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Speaker 1

00:00

-♪ ♪ -♪ ♪ China, the country responsible for huge technological advances, and yet it still can't seem to get pandas to fuck. -♪♪ China is a gigantic and consequential country where roughly 1 out of every 5 people on Earth live. It is also the place that Trump has been ranting about for years.

Speaker 2

00:21

China is killing us. What China's doing to us is horrible. China cheats.

Speaker 2

00:25

They devalue their currency. We can't continue to allow China to rape our country, and that's what they're doing.

Speaker 1

00:33

Okay, so even in the context of a metaphor, the word rape is pretty jarring. As verbs go, it's not exactly bandied about. It's like if Trump said, Congress is really toe-fucking me on this border wall.

Speaker 1

00:45

The underlying point is clear, why he chose to express it that way is not. And yet, for all that Trump talks about China, it seems that he's very much in the process of learning about it. Just watch what happened when microphones picked up this exchange with China's president during a state visit back in November.

Speaker 2

01:01

China, 5,000 years it goes back. So, you know, it's 5,000... 5,000 every year.

Speaker 2

01:09

And I guess the oldest culture, they say, is Egypt at 8,000. 8,000. Egypt. Egypt

Speaker 1

01:17

is older

Speaker 3

01:17

than China.

Speaker 1

01:18

Now, if you're worried that Trump actually learned something there, rest assured, the only thing he took away from that conversation was that Egypt is older and therefore less fuckable than China. Okay, great. Note to self, Don't fuck Egypt, too old.

Speaker 1

01:32

But the truth here is, a lot of us are probably under-informed about China, and that's something that its leaders have historically been absolutely fine with. Deng Xiaoping famously had a lay low international strategy, summed up by the saying, hide your strength and bide your time. But in recent years, there has been a significant shift regarding that because when China's current leader, Xi Jinping, assumed the highest office in the land, he said this.

Speaker 4

01:57

-...China needs to learn more about the world. The world also needs to learn more about China.

Speaker 1

02:05

You know what? He's right. We probably should talk more about China.

Speaker 1

02:08

We should probably have talked more about it on this show. Especially considering we've done roughly 4,000 different stories on New Zealand, and multiple pieces on a testicle receptacle from the 2005 Russell Crowe film, Cinderella Man. So, so tonight, tonight, let's talk about China. And let's put America aside for most of this piece and talk instead about China on its own terms.

Speaker 1

02:30

Because it's been going through seismic social, economic, and political changes, which have happened head-spinningly quickly. And many of them center on its leader, Xi Jinping, who just recently tightened his grip on power.

Speaker 3

02:42

The most dramatic political change in China in decades, a vote to scrap term limits for China's president. The move clears the way for Xi Jinping to stay in power indefinitely, and possibly for life. Convict!

Speaker 3

02:57

Of nearly 3,000 ballots, only 2 voted against the unprecedented move.

Speaker 1

03:03

3,000 to 2, which means after that vote, there were 2 members of Chinese parliament thinking, whoopsie! I really thought that would go the other way. Maybe an edible arrangement will smooth things over with the man who's now emperor for life.

Speaker 1

03:18

And that followed on the heels of what was arguably an even bigger change. The fact that last October, Xi's political doctrine, known as Xi Jinping Thought, was enshrined in the party's constitution. And that may not sound like much to you, but it's roughly the equivalent of Donald Trump making himself a founding father, and including Donald Trump thought into the Constitution, which would mean that historians in the future would have to pass the meaning of, while Bette Midler is an extremely unattractive woman, I refuse to say that because I always insist on being politically correct. -...

Speaker 1

03:47

And Xi's consolidation of power has been aided by the fact that unlike many of his predecessors who tended to be dull bureaucrats, he's gone out of his way to form a cult of personality about himself. For a time, state media called him Xi Dada, or Uncle Xi, Both of which are objectively weird names for an adult to call another adult, but fantastic names for a pair of hairless cats. Shi Dada! Uncle Shi!

Speaker 1

04:12

Dinner's ready, you creepy weirdos! -♪ ♪ -♪ And Shi carefully presents a man of the people image. His origin story is famous in China. Born into an elite family, his father fell from grace, and like many during Mao's Cultural Revolution, Xi was sent to work in a rural village, a place which has now become a tourist trap.

Speaker 5

04:33

The smartly dressed tour guide shows us where she slept. An old picture on the wall. We see a well he helped dig, and a sewing shop he set up.

Speaker 5

04:42

Old farmers who knew she back then still roam about. The pseudo-mascots of this bizarre theme park.

