China lights up the sky with a secret weapon test
Global supply chain issues threaten Christmas
And one girl gets a math problem very, very wrong
That and more on this week’s China news headlines
Welcome to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chappell.
Big news this week.
There is new concern tonight about China's military capabilities amid a report the country
recently tested a nuclear capable hypersonic missile
It's understood that US intelligence had no idea that China had moved this far ahead.
Now this capability that flies at multiple times the speed of sound, that is what hypersonic
translates into, is very difficult to defend against.
That is absolutely shocking!
I had no idea former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had lost all that weight.
Also the whole hypersonic missile thing.
This is a new capability for China.
Of course there are conflicting reports about what this actually means.
On the one hand, the Pentagon admits it doesn’t know how to defend against a nuclear-capable
hypersonic missile.
While China denies it even was a hypersonic missile.
It was just a space vehicle.
Yeah, a space vehicle.
Which is obviously a lie because China loves to hype up its space rocket launches.
But they were completely quiet about this test, which happened in August.
This is why you come to China Uncensored to get the facts.
I can tell you what this really means.
It means China has successfully killed the Wither. and now has the resources necessary
to activate a beacon.
This story broke in the Financial Times.
They hypersonic missile thing, not the Minecraft analysis.
“China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August that circled the globe before
speeding towards its target, demonstrating an advanced space capability that caught US
intelligence by surprise.”
The missile missed its target by two dozen miles, but that’s still a huge leap in what
the Pentagon believed were China’s capabilities.
This is also worrying since China recently has been rapidly expanding its nuclear missile
capabilities.
The test happened as President Biden begins his nuclear posture review.
Basically the US is torn between arms control advocates and those who say the US needs to
modernize its nuclear arsenal because of China.
The editor in Chief of my favorite Chinese state run media, the Global Times, tweeted
a response to the story.
He said the test will “ensure that the US abandons the idea of nuclear blackmail against
China.”
In other words, China wants the US to abandon support for Taiwan.
I mean, is Taiwan worth the risk of nuclear annihilation?
This is of course the standard tactic of the Chinese Communist Party.
Its military is woefully unprepared for a kinetic war with the US.
It hasn’t fought this kind of war in decades.
That would become very apparent the first time Chinese troops actually had to fight.
So instead, the Party tries to convince other countries that any attempts to stand up to
the Communist Party would be too bloody, so just give up now.
Convenient.
Of course, the longer it takes to stand up to the Communist Party, the more likely they
could actually develop something that could pose a threat to the US.
So what was the Biden administration’s response to China developing a nuclear capability US
intelligence thought was impossible?
One that we have no defense for?
We welcome stiff competition, but we do not want that competition to veer into conflict.
I for one welcome our Chinese overlords.
And after the break, China isn’t done with new weapons.
Welcome back.
As if the secret hypersonic missile test wasn’t enough, China is also showing off fancy new
drones made from recycled Soviet era fighter jets.
And guess where the drones are?
On “two of its east coast bases near Taiwan”.
Meanwhile, Chinese and Russian navy ships jointly sailed through the Japan Strait.
The strait is considered international waters, but it's clearly sending a message to Japan.
If China invades Taiwan, Japanese forces had better leave it alone, or else Russian and
Chinese ships could create problems up north.
So you know how the Chinese regime has been stealing intellectual property from the US
for decades.
I wonder if that includes technology that could build a hypersonic missile?
But in some cases, the Chinese regime didn’t have to steal US technology at all.
Not when we just sell it to them.
The US government just banned the sale of hacking tools to China.
Hold on.
We didn’t have a rule about that before?
“The rule, which will take effect in 90 days, would cover software such as Pegasus,
a potent spyware product sold by the Israeli firm NSO Group to governments that have used
it to spy on dissidents and journalists.”
I guess Chinese leader Xi Jinping is going to have to cross Pegasus software off his
Christmas list.
Speaking of, there have been concerns about how the global supply chain crisis might affect
Christmas.
And in a recent episode, I told you about how China’s power shortage could make things
worse.
Now it’s looking like Christmas prices might be up as much as 15%.
There is good news however.
China can use hydropower to solve its energy crisis.
First, China is telling mines to produce as much coal as possible.
Which it can do because according to the Paris Climate Agreement, China can keep increasing
coal usage till 2030, when it's supposed to peak.
And this latest directive will create a wellspring of tears from environmentalists who believed
the Chinese regime actually cared about the environment.
And now, a well-placed hydroelectric dam can turn those tears into usable electricity.
Chinese billionaire Jack Ma has had his fair share of woes lately.
