The People’s Liberation Army sends out destroyers while the US navy does exercises nearby
People in Shanghai say they’re starving under Covid lockdowns
And the most absurd Chinese Tesla knockoff
That and more on this week’s China news headlines.
Welcome to China Uncensored. I’m Matt Gnaizda, filling in today for Chris Chappell.
This episode is sponsored by PC-Doctor Toolbox.
Having a PC means dealing with constant crashes and hardware failures. You know what I”m
talking about. That’s why you need PC-Doctor Toolbox. I’ll explain more at the end.
So, off the coast of China this week, the Chinese navy gathered its most powerful destroyers
while a US carrier group was holding exercises off the Korean peninsula.
China sent four of its Type 055 Renhai-class guided-missile destroyers to the waters near
Qingdao.
Defense analyst H. I. Sutton posted this on Twitter, showing satellite images of the ships.
The Type 055 is China’s most powerful destroyer. They’ve built eight of them in just the
past few years.
China didn’t officially say they were sending destroyers *because* of the US-Japan joint
naval exercises happening nearby. Which is good, because those exercises weren’t even
about China. They were about North Korea.
It’s like when a coworker you hate starts arguing with another coworker you hate—but
instead of being happy that they’re fighting each other...
you send four of your most advanced destroyers.
In economic news, China’s imports “unexpectedly collapsed” in March, while exports grew.
China’s customs spokesman Li Kuiwen blamed this on “some unexpected, sudden factors
in the current international and domestic environments”.
This is not good for the US.
Two years ago, China had signed an agreement to reduce the massive trade imbalance.
The idea was that US-China trade should not just be about China getting to export its
cheap stuff to the US, but that American companies should also be able to make more money selling
stuff to China, too.
But sometimes “unexpected, sudden factors” just make it impossible for the Chinese Communist
Party to keep its promises.
US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi scheduled a visit to Taiwan last Sunday—the first
Taiwan visit for a sitting US speaker since 1997.
The Chinese regime heard about this, and issued a stern warning.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson told reporters that “If the United States insists
on having its own way, China will take strong measures in response to defend national sovereignty
and territorial integrity. All possible consequences that arise from this will completely be borne
by the U.S. side.”
So did Pelosi back down to appease the Chinese regime? Or did she bravely stand up for Taiwan?
Neither. She responded...
...by getting Covid and postponing her trip.
Now that’s how you play 3D chess.
And after the break: Do. Not. Go. To. Shanghai.
Welcome back. There’s nothing more embarrassing for a
communist official than when someone tells the truth.
But sadly, that’s what happened recently when Chinese vice premier Sun Chunlan visited
Shanghai.
She had gone there to call for all-out efforts to curb the pandemic.
But those all-out efforts apparently don’t include making sure Shanghai’s 26 million
residents have enough food to eat.
This video posted by a Shanghai resident shows her with a group of Chinese officials. And
then residents yell about how they don’t have any vegetables to eat. And Sun Chunlun
responded with...silence.
What, did you think she was actually going to react?
Anyway, Sun is used to being yelled at. Like back in 2020 when she toured Wuhan.
Also whenever Sun does a Covid inspection, it usually means that city hasn’t locked
down hard enough. So whenever Sun visits somewhere, get ready for more lockdowns.
Aaaaand...Shanghai has extended its lockdown once again.
And the US State Department has responded to Shanghai’s extended lockdown by telling
its consulate staff there: Leave now.
The reason the State Department gave was the rise in Covid cases and the Chinese government’s
“arbitrary” Covid rules. And that Shanghai totally sucks right now.
Shanghai residents are getting pretty fed up with what’s going on. And we’re seeing
more videos of residents protesting Covid policies, including clashing with police.
Residents in one apartment complex protesting after their apartment complex was turned into
a quarantine site.
They don’t look super happy about that.
But as videos and photos of this circulated online, they were quickly censored. Internet
users “posted images of the incident covered with red scribbles to avoid automated censorship”
With people saying, “If you delete this, I’ll post again! I’ll just post again!”
Here’s another sign that Chinese people are just getting fed up with the Communist
Party’s censorship and propaganda.
