The US finally moves to extradite Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou.
China decides its courts are too independent.
And kidnapping?
The Chinese Communist Party wouldn’t dream of it.
This is China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
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We all knew it was coming,
and it’s finally happened.
“The U.S. has told Canada to expect a formal request
to extradite Meng Wanzhou the detained CFO of Huawei.”
But that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen right away—
or even at all.
Because if there’s one thing the US government loves,
it’s endless paperwork.
Back in December,
Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou,
the CFO of China’s largest telecom company, Huawei.
It was at the request of the US.
Huawei has been accused of using a shell company
to violate US sanctions on Iran and possibly Syria.
Needless to say, after weeks calling for Meng’s release,
the Chinese Communist Party was not too happy
with the idea of extradition to the US.
On Tuesday, Beijing shot back,
saying Canada should release Meng immediately
and accusing the two countries
of abusing their extradition treaty.
“Canada and the United States arbitrarily
abused their bilateral extradition treaty
to seriously infringe upon a Chinese citizen’s
security and legal rights.
We urge the Canadian side
to immediately release Ms. Meng Wanzhou
and earnestly safeguard her legitimate
and lawful rights and interests.”
Yeah!
She’s entitled to legitimate and lawful rights!
In Canada, obviously, not in China.
No one has rights in China—
especially not Canadians.
That’s why the Chinese regime had no qualms
about detaining two Canadians,
and accusing them of spying...
based off what I’m sure is very solid evidence.
Their real mistake, of course,
was setting foot in mainland China in the first place.
On Monday,
143 Western academics and diplomats
sent this open letter to Chinese leader Xi Jinping
urging him to release the Canadians.
And now I can name 143 more people
who should probably not set foot in mainland China.
Speaking of ensuring legitimate and lawful rights...
China’s Supreme People’s Court.
They’ve ruled that the whole Western model of judicial independence,
is bad.
They said China’s courts should
“Resolutely resist the influence of the West’s
erroneous thought and mistaken viewpoints.”
Mistaken viewpoints like,
don’t detain innocent people for political reasons.
The Chinese Communist Party controls the courts,
but that’s not enough!
It’s also looking for more ways to exert direct control over religions.
And what better way than rewriting the Bible
to be more in line with “correct thinking” from the Party?
I talked about this in a recent episode.
And as a joke,
I read completely made-up quotes
from this completely made-up book.
At least, that’s what I thought at the time.
But now I’ve learned—
and this is true—
that local officials in Henan Province
“ordered [a Henan] church to wipe out the first Commandment,
‘Thou shalt have no other gods before me.’”
I guess they didn’t get the hint when they told people
to replace pictures of Jesus with pictures of Xi Jinping.
Speaking of brainwashing,
more brainwashing!
Since the time of former Chinese leader Hu Jintao—
you know, the one that we all forgot about—
Chinese students have been forced to take
“Current Affairs and Policies” classes.
Well, China’s Ministry of Education
has been pushing these classes even more recently.
The goal is to “help college students understand
the situation at home and abroad
in the new era correctly.”
Peking University,
the Harvard of China,
has taken the lead.
They’ve opened an entire institute dedicated
to what’s officially called “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism
with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.”
I get it.
You need an entire institute
to figure out what any of those words mean.
Fortunately, one Chinese student has dissected it.
“[He] told Radio Free Asia that the course
is actually ‘brainwashing’ education
in combination with current events.
He cited the US-China trade war as an example.
‘The course tells how the United States
is rude and unreasonable toward China.
It also preaches that the party is very great a
nd instills ideas about the party-state system
and about xenophobia.’”
Well obviously the Party is very great.
Only the very great need to forcibly remind you that they’re very great.
And the Party is obviously very great—
at disappearing people.
For instance, Chinese-Australian Writer Yang Hengjun,
who mysteriously vanished after getting off a plane in China last week.
Days later, Chinese authorities finally admitted they had detained Yang,
who is a blogger, novelist, and former Chinese diplomat.
They said it was because Yang was “endangering national security.”
It seems like Yang has become part of
the Chinese regime’s hottest new trend:
hostage diplomacy.
Of course, the Communist Party kidnapping
citizens of other countries is not something new.
It’s just been more noticeable lately.
So noticeable, that people tried to convince Yang
not to go back to China.
But he told his friend Dr. Feng Chongyi
that he would be ok,
because he had toned down his criticism of the Party.
Unfortunately for Yang,
the Chinese Communist Party can really hold a grudge.
Maybe Yang should have listened to Dr. Feng,
especially since Feng was detained in China back in 2017.
Make that 144 people who should not set foot in mainland China.
The Chinese-controlled city of Macau.
It’s number one in the world when it comes to gambling...
And definitely when it comes to ugly architecture.
So it makes sense that Macau’s crime syndicates
would also be number one.
Well, police say they’ve uncovered a 4.4 billion dollar
money laundering scheme.
So that’s the ancient Chinese secret.
Money laundering is a big problem
for the Chinese Communist Party.
China’s elite, including Party members,
are concerned that China’s economy isn’t doing so hot.
They want to get their money out.
And while there are a bunch of laws in place to stop them,
rich people always find a way.
And that way is Macau.
Or it was, until authorities found that a crime syndicate
was smuggling in machines “to allow gamblers
to secretly cash out their casino winnings
in Hong Kong dollars and Macanese patacas.”
This could be the beginning of
a more serious investigation into Macau’s money laundering,
and why anyone would want Macanese patacas.
And across the bay from Macau is Hong Kong—
the other special administrative region of China.
Hong Kong, of course,
has its own government and laws,
separate from the rest of China.
Now I know, you’re worried that this is a problem—
because sometimes Hong Kongers’ thinking is too independent,
and not in line with the correct thinking for a new era.
But don’t worry.
They’re starting to rectify that.
The Hong Kong legislature is moving to make
disrespecting the Chinese national anthem a crime.
For far too long,
Hong Kongers have been openly negative
about the Chinese Communist Party.
For example by booing the Chinese national anthem
at sports matches.
The new bill proposes 3 years in jail
for dissing China’s national anthem,
as well as a fine of over six thousand US dollars.
Or 51 thousand Macanese patacas,
if you’re trying to get rid of those.
And yes, the proposed law “also extends to schoolchildren,
including pupils of international schools,
who would be legally required to learn the anthem.”
Something fun to look forward to
if you’re planning on studying in Hong Kong.
And before we go, now is the time
when I answer questions from you,
my loyal 50-cent army—
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I know many of you
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I started to look into Patreon alternatives,
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We are working on creating our own alternative,
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You can visit our website to make a direct PayPal contribution,
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Thanks for you question and thanks for your support.
And to all you thanks for watching.
Once again I’m your host Chris Chappell.
See you next time.