It’s been a year of conflict.
A new Cold War.
And a virus that changed everything.
Here are the ten biggest China stories of 2020.
Welcome back to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chappell. Be sure to hit the like
button on this episode. It really helps us with YouTube’s algorithm. And in 2020
we need all the help we can get.
Well, everyone. We’ve almost made it. We’re so close. Just one more day of 2020 to go. And
you know what that means. One last chance to win-slash-lose 2020 disaster bingo.
Come on, alien invasion. It’s not too late.
But while this year didn’t have a bigfoot attack or a smallfoot attack,
there was a bigfoot amount of China news. Look, it’s been a long year, I’m tired.
So let’s get right to the biggest China stories of 2020.
Starting with number 10. China punishes Australia.
This year, the Chinese Communist Party put Australia on its naughty list.
Yes, they actually made a list. Of 14 reasons why they’re mad at Australia.
I assume number one was Vegemite.
And for getting on the naughty list, Australia got lots of coal in their stocking. That is, 7 to
10 million tons of Australian coal that Chinese authorities are not allowing into the country.
And it’s not just coal. The Chinese Communist Party is using trade to punish Australia.
It’s effectively banned imports of Australian barley,
wine, beef, cotton, timber, and even rock lobsters.
But in a sense, they’re also punishing themselves. Like by banning Australian
coal when China is suffering the worst power blackouts in a decade because of a coal shortage.
But that’s a small price to pay to get Australia to surrender.
Because if Australia doesn’t surrender, other countries
might get the idea that hey, we could stand up to the Chinese Communist Party, too.
That would be awful. For the Communist Party.
And that brings us to number 9. The Chinese Communist Party’s subversion gets exposed.
The Chinese Communist Party loves to subvert other countries,
including Western democracies. It’s been happening for decades.
But in 2020, it’s getting a lot harder to pretend we’re not seeing the problem.
The Chinese Communist Party uses unrestricted warfare to subvert every element of society,
from pop culture to business to politics.
And that’s clear when you see how Disney’s Mulan filmed scenes in Xinjiang...
...known for its breathtaking desert landscapes and awe-inspiring concentration camps.
Disney also thanked four Chinese propaganda departments
and a public security bureau that’s responsible for persecuting Uyghur Muslims in China.
You can also see the Communist Party’s unrestricted warfare in how TikTok,
a Chinese-owned company, sends American user data to China.
Or when Zoom, a US company, worked with the Chinese government
to surveil and censor video calls.
And when it comes to politics, no politician is too small for
the Chinese Communist Party to subvert. As you saw when alleged Chinese spy Fang Fang
targeted city councilmembers and mayors, including Eric Swalwell, who’s now a US Congressman.
And family members of powerful politicians are also a huge target. Like Hunter Biden’s
numerous business deals, including with Chinese state-owned companies.
Those business deals are now being investigated by the FBI.
I’m sure everything is fine and totally aboveboard.
Speaking of totally aboveboard business dealings with China,
nobody does it better than Wall Street. More on that after the break.
Welcome back. Top 10 China stories, number 8: Wall Street Doubles Down
Back in January, the US and China signed a phase 1 trade deal.
It was a deal that Wall Street had urgently lobbied for.
But it’s not working out as well as they had hoped.
And now as the US-China relationship continues to get worse, you know what that means…
It’s a great time to invest in China! At least according to US companies like
BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan Chase.
Sure, China is run by an authoritarian regime that subverts American democracy
while persecuting its own people, but have you seen their high-speed trains?
Now is especially a great time to invest in China’s bond market.
You wouldn’t want to miss out!
After all, if we stopped giving the Chinese Communist Party money,
how would they fund all of their unrestricted warfare against us?
And if there’s one country that’s all too familiar with the Party’s unrestricted warfare,
it’s Taiwan. Which brings us to number 7: China Threatens Taiwan.
Back in January, we traveled to Taiwan to cover their presidential election.
The Chinese Communist Party ran a massive disinformation campaign.
But despite that, President Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party won another term.
Tsai and her party stood firm on Taiwan’s sovereignty,
and stood up to the Chinese Communist Party.
And in response, the Communist Party has been escalating its military threats to Taiwan.
