The CCP has interfered in Canada’s elections.
Germany’s chancellor makes a new friend.
And Xi Jinping prepares the military for combat readiness
That and more on this week’s China News Headlines.
Welcome to China Uncensored. I’m Chris Chappell.
This episode is sponsored by PC-Doctor Toolbox.
Monitor your PC for software crashes, hardware failures,
and the kind of glitches that make your life miserable.
Before we jump into the latest China News,
I just want to acknowledge that the US just held its important midterm elections this week.
And whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, China wants you to know—you lost.
Because according to state-run CGTN, the costly U.S. midterm elections fueled polarization,
divisions—and even concerns of political violence.
Terrible. I mean, why have elections at all?
Things would really be much simpler if one party would just purge all their opposition.
But no matter how terrible America’s elections are, they’re even worse in Canada.
A recent investigation by journalist Sam Cooper showed that the Chinese
Communist Party interfered in Canada’s 2019 election—and that Canadian intelligence had
warned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about it. According to the Canadian Security Intelligence
Service, which is like Canada’s CIA, the CCP’s election interference included:
- Funneling payments to at least 11 federal candidates
- Placing agents in the offices of members of parliament to influence policy
- Trying to corrupt former Canadian officials to gain political leverage
- And campaigning to punish Canadian officials who stood up to the CCP
That’s pretty damning stuff.
Canadian Intelligence had actually presented this information to Justin
Trudeau and his cabinet as far back as January—including detailed examples of
Beijing’s efforts to subvert Canada’s democratic process.
So how did Prime Minister Trudeau respond?
He didn’t. At least, not until this week, after the article was published in Global News.
Then Trudeau came out to publicly accuse China of “aggressive” election interference.
Way to get ahead of the issue!
Speaking of Chinese aggression,
There was a big standoff between the US Coast Guard and illegal Chinese fishing fleets.
This actually happened back in August, but it was kept quiet for a long time. Because
you know what they say: Democracy thrives in darkness. I think that’s how it goes.
Anyway, what happened is, “A heavily-armed U.S. Coast Guard cutter sailed up to a fleet of a few
hundred Chinese squid-fishing boats not far from Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands. Its mission
[was to] inspect the vessels for any signs of illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing.”
Which it had every right to do—even to board the fishing boats. It’s part of an
international effort to stop illegal fishing operations from damaging the ecosystem.
So the US Coast Guard told them they wanted to do an inspection,
and then “Three vessels sped away, one turning aggressively 90 degrees toward
the Coast Guard cutter, [forcing it] to take evasive action to avoid being rammed.”
The Coast Guard avoided the collision, and was eventually able to board two of
the ships. But this, of course, created an international incident. Because the
Chinese regime was upset, saying it was the *US* that acted illegally,
and also China has zero tolerance for illegal fishing activities.
We only found out about the incident in November,
after US personnel told ABC News about it. But they “requested anonymity to avoid
jeopardizing a multilateral process seeking to force China to sanction the vessels”.
They think a secretive, multilateral process will get the Chinese Communist
Party to change its behavior? China may not be afraid of being shunned by the world,
or even war. But surely they’re terrified of...quiet American bureaucracy. Ooooooh.
And after the break, the German chancellor visits Beijing to make a new friend.
Welcome back.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz met with Chinese presitator Xi Jinping last week.
Scholz is the first Western leader to visit China since Covid.
I get it. I’ve been locked down for a long time, too. And I can’t wait to travel again.
But China? Really?
“Scholz has pushed for a close relationship with China despite
its recent advances toward dictatorship and widespread opposition within Germany.”
In fact, there was widespread opposition to his trip even from members of his own political party.
The timing is especially bad, since it comes right after Xi Jinping just took power for a third term.
And intentional or not, the visit seems like a tacit approval of Xi’s power grab.
But there *are* people supporting Scholz’s visit to Beijing.
Like CNN. Their business news analysis says that Germany needs China more than ever.
See, China is Germany’s largest trading partner. And “Germany is hardly in a position to rock
the boat with Beijing as it grapples with the challenge of reviving its struggling economy.”
I mean, working with an authoritarian regime like Russia turned out pretty
badly—because Russia started a war, and then Germany was forced to take sides,
and then Germany lost that cheap energy supply from Russia.
So the lesson is, it’s a great time to strengthen ties with a *different* authoritarian regime.
But at least Germany is doing one thing right.
It looks like Germany will be blocking a Chinese chip deal.
That deal would have allowed a Chinese company to take over Elmos.
Wait, China wants to take over a Sesame Street character? I mean, I guess he’s red but…
What’s that, Shelley?
