Political Scientist Answers China Questions | Tech Support | WIRED

00:36:18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oh8mk_PJS0

摘要

TLDRCette vidéo explore les complexités de la Chine moderne, y compris son histoire, sa politique, son économie et ses relations internationales. Michael Beckley répond à des questions sur des sujets tels que l'invasion potentielle de Taïwan, la guerre commerciale avec les États-Unis, et le système politique chinois. Il aborde également des questions sur la censure, le crédit social, et les défis démographiques auxquels la Chine est confrontée. La vidéo met en lumière les réussites et les échecs de la Chine, tout en soulignant les tensions croissantes avec les États-Unis et les implications pour l'avenir.

心得

  • 🌏 La Chine est un pays vaste avec des défis complexes.
  • 📅 La modernité de la Chine a commencé en 1911.
  • ⚔️ Taïwan est un point de tension stratégique pour la Chine.
  • 💰 La guerre commerciale affecte les deux économies.
  • 📉 La politique de l'enfant unique a des conséquences démographiques.
  • 🏙️ Les villes fantômes illustrent la surconstruction en Chine.
  • 🔒 La censure est omniprésente et contrôlée par l'État.
  • 📊 Le système de crédit social surveille et évalue les citoyens.
  • 🔍 La transparence sur COVID-19 reste un sujet de controverse.
  • 🤔 L'avenir de la Chine après Xi Jinping est incertain.

时间轴

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    Michael Beckley aborde la question de l'existence de bots chinois, en suggérant d'examiner les commentaires sous la vidéo pour en avoir un aperçu. Il explique que la complexité de la Chine réside dans sa taille, sa population et ses ressources, ce qui rend son analyse difficile. Les atouts et les faiblesses de la Chine sont nombreux.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    Beckley présente une chronologie de l'histoire moderne de la Chine, commençant par la chute de la dynastie Qing en 1911, suivie par la guerre civile et l'établissement de la République populaire de Chine en 1949. Il souligne l'évolution des relations entre la Chine et les États-Unis, passant d'alliés à rivaux, surtout après la crise financière de 2008.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    La question de l'invasion de Taïwan par la Chine est abordée, soulignant l'importance stratégique de Taïwan et son lien avec les États-Unis. Beckley explique que la prise de Taïwan serait un coup dur pour le système d'alliance américain en Asie de l'Est et que les dirigeants chinois considèrent cela comme une question de temps.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    Beckley évoque les réussites de la Chine, notamment dans la mobilisation des ressources pour des missions nationales, la production d'énergie renouvelable et l'infrastructure. Il note que la Chine a réussi à sortir des millions de personnes de la pauvreté, mais cela s'accompagne d'un manque de droits civils et politiques.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    Concernant la guerre commerciale entre les États-Unis et la Chine, Beckley explique que la Chine, en tant qu'économie axée sur l'exportation, souffre de cette guerre, tandis que les consommateurs américains sont également affectés par des prix plus élevés. Il souligne que Xi Jinping se concentre moins sur la croissance du PIB que sur le renforcement de l'autonomie industrielle de la Chine.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    Beckley discute de la nature communiste de la Chine, notant que bien que le pays ait une façade moderne, l'économie est fortement contrôlée par l'État. Il cite des exemples de la répression des entrepreneurs et de la dépendance des entreprises vis-à-vis du Parti communiste.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:36:18

    Enfin, Beckley aborde des questions sur la répression des Ouïghours, la censure en Chine, et les implications de la surveillance de masse. Il conclut en soulignant que la Chine utilise des méthodes autoritaires pour maintenir son contrôle, tout en s'engageant dans des initiatives d'infrastructure à l'étranger.

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思维导图

视频问答

  • Quand la Chine moderne a-t-elle commencé ?

    La Chine moderne a commencé en 1911 avec l'effondrement de la dynastie Qing.

  • Pourquoi la Chine voudrait-elle envahir Taïwan ?

    Taïwan est considéré comme un territoire chinois et un gouvernement rival démocratique soutenu par les États-Unis.

  • La Chine est-elle vraiment un pays communiste ?

    Bien que la Chine soit dirigée par le Parti communiste, son économie est fortement influencée par des éléments capitalistes.

  • Quel est le rôle de la Chine dans la pandémie de COVID-19 ?

    La Chine a été critiquée pour son manque de transparence concernant l'origine du virus.

  • Comment fonctionne le système de crédit social en Chine ?

    Le système de crédit social évalue les citoyens en fonction de leur comportement et peut entraîner des sanctions.

  • Que sont les villes fantômes en Chine ?

    Des complexes résidentiels et commerciaux construits mais largement inoccupés en raison d'une surconstruction.

  • Quel est l'impact de la politique de l'enfant unique ?

    Elle a conduit à un déséquilibre démographique, avec une population vieillissante et moins de travailleurs.

  • Comment la censure fonctionne-t-elle en Chine ?

    La censure est gérée par un département de propagande et un système de pare-feu pour contrôler l'information.

  • Quel est l'avenir de la Chine après Xi Jinping ?

    L'absence de successeur désigné pourrait entraîner le chaos et des luttes de pouvoir.

  • La Chine soutient-elle le communisme dans le monde ?

    La Chine ne promeut plus le communisme comme l'a fait l'Union soviétique, mais investit dans des infrastructures à l'étranger.

