China buys oil from Iran.
The yuan weakens against the US dollar.
And China’s space agency wants to explore Uranus.
That and more on this week’s China News Headlines.
Welcome to China Uncensored. I’m Chris Chappell.
This episode is sponsored by Incogni.
You probably know that companies are collecting your personal data. But you may not realize just
how many. Dozens, maybe hundreds—most of which you’ve never heard of. And you have
no idea what they’re doing with it. Incogni helps stop them. I’ll explain more at the end.
So next week marks a very important anniversary. No, it’s not the week Xi Jinping took power. I’m
talking about the day a dashing young man in a slightly oversized suit made
a terrible career choice: to go against the world’s most powerful authoritarian regime.
And look what that’s gotten me. A beard. And a slightly better suit.
But since my first video in October 2012,
I’ve traveled the world to expose the Chinese Communist Party’s influence.
From visiting disputed islands in the South China Sea,
to getting tear gassed in Hong Kong
to...I don’t even know what’s happening here.
The point is, thank you for being a loyal viewer. Unless this is your first episode
of China Uncensored. Then, thank you in advance.
To celebrate, I’ll be hosting a 10-year anniversary livestream with Matt and
Shelley. It starts next Wednesday, October 5 at 8pm US Eastern Time. I hope to see you then.
Speaking of things that have gone on for ten years...
Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
He’s back.
There were rumors that he had been purged. Which—as
I said in my recent episode—were not true.
Xi Jinping had just returned from Uzbekistan.
“His recent absence was consistent with China’s strict Covid protocols,
which mandate all international arrivals undergo seven days of hotel quarantine,
followed by three days of home isolation.”
Now we don’t know whether Xi was in quarantine. But if he was,
this marks the first time in decades that a Chinese leader has followed his own rules.
Iran may be a nation shunned by the Western world. But it does have one staunch ally: China.
While the atheist Chinese Communist Party may have some ideological difference with Iran’s Muslim
regime, that hasn’t stopped them from working together where it counts: Money. And oppression.
As you probably know, there have been major protests in Iran since mid-September.
They came after Iran’s “morality police” arrested a 22-year-old woman for not
properly wearing her hijab—the Muslim headscarf. And then she turned up dead.
Those protests might have toppled a weaker government. And Western
sanctions that ban trade with Iran are meant to hurt that authoritarian regime.
But fortunately, the Iranian regime is strong,
thanks in large measure to all the money it gets from China.
You might even call China the “Savior of Tehran” for propping it up with major oil purchases.
Since January 2021, Iran has sold China $38 billion worth of oil.
This is really a win-win. China gets oil at a discount,
and Iran gets to keep killing protesters.
Speaking of authoritarian Islamic regimes who want to work with China: the Taliban.
Afghanistan has an estimated $1 trillion worth of mineral deposits. Everybody wants them.
And after the US’s military exit last year, China started pursuing mining deals that
would give them access to Afghanistan’s sweet, sweet copper, gold, and rare-earth minerals.
Which seemed like a good idea at the time.
China even made a big push to have warm relations. Like by inviting the Taliban over for dinner.
But so far, the promises of Chinese investment haven’t panned out.
Why? Ideological differences.
The Taliban routinely arrests and kills its own citizens for
not adhering to extreme Islamic ideology. That’s ok with the CCP.
What’s not OK is that the Taliban hasn’t done enough to help the Chinese Communist
Party crack down on the Muslim Uyghur people in China’s own Xinjiang region.
That’s right. The Communist Party refuses to invest in Afghanistan
because it feels the Taliban just aren’t cracking down hard enough.
And after the break, China’s currency is weaker than it’s been in a decade.
Welcome back.
This week marks the 8th anniversary of the beginning of the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement.
That was a protest that started back in 2014. Hong Kongers were protesting for the right to
directly elect their leader. Which the Chinese Communist Party had promised to let them do,
but then broke their promise. Never trust the Communist Party.