Speaker 1

04:49

Yeah, that is a bizarre theme park. And I say that knowing full well that this country's most beloved theme park features vomit-inducing teacups and a massive pantsless sailor duck with no genitals. And she's branding isn't confined to tourist attractions.

Speaker 1

05:05

State media has also featured folksy moments like this video of him ordering pork buns at a Beijing restaurant. Now, that visit was huge news in China. And that can be hard to believe because our politicians eat junk food in front of us all the time. You can find photos of 12 of the last 12 presidents shoving ice cream into their faces.

Speaker 1

05:26

It's actually legitimately challenging to find a single photo of Obama where he is not about to inhale half a pint of vanilla. I didn't even remember that he'd been demolishing a waffle cone during the Bin Laden raid, but clearly, I'd remembered it wrong. I was wrong. But the reasons for Xi's popularity go beyond marketing himself as a cuddly shi-dada that you can grab a pork bun with, because for starters, he is riding an economic wave that long precedes him.

Speaker 1

05:54

Over the last 30 years, China's GDP growth has averaged nearly 10% a year, making it the fastest sustained expansion by a major economy in history, which has enabled more than 800 million people to lift themselves out of poverty. And many in China's growing middle class are pretty content with how things have been going.

Speaker 4

06:14

The tremendous public optimism is striking. Everyone is doing better than their parents did in their day.

Speaker 6

06:21

I think we'll be able to move to a bigger house within the next 5 years, and I expect my life to improve a lot. Whatever happens, I'm very optimistic about the future.

Speaker 1

06:31

Wow. A sense of optimism about the future. I've got to say, as a British person, I just find that utterly incomprehensible. If you look up optimism in the OED, and this is true, the definition simply reads, no.

Speaker 1

06:46

So... So, for many in China, things are going undeniably well. But Xi has even greater ambitions, and I'd like to focus on 2 massive signature projects. 1 global and 1 domestic.

Speaker 1

06:59

First, there's his so-called Belt and Road Initiative, a plan which is absolutely gigantic in scope. Basically, it involves China spending a trillion dollars on infrastructure projects in more than 60 countries. Things like ports, bridges, and roads, with the idea that it could eventually span international land and sea routes and reshape global trade with China at its center. To hear China tell it, it is the most ambitious infrastructure project in modern history.

Speaker 1

07:25

They've even produced an English language propaganda video to tell the whole world about it. ♪

Speaker 2

07:30

When trade routes open up That's when the sharing starts ♪ Resources changing hands And shipping out of box ♪ Ideas start to flow And branches start to form

Speaker 1

07:42

♪

Speaker 2

07:42

Then things are possible All becomes normal ♪ The future's coming now

Speaker 1

07:49

♪

Speaker 2

07:50

The Belt and Road is how, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

Speaker 1

07:53

♪ Okay, if I could just... If I could just interrupt this irritating old Navy commercial hawking a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan, I know that you're probably thinking right now, if I have to listen to 1 more second of that, it's gonna be stuck in my head all week. Well, just be thankful that you haven't heard the rap break.

Speaker 1

08:12

Until now. -♪ Future exchange, we're

Speaker 6

08:15

trading our wealth

Speaker 1

08:15

♪ ♪

Speaker 2

08:15

We connect with our hearts and strengthen our health ♪ ♪ We aligns in our cables, diplomacy tables ♪ ♪ We're sharing a world of prosperity, oh! ♪ -♪ The future's shining now, oh!

Speaker 1

08:25

♪ Okay, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop! I can't take it anymore either. They've basically made communist cars for kids.

Speaker 1

08:33

That is unforgivable. Now, it's too early to say whether the Belt and Road is going to be a success, but Xi's second Bolt Project has already seen results, because he's undertaken a massive crackdown on political corruption, a long-standing grievance among Chinese citizens. It's led to the investigation and punishment of hundreds of thousands of government officials, some at the very top of the party. And this has been widely celebrated, with state media even producing a crackdown-themed computer game.

Speaker 7

09:05

The People's Daily, a Communist Party mouthpiece, released a computer game where users can give electric shocks to corrupt officials.

Speaker 1

09:14

-♪ ♪ -♪ Well, that's fun! What could possibly be sinister about being invited to electrocute prisoners in a government-issued game? That is the most entertaining way to package something disturbing since FDR's smash-hit board game, Candyland.

Speaker 1

09:30

Just kidding, it's a Japanese-American internment camp. And this is where we reach the point of the story that you kind of knew was coming. Because so far, everything that I've shown you is what Shidada wants you to know about China. But there is a lot of troubling stuff under the surface.

