De Chinese Wouden, vrijdag 20 juni: boos op von der Leyen, Xi belt Poetin
Xi Jinping heeft met Vladimir Poetin gebeld over de Israëlische aanval op Iran. Het eerste van zijn vier punten was een oproep tot een staakt-het-vuren. China en Rusland leggen de meeste schuld neer bij Israël. Toch lijkt Peking niet veel meer te doen dan verklaringen uitgeven en burgers evacueren. Voor mij is dit vooral een signaal dat Xi in Rusland een medestander voor China ziet bij crises.
In EU-nieuws: het Chinese ministerie van buitenlandse zaken, de vertegenwoordiging in Brussel, Chinese de kamer van koophandel en staatspersbureau Xinhua zijn boos op Ursula von der Leyen. In haar G7-bijdrage beschuldigde de EU-baas China van het gebruiken van zeldzame aardmetalen als wapen en wees richting Chinese overcapaciteit als economische bedreiging.
Vooral met dat laatste stuitte ze op een probleem. Zoals een belangrijk stuk in SCMP uitlegt: overcapaciteit bestaat niet volgens Peking, terwijl het voor Brussel juist het probleem van de dag is. Dat leidt tot wrijving. Reuters schrijft dat EU-functionarissen niet veel verwachten van de aankomende EU-China top in juli in Peking. Voor Brussel ligt de prioriteit bij het op gang krijgen van de stromen zeldzame aardmetalen.
Van Bloomberg een stuk over de enorme overcapaciteit (sic) in de Chinese automarkt. Slechts 49,5% van de productiecapaciteit zou gebruikt worden. Geld voor binnenlandse aankoopsubsidies raakt op. Liquiditeit is een probleem. De Chinese overheid oefent steeds grotere druk uit op Chinese autoproducenten om eindelijk eens hun toeleveranciers te gaan betalen.
Daarnaast schrijven The New York Times en Bloomberg over de manier waarop BYD hard terrein wint op de Europese markt met hard werk, betere modellen en hybride auto’s waarop de invoerheffingen niet van toepassing zijn. Ook in Brazilië leidt de golf van Chinese auto’s tot onrust.
Nederland en Europa 🇳🇱🇪🇺
China Chamber of Commerce slams von der Leyen’s hawkish anti-Beijing [sic] turn – Euractiv: ‘“We call for a return to fact-based dialogue and constructive engagement, rather than unsubstantiated rhetoric,” a spokesperson for the group told Euractiv.’
‘The EU’s Chamber of Commerce in China, which represents more than 1,700 EU firms based in China, said von der Leyen’s change in tack suggests that Brussels’ concerns about Beijing’s policies have “intensified” in the wake of Trump’s sweeping tariffs’ 🇪🇺
China’s foreign ministry slams EU chief’s remarks on industrial policy, urges end to double standards – Xinhua: ‘noted that the so-called “overcapacity” issue is essentially a reflection of some countries’ concerns about their own competitiveness and market share’ 🇪🇺
Spokesperson of the Chinese Mission to the EU speaks on a question concerning China-related remarks by the President of the European Commission during the G7 Summit – Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the European Union: ‘We express strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to those baseless and biased remarks that reflect double standards.’
‘The so-called overcapacity story is nothing but a pretext used by relevant countries to go protectionist, simply because they fear for their own competitiveness and market shares. The problem is not “overcapacity,” but “over-anxiety.”’ 🇪🇺
Xinhua Commentary: Biased subsidy accusations against China distort facts – Xinhua: ‘All economies have the right to development and to determine their own industrial policies based on unique national conditions.’ 🇪🇺
Wat betreft de oneerlijke Europese laster over zogenaamde ‘overcapaciteit’, zie Wereldhandelsoorlog over de enorme overcapaciteit in de Chinese autosector.
Overcapacity: the economic buzzword fuelling Europe’s clash with China – SCMP: ‘The word “overcapacity” has become a battleground in China’s rivalry with the West, and the [forum] episode in Brussels shows that the two sides have started airing their dirty laundry in public.’
