China is on the warpath
More trouble for Chinese billionaire Jack Ma
And Chinese nationalists don’t like you criticizing Xi Jinping
That and more on this week’s China news headlines
Welcome to China Uncensored. I’m Chris Chappell.
This episode is sponsored by Incogni.
You probably know that companies are collecting your personal data. But you may not realize
just how many. Dozens, maybe hundreds—most of which you’ve never heard of. And you have no
idea what they’re doing with it. Incogni helps you stop them. I’ll explain more at the end.
China just sent an aircraft carrier group through waters near Taiwan and southern Japan.
Both Japan and Taiwan’s militaries were put on high alert.
A statement by Japan’s Self Defense Force shows the path the Chinese carrier group
took through the first island chain and into the Pacific.
It was led by China’s first and mostly functional aircraft carrier the Liaoning.
With it were 7 other Chinese warships. You can also see the
Liaoning was loaded with a number of fighter jets and helicopters.
Those were J-15 fighter jets.
And Z-8 and Z-9 helicopters.
Chinese state-run media said their carrier group was engaged in “realistic combat training.”
This is particularly bad news for Taiwan. The Taiwanese Navy is completely outmatched.
One expert told Radio Free Asia, “Last year, for example, China commissioned some combined
170,000 tonnage of new warships—this is more than the combined Taiwan fleet,
and reflects Chinese additions in just one year.”
The Chinese Communist Party is making its intentions perfectly clear.
It wants to conquer Taiwan. That’s the key to Chinese military domination of the region.
Happy Friday!
China’s threat to Taiwan is why the US must end its policy of strategic ambiguity.
That’s according to former Deputy Undersecretary of the Navy Seth Cropsey . Strategic ambiguity
is a policy where the US won’t say whether or not it will defend Taiwan.
It’s like telling a middle school bully,
“Don’t pick on that kid or you may or may not get detention. We’ll have to see!”
And for some reason, Cropsey says that’s unhelpful.
“It doesn’t deter China. It risks the safety of Taiwan,
and I think it would be a good idea if the United States were to rethink that.”
He cited how the same policy toward Ukraine didn’t deter Russia from invading.
Yeah, but maybe if we just try it again, it’ll work this time!
Part of the US’s plan to counter China in the Pacific revolves around getting
more involved in the Pacific Island nations.
President Biden will invite the leaders of Pacific nations to visit the White House later this year.
Which is good, because the Chinese Communist
Party has been making inroads in these nations for a while now.
For instance, Beijing is helping expand the Solomon Islands biggest hospital.
Pacific Island nations, like the Solomon Islands, are in need of infrastructure investment.
Largely, China has been the one providing that.
That’s how China was able to sign a security deal with the Solomon Islands,
one that could lead to a Chinese military base in the South Pacific.
The Chinese Communist Party is clearly laying the groundwork for a war in the Pacific.
And according to Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall , China is studying how the
US fights, in order to defeat it. “China has ambitions to be the great
power on the face of the earth. They have ambitions to be the global great power.”
“It was quite clear that [China’s] desire was to
deny us the ability to project power in the Western Pacific.
“ So I’m much more concerned about China than about Russia.”
To that end, recently Kendall issued this joint statement
with generals from the Space Force, warning of China’s space warfare capabilities.
“In addition to developing the ability to attack in space,
[China] has integrated space capabilities into its military operations
in order to target maritime, air, and land forces and project power through space.”
For instance, if China is able to cut off American satellites,
the US Navy operating in the Pacific could have its communications and computer systems crippled.
Now a common problem in the US government has been people simply not taking the Chinese
Communist Party at its word. Party officials have been very open about their goals.
But it’s always written off. That’s not a mistake Kendall is going to make.
“I made the mistake a few times during the Cold War of not believing what the Soviets were saying.
Turns out they meant what they were saying. I think
the same can be assumed of the Chinese right now.”
And coming up after the break,
how a mistaken identity caused Alibaba stock to plummet by 26 billion dollars.
Welcome back.
Jack Ma, one of China’s richest men, and founder of Alibaba has had a hard time lately.
Back in 2020, he criticized Chinese financial regulators.
Then he disappeared for three months.
That was just the beginning though. The Communist Party launched what it called an
anti-monopoly crackdown and fined Alibaba, as well as other Chinese tech companies.
But it didn’t stop there.
Earlier this year, a probe into Jack Ma’s empire led to a $100 billion dollar loss for three of
China’s biggest companies, in just the matter of days. Alibaba was one of the companies hit.
And now—this.
“Chinese state media reported that an individual surnamed ‘Ma’ in the city of
Hangzhou—where Alibaba is based—had been detained on national security grounds.”
According to state-run CCTV,
the man was charged with “colluding with overseas anti-China hostile forces”
to “incite secession”
and “incite subversion of state power.”
