On Monday, I asked you for a self-examination: Would you get vaccinated against Covid-19 with a Chinese vaccine? You would? If so, you’re part of a small minority. In a recent survey, the opinion research institute Civey found on behalf of T-Online: Only two percent of Germans would trust China’s vaccines.
Once a year, the Chamber of Commerce surveys German companies to assess investment conditions in China. Christiane Kuehl analyses the current results. Her verdict: Business is better than expected, and German companies are benefiting from China’s economic growth. They also seem to feel fewer restrictions on access to markets in their day-to-day operations than we observe from a distance.
Quantum physicist Jianwei Pan worked in Heidelberg until 2008, and before that, in Vienna, and built up his own research team in Germany before moving to Hefei University. Now Pan and his team have unveiled the world’s fastest quantum computer.
For China experts, Hainan has been the epitome of sun and relaxation. The Chinese government sees the potential of a booming high-tech location in the region. Frank Sieren examines the reality of the ambitious plans.
That you can not only save the climate with “green” investments but also earn rich returns has probably never been demonstrated so effectively in the media as by Elon Musk. I recommend you take a look at Nico Beckert’s Feature of the current Bloomberg ranking of green billionaires.
While Germany aims to be at the forefront of quantum research by 2030, China has recently unveiled a quantum computer that can provide the solution to a complex problem “within minutes”, according to researchers. China’s most powerful supercomputer to date, the “Taihulight” – the world’s number four fastest supercomputer – would have needed over two billion years to solve the same task.
In December, 24 Chinese scientists presented the world’s fastest new quantum computer “Jiuzhang” – named after China’s oldest mathematical writings – in the journal Science. It is located at the University of Science and Technology (USTC) in Hefei. The scientists around the quantum physicist Jianwei Pan have mainly dealt with the problem of “Gaussian Boson Sampling”. For the photon-based quantum computer, they calculated the paths and directions that photon particles take in a maze of beam splitters, prisms and over 70 mirrors. If two photons hit the same beam splitter at the same time, they both take the same path, making the problem to be calculated increasingly complex.
Pan has worked with his team for twenty years to develop a system that has a suitable and high-quality photon source. “For example, it’s easy for us to drink a sip of water every time, but it’s difficult to drink just one water molecule per sip. A high-quality photon source needs to ‘release’ only one photon each time, and each photon needs to be exactly the same, which is quite a challenge,” Pan explained.
In Jiuzhang’s case, the Chinese scientists experimented with light pulses rather than photons, proving that light-based quantum computers are significantly more powerful.
International researchers congratulated Pan and his colleagues on the breakthrough: Ian Walmsley, a physicist from Imperial College in London, wrote in the journal Nature: “This is a real tour de force and an important milestone.”
Whether it’s quantum internet, storage or satellites, the competencies are said to be broad in quantum technology. In August 2016, China’s state news agency Xinhua reported that the first quantum communications satellite had been launched, only to report a year later that it had sent the first tap-proof code from space.
“However, China is now also very well positioned in other technologies and has been able to catch up with the world leaders in recent years,” says Stefan Filipp, Professor of Physics at TU Munich.
The Chinese government is funding the national quantum program at Hefei University with up to $10 billion a year, and the university has now achieved a breakthrough with Jiuzhang.
While this figure is an estimate by experts, reliable data shows that the number of patents in quantum technologies has been steadily increasing since 2012 and has more than doubled in the past three years compared to patents in the US. China filed 5,164 patents last year, much more than the US with 1,990, while Europe is far behind with 797 (Germany holds 410 of them).
“China is not only pursuing the path toward photonic quantum computers but also other technologies, such as quantum computing with superconducting qubits. The leadership in optical quantum computing can be attributed to the career of Jianwei Pan, who earned his Ph.D. from Anton Zeilinger with fundamental experiments on quantum communication with photons,” Filipp told China.Table.
Pan worked in Heidelberg and, before that, in Vienna until 2008. He built up his own research team in Germany before returning to Hefei University. In 2020, Pan, born in 1970, received the Zeiss Research Award. The award recognizes outstanding achievements in the field of international research.
