are at an all time high.

But Taiwan has extended an olive branch.

How'd that turn out?

Welcome to China Uncensored. I'm Chris Chappell.

Boy, tensions between China and Taiwan  have been getting really bad lately.

All of China's thinly veiled threats  after the US sold weapons to Taiwan.

All those Chinese warplanes flying over Taiwan.

I mean this is getting nuts. Even Japanese anime  celebrities can't escape China's campaign over  

Taiwan. Uhh, Shelley, are we playing mad libs  with the script? Oh, no, it's a real thing.

This has all been in the lead up to  Taiwan's National Day, which was October 10.  

National Day really upsets the Chinese  Communist Party, because it kind of gives  

the impression that Taiwan is its own  country with its own national holiday.

That's why the Chinese Communist Party does  things that look crazy to normal countries,  

like telling Indian media how to cover Taiwan's  National Day. By not calling Taiwan a country.

That kind of attitude leaves the  Party wide open to trolling. 

And India really delivered. Indian politicians  wished Taiwan a happy national day.

And Taiwan National Day started trending in India.

One local Indian politician put up a Happy  National Day sign outside the Chinese embassy.

And someone even commissioned  this Taiwan is not China cake.

Meanwhile the President of Taiwan  

Tsai Ing-wen tweeted her thanks to  all of Taiwan's dear friends in India.

And started talking about  her favorite Indian food.

So, the Chinese Communist Party  tried to control Indian media,  

leading to a national backlash in  India and an India-Taiwan lovefest.  

Once again, the Chinese Communist  Party scores! Against itself. 

Speaking of India, we just did an episode on our  other show, America Uncovered, about the Quad, an  

alliance to counter China. And India is a big part  of that. I'll put a link to that episode below. 

But back to Taiwan's National Day. In her  National Day speech, President Tsai extended  

an olive branch to the Communist Party. She  called for meaningful dialogue with China.

That's great! Authoritarian regimes always  respond well to talking things out. So  

what was China's response?

Well, just hours after her  speech, Chinese state-run CCTV  

aired this video of China's military  launching a simulated invasion of Taiwan.

Well, I guess that's a form of dialogue. But  perhaps they could make themselves clearer.

“Taiwan denounced China for releasing a forced TV  confession of a Taiwanese businessman. The man has  

been missing in China for over a year due to his  support of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement.”

Huh, so they've kidnapped a Taiwanese  citizen. But I think the Communist  

Party's actions could still really be open to  interpretation. Can they be a little clearer?

“In its annual work report this  year, the Chinese government  

removed the word 'peaceful' from long-standing  references to 'reunification' with Taiwan.”

Okay, let me see if I can understand this dialogue  coming from communist China. They're saying:  

They are highly militarized, they  kidnap other countries' citizens,  

and they're planning invade a democratic  country to murder their people.

Okay, the message is crystal clear.  There's only one way to take that.  

China's bond market is incredible! Buy buy buy!!!

But surely the Chinese Communist Party  can at least appreciate the effort  

by President Tsai Ing-wen  to deescalate the situation.

Recently Taiwan's Foreign Minister  told NPR that Taiwan would not  

seek formal ties with the US right now.

That's got to make the CCP happy. So surely,  they're willing to back down a bit, right? 

Well, here's Hu Xijin the editor in chief  of my favorite Chinese state run media,  

the Global Times.

“The change of tone indicated  the Tsai administration  

has fathomed the severity of a possible military  conflict with Beijing over its provocations.”

Hu added, “Beijing must not 'be fooled  into believing the gesture of goodwill  

of the ruling Democratic  Progressive Party of Taiwan'”  

and that “continued military muscle-flexing  is the only answer to cross-strait stability.”

So...if Taiwan makes a move like it's  going to seek formal ties with the US,  

China will threaten to invade. If Taiwan  backs down and says we can resolve things  

through dialogue, China will threaten to  invade. Well at least they have options.

And now it's time for me to  answer a question from one of you,  

who supports China Uncensored through  the crowdfunding website Patreon.

Ronny Ager-Wick asks, “Is there any way  that a country who has been tricked by  

China's debt trap diplomacy can get out of it  without paying? What would happen if they just  

stopped paying and defaulted on the loan?  Could they declare the "investment" illegal  

and thus reject China's demands? Or could  they have a revolution, a new constitution,  

and thus be regarded as a new country,  leaving China to collect from the old regime?”

Ohh, great question. This in fact has happened.  

In Malaysia. Malaysia was hugely in debt to  China. To the tune of 34 billion dollars.

That was thanks to Najib Razak, who was  Malaysia's prime minister for nearly a decade.

Turns out he was very corrupt.

And a lot of that corruption had to do with  China. But before he got a 12 year jail term,  

he lost the 2018 election to  this guy, Mahathir Mohamad.

Part of his campaign was about standing up to  China, which gets more and more popular with time.

He was openly critical of  China's Belt and Road Initiative.

“None of our people are employed  as workers. None of our companies  

are used for designing and planning and  supervising, et cetera. We gain nothing.” 

  And after being elected,  

he suspended four Chinese linked projects  worth about a total of 23 billion dollars.

That was worth about two-thirds of  all Malaysia's Belt and Road projects.

Mahathir then began renegotiating those deals.

And it seemed to work. Some of those belt and  road projects restarted in 2019 after hiccups.

It follow[ed] “a rare agreement to cut its  cost by nearly a third to about $11 billion”

Great deal. Well, until those hiccups became a  gasping death wheeze because of the coronavirus.

Thanks for your question Ronny. 

And if you'd like to have me respond to  your question or comment on the show for  

hundreds of thousands of people to hear, join  what I call the China Uncensored 50 Army...

and support us in the battle against the Chinese  Communist Party. You can join for as little as a  

dollar per episode on the crowd funding website  Patreon. You'll also get some other cool perks  

as well. Head over to Patreon.com/China  Uncensored to learn more. Link is below.

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