- Ukraine: China under pressure
- IPOs in the USA: Beijing globalists on the rise
- Alibaba invests in electric mobility
- First Covid deaths since early 2021
- Wuhan promotes space industry
- Infrastructure program for Xinjiang
- Successful debut for China’s first Formula 1 driver
- Journalist Nilk Wu about the mood in Taiwan
- So To Speak: healing through slowing down
On the night of Friday to Saturday, the Presidents of the United States and China spoke on the phone and discussed the war in Ukraine. Biden tried warnings, Xi vague appeasements. Biden threatens sanctions against Chinese companies that undermine the blockade on Russia. Xi tended to present himself as a friend of Russia, but at the same time urged global peace. No surprises there. But pressure is mounting on China to distance itself from Russia’s invasion, Christiane Kuehl writes. China is still resisting the pressure and ever-growing accusations from the West. How long can it maintain this kind of pro-Russian neutrality?
Meanwhile, changes are transpiring in China’s domestic politics that may be indirectly related to Ukraine. Forces within the CCP that call for international integration have once again the upper hand. Has Putin’s nationalist go-it-alone weakened the position of Chinese hardliners? In his analysis, Frank Sieren notes a thaw for IPOs in New York as the first sign of a change of course.
Regardless of this, efforts to achieve greater economic independence are continuing. The best example is automotive electronics. China’s powerful tech companies have anchored themselves as an indispensable part of the automotive industry, analyzes Christian Domke Seidel. This is a difference to Europe, where AI conglomerates like Tencent and Baidu do not even exist. Alibaba is now making a splash as a new player. The e-commerce giant is actively investing in car manufacturers.
Finn Mayer-Kuckuk
Feature
Balancing act in the Ukraine crisis becomes harder
Even a good three weeks after the war in Ukraine broke out, not a single critical word has been heard from China about the Russian invasion. Beijing is sticking to its diplomatic tightrope act, for which it has to begin to justify itself in the face of growing international pressure. China’s position on the Ukraine conflict is “objective and fair,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi defiantly stressed Saturday. Time would prove that Beijing is “on the right side of history.” China will make “an independent judgment,” the Foreign Ministry quoted Wang as saying. “We will never accept any external coercion or pressure, and we will also oppose any groundless accusations and suspicion against China.”
But this pressure grows with each passing day. The United States and the EU are urging China to finally distance itself from Moscow. On Saturday, Ukraine also appealed to China to condemn the war of aggression and “Russian barbarism.” Were China to make the right decision, it could “be an important element of the global security system,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mychailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter on Saturday, according to AFP.
Last Friday, President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden spoke for almost two hours via video call. According to the White House, Biden warned Xi of “consequences” should Beijing provide “material” support to Moscow. According to Chinese state media, Xi called on the US to work with Beijing for global peace, saying, “The Ukraine crisis is something we don’t want to see. Events once again show that state-to-state relations cannot go to the stage of confrontation, conflict and confrontation are not in the interests of anyone” In any case, China and the US intend to remain in contact.
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