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  • 00:00:00
    If Russian bots exist, do Chinese bots
  • 00:00:02
    also exist? I think first of all, you
  • 00:00:04
    should look down at the comments in this
  • 00:00:05
    video and you'll probably get a taste of
  • 00:00:07
    whether there are any Chinese bots. I'm
  • 00:00:08
    Michael Beckley. I study modern China.
  • 00:00:10
    Let's answer your questions from the
  • 00:00:12
    internet. This is China Support.
  • 00:00:15
    [Music]
  • 00:00:18
    S sheep herder wants to know, "What do
  • 00:00:21
    Westerners get wrong about China?" Well,
  • 00:00:23
    China is really big. There's 19
  • 00:00:24
    countries around China and so that big
  • 00:00:26
    military that China has is spread quite
  • 00:00:29
    thin having to defend all of China's
  • 00:00:31
    borders or the big economy. You have to
  • 00:00:32
    feed one of the largest populations on
  • 00:00:34
    the planet. You have to maintain control
  • 00:00:36
    over those people. That all drains
  • 00:00:37
    resources from the country and means
  • 00:00:39
    just that it's much more complicated to
  • 00:00:41
    analyze China. You have both a lot of
  • 00:00:43
    assets but also a lot of liabilities. At
  • 00:00:45
    Snow Lions wants to know when did modern
  • 00:00:48
    China start? Let's answer that with a
  • 00:00:50
    timeline. Let's start in 1911 with the
  • 00:00:53
    collapse of theQing dynasty. That ends
  • 00:00:55
    thousands of years off and on of
  • 00:00:57
    imperial rule. China then collapses into
  • 00:01:00
    the warlord era, which is every bit as
  • 00:01:02
    bad as it sounds. Then the Japanese in
  • 00:01:04
    the 1930s really step up their
  • 00:01:06
    aggression in China, conquering big
  • 00:01:08
    parts of it and basically starting World
  • 00:01:10
    War II in East Asia. The Japanese are
  • 00:01:12
    defeated in 1945, but at that point, the
  • 00:01:15
    Chinese civil war comes roaring back
  • 00:01:17
    between the communists and the
  • 00:01:18
    nationalists. The communists win that
  • 00:01:20
    civil war in 1949. They found the
  • 00:01:22
    People's Republic of China under Mao
  • 00:01:24
    Dong. China initially sides with the
  • 00:01:26
    Soviet Union in the Cold War, but about
  • 00:01:28
    halfway through they realize that the
  • 00:01:30
    Soviets are actually their main enemy.
  • 00:01:31
    That paves the way for the US President
  • 00:01:33
    Richard Nixon to go to Beijing. And at
  • 00:01:36
    that point, China and the United States
  • 00:01:37
    basically become allies in the rest of
  • 00:01:39
    the Cold War. The Soviet Union collapses
  • 00:01:41
    in 1991, and that sets the stage for the
  • 00:01:44
    US and China to become major trading and
  • 00:01:46
    investment partners. That culminates in
  • 00:01:48
    2001 with China's entry into the World
  • 00:01:51
    Trade Organization. But especially after
  • 00:01:53
    the 2008 financial crisis, you start to
  • 00:01:55
    see the United States and China looking
  • 00:01:57
    at each other more like rivals, feeling
  • 00:01:59
    like their economies are under strain,
  • 00:02:01
    and that the trade relationship is not
  • 00:02:02
    working out as well as they had hoped.
  • 00:02:04
    And that really paves the way for the
  • 00:02:05
    era that we're currently in, which is
  • 00:02:07
    one of tremendous hostility between the
  • 00:02:09
    United States and China. Hecubus asks,
  • 00:02:11
    why would China even want to invade
  • 00:02:14
    Taiwan? So, first of all, Taiwan is the
  • 00:02:17
    seat of a rival Chinese government that
  • 00:02:19
    is democratic, essentially tied
  • 00:02:22
    security-wise to the United States. And
  • 00:02:24
    so, if you're the Chinese Communist
  • 00:02:25
    Party and you insist that this is all
  • 00:02:27
    your territory, you can't have this
  • 00:02:29
    renegade regime going in a different
  • 00:02:31
    direction. Taiwan is where the
  • 00:02:32
    nationalists fled to when they lost the
  • 00:02:34
    Chinese civil war. So, they want to
  • 00:02:36
    finish that job. It's smack dab at the
  • 00:02:38
    epicenter of the East China Sea and the
  • 00:02:40
    South China Sea, where about half of
  • 00:02:42
    world trade flows through. So this is
  • 00:02:44
    probably pound-for-pound the most
  • 00:02:45
    strategic important waterway on the
  • 00:02:47
    planet. And Taiwan itself is you can see
  • 00:02:49
    the center cork of what the Chinese call
  • 00:02:52
    the first island chain in East Asia that
  • 00:02:54
    runs from Korea and the Japanese islands
  • 00:02:57
    down through the Philippines. These are
  • 00:02:59
    all American allies. They host American
  • 00:03:01
    troops. China has no California. It has
  • 00:03:03
    no west coast. Its only coast is
  • 00:03:05
    completely hemmed in by rival powers
  • 00:03:07
    that are allied with the United States.
  • 00:03:09
    Smashing Taiwan and taking it over would
  • 00:03:11
    give China an unsinkable aircraft
  • 00:03:13
    carrier in the most important waterways
  • 00:03:15
    and blast a hole not just geographically
  • 00:03:17
    in the US alliance system in East Asia,
  • 00:03:19
    but really in the credibility of US
  • 00:03:21
    alliances because no one would trust the
  • 00:03:23
    United States if the US just let Taiwan
  • 00:03:24
    go down. Every single Chinese leader has
  • 00:03:27
    said it's only a question of time. We're
  • 00:03:28
    going to take Taiwan one of these days.
  • 00:03:30
    Xiinping has said that it's a situation
  • 00:03:32
    that cannot be passed down generation to
  • 00:03:34
    generation, which some analysts worry
  • 00:03:36
    means he intends to do this on his
  • 00:03:38
    watch. BW asks, "Is there something
  • 00:03:40
    America can learn from China? Is there
  • 00:03:42
    something that they're doing right?
  • 00:03:43
    China is really good at mobilizing
  • 00:03:46
    resources for national missions. For
  • 00:03:49
    example, China has installed more solar
  • 00:03:51
    and wind power than any other country.
  • 00:03:54
    China is the world's largest trade power
  • 00:03:57
    in the world and has forged trade
  • 00:03:58
    relationships with a majority of the
  • 00:04:00
    world's countries. And China has built
  • 00:04:02
    infrastructure faster and on greater
  • 00:04:05
    scale than any country in human history.
  • 00:04:07
    And just the miraculous development of
  • 00:04:09
    bringing hundreds of millions of people
  • 00:04:11
    from living on less than $2 a day to
  • 00:04:14
    average disposable incomes of 5,000 to
  • 00:04:16
    $10,000 a year. That is a tremendous
  • 00:04:19
    almost miraculous undertaking that China
  • 00:04:21
    has been able to pull off. And I think
  • 00:04:23
    that only comes from having a sense of
  • 00:04:25
    national unity and a willingness to pull
  • 00:04:28
    resources for national purposes. The
  • 00:04:30
    United States, it's a dynamic, open,
  • 00:04:33
    decentralized system. But the downside
  • 00:04:35
    is it also generally does not mobilize
  • 00:04:38
    its resources on a national scale and
  • 00:04:40
    unify unless it's really confronted with
  • 00:04:42
    a crisis like a global war or a
  • 00:04:45
    depression. So there are areas of the
  • 00:04:46
    United States that are neglected in
  • 00:04:48
    terms of infrastructure. There are
  • 00:04:49
    neighborhoods that could be built up.
  • 00:04:50
    There are education systems that are
  • 00:04:52
    failing. And so that type of rallying
  • 00:04:54
    resources and coming together is
  • 00:04:55
    something that the US, I think, could
  • 00:04:56
    look to to China. But obviously you
  • 00:04:58
    don't want to go too far because part of
  • 00:05:00
    what allows China to do that is just a
  • 00:05:02
    lack of civil and political rights for
  • 00:05:04
    the Chinese people at great historian
  • 00:05:06
    asks who is winning the current trade
  • 00:05:07
    war between America and China. China is
  • 00:05:11
