I'm Chris Chappell.

Wait, what's that?!

Why, it's a Chinese spy ship!

Off the coast of Alaska!

And I'm guessing it's not there

just for the beautiful view of

Alaska's rugged wilderness.

But don't worry!

US officials know it's there.

Making it...

maybe not the best spy ship.

Unless…

Wait, where did it go?!

Shoot, folks,

I guess it's nowhere to be found.

So what was it doing there in the first place?

I mean really, there are so many things

happening in Alaska that China

would want to spy on.

For example,

what's going to happen

on the next season of Deadliest Catch?

Or Ice Road Truckers?

Or Alaskan Bush People?

Or The Last Frontier?

Or Gold Rush?

Or Slednecks?

Fun fact:

Alaska has more reality shows per capita

than anywhere else in the world.

There are several more

that we didn't even show you.

Maybe we should just get the Chinese military

a subscription to the Discovery channel.

Well, one thing's for sure.

With a Chinese spy ship so close to US shores,

the US government—

Wait, the US government says they don't care?

Having a Chinese spy ship

hanging around Alaska is totally fine?

Wait a minute,

maybe this is for a new reality TV show!

But as fun as that would be,

there's probably something else going on.

"The Chinese spy ship

was only 100 miles from Kodiak, Alaska.

That's where our military launched

an anti-ballistic missile earlier this week."

Ah, that makes more sense.

They were watching the US military

as it tested its THAAD missile system

on July 11th.

“So it starts here near Hawaii,

where the Pentagon says an airforce plane

launched a target missile.

And then it launched a so-called THAAD missile

from Kodiak, Alaska to intercept it.

Well, let's see—

the two missiles met mid-air

and 'big boom' is the result.”

So the Chinese spy ship

was there to watch our missiles go boom.

Understandably, that's exciting.

But the thing is,

this spy ship came fairly close to US shores—

just around 100 miles away.

That's technically in international waters,

but still...

For some context,

this Alaska.

Kodiak is a small city on a small island

also named Kodiak.

It's home to some not so small bears,

also named Kodiak.

Those bears are probably why

the Chinese spy ship left in a hurry.

Although that would also be a great reality show.

So what's the big deal about this US missile test

that the Chinese military would risk

imminent bear-death to watch?

Well, as I said,

it was a test of a missile defense system called THAAD.

It's the same kind of missile defense array

the US has installed in several places

around the world.

In particular,

the US installed a THAAD system

in South Korea a few months ago.

That was designed to defend against

attacks launched by North Korea.

But the stakes were raised earlier in July.

That's when North Korea tested

an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

that could hit Alaska.

So maybe China sent its spy ship

to observe whether THAAD would be successful

if it had to deal with any future missiles

from North Korea.

“'Big boom' is the result.”

That's CNN-speak for “very successful.”

So clearly, the THAAD system in Alaska

is working well.

Or as CNN might say,

“it's booming well.”

But that's not necessarily good news

from the Chinese Communist Party's perspective.

They're upset about the similar THAAD system

the US installed in South Korea.

It's not that the Chinese regime

wants South Korea to be destroyed

by North Korean missile strikes.

It's that an American missile defense system

stationed in South Korea

could also be used against China,

should the Chinese regime ever decide

that it wants to take its growing military technology

out for a spin.

So a Chinese spy ship

off the coast of Alaska is unusual.

But it follows a lot of other unusual activity

recently by the Chinese military.

An officials told CNN that,

“the US had observed similar Chinese vessels

in recent days sailing off the coast of Guam

and shadowing a joint US-Australian

military exercise.”

Also, China just sent half of their aircraft carriers

through Taiwan's defense zone.

What's that, Shelley?

China only has two aircraft carriers?

So they sent one aircraft carrier to Taiwan.

China also just told Japan to get used to the fact

they'll be flying bombers by.

Though if the Chinese Communist Party

really wanted to see how the latest

US THAAD test turned out,

they could have just watched CNN

from the comfort of their own homes.

“Big boom' is the result.”

Waaaiit a minute,

that's a great idea for a new reality show!

And when we come back,

how China's real estate boom is about to go bust.

A spy ship can't see everything.

But you can if you go to ChinaUncensored.tv!

That's where we have the full half hour episode,

which includes this and other segments!

So what are you waiting for?

Click below and go to ChinaUncensored.tv.