Crashes to Earth

And China blames the US

Welcome to China Uncensored, I'm Chris Chappell.

Good news! We're all still  alive! Because this week,  

debris from an out-of-control Chinese  rocket crashed into the Indian Ocean.

The Long March 5B rocket blasted off April  29, carrying components of China's planned  

space station Harmony of the Heavens. But the  Chinese space agency lost control of the rocket  

as it continued its 17,000 mile  an hour orbit around the earth  

edging closer and closer with each  pass. Sky watchers caught glimpses  

of it as it tracked as far north as New  York and as far south as New Zealand.

This was a big embarrassment  for the Chinese Communist Party.  

Back in April, Chinese state-run media had proudly  touted the successful launch of the rocket.

China started out late to the space race. China  launched “its first satellite only in 1970,  

13 years after the Soviet Union and  12 years after the United States.”

But dominating space has become a  priority for the Chinese Communist Party.  

In 2019, China became the first country to land an  unmanned spacecraft on the dark side of the moon.

But the timing of this latest  rocket crash is particularly bad.  

Later this month, China's first unmanned  Mars rover is expected to land. But people  

aren't talking about how great that is.  Instead, people are now talking about this.

Criticism is now crashing down on China  after rocket fragments rained down near  

the tropical islands of the Maldives. "It's an  alarming thing for them to be doing.'' Harvard  

Smithsonian astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell  says China's rocket has a design problem.

Well, you don't need to be an astrophysicist  to know that! But please continue.

(We normally make sure they  don't go into orbit at all,  

or if they do, they have a restartable engine  which can bring them down in a controlled way.  

Let's be clear here, it's not that China can't,  right? It's that they don't. That's exactly right.  

Was it price? Was it laziness? I  would think it was a lack of concern.

It's not surprising there's  a lack of concern. You see,  

China's space program is actually run  by the Communist Party's military.

In fact, because of the military link of China's  space program, “Since 1999, the US has imposed  

export controls on satellite technology to China.  And in 2011, Congress passed a law that imposed  

restrictions on NASA engagement with China.” Even though NASA hasn't been great about that.

But China is actually banned from  the International Space Station.  

So China is building its own. If only the rockets  carrying parts for it could make it to space. 

After China lost control of the rocket, they  were pretty quiet about the whole thing.

NASA has been critical.

In a statement Nasa says “it  is clear that China is failing  

to meet responsible standards  regarding their space debris.”

But now that the Chinese rocket has safely  crash landed in the middle of the Ocean,  

China is taking responsibility.  By blaming the US for hyping fear!

It was 20 tons of flaming space debris  

hurtling down on our heads! That's  a reasonable thing to be afraid of!

But my favorite state-run media, the Global  Times, says US fussiness is a low ploy.

“These people are jealous of China's  rapid progress in space technology.”

“Some of these people even try to use the  noises they made to obstruct and interfere  

with China's future intensive launches for  the construction of its space station.”

The Global Times says, “There is  also no evidence proving that the  

landing points of US rocket debris are more  controllable compared with those of China's.”

You know, evidence. With Chinese characteristics.

Now it's true that uncontrolled space  debris is not a problem unique to China.  

Back in 1979, the US Skylab space station broke up  

over the Indian Ocean and scattered  debris across Western Australia.

Last month, SpaceX debris  landed on a farm in Washington. 

But the criticisms of the Chinese military's  space program aren't about accidental debris.  

They're about careless rocket design and whether  China is cutting corners to win the space race.

And the Chinese Communist Party  is deflecting those criticisms  

by blaming the US for...criticizing them.

Failure will happen as humanity  tries to reach for the stars.  

But failure is not something the Chinese  Communist Party has ever been willing to face.  

Which is why it's so much easier to blame America.

And now it's time to answer a question from a  member of the China Uncensored 50 Cent Army,  

fans who support us and our efforts to expose  the truth about the Chinese Communist Party  

on the crowd funding website Patreon.

Kenneth Crips asks, “Japan has always made it  clear they will not tolerate the Chinese mainland  

invading Taiwan. I don't know what China is  thinking. They are surrounded by enemies.” 

That's a very good question. It's true, China  is surrounded by countries that are not happy  

with its aggressive expansion or  desire for global hegemony. But,  

as top-ranking Communist Party official Yang  Jiechi once said, “China is a big country and  

you are small countries, and that is a fact.”  He was talking to Southeast Asian countries.

There is a limit to what any of the countries  surrounding China can do because of how much  

power the Chinese Communist Party has. Sure,  all of China's neighboring countries could unite  

and form alliances against the Communist  Party—and to an extent they're trying,  

but it's harder for a bunch of  countries to all work together,  

than it is for the CCP to put enough pressure  on the weakest country to break that alliance.

Now, if an equally big country stood  behind them, like the United States,  

that could present a real problem for the  CCP. But as Jim Fanell , the Former Director  

of Intelligence and Information Operations for  the U.S. Pacific Fleet has told us on the show,  

we've entered what he calls the decade of concern.

The idea is that in 2049, the CCP will celebrate  the 100 year anniversary of the founding of the  

People's Republic of China. The CCP has to take  Taiwan before then. It also knows if an invasion  

of Taiwan happens too close to 2049, China will  be an international pariah. No one would be  

celebrating the anniversary with China. Not good  for a country that wants to be a global hegemon.

But the CCP also knows that  it takes about 20 years  

for the rest of the world to  forget something. For example,  

in 1989, the Tiananmen Square Massacre  made China an international pariah.

20 years later, leaders from around the world  celebrated in Beijing the 2008 Olympics.

That's why now is the decade of concern. The  CCP believes that if it takes Taiwan now,  

the rest of the world will have  forgotten by the 2049 anniversary.  

So what the Chinese Communist Party is thinking  is that it can't afford not to take Taiwan now.

Thanks for your question Kenneth and your support.

And a big thank you to everyone who supports China  Uncensored on Patreon. We could not do this show  

without you. So thank you for joining us in the  fight to expose the Chinese Communist Party to  

the world. If you're interested in joining, head  over to Patreon.com/ChinaUncensored. You'll get  

a bunch of cool perks, including the chance  to have me answer your question on the show!

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