    very much an investment and exportdriven
  • 00:05:13
    economy. This trade war is really bad
  • 00:05:15
    for a lot of those major export
  • 00:05:17
    industries. There's been lots of
  • 00:05:19
    closures especially in eastern China.
  • 00:05:20
    There's been mass layoffs even just in
  • 00:05:22
    the short time that this trade war has
  • 00:05:24
    been going on. Now, on the American
  • 00:05:25
    side, the consumer market is roughly
  • 00:05:27
    three times the size of China's. So,
  • 00:05:30
    consumers are the ones who are being
  • 00:05:31
    hurt by this trade war because they're
  • 00:05:32
    going to have to pay higher prices for
  • 00:05:34
    goods that were manufactured in China.
  • 00:05:36
    Xiinping cares a lot less about GDP
  • 00:05:38
    growth. He cares about power and about
  • 00:05:41
    developing self-reliant strong
  • 00:05:43
    industries. And if this trade war
  • 00:05:45
    enables China to decouple and reduce its
  • 00:05:47
    dependence on the West, I think he
  • 00:05:49
    counts that as a win, even if it crimps
  • 00:05:51
    economic growth in the short term. And
  • 00:05:53
    for the United States under the Trump
  • 00:05:54
    administration, they similarly want to
  • 00:05:56
    decouple from China because they view it
  • 00:05:59
    as a national security threat. I see
  • 00:06:00
    these two countries as having a distinct
  • 00:06:02
    interest in trying to get away from each
  • 00:06:05
    other economically. These dependencies,
  • 00:06:06
    they both seem to want to push those
  • 00:06:08
    away. Chase the taco. Serious question.
  • 00:06:10
    Is China truly a communist country? I
  • 00:06:13
    know it it seems crazy. You look at the
  • 00:06:15
    Shanghai skyline. You fly in through the
  • 00:06:18
    Beijing airport. That is the gilded
  • 00:06:20
    veneer on the outside that's been built
  • 00:06:22
    up. But if you look at the superructure
  • 00:06:24
    of the economy, what's actually the
  • 00:06:26
    driving force behind it, it's a very
  • 00:06:28
    strong state presence. All of the land
  • 00:06:30
    in the country is owned by the Chinese
  • 00:06:32
    Communist Party. The energy industry,
  • 00:06:34
    the banking sector is stateowned. 90
  • 00:06:37
    plus% of the financial assets flowing
  • 00:06:39
    around the country. So these are all
  • 00:06:40
    what Lenin called the commanding heights
  • 00:06:42
    of the economy. And it can produce
  • 00:06:44
    incredible output. It can produce shiny
  • 00:06:46
    high-speed rail. It can produce gleaming
  • 00:06:48
    skyscrapers. But this is sort of like a
  • 00:06:50
    new modern form of a communist system
  • 00:06:52
    where you still have the party running
  • 00:06:54
    the show economically, insisting on a
  • 00:06:56
    one party state and a dictator ruling
  • 00:06:59
    over it all. Take Jack Ma, the former
  • 00:07:01
    head of Alibaba, as major company in
  • 00:07:03
    China, and he gave a speech a few years
  • 00:07:05
    back criticizing the way that the
  • 00:07:07
    government was running the economy. He
  • 00:07:09
    had his wings totally clipped. He was
  • 00:07:10
    sent out to Tokyo. He had his empire
  • 00:07:12
    completely dismantled and now has
  • 00:07:14
    basically had to come crawling back.
  • 00:07:16
    you've had many other billionaires
  • 00:07:17
    simply just disappear. And so at the end
  • 00:07:18
    of the day, even the high-flying titans
  • 00:07:21
    of China's economy know that their
  • 00:07:23
    livelihoods depend very much on their
  • 00:07:25
    relationship with the Chinese Communist
  • 00:07:27
    Party, which is why you see many of the
  • 00:07:29
    top titans of industry in China in the
  • 00:07:31
    National People's Hall during these
  • 00:07:32
    major conclaves sitting next to Xiinping
  • 00:07:34
    because they effectively part of the
  • 00:07:36
    same party system that he operates.
  • 00:07:38
    Dizzy Major 5 wants to know, "What do
  • 00:07:41
    the Chinese people think of Mao Dong? Is
  • 00:07:43
    he considered good or bad?" The standard
  • 00:07:45
    answer taught in Chinese schools is that
  • 00:07:47
    he was 70% right but 30% wrong. Here's
  • 00:07:50
    Mao as a young revolutionary. He was a
  • 00:07:53
    journalist for a long time. He actually
  • 00:07:54
    wrote a whole pamphlet in 1940 about
  • 00:07:56
    democracy and freedom in China. Of
  • 00:07:59
    course, once he becomes chairman Mao, a
  • 00:08:01
    lot of that stuff goes away. The 70%
  • 00:08:03
    right was he unified the country which
  • 00:08:05
    had been ripped apart by decades of
  • 00:08:07
    civil war. He instituted a mass
  • 00:08:09
    education campaign because he wanted to
  • 00:08:11
    lift China up. So that led to widespread
  • 00:08:13
    literacy. He wanted women to be active
  • 00:08:15
    participants in the labor force. Now in
  • 00:08:17
    terms of the bad, his so-called great
  • 00:08:19
    leap forward, which was this scheme to
  • 00:08:21
    turn China into a superpower in just a
  • 00:08:23
    few years, took millions of peasants off
  • 00:08:25
    of their farms, put them in communes,
  • 00:08:27
    had them melt down their pots and pans.
  • 00:08:29
    As a result, the food supply ran out and
  • 00:08:31
    45 million people starved to death or
  • 00:08:33
    were beaten or shot along the way. And
  • 00:08:35
    then in order to insulate and protect
  • 00:08:37
    himself, he then launched the cultural
  • 00:08:38
    revolution where he basically turned the
  • 00:08:40
    Chinese people on the communist party to
  • 00:08:42
    purge many of his rivals. That probably
  • 00:08:44
    killed another million to two million
  • 00:08:46
    people. So ruthless, brutal, but
  • 00:08:49
    effective in terms of bringing China
  • 00:08:51
    together, which for much of Chinese
  • 00:08:53
    history has not been the case. At Super
  • 00:08:55
    Coach 137 asks, "How did the one child
  • 00:08:57
    policy work out for China? It resulted
  • 00:08:59
    in several hundred million abortions
  • 00:09:02
    when people starting in the late 1970s
  • 00:09:04
    weren't allowed to have more than one
  • 00:09:06
    child. You'd be subject to massive fines
  • 00:09:08
    equivalent in some cases to a year or
  • 00:09:10
    more of your income if you had a second
  • 00:09:13
    child. In the 50s and 60s, China had a
  • 00:09:15
    massive baby boom because Mao Dong
  • 00:09:18
    wanted to turn China into a superpower.
  • 00:09:20
    So he encouraged Chinese families to
  • 00:09:21
    have lots of children. So then when
  • 00:09:23
    China did a 180 and implemented the one
  • 00:09:25
    child policy in the late 1970s, you had
  • 00:09:28
    this baby boom generation coming into
  • 00:09:30
    the prime of their working lives and
  • 00:09:32
    they had relatively few children to take
  • 00:09:34
    care of because they weren't allowed to
  • 00:09:35
    have them. And they had relatively few
  • 00:09:37
    elderly parents to care for because so
  • 00:09:39
    many of them end up dying in the famines
  • 00:09:41
    and the cultural revolution. So in the
  • 00:09:42
    90s and 2000s, you had anywhere between
  • 00:09:45
    10 to 15 working age adults available to
  • 00:09:49
    support every elderly retiree in China's
  • 00:09:52
    population. That's two to three times
  • 00:09:53
    the global average. It's five times what
  • 00:09:55
    the United States currently has. And so
  • 00:09:57
    as a result, China's population was
  • 00:09:59
    primed for economic productivity. And
  • 00:10:01
    demographers think that alone explains
  • 00:10:03
    about 25% of China's rapid economic
  • 00:10:06
    growth over the last 30 to 40 years. The
  • 00:10:08
    problem for China is now the situation
  • 00:10:10
    is flipping where that huge baby boom
  • 00:10:12
    generation are retiring and falling onto
  • 00:10:15
    the backs of this tiny one child
  • 00:10:17
    generation. That 10 to 15 ratio is going
  • 00:10:20
    to collapse to 2:1 in the 2030s. China
  • 00:10:22
