- China.Table book recommendations
- Author Kevin Chen about being a writer in Berlin
- Covid: Schools closed in Shanghai
- Agreement reached on biodiversity
- Military exercises with Russia
- Wong travels to Beijing
- Opinion by EU Ambassador Fu Cong
It is the winter season: The weather outside is either freezing cold or rainy and windy. Christmas is often said to be the best time to relax and read a book, and rightly so. Fabian Peltsch has sorted through the current books on China and, together with the China.Table team, presents the best new titles.
There is something for everyone: Tech fans will get their money’s worth with “Chip War”, spy lovers will enjoy “Spies and Lies”. But feel free to look beyond your interests – perhaps take a peek into the spiritual sphere with Kevin Chen’s Ghost Town.
The acclaimed novel was written by Taiwanese writer Kevin Chen. In today’s interview, Chen talked with Fabian Peltsch about his work as a writer in Taiwan and Germany and explains how China’s pressure on Taiwan impacts his work.
And finally, I would like to draw your attention to our op-ed today. It was written by Fu Cong, China’s new ambassador to the European Union. For almost a year, Beijing left this post in Brussels vacant. Now, Fu wants to give new impetus to EU-China relations. Fu explains in today’s Opinion how he plans to do this and why he is optimistic that he will succeed.
Michael Radunski
Feature
Spies, chips and ghosts
Whether it is machine learning, voice and facial recognition, or cloud computing, China wants to set the pace in key technologies of the century. Jonathan E. Hillman, Senior Advisor to the US Secretary of State’s Office of Policy Planning, examines Beijing’s strategies to become a global technology power.
Hillman focuses, for example, on the Chinese Beidou navigation system, which is already superior to the US GPS standard in the Asia-Pacific region. It is no secret that these and other technologies are also used for military purposes. But even without military intervention, China is already able to exert power beyond its borders through digital infrastructure development, especially in emerging markets where affordability still takes precedence over security concerns.
Hillman’s book analyzes the so-called technological Cold War primarily from a US perspective. He does not think much of defensive measures, like export controls or license revocations. Nor would unilateral action without Europe be effective, Hillman writes. His advice to the world’s great democracies: join forces, invest in neglected markets, and do not leave the developing countries to the Chinese. In global competition, low-cost alternatives cannot be offered by Huawei & Co. alone. fpe
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