Carrie Lam says
things are great in Hong Kong
Trump challenges the World Bank on China
And good news, book burning is back!
That and more on this week’s China Uncensored.
This is China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
This week’s China news headlines!
The Chinese Communist Party has lost Hong Kong.
I know, it’s a shock.
Who knew massively oppressing people
would make them hate you?
Apparently, this was news to Hong Kong
Chief Executive Carrie Lam.
According to the Epoch Times,
Carrie Lam thought pro-Beijing politicians
would “definitely win” the recent
local election in Hong Kong.
They did not.
But even though the pro-Democracy side won big,
that has not stopped the protests.
This was Hong Kong this past Sunday.
“A sea of black as vast crowds of protesters
took to the streets of Hong Kong's financial district on Sunday
in the biggest rallies since local elections last month.
It was the first time since August that the Civil Human Rights Front -
organizer of million-strong marches earlier in the year
that paralyzed the Asian finance center -
had received authorities' permission for a rally.
It estimated turnout of 800,000.”
Wow, 800,000 people.
But Carrie Lam was quick to respond
with hurricane-force spin.
The massive protests, she says,
are a sign that everything is fine.
“This reflects the freedoms that Hong Kong people are enjoying.
So I hope that this phenomenon will go also to abroad,
to show that Hong Kong is upholding
all the rights and freedoms of Hong Kong people.
So all those accusations from various quarters
that we are eroding people’s freedoms are unsubstantiated.”
Right?
Six months of continuous protests show
there’s absolutely nothing wrong in Hong Kong.
Here’s another bad sign.
One of the protesters’ five demands
is an independent investigation into police brutality.
The Hong Kong government refused.
They said, we don’t need
an independent investigation into the police.
We already have an organization to watch the police:
the Independent Police Complaints Council,
or IPCC.
See?
It says independent,
right there in the name!
The only problem is that it can’t do its job.
It can’t call witnesses.
It can’t make the police give up evidence.
In fact, it can’t even take complaints against the police.
People have to submit complaints against the police
*to the police,*
who then definitely pass those complaints on to the IPCC.
A group of foreign experts was recruited to make sure
the IPCC’s police investigation was objective.
Well, they just resigned.
“You can see that the expert panel,
the members of international expert panel
all resigned from IPCC,
before the publication of interim report.
This is a very crucial act and you can see that it's like
a vote of non-confidence to this report.”
But the fact that people can freely criticize the report
is a sign that freedoms are doing fine in Hong Kong...
right?
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Police have been going on a PR binge.
Accusing people of spreading fake news.
Photographing hard-working riot police eating in full gear on the street.
And duct taping a tear gas canister to the wall
just like that banana art installation.
They really need to fire their new PR guy.
A Hong Kong democracy protester says
he was ambushed by masked Chinese men in Australia.
If only Australia had the kind of freedoms Hong Kong does!
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s top diplomat said Taiwan will help
if the Chinese military cracks down in Hong Kong.
Sadly he did not mean Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen
would go full Rambo.
He meant that if people start fleeing from Hong Kong,
“Taiwan is going to work with the international community
to provide necessary assistance to those
who are displaced by the violence there.”
Wow, I can see why he’s the top diplomat.
That was very...diplomatic.
And boring.
Especially considering the new claims that
the Chinese Communist Party is meddling
in Taiwan’s election—
the presidential election
coming up on January 11, 2020.
A Chinese defector said two Hong Kong executives
with close ties to the Chinese military
were involved in manipulating Taiwan’s elections.
That manipulation included “a multipronged effort
to finance pro-Beijing candidates,
buy off voters and sow disinformation
on television channels and on the internet.”
Sorry, Putin, you’re no longer
the world’s best election meddler.
The World Bank is an organization
that lends money at low interest rates
to help developing countries.
Apparently, that somehow also includes China.
Yes, China,
the world’s 2nd biggest economy,
the country that has so much cash to spare
that it lends hundreds of billions of dollars to other countries
through its Belt and Road Initiative.
Well, President Donald Trump has called out
the World Bank for lending to China.
This was after the World Bank said it would lend China
1 to 1.5 billion dollars in low interest loans
through June 2025.
The US government had objected to that plan,
but the World Bank went through with it anyway.
But get this—
this is actually a decrease in lending to China.
In 2017, the World Bank
lent China 2.4 billion dollars.
Maybe they wouldn’t need so many loans
if they used more money to help people in China
instead of propping up dictators around the world,
but what do I know?
And when I said use more money to help people in China,
I did not mean finance more human rights violations.
Just wanted to clear that up,
because China apparently tried to get the World Bank
to fund surveillance in Xinjiang.
Xinjiang is the region where China has locked up
more than a million ethnic Uighurs
and other minorities in concentration camps.