    is going to lose somewhere like 70
  • 00:10:24
    million working age adults in the next
  • 00:10:25
    10 years and gain 130 million senior
  • 00:10:28
    citizens. That's going to be
  • 00:10:29
    catastrophic for China's fiscal balance
  • 00:10:32
    for its economic productivity. at right
  • 00:10:34
    side of MB says Siri, what are Chinese
  • 00:10:37
    ghost cities? Ghost cities refer to
  • 00:10:40
    entire apartment complexes, airports,
  • 00:10:42
    shopping malls that are either mostly or
  • 00:10:45
    entirely empty. And it's a result of
  • 00:10:47
    China's economic model, which is very
  • 00:10:49
    much about collecting the resources of
  • 00:10:52
    the Chinese people under the state and
  • 00:10:54
    then plowing them into certain
  • 00:10:56
    industries, including into the real
  • 00:10:57
    estate sector. It works really well for
  • 00:10:59
    an authoritarian government because it's
  • 00:11:01
    easy to pay off cronies who own the
  • 00:11:03
    companies that are doing all of the
  • 00:11:05
    building. The problem is it runs a muck.
  • 00:11:07
    These companies, they're getting paid
  • 00:11:08
    whether the apartments are occupied or
  • 00:11:10
    not. So, they build a bunch of stuff,
  • 00:11:11
    but then people aren't moving into them.
  • 00:11:12
    And now that China's population is
  • 00:11:14
    declining, there is going to be ever
  • 00:11:16
    lowering demand for a lot of this base
  • 00:11:18
    infrastructure. Methmet Toppel wants to
  • 00:11:20
    know, how much power does Xiinping hold
  • 00:11:22
    personally? Is he an absolutist like
  • 00:11:24
    Louis the 14th or like Stalin? I'm going
  • 00:11:27
    to reserve a certain category for divine
  • 00:11:30
    right monarchs like Louis the 14th and
  • 00:11:32
    distinguish that from Xiinping. So
  • 00:11:34
    Xiinping is probably the most powerful
  • 00:11:36
    leader since Mao Dong. He's made himself
  • 00:11:38
    president of everything for life but at
  • 00:11:40
    the end of the day he's one guy and so
  • 00:11:42
    his ability to pay attention to
  • 00:11:44
    everything that's going on in his vast
  • 00:11:47
    sprawling country is inherently limited.
  • 00:11:50
    So the real estate crisis that's going
  • 00:11:52
    on, he's demanded that people be more
  • 00:11:53
    frugal and not speculate on real estate,
  • 00:11:55
    but the market is kind of doing what
  • 00:11:57
    it's going to do. And as a result, you
  • 00:11:58
    still have that ongoing crisis. Zero
  • 00:12:00
    COVID, you know, he locked down Chinese
  • 00:12:02
    people in their apartments for months on
  • 00:12:04
    end. At a certain point, the Chinese
  • 00:12:05
    people had it and you saw protests
  • 00:12:07
    emerging that seemed to have encouraged
  • 00:12:09
    she to back down and undo that policy.
  • 00:12:12
    and he also has to worry about rivals in
  • 00:12:15
    the party, which is why he's embarked on
  • 00:12:17
    this massive anti-corruption campaign,
  • 00:12:19
    purging more than a million senior CCP
  • 00:12:21
    officials along the way. We do know a
  • 00:12:23
    bit about his backstory. His father was
  • 00:12:26
    a high-ranking official serving under
  • 00:12:28
    Mao Zidong. But he was purged and in
  • 00:12:30
    fact she himself and his family were
  • 00:12:32
    purged during the cultural revolution.
  • 00:12:34
    She was sent out to the countryside to
  • 00:12:36
    basically dig a bunch of holes. His
  • 00:12:38
    father was humiliated. She himself was
  • 00:12:40
    denounced by his own mother and his
  • 00:12:41
    halfsister died during the cultural
  • 00:12:44
    revolution. It's all speculation, but
  • 00:12:45
    people think this may have had a big
  • 00:12:47
    effect on him. And that's what he thinks
  • 00:12:48
    of when he thinks of rule by the people,
  • 00:12:50
    which may explain partially why he seems
  • 00:12:53
    so committed to centralizing all power
  • 00:12:56
    under himself and basically installing
  • 00:12:57
    himself to the point that he's literally
  • 00:12:59
    written himself into the constitution
  • 00:13:00
    and obligates other people in China to
  • 00:13:02
    read what he calls Xiinping thought,
  • 00:13:04
    which is his own sort of philosophy
  • 00:13:06
    about how to guide the country. Nick
  • 00:13:08
    Money Penney wants to know what was
  • 00:13:10
    China's ultimate role in the coid9
  • 00:13:12
    pandemic. We don't know for sure because
  • 00:13:15
    China the government has gone to
  • 00:13:17
    extraordinary lengths to cover up how
  • 00:13:19
    COVID emerged and details about the
  • 00:13:22
    virus. We know that in late 2019 they
  • 00:13:25
    basically got rid of a lot of their
  • 00:13:26
    virus samples that were related to
  • 00:13:28
    corona viruses. They floated conspiracy
  • 00:13:30
    theories that the virus actually came to
  • 00:13:32
    China from frozen food that was imported
  • 00:13:35
    from outside of the country. And they
  • 00:13:37
    didn't really allow international
  • 00:13:38
    inspectors until very late. And even
  • 00:13:40
    then, when the WH came to try to figure
  • 00:13:43
    out where the virus came from, it was a
  • 00:13:45
    highly scripted almost sort of like
  • 00:13:46
    North Korean tour around the facilities.
  • 00:13:49
    And as a result, we just don't know
  • 00:13:51
    where it came from. The two major
  • 00:13:52
    theories are that it either emerged from
  • 00:13:54
    this wet market in Wuhan because of the
  • 00:13:57
    animals that were being eaten and
  • 00:13:59
    slaughtered there. The other major
  • 00:14:00
    theories that emerge from the Wuhan
  • 00:14:02
    Institute of Urology, which is China's
  • 00:14:04
    premier place for studying corona
  • 00:14:06
    viruses, and we know the virus itself
  • 00:14:08
    has certain features that you really
  • 00:14:10
    only see if it's been modified in a lab
  • 00:14:13
    rather than naturally. The bottom line
  • 00:14:14
    is we don't know, but there's a lot of
  • 00:14:15
    circumstantial evidence that it was done
  • 00:14:17
    in this lab, which is a center of not
  • 00:14:20
    just Chinese research, but of a
  • 00:14:21
    multinational research attempt to
  • 00:14:23
    analyze corona viruses. at Jerry Dunlevy
  • 00:14:26
    asks, "Whatever happened to Tankman and
  • 00:14:28
    how many people did the Chinese
  • 00:14:29
    Communist Party murder at Tiennaman
  • 00:14:31
    Square?" So, what Jerry is referring to
  • 00:14:33
    is that famous image of a man standing
  • 00:14:36
    in front of several tanks that are
  • 00:14:38
    rolling into Tianaan Square to run over
  • 00:14:40
    demonstrators, mainly students that were
  • 00:14:42
    protesting there in 1989. We have no
  • 00:14:45
    idea what happened to Tankman. He's
  • 00:14:46
    never been heard of since. It wasn't
  • 00:14:48
    just a crackdown in Beijing and Teneaman
  • 00:14:50
    Square. There were massive protests in
  • 00:14:52
    basically every provincial capital
  • 00:14:53
    around China. More than 80 cities had
  • 00:14:55
    mass demonstrations that were then
  • 00:14:57
    forcibly put down. According to the
  • 00:14:59
    party, roughly 200 to 300 people were
  • 00:15:01
    killed, but most western estimates
  • 00:15:03
    suggest it was 10 times that amount. The
  • 00:15:05
    way that the Tianaan Square protests are
  • 00:15:07
    often portrayed is as a pro-democracy
  • 00:15:09
    demonstration by the Chinese people. And
  • 00:15:12
    certainly there were elements of that. A
  • 00:15:13
    lot of the students in Tiennaman Square
  • 00:15:14
    were calling for more democratic
  • 00:15:16
    governance. They built a giant replica
  • 00:15:18
    of the Statue of Liberty in the middle
  • 00:15:20
    of Tiennaman Square. But really the
  • 00:15:22
    crisis starts and the reason why it
  • 00:15:23
    spreads across the country was economic.
  • 00:15:25
    There was massive inflation. This led to
  • 00:15:28
    massive demonstrations. A lot of people
  • 00:15:29
    weren't being paid for jobs that they