Speaker 1

09:46

For instance, conveniently for Xi, some of those swept up in the corruption purge were his political rivals. And those accused were often funneled into a system that's been described as a secretive, extra-legal process where interrogators seek to extract confessions, sometimes through torture. And it's worth knowing that those term limits that he successfully eliminated were put in place for a pretty good reason. Specifically, to avoid another Mao, under whose regime some horrific things happened in China.

Speaker 1

10:13

From a collectivized farming attempt that was responsible for at least 45 million deaths, to a cultural revolution that was estimated to have killed at least another million, to his belief that this swimsuit was flattering, which I realize, now that I say it out loud, really doesn't belong with the other 2 in that list. The point, The point here is, Xi is actively removing the post-Mao guardrails that were put in place. And while China has never exactly been known as a haven for free expression, he has clamped down noticeably on any form of dissent whatsoever.

Speaker 7

10:45

There is dissent online, and China's censors are working hard to quash it. They temporarily ban the use of phrases such as personality cult and my emperor, and also references to Winnie the Pooh, a character long used to mock Xi Jinping based on an apparent resemblance.

Speaker 1

11:03

-♪ ♪ -It's true. It's true. Apparently, Xi Jinping is very sensitive about his perceived resemblance to Winnie the Pooh.

Speaker 1

11:13

And I'm not even sure it's that strong a resemblance, to be honest, But the fact he's annoyed about it means people will never stop bringing it up. Trust me, she, if your face even remotely resembles that of a beloved cartoon character, the smart move here is to lean in. And, and clamping... Clamping down...

Speaker 1

11:32

Clamping down on Winnie the Pooh comparisons doesn't exactly project strength. It suggests a weird insecurity in him, and experts say that she is deeply concerned the public opinion will turn on him. China's economy is already slowing, and she is reportedly haunted by the specter of the Arab Spring and the Soviet Union's collapse. And that paranoia may be why he's so anxious to micromanage Chinese daily life.

Speaker 1

11:57

The government has a list of untrustworthy people, which can restrict citizens' ability to travel, buy a house, or take out loans. And over the next few years, there are plans to take things much further.

Speaker 7

12:09

Every Chinese citizen is being assigned a social credit score, a fluctuating rating based on a range of behaviors. It's believed that community service in buying Chinese-made products can raise your score. Fraud, tax evasion, and smoking in non-smoking areas can drop it.

Speaker 7

12:27

If a score gets too low, a person can be banned from buying plane and train tickets, real estate, cars, and even high-speed internet.

Speaker 1

12:36

Yeah, you could be cut off from high-speed internet. Although, that could actually be a huge opportunity for the finest purveyors of shitty low-speed internet. I'm talking, of course, about AT&T, 1 of America's least popular corporations, and also, as of this week, our parent company.

Speaker 1

12:53

So, goodbye everyone, it's been fun. And look, it gets much, much darker here. In fact, she's cracked down on human rights. She's apparently the most intense since Tiananmen Square.

Speaker 1

13:05

And that is not good. Because Tiananmen Square is on the shortlist of places so infamous, you don't even need to describe what happened. Like Chernobyl, or Jonestown, or that 1 cheesecake factory we can't go to anymore. -...and she has intensified government suppression of certain religions.

Speaker 1

13:22

In 1 province, Christians have been told to take down the image of Jesus and hang portraits of she instead. Something I've also done, by the way. See, I think it really ties the room together. It's a nice accent piece.

Speaker 1

13:37

And a Muslim population known as Uyghurs have been singled out for dystopian levels of surveillance and persecution. Here is 1 man talking about a form that the government had him fill out.

Speaker 8

13:47

This piece of paper was sent to everyone. People had to fill it out. They asked things like, if you are Uyghur, if you have a job, if you have a passport, if you pray.

Speaker 8

13:57

All these answers were turned into a scoring system. They would categorize people into safe, regular, and unsafe people.

Speaker 1

14:04

Yeah, and that's pretty chilling, because generally speaking, whenever people are placed on lists, it's not really turned out well for anyone involved. Many of history's greatest monsters put people on lists. Nixon, the Nazis, Santa, all of these animals did that.

Speaker 1

14:19

And look, sure enough, if you are deemed unsafe for whatever reason, you're in big trouble. Because China has incarcerated Muslims in re-education camps, with as many as 800,000 individuals in facilities which reportedly aim to rewire the political thinking of detainees, erase their Islamic beliefs, and reshape their very identities, making Uncle Xi less like your fun uncle, and more like your creepy uncle who imprisons 800,000 people in his basement. And if you want to see what it looks like when Xi Jinping thought gets put into Xi Jinping practice, just take the story of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo. He was imprisoned in 2009 for writing a pro-democracy manifesto, And last summer, he died in state custody.