The PLA has launched a form of gray zone warfare. It stops short of an actual shooting war, but
“the aim is to subdue the foe through exhaustion.”
Exhaustion seems to be the theme of 2020.
Since mid-September, Chinese warplanes have flown more than 100 missions around Taiwan’s airspace.
The PLA can’t launch a full-scale invasion of Taiwan yet,
but they’re still basically attacking Taiwan’s military—by forcing them to respond each time.
The good news is that Taiwan is getting more international support.
The US is selling billions of dollars of weapons to Taiwan.
And the Trump administration sent Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar
to Taiwan. He’s the highest-ranking US official to go to Taiwan in decades.
It was great for diplomacy,
but bad for him. Because he’ll never be as popular in the US as he was in Taiwan.
And now, number 6: Massive floods
Over the summer, China experienced months of record-breaking flooding.
The flooding led to a lot of concern about the Three Gorges Dam,
especially since the dam had to release floodwaters several times.
But don’t worry, Chinese authorities say the Three Gorges Dam is deformed but safe!
I feel much better now.
The flooding could lead to more long-term problems as well,
like rising food prices and a possible food shortage.
But don’t worry, the Chinese Communist Party knows how to deal with any internal unrest.
Which brings us to number 5: The Party is still persecuting people.
Yes, in 2020, the Chinese Communist Party is still persecuting the Uyghurs.
And the Falun Gong.
And the Tibetans.
And the Mongolians.
And the Christians.
And the Jews.
And the human rights lawyers.
And the...ok, let’s just go with everyone. They’re still persecuting pretty much everyone.
Speaking of Communist Party persecution, Hong Kong. More on that after a short break.
Welcome back to the top 10 China stories of 2020.
Now, number 4: Hong Kong becomes China.
After a year of ongoing protests against the CCP...
...on June 30th the Chinese regime imposed a national security law on Hong Kong.
It has basically turned Hong Kong into mainland China.
Permanent and non-permanent residents of Hong Kong can now be imprisoned for up to life
for crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.
To enforce the measures a new security agency has been set up,
which isn’t under the jurisdiction of the local government. It will be the first official presence
of mainland security and intelligence agents in Hong Kong, whose powers will go beyond local laws.
It also allows for serious and complex cases to go to mainland courts.
So it’s everything that Hong Kongers were afraid was going to happen,
and worse. And the Chinese Communist Party wasted no time using the national security law,
along with other laws, to crack down on dissent.
From raiding newspapers.
To jailing activists.
To postponing elections.
To forcing out opposition lawmakers.
It’s just all bad.
And the exodus has also begun, with prominent activists and
ordinary Hong Kongers leaving the city.
One group of activists who tried to escape in a speedboat
were imprisoned in mainland China, where they’re being put on trial.
But Hong Kong activists say that although things are grim, they aren’t giving up.
Speaking of not giving up, number 3: the India-China border conflict.
Starting back in May, there was a series of skirmishes
along the disputed border between India and China.
In some cases involving fistfights and stone throwing.
In the most violent clash, 20 Indian soldiers, and an unknown number of Chinese soldiers, died.
India accused Chinese soldiers of using nail-studded rods in that fight.
The border clashes were the result of China’s strategy of salami-slicing,
that is, trying to take over pieces of territory, one thin slice at a time.
“China has chipped away at territory along the disputed frontier—seizing about 23 square miles.”
Salami slicing worked for China in the South China Sea.
But it’s not working out as well on the Indian border.
In one of the latest clashes, Indian soldiers recaptured land that the PLA had taken.
And the border fights have also led India to stand up to China in other ways.
Like by banning dozens of Chinese apps, including TikTok and WeChat.
Plus India has become one of the driving forces behind the Quad.
That’s the group set up to counter China. It includes India, Japan, Australia, and the US.
And that brings us to, number 2: The US calls out the Chinese Communist Party
Earlier this year, a lot of US media were panicking over the “new Cold War.”
What most of them didn’t point out is that the new Cold War actually started in Beijing.
It’s the result of decades of the Communist Party’s unrestricted warfare against the US.
And now the US government is doing something about it.
Back in May, the Trump administration released
a strategic approach to the People’s Republic of China.
