Transcription
Have you said something bad about China online? Maybe even in a conversation with a friend? Maybe even a negative thought about China crossed your mind, even for a fleeting moment? Well, this video is for you.
First off, disclaimer: Chinese government bad, Chinese people good. They don't have a choice; they have to live in a shitty dictatorship that has a nine out of 100 on the Freedom House Index. I lived in China for 10 years, and the current geopolitical shift that is happening around the world right now means that China needs a drastic update in terms of how safe it is and how safe countries under its influence are for people who may have said something bad about China online or in real life. For real though, we need an update like right now, cuz if you look at stuff from like 10 years ago, it's largely irrelevant. China has become a true dystopian nightmare.
Like I said, I lived there for 10 years, and there was a whirlwind of change even when I was there, and it's gotten so much worse. It went from a place that was kind of opening up to the world—well, at least it looked like it—and it became a paranoid hermit state, kind of like North Korea, that forbids any criticism and punishes anyone who dares to speak out. You don't want to end up in a death van. China has now graduated from paranoid hermit state to paranoid hermit state that wants to control the world, and because of that, it's been buying and coercing countries to bend to its whim.
I will rank, on a tier list, which countries are the best and the worst for you to travel to or live in if you have ever said anything bad about China on the internet or real life, etc. You wouldn't stick your finger in a light socket, would you? Then why would you use the internet without a VPN? It's super dangerous going online without a VPN, and the best VPN out there is Surfshark VPN. Surfshark masks and encrypts your internet connection so that nobody can see what you're doing, and that includes your personal details, your credit card information, and all the information that you put, put out there online. Not only that, Surfshark keeps you safe from all that danger, but it also acts as a very convenient tool to be able to hop around and get different prices on hotels or car rentals based on where your VPN is connected. It's super easy to connect to the fastest server by default, and you can use Surfshark on unlimited devices. That means just one account for every device that you have. Get on Surfshark VPN and stay safe. Go to Surfshark.com/la86 and get up to 4 months free. That's Surfshark.com/la86, and you'll get those 4 months for free. Thanks.
All right, let's start out on the uh, safest tier here. In the safest tier here, on the S tier, these are going to be countries that if you talk about China, not only is it safe for you to travel there, but again, you could actually call these places home. Sweden ranks way up there; it's got very good progressive policies; it's known for humanitarian policies that protect people that speak out against dictatorships; there's an open society where most people are kind of on your side, that they don't like oppressive regimes. You have Finland, very, very similar circumstance here; high regard for human rights; very, very happy country, by the way. Loved my time in Finland; fantastic place. Kos, uh, high freedom of expression; Norway as well. Little bit of a trend here with the Scandinavian countries; very, very high level of human rights. You're going to be safe if you're in Norway if you're talking about China online, especially about the government. Good for you to live and hide; just be careful of the prices. It is unbelievable, I kid you not. When I went to Norway as a college student, I paid $111 for a very small pizza and a beer, and I nearly went broke after a week of being there. It is truly pricey. Switzerland also S tier; it's always been a refuge for dissidents, so if you speak out against some oppressive government, a lot of your compeers are probably already there in, in Switzerland. So its neutral status gives it a lot of uh, leeway, so that China can't really pull too many strings because it's not allied or aligned with China or really anyone. Still, the UK is S tier; S tier for the UK, which is great; still a very safe place for people that speak out against suppressive regimes. And of course, the mac daddy of them all, still the USA is a safe haven for people that speak out against the Chinese government. In fact, it's probably the best place to be. China is definitely not ideologically in line with the US on really anything. This is the place you want to be; strong asylum program for people that are trying to flee oppression, so this is probably your best bet. These countries though, all in the S tier, great places to travel to, great places to live if you have spoken out against the Chinese government, cuz remember, they will find you, and they will throw you in a death van.
