De Chinese Wouden, woensdag 28 februari: raadsvragen Den Haag, Rusland, Kinmen
Fijne woensdag!
Vandaag is de Vredesherdenkingsdag 和平紀念日 in Taiwan, waarop men het Incident van 28 Februari 1947 en het begin van de Witte Terreur onder de KMT herdenkt.
Nederland en Europa 🇳🇱🇪🇺
‘Director General for Political Affairs @MarceldeVink respectively met with Vice Minister of MFA Deng Li and Vice Minister of the IDCPC Sun Haiyan on Monday. Both meetings were opportunities to address topics of common concern and the state of our bilateral relations.’ – Embassy of the Netherlands in Beijing, Twitter 🇳🇱
NB: De Vink trof zowel een tegenhanger van het ministerie van buitenlandse zaken als een tegenhanger van de steeds belangrijkere Internationale Afdeling van de CCP. Goed dat ze het in de smiezen hebben bij BZ.
‘A new round of 🇨🇳🇳🇱 political consultation was held in #Beijing. The #Dutch side spoke highly of #China’s visa-free policy. The two sides agreed to advance exchanges at all levels and deepen cooperation in economy and trade, green development, agricultural products, #AI, etc.’ – 王鲁彤 Wang Lutong, Twitter 🇳🇱
VVD boos over propaganda tijdens viering Chinees nieuwjaar in stadhuis – Dagblad070 🇳🇱
‘Er mag geen ruimte worden geboden aan Oeigoerse onderdrukking in Den Haag. Ongelooflijke beelden van de viering van het Chinees nieuwjaar afgelopen zaterdag, een bijeenkomst mede georganiseerd door de gemeente Den Haag.’ – Lotte van Basten Batenburg (VVD), Twitter 🇳🇱
De raadsvragen van de VVD in Den Haag, gedeeld in bovenstaande tweet, bevatten nog wat meer details over wat er gebeurde.
Op Twitter deelt de Dutch Uyghur Human Rights Foundation ook bronnen die spreken van Chinezen die zich aankleedden als Oeigoeren op een viering in Utrecht.
Ook in het Verenigd Koninkrijk ogen op wat voor groepen Chinees Nieuwjaarsfeesten mogen organiseren in overheidsgebouwen:
‘🇬🇧🇨🇳 How close are @DefenceHQ and #CCP's #UnitedFront? Yesterday, 2/25, the @RAFMUSEUM London, an NDPB of His Majesty's Gov't Ministry of Defense, hosted a Lunar New Year event organized by grassroots organizations linked to the #UnitedFrontWorkDepartment. A 🧵[1/13]’ Marcin Jerzewski 葉皓勤, Twitter 🇬🇧
Minister moet verhuizing Dolfinarium-dolfijnen naar China definitief verbieden, vinden PVV en PvdD – AD 🇳🇱
China warns EU and UK of ‘negative impact’ after firms blacklisted over Russia – POLITICO Europe 🇪🇺🇬🇧
Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Serbia this year, says its leader Alexander Vučić – SCMP: ‘It means Serbia is the first confirmed stop on Xi’s first post-pandemic trip to Europe, after months of speculation.’ 🇷🇸
China en Rusland 🇨🇳🇷🇺
Chinese banken weigeren Russische betalingen – FD 🇷🇺
Chinese banken weigeren Russische betalingen, Russische economie in de problemen – BNR 🇷🇺
Russia finance minister says in talks with China on yuan loans – Reuters: ‘but there has been no decision yet, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told state media in remarks published on Monday.’ 🇷🇺
Why isn’t China letting Russia take out yuan loans in their ‘no-limits’ partnership? – SCMP 🇷🇺
Senior Chinese and Russian diplomats talk security and Ukraine as war enters third year – SCMP: ‘Sun Weidong, China’s foreign vice-minister, was hosted by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Russia’s capital city on Monday’ 🇷🇺
Lavrov and senior Chinese diplomat discuss situation in Ukraine and Korean Peninsula – TASS: ‘“The sides exchanged views on issues of security in the Eurasian space, as well as in the Asia Pacific region amid the West’s active attempts to establish bloc-based military-political structures there,” the ministry said.’ 🇷🇺
Tech War 💽💥
