoff airplanes to compete with the West.
Because they want their own knockoff *everything* to compete with the west.
Even their knockoff KFC.
Which is wrong in so many ways.
The Mercator Institute for China Studies based in Europe says, “Production glitches or
safety issues aside, Comac’s domestic market share looks set to climb steadily.”
Ok...the “production glitches and safety issues” thing?
I wouldn’t set that aside just yet.
But the point is, Comac wants to outcompete Airbus and Boeing.
Already last year, orders for C919s were more than double orders for its Boeing counterpart,
the 737.
Which sounds impressive.
Except those orders were mostly from Chinese state-owned airlines and financial institutions.
So it doesn’t actually mean the C919s are popular.
That’d be like saying cauliflower is popular amongst kids… whose parents only let them
eat cauliflower.
And that’s a perfect analogy, since cauliflower is just a cheap knockoff of broccoli.
But here’s the thing Chinese state-run media won’t tell you about the C919.
A lot of it is made from foreign parts.
That’s right.
Key components like the engines, control systems, and landing gear are all made by US and European
companies.
Here’s why this is a problem.
It makes the Western supply chains *more* integrated with China, at a time when it should
be *less*.
Western companies will rely on the Chinese market to sell their parts.
And then airlines around the world will start relying on Chinese planes.
So these companies will try to influence government policy to make sure the China market stays
available.
Before you know it, cheap knockoffs will become the norm around the world.
Which as we know, will be deeply problematic.
The Chinese regime is also trying to shore up cooperation in Africa.
China’s Foreign Minister made a big Africa tour this month.
His latest stop was Egypt.
China is spending billions of dollars on state-led projects in Egypt,
including bankrolling construction of the new capital outside Cairo.
While in Africa, China’s Foreign Minister also visited Gabon, Angola, Benin, and Ethiopia.
Ethiopia, if you remember, is where China built the African Union’s new headquarters—as
a gift—and then bugged it for state secrets.
For five years, until they were caught.
So why on earth is Egypt letting China build their new capital?!
Of all the countries on Earth, you’d think Egypt would be the first to spot a pyramidscheme.
The Hong Kong government has denied entry to a Japanese photographer who captured the
2019 pro-democracy protests.
Why was she denied entry?
Well, there was no official reason given, but I imagine it’s because she’s a hostile
foreign force who subverted China’s state power.
Specifically, last year she showed her Hong Kong photos in an exhibition...in Japan.
A lot of people must have seen her photos.
Including, I suppose, Chinese agents.
That’s fair, though.
You’d have to be a hostile foreign force to show photos that embarrass the CCP.
Like these, for example.
Speaking of people subverting China’s state power, all the Hong Kong protesters.
For more than a year, the Hong Kong government has been running a “deradicalization”
program for people who took part in the 2019 demonstrations.
Deradicalization?
Like, making something less radical?
What, does that turn
Ninja Turtles into?
Ninja Janitor Turtles?
The program is designed to help former protesters learn to “love China.”
Which obviously anyone would, after being arrested for peacefully protesting, and then
being forced to undergo brainwashing.
So far, 474 inmates have taken part in this “deradicalization” over the last 14 months.
That’s out of more than 2,000 protesters who have been arrested and charged.
The Globe and Mail tried to get details of the ‘deradicalization’ program, but the
Hong Kong government refused to disclose them,
on the grounds that if people knew what was being taught, it could be used by “individuals
or parties with ulterior motives… to give an incomplete and inaccurate account of the
programmes, or even worse, make unfair criticisms against them.”
Well, I for one, would never make unfair criticisms of the Chinese or Hong Kong governments.
All my criticisms are completely fair.
And I do love China.
Just not the CCP.
And this episode is sponsored by Surfshark.
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Once again, I’m Chris Chappell.
Thanks for watching China Uncensored.