Danger signs for China’s Economy
A Sex Scandal Involving a top Politburo member
And a record number of jets harass Taiwan
That and more on this week’s China news headlines
Welcome to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chappell.
China’s economy is in trouble.
Now I’m about to go through some official figures.
Now keep in mind, the guy currently in charge of China’s economy once said, China’s
economic numbers are man made and unreliable.
But the reason I’m bringing them up is that even the official figures look bad.
So if the official figures look bad, that means the real numbers are probably worse.
First, China’s manufacturing activity contracted for the second straight month.
It’s the worst it's been since the start of the pandemic.
On top of that, there are signs of what’s called stagflation.
Stagflation sounds like what happens when people move to the country and do this.
But it’s much less rustic.
Stagflation is basically inflation, combined with stagnant economic growth.
It happens when prices are going up while there’s too much unemployment.
So consumers buy less, and that hurts the economy even more.
China’s latest GDP figures are also shrinking.
Energy, shipping, and real estate crises are playing a big role.
The coronavirus outbreak in China is also the worst it's been since the pandemic first
began.
And again, we’re talking according to official figures.
The real situation could be much worse.
China’s premier, Li Keqiang —the guy who admitted China’s GDP numbers are man made—is
warning of “downward pressures.”
That’s a euphemism used by Chinese officials to mean a slowing economy.
To top it all off, a lot of Western tech companies in China are freaking out and leaving.
Probably something to do with the Party’s current crackdown on corporations that started
over the summer.
“Foreign technology firms have been pulling out or downsizing their operations in mainland
China as a strict data privacy law specifying how companies collect and store data takes
effect.”
The law is called the Personal Information Protection Law.
Now first of all, you know how much the Communist Party cares about people’s private information.
The real reason for the law is so the Party can access everyone’s data.
But the law also makes things more difficult for Western companies operating in China.
It’s basically super expensive for companies to adhere to and if you don’t, a company
can be fined almost 8 million dollars or 5 percent of their yearly revenue.
Yahoo is the latest major company to pull out of China.
Fortnite is also shutting down in China.
That’s about the data laws, and also the new regulations limiting video games for kids.
So things are looking pretty bleak for China’s economy.
What’s a presitator to do?
I know!
Start a war with Taiwan!
More after the break.
Welcome back.
As I mentioned, another wave of the coronavirus is spreading through China.
It's so bad that Beijing residents who traveled outside the city aren’t being allowed to
return.
After all, Beijing is where the Party’s political elite are.
And next week is a major Communist Party meeting, the Sixth Plenary Session.
I know, sounds exciting.
But being locked out of your home, or locked into your home as the case may be, isn’t
so bad—at least compared to one message Chinese state-run media have been pushing.
Chinese Central Television interviewed a lawyer who said people who break quarantine could
be charged with endangering public safety.
Which means “Violating the epidemic prevention regulations constitutes a punishable crime
that could warrant the death penalty.”
So this guy is saying people who violate quarantine could get the death penalty?
That’s the most extreme thing I’ve heard since... the last time I was on Twitter.
But it’s not just the coronavirus top party officials need to be worried about.
Chinese tennis Star Peng Shuai has accused former vice premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual
assault . It’s super rare for an accusation like this to be publicly made at all in China.
And it’s especially unheard of against a former Politburo Standing Committee member.
The standing committee are the 7 most powerful men in China.
But while most Western media are framing this in terms of the “me too” movement, there’s
a lot more going on here.
Peng made the sexual assault accusation against Zhang in a Weibo post on Tuesday night.
It was quickly deleted, but screenshots continued to spread.
This situation is so sensitive that even searches of the word “tennis” were blocked on China’s
internet.
Peng claimed that Zhang, who is 40 years older than her, had an affair with her a decade
ago, when he was mayor of Tianjin.
She also said Zhang forced her to have sex with him in 2018.
That was after he had already retired from the Politburo Standing Committee.
After that incident, she said she agreed to resume their affair.
Peng said she had no proof of any of this, but felt she had to speak out after Zhang
canceled a meeting with her to discuss her grievances.
Peng’s explosive account has appeared right before a major Party meeting next week.
And get this.
Zhang Gaoli is an influential member of former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin’s political faction.