There are ambitious goals in Germany. Bavaria alone will invest €300 million in quantum research over the next three years. How Germany can achieve technological sovereignty regarding quantum computing “in global competition with strong competitors, especially in Asia and the USA” is shown by a commission of experts appointed by the Federal Government. In the study “Roadmap Quantum Computing,” the 16 representatives from industry and science emphasize that Germany should have achieved “an internationally competitive quantum computer with at least 100 individually controllable qubits” as a milestone in five to ten years, whereby the system should be scalable to at least 500 qubits.
A qubit can occur in more than one state at a time, and as a result, the tasks to be computed can no longer be linear as with bits but increase exponentially. Thus, a quantum computer with up to 300 qubits can perform 2300 operations simultaneously.
What comes across as a bit technical is the essential foundation for a “leading technology location”, according to the study. Whether it is drug development or faster processors in autonomous driving, “For our high-tech industry, access to this technology can be existential,” said Physicist Stefan Filipp of the Technical University of Munich and the Chief Technologist of laser specialist Trumpf, Peter Leibinger, speaking on behalf of the expert council.
“In Germany, we must succeed in translating excellent basic research into innovative strength and technological advancement. Since the road to the universal quantum computer is still long, this goal is still quite achievable with sufficient focus and through close cooperation between science and industry,” says Filipp.
In five to ten years, Germany must be “in a position, in cooperation with its European partners, to build and operate a quantum computer suitable for application at the forefront of the international competition,” the study states. According to expert advice, however, the €2 billion promised by Federal Research Minister Anja Karliczek (CDU) last year for the quantum technology initiative are not enough.
According to the Council of Experts, more funds are needed because it is still unclear which technology platform will prevail. Different approaches to quantum research, such as superconducting circuits, ion traps, and grids with neutral atoms, should be pursued in parallel before deciding where the money should be invested.
Even though it is almost certain that the Chinese quantum computer Jiuzhang is very powerful, experts are still arguing about who has the more powerful system. While Google’s quantum computer Sycamore uses superconducting quantum bits for computing, Jiuzhang uses laser pulses. So Jiuzhang is not actually a quantum computer but a quantum simulator. But the scientist Pan is playing a leading role in the race for quantum superiority, especially in quantum communications. According to Chinese state media, Head of state Xi Jinping wants to use quantum communications to secure China’s technological leadership.
Wealth with climate investments: 23 of the 26 richest people in the fields of climate and green technologies come from China, as a new ranking by Bloomberg shows. Undisputed at the top of the ranking is Elon Musk. The Tesla Chief Executive has benefited from a soaring share price over the past year, amassing a “green fortune” of $180 billion. Another $20 billion in wealth comes from other businesses, such as the space and telecommunications company SpaceX.
After Musk follows a long line of Chinese; Shareholders of major EV and battery makers are the most represented. In second place in the Bloomberg ranking are the four largest shareholders of the battery maker CATL, which supplies Tesla, Toyota, BMW and Volvo, among others – Zeng Yuqun, Huang Shilin, Pei Zhenhua, and Li Ping. They have a combined “green fortune” of $60 billion. In fourth place are the shareholders of the car and bus maker BYD – Wang Chuanfu, Lv Xiangyang, Xia Zuoquan – with a combined “green wealth” of $13 billion. They are followed by the shareholders of carmakers XPeng, Nio, Li Auto and the two founders of e-scooter maker Yadea.
At the same time, it is worth taking a differentiated look. China is indeed the world’s largest market for electromobility. And companies such as CATL, the world’s largest battery manufacturer, and BYD (the second-largest EV manufacturer and in the top four for batteries) are established companies. But XPeng, Nio or Li Auto are rather small competitors on a global scale – Li Auto delivered 32,000 cars in 2020, Nio and XPeng celebrated new company delivery records in December 2020 with 7000 and 5700 delivered cars, respectively. The high fortunes of their shareholders owe more to a high stock market listing – i.e., the promise of future electric mobility – rather than high sales.
In 5th and 14th place are the shareholders of Eve Energy, a Chinese manufacturer of electricity storage systems, and Wuxi Lead, a manufacturer of equipment for lithium batteries.
