Two authoritarian leaders go on a playdate.
The atheist Communist Party wants to adjust Islam
to be compatible with socialism.
And China lands a lunar probe on the dark side of the moon.
The perfect spot for a supervillain moon base.
This is China Uncensored.
Welcome to China Uncensored,
I’m Chris Chappell.
How do you celebrate your birthday?
Well, if you’re anything like North Korean god-king Kim Jong-un,
you take a luxury armored train car to China.
Ah, the height of luxury.
This is Kim’s fourth trip to China in about a year.
Before that, he basically never went to China
or met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
That’s because Xi Jinping is the political rival
of former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin,
and Jiang and his cronies
were major supporters of the Kim dynasty.
So what changed?
Why, America’s own god-king, Donald Trump.
Trump’s historic summit last year with Kim Jong-un
was a game changer.
Not only was it the first meeting between
a sitting US president and a leader of North Korea,
it also established a line of communication
directly between the two countries,
without China as a middleman.
That’s a problem for China.
But since China is responsible
for about 90% of all North Korean trade
and is the only thing keeping that failed state afloat,
it’s also a problem for North Korea.
China has tremendous leverage over North Korea.
And with another meeting between Trump and Kim
planned in the next month or two,
this meeting between Kim and Xi
is a way to signal to the Trump administration
that Kim doesn’t belong to Trump.
No, it’s gonna be a love triangle,
China won’t be the one standing
outside Kim’s house with a boom box.
China has successfully landed an unmanned lunar probe
on the far side of the moon.
That makes China the first nation to ever do that.
The far side of the moon always faces away from the Earth,
making it a lot harder to land a probe there.
Also, that’s where the decepticons live.
But there’s a lot we might not know about China’s lunar rover,
according to the New York Times.
“The fear of losing face over failures,
as well as the sensitivity of the technology involved,
has made the Chinese government reluctant
to discuss its programs in detail,
compared with the relative openness of NASA
and other space programs.”
But I say,
if you’re going to lose your craft to the depths of space,
at least have a little fun with it.
Have you ever found yourself riding the subway,
thinking to yourself,
I’m not really feeling paranoid enough right now.
Well good news,
I’m here to help you achieve
the appropriate levels of paranoia.
Security experts are concerned that a Chinese-built Metro line
could spy on riders through surveillance cameras, bugs…
...or just have some malware installed
in the controls that could make it crash.
Nevertheless,
“The state-owned China Railway Rolling Stock Corp.,
or CRRC,
has used bargain prices to win
four of five large U.S. transit rail car contracts
awarded since 2014.”
Undercutting your competitors is so much easier
when you’re sponsored by an entire country.
The US doesn’t manufacturer subway cars,
so it relies on other countries to make them.
And China has become a dominant force.
But Washington DC’s Metro line
is taking these concerns seriously
ahead of bidding for its contract in April.
It’s introducing changes to its contract that are
“expected to require the winning bidder
get its hardware and software certified as safe
by a third-party vendor cleared by the federal government.”
Did you know Islam can be compatible with socialism?
Neither did I,
but apparently the Communist Party
is going to give it a go.
According to my favorite Chinese state run media,
the Global Times,
atheist communist officials
“agreed to guide Islam to be compatible with socialism
and implement measures to sinicize the religion.”
This will only end well.
By the way,
when they say “sinicize the religion” they don’t mean,
make the religion more Chinese.
They mean, “put religious people under
the control of the Chinese Communist Party.”
No details were given,
but I’m sure it involves more of those
fun vocational training camps they’re building in Xinjiang.
And finally, Tesla is finally building the China factory
they’ve wanted to build for so long.
And if you’ve been watching China Uncensored,
you know it always works out for Western companies
when they set up their Chinese factories.
On the bright side though,
China’s space program is in for some big changes.
So what do you think?
Leave your comments below.
And before you go,
it’s time to answer a question from a fan
who supports China Uncensored
on the crowd funding website Patreon.
Forrest Goodman asks,
“Do you think that Google has really
"effectively ended" Project Dragonfly?
Or are they still going to follow through with it,
but much more quietly?”
That’s a very good question, Forrest.
According to the Intercept,
which first leaked the story that Google
had been working on a censored search app
for the China market,
Google has been forced to effectively end t
he project known as Dragonfly.
Now remember,
Google higher ups tried to keep as many people as possible
from knowing about Dragonfly.
That included their own privacy team.
Which tells me that they might have some
sneaking suspicions that helping an authoritarian regime
block its citizens from accessing information
is probably not cool.
But clearly, Google has major China ambitions.
And given that Google tried to handle Dragonfly
by quietly sweeping it under the rug,
I doubt this will be the end of their attempts to get into China.
Thanks for you question.
Remember, we rely on support from you
to keep the show going.
So if you’d like to keep seeing more from China Uncensored,
head over to Patreon.com/chinauncensored
and find out how you can help.
Besides the perks we’ll give you on the website,
you also get a chance to have me
answer you questions on the show.
The link is below
or you can click the orange button during the credits.
Once again I’m Chris Chappell,
thanks for watching China Uncensored.