China’s economy is falling behind the rest of East Asia
The Solomon Islands signs an agreement with the US—but not without a catch
And Taiwan will now consider China’s incursion into its airspace a “first strike”
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, you should be using
a VPN like Surfshark to protect your identity.
It’s a week-long National Day holiday in China.
Which would normally mean lots of tourism.
But it’s not a good time to be traveling thanks to China’s Zero Covid policy.
A popular tourist area in Yunnan province went under sudden lockdown this week after
an outbreak of Covid was recorded.
And a bunch of tourists were stranded at the local airport and weren’t allowed to leave.
When they tried to protest, that’s when the big guns came out.
Literally.
What seems to be police pointing guns at Chinese citizens.
To...keep them safe from Covid.
Those protesters didn’t like that.
What do you have guns for?
Are you going to kill all of us?
We are the common people!
There are children here!
Why are you pointing guns at us?
Aren’t you supposed to be protecting us?
According to reports, the protesters were detained and put in quarantine camps.
Which is why you should never go on vacation in China.
Speaking of horrible covid policy, we reported a few weeks ago about residents of Xinjiang
dying under covid lockdowns.
Well those strict lockdowns *were* lifted—finally—
but thanks to 38 new cases in one day, residents are now not allowed to leave Xinjiang,
to prevent spreading the virus to other parts of China.
“All outbound trains, inter-provincial buses and most flights will be suspended until further
notice.”
Xinjiang has seen some of the harshest lockdowns in China.
It’s home to the majority of China’s ethnic Uyghurs, many of whom are Muslim.
But on the plus side, being locked in your home is still better than the alternative
most Uyghurs face: Being locked in a concentration camp.
And thanks to Covid, the World Bank is predicting that China’s economy is not going to do
well this year.
It expected the GDP of East Asia overall to grow by 5.3%—but China by just 2.8% this
year.
This would be the “first time since 1990” that China has lagged behind its Asian neighbors.
The World Bank is blaming the difference in growth on China’s zero covid policy,
which at this point is containing zero of the virus, but all of the economy.
The International Monetary Fund was only slightly more optimistic.
It predicted China’s growth would be 3.3% this year.
The Asian Development Bank predicted the same.
And over in Hong Kong,
The government is demanding that foreign diplomats there provide floor plans for their missions.
So any embassy or consulate—China wants them mapped out.
And it’s not just that.
“Officials want floor plans, details of rental or sale terms, as well as lease or
sale agreements.”
Even details about “the homes of staff.”
“According to the people familiar with the matter, [China’s foreign ministry] has asked
for new premises to be vetted before staff move into the building.”
Vetted?
Well that’s a new way to say bugged.
Because they’re not stupid, diplomats are worried that “Beijing could use the information
to plant listening devices” on the properties.
One diplomat told the Financial Times that Beijing was doing this to make diplomats feel
uneasy.
Well China, I think you succeeded.
And after the break, did the Solomon Islands break with China by signing an agreement with
the U.S.? Welcome back.
We told you last week that the Solomon Islands had refused to sign a partnership declaration
with the US.
That was part of the first-ever US-Pacific Islands Summit held in Washington DC last
week.
Well, the Solomon Islands changed its mind and signed the declaration…
“after indirect references to China were removed” from the agreement.
You may remember that a few months back, the Solomon Islands signed a security deal with
China.
Chinese police have already started training police in the Solomon Islands.
And the Prime Minister has said he wants a more permanent Chinese police presence on
the island to deal with uprisings.
As you can imagine, the US is pretty worried about China’s influence in the country.
When the Solomon Islands said it wouldn’t sign the agreement between the US and other
Pacific Island countries, it looked like it had chosen China over the US.
The Solomon Islands’ foreign minister said the reason they hesitated to sign it was that
“‘There was some references that put [the country] in a position where [it] would have
to choose sides, and [we] don’t want to … have to choose sides.’”
So the Solomon Islands chose not to choose.
I wish I could do that with my birthday cake.
Then I could have it and eat it too.But of course what this really means is that the
Solomon Islands has chosen China over the US.
They got the US to take out references to China in the agreement before they signed
it.
That agreement also covered things like trade, natural disasters and sustainable development.
Now the Biden administration has been trying to increase influence in the region.
It recently pledged $810 million in new aid to the Pacific over the next 10 years.
“Biden will [also] appoint the first U.S. envoy to the regional Pacific Islands Forum.”
It’s about time.
Parts of the region, and especially the Solomon Islands, are quickly becoming the “Pacific
autonomous region of the People’s Republic of China.”
And there are enough Chinese autonomous regions that, shall we say, aren’t so autonomous.
And speaking of the Pacific,
Taiwan says it will now treat Chinese flights in its airspace as a “first strike” from
Beijing.
China’s aircraft have repeatedly crossed into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification
Zone.
And China’s ships and airplanes have crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait.
That line was negotiated years ago by the US as a way to prevent a conflict between
China and Taiwan.
But China has been crossing the median line more and more.
“Taiwan has thus far responded … by issuing warnings, scrambling jets and activating anti-air
missile defenses.”
What China hasn’t done yet is to actually cross into Taiwan’s airspace.
And Taiwan is warning China not to.
Now Taiwan’s Defense minister says“First strike or not, as long as any [of] China’s
aircraft or vessel crosses the line, we will destroy it.”
I’m so glad that World War III might just hinge on the Chinese military playing the
“I’m not touching you” game with Taiwan’s airspace.
And after the break, a Chinese billionaire is being sued by a college student in the
U.S. Welcome back.
A Chinese billionaire has settled a sexual assault case in the US.
The founder of JD.com, Richard Liu,was accused of raping a 21-year-old student at the University
of Minnesota in 2018.
She reported it to the police and Liu was arrested, but he was released the next day.
This became big news in China, where “dozens of allegations of sexual misconduct against
well-known men have surfaced in recent years, but the #MeToo movement has had few triumphs.”
Prosecutors decided not to press charges against Liu, saying there wasn’t enough evidence.
So then the woman filed a civil lawsuit, seeking $50,000 in damages.
But just before they were to appear in court this week, both sides announced a settlement...with
no further information.
“Activists [in China] treated news of the settlement as an important milestone, with
supporters of [the student] calling it a ‘historic moment’ in a social-media post.”
So...a rich guy paid her off and faced virtually no other consequences.
Milestone for feminism!
And speaking of the justice system…
a payphone has been ringing nonstop in Beijing … and it’s not prank callers.
Residents of Gourd Island in Liaoning Provincewere calling to protest pollution in their city.
“Online petitions and blog posts documenting the city’s air pollution were quickly deleted
by online censors and dozens of formal complaints...were ignored.”
So residents started calling a random payphone in Beijing—hoping the central government
would get the message.
That way of getting attention might sound a bit performative.
And it was.
They got the idea from a local performance artist.
NPR spoke to one of the callers, and a few weeks later the caller was detained by local
police for 24 hours.
After she was released, she posted a confession video to TikTok saying her earlier claims
weren’t true.
Nothing like a confession video to say “there’s definitely nothing going on here.”
When NPR tried to call the payphone last month, just two months after the protest started,
the phone no longer rang.
The biggest surprise in all this, though, is that China still has pay phones.
And this episode is sponsored by Surfshark.
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Once again, I’m Chris Chappell.
Thanks for watching China Uncensored.