An out of control Chinese rocket
Crashes to Earth
And China blames the US
Welcome to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chappell.
Good news! We’re all still alive! Because this week,
debris from an out-of-control Chinese rocket crashed into the Indian Ocean.
The Long March 5B rocket blasted off April 29, carrying components of China's planned
space station Harmony of the Heavens. But the Chinese space agency lost control of the rocket
as it continued its 17,000 mile an hour orbit around the earth
edging closer and closer with each pass. Sky watchers caught glimpses
of it as it tracked as far north as New York and as far south as New Zealand.
This was a big embarrassment for the Chinese Communist Party.
Back in April, Chinese state-run media had proudly touted the successful launch of the rocket.
China started out late to the space race. China launched “its first satellite only in 1970,
13 years after the Soviet Union and 12 years after the United States.”
But dominating space has become a priority for the Chinese Communist Party.
In 2019, China became the first country to land an unmanned spacecraft on the dark side of the moon.
But the timing of this latest rocket crash is particularly bad.
Later this month, China’s first unmanned Mars rover is expected to land. But people
aren’t talking about how great that is. Instead, people are now talking about this.
Criticism is now crashing down on China after rocket fragments rained down near
the tropical islands of the Maldives. "It's an alarming thing for them to be doing.'' Harvard
Smithsonian astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell says China's rocket has a design problem.
Well, you don’t need to be an astrophysicist to know that! But please continue.
(We normally make sure they don't go into orbit at all,
or if they do, they have a restartable engine which can bring them down in a controlled way.
Let's be clear here, it's not that China can't, right? It's that they don't. That's exactly right.
Was it price? Was it laziness? I would think it was a lack of concern.
It’s not surprising there’s a lack of concern. You see,
China’s space program is actually run by the Communist Party’s military.
In fact, because of the military link of China’s space program, “Since 1999, the US has imposed
export controls on satellite technology to China. And in 2011, Congress passed a law that imposed
restrictions on NASA engagement with China.” Even though NASA hasn’t been great about that.
But China is actually banned from the International Space Station.
So China is building its own. If only the rockets carrying parts for it could make it to space.
After China lost control of the rocket, they were pretty quiet about the whole thing.
NASA has been critical.
In a statement Nasa says “it is clear that China is failing
to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris.”
But now that the Chinese rocket has safely crash landed in the middle of the Ocean,
China is taking responsibility. By blaming the US for hyping fear!
It was 20 tons of flaming space debris
hurtling down on our heads! That’s a reasonable thing to be afraid of!
But my favorite state-run media, the Global Times, says US fussiness is a low ploy.
“These people are jealous of China’s rapid progress in space technology.”
“Some of these people even try to use the noises they made to obstruct and interfere
with China’s future intensive launches for the construction of its space station.”
The Global Times says, “There is also no evidence proving that the
landing points of US rocket debris are more controllable compared with those of China’s.”
You know, evidence. With Chinese characteristics.
Now it’s true that uncontrolled space debris is not a problem unique to China.
Back in 1979, the US Skylab space station broke up
over the Indian Ocean and scattered debris across Western Australia.
Last month, SpaceX debris landed on a farm in Washington.
But the criticisms of the Chinese military’s space program aren’t about accidental debris.
They’re about careless rocket design and whether China is cutting corners to win the space race.
And the Chinese Communist Party is deflecting those criticisms
by blaming the US for...criticizing them.
Failure will happen as humanity tries to reach for the stars.
But failure is not something the Chinese Communist Party has ever been willing to face.
Which is why it’s so much easier to blame America.
And now it’s time to answer a question from a member of the China Uncensored 50 Cent Army,
fans who support us and our efforts to expose the truth about the Chinese Communist Party
on the crowd funding website Patreon.
Kenneth Crips asks, “Japan has always made it clear they will not tolerate the Chinese mainland
invading Taiwan. I don’t know what China is thinking. They are surrounded by enemies.”
That’s a very good question. It’s true, China is surrounded by countries that are not happy
with its aggressive expansion or desire for global hegemony. But,
as top-ranking Communist Party official Yang Jiechi once said, “China is a big country and
you are small countries, and that is a fact.” He was talking to Southeast Asian countries.
There is a limit to what any of the countries surrounding China can do because of how much
power the Chinese Communist Party has. Sure, all of China’s neighboring countries could unite
and form alliances against the Communist Party—and to an extent they’re trying,
but it’s harder for a bunch of countries to all work together,
than it is for the CCP to put enough pressure on the weakest country to break that alliance.
Now, if an equally big country stood behind them, like the United States,
that could present a real problem for the CCP. But as Jim Fanell , the Former Director
of Intelligence and Information Operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet has told us on the show,
we’ve entered what he calls the decade of concern.
The idea is that in 2049, the CCP will celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the founding of the
People’s Republic of China. The CCP has to take Taiwan before then. It also knows if an invasion
of Taiwan happens too close to 2049, China will be an international pariah. No one would be
celebrating the anniversary with China. Not good for a country that wants to be a global hegemon.
But the CCP also knows that it takes about 20 years
for the rest of the world to forget something. For example,
in 1989, the Tiananmen Square Massacre made China an international pariah.
20 years later, leaders from around the world celebrated in Beijing the 2008 Olympics.
That’s why now is the decade of concern. The CCP believes that if it takes Taiwan now,
the rest of the world will have forgotten by the 2049 anniversary.
So what the Chinese Communist Party is thinking is that it can’t afford not to take Taiwan now.
Thanks for your question Kenneth and your support.
And a big thank you to everyone who supports China Uncensored on Patreon. We could not do this show
without you. So thank you for joining us in the fight to expose the Chinese Communist Party to
the world. If you’re interested in joining, head over to Patreon.com/ChinaUncensored. You’ll get
a bunch of cool perks, including the chance to have me answer your question on the show!
Once again I’m Chris Chappell, see you next time.