China screws the US on Climate Change Talks
Covid strikes a Chinese island paradise
And China hides massive price inflation
That and more on this week’s China news headlines.
Welcome to China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
This episode is sponsored by Surfshark.
You should be using a VPN like Surfshark to protect yourself whenever you go online.
Last week, US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan.
And the Chinese Communist Party threw a hissy fit—like they always do when any country
does anything that even remotely supports Taiwan.
That hissy fit included doing a bunch of military drills around the island
Well, this week, they ended those drills.
But...“China...reaffirmed its willingness to use force to take control of the self-ruled
island while withdrawing an earlier pledge to not send troops to Taiwan if Taipei were
to submit peacefully to Beijing’s rule.”
The Chinese regime is reneging on an earlier promise?
Who would’ve thunk?
That’s bad news if you hoped somehow things between China and Taiwan could be resolved
with “peaceful unification,” while letting Taiwan keep its freedom and democracy.
But don’t worry, that probably won’t ever happen.
Because China’s ambassador to Australia has clarified that China is willing to take
Taiwan using “all necessary means.”
He said, “As to what does it mean, ‘all necessary means’?
You can use your imagination.”
Well I don’t need to use my imagination.
I’ve been to Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, as a result of Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, China has suspended links with
the US military and US-China climate change talks.
It comes less than a year after China pledged to cooperate with the US on climate change.
The Chinese regime is reneging on an earlier promise?
Who would’ve thunk?
Me, actually.
This is what I said a year ago:
“They do not care about addressing the climate crisis.
They do not care about multilateralism and cooperation, unless they can use those for
their own advantage.”
I hate being right sometimes.
At least when it comes to the Chinese Communist Party continuing to destroy the world while
the US hopes that somehow we can still work together.
Meanwhile, according to my favorite Chinese state-run media the Global Times, this is
all America’s fault.
And what China is doing is just giving the US time to think about its actions.
You know, like putting your five-year-old in time out.
And hey, don’t accuse China of not being serious about climate change.
It’s America that’s not serious.
Because they’re restricting Chinese technology development with things like tariffs on Chinese
solar products.
So Chinese state-run media is going with the argument that “you’re not serious about
climate change unless you let us dump our cheap slave-labor-made solar panels and also
steal all of your wind turbine technology.”
Obviously it’s the US that needs to do better at working together with China.
While it might be hard for the US to work with China right now, it’s getting easier
and easier for the Solomon Islands to work with China.
The Solomon Islands is a small country in the South Pacific.
A place where China wants to someday build a military base.
And this week, the Prime Minister—who’s under the influence of Beijing—has moved
to delay the next election.
Prime Minister Sogavare was almost ousted last year during protests over China’s influence
in the Solomon Islands.
Sogavare barely stayed in power.
But he did!
And then in April this year,
he signed a security deal with China.
And now there’s a new surprise!
He’s now taking a page from Xi Jinping’s playbook , and is trying to also become presitator-for-life.
He’s trying to delay the 2023 national election.
Why?
Because the Solomon Islands will be hosting an international sporting event, and it’s
so very hard to do both.
“[Sogavare said he] wants to defer the elections only because the Solomon Islands ‘do not
have enough funds’ to host both the Pacific Games and an election in the same year.”
Which is a ridiculous excuse.
Not because the future of a nation’s democracy is more important than a single sporting event,
no no!
It’s because China has already bankrolled the stadium for the Pacific Games with a $74
million grant.
So of course, they just have to hold the Games!
For some weird reason, though, China is unable to bankroll free and fair democratic elections.
And after the break, there’s a new virus spreading in China.
Welcome back.
The Chinese Communist Party’s Zero Covid policy seems to be working.
Except where it isn’t.
China is now racing to contain Covid outbreaks in Tibet and Hainan.
Hainan is China’s so-called island paradise, a warm beachside playground in the south.
Whereas Tibet is a cold and isolated Himalayan country that was brought under Chinese rule
by force.
Anyway, China has expanded Covid lockdowns, particularly in Hainan.
And now Chinese tourists who went there for a beach holiday are trapped.
Fortunately, according to Chinese state-run media on Tuesday, by today—Friday—Hainan
will have completely eliminated all Covid-19 cases...at the community level.
If “at the community level” sounds like a weird caveat to you, you’re right.
See, “When Chinese officials refer to cases ‘at the community level’ they mean outside
tightly regulated quarantine zones.”
So there’s still Covid, and it still might even be spreading.
But because authorities have locked all those people away in residential quarantine zones
or those nightmarish quarantine camps, they can technically say they’ve still achieved
“Zero Covid.”
But honestly, it’s time for China to stop worrying about Covid.
Not because they should be like the rest of the world and learn to live with Covid.
No no!
It’s because China should be worrying about a different terrifying virus!
The newly-discovered Langya virus has infected 35 people in China.
It’s a new strain of virus that’s transmitted from animals to humans.
It can cause fever, aches and vomiting.
Possibly even death, although no deaths have been officially reported so far.
“The virus is thought to be predominantly carried by shrews.”
Oh great.
Rodents.
It’s always the rodents!
Except when it’s the labs.
And after the break, China’s economy is not doing well.
