China gets aggressive with Taiwan
An unexpected Chinese response to Notre Dame
And Chinese scientists do creepy experiments with monkey brains
That and more on this week’s China news headlines.
This is China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
This week’s China news headlines.
On Monday, the Chinese Communist Party
conducted what it called necessary drills of warships,
bombers, and reconnaissance aircraft around Taiwan.
And they *are* necessary.
If you consider intimidating Taiwan to be necessary.
The US on the other hand said it was more like coercion.
The Chinese Communist Party denies
that Taiwan is a separate country,
despite Taiwan having its own government,
currency, and military.
It considers Taiwan a breakaway province
that needs to be taken, by force if necessary.
And...it’s necessary.
But the president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-Wen
says Taiwan will not be intimidated.
“These actions only serve to strengthen our resolve.
Our military forces have the capacity,
determination, and commitment to defend Taiwan
and not allow coercion to dictate our own future.”
Which is ironic, because the Chinese regime
said basically the same thing in response.
That “No person or any force should underestimate
our firm determination and strong ability
to defend the country’s sovereignty
and territorial integrity.”
It’s like looking into a mirror.
The Trump administration, for its part,
has been offering more US support to Taiwan.
According to President Tsai,
“The Trump administration had notified Taipei
that its pilots could train
at the Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.”
And now, the fate of Taiwan
lies in the hands of...Arizona.
The world was shocked by the devastating fire
that gutted the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.
There’s been an outpouring of support
and condolences around the world.
Except from some Internet users in China.
In fact, they seem to be celebrating.
Did you know that almost 160 years ago,
the French, along with the British,
burned down the Summer Palace in Beijing?
Well now, thousands of netizens want you to remember that.
According to What’s on Weibo,
“All across Chinese social media,
many people showed little sympathy
for the burning of the Notre Dame,
comparing it to the devastating blaze of 1860
that ruined the Summer Palace.”
One person wrote,
“I feel that the French got what they deserve
to see this kind of history go up in smoke.”
Another said “I know I shouldn’t,
but I cannot restrain myself:
ha ha ha ha ha!”
That got thousands of likes.
Of course, it was only *60* years ago,
the Chinese Communist Party forced the Chinese people
to burn or destroy thousands of their own temples
and historical sites.
Not that young people on China’s heavily censored internet
would know about that.
Speaking of destroying things,
here’s a video that’s gone viral in China.
It shows a worker comparing the yellow safety helmets t
he ordinary workers get,
to the red safety hats their bosses get.
Now I can’t really say I’m surprised that
the bosses gave their workers the cheap-o helmets.
What I am surprised about is that my favorite
Chinese state-run media, the Global Times,
actually covered it.
Will wonders never cease?
Remember Huawei?
It’s the Chinese telecom company
the US keeps telling everyone is a national security threat,
because it has shady links to the Chinese government—
even though it’s technically a private company.
In fact, in the West, Huawei likes to say that
they’re an “employee-owned” company.
Well, a new academic paper
blows that the idea out of the water.
This report by Christopher Balding and Donald Clarke
...took a look at publicly available records
and concluded that Huawei isn’t exactly employee owned,
and it doesn’t just have shady links to the Chinese state.
According to the paper,
“Huawei may be deemed effectively state-owned.”
So you might want to think twice about
watching China Uncensored
from that new Huawei phone you’ve bought.
Speaking of companies that really aren’t helping—
Volkswagen.
The VW Group has just built a factory in Xinjiang.
That’s the region where China’s
favoritest happy ethnic Uighur people live,
and play, and get locked up for no reason.
Robin Brant of the BBC had very public chat
with Volkswagen’s chief exec.
“But Xinjiang is not something your proud to be
associated with in terms of what the Chinese government
is doing to the Uighur people...
"
“I can't judge this, sorry."
"You can't judge it?"
"No"
“But you know about it?"
"I don't know what you're referring to."
"You don't know China's reeducation camps
for a million Uighur people its referred to
as reeducation camps as part of its counter terror threat
in the West of the country.
You don't know about that?"
"I'm not aware of it."
So... would it be better if the head of a company
that’s invested millions of dollars in Xinjiang
has no idea what’s happening in Xinjiang?
Or if he’s just a liar?
Either way,
this really doesn’t look good for Volkswagen.
Especially after that whole emissions scandal.
And *especially* after that whole working with the Nazis thing.
So I think Volkswagen might want to keep its distance
from an authoritarian regime
that’s rounding people up based on their ethnicity
and sending them to concentration camps.
Just my free PR advice.
More free advice from Chris Chappell:
Planet of the Apes was supposed to be a warning,
not a guidebook.
But some people always seem to learn the wrong lessons.
And that’s why Chinese scientists
are splicing human brain genes into monkeys!
But it’s not a smart idea.
Part of the reason this is happening in China
is because the US and Europe have made it more difficult
to experiment on primates.
China, on the other hand,
doesn’t have any of those dumb ethical constraints.
So they can do important science,
like cloning gene-edited disease monkeys.
What could possibly go wrong?
What do you think about this week’s headlines?
Leave your comments below.
And now it’s time for me to answer
a question from one of you—
a fan who support China Uncensored
with a dollar or more per episode,
by contributing through Patreon.
Zhou Rui asks,
“If Xi Jinping were to watch some BABYMETAL videos
is it possible that his heart could melt
and he would stop all Chinese aggression in the Pacific?
Baby Metal?
I’m afraid I’ve never heard of them.
Here, let me take a listen.
Zhou Rui, you’ve solved the South China Sea crisis!
You deserve a Nobel Peace Prize!
And thank you BABYMETAL,
for everything.
And thank you to all my 50-Cent Army soldiers
who support China Uncensored.
It’s only because of your support
that we’ve been able to cover topics
that most other media don’t want to,
because they prefer to get advertising dollars,
or make cars in Xinjiang,
rather than criticize the Chinese Communist Party.
Once again, I’m Chris Chappell.
See you next time.