Omicron is rampaging through China
Leading to another wave of lockdowns And it could be worse for the global economy
Than ever before
Welcome to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chappell.
So by now you all probably know the global economy hit a little bit of a hiccup starting
in 2020, thanks to the old coronavirus.
Or CCP virus as I call it, since it's all the Chinese Communist Party’s fault.
And once again, because of the Party, we might be headed to another global economic catastrophe.
The Omicron variant is spreading in China.
And new lockdowns could wreck the global supply chains.
As I’ve talked about in recent episodes, China has an insane Zero Covid policy that
the Chinese Communist Party has pinned its reputation on.
But with Omicron rapidly spreading, a Zero Covid policy seems more impossible to enforce
than ever.
Unless you ask the New York Times which says, “These tactics have been highly effective.”
Or CNN which says, “The strict approach has so far been effective: China has recorded
far fewer Covid-19 cases than many other nations during the pandemic, and its economy was the
only major one to grow in 2020.”
Wow, CNN is citing all of the Party’s fake numbers.
Look, after recent episodes, some of you have taken issue with my saying China’s Covid
numbers are fake.
But even if you believe their numbers, they don’t make any sense.
Here’s an example.
Official Chinese numbers show there have been two Covid deaths since April 26, 2020.
At the same time, their numbers show there have been over 22,000 cases since April 26,
2020.
So more than 22,000 people got Covid, and only two died.
That is ludicrously low compared to data from…everywhere else in the world.
So call me crazy, but I don’t trust China’s numbers.
But the Chinese Communist Party has a fake reputation to maintain.
And with Omicron spreading, and the Winter Olympics coming up next month, the Party has
rushed to impose strict lockdowns.
“At least 20 million people, or about 1.5 percent of China’s population, are in lockdown,
mostly in the city of Xi’an in western China and in Henan Province in north-central China.”
Violating lockdown is now even punishable by up to four years in jail.
By the way, to celebrate the Winter Olympics in Beijing, we have this wonderful new t-shirt
available in our merch store.
Visit chinauncensored.tv/merchandise to pick up yours today.
These t-shirts are not made in China.
Which is good, because China’s supply chains are getting messed up due to all of the lockdowns.
Ad that’s bad news because almost all global supply chains run through China.
And the more the Party locks down the country, the worse it is for the global economy.
“Last year, terminal shutdowns in and around Ningbo and Shenzhen, respectively the world’s
third- and fourth-largest container ports by volume, led to congestion and delays, and
caused some ships to reroute to other ports.”
That’s a big reason why things right now are more expensive and harder to find.
“Transportation costs have skyrocketed, and ports and warehouses have experienced
pileups of products waiting to be shipped or driven elsewhere while other parts of the
supply chain are stymied by shortages.”
But while things are already pretty bleak, “An executive at a Taiwanese manufacturer
in Shenzhen said a lockdown in the southern Chinese manufacturing hub [now] would be ‘worse
than 2020.’”
I’ll tell you more after the break.
Welcome back.
So with the latest round of lockdowns in China, things are already looking pretty bad.
China’s lockdowns are causing traffic jams as far away as Vietnam.
“Carmakers Volkswagen and Toyota both shut their Tianjin plants last week.
In Xi’an, chipmaker Samsung has had trouble getting staff to work because of the lockdown.”
But with outbreaks of Omicron in Beijing
Shanghai
And Shenzhen
The global supply chain is about to be tested again.
Now, the good news is, the CCP virus exposed how dependent the world was on an unstable,
authoritarian Communist regime.
So if countries and companies learned their lesson and began to diversify their supply
chains so we weren’t all totally reliant on China, these latest lockdowns won’t hit
so hard.
But, according to a partner at the McKinsey consultancy firm, “Did anybody really reduce
their supply chain risk?
Have they moved their Asia-based production back onshore or near shore at scale?
The answer is no.”
And with the economy already in the gutter, another hit from Covid will just make things
worse.
The solution?
Stop relying on China!
Stop buying products made in China, and encourage companies to manufacture in their home countries—or
at least in free countries.
Like Taiwan.
Taiwan is where it's at.
And now is the time when I answer questions from you, my loyal 50-cent army—fans of
the show who support what we do through the crowdfunding website Patreon or the exclusive
social media platform Locals.
That Jason down the road asks on Locals, “will y’all be bringing back the Friday community
live streams?
I know the holidays are always extra busy, and yall have been moving studios so yall
have been extremely busy lately it seems like.”
An excellent question!
In case you didn’t know, we are building a brand new studio that will make it easier
to make China Uncensored, as well as make it easier to do new shows, live streams, interview
guests, so many other things.
But things are taking a little longer than we planned.
That’s probably something you’ve heard a lot in the last two years.
But that means we’re in between studios at the moment.
That’s why the lighting might look a little weird right now.
As many of you have said in the comments.
The good news is, our studio should be finished in the next two weeks.
And the reason we’re able to build this new studio, to provide you with more and better
content, is thanks to...you, that Jason down the road.
And everyone else who supports us on Locals.
Locals is an exclusive social media community for China Uncensored fans.
Think of it like Facebook, but just China Uncensored.
One of the perks we’ll be offering to our Locals community are live streams where you’ll
get to chat directly with me, Matt and Shelley.
Those will be happening very soon so if you haven’t signed up for the China Uncensored
Locals platform, do it now.
That’s chinauncensored.locals.com.
Anyone can join for free.
And with a monthly subscription, you get even more exclusive content just for supporters.
So come check it out.
Thanks again for your question and your support, that jason down the road.
And thank you for watching.
Once again I’m Chris Chappell, see you next time.