On A tier, these are like very, very, very safe. Now, I might not, if I was like a high-level dissident, if I was a high-level dis—if I was myself, I might not live in these places, but I think these places are absolutely fine to travel to. These places are not super aligned with China really in any way, shape, or form. Uh, we have most EU countries, so most of the EU countries are going to provide asylum for dissidents; they're going to be relatively safe; they're not going to allow China to step on people in that country; Canada as well; strong human rights protection; a very popular place for people to immigrate to and leave oppressive regimes; still fantastic candidate for a safe haven for a dissident. Australia as well. I can, I can say Australia and New Zealand mirror Canada sentiment as well; pretty safe we've seen uh, for people that speak out against the Chinese government. In fact, a lot of dissidents, like uh, Bota, for example, the famous Chinese dissident artist, he fled to Australia and lives there. Both Japan and South Korea have a very, very vibrant dissident community against China; these are two countries where you can feel relatively safe that China is not going to send the long arm of their Mafia-like law to come and capture you and to put you in a black bag in the back of a death van.
So that was A tier. Now, on B tier, I'm going to say these are lower risk; like these aren't super high-risk countries, but they are countries that have been cozying up to China a little bit more, so I would exert a bit of caution. I would say if you had to go to these places, you're probably fine; if you're living in these places, you're probably fine. I probably wouldn't be a super high-level, you know, China dissident because of what could potentially long-term might happen to you, but again, relatively safe. B tier, I'm going to say Bulgaria; it's got EU membership, so it has to adhere to EU principles. That being said, this is a country that has a lot of dealings with China, especially more and more recently; that means there's potential for coercion in Bulgaria. Uh, I would say Greece, very similar circumstance here; Greece tends to buck the friend a little bit with the EU and has been cozying up to China, at least for some certain projects, which could, you know, in lo—especially local jurisdictions that have cozied up to China—may put you at some sort of risk. In South America, Chile, or Chile, this country has a pretty good human rights record in, in regards to, you know, people speaking out against dictatorships or fleeing dictatorships because they've had to deal with things themselves; has not had a massive track record with, you know, sending people back to China on behalf of China, so it's been a relatively safe haven for people that would speak out against the Chinese government. Mexico is, is an interesting one. I think you would generally be safe because Mexico is not like aligned with China in any way; in fact, there, even despite what's going on right now, are much closer to the US. Uh, that being said, just the potential for crime in Mexico means that you could potentially be the target of some sort of political retaliation, and then maybe it's uh, dressed up like some sort of uh, you know, local CME time or you got into the wrong place at the wrong time type of thing, so that's kind of concerning. Uh, that being said, I think it's relatively safe. Brazil as well; this is a country that has quickly fallen under Chinese influence; again, still probably much more aligned with the West; wouldn't be too concerned about it, but, you know, with crime right there, similar to Mexico, you might be in a situation where you could be the victim of a crime that turns out, maybe, maybe China had something to do with it. That's just a theory. Also, I'm going to throw in India; India, not aligned with China whatsoever, but not the safest country in the world; uh, that being said, actually, I think India would be safer than most of these countries on the B tier list here. I think their historical stance of having dissent against governments like that's, that makes it kind of an okay thing, especially if it was against like a foreign government or an adversarial government. India kind of considers China like not an enemy, but like definitely a strong adversary, so I think you'd be fine there.
Now we're going to be moving on to the C tier, which I'm going to declare as moderately dangerous. Uh, these are countries where I think you would actually run into some problems if China really had it out for you. If you were like a low-level dissident or you just said some stuff online, or it wasn't that big of a deal, it didn't like gain massive traction, or it didn't piss off the government enough, I think you'd probably be fine in these places, but this is where you have to start actually being concerned. Pakistan, very engaged with China economically; therefore, probably a massive uh, po—tial for doing things on behalf of China to make China happy. I would be very careful in Pakistan. Malaysia, very safe country; I think this is a country where you don't have too much concern; however, they're deepening ties with China. I think if you were high enough on that list where China was like looking for you because you were organizing protests or something, I think Malaysia might not be a safe bet for you anymore. That's something I would have had a different opinion of like years ago, but I think has become increasingly more under China's fold. Serbia is an interesting one; I mean, this is a European country; this is a country right on the border of EU states, right? Serbia is deeply under control of China now; in fact, I would say that their government is tantamount almost to a satellite state. That being said, I don't think they're willing to go full on like, like go after protesters that were anti-China or anti-Chinese government, I should say, because there have been recent protests, successful protests, like where people have gone out and actually protested against China because of these failed infrastructure projects, these failed BRI, Belt and Road Initiative projects, uh, with things falling down and actually killing people. Um, so I would say huge Chinese influence in Serbia, probably a lot of political influence as well. I think they have a joint police force, in fact. Uh, that being said, I don't think they're willing to piss off the entire world community to the extent of like just going after China dissidents. Venezuela is a tricky one. I think the politic—ic chaos and the amount of Chinese influence that China has been, you know, exerting over Venezuela has made it a very risky place to be if you were a China dissident. I think you would be afforded some sort of cover because of how crazy it is there, so maybe you could kind of just blend in with the chaos. Given there is a relationship with China at a political level, I don't think they would go after dissidents like super, super hardcore like some of the other places we're going to mention, but I would exert caution for sure. Uh, Algeria, longstanding uh, tradition of uh, going after dissidents, and with the recent China connection, I would be exerting definite, definite caution if I was in Algeria. Uh, Turkey as well; Turkey's relationship with China is very weird, um, but it is not necessarily consistent, and that kind of makes things a little bit worrying for me; the relationship with the whole Uighur uh, dissidents and people Uighur running away from western China and the complicated process that they have in Turkey and it becoming an increasingly more dangerous place for them to be uh, as China dissidents. I would say I'm putting that on the C list. Now, I, it wouldn't be there before.