In addition to the EV and battery sectors, the solar sector is strongly represented in the green billionaire ranking. In third place are the four largest shareholders of the Chinese group Longi. The world’s largest manufacturer of wafers for solar modules gives Li Zhenguo, Li Chunan, Li Xiyan and Zhong Baoshen a combined “green fortune” of $16 billion. In 10th place is the shareholder of Hangzhou First Applied Material – the world’s largest manufacturer of coatings for solar panels. Following in 12th and 15th place are the shareholders of Sungrow Power Supply and JA Solar Technology. But the numbers from the solar industry should also be taken with a grain of salt. The solar industry has seen many booms and crises in its short history, Bloomberg writes. Exemplary is the share price of Hangzhou First Applied Material, which doubled in 2020.
The comparison with the previous year’s survey also shows: The survey is only a snapshot. Not all representatives in the current green billionaire ranking will still be there in five years. This is because some of the shares in the companies listed above are likely to be overvalued. Additionally, there were only four Chinese companies in last year’s ranking: CATL, Longi, Hangzhou First Applied Material and BYD.
As the “father of democracy,” he became one of Hong Kong’s best-known politicians: Martin Lee is regarded as a pragmatic idealist in his fight for human rights and democracy. Two Norwegian MPs, Mathilde Tybring-Gjedde and Peter Frolich of the conservative Hoyre party have now nominated the 82-year-old for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.
In recent years, the lawyer has come under increasing criticism from younger Hong Kong activists. They say he did not go far enough with his demands. But when Lee began advocating in the 1980s that Hong Kong residents should be able to choose their own political leaders, he was considered anything but moderate. He provoked Beijing by championing civil liberties at the head of his United Democrats of Hong Kong (UDHK) party while remaining a respected part of Hong Kong’s political elite.
In 1985, Martin Lee joined the drafting committee for the Basic Law of the Special Administrative Region. He helped draft a mini-constitution for the city after Hong Kong’s handover from Britain to China. However, Lee was expelled from the committee in 1989 after the violent crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protest because he condemned the Beijing government’s role in the incident and vocally supported the student protesters.
When the government offered only ten directly elected seats on Hong Kong’s Legislative Council for restricted elections in 1991, Lee publicly burned a hard copy of the proposal. Under his leadership, the UDHK won a landslide in the 1991 direct elections, with 12 out of 18 council seats going to the party. Political scientist Victoria Hui told the New York Times that party colleagues at the time criticized him for being too radical. They accused him of wanting too much too fast, Hui said.
Martin Lee is considered a staunch defender of “one country, two systems”. Born in Hong Kong in 1938 and educated in Britain, he switches effortlessly between Mandarin, Cantonese and English when speaking. He is married and has one son. Lee’s father was a lieutenant general in the Chinese army before fleeing to Hong Kong before the Communist takeover in 1949. He had studied together with China’s first Premier Zhou Enlai – although the two men had strongly differing views, their relationship had always been cordial, Martin Lee said in a 1991 interview.
Shortly before the handover of Hong Kong, in June 1997, Martin Lee had to resign from office – Beijing abolished the elected representations. In 1998, however, he was able to win back his seat in the Legislative Council. In December 2002, Lee resigned as Chairman of the Democratic Party, and in 2008 he retired from the Legislative Council. Since then, he has continued to champion the Democratic cause locally and internationally. Last spring, Lee was arrested for the first time for attending an “unauthorized meeting”.
Many younger activists criticized him for suggesting a compromise with Beijing in the debate over the National Security Act. “I am a public enemy from China’s point of view. And the kids don’t like me either because I do not agree with their objects,” he said, according to media reports. Popularity, however, was not the goal: “The goal is democracy for Hong Kong.”
The nomination for the peace prize can hopefully be a source of inspiration for freedom fighters around the world, Norwegian Tybring-Gjedde wrote on Twitter. The prize winners are usually announced in October. The – actually secret – list of nominees is long. However, names keep leaking out. According to media reports, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and former US President Donald Trump have also been nominated again for 2021. Amelie Richter
On Monday, I asked you for a self-examination: Would you get vaccinated against Covid-19 with a Chinese vaccine? You would? If so, you’re part of a small minority. In a recent survey, the opinion research institute Civey found on behalf of T-Online: Only two percent of Germans would trust China’s vaccines.
Once a year, the Chamber of Commerce surveys German companies to assess investment conditions in China. Christiane Kuehl analyses the current results. Her verdict: Business is better than expected, and German companies are benefiting from China’s economic growth. They also seem to feel fewer restrictions on access to markets in their day-to-day operations than we observe from a distance.
