Wuhan Explosion: What Is the CCP Hiding?

This might be revenge against society, but the CCP won't tell you. Sexy Halloween becomes censored Halloween. And China claims this artillery shell shaped artillery shell is in fact a wine bottle, and poses no threat. That and more on this week's China news headlines. Welcome to China Uncensored, I'm Chris Chappell. Let's begin with an explosive story. An explosion in Wuhan on Monday night killed between 2 people and 19 people, depending on whether you trust state media or internet rumors. State-run media says the incident is under investigation. But, and this may surprise you, people don't trust Chinese state-run media. They don't trust the official police reports either. I wonder why on earth not. And that's why some pretty wild rumors are circulating. According to the Taiwanese Liberty Times, and I'm translating here, online reports suggest the incident may have been an act of revenge against society. In case you don't know, revenge against society is a catch-all term Chinese officials use to describe any mass killing. Like, for example, the time a driver deliberately rammed his car into a crowd in China in November of 2024. Killing 35 and injuring dozens. Which the CCP kept quiet for as long as possible. So what happened this time? Allegedly. Well, the rumors say the suspect placed around a dozen orders on Meituan, which is like DoorDash. He had all the delivery drivers gather inside an apartment, and then set off an explosion, killing many of them. If that's true, it's horrible. But there's practically no way to know. Because the CCP censors revenge against society crimes, believing they were a reflection of the CCP's rule. Which is not necessarily true, but the CCP believing this is kind of a self-own, isn't it? Also, why delivery drivers? If you can't afford to tip them, or not mass murder them, then don't use the service. I've always said that. We may never know exactly how this explosion happened this week in Wuhan, and the CCP will try and make sure of that. Just like they always do. I hope you had a happy Halloween. It's the one night a year where it's socially acceptable to dress up with the goal of scaring children. But in China, even the tamest costumes can scare the Communist Party. For at least the fourth year in a row, Chinese authorities have treated Halloween like a national security threat. Parents in America are worried about razor blades and candy, while the CCP is worried about whimsy and merriment. Police vans and barricades lined Shanghai's nightlife districts on October 30th and 31st. Two Shanghai nightclubs told customers to leave their costumes, masks, and makeup at home. And then there's Hangzhou. Video posted on X appears to show police escorting away someone dressed as Ultraman, the Japanese superhero. He can defeat giant monsters. But he's no match for Chinese police. Now to be fair, Ultraman is Japanese, and China is in a year-long diplomatic feud with Japan. So maybe it wasn't the costume itself. Guess this means people in China shouldn't dress up as Goku. Not just because Vegeta is better. In Shanghai, another video appears to show police taking away two women in provocative costumes, while a crowd surrounds a police van, reportedly demanding they be released. This is what happens when CCP goons upset the gooners. So why are Chinese police cracking down on Halloween? Because back in 2023, young people in Shanghai started showing up in protest costumes, including like mocking the zero Covid lockdowns, the stock market crash, and corrupt officials. Now I guess the CCP is just scared of everything, including a woman dressed up as a sexy scary nurse. So if you're planning to be in China next Halloween, I recommend going somewhere safe, like a different country that respects the rights of its gooners. Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong has been sentenced to 10 years in prison over, quote, foreign collusion. In September, Wong had pleaded guilty to the charges of conspiring to collude with foreign forces because he basically had no way to fight the charges in the rigged court with a pro-CCP judge and no jury. What did Wong do? He called for Western governments to sanction Chinese and Hong Kong officials after the 2019 protests. And he only did that because the CCP violated its treaty with Great Britain that was supposed to keep Hong Kong free until 2047. What's interesting is the propaganda campaign being waged against him on social media. When I saw the news on X, the comments were filled with pro-CCP trolls, possibly bots, trying to justify the harsh sentence. One user says, in the US, it's like 20 years for that. Which is just straight up false. In the US, lobbying foreign countries to sanction your own is protected under free speech. No jail time. Another user calls Wong a western spy and Terrorist, not activist. This user says he should be happy they didn't give him the death penalty. Clown face. When an ex-post is flooded with comments like this, it's meant to give people the impression that everyone thinks Joshua Wong is a traitor, when in fact, very few people think that. And I, having met Joshua Wong several times, can attest that he genuinely cares about Hong Kong's freedoms. But this is one of the subtle ways the CCP does narrative warfare. Whether the posters on social media are Chinese bots, or real people who have been captured by the CCP, the effect is the same. Flood the internet with pro-CCP narratives to drown out voices on the other side. So this 