De Chinese Wouden, vrijdag 2 februari
Nu ben ik grotendeels klaar met nakijken, dus vanaf volgende week komt er weer wat voorspelbaarheid in de nieuwsbrief.
Nederland en Europa 🇳🇱🇪🇺
‘Transcending 1624’ exhibition unveils Taiwan’s 17th-century history – Focus Taiwan: ‘will include expert-led talks featuring Eveline Sint Nicolaas and Maria Holtrop, curators from the National Museum of the Netherlands (the Rijksmuseum) on Saturday’ ‘On Saturday, Dutch historian Leonard Blussé will deliver a lecture at the museum’ 🇳🇱
Koninklijke Jaarbeurs uit Utrecht doet afstand van Chinese beursactiviteiten – FD 🇳🇱
Exclusive: China tells Ukraine to remove its firms from ‘sponsors of war’ list – Reuters: ‘The second source suggested Beijing could link the matter to Chinese purchases of Ukrainian grain.’ 🇺🇦
提醒中国公民避免卷入武装冲突 – 领事直通车 🇺🇦🇷🇺
Consulaire waarschuwing om je niet te mengen in de oorlog als strijder aan de kant van Rusland of Oekraïne.
Belarusian Monitoring Group suspects Chinese military deliveries to Minsk by Air China cargo jets – Euromaidan Press: ‘consistently parked at the designated spot reserved for aircraft transporting Belarusian officials.’ 🇧🇾
European solar panel makers ask EU for ‘emergency’ steps to block China’s ‘significant oversupply’ – SCMP 🇪🇺
Chinese machtsovername in de Europese zeehavens: landen legden zelf de rode loper uit – Follow the Money: „Afzonderlijk hoeven overnames door staatsbedrijven in Europese havens geen probleem te zijn. Maar volgens de analist is het juist de invloed van alle Chinese acquisities tezamen die kan leiden tot kwetsbare toeleverketens, of tot lidstaten die afhankelijk worden van buitenlands geld en daardoor gevoelig voor politieke beïnvloeding.”
„ongelukken komen vaker voor omdat Cosco geen werk maakt van de afgesproken investeringen in de veiligheid van de haven.”
Swiss foreign minister Ignazio Cassis to visit China – Xinhua 🇨🇭
The EU and the Indo-Pacific: Partners for a more stable and prosperous world – HR/VP Josep Borrell Fontelles in various newspapers 🇪🇺
Tech War 💽💥
Taiwan and Czech business groups ink chip cooperation MOU – Taipei Times 🇨🇿
Het Duitse Dresden, waar TSMC een fabriek wil openen met o.a. NXP, ligt vlak bij de grens met Tsjechië.
China overtakes Japan in auto exports with boost from EVs – Nikkei Asia 🇯🇵
China automakers doubled Thai market share in 2023 on EVs – Nikkei Asia 🇹🇭
Volvo Cars to stop funding Polestar, may hand stake to Geely 吉利 – Reuters 🇸🇪
China’s Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 pushes ‘disruptive innovation’ at first Politburo study session of the year – SCMP: ‘Xi said China must […] achieve scientific and tech self-reliance and “fight the battle in core technologies”.’