Quantum physicist Jianwei Pan worked in Heidelberg until 2008, and before that, in Vienna, and built up his own research team in Germany before moving to Hefei University. Now Pan and his team have unveiled the world’s fastest quantum computer.
For China experts, Hainan has been the epitome of sun and relaxation. The Chinese government sees the potential of a booming high-tech location in the region. Frank Sieren examines the reality of the ambitious plans.
That you can not only save the climate with “green” investments but also earn rich returns has probably never been demonstrated so effectively in the media as by Elon Musk. I recommend you take a look at Nico Beckert’s Feature of the current Bloomberg ranking of green billionaires.
While Germany aims to be at the forefront of quantum research by 2030, China has recently unveiled a quantum computer that can provide the solution to a complex problem “within minutes”, according to researchers. China’s most powerful supercomputer to date, the “Taihulight” – the world’s number four fastest supercomputer – would have needed over two billion years to solve the same task.
In December, 24 Chinese scientists presented the world’s fastest new quantum computer “Jiuzhang” – named after China’s oldest mathematical writings – in the journal Science. It is located at the University of Science and Technology (USTC) in Hefei. The scientists around the quantum physicist Jianwei Pan have mainly dealt with the problem of “Gaussian Boson Sampling”. For the photon-based quantum computer, they calculated the paths and directions that photon particles take in a maze of beam splitters, prisms and over 70 mirrors. If two photons hit the same beam splitter at the same time, they both take the same path, making the problem to be calculated increasingly complex.
Pan has worked with his team for twenty years to develop a system that has a suitable and high-quality photon source. “For example, it’s easy for us to drink a sip of water every time, but it’s difficult to drink just one water molecule per sip. A high-quality photon source needs to ‘release’ only one photon each time, and each photon needs to be exactly the same, which is quite a challenge,” Pan explained.
In Jiuzhang’s case, the Chinese scientists experimented with light pulses rather than photons, proving that light-based quantum computers are significantly more powerful.
International researchers congratulated Pan and his colleagues on the breakthrough: Ian Walmsley, a physicist from Imperial College in London, wrote in the journal Nature: “This is a real tour de force and an important milestone.”
Whether it’s quantum internet, storage or satellites, the competencies are said to be broad in quantum technology. In August 2016, China’s state news agency Xinhua reported that the first quantum communications satellite had been launched, only to report a year later that it had sent the first tap-proof code from space.
“However, China is now also very well positioned in other technologies and has been able to catch up with the world leaders in recent years,” says Stefan Filipp, Professor of Physics at TU Munich.
The Chinese government is funding the national quantum program at Hefei University with up to $10 billion a year, and the university has now achieved a breakthrough with Jiuzhang.
While this figure is an estimate by experts, reliable data shows that the number of patents in quantum technologies has been steadily increasing since 2012 and has more than doubled in the past three years compared to patents in the US. China filed 5,164 patents last year, much more than the US with 1,990, while Europe is far behind with 797 (Germany holds 410 of them).
“China is not only pursuing the path toward photonic quantum computers but also other technologies, such as quantum computing with superconducting qubits. The leadership in optical quantum computing can be attributed to the career of Jianwei Pan, who earned his Ph.D. from Anton Zeilinger with fundamental experiments on quantum communication with photons,” Filipp told China.Table.
Pan worked in Heidelberg and, before that, in Vienna until 2008. He built up his own research team in Germany before returning to Hefei University. In 2020, Pan, born in 1970, received the Zeiss Research Award. The award recognizes outstanding achievements in the field of international research.
There are ambitious goals in Germany. Bavaria alone will invest €300 million in quantum research over the next three years. How Germany can achieve technological sovereignty regarding quantum computing “in global competition with strong competitors, especially in Asia and the USA” is shown by a commission of experts appointed by the Federal Government. In the study “Roadmap Quantum Computing,” the 16 representatives from industry and science emphasize that Germany should have achieved “an internationally competitive quantum computer with at least 100 individually controllable qubits” as a milestone in five to ten years, whereby the system should be scalable to at least 500 qubits.
A qubit can occur in more than one state at a time, and as a result, the tasks to be computed can no longer be linear as with bits but increase exponentially. Thus, a quantum computer with up to 300 qubits can perform 2300 operations simultaneously.
