China decides its courts are too independent.

And kidnapping?

The Chinese Communist Party wouldn't dream of it.

This is China Uncensored.

I'm Chris Chappell.

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We all knew it was coming,

and it's finally happened.

“The U.S. has told Canada to expect a formal request

to extradite Meng Wanzhou the detained CFO of Huawei.”

But that doesn't mean it's going to happen right away—

or even at all.

Because if there's one thing the US government loves,

it's endless paperwork.

Back in December,

Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou,

the CFO of China's largest telecom company, Huawei.

It was at the request of the US.

Huawei has been accused of using a shell company

to violate US sanctions on Iran and possibly Syria.

Needless to say, after weeks calling for Meng's release,

the Chinese Communist Party was not too happy

with the idea of extradition to the US.

On Tuesday, Beijing shot back,

saying Canada should release Meng immediately

and accusing the two countries

of abusing their extradition treaty.

“Canada and the United States arbitrarily

abused their bilateral extradition treaty

to seriously infringe upon a Chinese citizen's

security and legal rights.

We urge the Canadian side

to immediately release Ms. Meng Wanzhou

and earnestly safeguard her legitimate

and lawful rights and interests.”

Yeah!

She's entitled to legitimate and lawful rights!

In Canada, obviously, not in China.

No one has rights in China—

especially not Canadians.

That's why the Chinese regime had no qualms

about detaining two Canadians,

and accusing them of spying...

based off what I'm sure is very solid evidence.

Their real mistake, of course,

was setting foot in mainland China in the first place.

On Monday,

143 Western academics and diplomats

sent this open letter to Chinese leader Xi Jinping

urging him to release the Canadians.

And now I can name 143 more people

who should probably not set foot in mainland China.

Speaking of ensuring legitimate and lawful rights...

China's Supreme People's Court.

They've ruled that the whole Western model of judicial independence,

is bad.

They said China's courts should

“Resolutely resist the influence of the West's

erroneous thought and mistaken viewpoints.”

Mistaken viewpoints like,

don't detain innocent people for political reasons.

The Chinese Communist Party controls the courts,

but that's not enough!

It's also looking for more ways to exert direct control over religions.

And what better way than rewriting the Bible

to be more in line with “correct thinking” from the Party?

I talked about this in a recent episode.

And as a joke,

I read completely made-up quotes

from this completely made-up book.

At least, that's what I thought at the time.

But now I've learned—

and this is true—

that local officials in Henan Province

“ordered [a Henan] church to wipe out the first Commandment,

'Thou shalt have no other gods before me.'”

I guess they didn't get the hint when they told people

to replace pictures of Jesus with pictures of Xi Jinping.

Speaking of brainwashing,

more brainwashing!

Since the time of former Chinese leader Hu Jintao—

you know, the one that we all forgot about—

Chinese students have been forced to take

“Current Affairs and Policies” classes.

Well, China's Ministry of Education

has been pushing these classes even more recently.

The goal is to “help college students understand

the situation at home and abroad

in the new era correctly.”

Peking University,

the Harvard of China,

has taken the lead.

They've opened an entire institute dedicated

to what's officially called “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism

with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.”

I get it.

You need an entire institute

to figure out what any of those words mean.

Fortunately, one Chinese student has dissected it.

“[He] told Radio Free Asia that the course

is actually 'brainwashing' education

in combination with current events.

He cited the US-China trade war as an example.

'The course tells how the United States

is rude and unreasonable toward China.

It also preaches that the party is very great a

nd instills ideas about the party-state system

and about xenophobia.'”

Well obviously the Party is very great.

Only the very great need to forcibly remind you that they're very great.

And the Party is obviously very great—

at disappearing people.

For instance, Chinese-Australian Writer Yang Hengjun,

who mysteriously vanished after getting off a plane in China last week.

Days later, Chinese authorities finally admitted they had detained Yang,

who is a blogger, novelist, and former Chinese diplomat.

