Could Chinese soldiers…
be about to get a major headache?
And the US lifts Taiwan travel restrictions.
That and more on this week’s China news headlines.
Welcome to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chappell.
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Life’s hard for a Chinese soldier.
Most of the time, you’re not actually doing any real training.
You’re studying Communist Party ideology—singing propaganda songs, performing propaganda skits,
and going through ideological “reflection sessions.”
And when it comes to actual training—I’m not entirely sure what playing hot potato
with a live grenade is supposed to accomplish.
Other than make for highly trained soldiers.
I’m sure Taiwan is terrified.
So given the state of the PLA, when you see reports that China has developed a helmet
with a self-destruct system, one that could be controlled remotely to blow up the soldier
if they fall into enemy hands, it might seem easy to believe.
But as far as we can tell, that story is not true.
Here’s where the story came from.
On December 27, Chinese state-run media China Observer, published a report about Chinese
troops in Tibet being equipped with a new individual digital combat system.
Then a website called 123 Military Observation Room, which seems to be some kind of military
news blog, picked up the story.
In their headline, they claimed that the system could self-destruct if captured by the Indian
army.
They also said that “heavily injured soldiers, who do not want to be taken captive, can activate
the mechanism to defend his or her dignity as a member of the military, while preventing
the enemy from obtaining information about the system.”
So that makes it sound like the “self-destruct” wouldn't just destroy the combat system, but
it would also “self-destruct” the soldier.
And the article also claimed that the self-destruct could be activated remotely by the command
center if they lost contact with a soldier.
As you can imagine, this story that seemed
to claim that PLA commanders could remotely self-destruct soldiers, caused an...explosive...reaction
online.
Netizens were incredibly angry.
The reaction was so explosive that the article ended up self-destructing.
It’s been pretty much censored from the Chinese internet.
But where did this article get their information?
They said it was from the PLA’s website, but we couldn’t find anything like that
on there.
So it’s likely either exaggerated or completely made up.
Fake news with Chinese characteristics.
The problem is, that article started being picked up by overseas Chinese news websites,
and then translated into English, and so now you may have seen claims that Chinese soldiers
have helmets that can blow them up.
Again, as far as we can tell, that’s not true.
I’m sure that’s a relief for all of the PLA soldiers currently playing grenade hot
potato.
The State Department has radically changed the US Taiwan relationship.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in this statement, “Taiwan is a vibrant democracy
and reliable partner of the United States, and yet for several decades the State Department
has created complex internal restrictions to regulate our diplomats, servicemembers,
and other officials’ interactions with their Taiwanese counterparts.
The United States government took these actions unilaterally, in an attempt to appease the
Communist regime in Beijing.
No more.”
The Chinese Communist Party is furious.
My favorite state-run media, the Global Times, suggested Pomepo may “toll the knell”
for Taiwanese officials.
Weird expression.
Anyway, the editorial says that “Those who infringe China on core interests will be doomed.”
Ok, that’s pretty clear.
And it does certainly raise some questions for the coming Biden Administration.
Going back on America’s current support for Taiwan would look like Biden is abandoning
a democratic ally to get in good with a communist authoritarian regime—confirming the fears
a lot of people have about so-called “Beijing Biden.”
So will Biden continue with the Trump Administration’s tough-on-China polices?
Pompeo is definitely trying to force Biden’s hand.
The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft was supposed to make a trip to
Taiwan this week.
But Pompeo said all travel was cancelled because of “transition efforts with President-elect
Biden’s team”.
So Pompeo is definitely trying to lay it all on Biden.
But it's not just Pompeo standing up to the Chinese Communist Party.
Australia has rejected a multi million dollar Chinese buyout of an Australian builder because
of security concerns.
The Chinese Company, state-owned China State Construction Engineering Corporation wanted
to buy a controlling share of the Australian builder ProBuild.
Blocking the buyout may be a wise move.
Because over in the US, the Defense Department has blacklisted China State Construction Engineering
Corporation—since it has links to the People’s Liberation Army, which is the military arm
of the Chinese Communist Party.
I know, a Chinese state-run company with links to the Chinese military?
You’re shocked.