10-year sentence comes after Wong has already been imprisoned continuously for six years on other trumped-up charges. Rights groups say the collusion charge was a deliberate move to keep him locked up indefinitely. His theoretical release date is November 2036. Sooner if the CCP falls before that. When you picture a spy, you might picture this. But when China pictures a spy, it's this. Just some guy with impeccable taste in 90s cartoons. This is Yuan Sicheng. He may not have a tuxedo or an Aston Martin that shoots lasers, but he did get to drop off a backpack in a locker. He and another guy named Li Renlai are two Chinese nationals who've been sentenced to prison for spying as MSS agents. MSS being China's Ministry of State Security, which is like China's own version of the CIA. Specifically, Lai and Chen were gathering intel on U.S. military installations and personnel, including photographing Navy Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Washington, where U.S. ballistic missile submarines and nuclear weapons are stored. And they didn't even photograph it using a cool, fancy watch with a hidden lens. Man, real life spies are so much lamer than the movies. They were also helping the MSS scout potential recruits inside the US Navy. And they were convicted of facilitating covert MSS cash payments of at least $10,000, which includes at least one instance of a backpack full of cash being dropped off in a locker. You know, spy stuff. They were sentenced... To 30 months in prison. Which seems pretty light for a couple of spies, but that's because they weren't actually convicted of spying. Instead, they pleaded guilty to lesser charges, including acting as agents of a foreign government without notifying the Attorney General. Although I don't know how it would have gone if they did notify the Attorney General. The US Navy has been trying to starve the Iranian regime of its funding. One way is by blocking Iran's ports. Big oil tankers aren't getting out anymore. But some of the smaller ones are. Because an Iranian ghost fleet has been filmed evading the US blockade and heading to China. Maybe China will try saying the ghost fleet is just festive for Halloween. But we've already seen how they feel about that holiday. This video was taken by the watchdog group United Against Nuclear Iran, or UANI. UANI says this tanker, the SOGL, loaded about 500,000 barrels of Iranian liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, at an Iranian port in late August. On September 1st, it slipped past the US blockade. How? The usual Ghost Fleet playbook. Switch off your AIS transponder so nobody can track you and fly a false flag. The SOGL has sailed under the flags of Comoros and Zimbabwe, two proud maritime nations, one of which is landlocked. So they know about as much as sailing as Yui Bol knows about making a cinematic masterpiece. The tanker sailed to an offshore anchorage about 70 kilometers off Malaysia, a kind of truck stop for sanctioned ships. On September 16th, UANI chartered a boat and went out to film its refueling. Then UANI says the SOGL sailed north into the South China Sea and unloaded its cargo at a port in China. The US Treasury sanctioned the ship on October 8th, probably after it had already been paid. UANI says China now buys nearly all of Iran's oil and LPG exports at a discount. So while the United States is fighting a war with Iran, Iran's biggest customer is China. To be fair, UANI itself says the US blockade is mostly working. It counts only nine small tankers that have broken through since July, and no crude oil. But China is the reason they're trying in the first place. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said no enabler of Iranian sanctions evasion is safe from the full force of Treasury's authorities. Hmm. In two weeks, Xi Jinping will host President Trump at APEC in Shenzhen, where I hope the topic of China keeping Iran's lights on will come up. You know, the nice thing about hosting a comedy news show that uncensors China is that sometimes the stories just write themselves. You're fired, writers. I don't need you anymore. Hey, why did the teleprompter go blank? Okay, you're unfired writers, watch yourselves. This week, the Chinese embassy suggested that this explosive device found at a Papua New Guinea wharf was actually just a wine bottle that poses no danger. Yep, definitely just a wine bottle. Nothing to see here, folks. The Chinese embassy said that China enforces some of the world's strictest firearm control laws and regulations. Therefore, it is virtually impossible for an illegal military-grade artillery shell to be smuggled out of China to PNG. Now I understand people's inclination to trust the official spokesperson for the communist regime that uses rape as a form of torture. And yet, high-level sources told the ABC, a police report finalized today identified the object as an undetonated, 130mm Chinese Type 59 artillery projectile that contains chemical explosives and a fuse. Also, it weighed 32 kilograms, which is about 70 pounds. So, if it's wine, I would maybe not drink it, since it probably contains an unhealthy amount of lead, which are not the notes you want in the aftertaste. The Papua New Guinea police took four Chinese nationals into custody over the wine bottle, and I suspect they're searching for more illegal wine bottles at the wharf, hopefully before someone scoops them up and tries to use them for revenge against society. Thank you for watching China Uncensored, I'm Chris Chappell, see you next time.