The WHO's latest scandal

And Estonia is kicking butt!

That and more on this week's China news headlines

Welcome to China Uncensored, I'm Chris Chappell.  YouTube is demonetizing us all the time.  

But thanks to the support of viewers like  you on the crowdfunding website Patreon,  

I can still bring you these episodes.  Head over to Patreon.com/ChinaUncensored,  

and for as little as a dollar an episode,  you can help me continue to make the show.

And now, this week's China news headlines.

For a long time, China has been  secretly building up military camps  

along the Indian border. Well, not so secretly  that they can't be seen with satellites. 

Here's a bend in the river on May 22 last  year, and here's that same spot on June 23.

Here's another Chinese military  camp in the same region.

And here's yet another Chinese military camp.

Meanwhile, this satellite image shows  Chinese-built villages along a different  

section of the Indian border, made at some  point between August 2019 and November 2020.

But the latest satellite images show China  is actually emptying some of these camps.

These images from Maxar Technologies  

show the banks of Pangong Tso, a  glacial lake in the Ladakh region. 

Last week, China and India agreed to  withdraw troops. Wait, China is actually  

keeping its promise? Is that because India  is successfully staring down China? Or is the  

People's Liberation Army pulling back because  they have some other plan up their sleeves?

Last week, I told you about the World Health  Organization investigation into the origin  

of the coronavirus. Yes,  in January  the Chinese Communist Party let the WHO  

into Wuhan to investigate—only a year late! 

But that's not a complaint from the WHO. No!  WHO investigators praised Chinese officials. 

Even though China refused  to hand over important data.

Get this. Apparently the WHO team  said their Chinese counterparts “were  

frustrated by the team's persistent  questioning and demands for data.”

I know, you probably think that asking  questions and looking for data is  

a normal part of an investigation.  But not in China it isn't. In China,  

the government tells you upfront what  the result of your investigation will be.

Which is what they tried to do to the WHO team.  

“Chinese officials urged the W.H.O. team to  embrace the government's narrative about the  

source of the virus, including the unproven notion  that it might have spread to China from abroad.”

Meanwhile, it's not surprising the US says  it still hasn't ruled out a lab accident  

origin for the coronavirus. Because  China hasn't been transparent.

Which is frankly an understatement.  Saying China hasn't been transparent  

is like saying it's a little hard  to breathe in the vacuum of space.

Meanwhile, more countries are voicing  support for a global “pandemic treaty.”  

It would require all countries to  share data about disease outbreaks.

Which sounds great. Until you remember  how well China honors its treaties.

But I wouldn't want to be too  hard on Chinese officials.  

Or else they might be too  hard on American officials.

What I mean is, “In China, some U.S. personnel  have complained about being subjected to  

an anal swab test for the  coronavirus by Chinese authorities.”

You know, the Biden Administration has talked  about reciprocity in US China relations, so,  

maybe Xi Jinping will have something to look  forward to on his next state visit to Washington.

FYI, the Chinese artist who made  that image has been arrested.

And coming up after the break, key  members of President Biden's cabinet  

had Chinese business connections.

Welcome back.

This week, the Republican Study Committee  

released a report criticizing members of Biden's  cabinet for Chinese business connections. 

For example, Secretary of State Antony  Blinken co-founded a company called  

WestExec Advisors, which “helped U.S.  universities raise money from China  

without running afoul of  Pentagon grant requirements.”

Other Biden cabinet members who worked for the  firm include Director of National Intelligence  

Avril Haines, and Press Secretary Jen Psaki.

Now working for WestExec is  not evidence of any wrongdoing.  

A lot of people have had Chinese business  connections, including the previous president.

What doesn't look great is,  

when WestExec recently scrubbed all their China  work from their website. Why would they do that?

However, Secretary of State Blinken said  something this week that I've actually been  

saying on the show for a while now—that upholding  American values is the way to counter the Chinese  

Communist Party. In an interview with NPR he  said, “We're in a position of strength when  

we actually stand up for our values, when  we don't say it's okay for China to create  

concentration camps for Uyghurs in Xinjiang  or to trample on democracy in Hong Kong.”

And you know, values are nice. But it's also  nice when values are backed up with warships. 

The Biden Administration has conducted its second  

freedom of navigation operation  in the South China Sea.

The Biden Administration has talked about working  with US allies to counter the Chinese Communist  

Party. Which sounds great. But the challenge is,  the Communist Party's influence over those allies  

may be growing. China has for the first time  overtaken the US as Europe's main trading partner.

And as we've seen from a  recent China EU trade deal,  

there are times when the EU puts  profits before human rights.

But there is some good news. Last week  

I mentioned the UK would no longer  broadcast Chinese state-run CGTN. 

Well now, CGTN is going to have to stop  broadcasting in 32 countries across Europe. 

What happened is, as a spillover from  old broadcast rules from the 1980s,  

CGTN's UK license had also allowed it  to broadcast across Europe. But now  

with its UK license revoked, CGTN can't  broadcast in any European country—unless  

one of them decides to be stupid  and give CGTN a new license.

And unsurprisingly, this week the  Chinese regime decided to retaliate.  

By banning the BBC in China. 

Which gave my favorite state-run media the Global  

Times the inspiration for this  really funny political cartoon.

The broadcaster Radio Television  Hong Kong also blocked the BBC.  

Because Hong Kong is fully part of China now.

But don't worry, most people  in China won't even notice.  

“In China [the BBC] is largely restricted  and appears only in international hotels  

and some diplomatic compounds, meaning  most Chinese people cannot view it.”

And while Chinese state-run TV had been  broadcast in Europe for nearly two decades—most  

people in Europe won't even notice it's gone,  because they never bothered to watch it.

There is a growing awareness about the  threat of the Chinese Communist Party.  

Particularly when it comes to espionage.

“In the past week, intelligence agencies in the  Netherlands, Finland and Canada expressed deep  

concern about China's espionage and  political influence in democracies.”

And Estonia warns of a "silenced  world dominated by Beijing".

Wow, good on Estonia. Estonia used to be a major  front in the Chinese Communist Party's attempt  

to invade Europe. But as I  mentioned in a recent episode,  

China's Eastern European strategy is failing.

And you may remember the ethnically  Tibetan NYPD officer who was accused of  

spying on Tibetans for the Chinese Communist  Party. Well, there's been an update.

“The New York City police officer  accused of being a spy for China,  

has been granted a release on $2 million  bail. But Baimadajie Angwang tested  

positive for COVID-19 last week and may have to  wait for a negative test before he's released.”

My heart breaks for him.

And now I'll answer a question from a  member of the China Uncensored 50 Cent Army.  

Those are the fans who support the show  on the crowd funding website Patreon.

Phil Morais Jr says, “I work in Fiji and the  Chinese government have part of the contract  

to build new roads. They build the new road and  then in 12 - 18 months they have to repave the  

whole thing again. Australia has the other  contract and those roads are fantastic.”

Ah, Phil is responding to an episode  about China's Tofu Construction.  

Basically, that's when things get built on  the cheap, officials skim money off the top,  

and the construction projects collapse.  Often with some devastating results.

And since China is building things  around the world, that's not good.  

But Phil, don't complain about the Chinese built  roads that need to be repaved after only a year.  

It's not as bad as how in Kenya, a 12 million  dollar bridge collapsed before it even opened.

You might want to watch out for those  new Chinese built bridges in Fiji though.

Thanks for writing Phil.

And thank you for watching. Once again  I'm Chris Chappell, see you next time.