De Chinese Wouden, maandag 17 april: de strijd om Europa gaat door
De strijd om Europa begint warm te lopen. Je zou de heisa rond de uitspraken van Frankrijks President Macron overtrokken kunnen noemen. Maar het lijkt erop dat het een startsein was voor verdere intensivering van het Chinadebat in Europa. De schade die Macron heeft aangericht door het bieden van een propagandaopening aan Peking is reëel. Het is altijd al Chinees beleid geweest om de barsten in de Europese en Westerse eenheden aan te moedigen. Maar in ieder geval zouden we er nog iets goeds uit kunnen slepen als dit debat meer duidelijkheid verschaft over waar we aan toe zijn.
De Nederlandse vicepremier en minister van financiën Sigrid Kaag leek in een gesprek met Bloomberg niet zo enthousiast te zijn over het ‘de-risken’ van Von der Leyen; zij had het liever over ‘re-globalising’. Een hoofdredactioneel commentaar in Der Spiegel – beschikbaar in het Engels – spreekt zich er juist voor uit. Kaags Duitse collega Christian Lindner noemt Macron naïef. Franse parlementariër Benjamin Haddad, van de partij van Macron, legt in Foreign Policy juist uit wat zijn president nu goed bedoelde. De Chinese regering is boos op de ‘Poolse functionaris’ – de premier – die in de VS zich juist hard uitsprak tegen de ‘naïviteit’ van Macron (en Scholz) op China. In Peking zijn ze nog hard bezig met het promoten van de vermeende vriendelijke lijn Macron en eventuele steungeluiden in die richting van voorzitter van de Europese Raad Charles Michel. Krijgt POLITICO straks ook nog z’n zin met de door hun uitvergrote China-split tussen Europese Raad en Commissie…
Nederland en Europa 🇳🇱🇪🇺
EU weighs outbound investment curbs on AI and biotech, eyeing China – Nikkei Asia 🇪🇺
Germany examining Chinese components in its 5G network, interior minister says – Reuters 🇩🇪
EU prolongs stainless steel tariffs for China and Taiwan – Reuters 🇪🇺
‘No room for ambiguity’ on support for Taiwan, French lawmakers tell visiting delegation of Taiwanese legislators – Focus Taiwan 🇫🇷
Two French legislative delegations to arrive in Taiwan the coming days – Taipei Times 🇫🇷
Portuguese parliamentary delegation arrives in Taiwan – Focus Taiwan 🇵🇹
Russia
China is set to send new defence minister Lǐ Shàngfú 李尚福 to Russia, the first such visit since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine – Bloomberg: ‘Separately, Russia put its Pacific Fleet on high alert Friday as part of what it said were snap exercises simulating the defense of Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands north of Japan from an attack by a “hypothetical opponent.”
Ukraine says it is finding more Chinese components in Russian weapons – Reuters
China protests US sanctioning of firms dealing with Russia – AP
G-7 top diplomats gather, with unity against China and Russia in focus – Kyodo News
EU-buitenlandchef: ‘Hoe Europa naar China kijkt hebben de Chinezen zelf in de hand’ – FD
Why China’s leader hasn’t called the president of Ukraine – The New York Times: ‘Ukraine, as a country under attack, does not hold the same economic appeal for China as before.’ 🇺🇦
Europese bezoeken
Dutch Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag on Europe’s outlook and inflation – Bloomberg, gevraagd naar China: ‘it is neither de-risking [nor decoupling?] for us, but re-globalising, but making sure that we keep our eye on the ball of our strategic assets’ 🇳🇱
China arrests human rights activists lawyer Yú Wénshēng 余文生 and his wife Xǔ Yàn 许艳 en route to EU embassy in Beijing – POLITICO Europe: ‘the EU lodged a protest with the Chinese foreign ministry’ 🇪🇺
Dit is een bewuste middelvinger.
Baerbock
German foreign minister warns of ‘horror scenario’ in Taiwan Strait – The Guardian
Senior Chinese diplomat Wáng Yì 王毅 meets German foreign minister – Xinhua: ‘Noting China once supported Germany’s reunification, Wang said China hopes and believes that Germany will also support the great cause of China's peaceful [sic] reunification [sic].’
EU
‘Substantial meeting today with CPC CC Int. Dept. Vice Minister Qian Hongshan on EU-China relations, notably on the Russian aggression against Ukraine and on the need to preserve peace and the status quo regarding Taiwan’ – EU EEAS Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific Gunnar Wiegand, Twitter 🇪🇺
Macron continued
Een conflict rond Taiwan is mogelijk. Europa moet nu de macht opbouwen om eigen keuzes te maken – Jonathan Holslag in NRC 🇳🇱
The fallout from Emmanuel Macron’s comments on Taiwan shows that Europe really doesn’t know what to do about China – Bloomberg: ‘As they try to square that circle of a regime that many find distasteful, and a market they can’t dispense with, many European officials will privately agree with the French president’s basic diagnosis: the EU does need to define its own role on the world stage because the US is increasingly focused on its geopolitical duel with China. The problem, one senior European official said, is that Macron and others who push for more so-called strategic autonomy consistently fail to deliver on that promise.’
