Are We Nearing the End?

US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are finally meeting face-to-face again. And the results are hilarious. That and more on this week's China news headlines. Welcome to China Uncensored, I'm Chris Chappell. Finally, after more than a month-long delay due to the Iran War, which is still going on by the way, US President Donald Trump has made it to China to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The summit started off with all sorts of pomp and circumstance, with Trump and Xi inspecting a joint military honor guard for receiving their own private parade. Xi shook hands with Secretary of the Treasury Scott Besson, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and even Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is technically banned from entering China for criticizing China's human rights abuses. But they let him in anyway, saying, the sanctions target Mr. Rubio's words and deeds when he served as a US senator concerning China. Which is to say, now that he's the Secretary of State, he's basically a different man. And they mean that literally. Because right before Rubio became the Secretary of State in January of 2025, the Chinese government and official media began transliterating the first syllable of his name with a different Chinese character for Lu. That's right, they literally changed his name. Not however some media outlets have claimed just in time for the summit though. Rubio also decided to wear his finest Maduro chic. I wonder if he's trying to tell Xi something. Of course, Xi was ready with his usual pleasantries. China and the United States both stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation. We should be partners, not rivals. We should help each other succeed and prosper together, and find the right way for major countries to get along well with each other in the new era. Which sounds basically like every statement Xi gives with every country he has talks with. We know the end results. And then there was Trump's turn. We're going to have a fantastic future together. Such respect for China, the job you've done. You're a great leader. I say it to everybody, you're a great leader. Sometimes people don't like me saying it, but I say it anyway because it's true. I only say the truth. But it's an honor to be with you. It's an honor to be your friend. And the relationship between China and the USA is going to be better than ever before. Thank you very much. Thank you. It sounds basically like Trump being Trump, with just a little bit of playing on Xi's ego thrown in for good measure. But enough diplomatic crosstalk. What was actually on the table? Well, there's a lot that we don't know yet since Trump is still in China. But given the number of US tech executives Trump took with him, I think it's safe to say that business was a topic of conversation. And tech. Also attending is Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who was apparently a last minute addition to the trip. A lot of these moguls do a ton of business in China, so this might seem like just a little bit of a conflict of interest. But it's also entirely possible that those business interests might give Trump leverage in trade negotiations. And tech negotiations. So what else did Trump and Xi talk about? Well, Taiwan, of course. Chinese state-run media reported that Xi warned Trump differences over Taiwan could bring the US and China to clashes or conflict. After all, a couple of days before the visit, the Chinese embassy in Washington posted this graphic outlining four red lines for the US-China relationship, including Taiwan, democracy and human rights, paths and political systems, and China's right to development. So basically, China should just be able to do whatever it wants, no matter how evil, without any criticism from the US. And I thought Iran's red lines for talks were bad. But while that definitely put a damper on all the poppin' circumstance during the visit, including having these kids standing outside waiting for Trump for who knows how long, beautiful smoggy day, by the way. The People's Liberation Army military band was even playing the YMCA at the end of the state banquet. I think they know how to get Trump on his feet. Though Melania apparently isn't a fan. She hates when I dance to what's sometimes referred to as the gay national anthem. I'm beginning to get worried about how far Trump is taking this bromance with Xi. And we're going to have a fantastic future together. But it's important to remember the context of these talks. Trump nabbed up Maduro, bombed Iran, has put massive tariffs on China, just to name a few. So for all of the friendly smiles, these two men are at war with each other. And it looks like Trump is absolutely in his element. Although Iran didn't physically have a representative at the Trump-Xi China summit, it would seem that they were there in spirit. One day before the summit, multiple Chinese-linked tanker ships carrying liquefied natural gas and oil, supposedly from Iraq, crossed the Strait of Hormuz. And turned off their transponders near the Gulf of Oman. So did they pay an Iranian toll in UN, as the Islamic Republic has been trying to formalize? Was Trump being nice before his meeting and letting them pass the US blockade? Who knows. But this is certainly not as secretive as the CCP thought it was. On the same day, the US issued new sanctions over Iran's oil shipments to China. Coincidence? I think not. Ok, actually, since sanctions usually take a while to put in place, it probably was a coincidence. Also on the sanctions list were entities that aid the Iranian military, including three Chinese satellite companies that reportedly provided Iran with imagery of US military positions during the Iran War. The companies were EarthEye, Mizar Vision, and Changguang Satellite Technology. But I'm sure Xi was able to convince Trump that it was just an accident. A carefully