You know, the faction Chinese leader Xi Jinping has been locked in a life-or-death struggle
with?
The timing is very interesting here.
Zhang was named to the Standing Committee in 2012, at the same time Xi was made the
Communist Party’s leader.
Jiang got several of his people on the Standing Committee, which limited Xi’s power.
But before Zhang was in the Standing Committee, he was in charge of Tianjin.
That’s here.
Tianjin was a major hotspot for the forced organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners—one
of the biggest crimes of the Jiang faction, and one that Xi Jinping could leverage to
take down his political opponents.
What about Peng’s sexual assault accusation?
Will that bring down Zhang?
That’s not really clear.
But it will definitely limit Zhang’s political influence during a crucial time, which is
a blow to the Jiang faction.
One thing’s for sure.
If Peng isn’t disappeared for her claims, that means she’s got some powerful protection.
I can’t wait for the next episode of General Hostility.
But if political intrigue isn’t enough to distract Xi’s opponents from the crumbling
Chinese economy, maybe yet another record breaking number of military flights near Taiwan
will do the trick.
In October alone, the Chinese military made 196 incursions—called “sorties”.
That’s sortie crazy.
Especially because if any one of them goes wrong, it could trigger a war—accidentally
or on purpose.
But as I talked about in a recent episode, the political war between Xi Jinping and Jiang
Zemin is reaching a crisis point.
It’s the main reason Xi Jinping hasn’t left China in 21 months.
That means he’s not meeting with the other world leaders.
And President Joe Biden is using that to take a swipe at him.
Here’s what he said at this week’s UN climate change summit in Scotland.
The fact that China is trying to assert, understandably, a new role in the world as a world leader—not
showing up?
Come on.
The single most important thing that's gotten the attention of the world is climate.
Ohhh, is it getting hot in here, or is it just climate change?
A Netflix show called Pine Gap has gotten in trouble for this scene, which shows China’s
9 Dash Line territorial claim to the entire South China Sea.
This of course made the Philippines very unhappy.
And they made enough noise that Netflix has pulled the two episodes in question.
For Netflix viewers in the Philippines, it now says these episodes have been removed
by government demand.
In response, the Chinese Communist Party said, “Censoring a show for incorrect territorial
claims?
Hey, that’s our move!”
And now I’m going to answer a question from a fan who supports China Uncensored on either
Patreon or Locals.
NickAllen1 asks on Locals, “I read on-line that the jam-up at the Los Angeles port could
be instantly solved by the mayor allowing the port to stack empty containers 6 high
instead of the mandated height of 2.
Since this is such an easily implemented fix that apparently is obvious to everyone working
at the port, it makes me wonder if the port jam-up is being artificially created as an
unofficial means of slowing Chinese trade for the trade negotiations and maybe also
as an incentive for domestic US manufacturers to produce more onshore?
Anybody else have this thought?”
An interesting question Nick!
So there are rules for how high you can stack empty containers.
“Depending on the specific terminal, Long Beach codes limit stacking to either two containers
or no more than 8 feet in height, an effort to limit the visual impact to surrounding
areas.”
However, given the shipping crisis, Long Beach and Los Angeles have both changed those rules
for now.
But was the holdup a deliberate strategy on the part of the Biden Administration?
I’m not so sure.
Partly, that’s because the supply chain problems in the US involve a lot more than
just containers at ports.
The problems involve trucks, drivers, shipping pallets, and a whole host of other factors.
And partly, that’s because the Biden Administration isn’t trying to play hardball with China.
To me, the administration seems to be signaling it would like to ease the trade dispute.
Last month, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai gave a speech about it.
It was the end of an 8 month review of Trump’s China trade policies.
And while the Biden Administration is keeping the Trump trade tariffs for now, Tai spoke
about constructive engagement with China, specifically calling it “durable coexistence”.
Now the Biden Administration has been unclear about what that means.
But “durable coexistence” doesn’t sound like how you should treat an authoritarian
regime that has openly been waging war on your country.
So thanks for your question Nick, and your support.
And once again thank you to everyone who supports this show, whether it's on Patreon or Locals,
links are below, or if you just like and subscribe.
We could not do this show without you.
You’re really hurting the feelings of the Chinese Communist Party.
Once again I’m Chris Chappell, see you next time.