BYD 比亚迪 has been contacted by the Italian government as part of the country’s efforts to attract a second car manufacturer beyond Fiat maker Stellantis N.V. – Bloomberg 🇮🇹
‘#Germany’s @voithgroup signed an agreement with Weifu Group🇨🇳 to develop hydrogen storage systems. @OlaKaellenius of @MercedesBenz warned #EU against its protectionist move on #China. Amid calls for de-risking, businesses have made their voices heard with concrete actions.’ – 王鲁彤 Wang Lutong, Twitter 🇩🇪
Taiwan boasts growing tech cooperation pacts – Taipei Times: ‘Taiwan has signed science and technology cooperation agreements with 43 nations and three intergovernmental organizations’
ASM verrast met flink aantal orders: „aanhoudend sterke vraag uit China” – FD 🇳🇱
Applied Materials receives subpoena from US regulator SEC on China shipments – Reuters 🇺🇸
TSMC 台積電 gets Taichung zoning approval for most advanced fab (1.4nm) yet – Taipei Times
Chinese chipmaker Fujian Jinhua 福建省晋华 was cleared of economic espionage agains Micron and other criminal charges in a setback for a US Justice Department crackdown on intellectual property theft by China – Bloomberg: ‘failed to prove’ 🇺🇸
Geruchtmakende en vaak aangehaalde zaak. Gevoelig verlies dus.
The plan to replace Huawei gains steam – POLITICO Europe: ‘But the Open RAN campaign has also driven a wedge between U.S. and European Union officials, as Europe’s policymakers fear the technology could kill the bloc's leadership in one of the few areas of technology where it still leads.’ 🇪🇺🇺🇸
US and allies set out 6G principles as tech rivalry with China heats up – SCMP 🇺🇸
Europe EV makers need closer collaboration to catch up with China, says Renault CEO – Reuters 🇫🇷
UK considers probe of Chinese EV subsidies – POLITICO Europe 🇬🇧
Chinese money still chasing Canadian critical mining deals despite Ottawa’s scrutiny – Reuters 🇨🇦
China plans C919 test flights in Southeast Asia en route to possible sales – SCMP
Kinmen/Quemoy 🇹🇼🇨🇳
Taiwan coast guard 海巡 minister decries Chinese moves to create ‘Diaoyutai’ dispute – Taipei Times: ‘One Chinese marine surveillance ship briefly entered the prohibited zone and four entered the restricted zone around Kinmen County on Monday’ ‘Beijing often dispatches patrol vessels from China Marine Surveillance to disputed waters in the South and East China seas to assert its territorial claims.’
Taiwan: China sends coastguard 海警 ships from contested Senkaku/Diaoyutai Islands to patrol near Kinmen – SCMP: ‘Zhang Junshe, a [Chinese] military expert, was quoted by Global Times as saying the patrols marked the first time China Coast Guard had entered the “prohibited or restricted waters” around Quemoy.’
Patrouilles Chinese kustwacht bij Taiwanees eiland Kinmen doet spanning weer oplaaien – de Volkskrant
Human rights advocates protest China Coast Guard at Association for Tourism Exchange Across the Taiwan Straits office in Taipei – Taipei Times: ‘The association is a semi-official representative office of China in Taiwan handling tourism-related affairs.’
China flexes maritime muscle in more places with bigger, tougher coast guard ships – Nikkei Asia
De Chinese kustwacht is assertiever in de hele regio.
Chinese research ships increase activity near Taiwan – FT: ‘Chinese maritime research vessels have dramatically increased incursions into waters just 24 nautical miles off Taiwan’s coast, as Beijing signals its growing surveillance capabilities and collects data crucial for naval warfare.’
‘The latest operations include an unprecedented sailing by China’s newest research ship, a drone carrier with links to the People’s Liberation Army, down the full length of Taiwan’s east coast in November.’
