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  • China's got a new economic plan.

  • Designed to counter 

  • the threat of decoupling from the US.

  • What does it mean for the rest of the world

  • Welcome to China Uncensored.

  • I'm Chris Chappell

  • We've just been through an historic event that will set the direction of one of the

  • world's biggest economies for years to come

  • And that historic event is... the Fifth Plenum of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese

  • Communist Party!

  • Why, what did you think I was going to say?  

  • China's top leaders have wrapped up a four-day gathering unveiling the country's critical

  • blueprint for the next five years.

  • The communist party of china today released the 14th five-year plan.

  • You know what they say about Communists.

  • They always have a 5-year plan

  • Unfortunately, this year the Communist Party did not commission a catchy theme song to

  • explain their 14th five-year plan to foreigners.

  • So we're just going to have to play the one from five years ago about the 13th 5-year

  • plan, the shi san wu.

  • If you know what's coming, sing along.  

  • If you wanna know what China's gonna do, best pay attention to the shi san wu.

  • The shi san wu.

  • The shi san wu.

  • The shi san what?

  • The shi san wu

  • Look, back in 2015, Chinese propaganda was going through an...experimentation...phase

  • The point is, every five years, the Chinese Communist Party unveils a new economic plan.

  • This time, the five-year plan focuses a lot on what's being called China's “dual

  • circulationeconomy.

  • I'll let Chinese state-run media explain

  • But what exactly is a dual circulation economy?

  • The concept has two equally strong components: "internal circulation," which refers to domestic

  • economic activities, and "external circulation," which relates to China's economic links with

  • the outside world.

  • It signals that China wants to reduce the role of international trade in its economy,

  • and strengthen its domestic economy

  • You know, Chinese propaganda was more fun when they were experimenting

  • So why is the Chinese Communist Party trying to strengthen China's domestic economy?

  • Because of the coronavirus that was totally not the Communist Party's fault, and also

  • because America is a big fat meanie.

  • As the COVID-19 pandemic sends shudders across the world, the economic outlook outside China

  • does not look particularly optimistic at the moment.

  • Worsening China-U.S. relations have also loomed large in China's consideration, as the U.S.

  • contemplates decoupling and seems bent on crippling China's economic and technological

  • development.

  • Right.

  • That's what's happening.

  • The US is targeting Chinese companies to cripple China's development.

  • It's totally not because companies like Huawei, WeChat, and TikTok pose national security

  • threats to the US

  • Just remember, everyone: China is the victim here

  • But it's true that there's been a lot of talk in the last year or so about the US

  • decoupling from China economically

  • That includes reducing America's reliance on Chinese manufacturing, moving supply chains

  • out of China, and moving financial dealings out of Hong Kong.

  • And the coronavirus is speeding up the process of decoupling.

  • It was a shock to many countries when they couldn't get medical supplies because they

  • were all made in China.

  • And when they finally were able to get medical supplies from China, there were concerns that

  • some of those medical supplies were poor quality

  • Or made with forced labor.

  • Here's a crazy idea: Maybe other countries can make medical supplies that aren't poor

  • quality or made from slave labor

  • Now despite that wake-up call, the idea of the US decoupling from China has been controversial

  • While some people think decoupling can happen...

  • Others say it will backfire.

  • But one thing's for sure: the Chinese Communist Party is terrified of decoupling.

  • And I'll show you why after the break.

  • Welcome back.

  • The Chinese Communist Party is terrified of the US decoupling from China.

  • That's why Chinese state-run media have run dozens of articles about why decoupling

  • is bad.

  • The US decoupling with China is a misjudgment

  • Decoupling is not feasible

  • It's unrealistic and harmful

  • But it will only harm the US

  • And anyway, it's doomed to fail

  • You get the idea

  • So Chinese officials are a tad bit concerned about the US decoupling from China.

  • Which is why in this new 14th five-year plan, they are seeking complete economic self-reliance.

  • According to my favorite state-run media, the Global Times, China willfocus on boosting

  • the domestic supply chain and homegrown innovation to become completely self-reliant in economy

  • and core technologies.”

  • Now you might think, hold on, doesn't complete economic self-reliance sound like China is

  • decoupling from other countries

  • Well that's where you're wrong

  • It's totally not decoupling.

  • Economic self-reliance through thisdual circulationstrategy is one that the Chinese

  • Communist Party has been talking about since May.