The Chinese Communist Party likes to manipulate trending topics on Chinese social media sites
like Weibo. Here’s one about how the US is the country with the worst human rights.
Everyone knows this is not actually trending, it’s just a propaganda topic. And it’s
a transparent attempt to deflect people’s anger towards the Chinese Communist Party,
by talking about how terrible America is.
So in the middle of the night, infuriated Chinese netizens used the fake trending hashtag
about America’s human rights to mock Chinese authorities instead.
Here’s someone sarcastically talking about how great China’s Covid policies are.
And another person brought up terrible human rights violations that were happening in China,
while pretending they were happening in America.
For some reason, these comments weren’t being censored. One person said this was the
true voice of the people.
Of course the true voice of the people didn’t last. Four hours later, everything was finally
censored.
But good news for all of the angry Chinese citizens who are upset at China’s Covid
policies: The Chinese Communist Party is…doubling down!
The Party’s propaganda is making it very clear that Zero Covid is here to stay.
“Trying to ‘live with the virus,’ or a ‘lie-flat’ approach…which relies solely
on vaccination instead of other prevention measures, is not a choice for China.”
So the message to anyone in Shanghai or the many other cities that are in a lockdown is:
suck it up. You’re not going anywhere.
And after the break, you’ll never believe this Tesla knockoff in China.
Welcome back.
Last November, there were big protests in the Solomon Islands—mainly having to do
with the corrupt government and its shady ties to China.
At the time, Australia sent peacekeeping troops to maintain order.
But this week, it was revealed that the Chinese regime had secretly requested its own heavily
armed security team be sent to Solomon Islands.
“The 10-person detail was to be armed with pistols, rifles, two machine guns and a sniper
rifle to protect [the] Chinese embassy.”
The Guardian was unable to confirm whether that Chinese security team actually arrived.
But the document does reveal that China also offered riot equipment to the Solomon Islands
government, “including 1,500 of each of the following: bulletproof vests, bulletproof
armour plate, riot helmets, riot shields, stab-proof vests, electric batons, glare lights,
teargas spray and first aid kits, as well as raincoats and uniforms.”
It’s always nice when big corrupt regimes step in to help smaller countries’ corrupt
leaders crack down on public protests.
And finally some good news! China continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity,
according to US Secretary of Antony Blinken.
Here’s what he said on Tuesday.
“The Chinese government continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang
against predominantly muslim Uyghurs, among other minority groups.”
Why do I say this is good news? Because it means the US is officially calling out the
Chinese regime for genocide.
It comes as the US released its annual human rights report for last year.
And by specifically labeling what’s happening in China as “genocide,” this gives the
US the political tools to do things like sanction Chinese officials and ban products imported
from Xinjiang.
Now if only they could stop Tesla from setting up a showroom there.
But maybe it balances out. Sure, China is putting millions of ethnic minorities in concentration
camps. But at least they’re driving zero-emissions vehicles.
Speaking of zero emissions, remember last month when China held those high-level Two
Sessions meetings, and said carbon neutrality was “high on the agenda”?
This may surprise you, but that was a lie.
Because what China is *actually* doing is increasing its coal production, and pushing
its supposed carbon reduction plans further into the future...where they can be safely
ignored forever.
So China is burning more coal. And those coal-fired power plants are putting energy onto the grid,
which China’s elite are using to charge their Teslas. So Teslas in China are essentially
burning coal.
Speaking of Tesla, we’ve been repeatedly saying on China Uncensored this is not going
to end well for them.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Elon Musk someday finds himself cursing China’s sudden
but inevitable betrayal.”
In 2018, Elon Musk set up a factory in China.
Then in 2020, he announced he was setting up a design center in China, too.
I’ve personally said on our podcast that I believed China would soon knock off Tesla’s
designs—starting with electric car batteries, and eventually the cars themselves.
But I never expected them to knock off Elon Musk himself.
I don’t know how this happened, but it did. Because China.
“I tried to warn you, Elon. I tried.”
And this episode is sponsored by PC-Doctor Toolbox.
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I’m Matt Gnaizda. Thanks for watching China Uncensored.