Speaking of explosive news, guess which American has been exposed as a lobbyist for a Chinese
surveillance company?
The answer, after the break.
Welcome back.
You may remember former US Senator from California Barbara Boxer.
After retiring from government, Boxer joined a Washington DC based lobbying firm.
And one of that firm’s clients is Hikvision.
If that name rings a bell it’s because in 2019, the US unfairly blacklisted Hikvision,
simply because it helped the glorious Chinese Communist Party do mass surveillance—I mean,
security—for the Uyghur people.
Geez, what’s wrong with a little facial recognition to stop crime before it happens?
Anyway, in the great American tradition of former politicians becoming lobbyists, Baraba
Boxer joined this lobbying firm.
And to represent their client Hikvision, she had to register as a foreign agent.
When that was exposed in the press this week, it raised a lot of eyebrows.
And then Joe Biden’s inaugural committee returned the $500 donation Boxer had made
to his campaign.
For Joe Biden, it’s just not worth being caught up in a scandal involving a Chinese
state-controlled company.
At least not for just $500.
And speaking of the persecution of Uyghurs, the UK has taken steps to remove Ugyhur forced
labor from British supply chains, accusing China of torture and barbarism.
And so has the US.
The Trump administration has now banned the import of all cotton and tomatoes from Xinjiang.
America’s pro-Beijing tomato lobby is outraged.
“Independent researchers and media reports have linked dozens of the world’s most prominent
multinational companies to workers or products from Xinjiang, including Apple, Nike, Kraft,
Heinz, and Campbell Soup.”
And don’t try claiming that your Xinjiang tomatoes are actually Beijing tomatoes.
This ban includes products that have been shipped to another region or country to disguise
the fact that they’ve actually come from Xinjiang.
But how will the US government know where the products are originally from?
Pollen analysis.
And more good news, human rights lawyer David Mattis has won the Global Humanitarian Leader
of the Year Award for his work exposing organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience in China.
I mean, who else was going to do it?
Obviously not the New York Times.
Mattis’s award comes from the human rights group Canadians in Support of Refugees in
Dire Need.
And no, they aren’t talking about Americans seeking refuge in Canada.
And if you thought it was bad last year when China locked down 11 million people in Wuhan
because of the coronavirus—now it’s twice as bad.
More on that after the break.
Welcome back.
The coronavirus is getting worse in China.
22 million people have been put on lockdown.
“More than 22 million people in all have been ordered to remain inside their homes—double
the number affected last January when China’s central government locked down Wuhan.”
Huh, that’s the opposite of the message last week in the New York Times, about how
China handled the coronavirus so well that people there have more freedom than people
in the West.
Yes, Chinese people have the freedom to move around and lead a normal day-to-day life.
Unless they try to move around and lead a normal day-to-day life.
Of course the entire world is suffering from the coronavirus, or as I call it, the CCP
virus, since it spread because of a Communist Party coverup.
But people aren’t just suffering from the CCP virus itself.
They’re also suffering from CCP Virus tests and vaccines.
The Chinese vaccine Coronavac is being tested in Brazil, but its efficacy rate is only just
above 50%.
That’s far lower than the Chinese company initially claimed.
Compare that to the two main vaccines made by US companies.
Those have an efficacy rate of 95%.
Meanwhile, two US Federal agencies have learned nothing from the past year.
Because they’ve been pushing Chinese Covid-19 tests—despite warnings that it’s a security
risk.
How could a coronavirus test be a security risk?
Well, it was created by BGI, China’s leading genetics company.
And there are concerns that the tests could give Americans’ DNA data to a Chinese company.
Some of the genetic data from BGIs gene sequencing machines gets stored on Huawei equipment.
Yeah.
And get this—“The U.S. Commerce Department sanctioned two of BGI’s subsidiaries earlier
this year, saying they provided technology to collect and catalog the DNA profiles of
China’s persecuted Uighur population.”
So kind of a problem, huh?
Well, nevertheless, BGI “enlisted a foundation tied to a former U.S. president—George H.W.
Bush—and used a company linked to the United Arab Emirates’ top spy to promote its efforts.
A prominent New York real-estate lawyer threatened to complain to California’s governor if
state health officials there didn’t use BGI’s tests.”
