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How China shadow-banned Donald Trump · The Front

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Thursday May seven, twenty twenty six. Three Northern Territory
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: child protection workers have been stood down while the department
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  Speaker 1: investigates its role in the case of Kumenjai Little Baby.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: The Australian revealed the five year old was the subject
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  Speaker 1: of six child protection notices in the weeks leading up
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  Speaker 1: to her death. It looks like voters in the federal
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  Speaker 1: seat of Farah will deliver an historic Lower House victory
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  Speaker 1: to Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party on Saturday. That exclusive
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  Speaker 1: analysis is live now at the Australian dot Com dot
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  Speaker 1: U roll out the red carpet and polish the golden chopsticks.
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  Speaker 1: Donald Trump is heading to Beijing beneath the glitz. There's
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  Speaker 1: serious tension in this relationship as China backs Iran, defies
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  Speaker 1: US sanctions and even stops its citizens reading books by
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  Speaker 1: or about the Donald. Our correspondent Jonny Bishan is here
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  Speaker 1: in just a moment. I don't do it for the money.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: I've got enough, much more than I'll ever need.
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  Speaker 2: I do it to do it.
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  Speaker 3: Deals are my art forum.
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  Speaker 1: Other people paint beautifully on canvas, or write wonderful poetry.
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  Speaker 1: I like making deals, preferably big deals. That's how I
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  Speaker 1: get my kicks. That's how Donald Trump opened up his
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  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty seven book The Art of the Deal. Back
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  Speaker 1: then he was a Manhattan property developer, and that recording
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  Speaker 1: is from the audible version of his book. Trump's written
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  Speaker 1: a bunch of self help books since then. The Best
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  Speaker 1: Golf Advice I Ever received and How to Get Rich
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  Speaker 1: are highlights. When he set his sights on politics this century,
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  Speaker 1: he turned to political books like How to Make America
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  Speaker 1: Great Again and Save America. But if you live in China,
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  Speaker 1: you won't be able to read them.
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  Speaker 3: Early on, when I arrived in China roughly four months ago,
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  Speaker 3: I started looking for what books by Donald Trump might
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  Speaker 3: become available, anticipating that he would be coming to China,
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  Speaker 3: which he will be next week.
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  Speaker 1: Joanni Vashan is The Australian's North Asia correspondent.
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  Speaker 3: And so along my journey, wherever I would be, whether
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  Speaker 3: it's in Beijing or Shanghai or somewhere further down south
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  Speaker 3: of the country, I would always, where possible, walk into
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  Speaker 3: a bookstore Chinese or English language, and I would just
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  Speaker 3: ask the people why the counter, or go fossicking through
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  Speaker 3: the kind of bookshelves at the back of the store
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  Speaker 3: trying to find anything in English. And it was always
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  Speaker 3: a point of curiosity. Could you find Donald Trump's books?
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  Speaker 3: And it's actually really difficult to find, even the self
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  Speaker 3: help books, even something as prominent and best selling as
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  Speaker 3: The Art of the Deal, It's really hard to find.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, those are not the books I found in
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  Speaker 2: the bookstores.
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  Speaker 3: The only Donald Trump book I have managed to find
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  Speaker 3: in any bookstore in Beijing was actually written by a
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  Speaker 3: Chinese state media journalist, and that was written in twenty seven.
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  Speaker 3: It was a critique or a commentary on Donald Trump
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  Speaker 3: and his presidency at the time.
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  Speaker 2: But if you want to buy.
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  Speaker 3: Even something as anodyne as The Art of the Deal,
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  Speaker 3: you have to go online to find it. And even
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  Speaker 3: there it might be from a second hand bookstore or
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  Speaker 3: some of the location.
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  Speaker 2: But very very tricky to.
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  Speaker 3: Find a book written by one of the best selling
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  Speaker 3: author obviously and one of the most talked about people
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  Speaker 3: on the planet.
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  Speaker 1: It's funny, isn't it. I mean, at twenty years ago
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  Speaker 1: or thirty years ago, I could imagine that Donald Trump
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  Speaker 1: in China would be seen as a sort of capitalist
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  Speaker 1: running dog whose ideas were just two ins injury for
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  Speaker 1: Chinese people to be able to handle. I mean, that's
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  Speaker 1: obviously no longer the case. China is, although nominally a
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  Speaker 1: communist state, very much a market economy. You know, there
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  Speaker 1: are plenty of people who want to know how to
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  Speaker 1: get rich and get the kind of golf advice that
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  Speaker 1: Donald Trump is written about in some of his other books.