‘Some EU officials complain about “semantics”. They believe Beijing is trying to distract from what they consider to be serious problems by poking holes in the terminology.’
China-based AliExpress breached EU digital rules over illegal products – POLITICO Europe: ‘the Commission also said the company had gone a significant way to meeting its obligations under other parts of the Digital Services Act.’ 🇪🇺
China has become the most important enabler of Russia’s war machine – The Economist: ‘It has crossed the line into providing lethal aid’
‘To pick through the [drone] debris and peer inside those weapons is to come face to face with a grim reality. China is the most important—perhaps decisive—enabler of Russia’s war machine.’ 🇷🇺🇺🇦
Taiwan says UK Navy ship HMS Spey sailed through Taiwan Strait – AFP 🇬🇧
US warns Britain over Chinese wind farm security risks – FT: ‘The American warning is the latest example of Washington voicing concern about Chinese activities in the UK’ 🇬🇧
UK firm not racist for rejecting Chinese applicant over security clearance concerns, tribunal rules – The Guardian 🇬🇧
Israël-Iran 🇮🇱🇮🇷
Xinhua Headlines: Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 says ceasefire an urgent priority in Middle East during phone talks with Putin – Xinhua 🇷🇺
Putin and Xi condemn Israel over its Iran strikes in phone call, Kremlin says – Reuters 🇷🇺
Putin and Xi to agree to meet in China as they sneer at G7 summit fractures – Kyiv Independent 🇷🇺
Chinese president Xi steunt bemiddelingspogingen Poetin om oorlog tussen Israël en Iran te beëindigen – FD 🇷🇺
Chinese foreign minister Wáng Yì 王毅 holds phone talks with Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty – Xinhua: ‘said that Israel’s disregard for international law and norms has abruptly escalated tensions in the Middle East.’ 🇪🇬
Shifting tones on Israel’s attack shows Beijing lacks of leverage in the Middle East – MERICS 🇮🇱🇮🇷
China’s bid to mediate Israel-Iran conflict: How much sway does it really have? – CNA: ‘observers say China’s limited influence over the key players, particularly Israel, makes meaningful intervention an uphill task.’ 🇮🇱🇮🇷
Israel ready to keep talking to China despite criticism of Iran strikes, ambassador Eli Belotserkovsky says – SCMP: ‘Belotserkovsky said Israel’s relations with China were “very important”, and that the two sides had open channels of communication.’ 🇮🇱
Beijing has shown no sign of rushing to provide weapons and other support that would help Tehran face its most critical military test in decades – Bloomberg 🇮🇷
Chinese travel thousands of miles to flee Iran overland – Reuters: ‘China started evacuating its citizens from Tehran to Turkmenistan by bus on Tuesday, a distance of 1,150 km, state-run China News Service reported Wednesday.’
‘Most Chinese in Iran are engineers who moved there to work for Chinese firms’ 🇮🇷
China’s foreign ministry will assist citizens in Israel to evacuate to Egypt from Friday – Reuters 🇮🇱
Taiwan’s military ordered on alert over China’s military activities in Pacific – Reuters: ‘[President] Lai, in a statement released by his office after meeting with defence officials, said the conflict between Israel and Iran has led to a “chain of global security challenges.”’
Enough is enough: Europe needs to oppose Israel’s aggression – Julien Barnes-Dacey, Ellie Geranmayeh, and Hugh Lovatt for ECFR: ‘Israel’s war of choice against Iran is quickly approaching the point of no return.’
‘At this pivotal moment, European governments openly supporting Israeli strikes as “doing our dirty work” must come to their senses.’ 🇪🇺
Wereldhandelsoorlog 📉💥
Rare earth access is the European Union’s priority at China summit – Reuters: ‘Two EU sources said the EU mission to China is solely focused on rare earths until the summit.’