coordinated, three-way, coincidental accident. All this comes after China told several of its banks to ignore US sanctions on Chinese refineries, only to tell its banks to freeze refinery loans one week later. But China isn't totally abandoning Iran here. After all, according to senior US officials, Chinese firms have been secretly plotting arms sales to Iran, mostly by hiding the shipments sent through third countries. So as far as the banks are concerned, clearly this is more like putting things on pause. Possibly to curry favor with the Trump administration. Kind of like sweeping all your trash under the rug right before guests arrive, hoping they don't ask why your rug is so bulging and bumpy. Secretary of State Marco Rubio does seem to think the US and China have found common ground on Iran. The Chinese side said they are not in favor of militarizing the Straits of Hormuz, and they're not in favor of a tolling system. And that's our position. I'm sad he ditched the tracksuit. China also apparently agreed that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, while expressing interest in buying more American oil. China also recently reiterated its support for Pakistan's mediatory role in US-Iran dialogue. So good news on top of good news, right? And wait, there's more. An anonymous senior White House official told Politico that China has pressed Iran on coming to a deal. With friends like these, am I right? If that tingling feeling you may be having at this point is some form of hope or optimism, allow me to bring you back down to Earth. Because the CCP is still actively at war with the West. A UK immigration officer is among two men found guilty of working for Chinese intelligence as part of a so-called shadow policing operation to track down Hong Kong dissidents overseas. The two men, Terlong Peter Wai and Chengbiao Bill Yuan, also apparently brought in the third man, former Royal Marine and Border Force officer Matthew Trickett. But he apparently unalived himself around the time Wai and Yuan were caught. Which is a reminder to reach out to your friends and talk to them. But I'm not being Chinese spies. London is summoning China's ambassador in the aftermath of the charges, but I'm not really sure what's the point. Does London think the accused deserve a pat on the back and thank you from their boss? But much closer to home, in Arcadia, California, once best known for troll hunters, Mayor Aileen Wang has resigned and admitted to being an agent for China. Which is terrible. The troll hunters got cancelled before this as it would have made for the craziest season ever. We've covered this case before. Wang's ex-fiancée and former campaign manager, Yaoning Mike Sun, was sentenced to four years in prison for acting as an agent for the CCP to get Wang elected. Previously, Wang denied knowing anything about what Sun was doing. But I hope you're sitting for this one. It turns out Chinese spies are kind of big fat liars. Wang and Sun allegedly worked together in running a website called US News Center, supposedly a news source for Chinese Americans, but actually a pro-CCP propaganda front they were ordered to run by China. It's also worth remembering that she was the mayor! She was so corrupt, she made Mayor Quimby look like... well, I don't really trust any politician, but you get my point. She's also in communication with John Chen, who we've also talked about before. He was the guy that got 20 months in prison for trying to bribe a federal tax agent to remove the tax-exempt status of Shen Yun, the classical Chinese dance show that was founded by Falun Gong practitioners in America and described itself as China before communism. Wang asked Chen, who has met with Xi and attended high-level CCP meetings, to share one of his articles on her website, saying it was what the Chinese foreign ministry wanted. All of this is bad news for American Democrats, because it turns out that Wang donated to the Democrat PAC Act Blue, which has come under scrutiny for taking foreign donations. Which, like barf on an elevator, is messy on many levels. Let's not forget that Democratic Representative Judy Chu honored Wang as Woman of the Year in 2024. Which is ridiculous, because the woman of the year, every year, is my mom. And as if having a Chinese agent as a mayor wasn't bad enough, a US citizen has been convicted of running a secret Chinese police station in New York City. A week-long trial in a New York federal court found that 64-year-old Bronx resident Lu Harry Jianwang opened and operated the first known such station on behalf of China's Ministry of Public Security, or MPS. The station was in an unassuming building in Manhattan's Chinatown neighborhood, and apparently was used since 2022 to track Chinese dissidents. Two years ago, Lu's co-defendant, 60-year-old Chen Jingping, no relation to Xi Jingping, pleaded guilty for opening a similar office in Lower Manhattan. He is still awaiting sentencing, while Lu is facing charges of illegally serving as an agent of China along with obstruction of justice, and could face up to three decades behind bars. Both men allegedly destroyed text messages from MPS officials upon learning that they were under investigation. Which totally isn't shady at all. I wonder if all these CCP agents being revealed and arrested as Trump lands in Beijing is meant to send a message. And if you want more analysis on Trump's visit to Beijing, subscribe to our free weekly newsletter on Substack. Every week, you'll get content that I don't put anywhere else. And it's an important way to fight YouTube's suppression of our channel. We publish 4 episodes a week, but YouTube is probably not notifying you about all of them. They've been suppressing our channel for years. But if you're subscribed to our newsletter, we'll send you links to every episode we publish that week, plus some fun bonuses. All for free. So click below to sign up now. Once again, I'm Chris Chappell. See you next time.