Xi Focus: Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 stresses development of new productive forces and high-quality development – Xinhua
China’s CXMT 长鑫存储 aims to build country’s first advanced memory chips for AI – Nikkei Asia
Uw auto bevat mogelijk aluminium uit Xinjiang, verkregen door dwangarbeid – De Standaard
China: Carmakers implicated in Uyghur forced labour – Human Rights Watch
Apple’s China slowdown is sparking fears its long-prized market is at risk – Bloomberg
UMC 聯電 net profit falls 30.8% on slow demand – Taipei Times
Kantelpunt 🌏⏱️
Waarom Zr.Ms. Tromp vrijwel zeker bijdrage in Rode Zee gaat leveren – Marineschepen.nl: „Nederland had de Filipijnen al eerder laten weten een fregat te sturen. De route daarna, richting Hawaï, is nog niet bekend, maar uit de brief van Ollongren blijkt dat het fregat ook een andere missie op het programma heeft staan.” 🇳🇱
China’s economy is headed for slower growth, IMF report says – Nikkei Asia
China’s overcapacity a challenge that is ‘here to stay’, says US chamber – FT
China employment pressure ‘worsening’ this year in absence of solutions to shore up jobs – SCMP
Japan’s message for Donald Trump: don’t cut a deal with China – Reuters: ‘Tokyo has stepped up attempts to engage with people close to Trump in recent weeks’ 🇯🇵
Weekend 🏖️📚
Longreads en achtergrond
Niemand weet meer precies hoe het met de Chinese economie gaat – NRC
Chinese archeologists have dug up fresh clues about early humans – and stunning new insights – SCMP
Hard times for China’s micro-industrialists: A rural hub for children’s bicycle-making adjusts to a world with fewer kids – The Economist
Barbie’s Taiwanese legacy: The stories of Mattel’s factory workers – Focus Taiwan
Podcasts
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Overige
China buitenland en defensie
Operation Sit Tight: Is China a winner from the Red Sea attacks? – The Economist 🇾🇪
Ambassador Fù Cōng 傅聪 met with Mohamed Taha Mustafa, head of the Yemeni Mission to Belgium and the EU – Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the European Union: ‘China has always firmly supported Yemen in securing national sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity’ 🇾🇪
Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 and Joe Biden to speak by phone ‘relatively soon’, Sullivan says, amid Taiwan, Ukraine, and Middle East tensions – SCMP 🇺🇸
China-US relations: navy dialogue depends on status of American delegation, military analysts say – SCMP 🇺🇸
China accuses US of ‘harassing’ Chinese students and trying to turn them into spies – SCMP 🇺🇸
China tried to influence last two Canadian federal elections, says report released by CSIS – Global News CA: ‘India is the only country identified by name aside from China.’ 🇨🇦
Foreign interference law Fica invoked for the first time to designate Hong Kong-born naturalised Singaporean businessman Philip Chan Man Ping ‘politically significant person’ – The Straits Times: ‘was invited to attend China’s annual Two Sessions parliamentary meetings in March 2023 as an “overseas Chinese representative”.’ 🇸🇬
Myanmar hands over three junta-backed Chinese warlords to Beijing – BBC News 🇲🇲
Japan, China, South Korea 3-way summit likely to be held in May or later – Kyodo News 🇯🇵🇰🇷
Buoy believed to be Chinese found floating in Japan’s EEZ 170 km north of Senkaku/Diaoyutai Islands; Japan Coast Guard issues alert for vessels in the vicinity – The Yomiuri Shimbun 🇯🇵
China economie
The Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece ran an editorial declaring China was brimming with ‘optimism’ on Friday. Within hours, stock markets tumbled and internet users clapped back with sarcasm – Bloomberg
A sense of panic grips Chinese stock investors as key benchmarks tumble sharply, and then quickly pared their losses, leaving traders wondering what’s next in store for the ailing market – Bloomberg
Citigroup told private bankers serving Chinese clients not to discuss the yuan or hedging the currency risk when making trips to the Mainland, according to people familiar with the matter – Bloomberg
Missing banker Bāo Fán 包凡 ‘resigns’ from all roles at China Renaissance 华兴资本 – Nikkei Asia
China’s ‘financially unhealthy’ small firms have a serious cash-flow problem that threatens to topple more dominoes, RUC survey finds – SCMP: ‘Late payments have become a chronic problem plaguing China’s private sector’
The People’s Bank of China provided CN¥150 billion [€19b] worth of low-cost funds for lending to housing and infrastructure projects last month, stepping up support for the economy – Bloomberg
New China property financing measures set to be tested by banks’ cautious approach – Reuters
China pledges to stick with fiscal expansion to spur economy – Reuters
Dat betekent dus dat er geen grote actie bijkomt.
