Germany sets new strategy for China

Germany yesterday passed a new China strategy document after months of discussions about how tough to get on Beijing. The main takeaway: China has changed, and Germany needs to change the way it deals with China.

Mexico became the top U.S. trading partner at the beginning of 2023, with total bilateral trade between the two countries totaling $263 billion during the first four months of this year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

China carried out a third day of military exercises near Taiwan, and a U.S. Navy patrol plane flew through the Taiwan Strait yesterday.

China and ASEAN agreed to try to conclude a nonaggression pact aimed at preventing the territorial spats in the disputed South China Sea.

Chinese coast guard vessels yesterday drove away a Japanese fishing vessel that had entered “territorial waters” around the Japan-controlled Senkaku Islands, which China claims and calls the Diaoyu Islands.

Below is the top China news from earlier in the week with links to our daily newsletters:

Monday, July 10

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrapped up a four-day visit to China on Sunday, and said the world was “big enough for both of our countries to thrive.”

Chinese authorities slapped a 7.12 billion yuan ($984 million) fine on Ant Group, the fintech firm founded by billionaire Jack Ma (马云 Mǎ Yún), ending a years-long regulatory overhaul of the company that in 2020 kicked off Beijing’s broader crackdown on China’s internet sector.

A knife attack on a kindergarten killed six people, including three children in China’s southern Guangdong Province.

Tuesday, July 11

China will “continue to work with Russia,” Chinese President Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 told chairperson of Russia’s Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko during their meeting in Beijing.

The head of a U.S. think tank was charged with acting as a Chinese agent.

China and the Solomon Islands signed a deal on police cooperation as part of an upgrade of their relations on Monday, four years after the Pacific nation switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Beijing.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qín Gāng 秦刚 skipped ASEAN meetings yesterday and today because of “health reasons,” according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, but online rumors now suggest he in trouble for an extramarital affair with a TV news host.

Wednesday, July 12

China is planning to send two manned rockets to the Moon by 2030.

Microsoft claimed that a China-based hacker group breached email accounts of about 25 organizations “including government agencies.”

U.K. ministers flagged eight China-linked investments in British companies using national security powers.

Thursday, July 13

China finalized its official rules to govern generative artificial intelligence (AI), becoming the first country to release such guidelines to regulate advanced technology such as ChatGPT.

The government is trying to stimulate the internet platform economy with a variety of propaganda events, such as a meeting between premier Lǐ Qiáng 李强 and executives from Meituan, Xiaohongshu, Alibaba Cloud, and several other large tech companies.

China’s exports fell by 12.4% in June compared to a year earlier to $285.32 billion.

Dǒng Yúnhǔ 董云虎, the Party chief and chairman of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress, has been placed under investigation by the Communist Party’s anti-graft watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).