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  • 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 calleddecoupling,”

  • 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 aspotentially 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 delayreflects 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 offaith 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