A protester gets beaten in the UK Chinese consulate
US officials warn China might invade Taiwan really, really soon
And why the Chinese Communist Party might ban people from using the bathroom
That and more on this week’s China news headlines
Welcome to China Uncensored. I’m Chris Chappell.
We’re probably going to get demonetized
and age restricted by YouTube for showing you this first story, but
earlier this week, a protester was dragged into and beaten inside the
Chinese consulate grounds in Manchester, England.
And it was all captured on film.
Hong Kong protesters held a peaceful demonstration outside the Manchester
consulate on the first day of the Communist Party Congress.
At least, it started out peaceful. Until a group of men from the consulate came out,
some in riot gear, and ripped down the banners. The man in the hat is the Consul General,
the highest ranking diplomat in the consulate.
A scuffle started at the gates of the consulate. It’s hard to see exactly what’s going on.
But at one point, a protester gets pulled inside and beaten
while the Consul General looks on. Until a police officer manages to pull him out.
The protester was Bob Chan, a Hongkonger who moved to the UK
last year. He says he was trying to stop the men from tearing down
the protest banners when he was dragged into the consulate grounds and beaten.
Chan ended up with multiple injuries. And he spent the night in the hospital,
according to local police.
Chinese officials claimed that the protesters were the ones who
“illegally entered” and “endangered the security” of the consulate.
And that the consulate officials were just upholding the peace and dignity of the premises.
Yeah, upholding peace and dignity by beating the crap out of someone. Sounds like the CCP.
Meanwhile, the Consul General, Zheng Xiyuan blamed the rude banners with
offensive imagery and slogans for the violence.
Now the banner on the left says “Heaven will destroy the CCP” while the one on
the right says “celebrate your mother”. Which means…the opposite of celebrate
your mother. And there’s a poster of Xi Jinping as the emperor with no clothes.
If Consul General Zheng thinks this is rude,
he should see the kind of banners British people use to protest their own leaders.
These are quite tasteful in comparison.
Zheng was also photographed personally pulling the hair of the protester.
Here’s how he defended that to Sky News.
Zheng: I don’t attack anybody. I’m there peacefully.
Reporter: That’s not true, though, is it Consul General? You pulled the man’s hair.
Zheng: That is because he abused my country, my leader.
I think it’s my duty. Reporter: To pull his hair?
Zheng: Yeah, I think that’s any diplomat’s if faced with that kind of behavior.
Yes, you’ve heard of China’s Wolf Warrior Diplomacy. Now Zheng is creating a new trend:
Hair Pulling Diplomacy.
Beloved by six-year-olds everywhere.
And after the break, China’s economy is doing so well, they’re not letting anyone see the numbers.
Welcome back.
In a stunning move, China has indefinitely delayed
the release of its third quarter GDP numbers and other economic statistics.
GDP growth indicates the strength of China’s economy,
and these numbers were widely expected to be bad.
So the fact that they’re not even releasing these numbers can only mean one thing: The Chinese
Communist Party didn’t want to release them because the numbers are so good!
Yeah, they’re obviously so terrific that it would make the rest of the
world look terrible in comparison, and the Communist Party doesn’t like to brag.
China analysts speculated that the delay might be because officials didn’t want to
release bad news during the Party Congress, which is still going on.
Or possibly because the economic numbers were so bad they needed more time to uh… “massage” them.
But actually, there might be another reason for the delay: China’s Zero Covid policy.
According to Bloomberg’s anonymous sources, some of the officials who had to sign off on economic
data last week weren’t able to because they were in a Zero Covid bubble for the Party Congress.
Apparently Chinese officials have to sign off on economic data in person.
Either that or they were also in a Zero Email bubble.
But if this is the answer, it means the Chinese Communist Party was more willing to
risk speculation and market instability than relax the Zero Covid policy even a tiny bit.
And that’s bad news for China’s economy.
China is recruiting British military pilots to train the PLA.
As many as 30 former pilots are doing this.
These military pilots are being lured to China with “large compensation packages.”
And they’re training the Chinese Communist Party’s military on how Western planes and
pilots operate. Things that could be very useful in say, a war over Taiwan.
This is…not fine.
“A senior official said the [UK Ministry of Defence] worried that
the practice could threaten British national security.”
Really? You don’t say.
The Ministry of Defence has announced it’s taking immediate action to stop this recruitment.
