In countering the Chinese Communist Party?

Plus: New sanctions for Uyghur persecution

That and more on this week's China news headlines

Welcome to China Uncensored, I'm Chris Chappell.

This episode is sponsored  by Surfshark Alert. It helps  

detect if your private information has been  leaked online, or is part of a data breach.

This week in China news...

From the start of his campaign,  

President Biden said he'd work with US allies  to counter the Chinese Communist Party.  

And now for the first time, it seems like  that strategy might be bearing fruit.

The US, Canada, UK, and EU joined together  

to sanction China for its  treatment of Uyghur Muslims.

The sanctions target current and  former officials plus a paramilitary  

organization involved in the mass  detention of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

The officials targeted will have their  assets frozen and be banned from travel.

This is honestly surprising  considering this is the first time  

Europe has used sanctions against China  since the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. 

It's even more surprising considering the  EU signed a preliminary trade deal with  

China at the end of December, in which human  rights and US concerns didn't factor in.

The US had led the way with sanctions on China  under the Trump Administration. The US had also  

labeled the Uyghur persecution genocide. However,  this coordinated sanctioning under the Biden  

Administration is new. Is Biden making good on his  promise to work with US allies to counter China?

Earlier this month, Biden also  met with leaders of the Quad,  

an alliance of India, Japan, Australia,  and the US aimed at countering China.

But if you're a US ally who's  wondering whether you'll have  

to choose between the US and China, don't worry.

This week Secretary of State Antony Blinken  also said the US won't force allies into an  

“us or them” choice between the US and China.

“The U.S. wants to out-compete with China,  not simply seek to defeat it, Blinken said.”

When asked to respond to Blinken's comment,  

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson  Zhao Lijian attempted to say something  

about America's decline, but instead just  laughed uncontrollably for five minutes. 

And after the break, I'll tell you how China  has responded to America and its allies.

Welcome back.

The new sanctions on Chinese officials are  no laughing matter for the Communist Party.  

In fact, they've responded with  their own sanctions on the EU.

Those sanctions included  “blacklisting 10 European lawmakers,  

as well as several think tanks and academics”.

The EU sanctions China for  crimes against humanity,  

China sanctions the EU for  sanctioning them. Makes sense.

Of course, that may mean that fancy new  trade deal with Europe might be doomed.

That's because several of the European  lawmakers the Chinese regime sanctioned  

are members of the European Parliament—which  has to approve that trade deal.

And as a result of the sanctions,  the European Parliament cancelled  

a meeting that was supposed to discuss that deal.

The US and China had also signed  a trade deal in 2020. That was  

right before the coronavirus  became a global pandemic.

And this may surprise you, but China  hasn't been holding up its end of the deal.

So if that deal also goes down  the drain...boo frickin' hoo.

And now, to punish the US, the Chinese  Communist Party has been running a nonstop  

propaganda blitz. They're accusing the US of  racism, inequality, and a poor pandemic response.

You know they say we criticize in  others the things we see in ourselves.

Despite the draw of the China  market, the rest of the world  

is beginning to wise up to the risk  posed by the Chinese Communist Party.

Take Canada, which is also  part of the recent sanctions.  

China has kidnapped two Canadian citizens,  Michael Korvig and Michael Spavor.  

Well, in the last week, both Michaels  were secretly put on trial for spying.

In both cases, the verdict hasn't been  announced. But China's justice system is  

very efficient. Everyone put  on trial is found guilty!

Foreign journalists and diplomats were banned  from the trials. But in a show of support,  

“More than two dozen diplomats representing  several countries, including Canada and the United  

States, tried to gain access to the courtroom,  only to be turned away by security personnel.”

Hey, do you think the Chinese Communist Party's  hostage taking might actually be backfiring?

More on that after the break.

Welcome back.

There are more signs that the  Chinese Communist Party's aggression  

is turning the world against it. NATO is now  looking to build partnerships with Japan,  

South Korea, Australia, and  New Zealand to counter China.

And another US Admiral is warning  a Chinese invasion of Taiwan  

is closer than most people think.

Of course, he's obviously not talking about  most people who watch China Uncensored.

But as the Uyghur genocide continues to turn  people against the Chinese Communist Party,  

the Party is striking back.

Facebook recently caught Chinese hackers  creating fake profiles to attack Uyghurs abroad.

The hackers would pose as activists or journalists  supporting the Uyghurs. They would send targeted  

Uyghurs links to compromised websites. They  even created fake prayer apps for Android.

Meanwhile, the Chinese regime  has launched a boycott of H&M  

for criticizing the treatment of Uyghurs.

In this statement last year, H&M said, Ohh,  I guess that page doesn't exist anymore.

Hmm. But nothing is ever  really gone from the internet.  

Here's their original statement, which said,  “H&M Group is deeply concerned by reports  

from civil society organisations  and media that include accusations  

of forced labour and discrimination of  ethnoreligious minorities in Xinjiang.”

They also said they'd stop buying cotton from  Xinjiang, since it's made with Uyghur slave labor.

Nike also released a statement on Xinjiang,  saying they're committed to ethical and  

responsible manufacturing. And that they  do not source products from Xinjiang.

Even though they lobbied against a  Uyghur slave labor bill in Congress.

And now Nike might be next  on China's boycott list.  

“On Wednesday, Nike was at the top  of Weibo's 'hot search' list. Some  

users were furious that Nike had joined  the boycott of cotton from the region.”

Never thought I'd see boycotts  against companies for *opposing*  

genocide and slave labor. But that's  the Chinese Communist Party for you. 

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Once again, I'm Chris Chappell. See you next time.