China responds

by fat-shaming her

Welcome to China Uncensored. I'm Chris Chappell.

I know you remember Greta Thunberg,  

the teenage activist who spoke at the  UN Action Climate Summit back in 2019.

“People are suffering. People are dying.  

Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are  in the beginning of a mass extinction,  

and all you can talk about is money and fairy  tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”

Whether you like her or not, there's no doubt  she's become one of the most influential people  

of her generation. She's the youngest  ever Time Magazine Person of the Year.

But in her several years of climate  activism, she's never talked publicly  

about the world's biggest carbon emitter: China.

That is, until last month—when she Tweeted  a link to a CNN article, and wrote this:

“Yes, China is still categorized as a developing  nation by WTO, they manufacture a lot of our  

products and so on. But that's of course no excuse  for ruining future and present living conditions.  

We can't solve the climate crisis unless  China drastically changes course.”

She has a point. China emits 27%  of the world's greenhouse gases,  

according to this 2019 chart by the Rhodium Group.  That's more than all developed nations combined.

So after years of climate activism,  

the entirety of her criticism of China  is one tweet. Rehashing a CNN article.

But the Chinese Communist Party is very sensitive.  

Which is how you know  they're strong and confident.

But even that one tweet was enough to make my  favorite Chinese state-run media The Global Times  

move to attack her—by framing China as  unfairly bullied by the Western world.

They called Greta out on her silence over Japan's  

dumping of radioactive water, proposing that  “If [Thunberg] lashed out at Japan's move,  

it will not be consistent with Western  mainstream political posture. Therefore,  

to cater to them, Thunberg has remained  silent in a bid to protect her own interests.”

Yeah, how dare she not point out  Japan's dumping of radioactive water.

Except for that time she did.

And that other time she did.

But maybe Chinese state-run media didn't see  those tweets, because Twitter is banned in  

China. Although that doesn't stop The Global  Times from having its own Twitter account.

But enough about Chinese state-run media's  

hypocrisy. This is about  Greta Thunberg's hypocrisy!

The point is, she's a  “double-standard environmentalist”  

and a “puppet of Western politicians.”

You know, the one's she routinely criticizes.

A few hours after that article, The Global  Times doubled down with another one—that  

denies China's carbon emissions, and belittles  Thunberg's understanding of climate change.

“Thunberg, who at age 15 started skipping  school on Fridays for her climate protests,  

is merely 18 years old this  year. She is short of sufficient  

academic knowledge study, and lack of  sound self-judgment capability. Girl  

like her is prone to be affected or even  manipulated by some political forces.”

“Academic knowledge study”? “Girl like her  

is prone to be affected”? Sounds like the  translator also skipped school on Fridays.

And other Chinese state media  joined in on the group criticism.

China Daily called Greta Thunberg a  “Swedish Environmentalist Princess”  

who “Should Reduce Her Own Carbon Emissions”. Wait a minute, is that a fart joke?

“The princess had never planted a tree or  planted a piece of grass in the desert. Instead,  

she ran around. She held a lot of protesting  cards, which polluted the environment.”

Yeah, unlike China, which has  planted 20 million trees in Xinjiang!

Yes, the Communist Party is planting  trees in an area with almost no water,  

attempting to transform desert into a forest!  See? China is a leader in climate change!

But China Daily continued  to attack Greta Thunberg.  

They posted this unflattering photo of her,  saying “Although she claims to be vegan,  

judging from how she looks, her carbon  emissions are not so low herself.”

Ohhh ok it's not a fart joke, it's a fat  joke. Stay classy, Chinese state-run media.

This is a common tactic for the Chinese  regime. When they have trouble defending  

themselves over what someone says, they  go on the offensive, and launch personal  

attacks on whoever said the thing they're mad  about. This is called “poisoning the well.”

Here's another example.  

When female victims of Uyghur genocide spoke out  about rape used as a form of torture in Xinjiang,  

Chinese foreign minstry spokesperson Wang Wenbin  didn't try to prove their claims were false.

Instead, he held up their photos, and called  them liars; he said one was "morally depraved"  

and of "inferior character",  and accused another of adultery.

Here's another example of poisoning the well.  During Taiwan's 2016 presidential elections,  

Chinese officials did whatever  they could to criticize  

Democratic Progressive Party  candidate Tsai Ing-wen.

But instead of pointing out flaws in her policy,  

they claimed Tsai was incapable of  leading, because she's an unmarried woman,  

with “no emotional burdens of love, family  constraints, and no children's concerns.”

So it's no surprise that China's  response to Greta Thunberg criticizing  

China's carbon emissions was... to fat-shame her.

Unfortunately, when you fat-shame  someone, it often backfires.

Greta Thunberg just owned it.

“Being fat-shamed by Chinese state owned media is  a pretty weird experience even by my standards.  

But it's definitely going on my resume.”

And thanks to criticism from Chinese state-run  media, Greta Thunberg got a lot more attention  

than she would have from her one original China  Tweet. Even people who don't really like her  

are now defending her from attacks by the  powerful machinery of an authoritarian state.

And this just makes her even more influential.

To which I say, I've been criticising the  Chinese Communist Party for 8 years!!!  

Where's *my* Hulu documentary?! . Where's *my*  three-part PBS series?! . Where's *my* life size  

bronze statue at a third tier British university!? .

Look, I'm not jealous. I  just don't like hypocrisy.

And now it's time to answer a question  from you—my amazing viewers who support  

China Uncensored through the  crowdfunding website Patreon.

Travis Friesen asks, "With China being a 'near  Arctic nation', do you think it will stake out  

claims in the Arctic in the same way it tries  to claim the entirety of the South China Sea?"

Yes, Travis. Yes they will.

And I can predict this with confidence,  because it's already been happening.China  

might not be able to claim the Arctic has  been part of China since ancient times.  

At least until they find a giant  panda frozen in an iceberg.

But they've been trying to insert  themselves into Arctic decision-making,  

despite not being one of the eight  countries that borders the arctic.

In 2013, China joined the  Arctic Council as an observer.

Five years later, China declared  itself a “near arctic state”.

And soon, China will claim it has a right  to make decisions in the region, because so  

many Chinese ships go through the Arctic—now more  than ever, since the polar ice caps are melting.  

Thanks to climate change. Which China is  totally not contributing to, so shut up, Greta!

Thanks for your question, Travis.

Be like Travis, and join us on  Patreon.com/ChinaUncensored.  

Contribute a dollar or more per episode,  

and you'll get cool perks, like the chance  to have me answer your question on the show.

The link is below.

Once again, I'm Chris Chappell.  Thanks for watching China Uncensored.