China gold purchases soar 30% on economic anxiety – Nikkei Asia
China binnenland
CCP conclave: China to purge disgraced Central Committee members – Benjamin Kang Lim for The Straits Times: Qin Gang, Li Shangfu, and Li Yuchao
‘Another likely development at the third plenum, speculated by some political pundits, is that Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong, 66, could be named director of the Central Committee’s General Office, a position currently held by Mr Cai Qi, 68. If that happens, he would simultaneously be promoted to the CPC’s Politburo’
With China’s economic plenum still unscheduled, observers worry politics remain in command – SCMP
Chinese leaders hint at increased focus on politics and Communist Party discipline for coming year – SCMP
Opgesloten zonder echte reden: nieuwe details over gearresteerde Oeigoerse vrouwen – RTL Nieuws
Elderly Uyghur women imprisoned in China for decades-old religious ‘crimes’, leaked files reveal – The Guardian: ‘Most were sentenced for studying the Qur’an, said researchers from the US-based Uyghur Human Rights Project’
Twenty years for learning the Quran: Uyghur women and religious persecution – Rachel Harris and Abduweli Ayup for The Uyghur Human Rights Project
China’s intelligence agency calls case of ‘extreme environmentalism’ a threat to national security – SCMP: ‘Ministry says it ‘lawfully punished’ Chinese resident who ‘fabricated’ materials suggesting environmental issues in fishing industry’
De misstanden in de Chinese visserij zijn extreem en publiekelijk bekend. Zie onder andere het indrukwekkend werk van The Ocean Outlaw Project.
‘10 cups of tea’: for first time China’s top intelligence agency MSS spells out reasons for questioning by authorities – SCMP
De Hongkongse krant SCMP gedraagt zich steeds meer als ‘neutraal’ doorgeefluik als het aankomt op dit soort publicaties van MSS en MPS.
Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 visits people in Tianjin ahead of Spring Festival – Xinhua
Hong Kong
Taiwan buitenland en defensie
China says a Trump victory later this year may lead to the US abandoning Taiwan – Bloomberg
DPP does not reflect mainstream Taiwan, Beijing’s point man Sòng Tāo 宋涛 tells visiting industry group – SCMP
Chinese military: provincial heads in unusual flurry of visits to PLA’s Eastern Theatre Command, which oversees Taiwan, to support war planning – SCMP: ‘recent visits by provincial party heads to forge “military-locality relations”’
‘A race against time’: Taiwan strives to root out China’s spies – The Guardian: ‘the sheer number of current and former soldiers being prosecuted has raised serious concerns about a cohort of people who arguably should be the most loyal to Taiwan.’
Taiwan politiek
Taiwan’s 11th Legislative Yuan sworn in in Taipei – Taipei Times
KMT’s Han Kuo-yu 韓國瑜 and Johnny Chiang 江啟臣 elected legislative speaker and deputy speaker – Taipei Times: ‘The eight lawmakers of the Taiwan’s People’s Party (TPP) voted for neither the KMT’s nor the DPP’s contenders.’
Waarschijnlijk de slimst mogelijke zet van de TPP: op deze manier kan het parlement dienen als platform voor oppositie tegen de DPP-regering terwijl de jonge partij zich niet heeft hoeven te beschadigen door een verbond aan te gaan met de KMT. Volgende aandachtspunt: hoe stellen ze zich op bij het ondervragen van de nieuwe ministers en bij het behandelen van wetsvoorstellen.
Civic groups protest Han Kuo-yu 韓國瑜 at legislature – Taipei Times: ‘Kao reminded people that Han served three terms as a KMT legislator from 1993 to 2002, during which he “attacked fellow legislators, assaulting people during legislative meetings.”’
De betrokkenheid van Han bij fysieke aanvallen in die tijd wordt o.a. behandeld in het boek Heijin van Ko-lin Chin over de verwevenheid van georganiseerde misdaad en corruptie met de politiek toentertijd.
Taiwan binnenland en economie
Chinese seeking asylum in Taiwan instead sent back to Kuala Lumpur – Taipei Times