Look, I get it.
The Chinese Communist Party needs the cash.
Ethnic cleansing isn’t cheap.
Meanwhile, China’s Foreign Minister says
China is big, but nonthreatening,
like a panda.
I actually agree.
They are just like a panda.
This panda.
The foreign minister added that
“paranoia toward China is a highly dangerous disease.”
Don’t worry.
The Communist Party has a treatment center
where they can cure your disease.
Recently I did an episode about how China is planning
to weaponize rare earth metals to fight the US.
Well, now the US Army is going to develop
their own rare earth plant.
“The move would mark the first financial investment
by the U.S. military
into commercial-scale rare earths production
since World War Two’s Manhattan Project
built the first atomic bomb.”
I really don’t think that’s the result China was going for.
Democrats and Republicans once again agree!
This time—on a new defense bill that would ban
Chinese made buses and railcars.
The idea is instead of giving that money
to Chinese state-owned corporations,
give that money to American companies
to build America’s buses and subways.
Also, American companies are probably a bit less likely
to build a subway car that will spy on us.
It’s been a year since two Canadian citizens
were put in Chinese jail.
Their crime?
Being citizens of a country that arrested
a rich Chinese person for breaking the law.
Justice—with Chinese characteristics.
Well, after a year in jail,
there’s some really good news for the two men.
They might actually get a trial!
Nothing like being jailed for a year without trial.
Did I mention they haven’t been allowed
to speak to a lawyer or to their families?
Something to think about the next time you visit China.
On the bright side,
the Candians haven’t been alone.
A new report by the Committee to protect Journalists
says China just beat out Turkey
as the top jailer of journalists.
Man, Xi Jinping is really winning all the awards.
Library officials in China’s Gansu province
have started burning books
that are not politically correct.
That happened back in October
after the Ministry of Education ordered libraries
to get rid of inappropriate books.
Burning books.
Yes, the Chinese Communist Party
is really getting back to its roots.
Although honestly,
this new campaign really needs to step it up.
They did it so much more efficiently in Mao Zedong’s time.
But this story took a weird twist
when the book burning librarians got in trouble.
That’s because this story went viral
on Chinese social media this week.
And sparked a huge backlash.
Yeah!
Burn the books, but not in public, geez.
For years, Big tech companies like Microsoft,
Google, and Apple have been desperately trying
to get into the China market—
even going so far as doing research
with Chinese military Universities.
Well, too bad for them,
because China is banning foreign tech
in government and public offices.
Gosh, I really feel bad for these tech companies.
More debt trap diplomacy.
These are the Faroe Islands.
They’re pretty much autonomous,
but they are part of Denmark.
The Chinese Commumunist Party has made it clear,
if the Faroe Islands wants a trade deal,
they had better accept Chinese telecom giant Huawei.
Now the United States has been encouraging everyone
to avoid Huawei since it’s closely linked to the Chinese military
and is a huge national security concern.
But for places like the Faroe Islands,
Chinese money is a heck of a lot more appealing
than no money.
And Chinese money comes with Chinese
state-backed companies like Huawei.
And finally, 11 Chinese migrants tried to
smuggle themselves into the US
by hiding inside furniture and appliances.
That’s right,
to sneak into America,
people are doing this…
And this.
America:
So great,
it’s worth hiding in a washing machine.
And that does it for this week’s China News headlines.
What do you think?
Leave your comments below.
And as I’ve mentioned before,
YouTube demonetizes episodes like this,
because they’re too controversial a subject for advertisers.
We would have been run out of business years ago,
if it weren’t for fan support
through the crowd funding website Patreon.
So as a thank you to these fans,
I answer their questions
at the end of some of my episodes.
This question comes from...
Joe King.
“Will "Joker" face tattoos gain popularity
as this technology becomes more widespread?
Will China Uncensored offer
semi-permanent versions in the merch shop?
Wide, super wide, and super extremely wide smile editions
would make a fun holiday gift idea..
and, no more mistimed family photos!
Ah, that’s in reference to a recent episode
about emotion recognition technology China is pushing.
The idea is Chinese facial recognition
AI can predict if someone will commit a crime
based on their facial expressions.
So, would it work to have everyone in China
dress up like the Joker?
Unfortunately, no,
that wouldn’t throw off the emotion recognition technology.
That’s because the emotion recognition technology
doesn’t work very well in the first place.
In other words,
I’m pretty sure the Chinese Communist Party
will continue to arrest anyone they want
for whatever reason they want.
And that’s the killing joke.
Thanks for your question.
And thank you everyone for watching,
and for supporting China Uncensored.
If you’re not a patron yet,
join our 50-Cent Army!
Go to Patreon.com/ChinaUncensored and contribute.
The link is below.
Once again, I’m Chris Chappell.
See you next time.