Kantelpunt 🌏⏱️
Interview Frank Dikötter: How the West has been misreading China for years – RFA: ‘All along, they were very clear about what they wanted. They wanted to reinforce the socialist economy.’ ‘At no point did anyone say they wanted to have a separation of powers.’
‘There is a profound failure on the part of a great many people, politicians, experts and scholars outside China to simply listen to what all of these leaders said very clearly and also to read and understand what’s been happening. The failure is reasonably straightforward. It is a refusal to believe that a communist — a Chinese communist — is a communist.’
China’s plan to reshape world trade on its own terms – FT: ‘A Chinese trade official, who declined to be named, puts it more forcefully. “China plays the leading role in free trade while the US and EU are becoming more protectionist,” the official says. “We need to speed up the number of free trade agreements we sign and also assure the quality of these agreements in order to create sufficient room for China’s development.”’
‘To put the size of this FTA footprint into context, China exports more to its FTA network than the world’s fourth and fifth biggest exporters, the Netherlands and Japan, did all over the world during 2022.’
‘But in spite of all the effort that Beijing has expended in building its alternative trade architecture, the current escalation of trade friction with both the US and EU means that China remains gravely exposed to risks that global trade values could retreat further from 2023 levels.’
‘“Trade loss due to tensions with the US and EU cannot easily be supplemented by trading with other countries and regions, as evidenced by China’s trade shrinkage in 2023,” she adds.’
‘A chart that illustrates how it is fundamentally impossible for China to construct a block centered around the developing world that replaces the US/ EU ... there is an obvious problem, namely the size of China's surplus’ – Brad Setser, Twitter
China slams US ‘smear tactics’ in WTO assessment, says Washington covering up its ‘sabotage’ – SCMP 🇺🇸
USTR Releases Annual Report on China’s WTO Compliance – USTR
Het internationale handelssysteem piept en kraakt.
Living outside China has become more like living inside China: The Communist Party is trying to tighten its grip on the Chinese diaspora – The Economist
We need to be more aware of the spies in our midst –Elisabeth Braw for POLITICO Europe
The EU must accept that threats to economic security come from all directions – Abraham Newman for FT ‘The EU has to accept that economic coercion comes not only from the east but also the west.’
Overige
China buitenland en defensie
Chinese commerce minister Wáng Wéntāo 王文涛 meets with US trade representative at WTO conference in Abu Dhabi – SCMP: ‘expressed Beijing’s “solemn concerns” over US tariffs and Taiwan-related issues in the economic and trade domain’ 🇺🇸
China seeks to strengthen cooperation with New Zealand for CPTPP, commerce minister Wáng Wéntāo 王文涛 says – Reuters 🇳🇿
US Chamber of Commerce chief visiting China this week, spokesperson says – Reuters 🇺🇸
Satellite images reveal Chinese floating barrier at mouth of disputed Philippine atoll in South China Sea – Reuters 🇵🇭
Chinese floating barrier at South China Sea flashpoint was ‘necessary’, Beijing says – SCMP 🇵🇭
Businessman Philip Chan Man Ping 陈文平 officially designated politically significant person under Singapore’s foreign interference law – The Straits Times 🇸🇬
China wine dispute may be resolved in weeks, Australian trade minister says – Reuters 🇦🇺
Israel says China’s support for Palestinian ‘right to self-defence’ may be seen as support for October 7 attack – SCMP 🇮🇱🇵🇸
Chinese foreign minister Wáng Yì 王毅 stresses right to survival and development at UN human rights council – Xinhua: ‘Noting that the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict has cost the lives of nearly 30,000 civilians, and left close to two million people displaced’ 🇺🇳🇵🇸
China economie
In China dálen de prijzen. En dat kan pijn gaan doen – NRC: „ een economie […] met een overdaad aan goederen en infrastructuur, maar met relatief weinig aandacht voor de financiële draagkracht van individuele huishoudens.”