They said it was because Yang was “endangering national security.”

It seems like Yang has become part of

the Chinese regime's hottest new trend:

hostage diplomacy.

Of course, the Communist Party kidnapping

citizens of other countries is not something new.

It's just been more noticeable lately.

So noticeable, that people tried to convince Yang

not to go back to China.

But he told his friend Dr. Feng Chongyi

that he would be ok,

because he had toned down his criticism of the Party.

Unfortunately for Yang,

the Chinese Communist Party can really hold a grudge.

Maybe Yang should have listened to Dr. Feng,

especially since Feng was detained in China back in 2017.

Make that 144 people who should not set foot in mainland China.

The Chinese-controlled city of Macau.

It's number one in the world when it comes to gambling...

And definitely when it comes to ugly architecture.

So it makes sense that Macau's crime syndicates

would also be number one.

Well, police say they've uncovered a 4.4 billion dollar

money laundering scheme.

So that's the ancient Chinese secret.

Money laundering is a big problem

for the Chinese Communist Party.

China's elite, including Party members,

are concerned that China's economy isn't doing so hot.

They want to get their money out.

And while there are a bunch of laws in place to stop them,

rich people always find a way.

And that way is Macau.

Or it was, until authorities found that a crime syndicate

was smuggling in machines “to allow gamblers

to secretly cash out their casino winnings

in Hong Kong dollars and Macanese patacas.”

This could be the beginning of

a more serious investigation into Macau's money laundering,

and why anyone would want Macanese patacas.

And across the bay from Macau is Hong Kong—

the other special administrative region of China.

Hong Kong, of course,

has its own government and laws,

separate from the rest of China.

Now I know, you're worried that this is a problem—

because sometimes Hong Kongers' thinking is too independent,

and not in line with the correct thinking for a new era.

But don't worry.

They're starting to rectify that.

The Hong Kong legislature is moving to make

disrespecting the Chinese national anthem a crime.

For far too long,

Hong Kongers have been openly negative

about the Chinese Communist Party.

For example by booing the Chinese national anthem

at sports matches.

The new bill proposes 3 years in jail

for dissing China's national anthem,

as well as a fine of over six thousand US dollars.

Or 51 thousand Macanese patacas,

if you're trying to get rid of those.

And yes, the proposed law “also extends to schoolchildren,

including pupils of international schools,

who would be legally required to learn the anthem.”

Something fun to look forward to

if you're planning on studying in Hong Kong.

And before we go, now is the time

when I answer questions from you,

my loyal 50-cent army—

fans of the show who support what we do

through the crowd funding website Patreon.

James Wallberg asks

“I know a lot of people are upset with Patreon and Paypal.

Are you planning on finding other methods of payment

for those who want to support China Uncensored

but no longer wish to use their services?”

Great question!

I know many of you

are concerned about using Patreon as a platform

after they kicked off several prominent YouTubers.

I of course don't approve of that kind of behavior.

So I can definitely appreciate where you're coming from.

However, the problem is China Uncensored

is already being squeezed by YouTube.

And Patreon is still the best way for us

to raise funds for the show.

I started to look into Patreon alternatives,

like SubscribeStar,

but guess what?

It doesn't always go well for alternatives.

And even though SubscribeStar is starting to resume payments,

it's too big a risk for us.

We are working on creating our own alternative,

but to do that, we still need funding.

And right now, Patreon is the best option for us.

You can visit our website to make a direct PayPal contribution,

but we don't have a good way of making sure you get rewards—

like me answering your questions on the show like this.

So we prefer Patreon.

I know many of you have expressed you're not a fan of Patreon,

but for now, I'd ask you to hold out just a bit longer

for the sake of China Uncensored.

If you ditch Patreon,

it doesn't hurt Patreon much,

but it hurts China Uncensored a lot.

Thanks for you question and thanks for your support.

And to all you thanks for watching.

Once again I'm your host Chris Chappell.

See you next time.