On this episode of China Uncensored,
China tells the US,
you kids get off my territorial waters!
Nothing like a little public humiliation
to encourage people to pay their debts.
And finally Hong Kong just went Hong Wrong...again
This is China Uncensored.
Hi, welcome to China Uncensored,
I’m your host Chris Chappell.
In our top story,
yes China and the US are both concerned
about North Korea.
But they’re still also maybe slightly worried
about each other.
Kind of like when the X-Men
have to team up with Magneto
to save mutantkind.
That ends perfectly well, right?
On Tuesday,
a US warship sailed through the South China Sea,
close to a string of reefs and shoals
called the Paracel Islands.
Now China says those reefs
are Chinese territory.
Vietnam says they’re Vietnamese territory.
The US says they’re in international waters—
and if you have a problem with that,
come argue with our warship.
The Chinese Communist Party was not pleased.
And this is a particularly sensitive time.
Next week is the 19th Party Congress,
a once every five year meeting
of top Communist Party leaders.
It’s a huge propaganda event,
and the Party likes to look strong.
Rise and shine, Xi Jinping!
I would not want to be the cameraman who filmed that
and released it to the world.
But you know what else
makes the CCP look even weaker
than the core leader asleep on the job?
A US warship challenging their territorial claims.
Like it does on a regular basis.
The Chinese regime may not be happy about it.
But they’d better play nice,
because Donald Trump is coming to town next month.
Trump is planning to make his first presidential visit there in November.
I’m sure by then the whole sailing a warship
through Chinese-slash-international waters thing
will have blown over.
That US warship isn’t coming back…
until probably a month or two after Trump’s visit.
And on to lighter issues:
North Korea’s nuclear weapons.
Trump has been trying to pressure the Chinese regime
to help stop North Korea.
Meanwhile, Chinese state-run media is asking
the US and North Korea to just “cool it, ok?”
But the reason they’re asking everyone to calm down
could be more about the Chinese regime’s embarrassment.
Because it turns out,
they don’t have as much power over North Korea
as they’d like the world to think they do.
But they also don’t want the US to invade of North Korea.
Then China would have the US military
right up against the Chinese border.
Plus in the South China Sea.
That’s why the Chinese military has been getting...
a facelift, ahead of the Party Congress.
I hope it’s better than Joan Rivers’ facelift.
Seriously, though -
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has spent the past several years
purging political rivals in the military.
In fact,
there’s been a huge turnover of top military officials.
Xi’s also attempting to transform the PLA
into a streamlined modern military.
This includes becoming a global arms dealer.
We’ll have more on that later.
But at least when it comes to military drones,
President Trump is looking to counter China.
China wants to dominate the 10-billion-dollar
global drone market,
but Trump wants to put America first…
in the exporting of killer drones.
“Washington will also seek to renegotiate
a 1987 missile-control pact
with the aim of loosening international restrictions
on U.S. exports of unmanned aircraft.”
Whether China is going to be successful
at truly transforming their military
is hard to tell.
But one thing is clear:
It’s Taiwan's military that the rest of the world
needs to look out for.
The Chinese Communist Party is no stranger
to using parades to showcase its military.
But nothing can compare to the parade
Taiwan just held for its National Day.
I think we all might need a second
to absorb that more fully.
Yes, if ever you wanted more proof
that Taiwan and China are very different countries,
just think about whether their soldiers
look like they want to kill you
or choreograph dances with you.
Speaking of things under threat in China:
cash.
Gone are the days of paying with paper money,
like some old fogey.
Or credit cards,
like some loser from the 2000s.
In China,
it’s all the rage now to pay with your mobile phone.
“Mobile payment volume in the country
more than doubled to $5 trillion in 2016.”
Yes, apparently China found a use for QR codes.
Why has paying with your phone
become so popular in China?
It could be convenience.
It could also be
that it gives Chinese companies like Tencent,
“access to hordes of personal data.
That data can then be shared with the Chinese government.”
Or maybe it’s a little of both.
Who says you can’t have oppression and convenience?
But when talking about convenient payments,
you have to talk about the most convenient payment method of all—
not paying.
China is plagued by big companies
with connections to local governments
running up huge debts and then never paying them back.
Well, that’s about to change.
Haha, not really.
But what is changing is how the Chinese regime
will go after small time debtors.
Down with the underdog!
Punish the poor!
Prepare to be publically shamed!
The CCP has told local authorities
“to establish online platforms to expose debtors
who fail to honor their credit obligations.”
For quite some time now,
there’s been a trend in China of using public humiliation
to go after individuals who can’t pay their debts.
Billboards that name names.
Local officials who will bombard debtors
with phone messages telling them to pay up.
Blacklisting them from getting on planes
and high speed trains.
Public humiliation, really,
is a proud tradition of the Chinese Communist Party,
dating back to the dunce caps
of the Cultural Revolution.
But the days of being humiliated
in front of a crowd are gone.
Now, you can be humiliated
in front of the entire country!
Because authorities said the online shaming platforms
should be “maintained by local news organizations.”
And who needs rule of law
when you’ve got trial by media.
In other news,
if you’ve been watching China Uncensored for a while,
you’ll know we’ve made two trips to Hong Kong.
Once in 2014 to cover the Umbrella Movement.
And just last year
to interview activists like Joshua Wong.
The two of us are ready for Broadway!
If they hadn’t put Joshua in jail.
Times are changing in Hong Kong.
The Chinese regime recently rejected
the joint declaration that is the basis for Hong Kong freedoms
denied in the Mainland.
And of course expelling democratically elected lawmakers
because the Communist Party doesn’t like them.
Well, most recently,
British activist and friend of the show Benedict Rogers
was denied entry into Hong Kong.
Which like many heavy-handed things
done by the CCP,
will totally not backfire on them.
Like by causing huge amounts of negative publicity.
Or inspiring Rogers to set up a new NGO
that will monitor Hong Kong’s human rights situation.
Is it a coincidence that Rogers,
“who is vocal in criticizing China
and advocating for democracy in Hong Kong”,
…was stopped at the Hong Kong airport
just a week before the CCP’s 19th Party Congress?
Not sure,
but I have a feeling I won’t be able to do any
on the ground reporting about it in Hong Kong.
Shelley, would you like to go?
No?
Sure you would.
And coming up after the break,
just when you thought lasting peace
between India and China had been achieved,
India’s defense minister does the unthinkable.
What are you doing still here?
The show’s over!
I know, you’re not ready to say goodbye.
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