  • 00:15:31
    were employed to do by the state. And
  • 00:15:32
    also keep in mind that communist regimes
  • 00:15:34
    were starting to crumble especially
  • 00:15:36
    across Eastern Europe. So the tail end
  • 00:15:38
    of the cold war and this belief that the
  • 00:15:40
    legitimacy the functioning of a
  • 00:15:42
    communist system is under question and
  • 00:15:44
    led to mass demonstrations and even a
  • 00:15:46
    split among the elites in the Chinese
  • 00:15:48
    Communist Party. Since then, now the
  • 00:15:50
    Communist Party is very much we have to
  • 00:15:52
    stay together. We either stay together
  • 00:15:53
    or we hang separately. I think that
  • 00:15:55
    informs a lot of the emphasis on
  • 00:15:57
    repression put on in China today. Milton
  • 00:15:59
    Merlo XD wants to know how does
  • 00:16:01
    censorship work in China. So, there's an
  • 00:16:04
    actual propaganda department. That's
  • 00:16:06
    what it's called in China. They set
  • 00:16:08
    guidelines about what is allowed to be
  • 00:16:10
    said and what is not allowed to be said.
  • 00:16:11
    It's all pretty predictable. you know,
  • 00:16:13
    criticizing the Chinese Communist Party,
  • 00:16:15
    promoting democracy. Western liberal
  • 00:16:18
    methods are all kind of looked down upon
  • 00:16:20
    and and squaltched. What the regime then
  • 00:16:22
    does is they have this vast great
  • 00:16:24
    firewall to control the internet where
  • 00:16:26
    they use a combination of artificial
  • 00:16:27
    intelligence and then hundreds of
  • 00:16:29
    thousands of people that are actually
  • 00:16:31
    working to monitor China's internet,
  • 00:16:33
    which is partially sealed off. What the
  • 00:16:35
    sensors really go after is not so much
  • 00:16:38
    people going off and mouththing
  • 00:16:39
    criticism about the leader, but much
  • 00:16:41
    more about trying to organize
  • 00:16:43
    politically, whether it's a house church
  • 00:16:45
    or student group or anything where you
  • 00:16:46
    get people together who can then talk
  • 00:16:49
    and then rally and potentially grow
  • 00:16:51
    their numbers. That looks too much like
  • 00:16:53
    the start of an alternative political
  • 00:16:55
    party. And the Chinese Communist Party
  • 00:16:56
    says, "No, we have a monopoly on power.
  • 00:16:58
    We're the only political party that's
  • 00:17:00
    allowed to be had in this system." And
  • 00:17:02
    that seems to be what the censorship
  • 00:17:03
    regime is primarily dedicated to
  • 00:17:05
    squaltching out. Mbaitment says, "Wait,
  • 00:17:08
    China's domestic surveillance system is
  • 00:17:10
    actually called Skynet." I know it's
  • 00:17:12
    kind of on the nose. It is called
  • 00:17:13
    Skynet. The idea is that there's
  • 00:17:15
    hundreds of millions of surveillance
  • 00:17:16
    cameras that have been set up around the
  • 00:17:18
    country as if it's a net coming from the
  • 00:17:20
    sky. China has pioneered methods to take
  • 00:17:23
    all of the images that are being
  • 00:17:25
    absorbed by these cameras and then use
  • 00:17:27
    artificial intelligence and speech and
  • 00:17:29
    facial recognition technology. Even gate
  • 00:17:32
    recognition so how you walk can be
  • 00:17:34
    identified and at this point they are
  • 00:17:35
    starting to export elements of this
  • 00:17:37
    system to more than 80 countries. Cuba,
  • 00:17:40
    Pakistan, Cambodia have all imported
  • 00:17:42
    aspects of this system. And so some
  • 00:17:44
    scholars think this is the emergence of
  • 00:17:46
    a new type of authoritarian system that
  • 00:17:48
    seems to have a lot of advantages in
  • 00:17:50
    terms of population control. At SpencoC
  • 00:17:53
    asks, "How does China's social credit
  • 00:17:55
    system work?" So in addition to video
  • 00:17:57
    cameras and speech and facial
  • 00:17:59
    recognition technology, the Communist
  • 00:18:00
    Party has access to your financial
  • 00:18:02
    statements, to your police record, your
  • 00:18:05
    education, any kind of disciplinary
  • 00:18:07
    action. And so what they've done is
  • 00:18:09
    basically created a doseier on every
  • 00:18:10
    single citizen. And so what they can
  • 00:18:12
    then do is instantly punish Chinese
  • 00:18:15
    citizens by saying, "Oh, you you
  • 00:18:16
    jaywalked. That's a point and so now
  • 00:18:18
    you're going to have to pay more if you
  • 00:18:19
    want a loan or you may not be able to
  • 00:18:21
    travel as freely or it may take longer
  • 00:18:22
    to get your passport when you go to a
  • 00:18:24
    government office." There essentially is
  • 00:18:26
    like a score and sometimes they will
  • 00:18:28
    actually post names of people who have
  • 00:18:30
    been blacklisted because they've
  • 00:18:32
    committed certain crimes or they've been
  • 00:18:33
    infraction of certain regulations
  • 00:18:35
    encouraging people to report on each
  • 00:18:37
    other. It's all over again. wants to
  • 00:18:39
    know, why is China so godlike in the
  • 00:18:42
    world of manufacturing? Well, it's so
  • 00:18:43
    godlike because it's designed to be
  • 00:18:45
    godlike. You have an authoritarian
  • 00:18:47
    system that essentially obligates the
  • 00:18:49
    Chinese people to put their life savings
  • 00:18:51
    in a stateowned bank. That means the
  • 00:18:53
    government has tons of money, a war
  • 00:18:55
    chest that they can then deploy at what
  • 00:18:57
    they call strategic industries. So,
  • 00:18:59
    they've spent hundreds of billions of
  • 00:19:00
    dollars every single year for more than
  • 00:19:02
    a decade. That's 10 times what other
  • 00:19:05
    rich countries in the OECD or the United
  • 00:19:07
    States spend as a share of their GDPs.
  • 00:19:10
    So in for example the electric vehicle
  • 00:19:11
    sector, China has spent about $230
  • 00:19:13
    billion. Semiconductors, biotechnology,
  • 00:19:16
    all of these key strategic industries.
  • 00:19:18
    And at the same time, many foreign
  • 00:19:20
    companies have sent over lots of
  • 00:19:21
    investment and training. So Apple, for
  • 00:19:23
    example, has spent about $275 billion in
  • 00:19:27
    investment in China. That's more than
  • 00:19:28
    the Marshall Plan that the United States
  • 00:19:30
    used to help Europe recover from World
  • 00:19:32
    War II. Apple also trained millions of
  • 00:19:35
    Chinese workers, 28 million, which is
  • 00:19:37
    more than the labor force of California.
  • 00:19:39
    And also, a lot of this is determined by
  • 00:19:40
    their geography. China has a long
  • 00:19:43
    coastline right in the heart of East
  • 00:19:45
    Asia, which is the most economically
  • 00:19:47
    dynamic region in the world. So many of
  • 00:19:49
    the world's supply chains flow through
  • 00:19:51
    these waters. In the 1970s and early
  • 00:19:53
    1980s, you had China setting up what
  • 00:19:54
    they called special economic zones,
  • 00:19:56
    especially in the southeast. in places
  • 00:19:58
    like Shenzhen as well as in Fujian
  • 00:20:00
    province in some industries whether it's
  • 00:20:02
    electric vehicles or in rare earths
  • 00:20:05
    China currently produces anywhere
  • 00:20:07
    between 60 to 90% of the global market
  • 00:20:10
    and now China has ports lining up and
  • 00:20:12
    down its coastline that serve as export
  • 00:20:14
    platforms essentially for the rest of
  • 00:20:16
    the world. In addition, China has
  • 00:20:17
    extremely low labor costs because
  • 00:20:19
    several hundred million people from the
  • 00:20:21
    poor provinces in the west. They move to
  • 00:20:24
    the richer east coast provinces to work
  • 00:20:26
    in factories for very low wages. But
  • 00:20:29
    that provides essentially a bottomless
  • 00:20:30
    source of cheap but effective labor for
  • 00:20:33
    China's manufacturing juggernaut. Roxy
  • 00:20:35
    USA asks, "What percentage of
  • 00:20:36