But that doesn’t mean it’s not a good time to throw your money at it!
Welcome back.
China’s consumer prices have hit a two-year high.
Well, I’m not surprised.
The US is also seeing a two-year high.
Annual inflation in the US is now 8.5%.
Europe is seeing similar price hikes.
But “China’s headline consumer price index rose by [just] 2.7%.”
Wow, China is doing a great job keeping inflation down!
Must be one of the benefits of an authoritarian system that controls the entire economy.
Wait, what’s that, Shelley?
Oh.
Ok, apparently when China measures inflation, they don’t include the prices of energy
and food—unlike the US.
And the price of pork in China rose by more than 20% compared to a year ago.
How about energy costs?
Well, gas and diesel prices in China have risen to new highs as well.
So...actually China has lots of inflation.
It just doesn’t get counted in the *official* inflation numbers the Chinese government publishes.
Why am I not surprised?
At least China’s authoritarian system gets one thing right: They’re trying to lower
the cost of electricity.
It’s just that they’re doing it by...building more coal-fueled power plants.
So...China really has no intention of doing anything to slow climate change, do they?
But hey, look at the bright side: It makes no difference that China ended climate change
talks with the US.
With the Chinese government fudging the inflation numbers to make things seem better than they
really are, there’s really only one thing to do: Invest in China!
At least that’s what software developer Unity thinks.
It wants to supercharge its growth in China!
There are just a couple tiny little pitfalls to this.
One, the Chinese Communist Party is cracking down hard on video games by restricting how
much people can play.
For example, “Last August, authorities banned online gamers under the age of 18 from playing
on weekdays.”
And they’ve also “restricted children’s video-game playing time to no more than three
hours per week.”
That’s not a good market for growth.
And two, it’s also hard to get new games approved in China.
“Western games...tend to face heavy censorship and content changes from state regulators.”
So why on earth would Unity think it’s a good idea to invest in China right now?
Well, the answer is, money.
​​It turns out that several Chinese companies including Alibaba and Douyin—the Chinese
version of TikTok—have all taken massive stakes in the new Unity China joint venture.
And Unity gets to retain “majority ownership of the resulting joint venture, which will
be valued at over $1 billion on day one.”
So basically by closing this deal they get lots of money right away.
And the terrible, terrible consequences down the line?
Eh, that’s in the future.
Speaking of companies about to get screwed by working with China, Apple suppliers.
Because Apple has asked its suppliers in Taiwan to label their products as “made in China.”
Yes, to please the Chinese regime—and avoid disruption from strict Chinese customs inspections—the
company has asked manufacturers to label components bound for mainland China as made in ‘Chinese
Taipei’ or ‘Taiwan, China.’
Which is insane, because that means a foreign company is enforcing the Chinese regime’s
absurd claim that Taiwan is currently part of China.
It’s even more insane because it creates an impossible situation.
Because “Taiwan itself requires exports to be labeled with the point of origin: either
the name ‘Taiwan’ or the country’s official name, ‘Republic of China.’”
A lot of Apple’s components come from Taiwan and elsewhere, and then get assembled in mainland
China.
And now Apple is trapped by this.
Because it’s planning to release the new iPhone model next month, and the US-bound
iPhones are made in China.
Imagine what the Chinese Communist Party could do if it wanted to punish Apple!
We wouldn’t get new, slightly better iPhones each year!
I don’t see how the world would survive.
Hong Kong is now completely under the Chinese Communist Party’s control.
And the Hong Kong National Security Bureau is accusing a pro-Democracy group of “subverting
state power”—and is promising to make arrests.
The only problem?
The pro-democracy group they’re concerned about is not actually in Hong Kong.
The group is called the Hong Kong Parliament, which aims to represent Hong Kongers living
in exile.
And it’s founded by Hong Kongers living in exile—places like the UK, Canada, and
the US.
So while Hong Kong’s own law says that it violates their National Security Law, they
don’t actually have any ability to enforce it.
I mean, unless there’s some kind of international police force they can use to...oh.
Well, good luck, Hong Kongers.
And this episode is sponsored by Surfshark.
Whenever you go online, everything you do is being tracked by the websites you visit.
And also often by your internet service provider and your government.
And if you live in Hong Kong—or you live outside Hong Kong but criticize China—they
could be monitoring everything you do online.
That’s why you should be keeping your internet activity private at all times, with a VPN
like Surfshark.
It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, or whether you’re a dissident.
There’s no reason to let governments track what you’re doing.
So keep your online activities private by taking advantage of Surfshark’s uncrackable
encryption.
Plus, Surfshark has a new feature that will tell you, when you go to a website, if it’s
been breached or is part of a data leak.
Basically, it’s another way to keep you safe from malicious actors, including state
hackers.
So if you don’t have Surfshark yet, check it out.
And with just one Surfshark account, you can use it on all your devices—your phone, your
laptop, and your tablet.
So check it out now.
Surfshark has a special deal for China Uncensored fans that includes 83% off of a 2-year plan
plus 3 extra months for free.
That makes it just $2.21 a month.
So go to surfshark.com/uncensored and use the code UNCENSORED to get this deal.
The link is in the description down below.
Once again, Chris Chappell.
Thanks for watching China Uncensored.