After yet another stabbing attack, in which a Chinese man attacked a Japanese woman and her son, Miles Yu explains why the Chinese Communist Party and its state-fueled propaganda machine are at fault for rising xenophobia in China. He then goes on to explain what to expect from the CCP’s Third Plenum, and finishes by covering an investigative story that exposed the widespread toxic contamination of cooking oils in China.
China Insider is a weekly podcast project from Hudson Institute's China Center, hosted by Miles Yu, who provides weekly news that mainstream American outlets often miss, as well as in-depth commentary and analysis on the China challenge and the free world’s future.
Episode Transcript
This transcription is automatically generated and edited lightly for accuracy. Please excuse any errors.
Miles Yu:
Welcome to China Insider, a podcast from the Hudson Institute's China Center. I am Miles Yu, senior fellow and director of the China Center. Join me each week for our analysis of the major events concerning China, China threat and their implications to the US and beyond.
Phil Hegseth:
I am Phil Hegseth. Today is Tuesday, July 16th, and three topics are on deck for Miles this week. First, we discussed the rise of xenophobia in China. After yet another stabbing attack hit headlines recently which saw a Chinese man attack a Japanese woman and her son, Miles explains why the CCP and its state fueled propaganda machine are at fault. Second, we preview and detail the CCPs third plenum, a gathering of party leadership happening this week and why we shouldn't expect any reasonable reforms to come out of the meeting. Lastly, an investigative journalist revealed widespread toxic contamination of cooking oils in China after finding that tanker trucks were transporting chemicals like kerosene, unloading and then refilling with cooking oil without any cleaning or decontamination in between. The reporter has been disappeared, of course, but at the chagrin of the party, the story and public outrage has not. Alright, happy Tuesday Miles. Good to see you again.
Miles Yu:
Good to see you again, Phil.
Phil Hegseth:
Obviously there was big news in the US over the weekend with the assassination attempt on former President Trump. Before we get started, do you want to say anything about what happened, Miles, just from your perspective?
Miles Yu:
Well, God bless former President Donald Trump and God bless America and let's pray for him and for the victims of this tragic incident, as well as let's pray for America.
Phil Hegseth:
Amen. That's behind everything we do here. Starting off this week, we are highlighting a violent story out of Suzhou where a Chinese assailant attacked a Japanese woman and her son using a knife. Both survived the attack with injuries, mostly thanks to a Chinese bystander who stepped in during the altercation, a 55-year-old woman who was a school bus attendant no less. She had the knife turned on her and she died as a result. Really a tragic story. Following the Suzhou attack, Japan formerly warned its citizens to practice vigilance in regard to similar or copycat knife attacks, while Chinese authorities seemingly went on a content censoring spree to hide the reality that is rampant anti-Japanese rhetoric on its social media platforms. A lot of history between these countries, but this sounds awfully familiar to the story of the four American college teachers who were attacked just a month ago while on a trip to China. Miles, So could you help peel back the curtain on these knife attacks that appear to be a trend at this point and really answer the question of do they point to a spreading current of xenophobia inside China? And what role does the CCP play in stirring up that kind of fervor against other countries or cultures’ ideas?
Miles Yu:
That's a very good question. There are violent crimes in all modern societies, China and the US. There are no exceptions. However, in this case, the xenophobia sponsored by the state, by the Chinese government is responsible for incidents like this. So it's not accidental. I say that it is a state sponsored hate crime. That's actually exactly what it is because the Chinese communist government faces a legitimacy and credibility crisis in China. So the best way to get themselves out of that is to fan xenophobia, particularly among the young and malleable. The primary target of this xenophobia is the United States. The US is evil, Japan is demonic and evil. So, US Japan are the primary targets of the xenophobic propaganda fanned by the Chinese government day in and day out. All those who disagree with this propaganda line in China are China bashers, anti-Chinese relics of cold war mentality with which to upend the CCPs ambition to remold the international order, and for a global dominance, now packaged by the CCP as a global common community of shared destiny for mankind.