Within minutes of the announcement, Alibaba’s stock tanked,
wiping 26 billion dollars from the company’s market value.
Then Hu Xijin the former editor in chief of my favorite Chinese state-run media The Global Times,
pointed out the guy who was arrested was not Jack Ma,
but simply another guy with the same last name. Alibaba stock quickly recovered.
This shows just how much power the Chinese Communist Party has over business in China.
An expert speaking to CNN said, “[The ordeal] demonstrated the government does not even have
to arrest a senior technology executive to erase tens of billions of dollars
from a company’s market valuation. It just needs to release some kind of information.”
Right, because China’s communist system is so opaque
that when the authorities announce that they’ve arrested someone named Ma,
people just assume it’s Jack Ma. Because that could totally happen!
This is not the kind of place people should be investing in.
And yet, Wall Street Banks continue to double down on China.
I mean hey, it’s your money. And by your money I mean our money.
This week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping chaired a meeting on
China’s zero-Covid policy. And surprise!
The Chinese Communist Party is sticking with their zero-Covid policy.
Despite the fact that it’s destroying China’s economy, causing massive suffering,
and making people so fed up they’re actually protesting.
Nope, according to the Chinese regime, “China's current COVID-19 control strategy has been
proven to be scientific and effective, and should be unwaveringly adhered to.”
And they will fight anyone who says otherwise.
No, seriously, they will fight “any attempts to distort, question,
or dismiss China’s anti-Covid policy.” So suck it up, Shanghai.
Speaking of Shanghai, the city has been in lockdown since the end of March.
But there’s light at the end of the tunnel. According to Chinese state-run media,
Shanghai is going to lift their lockdown!
By the end of May. More likely than not. Probably. Possibly.
And coming up after the break,
apparently criticizing Xi Jingping can get you assaulted in Australia.
Welcome back.
China’s Covid propaganda really isn’t working anymore.
State-run Xinhua ran this story about
officials using drones to deliver cancer medicine to a patient 20 kilometers away.
It was meant to show that Communist officials will go to extreme lengths to help the people.
Except Chinese internet users mocked it. After all, Shanghai is under lockdown. People said
they could have just delivered the medicine by car, since the streets are empty. Ouch.
There’s been a big surge in this kind of feel-good
Covid propaganda. But as people starve in their apartments because of botched Communist policies,
the response to uplifting covid news has been “we’re not that dumb.”
This is like back in 2020, when state-run media pushed a video of nurses crying as their heads
were shaved. It was supposed to be a moving tribute to their dedication to fight the virus.
Until people started asking, why did they have to shave their heads?
Why didn’t men have to shave their heads too? Isn’t this just stupid?
You may remember a few years ago we had Australian student Drew Pavlou on the show. He
was expelled from the University of Queensland for criticizing the Chinese Communist Party.
Well, since then he’s gotten into politics and is running for office.
Recently he held an event where held a sign saying F— Xi Jinping. Then this happened.
According to Drew, after the incident, the New South Wales Police said he would be charged for
holding the sign, and wouldn’t say if the men who assaulted him were going to be charged.
He later tweeted, “I should be able to insult a dictator like Xi Jinping in my own country without
being physically assaulted & attacked. Australia is a democracy and we should be free to insult
any leader no matter how coarsely - this is a simple principle of free speech.”
I mean, sure we should all have free speech. But not if we’re using it to criticize a dictator!
The Australian elections are coming up on May 21, and we plan to have Drew on
the China Unscripted podcast before it happens, so stay tuned for that.
Over in Hong Kong, a student has been sentenced to 5 years in jail under the National Security Law.
But he’s already spent 19 months in detention. He was arrested in September 2020 when “Police
seized a pepper ball gun, an extendable baton and other weapons used by demonstrators
during the 2019 protests over a controversial extradition bill.”
He pleaded guilty to selling these types of weapons on
Telegram and posting pro-independence messages.
And press freedom is almost dead in Hong Kong. That’s
according to this new report by Hong Kong Watch. Since the National Security law began, “Almost all
independent and pro-democracy media outlets have been forced to close, 18 journalists have been
arrested and at least 12 journalists and media executives are currently in jail awaiting trial.”
It also mentions a survey of journalists who covered the 2019 protests.
Of the over 200 journalists who responded, only 28 said they had not experienced police violence.
One journalist summed it up to Hong Kong Watch, saying,
“The hatred that the police showed against the media was shocking.”
I was there. I should know.
And YouTube basically demonetized all our episodes while we were there. Fortunately, we can keep
making the show thanks to the support of viewers like you and our wonderful sponsors. Speaking of…
this episode has been sponsored by Incogni.
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Once again, I’m Chris Chappell. Thanks for watching China Uncensored.