    pharmaceuticals does the US import in
  • 00:20:38
    from China?" In terms of antibiotics,
  • 00:20:41
    basic antibiotics, it's upwards of 90%
  • 00:20:44
    that include at least some ingredients
  • 00:20:46
    that are made in China. And so this has
  • 00:20:48
    become another national security threat
  • 00:20:50
    where the United States worries that
  • 00:20:51
    China could potentially cut the United
  • 00:20:53
    States off from basic pharmaceuticals if
  • 00:20:56
    there's some kind of crisis over Taiwan.
  • 00:20:58
    Whether China would actually do that
  • 00:20:59
    remains to be seen. At toxic cowboy 1
  • 00:21:01
    asks, "Are we headed to war with China?"
  • 00:21:04
    It's not completely out of the question.
  • 00:21:06
    In addition to the conflict over Taiwan,
  • 00:21:09
    there's also the risk of a war around
  • 00:21:11
    the Philippines. That conflict really
  • 00:21:13
    stems over who controls the South China
  • 00:21:15
    Sea, where a lot of trade passes
  • 00:21:17
    through, where most of China's oil
  • 00:21:18
    imports pass through. Under
  • 00:21:20
    international law, the Philippines gets
  • 00:21:23
    12 miles out from their coastline, that
  • 00:21:25
    is their territory, and then another 200
  • 00:21:27
    miles out from their coastline. That is
  • 00:21:29
    their exclusive economic zone. China
  • 00:21:32
    says, "No, that is all that's just all
  • 00:21:33
    Chinese territory." And they've been
  • 00:21:35
    building artificial islands there.
  • 00:21:36
    They've been turning them into military
  • 00:21:38
    bases. And they formed what they call a
  • 00:21:39
    maritime militia. So thousands of
  • 00:21:41
    fishing boats, coast guard vessels, and
  • 00:21:43
    naval ships that are basically shoving
  • 00:21:45
    other countries out of their exclusive
  • 00:21:47
    economic zone and confining them to
  • 00:21:49
    narrow bands along their own coastlines.
  • 00:21:52
    The Philippines took China to court in
  • 00:21:55
    2016, the World Court, which ruled that
  • 00:21:57
    China's historical claims to the South
  • 00:21:59
    China Sea are null and void. And in
  • 00:22:01
    recent years, China's really been
  • 00:22:03
    turning the screw on the Philippines.
  • 00:22:04
    One, I think to invalidate that ruling
  • 00:22:06
    and shatter its credibility, but second,
  • 00:22:08
    because the Philippines has started
  • 00:22:09
    opening up new military bases for the
  • 00:22:11
    United States, cuz they say, "We need
  • 00:22:12
    some protection from China so that we
  • 00:22:14
    can have access to our territorial
  • 00:22:16
    waters in our exclusive economic zone."
  • 00:22:18
    The Chinese have a saying, you should
  • 00:22:19
    kill a chicken to scare the monkeys,
  • 00:22:21
    meaning you should make a bloody example
  • 00:22:23
    out of a relatively weak adversary to
  • 00:22:25
    send a message to the more powerful
  • 00:22:26
    ones. The Philippines have very little
  • 00:22:28
    offensive air or naval capability. So
  • 00:22:30
    you just have to worry that Chinese
  • 00:22:32
    would look at them as a very juicy
  • 00:22:34
    target. Weak but symbolically important.
  • 00:22:37
    Adam Czech asks, "Is Tik Tok just a
  • 00:22:39
    China app to make Americans do dumb
  • 00:22:41
    stuff to get likes and views and keep us
  • 00:22:44
    distracted while they take over?" The
  • 00:22:45
    Chinese version of Tik Tok, you're only
  • 00:22:47
    allowed to use it for 15 minutes to an
  • 00:22:49
    hour or so, depending on your age and
  • 00:22:51
    status. And they also try to insert
  • 00:22:54
    educational, wholesome content in
  • 00:22:56
    addition to all the fun cat videos and
  • 00:22:58
    everything else that people are
  • 00:22:59
    watching. So I think the Chinese know
  • 00:23:01
    that this system is maybe not the best
  • 00:23:03
    thing that kids should be spending all
  • 00:23:04
    day on. Tik Tok is owned by Bite Dance,
  • 00:23:06
    a Chinese company. Under Chinese law,
  • 00:23:09
    Bite Dance is required to hand over data
  • 00:23:11
    to Beijing whenever and in however much
  • 00:23:14
    it wants it. It's like putting a Chinese
  • 00:23:16
    spy balloon in your cell phone with your
  • 00:23:18
    biometric data, everything you've liked
  • 00:23:20
    and disliked. There's been studies done
  • 00:23:22
    suggesting that the algorithm in Tik Tok
  • 00:23:24
    in the American version was promoting
  • 00:23:26
    certain views like after the October 7th
  • 00:23:29
    massacre in Israel, more pro- Hamas
  • 00:23:32
    views were being amplified or
  • 00:23:33
    pro-Russian views on the the Ukraine
  • 00:23:36
    conflict at NK1847
  • 00:23:39
    asks, "If Russian bots exist, do Chinese
  • 00:23:42
    bots also exist?" I think first of all,
  • 00:23:44
    you should look down at the comments in
  • 00:23:45
    this video and you'll probably get a
  • 00:23:47
    taste of whether there are any Chinese
  • 00:23:48
    bots. China. It's been well documented.
  • 00:23:50
    It uses both bots as well as what is
  • 00:23:53
    called a 50 cent army. Basically, it's a
  • 00:23:55
    bunch of mainly kids and and young
  • 00:23:57
    adults who are paid 50 Chinese cents per
  • 00:24:00
    internet post that they make to destroy,
  • 00:24:03
    undermine the credibility of messages
  • 00:24:05
    that maybe cut against the Chinese
  • 00:24:06
    Communist Party. It's reported there's
  • 00:24:08
    probably several hundred,000 people that
  • 00:24:10
    are essentially employed as internet
  • 00:24:11
    trolls by the Chinese Communist Party in
  • 00:24:13
    addition to obviously using artificial
  • 00:24:15
    intelligence and bots. at Psalm69 asks
  • 00:24:18
    why would China want to bet? I think it
  • 00:24:21
    becomes very clear when you look at a
  • 00:24:23
    map of China. You can see that most of
  • 00:24:25
    it is the highest mountains in the
  • 00:24:27
    world, the Himalayas, and a lot of it is
  • 00:24:29
    also desert. And so most of China's
  • 00:24:31
    population is packed in here and they're
  • 00:24:33
    desperate for water as well as strategic
  • 00:24:35
    space to defend themselves against
  • 00:24:37
    enemies. And so Tibet, which is in this
  • 00:24:39
    area here, is highly strategic. For one,
  • 00:24:41
    a lot of the glaciers up in the
  • 00:24:43
    Himalayas are where the major rivers of
  • 00:24:45
    Asia start. both flowing down into China
  • 00:24:48
    as well as flowing down into Southeast
  • 00:24:50
    Asia and into India. So if China can
  • 00:24:52
    control that territory, it controls the
  • 00:24:54
    source of vital water supplies. At the
  • 00:24:56
    same time, China and India, which is now
  • 00:24:58
    the most populous country on the planet,
  • 00:25:00
    have a long-standing rivalry, and Tibet
  • 00:25:03
    is the high ground, literally looking
  • 00:25:05
    down onto India. In addition, the
  • 00:25:07
    Chinese Communist Party essentially
  • 00:25:08
    inherited the borders of the
  • 00:25:10
    previousQing dynasty empire, which
  • 00:25:13
    included Tibet, led by the Dalai Lama.
  • 00:25:15
    And so when China took over Tibet and
  • 00:25:17
    conquered it in 1951, the Dalai Lama
  • 00:25:19
    fled to India and has been running a
  • 00:25:22
    government in exile in India ever since.
  • 00:25:24
    This next question is from Tapestry
  • 00:25:26
    Girl. Mom says China could take over the
  • 00:25:28
    United States because they own our debt.
  • 00:25:31
    China does own some US debt. It's in the
  • 00:25:34
    3 to 4% range. It topped out at about 7%
  • 00:25:37
    about a decade ago, generally in the
  • 00:25:39
    form of Treasury bills. And a lot of
  • 00:25:40
    this emerges just from the economic
  • 00:25:42
    relationship between the United States
  • 00:25:44
    and China where China is exporting a lot
  • 00:25:46
    of goods to the United States and the
  • 00:25:48
    United States will often pay for that
  • 00:25:49
    essentially with a piece of paper that