So, this incident you cited in Suzhou fitting into this category. This woman, her name's Hu Youping should be a hero. She was not a bystander. She was actually an employee of the Japanese school for the children of the Japanese business community in Suzhou, where there are a lot of Japanese investments over there. She worked for the school and she was a school bus helper. So, there is this crazed anti-Japanese man holding a knife, tried to kill the children, the Japanese children on the bus, and she tried to stop this man, this criminal, blocking the door to the bus, and then she got stabbed and died. This caused an uproar in Japan, obviously, but in China the government tried its best to ban the news first and also the arrest of the killer was greeted by many as a hero in China, while the good Chinese woman who died, Miss Hu Youping, was depicted as a traitor. You can hear this from this really bizarre talk show. The call-in shows in China, in Suzhou in particular, many are raised by these reactions. Obviously, there are some good hearted Chinese people, so they sent flowers to this woman's side, but then it was confiscated immediately by the police. the Chinese government reaction was also even more bizarre. The foreign ministry spokesperson downplayed this incident as an isolated one, but never condemned the killer and showed no condolence whatsoever for Ms. Hu, the hero. She even blamed Japan for flaming this case to harm the bilateral relationship. So this is nothing but a very bizarre incident as a state sponsored xenophobia. This is also the result of the longstanding Chinese political culture, directly sponsored by the humongous Chinese government propaganda machine, particularly at a popular level, we have this thing called resisting Japan bizarre dramas. That's actually the phrase used by a lot of Chinese to call this, its called resisting Japan bizarre dramas, kàngrì shén jù. So many of the TV shows, movies, particularly TV shows, there really is outrageous in any normal society. They serve two purpose. One is to belittle Japanese as a nation, as a people. In many, many shows on Chinese TV and prime time, by the way, Chinese forces are shown carrying out all sorts of miracles to destroy the Japanese troops during World War II with soldiers throwing rocks, for example, to bring down Japanese military aircraft. And there's one show that shows a lone Chinese woman using hunting balls to kill dozens of fully armed Japanese soldiers. There's one very interesting episode which is very popular in China. It's called “Our unit Designation Shall Never Fade”. It basically depicts a Chinese battalion commander brings down a high flying Japanese military airplane by hurling a hand grenade into the air. It's truly bizarre. And there's one show. Another show is called “Kill Every Japanese Devil”. Now, I'm sorry, I'm serious. That's the title of the TV show.
Phil Hegseth:
My gosh.
Miles Yu:
It has a scene that shows a Chinese man using a sewing needle to dispatch Japanese invading soldiers. There's also another drama. It's called “Fabulous Resisting Japan Hero”. The protagonist is immune to Japanese bullets and swords and is able to cut a Japanese soldier with his bare hands into two parts from head to toe. So this is really, really bizarre. Now that's basically belittling, but there's also far more insidious one that is sheer hatred, Japan hatred. In Chinese state media, there's one famous phrase which was made into a mocking ring tone. The phrase goes like, I quote “I knock out a Japanese devil's machine gunner with a single bullet from 800 li away”. Now one li is a Chinese measurement, which is equivalent to about a third of a mile. So this good comrade who actually kill a Japanese soldier from 800 li that's about 250 miles away with one single bullet. It got to be a magic communist bullet, with the Chinese characteristics. So these sort of things that permeates the Chinese public waves on tv, internet incidents like this - you mentioned - basically occur within this kind of environment. No wonder it's not really isolated incident.
Phil Hegseth:
Yeah, so you've got that incoming. Then you've also got the filtering out of, or the complete banning of outside information into the country. And that has to play a critical role in how the CCP is able to shape the mind of its people. That's a really big topic. Maybe we can cover another day, but could you just briefly summarize the importance of and the idea of the great Chinese firewall for us?
Miles Yu:
That's exactly right. But even with that, however, I have to point out though, yeah, please. There's really a sort of a Chinese schizophrenia. The CCPs mortal enemy is the United States, yet the country, the Chinese people, including the children and relatives of many senior Chinese officials would like to migrate to the United States. So another part of it is, China's best friends forever, BFFs, are North Korea, Russia, and Iran. But no one in China wants to move to those countries. That's kind of ironic. And then finally the CCP’s ultra villain is Japan, yet the top tourist destination for Chinese people is Japan.
Phil Hegseth:
Really?
Miles Yu:
Yeah. And the most treasured CCP possession, according to public pronouncement, is Taiwan. Yet the place that the CCP wants to destroy the most is also Taiwan. So, there is this kind of schizophrenic phenomenon in China. China is a country full of irony, and I blame the CCP squarely because the country, the party controls all the access to information and all the tools that might help interpret the information in the correct way.
