Germany’s new China strategy

Editor-in-Chief

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).

China is using artificial intelligence to forecast extreme weather events as it plans for a summer of extreme downpours, floods, and heatwaves. But there is no relief in sight for a country that is particularly vulnerable to climate change.

China is the world leader in electric car battery recycling, but the system isn’t really working: Unofficial recyclers disassemble EV batteries by hand, causing little-researched but potentially grave environmental damage.

The best-connected people the Hong Kong government can buy are lobbying the U.S. government for business and political ends. We spoke to the Hong Kong Democracy Council’s Mason Wong to get all the details.

Later this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 in Beijing. Dale Aluf, the research and strategy director at SIGNAL (Sino-Israel Global Network & Academic Leadership), makes the case for Israel’s engagement with China.

The U.S. is cozying up to India partly in response to tensions with China. But no one in Washington, D.C., is quite sure how the new friendliness with Dehli will work out and what values will have to be tossed aside to make the relationship work. Laurel Schwartz reports from Washington, D.C., in the latest installment of China and The Town.

Elias Jabbour, a prominent Brazilian economist, was hired last month as an aide to New Development Bank president Dilma Rousseff. Known by some as a “China apologist,” Jabbour’s appointment stirred up controversy in the Brazilian press, all while current Brazilian president Lula seeks closer diplomatic ties with Beijing. Jacob Kessler reports.

Other features from The China Project this week:

In this week’s China Book Chat, Chris Marquis talks to Joshua Kurlantzick about his book Beijing’s Global Media Offensive: China’s Uneven Campaign to Influence Asia and the World, which looks at the ambitious, worldwide opinion management efforts of the Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 government.

The Prince of Ning rebellion: On the morning of July 10, 1519, Zhu declared that Zhengde was a usurper, a commoner who had been falsely put forward as the emperor’s son by a corrupt eunuch. This meant war, writes James Carter in This Week in China’s History.

James Mann’s book Beijing Jeep tells the story of one of the earliest and most spectacular Sino-U.S. joint ventures: AMC’s 1979 JV to produce Jeeps in Beijing. It all went wrong. The book is the latest to find space on Paul French’s Ultimate China Bookshelf.

Turkic Muslim youth cast adrift in Turkey, far from the financial and emotional support of families locked down in China since 2016, are suffering from addiction, homelessness, and low self-esteem. The China Project spoke to older Uyghur exiles dedicated to making positive change.

The much-hyped, upcoming Hollywood release Barbie has stirred a renewed obsession with “Barbiecore,” an aesthetic where hot pink reigns as the official color of happiness. After being critiqued for perpetuating materialism and gender stereotypes, the iconic doll is regaining the spotlight.

But for some people, Barbie’s bubblegum universe never actually died. For Shanghai-based artist Kē Sījiā 柯思嘉, her art — pink-saturated and whimsically defiant — has always been about girl power and reclaiming femininity.

More editor’s picks from this week:

Prada’s partnership with the Chinese women’s soccer team could be a game changer for the country’s female athletes. Click here for details.

American-Chinese food arrives in Beijing. Is the arrival of chop suey, egg foo young, crab rangoon, and sesame orange chicken a cultural boon or abomination?

Themed around plastic surgery, the paintings of Chinese artist Sū Yáng 苏杨 are more than gross-out pics: She offers them as a critique of the beauty standards that lead women to submit to traumatizing procedures.

This week on the Sinica Podcast, University of Pennsylvania legal scholar Neysun Mahboubi talks about his recently-concluded trip to China — his first time back since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Despite concerns over the more restrictive political space in China, Mahboubi sounds a hopeful note about what the restoration of in-person exchanges might mean for the future of U.S.-China relations.

More from the Sinica Podcast Network:

Tesla and Chinese rivals signal a truce in the EV price war, top property developers see June’s new sales take a dive, and China’s commerce minister encourages investment by foreign drugmakers. Listen to the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief:

In Beijing Sprawl, a newly translated collection of nine interconnected short stories, characters are constantly moving without really going anywhere.

The founder of the Ming dynasty established fiefdoms for all 26 of his sons, who were known as “princes.” From the very beginning, they posed a threat to the imperial seat in Beijing. Zhū Chénháo 朱宸濠, the fifth generation to hold the title “Prince of Ning,” made that threat very real in 1519. Listen to This Week in China’s History.

On our TikTok channel:

Six people died in a knife attack that took place in a primary school on Monday. Chinese schools have seen an increase of attacks, making parents worry about the safety of their children.

The Chinese women’s soccer team are the new faces of Prada, much to the joy of Chinese social media. However, there’s still a lot of barriers for female athletes in China.

American-Chinese food has arrived in Beijing, leading to a range of responses. For homesick foreigners, it’s a welcome sight. For others, it’s an abomination.

Our panels, workshops, and interactive engagements will inform and set the agenda for China relations in what promises to be a challenging year ahead.

The full-day conference will take place in New York City, with a packed program dedicated to exploring the big questions of China’s role in the world.

Go to https://nextchinaconference.com for more information and to register your interest today!

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