The Olympic Boycott is happening!
Apple made a very shady deal with China
And China may surpass the US in space
That and more on this week’s China news headlines
Welcome to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chappell. This episode is sponsored by MOVA Globes.
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And on the other side of the planet from me in New York:
Beijing—where the 2022 Winter Olympics are just two months away.
China is super excited. Take a look at the venue! They’ve already got all the fake snow in place.
It’s going to be a huge celebration. If only people would show up.
But sad news, Beijing: The US has announced a diplomatic boycott.
“The Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation
to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, given the PRC'S ongoing
genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses.”
The Biden Administration has been under loads of pressure to do this.
“​​For months, Democrats, Republicans and human rights activists have pushed President
Joe Biden to use February’s Olympics in Beijing as a platform to rebuke China.”
That’s amazing. Not only was there agreement between Democrats and Republicans.
There was also agreement between politicians and
Actual human beings.
It’s like watching a solar eclipse. You know it happens, but you never expect to see it.
Also don’t look directly at politicians, or you might go blind.
Back to the US diplomatic boycott. The US is not stopping US athletes
from attending the Olympics, but no US officials will go.
After the US announcement, the floodgates opened. Other countries started announcing
their own diplomatic boycotts. Lithuania, New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, the UK, and Canada.
Oh that’s just wonderful! China goes through all the trouble of hosting the Olympics
and they don’t want to come. Well you know what?
That’s fine. There are plenty of other people who want to come. China doesn’t need you.
“No one cares whether they come or not,
and it has no influence on Beijing's success in hosting the Winter Olympics.”
Yeah, China will be just fine without you.
And you know what? The US wasn’t even invited in the first place!
Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying tweeted, “The Beijing Winter Olympic
Games is a party "by invitation only". Some US politicians need not flatter themselves by
"weaponizing" their attendance. One can't decline an invitation without first receiving one.”
So basically, “You didn’t break up with me, I broke up with you!”
But also, China is saying the Olympics, the international sporting event that is
supposed to bring the world together to share our common humanity,
is an invitation-only party. And they control the invitations.
Well I guess that explains why Beijing isn’t inviting any spectators
except Chinese fans who meet certain requirements.
I’m guessing those requirements will be being Covid-free and
Loving the Communist Party.
Meanwhile, the Chinese regime is continuing to act in a calm, rational manner.
The Chinese Ambassador to the UK tweeted, “US politicians keep hyping
a “diplomatic boycott” without even being invited to the Games.”
And my favorite Chinese state run media, the Global Times tweeted, “The US is making itself a
joke by announcing boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics that had not invited US politicians.”
Yeah, you see? The Chinese Communist Party totally doesn’t care.
And to prove how little it cared, the Communist Party began making threats,
saying the US will pay a price for boycotting the olympics.
They’re not lashing out.
It’s totally normal to punish someone for not coming to the party you didn’t invite them to.
It’s like Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.
“What the U.S. should do is to correct its attitude, practice a more
united Olympic spirit and take China's concerns seriously.”
And in case you’re wondering, China says nobody cares about
Australia’s Olympic boycott either, so there.
All in all, it was a very good week for me!
Look, I know some people are saying a diplomatic boycott isn’t enough.
And I get it. It would be much better to move the Olympic games out of China.
But this is a good start. Because back in 2008
when Beijing hosted the Summer Olympics, there wasn’t even a diplomatic boycott.
Sure, the Communist Party hadn’t started putting Uyghurs into concentration camps yet in 2008.
But there were plenty of them in labor camps. And the Chinese regime was still repressing
the Tibetans, and the Mongolians, and Christians, and human rights activists, and the list goes on.
And the Communist Party was definitely already killing
Falun Gong practitioners and selling their organs.
Meanwhile here is then US President George W
Bush having a great old time at the Summer Olympics in Beijing.
He’s palling around with Yang Jiechi.
And Xi Jinping.
And then Chinese leader Hu Jintao.
I know, it’s shocking. Hu is actually smiling.
And President Bush wasn’t alone at the Olympics.
Hey, isn’t that Bill Gates?
And look, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was also there!
And also at the Beijing Olympics was then UK prime minister Gordon Brown.