Such as closing the barn door after 30 horses have gotten out.
And it’s not just the UK. Australia is now looking into whether China
has also recruited their pilots to train the PLA.
Everything’s great.
Speaking of a war over Taiwan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
says that China wants to take Taiwan on a much faster timeline.
“Blinken said China had made a ‘fundamental decision that the status quo was no longer
acceptable, and that Beijing was determined to pursue reunification on a much faster timeline.’”
That was during a speech at Stanford University. And then Blinken didn’t give any details on
what a “much faster” timeline means. Way to keep people on the edge of their seats, Mr. Secretary.
But Secretary Blinken isn’t the only US official warning
about China’s takeover of Taiwan this week.
Admiral Michael Gilday, chief of US naval operations , says
China could attempt to invade Taiwan this year.
Yes, this year.
It's not just what President Xi says, but it's how the Chinese behave and what they
do. And what we've seen over the past 20 years is that they have delivered on every
promise they've made earlier than they said they were going to deliver on it,
so when we talk about the 2027 window in my mind that has to be a 2022 window or potentially a
2023 window. I can’t rule it out. I don’t mean at all to be alarmist by saying that.
This is me, totally not alarmed.
More after the break.
Welcome back.
Reports of a teenager dying in Covid quarantine is causing an outcry in China.
Video circulated online of Guo JinJin, a 14-year-old girl, shaking and convulsing on a
bed. Her family members shared the clips online, calling for accountability for Guo’s death.
They say Guo received no medical treatment at the quarantine center.
Because of how China’s Zero Covid quarantine works,
it’s not clear whether Guo even had Covid or what she died of.
But she was separated in the quarantine camp
from her family members, who were unable to get her help.
This is every Chinese person’s worst nightmare,
and why so many people fight against being put in quarantine camps.
So naturally there was a huge outcry online, which was quickly censored.
I told you last week about this rare protest in Beijing,
where one man hung banners on a bridge calling for freedom and democracy.
And calling to remove Xi Jinping from office.
From video footage, it looks like he was quickly arrested at the scene by Chinese police.
But his message has continued to spread. Posters
of his banners have appeared at college campuses around the world.
Activists have repeated his actions on Westminster Bridge, in London.
And at the Chinese embassy.
And what’s even more remarkable is that his message is spreading in China, too.
In an unexpected place: public toilets.
The reason is that bathrooms are one of the very few public places
in China where there are no surveillance cameras.
So people are getting creative. This is at a university in Nanjing.
This is being called China’s new toilet revolution.
That’s a reference to Xi Jinping’s “toilet revolution” to modernize
bathrooms across rural areas of China.
Also I can’t believe that no one at Xinhua got in trouble for that “solid effort” of a headline.
But now that people are using toilets to start an actual revolution in China,
we all know what the Chinese Communist Party is going to do next:
Ban people from using bathrooms.
It’s the anti-toilet revolution.
And now it’s time for me to answer a question from a China Uncensored viewer who’s part of
the 50-Cent Army. That’s the group of fans who directly support us through Patreon or Locals.
Luke King on Patreon asks: “Do you think the recent semiconductor restrictions on China
could force China to make a move on Taiwan? Are we seeing the same thing when the US embargoed all
oil exports to Japan in 1940 which was a major reason that led to the pearl harbour attack?”
Good question, Luke.
Biden’s new semiconductor restrictions are a tough blow to the Chinese regime. But it won’t
push them to take over Taiwan sooner. Even if they do invade now, and are successful,
and are also able to get control of Taiwan’s big semiconductor maker TSMC,
they’ll still be under the same restrictions. Meaning, they might control the chip factory, but
they won’t be able to produce those chips—because even TSMC relies on American chip technology.
There’s always talk of if the US does this or that, won’t it push the CCP to take over Taiwan?
And the answer is that the CCP is planning to take over Taiwan anyway.
So the US just needs to keep doing what’s right to stop the CCP from taking over more and more
things like manufacturing and exports. The US can’t stop the CCP by appeasing them.
Thanks for your question, Luke
And thank you to everyone who supports the show on Patreon.
You can support China Uncensored by going to Patreon.com/ChinaUncensored
and contributing a dollar or more per episode. As one of the perks,
you can ask me questions that I’ll answer on the show.
Once again I’m Chris Chappell, thanks for watching China Uncensored.