De-risking: How Europe can best stand up to China – Der Spiegel Editorial: ‘if the EU wants to gain “strategic autonomy” vis-à-vis China, as Macron is calling for, then he should simply take his cue from von der Leyen.’
»De-Risking« : Wie wir vor China bestehen können – Der Spiegel-Leitartikel
German finance minister Christian Lindner says Macron call for autonomous EU ‘naive’ – Bloomberg
Baerbock and Macron comments raise questions on EU ties in Taiwan – DW
Het Taiwanese publiek luistert ook mee en heeft ook wat te zeggen.
‘European leaders speak out on China and #EU’s strategic autonomy. So true that China’s role as a key trading partner can’t be ignored and it’s time that the EU make decisions based on its own interests, rather on adopting the position of someone else.’ – PRC MFA Director General for European Affairs Wang Lutong, Twitter 🇪🇺
Conservative wing of Germany’s ruling SPD Seeheimer Kreis calls for more pragmatic China policy, Spiegel magazine reported – Xinhua: ‘Meanwhile, SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Muetzenich argued for more independence from the United States.’ ‘Muetzenich made the statement to back French President Emmanuel Macron’ 🇩🇪
De Chinese kant gaat all-in op het uitbuiten van de opmerkingen van Macron en eventuele supporters.
Macron said out loud what Europeans really think about China: Leaders in Washington need to face an uncomfortable truth, a self-reliant EU is a better partner than a dependent one – Benjamin Haddad (RE) for Foreign Policy 🇫🇷
Interview: China and France share common interests in helping to end the Russia-Ukraine war, says French envoy – The Global Times: ‘On the Taiwan question, the French envoy affirmed that France upholds the [sic] one-China policy, which has never changed.’ 🇫🇷
‘❝With our sailors aboard the frigate Prairial, which passed through the international waters of the Taiwan Strait a few days ago, I reiterated France's commitment to contribute to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific space, along with its partners.❞’ – France Diplomacy, Twitter 🇫🇷
China accuses Poland of meddling in its affairs after PM’s Taiwan comments – Reuters 🇵🇱
Italy economy minister cautious over trade ties with China – Reuters 🇮🇹
Tech War 💽💥
💡 The west is in the grip of a decoupling delusion – James Crabtree for FT: ‘Many components that go into those phones are still made in China, however, so Vietnam must also import more of those too.’ ‘The result is a double paradox. First, rather than connecting emerging economies more tightly to the west, decoupling often leaves countries in regions such as south-east Asia more economically dependent upon China, not less. Second, while shifting supply chains around the world appears to leave the west less reliant on China, the continuing need for components that still mostly come from there means the fundamental vulnerability remains.’
Kabeloorlog China en VS op de bodem van de oceaan – NRC
Why China’s trade outlook has its industry workers worried that the ‘good days’ are gone – SCMP
TikTok faces ban in Montana as US backlash continues – AFP
Biden and Congress want to ban TikTok. At this point it may be impossible. – POLITICO
China’s car buyers have fallen out of love with foreign brands – The New York Times
Tokyo challenges Beijing as Asia’s data center hub – Nikkei Asia
Kantelpunt 🌏⏱️
Hoe de Chinees-Amerikaanse rivaliteit het IMF een identiteitscrisis bezorgt – De Standaard
IMF en Wereldbank lopen op eieren door politieke spanningen en klimaatdreiging – NRC
IMF ‘helpt’ Suriname bij vastgelopen gesprekken met China – Dagblad Suriname
China hit by surge in Belt and Road bad loans – FT
Wealthy Chinese fear they could face same fate as rich Russians – SCMP
Brazilië trekt samen met China op in Oekraïne-dossier – Trouw
Brazilian president wraps up China visit by telling US to ‘stop encouraging’ war in Ukraine – SCMP
Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wants to improve his country’s relationship with Beijing in order to reorient the global political order – Bloomberg
Blinken urges Vietnam to upgrade US ties amid China tensions – Nikkei Asia
India telt 1.425.775.850 inwoners en haalt daarmee China in – AD
Overige
China buitenland
Leaked secret documents detail up to four additional Chinese spy balloons – The Washington Post
China stalls Antony Blinken’s Beijing visit over ‘spy balloon’ concerns – FT: ‘China had told the US it was not prepared to reschedule a trip that Blinken cancelled in February while it remains unclear what the administration of president Joe Biden will do with the report.’
Het is vooral Peking dat steeds minder nut lijkt te zien in dialoog met de VS.
