On this episode of China Uncensored
Shanghai’s Lockdown enters a new level of crazy
China continues to back Russia
And clapping is now a crime
That and more on this week’s China news headlines
Welcome to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chappell.
Communism is a mental illness.
You give up all your individual rights and freedoms to an authoritarian government in
the name of equality—and guess what!
The authoritarian government does not actually care about you.
Look no further than the Shanghai Covid lockdown.
Nothing says this lockdown is for your health like a guy in a hazmat suit with a gun.
You see, the Chinese Communist Party demands a Zero Covid policy.
That’s not possible at this point, but it doesn’t matter.
Policy is disconnected from reality.
So many local officials, who fear losing their jobs, do insane things to appease the Communist
Party.
Things that usually aren’t too nice for the people.
Like locking down an entire city.
And this is not about keeping people healthy.
Look at this footage showing people crammed in a Shanghai quarantine center.
People cross infect each other.
No water in the restroom.
Poop and pee make a mess everywhere.
Nowhere to wash our face.
You don't give us medicine.
It's been 3 days here.
How do the people of Shanghai deal with the insanity?
Well, people are starting to rise up.
Friend of the show LaoWhy86 did a great video about that last week.
Check it out.
And others are using humor.
Here’s a Shanghai health official from March 2020, recommending that safety come before
freedom.
There are tens of thousands of possible paths.
Safety must come first.
Control your soul’s desire for freedom.
After that, “Control your soul’s desire for freedom” became something of a meme
in China.
And now two years later, Shanghai is in a complete lockdown.
So as Shanghai residents took to their balconies to sing and protest the lack of supplies,
a drone showed up and said this.
Residents and friends, during the Covid lockdown, please strictly comply with the government’s
Covid restrictions.
Control your soul’s desire for freedom.
Do not open the windows or sing to prevent the spread of disease.
Maybe Chinese officials were trying to be lighthearted and funny.
But it hits different when you’re literally talking to people imprisoned in their own
apartments.
Please control your soul’s desire to open the window.
Thank you for cooperating.
And there are a couple more things the Chinese regime would like you to control your desire
for as well.
Like your spouse.
Here’s an actual strategy being used in the name of Zero Covid.
Starting from tonight, couples must sleep in separate beds, eat separately.
Kissing and hugging are not allowed.
Please follow the rules.
Thank you for cooperating.
Please control your soul’s desire for hugs.
Or any type of human comfort.
Thank you for cooperating.
Although this is crazy, it’s also not really surprising.
Because “control your soul’s desire for freedom” is kind of the trademark of Communism.
Meanwhile, my favorite Chinese state-run media, the Global Times, is now claiming Covid is
spreading from clothing made in South Korea.
I’m sure that’s totally based on science, and not an attempt to put economic pressure
on South Korea following the election of their new president who ran on a tough-on-China
platform.
The Chinese Communist Party’s Zero Covid policy is doing way more than just making
life miserable for the people of Shanghai.
This will have serious consequences for us around the world.
Shanghai has the world’s largest container port.
It has “so far stayed in operation 24 hours a day inside a “closed loop” bubble, which
requires workers to stay on site all the time.”
So don’t worry, the global supply chain hasn’t been crippled yet, thanks to the
Communist Party’s decision to essentially resort to forced labor.
Marx would be so proud.
But according to an expert who spoke to the South China Morning Post, “Even with the
world’s largest port open, the closure of many warehouses, the drop in manufacturing
and the serious disruption to trucking in, out and within the city are expected to cause
a significant drop in the availability of goods and port output.”
Meanwhile Chinese state-run media are starting to run multiple articles about how there’s
totally no backlog at the Shanghai port.
Everything is great.
Which of course means that the congestion at the port is at an all-time high.
Remember: you know it’s true when the Chinese Communist Party denies it.
Even though the Zero Covid policy may sound crazy to you, it’s actually America who
has handled Covid badly.
Here’s Chinese state-run CCTV for more.
Statistics released by Johns Hopkins University in the United States show that as of 16:00
Beijing time today (April 5), the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the United States
has exceeded 81.49 million, and the number of deaths has exceeded 997,100.
The United States reported 1,349,000 new confirmed cases in a single day on the 4th, and reported
15,478 new deaths in a single day.
Oh my goodness, over a million confirmed cases in just a single day?
That’s insane, why aren’t we hearing about that in America?