  • This model entails engaging international capital, financial, and technological markets

  • when advantages can be gained while simultaneously bolstering indigenous capabilities to avoid

  • over-reliance on the global economy.”

  • So don't worry, foreign investors.

  • The Chinese Communist Party still wants your money.

  • Over the weekend, the Party published a speech from Chinese leader Xi Jinping in their official

  • policy journal, Qiushi.

  • Which in English meansSeeking Truth”.

  • It makes sense because the Communist Party needs to seek the truth in order to find it..

  • and then hide it better.  

  • Xi Jinping actually gave this speech back in April, but the fact that Qiushi published

  • it now means it's directly related to the Communist Party's new 5-year plan

  • So what did Xi talk about?

  • A lot of it was about everybody's favorite topic: supply chains.

  • Wait!

  • Don't change the channel.

  • This is important

  • Xi Jinping called for setting up independent and controllable supply chains to ensure industrial

  • and national security.”

  • You know, this is one of those rare occasions when I say, maybe we could learn something

  • from the Chinese Communist Party here.

  • I mean, sure they're great at starting personality cults and purging their enemies, but they

  • definitely know their supply chains, too.

  • So when Xi Jinping calls for supply chains that areindependent, controllable, safe,

  • and reliable,” that's not a bad idea.

  • After all, a large part of the US decoupling from China is also about having supply chains

  • in the US that areindependent, controllable, safe and reliable.”

  • Which from America's perspective means supply chains that are not controlled by China.

  • In Xi Jinping's speech, he also said that the Communist Party musttighten the dependence

  • of the international industrial supply chain on China, and form a strong counter-measure

  • and deterrent ability for foreign parties to artificially cut off supply.”

  • Basically, Xi wants China to be able to counter any attempts to cut off China's

  • imports of necessary goods through sanctions

  • Here's an example of what he's afraid of: Last year the US tightened sanctions on

  • Chinese telecom company Huawei.

  • Those sanctions prevented companies from selling Huawei US technology.

  • Or selling Huawei things that were made with US technology, even if those things were not

  • made in the US.

  • Like semiconductor chips.

  • Those sanctions slowed Huawei's sales growth.

  • But even worse for Huawei, they started running out of smartphone chips because of the sanctions

  • So now Huawei is trying to set up a chip plant in China that would not use any US technology.

  • So that's one reason why Chinese officials are afraid of US decoupling.

  • They don't want the US to be able to cut off goods to China

  • But the other part of Xi Jinping's statement is also illuminating.

  • In addition to preventing other countries from cutting off China's supply, Xi said

  • that the Communist Party musttighten the dependence of the international industrial

  • supply chain on China.”

  • So while China is becoming less dependent on the rest of the world, they also want to

  • make the rest of the world *more* dependent on China.

  • I'll explain how after the break.

  • Welcome back.

  • China wants to be less dependent on other countries, while making other countries more

  • dependent on China.

  • By doing things like dominating medical supplies.

  • Or becoming the biggest trading partner for countries and making them dependent on buying

  • stuff from China, and selling stuff to China

  • Even if other countries are not completely dependent on China, it's enough to make

  • them believe that it would be too painful and costly to lose China as a trade partner.

  • A good example is Australia, which exports a lot of goods to China.

  • China and Australia are in the middle of a diplomatic and trade dispute.

  • It picked up steam back in April after Australia called for an independent investigation into

  • the origins of the coronavirus.

  • Since then, Chinese officials have placed import bans on a bunch of Australian goods

  • Those bans could stop 6 billion Australian dollars worth of goods.

  • This week, tons of live Australian lobsters were left stranded at an airport in China.

  • Won't somebody think of the lobsters?!

  • Meanwhile, Chinese state-run media have directly said that China is importing less from Australia

  • because of Australia's political stance.

  • So with the Chinese Communist Party essentially trying to use trade to bully Australia, maybe

  • Australia should think of ways to diversify its exports to other countries

  • Doesn't anyone else want Australian lobsters?

  • But according to a former Australian ambassador to China, Australia's economic dependency

  • on China will not change.

  • He said that Australia needs to find a way to reset the relationship with China

  • Becausetalk about Australia significantly diversifying its economic relationship with

  • China by turning to other markets is 'nothing other than wishful thinking.'”

  • So the former ambassador's message is that Australia is always going to be dependent