De Chinese Wouden, woensdag 15 februari: Taiwanese parlementaire delegatie in Nederland, ballon, anti-Amerikaanse retoriek
Het was helemaal langs me heen gegaan, maar volgens het ANP was er een delegatie van het Taiwanese parlement in Nederland, bij de vaste Kamercommissie buitenlandse zaken. Het zou de eerste keer zijn. Behalve het persbericht van de ANP kan ik enkel een tweet vinden van de Taiwanese vertegenwoordiging, geretweet door commissievoorzitter Heerema, een een tweet van Sjoerd Sjoerdsma. Men hangt het niet bepaald aan de grote klok.
Nieuws over de ballonnen blijft binnenkomen. Het lijkt erop dat de laatste drie neergeschoten ballonnen niet voor spionage waren. Ondertussen heb ik een aparte sectie ingericht voor de grote hoeveelheid anti-Amerikaanse retoriek die er de laatste tijd uit China komt.
Zoals China-correspondent van The Economist David Rennie opmerkte in de meest recente aflevering van zijn podcast, de zorg is niet dat er surveillance en competitie plaatsvindt tussen China en de Verenigde Staten, maar hoe China met de ontdekking omgaat. Als ze nu al moeite hebben met het erkennen van gedeelde feiten en retorisch in de aanval gaan, dan zal het bij een echt serieus incident lastig te voorspellen zijn.
Taiwanese parlementsdelegatie in Nederland 🇳🇱🇹🇼
Taiwanese parlementaire delegatie brengt historisch bezoek aan Tweede Kamer – ANP 🇳🇱
De twee geciteerde parlementariërs zijn beide van regeringspartij DPP.
Nederland en Europa 🇳🇱🇪🇺
European businesses in Shanghai are calling on the Chinese government to restore foreign business confidence and take steps toward repairing fraught international ties now that Covid Zero is over – Bloomberg 🇪🇺
Shanghai Position Paper 2023/2024 – European Union Chamber of Commerce in China 🇪🇺
China-Ukraine Relations: Kyiv’s balancing act – The Diplomat interviews Yurii Poita: ‘Kyiv increasingly understands that Beijing will not help Ukraine and on some issues China is on the side of Russia’ 🇺🇦
Xinjiang governor cancels controversial trip to UK – POLITICO Europe 🇬🇧
Ireland will close its so-called ‘golden visa’ program, dominated by wealthy applicants from China, following a review – Bloomberg 🇮🇪
Ballon 🎈🇺🇸
Wederzijdse beschuldigingen over spionageballonnen hebben iets komisch, maar de gevolgen voor relatie tussen VS en China zijn ernstig – De Volkskrant
„Dat een ballon boven Amerika blijkt te kunnen komen, zijn Amerikanen echt niet gewend” – De Volkskrant
Veel onbeantwoorde vragen rond „uit voorzorg” neergeschoten vliegende objecten – NRC
China ziet de ‘bijna-ruimte’ als nieuw internationaal strijdtoneel – NRC
US tracked China spy balloon from launch on Hainan Island along unusual path – The Washington Post: ‘But somewhere along that easterly route, the craft took an unexpected northern turn, according to several U.S. officials, who said that analysts are now examining the possibility that China didn’t intend to penetrate the American heartland with their airborne surveillance device.’
Chinese satellite beams green lasers over Hawaii late January – The Hill: ‘Both experts said the object is not explicitly a spy satellite. It is cataloged and known by governments around the world.’
US says three unidentified objects downed since last Friday were likely for commercial use – Bloomberg
Balloon furor deflates China’s commercial charm offensive in Washington – POLITICO
China ‘disinformation’ alleging US spy scheme impedes top-level diplomatic talks, says State Department – SCMP
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s Regular Press Conference on February 14, 2023 – Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China: ‘Since last year, more specifically since May last year, the US has released multiple high-altitude balloons from its territory, which have continuously circled the globe and flown over the airspace of China and several dozen other countries over ten times illegally at least without the approval of relevant Chinese authorities. The US needs to fully look into this and give China an explanation.’
Ballon buitenland
Japan suspects China flew 3 surveillance balloons over territory in 2019-2021 – Kyodo News
Detected Chinese balloons all weather balloons, says Taiwan’s military – Focus Taiwan
What happened to the Chinese balloon over Latin America? – Francisco Vázquez for The Diplomat
EU hopes new satellites can spot spy balloons, spacecraft – POLITICO Europe
Anti-Amerikaanse retoriek 🇨🇳🇺🇸
China tries to depict furor over surveillance balloon as sign of US decline – The New York Times: ‘Why else would a great power be spooked by a flimsy inflatable craft, China has argued, if not for a raft of internal problems’ ‘China sought to show it had already moved on from the incident.’
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s Regular Press Conference on February 14, 2023 – Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China: ‘We wonder why there is little coverage by some media hailed as free, professional and impartial on the latest investigative report on the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines and the chemical leak caused by the train derailment in the US? Based on what we have seen, this is nothing new.’