Well, because it's not true.
Johns Hopkins University’s Covid database had a glitch that accidentally counted all
of Kentucky’s cases for the entire pandemic as suddenly being from one day.
The actual numbers for April 5 were just over 30,000 new cases and less than 500 deaths.
Chinese state-run media made a mistake.
Apparently no one bothered to fact check that at state-run CCTV, because it fit their pre-existing
narrative that the US is a Covid-filled wasteland.
But lots of Chinese netizens started making fun of them, so CCTV begrudgingly admitted
that Johns Hopkins made a mistake, but didn’t admit they did as well.
And after the break, the Chinese Communist Party still goes to bat for Russia.
Welcome back.
This week the world was horrified by these satellite images, showing civilian bodies
strewn on the street of the town of Bucha in Ukraine.
After Russian forces were expelled from the city, bodies were found tied up, shot, and
left to rot.
These are war crimes.
Which makes it pretty hard for China to continue to support Russia.
Chinese state-run companies like Sinopec have already been forced to stop investment in
Russia because of sanctions.
But you know, tying up and shooting civilians?
That’s kind of hard to defend.
The Chinese Communist Party would know.
They have a pretty long history of doing that.
That’s why China’s foreign ministry has called for a probe, but assigned no blame.
Assigned no blame?
Civilians were executed.
Figuring out who to blame isn’t rocket science.
But from their perspective, there can be two sides to every story.
Russia says they totally didn’t execute innocent civilians.
That’s why Chinese state-run media has been “quick to emphasize the Russian rebuttal,
with two prominent televised reports from national broadcaster CCTV this week highlighting
unsubstantiated claims from Moscow that the situation was staged after Russian forces
withdrew from the area.”
Which satellite images show is not true.
But while Chinese state-run media is spreading misinformation, one Chinese YouTuber has been
telling the truth.
And YouTube is punishing him for it.
YouTube has suspended the account of a Chinese vlogger who talked about his life in Ukraine.
We talked about the YouTuber, Wang Jixian in this episode a couple of weeks ago.
On his channel, Wang talked about his opposition to Russia's invasion.
And for that, he got death threats from Chinese nationalists.
And censorship from YouTube.
“YouTube told Wang that his account was suspended over a March 28 video that was flagged
for ‘violent content.’”
Yes, being in Ukraine and talking about a bloody invasion that’s happening to you
might involve some violence.
In the case of the video that got his channel shutdown, he was in his kitchen, talking about
the war, and “The video included footage of the city with sounds of exploding missiles
and air-raid sirens going off.”
So thank YouTube for protecting us from such violent content.
And after the break, clapping is a crime.
At least in Hong Kong.
Welcome back.
When it comes to the US military defense, things aren’t looking so good.
At least according to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley.
“We are now facing two global powers, China & Russia, each with significant military capabilities,
both who intend to fundamentally change rules based on the global order.
The world is becoming more unstable, and the potential for significant international conflict
between great powers is increasing, not decreasing."
Meanwhile, a top US admiral warned of China’s breathtaking nuclear expansion.
China is rapidly expanding its military capabilities.
It has fully militarized artificial islands in the South China Sea...
signed a security deal with the Solomon Islands that could put a Chinese military base on
the doorstep of Australia and New Zealand...
and of course, the Chinese Communist Party’s navy is now the biggest in the world.
Despite that, Biden’s new military budget will actually shrink the US Navy.
Which is fine because the US Navy is apparently less busy.
In 2021, the Biden Administration reduced the number of freedom of navigation patrols
near China.
But on the bright side, the US has approved $95 million to boost Taiwan’s air defense
system.
But I wouldn’t want you to think the US is the only country making boneheaded moves
regarding China.
The UK is being boneheaded, too.
They’ve quietly approved the Chinese takeover of the UK’s largest microchip maker.
These microchips, called semiconductors, are vital to a variety of electronic devices,
including ones related to the military.
Now China is not very good at making them.
According to the Brookings Institution, “Every year, China imports more than $300 billion
of semiconductors.”
The US has sanctioned Chinese semiconductor makers.
It’s one of the few areas of manufacturing where the West still has a leg up on the Chinese
Communist Party.
And it’s one reason why the CCP wants to take over Taiwan.
Taiwan is the world’s largest maker of semiconductors.
But now China can apparently take over a UK microchip factory and all of their technology.
