The Wall Street Journal is reporting that China has stopped publishing hundreds of statistics, even official soy sauce production reports, making it harder to know what’s actually going on with the economy there. Joining me now, Gab stone Institute senior fellow and author of Plan Red, China’s Project to Destroy America, Gordon Chang.
Gordon, good morning. And and what is your reaction to this stop in data production uh by the CCP? I mean, not that we could necessarily believe the data that we’ve been given for years. Fair enough. I’ve said that multiple times, but this seems to be a new level. Yes, this certainly is. And it’s been going on now for a couple of years because the Chinese technocrats understand that we use underlying data to draw questions about their headline gross domestic product numbers.
So, for instance, we’re seeing a lot of evidence that suggests that their 5.4% 4% report of growth in Q1 can’t be true. And now, as President Trump said, uh the Chinese economy is contracting. We saw that from the price data for March and February. We also saw it in the PMI, the purchasing managers index for April, which clearly showed factory activity on the downswing.
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So, yes, the Chinese regime does not want us to know what’s going on, and they’re going to continue to restrict information to us. But at the same time, they’re trying to solidify relationships around the world at the exclusion of the United States. I mean, you look at Russia and China, Iran in China, uh their moves in Africa, especially in Western Africa, Gordon.
So, the Chinese seem to be taking another attack that, you know, they may be closed off to the American market, but they’re trying to strengthen their relationships. I mean, even Chevron CEO Mike Worth, who joined Maria on SMF yesterday, he warned that China could hold more influence on Venezuela if the Trump administration terminates a Biden Eric Grant that would allow Chevron to export Venezuelan oil to the US. Watch what he told her.
I want to get your response to this. A good portion of Venezuelan oil has historically come to the United States. Refineries on the Gulf Coast are designed to run that specific type of oil. And so it’s very important for energy security in the US. The changes in the rules mean that oil won’t flow to the US now.
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So making us less secure. China is actually the largest buyer of Venezuelan oil today. Venezuelan government officials have been in China very recently uh encouraging China to buy more. And so as the largest buyer today, uh the policies could drive even more of that trade uh to China. And this is sort of China’s MMO, become a country’s biggest creditor and ultimately dominate.
And I don’t think the US or the Trump administration wants to see China dominating another country. Well, you’re right. We’ve seen this playbook before in Africa, in Latin America, in Central Asia. uh and uh and China has created a stronger presence, stronger influence and uh and and control over economies and governments around the world uh through using their economic uh assets and uh and and position uh to do so.
Gordon, your reaction to that? Well, everything that Mike Worth says is true, but there’s another aspect to that, and that is if Chevron leaves as President Trump has ordered, then the Chinese and Russians will come in, but they’ll come in on terms which are not as favorable as the terms that Venezuela had with Chevron.
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And that means the Venezuelan regime will be weakened. And that’s an important thing. Let’s remember that the Venezuelan opposition, the people who want democracy in that country, want Chevron out. Um, and they understand the reason why. Because Maduro will have less of a good time with this.
Also, we got to remember the context for this. You know, all of that migration during the Biden era through our southern border, that wasn’t organic. That was actually supported by the Venezuelan regime, which supported NOS’s, which told us what they were doing. They were attacking our sovereignty. So, Venezuela is an enemy, and we need to make sure that we don’t strengthen our enemies.
We can get oil from other places. We can drill out our own soil. We can buy from our friends. Let’s not buy from our enemies. Well, and I think that’s President Trump’s point and it has been for years. Drill, baby, drill. You know, we’ve got the capacity to generate energy here in the United States on our land. Let’s do it.
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I’ve got Liz Peak on set. She’s got a question for you. Gordon, good morning. Uh there was apparently uh news coverage in China a week ago or so about factories closing in the south, people being laid off, which I was surprised about because there is such a hold on information flow and I don’t think that’s what Zinging wants uh Chinese people to be watching.
What’s your take on that? Is he beginning to get push back for his one-man controlled economy which is doing so poorly now? Yes. Well,