  • 00:25:50
    says I owe you in the form of a Treasury
  • 00:25:52
    bill. Analysts have looked at whether
  • 00:25:54
    they could use this as a course of
  • 00:25:55
    weapon and basically concluded they'd be
  • 00:25:57
    shooting themselves in the foot. The
  • 00:25:58
    value of that asset would suddenly
  • 00:26:00
    plummet. Japan owns more US debt than
  • 00:26:02
    China does. So I don't think that this
  • 00:26:03
    is a unique China thing or that they
  • 00:26:05
    could use it as some type of weapon to
  • 00:26:07
    coersse the United States. Let's take a
  • 00:26:09
    question from Kora. Is modern China more
  • 00:26:11
    influenced by Confucianism or Marxism? I
  • 00:26:14
    would say both because they lead in
  • 00:26:15
    similar directions. Marxism, Leninism,
  • 00:26:18
    stresses the idea of public or communal
  • 00:26:20
    ownership of the means of production to
  • 00:26:23
    produce wealth that is owned by the
  • 00:26:24
    state in China. It's led by what Lenin
  • 00:26:27
    would call the vanguard party staffed by
  • 00:26:29
    a top leader that is making decisions on
  • 00:26:31
    behalf of the people. And that's
  • 00:26:33
    consistent with certain elements of
  • 00:26:34
    Confucianism. Confucianism obviously has
  • 00:26:36
    a long lineage, thousands of years in
  • 00:26:38
    China. Confucious, a philosopher who
  • 00:26:41
    emphasized a natural harmony, people
  • 00:26:43
    knowing their place in society, that
  • 00:26:45
    everyone has a certain role to perform
  • 00:26:47
    in that society, and that you have to
  • 00:26:49
    have a benevolent leader that leads on
  • 00:26:51
    behalf of the people. That obviously
  • 00:26:54
    appeals very much to Chinese dynasties
  • 00:26:57
    over the millennia. You have Xiinping
  • 00:26:59
    today grafting that on to a Marxist
  • 00:27:01
    Leninist structure of the party. atgus
  • 00:27:04
    802 asks, "What happened with the
  • 00:27:05
    Chinese spy balloon hysteria?" In
  • 00:27:07
    January 2023, the United States detected
  • 00:27:10
    a balloon floating over areas, including
  • 00:27:14
    a nuclear missile silo in Montana. What
  • 00:27:17
    it was carrying was all this advanced
  • 00:27:19
    surveillance equipment that was about
  • 00:27:20
    the size of a regional jet airliner. So,
  • 00:27:23
    we're talking about a major piece of
  • 00:27:24
    hardware floating around. China's done
  • 00:27:26
    this in more than 40 countries in Japan,
  • 00:27:29
    over Taiwan. They've been floating
  • 00:27:30
    balloons even over potentially over
  • 00:27:31
    American bases in Europe. And there's a
  • 00:27:34
    fear that China is testing out this
  • 00:27:36
    alternative surveillance system because
  • 00:27:38
    balloons emit almost no radar signature.
  • 00:27:41
    They're really hard to detect. They
  • 00:27:43
    hover around 60,000 ft, which is higher
  • 00:27:45
    than a commercial airliner, but below
  • 00:27:48
    satellites in this area where people
  • 00:27:49
    really aren't looking. It gives China
  • 00:27:51
    eyes and ears over sensitive US sites
  • 00:27:54
    that otherwise they they wouldn't have.
  • 00:27:56
    The US sent a fighter jet up eventually
  • 00:27:58
    to shoot it down. And then the US
  • 00:27:59
    grabbed all of the technology that was
  • 00:28:01
    there and observed the balloon's flight.
  • 00:28:03
    That might have actually helped US
  • 00:28:05
    intelligence more than Chinese
  • 00:28:06
    intelligence. At all four stops asks,
  • 00:28:09
    "Who is winning the tech war between
  • 00:28:11
    China and the United States?" I think
  • 00:28:14
    they are each dominating different types
  • 00:28:17
    of technologies. The United States is
  • 00:28:19
    still doing quite well in high value
  • 00:28:21
    areas. So advanced computer chips,
  • 00:28:24
    aerospace, the complicated jet engines
  • 00:28:26
    that you need to fly a jumbo jet or a
  • 00:28:28
    fighter. China on the other hand
  • 00:28:30
    dominates scale. Taking existing
  • 00:28:32
    technologies from other countries and
  • 00:28:34
    then mass- prodducing highly effective,
  • 00:28:36
    costefficient electric vehicles,
  • 00:28:38
    run-of-the-mill computer chips, rare
  • 00:28:39
    earths, pharmaceuticals, medical PPE.
  • 00:28:42
    There's so many areas where China can
  • 00:28:43
    just flood the market with sheer scale.
  • 00:28:45
    Both of those types of technologies are
  • 00:28:47
    really important for a modern economy.
  • 00:28:49
    They're also very important for military
  • 00:28:50
    power. So each in their own way is sort
  • 00:28:53
    of winning in some ways but also has
  • 00:28:54
    major vulnerabilities. Joe Bart 85120716
  • 00:28:59
    asks, "Does China own American
  • 00:29:01
    farmland?" Yes, China does own American
  • 00:29:03
    farmland. It's like 0.05%
  • 00:29:05
    of American farmland, but some of this
  • 00:29:07
    farmland is near American military
  • 00:29:09
    bases, especially air force bases,
  • 00:29:12
    including some of those where American
  • 00:29:14
    strategic forces, nuclear forces, could
  • 00:29:16
    be taking off. And so there was a fear
  • 00:29:18
    that if China has this land, they can
  • 00:29:20
    put things on it, explosives, missiles
  • 00:29:22
    that could potentially attack American
  • 00:29:24
    bases if there is some kind of major war
  • 00:29:26
    and destroy US aircraft on the ground
  • 00:29:28
    before they even get up into the air. We
  • 00:29:30
    don't know the details on that. You'd
  • 00:29:31
    have to get classified information, but
  • 00:29:32
    the amount of farmland is small. The
  • 00:29:34
    location is a bit scary and
  • 00:29:36
    questionable. Kikba asks, "Can someone
  • 00:29:39
    explain Hong Kong to me?" So Hong Kong
  • 00:29:41
    was a British colony after the first
  • 00:29:43
    opium war in 1839 all the way up until
  • 00:29:47
    1997 where Britain agreed to hand back
  • 00:29:50
    Hong Kong to China and in exchange China
  • 00:29:53
    pledged to grant Hong Kong a quote high
  • 00:29:57
    degree of autonomy because within Hong
  • 00:29:59
    Kong there was a different rule of law.
  • 00:30:02
    There was an independent judiciary. So
  • 00:30:04
    you saw massive protests there over the
  • 00:30:06
    last five or 6 years when China was
  • 00:30:08
    basically trying to erode a lot of those
  • 00:30:10
    freedoms, crack down on the press, crack
  • 00:30:12
    down on the free flow of investment and
  • 00:30:14
    also on the way that the Hong Kong
  • 00:30:16
    government is selected. The Chinese
  • 00:30:17
    government passed national security laws
  • 00:30:19
    that made it possible for them to remove
  • 00:30:21
    protesters, take them to mainland China.
  • 00:30:23
    So at this point, it seems like Hong
  • 00:30:25
    Kong has basically become another large
  • 00:30:27
    cosmopolitan but ultimately Chinese city
  • 00:30:30
    run by the Chinese Communist Party. Iron
  • 00:30:32
    Lover 64 asks, "How does the quality of
  • 00:30:34
    life for the lowass in China compare to
  • 00:30:36
    that of the United States, let's say in
  • 00:30:38
    a red state?" So why don't we compare
  • 00:30:40
    the poorest of the poor in China to say
  • 00:30:43
    average wages in Mississippi, which is
  • 00:30:45
    the poorest state. For China, roughly
  • 00:30:47
    half the country is living on something
  • 00:30:48
    like 5 to$10 a day. In Mississippi,
  • 00:30:51
    that's going to be three to four times
  • 00:30:52
    that amount. There's a lot more obesity
  • 00:30:55
    in a place like Mississippi than there
  • 00:30:57
    is in China. On the other hand, in rural
  • 00:30:59
    China, you have a severe problem of
  • 00:31:01
    malnourishment and rudimentary health
  • 00:31:03
    care. Researchers at Stanford went out
  • 00:31:05
    and they found that roughly a third of
  • 00:31:07
    rural children, their IQs are around 90,
  • 00:31:10
    which is really low because of
  • 00:31:11
    malnutrition from a young age, a lack of