‘Some EU officials said they did not expect the summit to produce major deals, one commenting that China was “playing its cards very well”. 🇪🇺
China has granted rare earth export licences to some firms, commerce ministry says – Reuters
Japan’s business leaders call on China to streamline rare earth export rules as delays hit supply chains – Caixin Global 🇯🇵
China’s long-running auto price war is overshadowing a deeper problem for the nation’s car industry: persistent overcapacity – Bloomberg: ‘Despite a slight uptick in recent years, more than half of production capacity lay idle in 2024.’
Die Chinesen brauchen keine deutschen Autos mehr – FAZ 🇩🇪
Volvo-Chef im Interview: „Chinesische Technik macht Volvo besser“ – FAZ 🇸🇪
BYD 比亚迪 is gaining sales momentum in Europe with sleek showrooms, bold pricing and a dealer push that is beginning to worry entrenched rivals – Bloomberg: ‘BYD generating growth rates of 200% or more through April in each of the five biggest European markets’
‘BYD is spending like a company that already has a major foothold in Europe — on marketing, sponsorships, logistics, and physical infrastructure. But if sales don’t scale quickly, the financial blowback could be significant.’ 🇪🇺
How Chinese carmakers doubled their share of the European market – The New York Times: ‘Chinese car brands accounted for only 4.9 percent of the E.U. new-car market in April, or 53,000 vehicles, according to JATO. But that was up from 2.4 percent a year earlier.’ 🇪🇺
China floods Brazil with cheap EVs triggering backlash – Reuters: ‘Industry and labor groups say China is taking advantage of Brazil’s temporarily low tariff barriers to ramp up its exports rather than investing to build Brazilian factories and create jobs.’ 🇧🇷
China’s vice premier Hé Lìfēng 何立峰 urges efforts to promote high-quality development of foreign trade – Xinhua: ‘enhanced efforts to stabilize foreign trade, strengthen support and services for foreign trade enterprises, and utilize the competitive advantages of those enterprises fully to drive the high-quality development of China’s foreign trade.’
VS-China 🇨🇳
Chinese ambassador Xiè Fēng 谢锋 urges US to ‘look at the whole picture’ on tariffs to see true trade ties – SCMP: ‘Meanwhile, David Perdue, America’s newly posted ambassador to Beijing, said that trade should be a means by which sovereign nations provide benefits to their citizens’ 🇺🇸
China hopes US will act on Trump’s remarks about welcoming Chinese students to study in America – Xinhua 🇺🇸
China’s police chief Wáng Xiǎohóng 王小洪 meets with US ambassador to China David Perdue – Xinhua 🇺🇸
Dominant Chinese makers of bitcoin mining machines set up US production to beat tariffs – Reuters 🇺🇸
VS-wereld 🌏
China-South Asia Expo opens with focus on trade and emerging industries – Xinhua
Feature: Discovering rhythm of China-Africa exchanges at dynamic China-Africa expo – Xinhua
Techoorlog 💽💥
Malaysia trade ministry probing reports of Chinese firm’s use of Nvidia AI chips – Reuters 🇲🇾
Chinese AI companies carried data to countries where Nvidia chips are available, frustrating Washington’s efforts to restrict access to the technology – WSJ: ‘In early March, four Chinese engineers flew to Malaysia from Beijing, each carrying a suitcase packed with 15 hard drives.’ 🇲🇾
Texas Instruments plans US$60 billion US investment under Trump push – Reuters: ‘will be used to build or expand seven chip-making facilities at three sites in Texas and Utah’ 🇺🇸
China made millions of drones. Now it has to find uses for them – FT: ‘The Civil Aviation Administration of China expects the market size of the low-altitude economy, which includes other innovations such as flying cars, to grow fivefold to Rmb3.5tn ($490bn) by 2035.’