Now let's just jump straight into the F list. This is the list of countries where if you were a China dissident, this country would actively go and take you and either send you to China or do something about you in their own country for China and report back to them. Like this is, this is the top worst places that you absolutely do not want to be if you have any sort of presence speaking out against the Chinese government or Chinese oppression. I would not go near these places. This is F tier. First of all, is Egypt. Egypt looks to be collaborating with China on repression, silencing opponents; um, I think it's a very, very dicey place to be with Egypt trying to score points with China right now. I wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole. I have a runner-up here where I don't know where to put it right now, but Thailand. I would previously have put it maybe on a B or a C tier; I'm probably going to lean towards F tier now because they have forcibly removed Uighurs and sent them back to China. I mean, these are just people that wanted to practice their religion, fled China because of persecution and going to concentration camps; there's a genocide in western China right now, and then being sent back by Thailand. Thailand was kind of a safe haven before; I'm going to downgrade them probably to F tier; they're somewhere in the middle there. Russia. Russia is now cooperating with China on many, many things now, as you probably saw in my last video. If you haven't seen it yet, Russia and China are no friends; they are definitely not friends, and they're probably not even ideologically in line with a lot of things; they don't trust each other, but right now, given the current climate with China and Russia trying to kind of move away from the West and try to control their spheres of influence, they are collaborating on things like propaganda or restrictions on freedom of speech or trade and things like this, so I would definitely not go to Russia if you're a China dissident. Burma. Burma is not only a dangerous country; Myanmar, you might know it as uh, but China has so much control over some of the actual regions of Burma that there are parts of Burma that actually use Chinese, the Chinese language and the Chinese currency, the RMB, and actually have just become de facto territories of China; therefore, right now, I would not touch Burma with a 10-foot pole; would not go to Myanmar; I think they would literally take care of you for China. Kazakhstan is very unfortunate because this is a country that was kind of opening up; it's an ex-Soviet state; it wasn't super tight with China, but it is now looking like it will do things on behalf of the Chinese government through sheer coercion. I think if you were a dissident, Kazakhstan would either send you back or they would do something with you at home now, and that's just unfortunate. I've always had a very deep interest in going to Central Asia, especially Kazakhstan; those countries are very, very interesting to me; I probably wouldn't go to any of them anymore due to Chinese influence. Lao. Lao is basically a China satellite state, by the way; these are getting worse as I go up. Lao is a straight-up China satellite state; Lao will take you and do something about you for China, probably without even asking, to be honest. This is a, I mean, like China's basically taken over Lao's economy; they've taken over their political influence; they've taken over everything with the Belt and Road Initiative. When I was in Lao with my wife, we were already seeing things back in like, I don't know, 2010 or something, of these areas that were under Chinese control; the signs were only in Chinese; they were only hiring Chinese workers to like harvest uh, rubber; all of these things were kind of quickly falling under China's influence; um, so I would definitely not go there. Cambodia is absolutely a no-go; it's basically another satellite state, just like Lao; it's fully under China's control; not only is it under Chinese government control, but it's also under Chinese Mafia control. I mean, these are where all the scams are coming from, where there's all this human trafficking, and people have become slaves in those like texting centers where they send you these texts that try to make you send money to them and stuff; Pig butchering scams is what they're called. Anyway, Cambodia is, it's a no-go, 100% F tier; do not go there if you said anything bad about China. Also Iran. Iran is not a client state of China, but it's definitely aligned with China right now. I would say I would not go to Iran; I, I don't know if many people are planning on going to Iran right now, but I would not go to Iran right now if I were a China dissident at all. I think they would immediately send you to China or again, do something with you domestically on behalf of China. Vietnam is an interesting one. Vietnam has a pretty poor relationship with China, and I, I throw a