On this episode of China Uncensored,
Being a lawyer in China just got easier—
if you’re loyal.
Apple created a delightful “feature”
to stop a dangerous emoji.
And finally,
just because a Chinese telecommunications company
works with the Chinese military,
doesn’t mean it shouldn’t build
Australia’s 4G network!
This is China Uncensored.
Hi, welcome to China Uncensored,
I’m your host Chris Chappell.
Being a lawyer in China isn’t easy.
Just ask Gao Zhisheng.
I’m kidding.
You can’t ask him.
He’s in police custody...
somewhere in China.
But it’s not all bad news for lawyers inside China.
The All China Lawyers Association,
the only official organization for lawyers
approved by the Chinese Communist Party,
has revised its charter
to help lawyers throughout China do better.
According to Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily,
China’s Minister of Justice—
who’s also a high ranking Party official—
has laid out some new requirements:
“Lawyers must make the work of developing the Party
their top political task.”
And “Lawyers must follow the Party no matter what happens.”
Okay, those technically aren’t new requirements.
But isn’t it also the Communist Party’s way of saying,
hey, we don’t want what happened to Gao Zhisheng
to happen to any other lawyers.
Such compassion.
Speaking of compassion,
according to the Epoch Times,
“The Chinese Embassy in the US issued a notice on its website
stating that the US is not safe and that there is
a high occurrence of gun violence, robbery, and theft.”
The Chinese Embassy’s warning about
the so-called dangers of traveling to America
came just a few days before US-China trade tariffs
went into effect.
I’m sure that’s totally a coincidence though.
Unfortunately, the warning didn’t come soon enough
for one Zhang Xiaolang.
Just as he was about to board a flight returning him
to the safety of the motherland,
he was arrested by US authorities.
Zhang worked for Apple in 2015.
Specifically in the autonomous car division.
And he may have been spying.
Zhang, “was accused of downloading files
that included engineering schematics and technical reports
before leaving to work for Xiaopeng Motors.”
I mean, what evidence do they have?
“Records and closed-circuit TV footage also showed Zhang
entering the autonomous car software and hardware labs
on April 28...
He was seen leaving less than an hour later carrying
a computer keyboard, some cables and a large box.”
Ok, so...a lot of evidence.
In hindsight,
considering Apple convinced the entire world
to put a surveillance device in their pockets,
Zhang maybe should have assumed Apple
would also have security cameras
in its top secret research lab.
But despite the spying,
Apple is still an eager player in the China market.
Apparently, even to the extent that they’d rather have iPhones
crash than stand up to Chinese censorship.
Apple has built in a censorship feature
on every iPhone in the world.
And it’s all for the benefit of the Chinese Communist Party.
It was discovered that “Apple added some code to iOS
with the goal that phones in China
wouldn’t display a Taiwanese flag.”
Except that introduced a bug.
If someone sent a Taiwanese flag emoji
to your iPhone while you were in China,
it would crash.
And yes, this has been a feature of iOS since early 2017.
If you switch your iPhone location to China,
the Taiwanese flag emoji option disappears.
But for reasons that are unclear right now,
some phones would crash if they received
the Taiwanese flag emoji from a user outside China.
Apple says they have now fixed the glitch.
Don’t worry.
They haven’t changed the censorship part.
That’s still in there.
Last week we covered the shady investments China
made in Malaysia's development company 1MDB.
Well, there’s a juicy update.
The Malaysia businessman behind it has fled to China.
Before fleeing to the mainland, he had been in Macau—
China’s hub for gambling and money laundering.
It gives you an idea of what kind of businessman he is.
The kind of businessman who parties with Leonardo DiCaprio!
Currently, Interpol has a warrant out for his arrest.
The Malaysian guy, not Leo.
But we’ll see if Chinese authorities are eager
to actually help Interpol.
Speaking of totally aboveboard business dealings,
it’s a breakthrough for Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei!
They won a 100 million dollar deal
to build 4G networks in Western Australia.
Wait, there were security concerns?
Well that doesn’t make any sense.
Just because Huawei has close ties to the Chinese military
and has been banned by some US government agencies,
that means Huawei is a security threat?!
I mean, they even said they wouldn’t
give Australian user data to China.
Obviously, cooler heads prevailed,
and gave Huawei the contract.
And in an unrelated story,
it turns out that in 2015,
Huawei took several Western Australian government officials
on a paid tour of China.
So what do you think?
Leave your comments below.
And before you go,
it’s that time when we answer questions
from fans who support China Uncensored
on the crowd funding website Patreon.
Carlos A Carreno asks
“Should I be afraid of all Chinese electronic software?
You know because the cyber espionage and stuff.”
Well, since iPhones are glitching because Apple
programmed in Chinese censorship in every iPhone,
it might not just be Chinese electronic software.
But I would say,
definitely don’t use the app WeChat.
In a 2016 report,
Amnesty International noted that WeChat
did not provide end-to-end encryption,
which means its messaging system
can be accessed via a ‘back door.’
Like, you know,
by the Chinese government.
Doesn’t stop there.
Chinese phones, like Huawei or ZTE,
are banned on security grounds
by organizations like the Pentagon.
So maybe you shouldn’t have one of those either.
Thanks for sending your question.
And remember,
China Uncensored is supported mainly from viewers like you.
If you want us to keep making great episodes,
and have a chance to get your question answered on air,
become a supporter on Patreon.
The link is below.
Once again I’m your host Chris Chappell.
See you next time.
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