Xinhua Commentary: Biden’s State of the Union speech was divorced from reality – Xinhua: ‘considering reality on the ground in the United States, the obsession with containing China's growth is truly bizarre.’
World Insights: Evil under the sun — the US history of unethical human experiments – Xinhua
Residents near Ohio train derailment report dead fish, chickens: U.S. media – Xinhua
Zeitentechwarwende ⏱️💽
„China springt gretig in vacuüm dat Rusland achterlaat” – BNR praat met Tony van de Togt over Centraal Azië.
Apple hits stumbling blocks in move to boost manufacturing in India – FT
Taiwan’s tech king Morris Chang 張忠謀 [Zhāng Zhōngmóu] told Nancy Pelosi at luncheon during her visit about CHIPS and Science Act: US is in over its head – POLITICO
TSMC to boost capital at Arizona factory by US$3.5 bln – Reuters
The toll that Twitter’s glitching is taking on Chinese activists – The New York Times
As TikTok pushes to reach an agreement with US officials over its operations, an unofficial force at the negotiating table is the Chinese government – WSJ: ‘The specter of a Beijing veto could perhaps help ByteDance in its negotiations with Washington, but it could also damage the chances of reaching an agreement’
Pacific island leaders expect visit by US president in ‘near future’ – Reuters
Camera-angst 📸
Chinese cameras leave British police vulnerable to spying, says watchdog – The Guardian
Australia removes Chinese-made cameras from politicians’ offices – AFP
National security concerns raised over use of Chinese cameras at Leinster House – The Irish Times
Overige
China buitenland en defensie
China en Iran halen banden aan – BNR
Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 holds talks with Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, eyeing new progress in ties – Xinhua: ‘supports Iran in resisting unilateralism and bullying, and opposes external forces interfering in Iran’s internal affairs and undermining Iran’s security and stability.’
China’s Xi calls for early resolution of Iran nuclear issue – Reuters
US renews warning it’ll defend Philippines after China laser spat – AP
Philippine President Marcos summons Beijing envoy over laser use in South China Sea – Nikkei Asia
How China’s police are ensnaring thousands of suspects abroad – The Economist: ‘Many of the cases that the FBI and other Western law-enforcement agencies worry about involve a technique that China calls quanfan, or “persuading to return”.’
New Chinese trade zones for Philippines and Indonesia to showcase Asean ‘bridge and bond’ – SCMP
Oud nieuws, maar ik herhaal om het op te kunnen merken dat ‘demonstration zones’ die tegen 2035 klaar een slecht teken zijn: andere landen hebben geen apart afgebakende vrijhandelsgebieden met speciale regels nodig, die trekken gewoon buitenlandse investeringen en handel aan met het eigen landelijk geldende rechtssysteem. Als China zo lang na 1978 nog altijd speciale economische zones nodig heeft…
WHO stopt met onderzoek naar oorsprong van coronavirus – NU.nl
China economie
Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC rethinks China strategy after significant pullback – FT: ‘“They have dramatically decreased investments,” said one executive who had sought to tap GIC for funds to invest partly in China’
Singapore’s GIC says still exploring China long-term investment opportunities – Reuters
The world is counting on a Chinese economic bounceback to keep recession at bay. Early signs suggest it won’t be that easy. – WSJ
Xi’s hoped for consumer boom thwarted by use of consumer loans for stock trades and mortgage repayment – Bloomberg
Chinese government and banks uneasy about early repayment of mortgages – Shuli Ren for Bloomberg
Wind turbines and solar panels are now generating almost enough electricity to power every home in China – Bloomberg
China binnenland
Aktivistin Janargül Jumatai offenbar in Xinjiang festgenommen – Der Spiegel
Chinese football chief probed for suspected ‘serious violation of law’ – Reuters
In Covid China, a hospital bed can hinge on who you know and red packets – Reuters
Hong Kong
Beijing eases official meeting rule for US top diplomat in Hong Kong – AP
Hong Kong’s CE John Lee 李家超 [Léih Gā-hīu] denies inclusion of national security terms in land leases has impact on developers – HKFP: ‘the new term allows the government to disqualify a bidder’
Taiwan buitenland en defensie
Taiwan-China sea routes could see full reopening after Beijing ‘shows kindness’ – SCMP
Dat dit komt rond het bezoek van een delegatie van oppositiepartij KMT is geen toeval. Peking laat graag zien aan de Taiwanezen dat de KMT de goodies kan regelen. Vraag is of dat niet juist averechts werkt in het huidige politieke klimaat in Taiwan.
China still using trade to divide Taiwan, says Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council – Taipei Times
Taiwan names envoy to Ivory Coast as representative office set to reopen soon – Focus Taiwan
Taiwan to reopen borders to Hong Kong and Macau residents next week – Reuters
Taiwan binnenland en economie
郭台銘表態返藍爭大位 侯友宜還在「好好做代誌」? – 聯合報