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  • On this episode of China Uncensored,

  • Australia bans Huawei and ZTE from building 5G networks.

  • Want to strike a deal with China?

  • Don't be stupid.

  • And finally, US-Taiwan relations are over the moon!

  • This is China Uncensored.

  • Hi, welcome to China Uncensored.

  • I'm your host Chris Chappell.

  • On Thursday,

  • the Australian government put a ban on foreign companies

  • building the next generation of wireless networks: 5G.

  • Why the ban?

  • They don't want companieslikely to be

  • subject to extrajudicial directions

  • from a foreign government that conflict with Australian law

  • to have control over Australia's wireless networks.

  • Now, in that announcement,

  • Australia didn't mention which foreign government

  • they were concerned about.

  • I guess that's a mystery.

  • Incidentally, though, the ban will stop two giant Chinese companies

  • Huawei and ZTE

  • that had expressed interest in installing Australia's 5G network.

  • This is a huge blow to Huawei especially,

  • since they had made a huge push in Australia

  • after getting shut out of the US.

  • Speaking of mysteries...

  • We've just found out that my friend Megha Rajagopalan,

  • who I was on a panel with at the Oslo Freedom Forum

  • a couple months ago,

  • has been denied a renewal of her journalism visa.

  • That effectively means she's being kicked out of China.

  • But Chinese authorities didn't tell her why.

  • Hmmm... another mystery!

  • This is going to be a tough case to crack.

  • She had been a journalist in Beijing for six years.

  • And she was good, too.

  • I can't figure out what changed!

  • Why, earlier this year, she even won an award

  • for this piece she wrote on the Communist Party's

  • crackdown on minorities in Xinjiang.

  • Well, I don't know why they kicked her out.

  • If any of you can figure out it out,

  • please let me know.

  • And if you think Chinese authorities

  • are getting good at fooling anyone, well,

  • they're also trying their hand at sarcasm.

  • State-run China Global Television Network created a, haha,

  • hilarious video calledThanks Mr Trump, you are GREAT!”

  • But get this, they're not actually saying he's great.

  • They mean that sarcastically.

  • I would know.

  • I'm a sarcasm expert.

  • Their video is about how Trump's trade war has actually helped China.

  • Which they're not being sarcastic about.

  • Thank you for re-instilling in the Chinese a sense of HUMILITY.

  • How can there be enough gratitude for highlighting

  • the foibles of overconfidence and self-congratulation,

  • never a virtue except in your case.”

  • You see, by taking that swipe at Trump,

  • they'll distract viewers from remembering how

  • Chinese authorities violated WTO rules

  • and stole trillions of dollars worth of US intellectual property.

  • And then there's this hilarious quip.

  • On behalf of doctors, thank you for pointing out the need to

  • wean off American goods like bourbon and bacon.”

  • Because the danger to Chinese people's health

  • is not China's rampant pollution,

  • or constant food scandals.

  • or bad vaccines.

  • No, no!

  • It's bacon and alcohol from America that are the danger.

  • The South China Morning Post describes CGTN

  • asPart of a growing arm of state media designed

  • to 'tell China stories' as it make a global push to improve its soft power.”

  • In other words, it's part of China's information

  • or propaganda warfare against the West.

  • They're banking on some Americans disliking Trump so much,

  • that they'll actually side with the Chinese Communist Party.

  • But CGTN's attempt at sarcasm is pretty hard to watch.

  • Seriously, guys.

  • Leave sarcasm to the professionals.

  • Strangely, CGTN pulled this video from youtube

  • only a day after they put it up.

  • Maybe the fact that they released this video

  • just as US and Chinese officials

  • are meeting about the trade war

  • was seen as a little too sensitive.

  • Oops.

  • Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad

  • met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang this week.

  • It was Mahathir's first trip to China

  • since taking office earlier this year.

  • And there were a few pieces of Chinese etiquette

  • that Mahathir clearly didn't know.

  • For instance, when dealing with Chinese officials, typically,

  • they consider it very impolite to repeatedly

  • SLAM YOUR PREDECESSOR

  • FOR THEIR STUPIDITY IN DEALING WITH CHINA.

  • He was concerned about several major construction projects

  • with Chinese companies,

  • although he was super vague about

  • whether they were cancelled or just deferred.

  • Mahathir is worried about these China deals in Malaysia,

  • since the deals follow a pattern the Chinese regime

  • has established with other countries:

  • Get them deeply into debt and then squeeze.

  • In other words, when his predecessor made those deals,

  • well he was being stupid.

  • The Chinese Communist Party has been ramping up

  • the pressure on Taiwan

  • and anyone who's ever been nice to Taiwan

  • or even acknowledged its existence.

  • And now it seems that yet another country

  • has caved to the pressure

  • El Salvador.

