- China Strategy 2022: China’s dilemma in the Ukraine crisis
- How will the market develop in 2022?
- Beijing’s regulations create hurdles for European companies
- Exports rocket to pre-Covid levels
- UN denounces arms shipments to Myanmar
- EU supply chain law applies only to large companies
- Mass testing in Hong Kong
- Sinolytics.Radar: city clusters as new administrative units
- Profile: Dr. Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy – EU-Taiwan Expert
Today’s edition of China.Table focuses on our live event China Strategy 2022 on Tuesday, which hosted various experts and market practitioners. Our three features present the key discussion topics of the event:
- geopolitics and the Ukraine crisis,
- market and Brands, and
- regulation and decoupling.
Among others, you will find assessments by Reinhard Bütikofer, Member of the European Parliament, Wolfgang Niedermark (BDI), Wolf-Henning Scheider (Zeppelin) and Gu Xuewu (University of Bonn).
However, the equipment at our conference was sadly unable to cope with the influx of several hundred registered attendees plus an additional 22 speakers. As a result, many listeners experienced poor sound quality. We would like to apologize for the technical difficulties. And we would also like to apologize to our partners and speakers who put a lot of effort into the preparation. However, we won’t simply abandon the topics of the event. Instead, we will discuss them in more depth on different channels here at China.Table. Not one part of the event’s program will go to waste.
However, despite the difficulties, several trends emerged at the event. These also overlap to some extent. German business continues to show great interest in the Chinese market. But they are struggling with an increasingly challenging business environment. Above all, increasing regulation is forcing the formation of parallel organizations. As interest in international brands is also waning, local subsidiaries of German companies are presenting themselves as more Chinese. In other words, it’s about increasingly separate entities that have less and less in common with their parent company.
Meanwhile, Russia’s incursion into Ukraine’s territories is raising China’s concerns in its very own way. Xi Jinping quite literally sided with his autocrat colleague Vladimir Putin at the Olympic kickoff, making a certain commitment. Putin then just waited for the end of the Olympics and is now, as expected, fueling discord on the global stage – and thus puts China on the spot. After all, China is long past the point of non-interference, as it always demands, or respect for territorial integrity. On the other hand, if Putin gets away with his maneuver, Xi could take it as an invitation to grab Taiwan.
We at China.Table also continue to shed light on China’s role in foreign policy crises. While the hopes that China, as a stronger economic partner, could effectively restrain its Russian neighbor have been shattered, China still has no interest in a massive war in Europe – the ideal scenario for Xi would be a territorial takeover without the use of force. It is now expected that he will call on Putin to show restraint from now on.
Finn Mayer-Kuckuk
Feature
Ukraine-Russia crisis: China’s dangerous dual strategy
China avoided taking a clear position in the escalating Ukraine-Russia crisis on Tuesday. Following Russia’s advance to recognize the eastern Ukrainian territories as independent republics, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke on the phone with his US counterpart Antony Blinken. Following the phone call, Wang announced that China once again calls on all parties to exercise restraint and to de-escalate the situation. According to Wang, the differences between the parties could only be resolved through dialogue and negotiations.
Earlier, China’s UN Ambassador Zhang Jun urged the Security Council’s emergency meeting to address each other’s concerns based on equality and mutual respect. “We believe that all countries should solve international disputes by peaceful means in line with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.”
The Ukraine-Russia crisis was also an important discussion topic at the China Strategy 2022 live briefing. On the geopolitics panel, Mikko Huotari assessed Beijing’s stance as ambivalent. “In every statement, China’s double game becomes clear: On the one hand, support for Moscow and, on the other hand, recognition of UN principles such as sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations,” said the director of the Berlin-based China Research Institute Merics in an interview with editorial director Finn Mayer-Kuckuk. Huotari is convinced that “Beijing has maneuvered itself into a trap here.”
Continue reading now
… and get free access to this Professional Briefing for a month.
Are you already a guest at the China.Table? Log in now