Phil Hegseth:
Right. Well, and you can see that in how they gave awards to the woman and they started to really spread that idea. But while at the same time, on the other hand, absolutely hiding, censoring, and in a panic, trying to remove anti-Japanese rhetoric on the social media platforms that led to this kind of thing that they allowed
Miles Yu:
The last refuge of a scoundrel is nationalism, somebody said in the 18th century. But I think they should apply here from a different kind of political background. The Chinese Communist Party really has lost its really legitimacy to rule. So that's why they want to fan the xenophobia, mostly among the young people
Phil Hegseth:
Legitimized by delegitimizing. Nice. Well great for our second topic, the CCPs third plenum, a gathering of CCP leadership to lay out proposed policy reforms is happening this week taking place Monday to Wednesday. You gave us a small introduction to the third plenum a few weeks ago, Miles, actually when we detailed Xi's purging of military leaders and why the timing of that purge mattered and would shake up the CCPs administrative processes, to include the third plenum. So coming full circle on it all, what should we know about the third plenum taking place this week? And does any of it realistically matter since Xi has been making clear that the policies to pursue or his and his alone?
Miles Yu:
Well, the third plenum of the Chinese Communist Party normally is the most important one. Eye catching, I should say under normal circumstances. This year's third plenum started yesterday, Monday, even though it was delayed, it should have taken place in the fall last year. So basically those routines go something like this. Every five years there is a Chinese Communist Party Congress. So, every congress has about seven plenums. So, the third one is usually the most important. Normally a third plenum will take place in the fall. That's where most important decisions are made. In most cases, it will be confirmation of the personnel appointments or dismissals from the first and second plenums. But also most importantly, the focus of the third plenum usually is announcements of the major economic policies. That's why it's very important. I mean, this week Beijing is a city in siege, heavily fortified at key choke points of entrances and exits, all known dissidents have been either run up or disappeared from public held in excommunication because the party normally is in total paranoia when this kind of meeting is taking place. Now I mentioned delayed.
Phil Hegseth:
Yes
Miles Yu
The delay of the third plenum, this year has stimulated all sorts of speculations because the Chinese economy is in a tax and it's just in terrible situation, and the party seems to have run out of ideas. This kind of plenum this week has stimulated all kinds of ideas, even fantasies. The biggest one is the wishful thinking that Xi Jinping is having trouble within the inner circle of the CCP. There's a power struggle of some sort, for China brokers in Wall Street, K Street, and various China whisperers in Washington's think tanks. It is said that there is a pushback against Xi’s hardline policies rekindling the useless and intellectually dishonest promotion of a phantom divide within CCP of a reformers group versus a diehard group. The CCP propaganda machine and the state media, in a week before the opening of the plenum on Monday, said the red line, it was completely dashed any such fantasies and wishful thinking because if you read this report a few days ago, it's basically said, I know the world's speculating about this third plenum, but don't think that we're going to change our basic course of socialism, Marxism-Leninism. And we must summarize and apply the valuable experience of comprehensively deepening reforms in a new era and into six principles. So this party, you said there are six principles. Okay. The first principle is to, I quote, “uphold the overall leadership of the party, firmly safeguard the authority and centralized and unified leadership of the party central committee. Give full play to the core role of the party in overseeing the overall situation and coordinating all parties and integrate the party's leadership into all aspects of reform throughout the entire process to ensure that reform always moves in the correct political direction.”
Phil Hegseth:
Wait, did they need any other points? That's it. That's done. They just need the one.
Miles Yu:
Really, the most important economic policy has to be done by a centralized authority. Xi Jinping himself says the party commands the economy. So that's basically the recipe for disaster. Now, this is not really new. A few months ago in May, Xi Jinping actually said the following, and I believe we quoted him at the time in one of the previous episodes, “no matter how the reform is changed, we must adhere to the party's overall leadership. Adhere to Marxism, adhere to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics adhere to the people's democratic dictatorship, et cetera, et cetera. The fundamentals must not be shaken.” This is from Xi Jinping, so any fantasy about any positive result that will solve China's inherent economic structural problem is just that, is just a fantasy. So that's why I think we should not really succumb to the hype of the third plenum.
Phil Hegseth:
So our final topic today actually surrounds a crucial item in everyone's kitchen. It's cooking oil. The story is actually, this is pretty wild, BBC reported that tankers used for transporting fuel were found to be carrying food products like cooking oil and syrup, and were not decontaminated correctly in between transportations. They went on to say that transporting cooking oil in contaminated fuel trucks was said to have been so widespread it was considered a quote, “ an open secret in the industry” according to one driver speaking to Beijing News. Wow. How does something like this happen, Miles, and what has been the public's reaction? And this affects everyone.