And current prime minister Boris Johnson. And future prime minister David Beckham.
I think you get what I’m saying.
Speaking of covering up China’s human rights atrocities, there’s been a lot of controversy
over whether the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of the Uyghurs,
a Muslim ethnic minority, is genocide.
Both the Trump administration and the Biden administration has called
the Communist Party’s actions genocide.
And now, an independent tribunal in London has ruled it a genocide, too.
“The Uyghur Tribunal cited birth control and sterilisation measures allegedly
carried out by the state against the Uyghurs as the primary reason for reaching its conclusion.”
And coming up after the break, Apple’s rotten China deal.
Welcome back.
As I said earlier, China wants to make the US pay.
And the Pentagon has been keenly aware of the advancements made by the Chinese military.
China has conducted hundreds of hypersonic missile tests, while the US has done just 9.
And according to a top Space Force General, China may soon overtake the US in space plans.
“On average they are building and fielding and updating their
space capabilities at twice the rate we are, means that very soon, if we don't
start accelerating our development and delivery capabilities, they will exceed it.
They will exceed us and 2030 is not an unreasonable estimate.”
Nevertheless, the US military is still the dominant force globally.
And this week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a warning for the Chinese Communist Party
if it tries to invade Taiwan. We are resolutely committed to Taiwan,
to making sure it has the means to defend itself. I hope that China's leaders think very carefully
about this and about not precipitating a crisis that would have I think terrible consequences.
This week, Blinken also told a gathering of prominent leaders in business and politics
to be on guard about Chinese investments.
He said, “When it comes to Chinese investment, there is no distinction between a so-called
private enterprise and the state. If a private Chinese enterprise makes the investment,
the state has access to whatever that enterprise has access to.”
Thank you Secretary Blinken for spelling it out like that.
Too bad that’s not a message Ray Dalio and other Wall Street hedge fund executives are hearing.
They’re making huge, stupid investments in China.
Speaking of businesses making stupid China deals—Apple.
CEO Tim Cook made a secret 275 billion dollar deal with China.
It’s pretty bad.
Not only did Tim Cook personally lobby Chinese officials, Apple made some, shall we say,
concessions to the Communist Party?
Basically China was threatening Apple, so in 2016, Tim Cook agreed to
“help Chinese manufacturers develop ‘the most advanced manufacturing technologies’
and ‘support the training of high-quality Chinese talents.’”
So…Apple is teaching China’s most talented people how to steal Apple’s technology.
That’s how you get things like…the Goophone.
Apple also promised to “use more components from Chinese suppliers in its devices,
sign deals with Chinese software firms, collaborate on technology
with Chinese universities and directly invest in Chinese tech companies”.
This means companies and universities with direct links to the Chinese Communist Party
could be designing software and maybe even hardware for Apple.
Also, Apple is collaborating on technology with Chinese universities. And Chinese universities are
collaborating on technology with the Chinese military. Could there be a problem here?
Meanwhile, in the ongoing Mac vs PC war,
Microsoft seized 42 websites used by China based hackers to attack the US.
Which is good because Chinese hackers can cause some serious damage. That’s what Australia found
out. When Chinese hackers came within minutes of shutting off electricity for 3 million people.
China has basically launched a trade war against Australia.
That’s because Australia wanted an investigation into the origin of the coronavirus.
But it’s not just Australia that has found itself on the CCP’s naughty list.
Lithuania is also being hit by a trade war over its support for Taiwan.
China has essentially banned all imports from Lithuania. Fortunately,
that’s only about 1% of all Lithuania’s total exports. As I always say,
those who get in too deep with China are the ones who get hurt.
But a Lithuanian MP, Mata Maldeikis, is leading a delegation in Taiwan.
And Hu Xijin the editor in chief of my favorite Chinese state run media, the global times,
called him a low-end European political actor.
To which Maldeikis responded, “Xi is sending his clowns to attack us.
We should call China "The People's Republic of Comedy".
Now, I know I should be happy about this. But I’m not. I’ve been doing this show for almost
ten years. Why have I never come up with the People’s Republic of Comedy? This guy’s a genius.
And this episode has been sponsored by MOVA Globes.
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Once again I’m Chris Chappell, see you next time.