China jobs: returning migrant workers battling low salaries, lack of openings as economic realities hit home – SCMP
Chinese investment bank CICC joins chorus of experts as calls for fiscal stimulus intensify – SCMP
China props up renminbi ahead of leadership summit in March – FT: ‘holding off on cuts to short-term interest rates and keeping the currency’s dollar trading band firm despite the spot price pushing towards its official floor’
China’s State Council vows to break down barriers to aid economic recovery, but call continues for stronger stimulus – SCMP
Signs of more stress among China’s smaller companies – Diana Choyleva for FT: ‘defaults by local firms reflect the breadth of the trouble in the Chinese economy, with SMEs providing 80 per cent of urban employment.’
China real estate crisis: Banks to lend CN¥130 billion [€17bn] for ‘white list’ projects – Nikkei Asia
Chinese pharma turns to global deals to cure capital crunch – Caixin Global
China binnenland
China’s former foreign minister Qín Gāng 秦刚 ‘resigns’ from legislature after long absence from public view – SCMP
Dat hij zelf ontslag mocht nemen is goed nieuws voor Qin.
Ousted defence minister Lǐ Shàngfú 李尚福 removed from Chinese Communist Party’s Central Military Commission (CMC) – Caixin Global: ‘He currently remains as a member of the Central Committee and the National People’s Congress.’
Li was eerder al verwijderd uit de normaal identieke CMC van de staat.
China widens scope of state secrets law – Nikkei Asia: ‘likely to create new uncertainty for foreign businesses in China’
NPCSC Session Watch: NPC Preparations and State Secrets Law Revisions – NPC Observer
Chinese bloggers waarschuwen hun volgers voor politieonderzoek – NRC
Two Chinese bloggers in exile warn that police are interrogating their followers – AP: ‘Former state broadcaster CCTV journalist Wang Zhi'an and artist-turned-dissident Li Ying’
Exclusive: Chinese authorities release dozens of Tibetans arrested for dam protests – RFA: ‘However, after their release, authorities imposed strict restrictions on their contact with the outside world, the sources added.’
China’s top court launches new ‘limited’ database of verdicts amid fears over declining transparency – SCMP
National conference on combating pornography and illegal publications held in Beijing – Xinhua
Hong Kong
Rare, three-person Hong Kong protest sounds alarm on new security law – AFP
「人民大於國家 人權高於政權」
「没有民主人權 哪有國家安全」
传夏宝龙称港“一国两制”将永久保留 – 联合早报
Taiwan buitenland en defensie
Newly elected Tuvaluan prime minister affirms ties with Taiwan, says foreign ministry – Focus Taiwan 🇹🇻
Taiwan to conduct final harbour acceptance tests on first domestic submarine – Focus Taiwan
Sonar system and torpedo tubes of Taiwan’s submarine prototype revealed – Focus Taiwan
US labour official in Taiwan to discuss fishermen’s rights – Focus Taiwan 🇺🇸
Lawmakers form more parliamentary friendship groups – Taipei Times
Taiwan binnenland en economie
Taiwanese and Chinese national charged under Anti-Infiltration Act – Taipei Times’ ‘on charges of funneling money from Chinese sources to fund a Labor Party candidate running for New Taipei City councilor in 2022’s local elections.’
Petition opposes KMT-proposed changes to Chinese spouse law lowering naturalisation requirement – Taipei Times: ‘many Chinese spouses bring their relatives from China to hospital emergency rooms, asking for full-body checkups, Tu said.’
Die Chinese vrouwen versieren onze mannen en komen onze gratis gezondheidszorg uitmelken voor hun familie! is het klassieke angstverhaal van sommige Taiwanese nationalisten.
Taiwan’s Executive Yuan officially named ‘site of injustice’ – Taipei Times: ‘to commemorate the victims killed during the 2.28 Incident of 1947.’
Vandaag is de jaarlijkse herdenking van het 28-februari-incident, de dag die het dichts in de buurt komt bij een nationale dag voor Taiwanese nationalisten. In Taipei is er de ongemakkelijke rol van burgemeester Chiang Wan-an, achterkleinzoon van toenmalig dictator Chiang Kai-shek en kleinzoon van Chiang Ching-kuo, de dictatorszoon die de moordende diensten aanstuurde.