Warum China in afrikanische Eisenbahnen investiert – FAZ: „Es geht um den Zugang zu wichtigen Rohstoffen – im Wettlauf mit dem Westen.“
US tech execs are joining the Army Reserve—no gruelling boot camp required – Business Insider: ‘Four top tech execs from OpenAI, Meta, and Palantir’ ‘joining the Army as lieutenant colonels as part of an effort to turbocharge tech innovation and adoption’ 🇺🇸
China pharma projects disrupted by Sino-US tensions – Reuters 🇺🇸
China’s top political advisor Wáng Hùníng 王沪宁 stresses research on integrated development of sci-tech and industrial innovation – Xinhua
D.w.z. valorisatie.
China herovert technologische voorsprong op het Westen, dankzij Trump – Jan van der Putten in NRC
Kantelpunt 🌏⏱️
Trump denkt China wel in z’n eentje aan te kunnen – Trouw 🇺🇸
Pentagon calls 5 per cent of GDP spending on defence ‘global standard’ that applies to South Korea and other Asian allies – Yonhap News 🇰🇷
Weekend 🏖️📚
Longreads en achtergrond
Recensie: Hoe Apple China ‘great’ maakte – NRC
Benign Invitations: China’s playbook for approaching Western academics – Erika Langerová for CHOICE
A Chinese case for a pragmatic German China policy –
: ‘the [Chinese] experts cite Trump’s return and the weakness of the German economy as reasons why Berlin will prioritize this relationship. In their eyes, this weakness translates into a search for economic stability and growth, which they believe can be found with China.’ 🇩🇪Chenggang Xu 许成钢 on why it’s right to call China totalitarian – The Wire China
MERICS China Security and Risk Tracker 01/2025 – MERICS
Podcasts
The European Union Looks East Towards the Indo-Pacific – Niclas Kvarnström, Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific at the European External Action Service (EEAS), ISEAS Dialogues at Fulcrum 🍎
How China is building a powerful army of hackers – Bloomberg Big Take Asia 🍎
Overige
China buitenland en defensie
China once again urges G7 to stop interfering in China’s internal affairs, foreign ministry says – Xinhua
Japan destroyer sailed Taiwan Strait last week after China jet encounter – Kyodo News: ‘It was the third known passage through the waterway by an MSDF ship, with all occurring within the past year’ 🇯🇵
In rare move, Japan’s defence ministry releases map showing Chinese aircraft carrier activities – The Japan Times 🇯🇵
China Coast Guard slams the Philippines for illegal operations in South China Sea – Xinhua 🇵🇭
China’s military downplayed nuclear-capable missile test over Pacific, according to classified New Zealand government papers – AFP: ‘China’s Rocket Force launched the intercontinental ballistic missile with little warning on September 25, 2024.’ 🇳🇿
Nieuw-Zeeland bevriest steun aan Cookeilanden vanwege samenwerking met China – NRC: „Nieuw-Zeeland is nog altijd mede verantwoordelijk voor defensie en het buitenlandbeleid. De ruim vijftienduizend bewoners van de archipel in de Grote Oceaan hebben een Nieuw-Zeelands paspoort.” 🇳🇿🇨🇰
Social media videos of ‘PLA jet rehearsals’ heighten buzz over China’s Victory Day parade – SCMP
China economie
China’s central government races to calm worries over end to CN¥300bn [€36bn] consumer subsidies – Nikkei Asia: ‘cities across the country have either partially suspended or adjusted their subsidy programs this month, raising questions about the sustainability of a program that has been credited with buoying weak consumption and countering deflationary pressure.’
Some Chinese cities pause car-buying subsidies as funds run out – Reuters
China will issue remaining consumer goods subsidies at stable rate, state media says – Reuters
Economic Watch: China’s economic powerhouses steady the ship in choppy global waters – Xinhua
China’s extended 618 shopping fest fails to stir excitement – Reuters
China’s government pushes local sales of finished homes instead of preselling incomplete units as property slump drags on – Nikkei Asia
Xi Story: Coordinating economic and financial work through integrated planning – Xinhua: ‘Xi’s vision for the relationship between the economy and finance was evident in his work experience long before he became China’s top leader.’