美方应全面澄清其全球生物军事活动(钟声) – 《人民日报》(2023年04月16日 第02版)
Commentaar in het Volksdagblad onder de gezaghebbende pennaam Zhong Sheng die de Verenigde Staten weer eens aanvalt op biologische militaire activiteiten over de wereld en het in verband brengt met Covid-019.
New US-China soy centre to share American agricultural expertise with Chinese farmers – SCMP
China’s Korea envoy accuses US of ‘using’ North Korea tensions to reinforce anti-Beijing alliance – AFP
G-20 finance meeting ends with no statement, hampered by Ukraine war – Kyodo News: ‘All members of the group have criticized Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, apart from China and Russia’
China out of UN’s wildlife survey of wet markets and other facilities for pandemic controls – Reuters
In Afghanistan, China to stay focused on trade ties, Taliban counterterrorism efforts, analyst says – SCMP
Australian man who allegedly sold information to foreign spies faces court – The Guardian: ‘worked in China for a period of two decades’
Trudeau’s top aide tight-lipped on Chinese election meddling in Canada, citing security – Reuters
China’s top banker Yì Gāng 易纲 says rate hikes by Western nations fuel global financial instability –SCMP
People’s Bank of China Governor Yì Gāng 易纲 says China has by and large ended foreign-exchange intervention, and the yuan’s value is set by the market – Bloomberg
Dat maakt niet zoveel uit als jij de ‘markt’ kunt controleren door de banken waaruit die bestaat instructies te geven.
China’s provincial leaders take centre stage in Beijing’s diplomatic push to charm neighbours – SCMP
Chinese ambassador to the Philippines: oppose Taiwan independence if you care for 150k overseas Filipino workers in Taiwan – GMA
Nuttige herinnering voor de Filipijnse regering wat er voor Manila op het spel staat bij een Chinese aanval.
In India, fake Singapore profiles are a new front in alleged foreign influence campaigns – The Straits Times: ‘Security experts in India believe China could be behind this propaganda campaign’
China defensie
China carried out missile drill in Xinjiang region, according to Chinese state media – Reuters
China claims another success in midcourse ballistic missile interception test – SCMP
China’s military kicks off debate on use of ChatGPT with article in official PLA newspaper – SCMP
China economie
Dongguan’s industrial woes: China’s manufacturing sector faces tough time – Kung Chan for The Diplomat
China March new home prices rise at fastest pace in 21 months – Reuters
French stocks enjoy renaissance on back of Chinese demand for luxury – FT
Singapore asks the world’s biggest banks to keep quiet on wealth inflows during China boom – FT: ‘The tacit directive from the Monetary Authority of Singapore was given during a February 20 meeting of an industry group made up of bankers and regulators, according to multiple people who attended.’
Op de vrije markt hoor je over huurverhogingen van 20–70% (sic). Extreem.
At China’s largest trade fair, exporters worry about world economy – Reuters
China binnenland
China punishes citizens for sharing information on Xinjiang, top security body reveals – SCMP
China’s struggles with lab safety carry danger of another pandemic – The Washington Post
‘Era has passed’ as Beijing subway drops mandatory covid mask rule – Reuters
Hong Kong
Beijing assigns 5 Communist Party veterans to top decision-making body for Hong Kong, Macau policies – SCMP
Hong Kong security chief hails 100% conviction rate in national security cases – HKFP
Bij claims dat slechts een klein deel wordt geraakt door de staatsveiligheidswet, moet je meenemen dat ze een deel van de mensen aanklagen onder de koloniale opruiingswet. (Ook: de maoïstische theorie achter ‘extreem kleine minderheid’.)
Taiwan buitenland en defensie
US to sell Taiwan NASAMS, according to source – Taipei Times: ‘the NASAMS are expected to be delivered next year’
Taiwan highly vulnerable to Chinese air attack, leaked documents show – The Washington Post
News report on China’s air prowess false, says defence ministry – AFP
Taiwan’s defence ministry warns local media against spreading false news from China – The Guardian
Taiwan president pledges to strengthen military as Chinese drills ebb – Reuters
Americans warm to US defence of Taiwan if China invades, according to survey – Newsweek: ‘Fifty-six percent of respondents, including nearly six in 10 of those who voted either Republican or Democratic in the last presidential election’
Taiwan unlikely to be observer at World Health Assembly ‘no matter how hard US tries’ – SCMP
Military to get new minelaying and demining gear – Taipei Times
Taiwan to add subsea Internet cables – Taipei Times
Taiwan and Canada to discuss foreign investment deal – Taipei Times
Taiwan building mobile health clinics in Turkey – Taipei Times
BT holds China-Taiwan war game to stress test supply chains – FT
Taiwan binnenland en economie
8 indicted over 2022 pre-election Tainan submachine gun attacks on DPP-linked locations – Focus Taiwan
Taiwan’s government adamantly opposes cannabis decriminalisation – Focus Taiwan
Heat alert issued for southern Taiwan on Monday – Focus Taiwan
Recent rains fail to bring relief to Taiwan’s parched south – Focus Taiwan