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  Speaker 1: So what do you think is the actual reason for that?
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  Speaker 1: Is it that the rise of Trump as a political
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  Speaker 1: figure is involves too much criticism of China.
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  Speaker 3: It just depends, I should add the books written about
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  Speaker 3: Donald Trump, not even by Donald Trump, but just about
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  Speaker 3: Donald Trump and about his presidency, even those can't be found.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, there are exceptions to this. So it would
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  Speaker 3: seem that books that are critical of Trump. So Bob
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  Speaker 3: Woodwood has a book called Fear, which is about Trump
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  Speaker 3: and his presidency, very critical, very unflattering, that you can
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  Speaker 3: find online here in China. Same with some of Michael
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  Speaker 3: Wolfe's insider accounts of Trump's time in office, those can
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  Speaker 3: be found, you know. Trying to get to a single
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  Speaker 3: answer of why Trump's books and Trump's opinions about the world.
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  Speaker 3: Trying to get to the nucleus of why that's not
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  Speaker 3: available is tricky, and the closest I got was speaking
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  Speaker 3: to a prominent bookseller here in Beijing, who, like most
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  Speaker 3: people here, they asked to speak on the basis of
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  Speaker 3: that antonimity.
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  Speaker 2: It's just easier to speak that way, they can speak
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  Speaker 2: more freely.
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  Speaker 3: And his words to me were that the Chinese administration
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  Speaker 3: they fear Trump, they don't understand Trump, they don't maubt
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  Speaker 3: how to countenance his volatility as a leader, and they
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  Speaker 3: don't really know how to interpret him. So it's just
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  Speaker 3: easier not to have his books in circulation. That was
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  Speaker 3: the answer that they gave to me. It was a
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  Speaker 3: position based on fear. But more broadly, when it comes
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  Speaker 3: to to the Chinese government censorship, they don't issue less
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  Speaker 3: of books that are banned to bookstores and to publishers,
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  Speaker 3: so they don't tell you what's banned.
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  Speaker 2: You just don't find it. That's kind of the way
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  Speaker 2: it works here.
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  Speaker 1: Trump, as you mentioned, is coming to Beijing next week
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  Speaker 1: for talks with Shijinping. I'm so interested in the way
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  Speaker 1: Trump's relationship with China and with she has evolved over
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  Speaker 1: the years, you get the sense that he kind of
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  Speaker 1: quite admires presidents She even though they're of course very
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  Speaker 1: different people. I find it a tremendous guy and we
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  Speaker 1: get along well. And you see how we do it.
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  Speaker 3: We're doing a lot of business, which making a lot
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  Speaker 3: of money, and we're making a lot of money.
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  Speaker 1: It's different than it used to be.
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  Speaker 3: But I'll be talking about that'll be one subject.
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  Speaker 1: But he's been very nice about this. You know, Trump
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  Speaker 1: started his political career painting China as the enemy of
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  Speaker 1: the American people. Really, that it was almost like China's
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  Speaker 1: fault that people were struggling in America to have manufacturing jobs,
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  Speaker 1: for example, that China had kind of out smarter generations
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  Speaker 1: of US politicians on things like trade. And he positioned
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  Speaker 1: himself as the person who was going to reset that.
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  Speaker 3: We lost with Jina over the Biden years trillions of
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  Speaker 3: dollars of.
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  Speaker 1: Trade, trillions of dollars and he let them fleece us.
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  Speaker 3: And we can't do that and it work.
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  Speaker 1: Now he's coming for a big, glitzy state visit. What
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  Speaker 1: are they going to be talking about and what has
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  Speaker 1: changed in that perception by.