Think tank report expounds on China’s financial development path – Xinhua: ‘traces Xi Jinping’s exploration of the path of financial development with Chinese characteristics when working in east China’s Fujian Province, and also reveals how the Chinese practices can contribute to the world’
Premier Lǐ Qiáng 李强 urges China’s Jiangsu to step up efforts in technology, trade, and consumption – SCMP: ‘Li emphasised the importance of embracing innovative development, stimulating effective demand, fostering entrepreneurship, and deepening reform and opening up to support China’s sustained economic growth.’
Chinese premier Lǐ Qiáng 李强 stresses innovation and boosting demand to propel growth – Xinhua: ‘Li also underlined efforts to better leverage the role of the China-Europe Railway Express and cross-border e-commerce to enhance economic and trade exchanges between China and Central Asia’
China will allow some local investors to put more of their money into overseas assets, a sign Beijing is opening up its financial market as the yuan steadies – Bloomberg
China’s central bank announces international operation centre for digital renminbi – Xinhua: ‘The initiative is part of a package of eight new measures announced by Pan that will be implemented in Shanghai, China’s financial hub.’
China’s smaller banks slash deposit rates below state giants to stay above water – Yicai Global
China binnenland
China’s top legislator Zhào Lèjì 赵乐际 calls on people’s congresses to advance development and reform – Xinhua
China’s vice premier Liú Guózhōng 刘国中 calls for consolidation of poverty alleviation work – Xinhua
Chinese provinces expand use of local government bonds to revive struggling PPP projects – Caixin Global
Two Tibetan Buddhist monastery leaders sentenced to prison for Dege dam protests – RFA: ‘The sources said Gonpo was in critical condition due to torture in detention and has been transferred to an intensive care unit’
Mengzhou spacecraft for China’s moon-landing mission passes landmark test flight – SCMP
Zware overstromingen in het zuiden van China: „Ergste van de afgelopen eeuw” – VRT NWS
Hong Kong
Taiwan buitenland en defensie
A group of US lawmakers held a rare publicly disclosed meeting with Taiwan’s defence minister – Bloomberg: ‘The meeting adds to events lately that Beijing is likely to perceive as provocative.’
‘A new round of Chinese exercises around Taiwan soon cannot be ruled out, said Lin Po-chou’ 🇺🇸
Senior Taiwanese military officials pictured at US drills – Taipei Times: ‘alongside the South Korean and Japanese air forces in Alaska, a now-removed image published on Tuesday by the Pentagon showed.’ 🇺🇸
AIT reviewing student visa policy, may resume interviews soon – Focus Taiwan 🇺🇸
China trips by Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九 and Holger Chen 館長 reveal dimensions of united front activity – New Bloom 🇨🇳
Taiwanese air force officers charged in Taichung with spying for China, source says – Taipei Times 🇨🇳
Taiwan’s entrepreneurs in China feel heat from cross-Strait tensions – AFP: ‘their numbers have dwindled in recent years, with the number of Taiwanese working in China dropping from 409,000 in 2009 to 177,000 in 2022’ 🇨🇳
Philippines grants Taiwan visa-free entry starting July – Focus Taiwan 🇵🇭
Taiwan VP Hsiao urges global support as Chinese hybrid threats rise – Focus Taiwan
US to deliver 10 new F-16Vs, source says – Taipei Times
Taiwan binnenland en economie
Taiwan chip tycoon Robert Tsao 曹興誠 warns China has ‘Trojan horse’ in KMT that must be voted out – Nikkei Asia: ‘“Beijing wants to use the KMT to annex Taiwan,” Tsao said at his Taipei office.’
‘Tsao blamed the KMT and TPP for political dysfunction.’
TSU and activists protest outside KMT headquarters – Taipei Times
KMT pans Kuma Academy disaster prevention kits – Taipei Times
Kinmen pork barred from rest of Taiwan amid African swine fever scare – Focus Taiwan
For unregistered children of migrant workers in Taiwan, health care rights dicey – Focus Taiwan