Am I only the person who isn’t corrupt?!
Clearly, I need to sell out.
Last week, I told you about how the Chinese Communist Party is continuing to block a World
Health Organization investigation into the origin of the coronavirus in Wuhan.
And Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is criticizing that.
Here he is on Canada’s City News.
“There’s certainly going to be a time for necessary accountability and understanding
exactly how the world ended up plunged into this terrible, terrible situation and the
role China had to play in this as the origin of the virus is going to need to be known.
For China to not cooperate and not participate in that is unfortunately very predictable,
given the recent stances by the Chinese government on collaborating with international authorities,
but [it’s] not going to be able to protect them from making sure that the truth does
come out.”
Wow.
Now hearing that from Trudeau, was very shocking for me.
Until I realized the truth: This Trudeau is not the same as this Trudeau.
The one with the beard is from a mirror universe!
Simple Star Trek logic!
Wait a minute, does this mean we’re in the evil universe?
Oh yeah, that actually makes total sense.
Which brings me to Uncle Roger, aka comedian Nigel Ng.
You might know him as the fried rice guy.
Anyway, he has apologized and deleted a video featuring a YouTube star who in the past has
criticized the Chinese Communist Party.
Apparently Uncle Roger’s video got flagged in China—or possibly he got pressure from
Chinese sponsors or business partners.
So he took it offline and made an NBA-style apology, saying “I wasn’t aware of his
political thoughts and his past incorrect remarks about China.
This is my negligence.”
That YouTuber with dangerous thinking is Mike Chen from Strictly Dumpling.
What were Chen’s past incorrect remarks about China?
Well, he’s made a few.
For instance, this post from June on Instagram of Tank Man says “Today, on the 31st anniversary
of Chinese troops opening fire on protesters in and around Tiananmen Square.
The people of HK are facing a similar standoff over freedom, democracy and basic human rights.”
What an incorrect remark about China!
Now at no point in the joint video with Uncle Roger did Chen talk about any of these political
topics.
The problem is that in the past, in totally unrelated posts, Chen had expressed concern
over Chinese Communist Party’s human rights abuses.
And this just goes to show how deep the CCP’s censorship reaches overseas.
Uncle Roger doesn’t live in China.
He’s not political.
He didn’t ask Mike Chen any political questions.
But simply because Chen is a person who has political views that support freedom for the
Chinese people, Uncle Roger felt pressure to self-censor.
Now, Uncle Roger is hardly alone.
This is something that multinational corporations do all the time, like we’ve constantly been
talking about on this show.
But it feels more personal when it’s someone you liked doing it.
Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow even dressed up as Uncle Roger for Halloween
last year—where she did a video review of Hong Kong police.
So this latest self-censorship from Uncle Roger has got to hurt.
On the bright side, Agnes Chow probably doesn’t know about what Uncle Roger did... because
Hong Kong police put her in prison.
That’s not a joke.
Anyway, I for one can’t wait for Uncle Rogers’ next video on how to eat boot fried rice.
If you add enough MSG, you can barely even taste the boot you’re licking.
And speaking of censorship, YouTube has been demonetizing a lot of China Uncensored videos.
I know this is technically not censorship—but it has a similar effect: It discourages us
from making content that criticizes the Chinese Communist Party.
But we refuse to self-censor.
And we can afford to only because of direct support from viewers like you—members of
the China Uncensored 50-Cent Army who support us through Patreon.
And as a thank you to them, I answer their questions on the show.
Today’s question comes from...
Drew McTygue: “Will the CCP attempt to seize control of the moon?”
Oh Drew, you’re thinking too small.
I mean, yeah, the CCP is talking about building a moon base.
And just to be clear, China’s space program is run by the military.
But who cares about the Moon?
The CCP has much bigger space plans.
Like a space station.
Since NASA isn’t allowed to work with China.
But China’s real prize is Mars.
After all, Mars is the red planet.
Thanks for your question Drew.
And thank you for watching.
Be like Drew and support China Uncensored on Patreon at patreon.com/ChinaUncensored.
Remember to like, subscribe, and share this episode.
Once again I’m Chris Chappell.
See you next time.