The US spies on China’s spy balloon
China builds tons of ICBM launchers
And Disney censors its own content to please China
That and more on this week’s China News Headlines
Welcome to China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
This episode is sponsored by Surfshark.
Whenever you go online, especially to look into controversial topics like government
cover ups, you should be using a VPN like Surfshark to protect your identity.
So you know that Chinese spy balloon?
Which crossed most of the US, while flying over a bunch of sensitive military sites?
Well, apparently that balloon was part of a vast Chinese aerial surveillance program—according
to US officials.
The balloon we saw on the news was just one piece of a much larger operation run by the
People’s Liberation Army.
US officials said Chinese balloons have been spotted over five continents,
and that there have been ‘dozens’ of missions since 2018.
They said, “The surveillance balloon effort... has collected information on military assets
in countries and areas of emerging strategic interest to China.”
So how bad is China’s balloon warfare?
Well, it’s bad.
But on the bright side, there are lots of other types of warfare China is engaged in
that are much, much worse.
Check out my episode tomorrow for more on that.
And while China’s spy balloon may have been snooping on US military bases, the US sent
spy *planes* to snoop on the snoopers.
America’s U-2 aircraft can fly even higher than the spy balloon,
and with their array of sensors, they could “gather high-quality visuals of the balloon,
as well as soak up any electronic emissions that it might have been pumping out.”
The US eventually shot down the Chinese balloon off the coast of South Carolina, and started
collecting the parts to do analysis.
But now China is saying it wants its balloon back.
Because it does not belong to the US.
China’s new Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning doubled down on claims of innocence,
saying “The unmanned Chinese airship is of civilian nature.
Its unintended entry into U.S. airspace is entirely unexpected and caused by force majeure.”
“Force majeure” is a legal term that refers to unexpected things that are no one’s fault.
Like earthquakes, hurricanes, or accidentally flying your balloon low enough to get caught
on camera by civilians.
The spy balloon is also a hot topic on Chinese social media right now.
People are making memes comparing the wandering balloon to China’s latest blockbuster film,
Wandering Earth II.
And to the Lantern Festival which ended a few days ago.
Mmm...tang yuan.
Despite the memes, most social media users—at least the ones who haven’t been censored—are
toeing the Party line.
They’re repeating phrases like “civilian unmanned airship” and “completely by accident”.
And Chinese state media have even started to push hashtags like “America Uses Military
Force to Attack Civilian Unmanned Airship” and “The U.S. Side’s Insistence on Using
Force Is Clearly an Overreaction”
Which just goes to show, communist regimes are terrible at hashtags.
And after the break, a Simpsons episode that jokes about forced labor gets censored in
Hong Kong.
Welcome back.
In the wake of the spy balloon incident, President Joe Biden had little choice but to acknowledge
it in his State of the Union speech this week.
“Make no mistake about it.
As we made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our
country and we did.”
China, of course, felt “smeared”.
Although maybe it’s not because of a country protecting its national sovereignty.
Maybe it’s because of how Biden described the US’s relationship with China.
“We made clear, and I made (???) in my personal conversations, which have been many, with
president Xi.
And we seek competition, not conflict.”
Which honestly doesn’t sound very threatening.
But China’s foreign ministry spokesperson said “It is beneath a responsible country
to use competition as a pretext to smear other countries and restrain their legitimate right
to development.”
Then she affirmed that China “will handle China-US relations in accordance with the
three principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.”
I assume she means...
Mututal respect, like sending spy balloons into foreign country’s territory.
Peaceful coexistence, like threatening to take over Taiwan by force.
And win-win cooperation like, using hackers to free US corporations of their intellectual
property.
Speaking of competition and totally not conflict,
The US military now says China has more intercontinental ballistic missile launchers than the US.
Which sounds pretty scary, given that the Chinese Communist Party secretly considers
itself at war with the US already.
On the plus side, “Many of China’s land-based launchers still consist of empty silos.”
And “The U.S. has more intercontinental-range missiles based on land, and more nuclear warheads
mounted on those missiles” than China does.
But China is rapidly building up its military and its nuclear arsenal.
Which I assume is for win-win mutual cooperation.
China is on track to field “about 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035.”
Which sounds like a lot.
And it is.