caveat in here; I think that unfortunately, politically, they're both communist countries; they're both authoritarian countries; they don't get along with each other; they don't like each other; in fact, I would say Vietnam has a massive disdain for China and actually likes the US a hell of a lot more than China; um, so as an American, I probably wouldn't be too concerned because I don't think Vietnam wants to like flush the relationship with the US down the toilet, but if you were a Chinese dissident, I think for political clout, you would not be safe at all in Vietnam simply because the political ideology aligns, and Vietnam and China would say, hey, we don't like when people protest, or we don't like when people step out against the government; we don't like when people are, are talking trash about us online to try to delegitimize our authoritarian control; we'll help each other out in that form. U, so I would not go there if you're a China dissident. And number one, absolutely positively is North Korea. North Korea is owned by China; they pretty much, although they exude this kind of uh, this crazy rogue foreign policy, China at the end of the day dictates what North Korea can and can't do, and they act actively find people that flee North Korea, send them back to North Korea, and vice versa, people that are ending up in North Korea somehow and that are under the scrutiny of the Chinese government; North Korea will send them back in 2 seconds if not do something much worse way ahead of time. This is something that is incredibly dicey; I would say I would never consider some sort of like North Korea, Pyongyang tour or whatever if you are not in good favor with the Chinese government; they will make political fodder out of you. Of course, F minus tier would be to go to China itself. I would not be going on any sort of flights if you were a China dissident; I wouldn't even, I wouldn't even be connecting through Hong Kong now; I think that's too dicey. I think we are now in a situation where China's exerted so much control around the world that I would be very careful about where you're going uh, if you have any sort of, I don't know, public presence of being against the Chinese government. And unfortunately, I see more countries falling into this fold rather than less, um, but I do hope that at least Western countries stay robust in their fight against the Chinese government oppression are still welcome to Chinese dissidents, the people that have, you know, risked their lives to speak out against the Chinese government and oppression and their human rights abuses, and I hope that uh, the world does head in a better trajectory towards China as China kind of alienates itself with its economic downturn as well as its horrible track record of getting more and more like a hermit state, an oppressive regime; uh, so hopefully the world heads in a better direction; hopefully China heads in a better direction as well; um, I think as somebody that deeply cares about China, that loves China, that learned about China, that lived in China, that speaks Chinese, I hope China ends up on a different path; uh, but we can only hope for the best.
If you want to stay up to date on China's current events, so we're talking what's viral, what's happening both politically and in society, then you're going to want to go over to the China Show. It's pretty much the only place you need to be if you want to stay abreast of what's happening in China. We get video clips from people sending them out of China; we talk about the stuff that mainstream media won't even touch; we go into the economic collapse that China is going through right now; you're definitely going to want to be there if you want to stay up to date on what's happening in China. If you want to go see my secret show, in fact, we just did a Chinese beer versus American beer versus European beer tier list the other day. What did I tell you to make our background today? You wanted like some Irish landscape with some garbage like that. What did you say? I said that's not jovio, do get better local beers. Yeah, but you never know what they're made out of, like urine from a pig. You know, these people are missing eyes; they're like weird, like, no, but they're questioning your saying Elijah Wood was a heart throb. I, if that's any good; everyone's having a laugh and a snigger; the guy comes back, starts drinking his pissing Coke, consider Coke, this is like flat coffee; it's cold. This, by the way, I just want to say I wore green for, for those of you who remember, uh, go to patron.com/podcasts; it's currently half price right now; you'll get access to my secret show; it's called Shaban Ho After Hours; you'll get access to 100-plus episodes, but we ranked blind taste test; had ranked Chinese beers versus all different beers from around the world to see where they'd end up, and it was really, really fun. Thank you so much, and I'll catch you on the next, next one.