Welcome back to China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
Wait, what’s that?!
Why, it’s a Chinese spy ship!
Off the coast of Alaska!
And I’m guessing it’s not there
just for the beautiful view of
Alaska’s rugged wilderness.
But don’t worry!
US officials know it’s there.
Making it...
maybe not the best spy ship.
Unless…
Wait, where did it go?!
Shoot, folks,
I guess it’s nowhere to be found.
So what was it doing there in the first place?
I mean really, there are so many things
happening in Alaska that China
would want to spy on.
For example,
what’s going to happen
on the next season of Deadliest Catch?
Or Ice Road Truckers?
Or Alaskan Bush People?
Or The Last Frontier?
Or Gold Rush?
Or Slednecks?
Fun fact:
Alaska has more reality shows per capita
than anywhere else in the world.
There are several more
that we didn’t even show you.
Maybe we should just get the Chinese military
a subscription to the Discovery channel.
Well, one thing’s for sure.
With a Chinese spy ship so close to US shores,
the US government—
Wait, the US government says they don’t care?
Having a Chinese spy ship
hanging around Alaska is totally fine?
Wait a minute,
maybe this is for a new reality TV show!
But as fun as that would be,
there’s probably something else going on.
"The Chinese spy ship
was only 100 miles from Kodiak, Alaska.
That's where our military launched
an anti-ballistic missile earlier this week."
Ah, that makes more sense.
They were watching the US military
as it tested its THAAD missile system
on July 11th.
“So it starts here near Hawaii,
where the Pentagon says an airforce plane
launched a target missile.
And then it launched a so-called THAAD missile
from Kodiak, Alaska to intercept it.
Well, let’s see—
the two missiles met mid-air
and ‘big boom’ is the result.”
So the Chinese spy ship
was there to watch our missiles go boom.
Understandably, that’s exciting.
But the thing is,
this spy ship came fairly close to US shores—
just around 100 miles away.
That’s technically in international waters,
but still...
For some context,
this Alaska.
Kodiak is a small city on a small island
also named Kodiak.
It’s home to some not so small bears,
also named Kodiak.
Those bears are probably why
the Chinese spy ship left in a hurry.
Although that would also be a great reality show.
So what’s the big deal about this US missile test
that the Chinese military would risk
imminent bear-death to watch?
Well, as I said,
it was a test of a missile defense system called THAAD.
It’s the same kind of missile defense array
the US has installed in several places
around the world.
In particular,
the US installed a THAAD system
in South Korea a few months ago.
That was designed to defend against
attacks launched by North Korea.
But the stakes were raised earlier in July.
That’s when North Korea tested
an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
that could hit Alaska.
So maybe China sent its spy ship
to observe whether THAAD would be successful
if it had to deal with any future missiles
from North Korea.
“‘Big boom’ is the result.”
That’s CNN-speak for “very successful.”
So clearly, the THAAD system in Alaska
is working well.
Or as CNN might say,
“it’s booming well.”
But that’s not necessarily good news
from the Chinese Communist Party’s perspective.
They’re upset about the similar THAAD system
the US installed in South Korea.
It’s not that the Chinese regime
wants South Korea to be destroyed
by North Korean missile strikes.
It’s that an American missile defense system
stationed in South Korea
could also be used against China,
should the Chinese regime ever decide
that it wants to take its growing military technology
out for a spin.
So a Chinese spy ship
off the coast of Alaska is unusual.
But it follows a lot of other unusual activity
recently by the Chinese military.
An officials told CNN that,
“the US had observed similar Chinese vessels
in recent days sailing off the coast of Guam
and shadowing a joint US-Australian
military exercise.”
Also, China just sent half of their aircraft carriers
through Taiwan’s defense zone.
What's that, Shelley?
China only has two aircraft carriers?
So they sent one aircraft carrier to Taiwan.
China also just told Japan to get used to the fact
they’ll be flying bombers by.
Though if the Chinese Communist Party
really wanted to see how the latest
US THAAD test turned out,
they could have just watched CNN
from the comfort of their own homes.
“Big boom’ is the result.”
Waaaiit a minute,
that’s a great idea for a new reality show!
And when we come back,
how China’s real estate boom is about to go bust.
A spy ship can’t see everything.
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