  • This is El Salvador,

  • which of course is Spanish forthe Salvador.”

  • It used to diplomatically recognize the Republic of China,

  • a.k.a. the government of Taiwan,

  • as the one true government of China.

  • Not anymore.

  • That means, in the entire world,

  • there are only 17 countries left

  • that recognize the sovereignty of the Republic of China.

  • And some of them are barely even real countries.

  • Like...

  • Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

  • What's that, Shelley?

  • Ok, apparently it's really nice there.

  • But most of the 17 countries that are still tight with Taiwan

  • are small island nations that,

  • let's be honest,

  • don't have much power in the world.

  • It's like in high school gym class when they're picking teams,

  • only instead of you being the kid no one wants on their team,

  • there are already two teams, and everyone's leaving

  • the small one that's nice for the big one

  • that buys you fancy jerseys.

  • And infrastructure.

  • Other Latin American countries have also left Taiwan for China.

  • Panama broke ties with Taiwan in 2017.

  • The Dominican Republic did it just this May.

  • And in exchange for their new loyalties,

  • the Chinese Communist Party will give these countries big gifts...

  • that come with horrible debt traps

  • that future leaders will call stupid.

  • Meanwhile, in China, some genius on social media asked

  • what law exactly says Taiwan can't be called a country.

  • To which the authorities said, obviously no law says that,

  • we make up the laws as we go.

  • Here, we'll demonstrate...by arresting you.

  • Police said he hadprofaned the people's feelings”.

  • Hey, which law says you can't profane the people's feelings?

  • Exactly.

  • You know, it's a good thing China requires people

  • to use their real name on social media.

  • They say the real name law is to help stop terrorists.

  • Which I guess includes 18 year old kids

  • who ask too many questions.

  • However, the Trump administration seemingly

  • has taken on the mantle of using Taiwan to troll China.

  • While the United States does recognize mainland China

  • as the one true China,

  • the Trump administration has also been friendly to Taiwan.

  • Like by giving the President of Taiwan a special tour of NASA.

  • This was a first for a President of Taiwan.

  • Tsai Ing-wen was on her way back to Taiwan

  • from a recent trip she made to Paraguay and Belize.

  • She apparently felt she needed to shore up ties

  • with her allies in Latin America.

  • Now, the Chinese Communist Party was not happy

  • that Tsai even was making a stopover in the US,

  • let alone getting a tour of NASA.

  • The reason this was such a troll,

  • though, is because the US would never allow

  • a scientist from mainland China to visit NASA.

  • Seriously.

  • In 2011,

  • Congress banned NASA from working with China

  • because of the risk of espionage.

  • Two years later, a group of Chinese scientists was excluded

  • from attending a conference on NASA's

  • Kepler space telescope programme.”

  • Let's just say, when Xi Jinping sees this footage...

  • he won't exactly be over the moon.

  • And before you go, did you know China Uncensored

  • is funded almost entirely by viewers like you?

  • That's why every episode,

  • I say thank you to what I call

  • the China Uncensored 50-Cent Army

  • the folks who contribute to the show

  • on the crowdfunding website Patreon

  • by answering their questions!

  • Bob buffalo asks,

  • Is there a possibility for Hong Kong to get its independence

  • like Singapore in a probable future?

  • Well, that would basically only happen in one of those

  • bizarre, “what ifcomic book storylines.

  • I mean, what if Wolverine was Lord of the Vampires?

  • In 1965, the Parliament of Malaysia

  • voted unanimously to expel Singapore.

  • A few hours later, the Parliament of Singapore passed

  • the Republic of Singapore Independence Act.

  • And Singapore became an independent and sovereign republic.

  • But there is no way ever that China's National People's Congress

  • will ever say, “Hong Kong, we don't want you.”

  • In fact, the Communist Party was ready to invade Hong Kong in 1960

  • if the British ever tried to implement democracy in Hong Kong.

  • So no matter how much the people of Hong Kong want independence,

  • or even just a tiny bit more democracy,

  • they'll never get it from the Chinese Communist Party.

  • Thanks for you question, Bob.

  • And remember,

  • you too can have your questions answered on the show!

  • Head over to pateron.com/chinauncensored and become

  • a member of our 50-Cent Army!

  • You'll get some neat stuff,

  • help out the show,

  • and have your deepest darkest questions answered.

  • Well, maybe.

  • Thanks for watching this episode of China Uncensored.

  • Once again I'm your host Chris Chappell.

  • See you next time.

  • My beloved fans!

  • Did you know that Matt, Shelley, and I

  • have a new Podcast called China Unscripted?

  • We go into way more detail about all the things

  • you want to know about China that we can't fit

  • into our usual episodes.

  • So subscribe to China Unscripted on YouTube,

  • iTunes, Stitcher, or Spotify.

On this episode of China Uncensored,

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