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  Speaker 2: Trump of China.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think critically, they're going to be talking about
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  Speaker 3: the central trade partnerships that they do have, so they're
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  Speaker 3: going to be talking about American agricultural products, and the
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  Speaker 3: Chinese are going to want to be speaking about, you know,
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  Speaker 3: the contracts to buy more aircraft from companies like Boeing.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, China relies so much on these aircraft because
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  Speaker 3: it's got this burgeoning class of people who just want
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  Speaker 3: to fly and fly and fly, and they need something
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  Speaker 3: like eight thousand jets over the next fifteen years. They're
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  Speaker 3: buying them from the Airbus, but they need them from
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  Speaker 3: Boeing as well. So you've got these intricate, interlocking trade
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  Speaker 3: partnerships between them. Where America relies on the Chinese, the
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  Speaker 3: Chinese will arm the American. But at the same time
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  Speaker 3: they're so competitive with each other. These are the two
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  Speaker 3: biggest economies in the world. They're buying essentially for market share,
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  Speaker 3: if you want to think of it that way. Very
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  Speaker 3: much an adversarial relationship, but never one of open hostility.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, there's what Trump said ten years ago or
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  Speaker 3: even ten minutes ago, and then there's what he's saying now,
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  Speaker 3: and that's kind of the way he works. But look,
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  Speaker 3: I think the mere fact that Donald Trump has been
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  Speaker 3: invited to Bejing for this visit with the red carpet
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  Speaker 3: rolled out, is an indication that this is not a
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  Speaker 3: relationship in the deep freeze. Outwardly, there are no harsh
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  Speaker 3: words between these two leaders, and the sticking points between
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  Speaker 3: them are economic security, national interest. There's what happens on
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  Speaker 3: the red carpets and on the sidelines of things like
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  Speaker 3: APEC where incidentally they met just six months ago in
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  Speaker 3: Bussan in South Korea. But then there's that regulatory aggression
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  Speaker 3: that's constantly playing out between them on the sidelines as well.
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  Speaker 3: So recently, just a couple of weeks ago, for example,
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  Speaker 3: and this is coming just on the heels of Trump's visit,
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  Speaker 3: the US Treasury Department decides to sanction five what they
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  Speaker 3: call teapot refineries here in China which have been Buyingian
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  Speaker 3: oil and finding it. So those have now been sanctioned
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  Speaker 3: by the US Treasury Department. Chinese in turn have now
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  Speaker 3: attempted to block that. So you've got this escalating brinkling
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  Speaker 3: ship happening between the two and again Sha, just as
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  Speaker 3: Trump is about to rivee, so a great amount of
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  Speaker 3: tension as this historic visitors due to occur.
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  Speaker 1: That politeness that you talk about is perfectly encapsulated by
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  Speaker 1: the Iran War, isn't it. These two countries are on
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  Speaker 1: different sides here, but you wouldn't really know that from
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  Speaker 1: the things that they're saying in public. China is a
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  Speaker 1: big customer for Iranian oil. Trump says that he's asked
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  Speaker 1: President She not to sell any weapons to Iran, and
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  Speaker 1: she has kind of made noises that that might be
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  Speaker 1: the case. We're hearing reports that President she is urging
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  Speaker 1: Iran to come to a peace deal with America. Are
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  Speaker 1: they going to actually talk about the Iran War when
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  Speaker 1: Trump's in Beijing or not? Do you think that's almost
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  Speaker 1: too big to talk about.
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  Speaker 3: No, I think it would be of great expectation that
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  Speaker 3: that would be discussed. It is one of the greatest
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  Speaker 3: flash points between the two countries. It's really Iran and Taiwan.
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  Speaker 2: At the moment. I mean, those are the two big flashpoints.
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  Speaker 3: And incidentally, I should say, the Iranian Foreign minister is
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  Speaker 3: actually in China for a visit. Very scant details have
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  Speaker 3: been released about that. That just came out overnight, but
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  Speaker 3: it's interesting the Iranian foreign minister is here ahead of
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  Speaker 3: the American visit by Trump, So there would be a
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  Speaker 3: great expectation that that issue of Iran and China, strategic
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  Speaker 3: partnership with Iran, and potentially any of the allegations that
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  Speaker 3: have surfaced around Chinese cooperation with the Iranians on intelligence
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  Speaker 3: and technology sharing, which the Chinese have denied. I should
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  Speaker 3: add that may well indeed come up, as you would
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  Speaker 3: expect positions that come up on Taiwan. I mean, we
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  Speaker 3: recently just had the Australian Foreign Minister Pennywong here in China,
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  Speaker 3: and as with any visiting dignitary, any state leader who
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  Speaker 3: arrives here, there's a certain continuum to the discussions that
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  Speaker 3: are brought up in these diplomatic meetings. So you know,
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  Speaker 3: matters of human rights, for example, I mean, these are
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  Speaker 3: uncomfortable topics to bring up in China, but they always.