I mean, what’s next, letting China build our nuclear reactors?
Oh wait, yes the UK is letting China do that.
So if you’re American, you can feel good.
Because at least we're not as boneheaded as the UK.
But you know who is actually doing something smart when it comes to China?
Australia!
Australia approved a 2.6 billion dollar missile upgrade to counter China.
The plan will “significantly increase the range of missiles on Australia’s warships
and warplanes”.
Australia also expelled a Chinese millionaire from Australia over foreign interference.
Among the many things he was accused of by Australia’s spy agency, here’s a crazy
one: He offered $20,000 Australian dollars to the son of a Chinese activist, who was
living in Australia, to pressure his father in China to be quiet.
He told Australian authorities it was for charity.
Right.
Hong Kong authorities have reached a new low.
As of this recording, 6 people have been arrested…for clapping.
You see, at the start of the year, there was a hearing for activist Chow Hang-tung.
She made an impassioned speech in the courtroom supporting the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen
Square Massacre, and several people there clapped.
Yup, that’s what they got arrested for.
Which is crazy, but that’s not even the craziest part.
They weren’t charged for contempt of court.
No, they were charged with sedition, which carries a two year prison sentence.
For clapping!
Now that may sound like complete nonsense, but this is actually a brilliant move by the
Chinese Communist Party.
Hear me out.
This week, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said she’s not going to seek a second
term.
And since she’s so widely hated, how do you think people are going to respond?
With cheers and clapping.
That’s right, clapping!
The Chinese Communist Party will finally achieve its ultimate goal of putting every single
person in Hong Kong in prison.
Yes, that was dark.
But in these dark times, we have to be able to look at things with a sense of humor.
No one knew that better than friend of the show, David Kilgour.
David Kilgour was the former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia and the Pacific, a former
Parliament Member, and a criminal prosecutor for almost 10 years.
David passed away this week at the age of 81 from a rare lung disease.
I got to know David when I hosted the Coalition Roundtable on Organ Harvesting in 2017.
And I can honestly say David was one of the greatest men I’ve ever known.
For decades, David devoted his life to exposing human rights atrocities, from the genocide
in Darfur, to the Chinese Communist Party killing prisoners of conscience like Falun
Gong and the Uyghurs for their organs.
And he did it with a smile.
Here’s a clip from our China Unscripted podcast with David.
Chris: How dare you laugh about this David.
Shelley: I think it's pretty amazing that you can keep your sense of humor after decades
of doing this.
David: Well honestly, you have to.
And I'm Scottish origin too, and we Scots have you know we have a good sense of humor
about things, we try to find humor even where there is none.
Matt: I mean you guys do eat haggis.
David: Oh of course we eat haggis, it's the best food in the world!
Chris: I’ve always wanted to try it David: Oh no it's delicious, please do it
on Robbie Burns day whenever you can.
It's delicious and a lot of people don't like it, I agree with you, but it is quite good,
it's very very healthy.
Chris: You know in some ways it's appropriate that we're talking about haggis on an organ
harvesting episode.
David: Yes, yes I agree.
I was just thinking that actually but I didn't want to interrupt.
Chris: Well anyone who's listening who's offended, as David said, you have to have a sense of
humor about this.
Thank you David, and Godspeed.
I’ll have some haggis for you.
And now it's time for me to answer a question from one of you, a fan who supports China
Uncensored on either the crowd funding website Patreon or our exclusive social media community
on Locals.
Today’s question comes from Nick Allen on Locals, “Are lockdowns an excuse to crack
down on unrest?
If all you need is a positive test to lock down a city, then you can just arrange a positive
test in a city you want to lock down and presto, lock down city.”
You know Nick, that makes a lot of sense.
But the problem is, China’s Zero Covid Policy doesn’t make sense.
It’s completely illogical.
Take the case of Shanghai.
Locking down the entire city is going to make the 25 million residents there furious, and
it could have a devastating effect on the Chinese economy and the global economy.
Those are all things the CCP should desperately want to avoid.
If there were a problem with dissent, the CCP has loads of ways to go after the dissenters.
Doing something as destructive as locking down an entire city, it just doesn’t make
sense.
Other than the fact the CCP can’t admit when it's wrong.
Because communism is a mental illness.
Thanks for your question and your support Nick.
We really can’t make this show without your support.
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Once again I’m Chris Chappell, see you next time.