China is DONE in the South China Sea

China's failure in the South China Sea is only getting worse while the economy continues its freefall. Then more on this week's China news headlines. Welcome to China uncensored. I'm Chris Chapel. Quick word from our sponsor, Surf Shark. Whenever you go online, you really should be using a VPN like Surf Shark to cover your tracks and protect your identity. I'll tell you more in a bit. So, remember last week when a Chinese Coast Guard vessel and a PLA Navy destroyer attempted to stop a Philippine Coast Guard patrol boat and ended up stopping each other spectacularly. They're like Pokemon. They literally hurt themselves in their confusion. It was so phenomenally embarrassing for the CCP that we just had to show it again. But we also have another reason to show it again because this week the US briefly deployed two warships to the disputed Scarbor Schaw where the collision took place. On August 12th, Washington's ambassador to Manila condemned the latest reckless action by China directed against a Philippine vessel in Scarboro. After that statement, the US deployed the USS Higgins, a guided missile destroyer, and the USS Cincinnati, a literal combat ship. literal is the type of ship. It's Yeah. Anyways, it was a freedom of navigation maneuver. The CCP, of course, claimed the ships illegally entered Chinese waters and that the PLA Navy drove them away. Really, all that happened was the PLA Navy officers shouted warnings from a safe distance since otherwise it would increase the likelihood of China having another runin with itself. And yes, we are going to show this collision a third time. Coincidentally, on August 15th, Australian and Philippine forces launched their largest ever military exercises near the disputed South China Sea. Military officials said troops from the US, Canada, New Zealand, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea also took part as observers. The exercises, called Alain, which means wave in the local language, will run until August 29th. They involve Filipino and Australian fighter jets, a destroyer, cargo aircraft, and over 3,600 military personnel who will engage in battle maneuvers, live fire drills, and a beach assault in a town facing the disputed South China Sea. Vice Admiral Justin Jones of the Royal Australian Navy said, "This exercise reflects Australia's commitment to working with partners to ensure we maintain a region where state sovereignty is protected, international law is followed, and nations can make decisions free from coercion." Man, if that was any more pointed at China, it'd poke him in the eye. Speaking of somebody breaking international law and trying to use coercion, former Hong Kong leader Ci Lung and his wife has threatened fall & gong practitioners in Finland. Take a look for yourself. [Music] subtle lung served from 2012 to 2017 as Hong Kong's chief executive and now he's vice chairman for the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference or CPPCC which is widely considered part of the United Front Work Department. always goes back to the United Front Work Department. I'd say this is brazen for the CCP's people to do this in a foreign country, but compared to what they usually do in territory that isn't theirs, this is actually refreshingly restrained. Last month, the European Union passed new sanctions that included two Chinese banks. So, China is now targeting two Lithuanian banks in response. China's tit fortat diplomacy. You might be wondering why Lithuania. Well, I'm sure this has nothing to do with Lithuania being friendly towards Taiwan and being visited recently by former Taiwanese President Sang Wen. Nope, not at all. Of course, this move by the CCP may just drive Lithuania closer to Taiwan and might hamper trade deals with Europe as well. So, this could turn out to be the foreign policy equivalent of hurting itself in the confusion. And after the break, China's economy is so so screwed. Welcome back. Despite President Trump's second 90-day extension of a pause on some tariffs on China, there is so much uncertainty over it and USChina trade talks that manufacturers have slowed hiring, production, and investments that made China's economy lag in July. In other words, even by the official statistics China pumps out, which are all lies, things are bad. A big part of this is the continuing collapse of China's real estate market, which once made up a third of China's GDP. The biggest culprit of that was Everrand, a Chinese real estate company that was basically a pyramid scheme where people paid for apartments that were never finished. Despite constant attempts from the government to bail them out or fix the situation, Everrand will be delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange following debt wos. And debt wos is an understatement. Everrand was the world's most heavily indebted real estate developer with over $300 billion dollar owed to banks and bond holders when a court handed down a liquidation order in January 2024. That was followed by suspending trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. And since the city has rules saying that the listing of companies can be ended if trading on their securities has been suspended for 18 consecutive months, off it goes. Like a lot of other stories this week, this is not surprising and it is embarrassing and damaging to the Chinese Communist Party. Almost as embarrassing as this. Yes, I am showing it again. I love it. So, and did you know that every time you go online, everything you do is potentially compromised? That's why the people at Surf Shark created a VPN that keeps your internet activity private and secure. If you're not taking active steps to protect yourself, everything you do is being tracked and logged by the websites you visit, your internet service provider, and often by your own government. Using a VPN makes you harder to track. Surf Shark has servers you can connect to in over a 100 countries, more than any other VPN. That includes a server in the British Virgin Islands, where the law allows companies to not log user data. So stay safe and check out Surf Shark. With just one Surf Shark account, you can connect as many devices as you want. It also comes with a 30-day money back guarantee. So, go to surf shark.com/unensored and use the code uncensored to get up to four months extra. The link is in the description below. Once again, I'm Chris Chapel. See you next time.