Miles Yu:
Everybody loves Chinese food.
Phil Hegseth:
I do as
Miles Yu:
Well. But do you know the mushu pork, the Peking duck you are eating at a dinner table?
Phil Hegseth:
Do I want to know? Do I want to know?
Miles Yu:
Its very, very likely is contaminated with chemical ingredients. Some kind of a viruses, some kind of bacteria, because the Chinese safety standard, particularly food safety standard is just abysmal. Here is another the example. So, what happened is there is a brave reporter, he followed this idea of this, he followed this company, which is a state-owned company, by the way, that transports routinely a massive amount of kerosene oil they use to light the lights in some countryside they use for other industrial use. Highly, highly toxic. And then he followed this tanker trucks to the destination. So, this tanker truck, there are fewer cargo and they immediately drive to another place and loaded with cooking oil and sometimes soy sauce.
Phil Hegseth:
Oh man.
Miles Yu:
And this has been documented. And this guy basically know, published his report and caused the immediate uproar, in China. You might like the Chinese Communist Party, but you don't like the Chinese Communist Party to give you poison in your food. That's why. But immediately this guy disappeared from public
Phil Hegseth:
I was going to say
Miles Yu:
And his reports were taken down, but the damage is already done. So this is the problem. I think there is a real lack of government due diligence and inspection and regulation on this kind of things that affected millions of Chinese people's lives. The inspections were done very randomly. In most cases, those tanker trucks should never be allowed to carry industrial chemicals as well as food products. And I think it's banned in the United States. Totally different kind of purposes. And the materials used to make those tankers also different. I believe if you are carrying the food products, soy sauce or some other cooking oil is supposed to use stainless steel to make it very, very sort of clean and you have to also clean it. And here's the thing, I mean, in some underdeveloped countries, tanker trucks were allowed to do this kind of things, but you have to really thoroughly clean, thoroughly decontaminate the tanks used for one person before you use to carry another kind of product. In this case, this reporter discovered there has never been any kind of cleanup, and they also interview some of the truck drivers with many, many years of experience and they told them, “Hey listen, not only they didn't clean it and once they did clean it is so noxious you cannot even go in without being knocked out because the fumes were so terrible. The residues of the chemicals, toxic chemicals were so thick.” And it's unbelievable they used this to transport cooking oil and soy sauce. So this is a problem. But then the news control is so thorough, other than the underground discussions, you don't see any kind of a state sponsored media to report on this.
Phil Hegseth:
Well, and there's history here as well. The BBC cited in their report a 2008 milk scandal where 300,000 children got sick and six of them died after drinking powdered milk contaminated with high levels of industrial chemicals. So that negligence has historical precedent and likely points to the unspoken policy of the CCP to use dangerous economic shortcuts at the expense of its own citizens.
Miles Yu:
Oh yeah. I mean, one of the most coveted items in China is a powder milk because the completely discredited state owned enterprise in China that make milk, no mother wants to buy that. So that's why comes like New Zealand, Australia, which make a lot of powdered of milk, make a lot of money in the last several decades. If you're a mother, you was a visit like Hong Kong or Japan, South Korea or New Zealand, the first thing you want to really buy in bulk is powdered of milk. That's safe. You also noticed that if you recall many years ago, there is a contaminated Chinese made dog foods in the United States. Many dogs got sick or even died.
Episode Transcript
This transcription is automatically generated and edited lightly for accuracy. Please excuse any errors.
Phil Hegseth:
No, I didn't know that.
Miles Yu:
Imported the Chinese dog food. So dog owners in America, watch out.
Phil Hegseth:
Good warning to keep in mind as we close out here. Miles, thank you so much as always for your insight and we will check back with you next week.
Miles Yu:
Alright, looking forward to talk to you next week. Thank you, Phil.
Thank you for listening to this episode of China Insider. I'd also like to thank our executive producer, Philip Hegseth, who works tirelessly and professionally behind the scenes for every episode. To make sure we deliver the best quality podcast to you, the listeners, if you enjoy the show, please spread the words for Chinese listeners. Please check our monthly review and analysis episode in Chinese. We'll see you next time.