Speaker 1

15:04

And even China seemed concerned about how that might look.

Speaker 5

15:08

Fearing domestic backlash, government censors went to work. Social media posts mentioning Liu's name were deleted. Online searches with his name were blocked.

Speaker 5

15:17

Even simple candle emojis were deemed illegal on some sites. CNN's signal in China has been cut by government censors every time we mention his name.

Speaker 1

15:26

Exactly. The Chinese media wouldn't allow mentions of a Nobel Peace Prize winner's name, which is a pretty intense level of censorship, but it's also my personal policy towards Guatemalan activist Rigoberta Menchú. Do not bring her up around me. She knows what she did.

Speaker 1

15:42

You know what you did, Rigoberta! You know what you did! I don't want to hear her name on your lips! That's not what this speech is about.

Speaker 1

15:51

The point is... The point is, what happened to Liu Xiaobo and his wife, who is still under house arrest, is absolutely tragic. Although, to his credit, he didn't go down without taking a final swing. 1 of

Speaker 5

16:04

the last known photos of Liu was with his wife, Liu Xia. At first glance, unremarkable. But notice the mugs they're holding.

Speaker 5

16:12

Yep, that's Winnie the Pooh on there. Perhaps a final, subtle act of defiance.

Speaker 1

16:18

Yeah. Good for them. Good for them, because I think... I think deep down, we all know, when you need to really tell someone to go fuck themselves, why not do it with a mug?

Speaker 1

16:29

Right? But... The whole point here is, under Xi Jinping, China is becoming more authoritarian, just as it has major plans for expansion onto the world stage. So the era of hide and bide is over, and the era of do as we say may be dawning.

Speaker 1

16:46

Because China has significant economic leverage, and it has been using that to silence criticism, even when criticism is very much warranted.

Speaker 9

16:55

The European Union hardly squeaks about human rights anymore, certainly the British don't. You don't get much on Tibet either, because whenever anyone raises any of these issues, China turns around and says, do you want to do business or not?

Speaker 1

17:11

Of course, because China knows no matter how badly they behave, the world will still want to do business with them. They're like Facebook. Oh, I'm sorry, you don't like us mining your data and undercutting your democracy?

Speaker 1

17:21

What exactly are you fuckers gonna do about it? Mail people printed out photos of your meals you ate? Call your friends and tell them, happy birthday in out loud words? I don't think so, go fuck yourself!

Speaker 1

17:33

And... -...and

Speaker 2

17:34

here is where...

Speaker 1

17:35

-...and here is where... Here is where, having set America aside at the start, we should bring it back in. Because it is arguably more important than ever that America be strategic and tactical about how to deal with China.

Speaker 1

17:47

Sadly, those qualities are not hallmarks of this guy, who couldn't play chess for longer than 29 seconds without screaming, -"My horse eats your big lady!" --LAUGHTER and pouring nacho cheese all over the board. --LAUGHTER --Trump is blowing up the traditional alliances that have helped influence Chinese behavior on important issues, and that has been great news for Xi Jinping. As has the fact that human rights don't really seem to be a big Trump priority. In fact, just hours after the death of Liu Xiaobo, Even as his administration issued condolences, Trump himself said this.

Speaker 2

18:22

President Xi is a terrific guy. I like being with him a lot. And he's a very special person.

Speaker 1

18:30

Wow. That was not the best time to give Xi Jinping a pat on the back. It's the equivalent of saying how much you love Kevin Spacey in American Beauty right now. First, you shouldn't, it was objectively terrible.

Speaker 1

18:44

And second, you're picking the worst possible time to bring that up. The point is, Trump is leaving a vacuum on the world stage, and China is more than happy to fill it by telling the world its story and leaving out some very important details. So for everyone's benefit, if they're gonna send out cuddly propaganda videos about Xi Jinping and his achievements. Someone might want to make a companion piece that kind of rounds out the picture.

Speaker 1

19:08

-♪♪♪♪ -♪

Speaker 2

19:13

China's expanding now, it's growing big and strong.

Speaker 1

19:16

♪ -♪

Speaker 2

19:17

Let's learn about it now In this annoying song. They have a president So call him Uncle G But he can fuck with you Instead of Doc Munchkin They spit in China's teeth Oh Doesn't want you to see Oh He'd rather steal from you The shitty things they do Compare him to this and he will get pissed you'll end up on an untrustworthy list But jamming his spells can't alter what's true I'm manchies and pain looks like Winnie the Pooh! This is the China Sea, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Doesn't want you to see, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh And that's the reason why, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh You'd better watch this guy, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh 0000.

Speaker 2

20:06

And that's the reason why. 0000. You'd better watch this guy. 00000000.