Mike Pence talks tough on China
He blasts the regime for human rights abuses
and a Range of unfair trade practices
And he got plenty of strong reactions
Welcome back to China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
Vice President Mike Pence.
The bran muffin of the Trump administration.
Sure, bran muffins are wholesome,
but everyone still hates them.
Last Thursday,
Pence gave an hour-long talk on US policy towards China.
And everyone hated it.
First, as you can imagine, Pence has deeply hurt
the feelings of the Chinese people.
And by Chinese people,
I mean the poor spokespeople at China’s Foreign Ministry,
whose job it is to respond to this kind of thing.
"Pence's speech was exactly the same as
the one he made last October,
revealing sheer arrogance and hypocrisy,
and it was filled with political bias and lies."
So just what kind of biased, hypocritical lies
did Mike Pence spew from his arrogant mouth?
Here’s just one example.
“Millions of ethnic and religious minorities in China
are struggling against the Party’s efforts
to eradicate their religious and cultural identities.
The Communist Party in China has arrested Christian pastors,
banned the sale of Bibles, demolished churches,
and imprisoned more than one million Muslim Uighurs.”
OK, well those things are all true.
But China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson
was right about one thing.
That *was* same thing Pence said last October.
“And when it comes to religious freedom,
a new wave of persecution is crashing down on
Chinese Christians, Buddhists, and Muslims.”
But overall, it wasn’t *exactly* the same speech.
Because last year,
Pence blamed the Communist Party
for exploiting American corporations.
This time, he blamed American corporations
for hypocrisy and for buckling to communist censorship.
"Far too many American multinational corporations
have kowtowed to the lure of China’s money and markets
by muzzling not only criticism of the Chinese Communist Party,
but even affirmative expressions of American values."
And that brings us to the second group Pence’s speech has upset:
American corporations that have kowtowed
to the lure of China’s money.
And one in particular: the NBA.
Pence cited that tweet from Houston Rockets General Manager
Daryl Morey:
"Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong."
And unless you’ve been living in a cave—
the kind of cave with no wifi—
you know the backlash that happened next.
The NBA apologized to China
and then tried to distance itself
from that kind of discussing pro-freedom talk.
“In siding with the Chinese Communist Party
and silencing free speech,
the NBA is acting like a wholly owned subsidiary
of that authoritarian regime.”
And that remark sparked an angry reaction
from former NBA all-star Charles Barkley.
“Vice President Pence needs to shut the hell up...
These holier-than-thou politicians,
if they are so worried about China,
why don’t they stop all transactions with China?”
Um, I don’t think the only two options
are never criticizing someone,
or never talking to them again.
But anyway,
the idea of stopping all transactions with China
is actually a thing.
It’s called “decoupling,”
and some people have advocated for just that.
“I like the term ‘decoupling.’
I think being coupled to China in such a fulsome way
is actually damaging to our democracy.”
But, Pence can add decoupling advocates
to the list of people he’s upset—
because he didn’t advocate for decoupling, either.
“People sometimes ask whether the Trump administration
seeks to ‘decouple’ from China.
The answer is a resounding ‘no.’”
Pence said the US wants to engage with China,
but does China really want to engage properly with the US?
"All that Beijing is doing today,
from the Party’s great firewall in cyberspace
or to that great wall of sand in the South China Sea,
from their distrust of Hong Kong’s autonomy...
it’s the Chinese Communist Party that has been
‘decoupling’ from the wider world for decades."
In other words, I’m rubber and you’re glue.
Whatever you say bounces off me and...
ends up in my speech on national television.
Pence also came out in favor of Hong Kong protesters.
For four months, they’ve been protesting
increased Chinese Communist Party interference
in their political system.
The Beijing-backed government has responded
with escalating levels of violence.
"Nothing in the past year has put on display
the Chinese Communist Party’s antipathy to liberty
so much as the unrest in Hong Kong."
”To the millions in Hong Kong
who have been peacefully demonstrating
to protect your rights these past months,
we stand with you.
We are inspired by you,
and we urge you to stay on the path of nonviolent protest."
Unsurprisingly, these words
also upset the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.
"Affairs of Taiwan, Hong Kong,
Xinjiang are all China's domestic affairs.
No foreign forces whatsoever
are allowed to interfere in our internal affairs."
But I have to say,
they should at least agree with
Pence’s support of *nonviolece*...
since Chinese state-run media
have repeatedly called for an end to violence.
But no, Chinese media were still upset.
You know who else was upset about Pence’s speech?
China hawks who felt Pence should
have given his speech sooner.
Pence was originally supposed to give the speech in June.
But then Trump wanted to meet with Xi Jinping at the G20.
And according to Reuters,
the speech was seen as “potentially hampering Trump’s bid
to use that meeting to get negotiations back on track.”
But then China’s state-run Global Times criticized the delay, too.
Because the delay “reflects White House chaos”.
So American China hawks and the Global Times agree?
I’m not sure what’s happening here.
Still, Pence tried to end his speech
on a positive note of peace and cooperation.
"There is an ancient Chinese proverb that reads,
‘Men see only the present,
but Heaven sees the future.’
As we go forward,
let us pursue a future of peace and prosperity
with resolve and faith.
faith that Heaven sees the future —
and by God’s grace,
America and China will meet that future together."
And how did that go over?
"He's not playing bad cop.
There are some lists of human rights violations.
But overall, the speech shows a new respect towards China.”
So at least that part didn’t upset anyone.
Except China hawks who thought he was too soft.
And China doves who thought
he shouldn’t have given the speech at all.
And atheist Communist Party officials
who couldn’t stand all that talk of “faith in Heaven”
and God’s grace.”
Really, there’s no winning this one.
So what do you think about Pence's China speech?
Leave your comments below.
And now it’s time for me to answer a question from one of you.
Most of China Uncensord’s income
comes from direct viewer support
through the website Patreon.
So as a reward to our supporters,
I answer a question from our Patrons
at the end of some of my episodes.
This question comes from...
Justin:
“There seems to be signs that Hong Kong
will have an economic recession
partly from the unrest and partly from China’s interference.
If Hong Kong goes into a recession will
that change people’s view on the protests?”
Great question, Justin!
There’s definitely a recession in Hong Kong already.
Tourism is down, especially from mainland China.
And wealthy Hong Kongers are gradually transferring
their assets from Hong Kong to overseas.
After the first couple months of protests,
I was also concerned that an economic recession
would make Hong Kongers turn against the protesters.
That’s exactly what Beijing wanted.
And there *are* definitely people
who are upset about the protests.
Some of them are angry at protesters
for hurting business and tourism.
But a lot of Hong Kongers still put the ultimate blame
on the Chinese Communist Party.
They say that if the Party hadn’t tried to violate its agreement
to let Hong Kong keep its freedoms until 2047,
there would be no protests.
That’s why huge numbers of Hong Kongers
continue to support the protesters,
and even join practically every week.
And for people who were born and raised in Hong Kong,
they many of them believe that the alternative to protests isn’t peace.
It’s authoritarian rule by the Communist Party.
And their entire future is at stake.
So even if they are disrupted by the protests for now,
not supporting the protests really isn’t a good option.
Thanks for your question, Justin.
And thank you to everyone who supports China Uncensored!
And if you’re not a supporter yet,
please go to Patreon.com/ChinaUncensored
and pledge a dollar or more per episode,
so we can keep this show going.
Once again, I’m Chris Chappell.
See you next time.