In it, they clearly spell out the Chinese Communist Party’s
ideological struggle against the United States.
They also lay out how the Party’s actions threaten America’s economy, security, and values.
And they say the US government is taking a new approach.
“When quiet diplomacy proves futile, the United States will increase public
pressure on the PRC government and take action to protect United States interests
by leveraging proportional costs when necessary.”
And the Trump administration has followed through. Bigly.
Administration officials started directly calling out the Chinese Communist Party.
“We must start by changing how our people and our partners perceive
the Chinese Communist Party. We have to tell the truth.
We can’t treat this incarnation of China as a normal country, just like any other.”
The State Department started sanctioning Chinese officials for human rights abuses.
The Commerce Department blacklisted Chinese companies.
The Trump administration closed the Chinese Consulate in Houston,
because they said it was a center for spying.
The FBI started arresting alleged Chinese agents in the US.
And proving that China remains one of the few bipartisan issues in the US government, Congress
passed several China-related bills, including the Hong Kong Autonomy Act and the Uyghur Human
Rights Policy Act. The Trump administration then used them to sanction Chinese officials.
Ah, teamwork.
There’s a lot more that the US government has done this year
to call out the Chinese Communist Party. Too much for me to mention it all here.
So let’s move on to the number one China story of 2020. Right after this final commercial break.
Welcome back.
It’s time for the number 1 China story of 2020. Because nothing says 2020 like the CCP Virus.
Back in January of 2020, we ran our first episode about the coronavirus.
It was so long ago, we hadn’t even started calling it the CCP virus yet.
A new virus is spreading in China.
Are Chinese authorities covering it up?
And do you need to be worried?
Turns out the answer was yes, yes, and yes.
What a different year this might have been if the Chinese Communist Party
hadn’t responded to the coronavirus with a massive initial cover up.
Or if the World Health Organization had stood up to China and gotten the data faster.
I guess we’ll have to wait for the alternate reality sci-fi movie that depicts 2020 as a year
when we could do amazing things like eat at restaurants and hug people.
But the Chinese Communist Party’s initial harsh lockdown had a huge effect on how
the rest of the world’s governments treated the coronavirus as well.
Would so many other countries have locked down so severely if China hadn’t done it first?
Even the WHO now says lockdowns should not be the primary way to deal with the CCP virus.
The story of the CCP virus is basically the story of the CCP.
How the CCP hid the truth, and punished those who revealed it.
How the CCP tried to influence other countries with mask diplomacy. Which then backfired.
And most of all, how the CCP controls the narrative.
Even now, the Chinese Communist Party is still trying to blame the virus on another country.
Like the US.
Or India.
Or Italy.
The latest propaganda campaign is about blaming the coronavirus transmission on frozen foods.
Which Chinese state-run media is currently trying to tie to the initial outbreak in Wuhan.
It wasn’t a lab leak! It was the frozen pizza rolls!
Mystery solved.
And with many countries now going into another round of lockdowns,
and as a possibly more contagious version of the CCP Virus spreads,
this is one story that is going to carry over well into 2021.
So those were the top 10 China news stories of 2020.
China had a huge effect on the world this year. What will next year bring? Hopefully more
countries standing up to the Chinese Communist Party. Or, there’s always 2021 Disaster Bingo.
And now, the final question of the year—from a fan who supports China Uncensored on Patreon.
If you join the China Uncensored 50-Cent Army on the crowdfunding website Patreon, you’ll have a
chance to ask me questions on the show, too. Check out patreon.com/chinauncensored to learn more.
Steve Gonzalez asks:
“Hi Chris, have you considered doing an episode on China's relationship with Mexico?
My understanding is China provides the chemicals for cartels in Mexico.”
Great question, Steve. Two years ago I did an
America Uncovered episode about China’s Drug War Against the US.
I talk a little bit about how China supplies Mexican cartels with ingredients to make meth, and
has been a source of some of Mexico’s illegal firearms as well.
But I haven’t looked into Mexico’s wider relationship with China.
That could be a pretty interesting episode. Thanks for the suggestion, Steve.
And thank you for watching this episode of China Uncensored. Remember to like,
subscribe, hit the notifications bell, and have a happy new year.