But in reality, it’s enough to have even just several good nuclear warheads in the
hands of the right dictator.
But if you think China’s cold-war style weapons buildup is scary, just think about
the economy!
US trade with China reached a new high last year.
Which, I know, might come as a shock, given how sour US-China relations have gotten.
But the numbers released by the US government this week “demonstrate just how intertwined
the U.S. and China remain, commercially at least, despite efforts to effectively ‘decouple’
their economies.”
After Covid, there was talk about how the US needs to be more self-reliant, and less
dependent on complex international supply chains.
But in reality, globalization is still cheaper for big corporations.
The US actually had “record imports from 90 countries in 2022, led by Mexico, Canada
and Japan.”
And US exports to China were up nearly 6%.
But if you’re not a fan of globalization, good news.
Inflation has been so high over the past year that even a 6% dollar-increase in trade means
less actual goods and services.
Yay!
Your money is worth less than ever.
If that makes you depressed, well, at least you can be grateful you’re not in Hong Kong.
Because 47 of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy leaders are now on trial.
That includes two people I interviewed just a few years ago.
These leaders are being charged with “trying to subvert state power for their roles in
an unofficial ‘primary election.’”
That primary election took place in the summer of 2020.
People waited in long lines to vote.
But then the Hong Kong government delayed the upcoming general election for more than
a year.
Officially, that was “due to Covid”, because...I guess Covid makes democracy sick?
Hong Kong authorities then used the delay to start arresting opposition leaders under
the new national security law, and putting pro-Beijing candidates in the running.
And now, 47 people are on trial.
Police were brought in to stop citizens from protesting outside the courthouse.
That trial is set to last for 90 days.
And after that, each person will be sentenced—most of them to between 3 and 10 years in prison.
Although they’ve been offered a deal where they can get lighter sentences if they testify
against their friends—which is a great tactic to divide the democracy movement.
Also in Hong Kong, Disney+ has removed a Simpsons episode from its streaming platform there,
because it briefly mentions China’s forced labor practices.
Which was a smart move, because all the media attention has made The Simpsons relevant for
the first time since 1998.
The episode in question is episode 2 of Season 34.
That’s right, they’re on Season 34 now.
Marge Simpson is taking a “Peloton” ride, sorry a “Pedalon” ride, with an instructor
in front of a fake Great Wall background.
The instructor says: “Behold, the wonders of China: Bitcoin mines.
Forced labor camps where children make smartphones.”
And for that, Disney+, of its own accord, decided to remove the entire episode from
its streaming platform in Hong Kong.
It might be because they were afraid of Hong Kong’s strict national security law—the
same one used to target those pro-democracy leaders.
But the law is so broad, it’s basically a crime to even criticize the Chinese regime.
Even if it's in the form of a Simpsons joke that’s not very funny.
I assume Disney thought no one would notice the censorship, though, since no one actually
watches the Simpsons anymore.
In a statement to reporters, Disney said...absolutely nothing.
In unrelated news, Chinese regulators are finally allowing two of Disney’s latest
Marvel films to show in China after a three-year Marvel ban.
And frankly, Disney censoring the Simpsons is ultimately a good thing.
It means one less new Simpsons episode we all have to sit through.
Believe me, I watched the episode.
And then I wished I hadn’t.
And this episode is sponsored by Surfshark.
When you go online, everything you do is being tracked and logged—by the websites you visit
and your internet service provider.
And in many cases, by your government.
That’s why no matter where you live or what you do online, you should always be keeping
your internet activity private with a VPN.
And now Surfshark has servers you can connect to in over 100 countries.
That’s more than any other VPN.
So that makes your connection faster and more reliable.
Plus Surfshark has top of the line encryption and a no-logs policy—meaning they don’t
collect your browsing data.
In fact, Surfshark was rated Editor’s Choice for the best VPN for privacy and security
by PCMag.
So check out Surfshark.
With just one Surfshark account, you can connect as many devices as you want.
Try it out now.
Surfshark has a special deal that includes 83% off of a 2-year plan plus 3 extra months
for free.
You can protect yourself for just $2.21 a month.
So go to surfshark.com/uncensored and use the code UNCENSORED to secure this deal.
The link is in the description down below.
Once again, I’m Chris Chappell.
Thanks for watching China Uncensored.