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  Speaker 2: Get brought up.
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  Speaker 3: The Australian Foreign Minister would make a position very clear.
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  Speaker 3: You would expect the same from the American president.
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  Speaker 1: Coming up. What's China's take on the war in Iran.
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  Speaker 1: On the surface, you might think that China would be
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  Speaker 1: not glad, but perhaps slightly enjoying the sideshow of Donald
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  Speaker 1: Trump locked in a conflict, an active conflict with Iran,
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  Speaker 1: because it means he's not focusing on Asia, or on
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  Speaker 1: the Pacific, or on Taiwan, or on all the other
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  Speaker 1: areas where China doesn't necessarily want his focus to be.
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  Speaker 1: Is that the sense that you get or do you
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  Speaker 1: feel as though the feeling in Beijing is that this
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  Speaker 1: war is actually bad for their friend Iran.
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  Speaker 2: I mosto the latter, I think this is a bad
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  Speaker 2: war for Beijing.
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  Speaker 3: It's a lot harder for Beijing to procure the energy
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  Speaker 3: requirements that it needs to power its country and power
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  Speaker 3: it's powerful export economy that it really relies upon it.
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  Speaker 3: And the line that gets rolled out a lot around here,
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  Speaker 3: and particularly on that ministerial meeting that I just spoke
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  Speaker 3: about with Penny Wong. You know, the success, for example,
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  Speaker 3: of the Australian economy, or the Malaysian economy or the
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  Speaker 3: Singaporean economy, the success of regional economies is what powers China.
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  Speaker 3: So China needs those economies to be operating.
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  Speaker 2: At full steam.
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  Speaker 3: All of them are being affected by the global shock
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  Speaker 3: of what's occurring in the straight upform moves, which by
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  Speaker 3: the way, doesn't look like it's about to end anytime soon.
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  Speaker 3: So I think it's in China's best interests, and in
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  Speaker 3: America's best interests, and in everyone's best interest to sort
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  Speaker 3: that right out.
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure that.
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  Speaker 3: Every crisis presents its own advantages to every country on
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  Speaker 3: the planet, but it would seem as though in this
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  Speaker 3: particular scenario the disadvantage is way more heavily.
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  Speaker 1: Trump and she seem to have a bit incommonstantly a
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  Speaker 1: love of giant parades and glitz and glamour and tanks
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  Speaker 1: rolling down avenues.
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  Speaker 2: What sort of show are the Chinese going to put
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  Speaker 2: on for Trump? Don't we all love a big prode,
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  Speaker 2: You love a big pro I'm sure.
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  Speaker 1: Look, I wish they would put on a big parade
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  Speaker 1: for me.
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  Speaker 3: I think we could expect red carpets. I think we
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  Speaker 3: can expect to see the Beast. The Beast is the bulletproof,
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  Speaker 3: highly fortified presidential vehicle that mister Trump gets around him
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  Speaker 3: whenever he travels. We actually had I think it was
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  Speaker 3: two American C one to thirty jets land at Beijing
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  Speaker 3: International Airport just a couple of days ago. We don't
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  Speaker 3: know what was on the planes, but you know, great
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  Speaker 3: speculation of course, as to whether it contained the beast
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: itself or whether it contained some other highly secreted equipment
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: to enable transmission.
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  Speaker 1: There are dummy beasts as well, like they've got multiple
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: beasts or not all the real one that look identical
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  Speaker 1: so they can put off any would be blow.
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  Speaker 2: Our upwards as you would expect.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I could tell you that it would seem
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  Speaker 3: from the coverage perspective it's going to be. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: we're expecting it to be limited to the traveling press pack.
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  Speaker 3: I don't think all of the journalists you know currently
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  Speaker 3: here in China are going to have access to whatever
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  Speaker 3: press events are going to be held for the visit itself,
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  Speaker 3: although you would imagine, given the size of the people involved,
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: this will be spectacular in its forms and we're all
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: looking forward to seeing it.
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  Speaker 1: Can't wait. Yonni Bishan, thank you very much.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: Jonni Bashan is The Australian's North Asia correspondent. You can
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: check out all his reporting anytime at the Australian dot
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  Speaker 1: com dot a yu