It was called the Umbrella Movement after protesters used umbrellas to
defend themselves against police pepper spray and tear gas.
The protest ended up lasting almost 80 days, with people occupying parts of central Hong Kong.
I went there to cover those protests. And
got a sense of how much Hongkongers were willing to protect their home.
Now 8 years later, the Communist Party is crushing Hong Kong. But some Hongkongers
are still trying to commemorate the Umbrella Movement, despite the danger.
“A handful of people showed up outside the government headquarters on Wednesday.”
And some placed two yellow umbrellas nearby.
And then the police came to question people.
Including asking a woman why she had an umbrella when it wasn’t raining.
Thank goodness the Hong Kong police were there to protect her from that dangerous umbrella.
China’s currency, the yuan,
has fallen to its weakest point against the US dollar in more than a decade.
China is facing a slew of economic challenges, including food price inflation,
a banking crisis, and the slow-motion bursting of its real estate bubble.
The weak yuan is a concern for Chinese leaders. And so its Central Bank has a solution.
They’re not going to fix any underlying problems—haha, no.
They’re going to force financial institutions to keep more currency in reserve, which will
make it costlier for them and their clients to sell yuan and buy dollars.
Which is a great idea. It’d be like if there was a food shortage, and the government “solved”
it by not letting anyone into a grocery store unless they do 100 pushups first.
Well, more food for the strong people. Problem solved.
But China’s still looking for ways to prop up its economy.
And one company is optimistic: battery-maker CATL.
It’s expanding, with plans to build a giant battery facility in China’s Luoyang City.
The reason this is a big deal is that CATL has grown rapidly in the last few
years—thanks to foreign companies buying its batteries which were,
let’s just say, not entirely designed with Chinese homegrown innovation.
Doesn’t matter. CATL now controls nearly 35% of the global EV battery market. It
supplies electric vehicle batteries to car companies from Volkswagen to Tesla.
And its expansion means that if you want to join the green energy revolution,
you’re more and more likely to have to rely on help from China.
Speaking of markets, China wants to dominate, the microchip market. Big Chinese investors are
pumping money into homegrown chip makers to out-complete American companies like Nvidia.
They’re concerned about the new US regulations that limit the sale of microchips to China.
So they’re doubling down on making their own versions for the China market. This is a big deal,
because every modern device these days requires microchips—from iPhones to cruise missiles.
This coming Monday, check out our podcast China Unscripted. We’ll be talking with Chris Miller,
author of the new book Chip War, about China’s plans to dominate the chip market,
and what it means for the rest of the world.
Yes, we also have a weekly podcast. It’s on YouTube, Spotify, iTunes,
and more. I’ll put a link in the description below.
And finally, in space news,
China is seeking new partners for lunar and deep space exploration.
NASA has forbidden China’s space agency to participate in US or international missions,
over concerns that, you know, China is constantly stealing US technology.
But China’s response has been “Fine, we’ll make our own space program.” And they did.
It’s called the China National Space Administration, CNSA. It was founded in 1993.
And in less than three decades, it’s found a way to rip off enough US technology to be competitive.
For years, CNSA’s biggest foreign partner has been Russia. But that’s
getting a little tricky lately, because of the whole Ukraine invasion thing.
So CNSA is inviting other countries to join.
China’s Chang’e-6 lunar mission already includes some participation from Sweden,
Italy, France, and Pakistan.
It’s looking for more partners for its upcoming
Chang’e-7 “lunar south pole landing and orbiting mission.”
Personally I wouldn’t invest, though. I have a feeling that mission is gonna go south.
But China is not just shooting for the moon. It also has plans to outclass NASA in deep space.
In around 2030, it’ll launch the Tianwen-4 mission, which will include
a solar-powered Jupiter orbiter and a smaller spacecraft that’ll make a flyby of *Uranus.*
SNow that’s deep space. Watch out.
And this episode has been sponsored by Incogni.
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Once again, I’m Chris Chappell. Thanks for watching China Uncensored.