Oh, wow. It’s even worse. Elmos is a German semiconductor plant.
The Chinese Communist Party was apparently trying to buy Elmos...right after President
Biden issued an executive order to cut off microchip supply to China. And
that policy has spillover effects on all countries that sell microchips to China.
See, China wants to use advanced microchips to do things like...rule the world with
artificial intelligence, and build high-tech weapons it could use to attack Taiwan.
Fortunately, the German government seems to understand this, too. So
they blocked the purchase on national security concerns. A least the German
government isn’t completely stupid when it comes to giving China their technology.
Speaking of being completely stupid when it comes to giving China their technology, Nvidia.
See, Biden’s executive order to block microchips sales is only as good as its implementation.
And there’s a loophole.
Specifically, it bans selling China microchips *above a specific processing power.*
After the Commerce Department added Nvidia’s A100 chip to the export control list,
Nvidia was forecast to lose hundreds of millions of dollars.
Their solution? Nvidia is now offering the A800 chip!
It’s a tiny bit slower, so it slides right under the limit set by the Commerce Department.
And really, isn’t the whole point of laws just to figure out how to go around them?
And after the break, Xi Jinping tells his troops to get ready to fight and win.
Welcome back.
With Xi Jinping now in his third term as leader of the Chinese Communist Party,
he wants everyone to know who’s boss.
That’s why one of his first acts after the 20th Party Congress last month was
to take the new Politburo Standing Committee to Yan’an, the site of Mao’s bloodiest purge.
All Party members understand the significance of this. Yan’an was
the Communist Party’s headquarters for over a decade. Mao used it as a place to
build up his political base after the Long March.
During World War II, while the Nationalist government that was running China was busy
fighting off the Japanese, Mao was busy torturing and killing his political enemies at Yan’an.
He wanted to make sure the only Party members left standing were completely loyal to him.
It was called the Yan’an Rectification Movement. A name that strikes terror
in the hearts of all Communist officials who still have hearts.
“Scholars believe that at least 30,000 were purged,
and some 10,000 executed” during that movement.
That was in the 1940s. Yan’an is now considered a
national landmark because of its place in Communist Party history.
It’s become a hotbed of what’s called “red tourism.”
Yes, you too can dress up like a member of Mao’s Red Army and stand
outside the house where he lived while he killed a bunch of people.
It’s like Disneyland, but for purges!
So because of all the Party history here, it makes sense for Xi Jinping to bring his top
officials to Yan’an after re-upping his status as leader of the Communist Party.
But since it’s also the place where Mao purged a bunch of officials he considered disloyal,
well, let’s just say the subtext of that is not lost on these officials.
Speaking of getting ready to kill people, the Chinese military! Which,
as I’ve explained in the past, is actually an arm of the Communist Party, not the government.
This week, Xi Jinping visited the Central Military Commission command center.
According to Chinese state-run media, “Xi said the entire military should devote all
its energy to and carry out all its work for combat readiness, enhance its capability to
fight and win, and effectively fulfill its missions and tasks in the new era.”
Now, Xi Jinping says this pretty much every time he visits the military.
I mean, who’s going to visit their military and say, “Don’t be combat ready guys. In fact,
don’t worry about winning wars! You’re all winners on the inside!”
But every time Xi Jinping does this,
there’s international headlines. This one’s from March of 2021.
And yet, it’s like Western leaders don’t believe him when he talks about this.
Because they’re responding by doing things like...
visiting China to enhance trade...
and allowing companies to sell China microchips that can be used in weapons.
I mean, there’s always the off-chance that the Chinese Communist Party *won’t* invade
the free and independent country of Taiwan, if
we give them lots more money and technology. You gotta have hope!
Speaking of the Communist Party preparing for war,
More than 5,000 Chinese military staff now live on man-made islands in the South China Sea.
We know this because China’s state-run GCTN said on Monday that a Chinese ship “visited 13 islands
of the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos” and “provided medical services to more than
5,000 people”, and it referred to them as officers and soldiers.
This is a big deal, because it’s the first time state media have revealed
how many military personnel are stationed on those artificial islands. But they’re
only disclosing that it’s *at least* 5,000. One US private
security company estimated earlier this year that it might be closer to 10,000.
Which makes sense. There’s been an incredible amount of build-up
in recent years, with at least three islands fully militarized,
including long airplane runways...
tons of radar towers,
and of course lots of housing for troops.
And if after all this, you don’t believe the Chinese Communist Party is planning
to invade Taiwan...I don’t know what show you’ve been watching,
but it’s not the one you’re watching right now.
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I’m Chris Chappell. Thanks for watching China Uncensored.