  • 00:31:14
    education. The average education level
  • 00:31:16
    is about an eighth grade or seventh
  • 00:31:18
    grade level in rural China because high
  • 00:31:20
    school costs money and so a lot of
  • 00:31:22
    Chinese families, their kids will just
  • 00:31:23
    drop out of school. And the other issue
  • 00:31:25
    is that your citizenship in China is
  • 00:31:27
    tied to your locality. And so if mom and
  • 00:31:29
    dad go to an eastern rich coastal
  • 00:31:31
    province to work in a factory, they
  • 00:31:33
    can't bring their kids with them because
  • 00:31:34
    they won't be allowed to go to school.
  • 00:31:36
    So they're just sending money back and
  • 00:31:37
    maybe only seeing their kids a few times
  • 00:31:39
    or maybe only once a year. So just in
  • 00:31:41
    terms of the basic health care and
  • 00:31:43
    education level and then just in terms
  • 00:31:45
    of the amount of wealth that someone in
  • 00:31:46
    Mississippi might have versus someone in
  • 00:31:48
    poor rural China, it's a very stark
  • 00:31:50
    difference. at Captain Trips 333 asks,
  • 00:31:53
    "What's going on with the Weaguer Muslim
  • 00:31:55
    population in China?" So, there's about
  • 00:31:57
    10 to 12 million Weaguer Muslims. They
  • 00:31:59
    live mainly in a province called Sing
  • 00:32:01
    Jang, which is in the western part of
  • 00:32:03
    China. Basically, since 2017, China set
  • 00:32:06
    up what they call re-education centers
  • 00:32:08
    or vocational education centers, what
  • 00:32:11
    people in the West have called
  • 00:32:12
    concentration camps and what the US
  • 00:32:14
    government deems an attempt at genocide,
  • 00:32:16
    and basically put in million to a
  • 00:32:18
    million and a half weaguer Muslims. So a
  • 00:32:20
    substantial part of the population in
  • 00:32:22
    these centers, we've heard from people
  • 00:32:24
    that have come out of them that there's
  • 00:32:25
    a lot of indoctrination that they were
  • 00:32:27
    enforced to renounce their heritage and
  • 00:32:30
    to learn Mandarin and basically to
  • 00:32:32
    assimilate with Chinese society. A big
  • 00:32:34
    part of what the Chinese Communist Party
  • 00:32:36
    is about is making sure a Soviet style
  • 00:32:38
    collapse never occurs in China. And one
  • 00:32:42
    of their theories about why the Soviet
  • 00:32:44
    Union broke apart was that the Soviet
  • 00:32:45
    Union was like one of those Hershey
  • 00:32:47
    chocolate bars that's divided into
  • 00:32:48
    little squares that you can break apart.
  • 00:32:50
    It was these just disperate republics
  • 00:32:52
    that all went their own way when they
  • 00:32:54
    suddenly could. So there was a fear that
  • 00:32:55
    a minority region like Sing Jang where
  • 00:32:57
    these weaguers were living was going to
  • 00:32:59
    try to separate from the mainland or was
  • 00:33:01
    going to become a base of terrorism
  • 00:33:03
    directed at China. So unfortunately the
  • 00:33:04
    weaguer Muslims are experiencing severe
  • 00:33:06
    repression right now under the Chinese
  • 00:33:08
    Communist Party. Lo Farrahale asks,
  • 00:33:11
    "Does China support or promote communism
  • 00:33:13
    around the world?" I don't think China
  • 00:33:15
    is promoting communism anymore the way
  • 00:33:17
    that the Soviet Union used to bankroll
  • 00:33:20
    revolutionary movements. They have
  • 00:33:22
    engaged in this belt and road initiative
  • 00:33:24
    where they've loaned out more than a
  • 00:33:26
    trillion dollars to more than a hundred
  • 00:33:28
    different countries mainly so that those
  • 00:33:30
    countries can employ Chinese companies
  • 00:33:33
    to build infrastructure on their
  • 00:33:34
    territory. So whether that's building
  • 00:33:36
    ports or roads or soccer stadiums or
  • 00:33:39
    what the Chinese call smart city
  • 00:33:42
    systems, there's a port in Greece for
  • 00:33:43
    example that is highly profitable. It's
  • 00:33:45
    a important valuable piece of
  • 00:33:47
    infrastructure that China helped fund
  • 00:33:49
    and build. One out of every three
  • 00:33:51
    infrastructure projects in subsaharan
  • 00:33:53
    Africa over the last 20 years has been
  • 00:33:55
    built partially or by entirely by
  • 00:33:57
    Chinese companies. So you see a massive
  • 00:33:59
    spread of infrastructure and part of the
  • 00:34:01
    reason really stems from the 2008
  • 00:34:03
    financial crisis and the resulting trade
  • 00:34:05
    protectionism that was emerging,
  • 00:34:06
    backlash against Chinese products. The
  • 00:34:08
    Chinese decided we need to open up new
  • 00:34:11
    markets. We can also get these countries
  • 00:34:13
    more hooked on our ecosystem of
  • 00:34:16
    technology standards, 5G networks, smart
  • 00:34:19
    city systems, and that way we'll have
  • 00:34:20
    dominant market share in a lot of these
  • 00:34:22
    areas that are going to be really the
  • 00:34:24
    growth of demand in terms of consumption
  • 00:34:26
    going forward. They also bring that
  • 00:34:28
    surveillance system that allows wouldbe
  • 00:34:30
    dictators to keep easier tabs on their
  • 00:34:32
    populations. At Ostanati asks, "What
  • 00:34:34
    happens when she dies? Who's next in
  • 00:34:36
    line? And will they be good for China?"
  • 00:34:39
    I think chaos could potentially ensue
  • 00:34:41
    because he has not designated a
  • 00:34:44
    successor. He's written himself into the
  • 00:34:46
    constitution. He's basically treated
  • 00:34:48
    like a demigod in terms of Chinese
  • 00:34:50
    propaganda. And if you look at the
  • 00:34:51
    history of the Chinese Communist Party,
  • 00:34:53
    there has only been one completely
  • 00:34:55
    orderly and peaceful transition of power
  • 00:34:58
    and that's when she himself came to
  • 00:35:00
    power. All of the previous leaders, it
  • 00:35:02
    was a vicious power struggle and there
  • 00:35:04
    was split authority. So for example,
  • 00:35:06
    Dang Xiaoing is purged and then
  • 00:35:08
    eventually comes back to power and has
  • 00:35:10
    to put down his enemies and imprison
  • 00:35:11
    them in order to take the helm. Then
  • 00:35:14
    Jang Zamin comes to power after the
  • 00:35:15
    Tiennian Square massacre in 1989
  • 00:35:18
    basically because the party realizes it
  • 00:35:19
    needs to unify behind a candidate or
  • 00:35:21
    they're just going to disintegrate. Then
  • 00:35:23
    when Huan Tao comes to power, Jang Zamin
  • 00:35:26
    is not willing to give up a lot of his
  • 00:35:28
    power and he keeps himself as
  • 00:35:30
    commanderin-chief even after Huan Tao
  • 00:35:32
    becomes president and general secretary
  • 00:35:34
    of the country. It' be like as if Joe
  • 00:35:36
    Biden was still head of the Pentagon and
  • 00:35:38
    the military and commander-in-chief even
  • 00:35:40
    though Donald Trump is now president
  • 00:35:41
    here in the United States. In other
  • 00:35:43
    words, in Chinese politics, it's very
  • 00:35:45
    rough and tumble. Even though it happens
  • 00:35:47
    behind closed doors, chaos is entirely
  • 00:35:49
    possible. And if you just look at the
  • 00:35:50
    broad sweep of Chinese history, vicious
  • 00:35:52
    power struggles tend to ensue. Some
  • 00:35:54
    people hope that you'll get a Chinese
  • 00:35:56
    male Gorbachoff, you know, the Soviet
  • 00:35:58
    leader who made nice with the West and
  • 00:36:00
    liberalized a bit at home. I think you
  • 00:36:02
    might actually get a Chinese Vladimir
  • 00:36:03
    Putin. It seems like the one thing that
  • 00:36:05
    everyone in the Chinese Communist Party
  • 00:36:07
    can agree on is that the Chinese
  • 00:36:08
    Communist Party should continue to rule
  • 00:36:10
    China in perpetuity. So those are all
  • 00:36:12
    the questions for today. Thanks for
  • 00:36:13
    watching China support.
  • 00:36:15
    [Music]
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