After a short spell being disappeared for a few months last year, he reappeared, and
now for the first time, he’s been allowed to leave China.
He “is now in Europe to see friends, taste wines and conduct business meetings.”
Since the Party wouldn’t let Ma leave unless they were certain he wouldn’t try to flee,
this suggests that Ma has managed to ford whatever tumultuous political waters he found
himself caught in.
A 37 billion dollar IPO for his company Ant Financial was blown up last year, likely because
the company had lots of connections with Xi Jinping’s main political rival, Jiang Zemin.
I did a full episode about that recently, link is below.
But while Jack Ma is free, five students in Hong Kong have been sentenced to almost 5
years in jail over the 2019 protests.
The charges were rioting and breaking a mask ban.
Yes, back then the Hong Kong government said you *weren’t* allowed to wear a mask.
And even though there was a lack of evidence that they were involved in rioting, they must
have “intended” to participate in the violence or “encouraged” others to take
part in it.
What a wonderful rule of law you have there, Hong Kong.
You’re guilty because even though you didn’t commit a crime, we know you wanted to.
Speaking of things that are a crime in China, NBA player Enes Kanter made headlines this
week for saying this:
“Brutal dictator of China Xi Jinping, I have a message for you and your henchmen.
I will say it again and again and again, loud and clear.
I hope you hear me.
Free Tibet.
Free Tibet.”
Wait, celebrities calling for a Free Tibet?
I guess the 90s really are back.
I think the Chinese Communist Party heard Enes Kanter loud and clear.
Because Kanter’s team, the Boston Celtics, have now been censored in China.
Chinese Internet company Tencent is no longer carrying livestreams for Boston Celtics games.
And some Chinese NBA fans are calling for a boycott.
Totally unprompted by the Chinese regime, I’m sure.
The NBA is probably upset.
I mean, they just got done apologizing for then-Houston Rockets manager Daryl Morey’s
tweet supporting Hong Kong back in 2019.
And now they have to apologize all over again for Enes Kanter’s call for Tibetan independence.
Kanter himself is unlikely to apologize.
He’s spoken up for years against human rights violations in his native country of Turkey.
To the point where Turkey has issued 10 arrest warrants for Kanter.
I guess if you’re already angering one authoritarian regime, you might as well go for the biggest
one in the world.
Good for you, Enes.
And finally, a father in China begged police to arrest him, because his daughter couldn’t
solve a math problem.
The father had a breakdown in the middle of a road and begged police to arrest him.
He said he couldn’t go home because his daughter couldn’t solve a math problem,
and that made him feel angry and helpless.
Now to be fair to the father, he told police, “My daughter subtracted 700 from 800.
She said the result is 900.”
That is pretty bad.
I mean, what would you do in his place?
Hopefully not what this other guy did: “Last month, a man in Hunan went to a hospital emergency
department after dislocating his jaw when he became enraged while trying to tutor his
daughter.”
Well, after the CCP started pushing Xi Jinping Thought over subjects like math,
and banned private tutoring companies,
it’s no wonder parents feel angry and helpless.
And now it’s time for me to answer a question from you, a fan who supports China Uncensored
on the crowdfunding websites Patreon and Locals.
Isolated Thinker asks on Locals, “How many more natural and CCP induced disasters will
it take before the Chinese people force the CCP out because they lost the Mandate from
Heaven?
Good question, IsolatedThinker.
I think as soon as the economy goes, there goes the Mandate of Heaven.
The CCP essentially made a Faustian bargain with the Chinese people—as long as you don’t
criticize the regime for a complete lack of transparency or respect for basic human rights
and dignity, we’ll let you make money.
And after forcing the Chinese people through generations of grinding poverty, death and
destruction, that probably sounded like the best deal they could get.
While there were economic reforms in the 80’s, the Tiananmen Square Massacre was the Party
telling Chinese people there would be no political reforms.
Of course, the CCP was able to keep that promise of wealth because Western countries, particularly
the United States, were pumping so much money into China.
But with the current crisis in China’s real estate market and the issues with the power
crunch, and global supply chain issues, it seems like all that did was to get the rest
of the world tied to the Chinese Communist Party.
So now if it goes down, it will take everyone with them.
Now that’s karma.
Thanks for your question, Isolated Thinker.
And thank you for watching.
Please support us on Patreon.com/ChinaUncensored, or on ChinaUncensored.Locals.com, and you’ll
have the chance for me to answer one of your questions on the show.
I’m Chris Chappell.
Thanks for watching China Uncensored.