What comes across as a bit technical is the essential foundation for a “leading technology location”, according to the study. Whether it is drug development or faster processors in autonomous driving, “For our high-tech industry, access to this technology can be existential,” said Physicist Stefan Filipp of the Technical University of Munich and the Chief Technologist of laser specialist Trumpf, Peter Leibinger, speaking on behalf of the expert council.
“In Germany, we must succeed in translating excellent basic research into innovative strength and technological advancement. Since the road to the universal quantum computer is still long, this goal is still quite achievable with sufficient focus and through close cooperation between science and industry,” says Filipp.
In five to ten years, Germany must be “in a position, in cooperation with its European partners, to build and operate a quantum computer suitable for application at the forefront of the international competition,” the study states. According to expert advice, however, the €2 billion promised by Federal Research Minister Anja Karliczek (CDU) last year for the quantum technology initiative are not enough.
According to the Council of Experts, more funds are needed because it is still unclear which technology platform will prevail. Different approaches to quantum research, such as superconducting circuits, ion traps, and grids with neutral atoms, should be pursued in parallel before deciding where the money should be invested.
Even though it is almost certain that the Chinese quantum computer Jiuzhang is very powerful, experts are still arguing about who has the more powerful system. While Google’s quantum computer Sycamore uses superconducting quantum bits for computing, Jiuzhang uses laser pulses. So Jiuzhang is not actually a quantum computer but a quantum simulator. But the scientist Pan is playing a leading role in the race for quantum superiority, especially in quantum communications. According to Chinese state media, Head of state Xi Jinping wants to use quantum communications to secure China’s technological leadership.
Wealth with climate investments: 23 of the 26 richest people in the fields of climate and green technologies come from China, as a new ranking by Bloomberg shows. Undisputed at the top of the ranking is Elon Musk. The Tesla Chief Executive has benefited from a soaring share price over the past year, amassing a “green fortune” of $180 billion. Another $20 billion in wealth comes from other businesses, such as the space and telecommunications company SpaceX.
After Musk follows a long line of Chinese; Shareholders of major EV and battery makers are the most represented. In second place in the Bloomberg ranking are the four largest shareholders of the battery maker CATL, which supplies Tesla, Toyota, BMW and Volvo, among others – Zeng Yuqun, Huang Shilin, Pei Zhenhua, and Li Ping. They have a combined “green fortune” of $60 billion. In fourth place are the shareholders of the car and bus maker BYD – Wang Chuanfu, Lv Xiangyang, Xia Zuoquan – with a combined “green wealth” of $13 billion. They are followed by the shareholders of carmakers XPeng, Nio, Li Auto and the two founders of e-scooter maker Yadea.
At the same time, it is worth taking a differentiated look. China is indeed the world’s largest market for electromobility. And companies such as CATL, the world’s largest battery manufacturer, and BYD (the second-largest EV manufacturer and in the top four for batteries) are established companies. But XPeng, Nio or Li Auto are rather small competitors on a global scale – Li Auto delivered 32,000 cars in 2020, Nio and XPeng celebrated new company delivery records in December 2020 with 7000 and 5700 delivered cars, respectively. The high fortunes of their shareholders owe more to a high stock market listing – i.e., the promise of future electric mobility – rather than high sales.
In 5th and 14th place are the shareholders of Eve Energy, a Chinese manufacturer of electricity storage systems, and Wuxi Lead, a manufacturer of equipment for lithium batteries.
In addition to the EV and battery sectors, the solar sector is strongly represented in the green billionaire ranking. In third place are the four largest shareholders of the Chinese group Longi. The world’s largest manufacturer of wafers for solar modules gives Li Zhenguo, Li Chunan, Li Xiyan and Zhong Baoshen a combined “green fortune” of $16 billion. In 10th place is the shareholder of Hangzhou First Applied Material – the world’s largest manufacturer of coatings for solar panels. Following in 12th and 15th place are the shareholders of Sungrow Power Supply and JA Solar Technology. But the numbers from the solar industry should also be taken with a grain of salt. The solar industry has seen many booms and crises in its short history, Bloomberg writes. Exemplary is the share price of Hangzhou First Applied Material, which doubled in 2020.
The comparison with the previous year’s survey also shows: The survey is only a snapshot. Not all representatives in the current green billionaire ranking will still be there in five years. This is because some of the shares in the companies listed above are likely to be overvalued. Additionally, there were only four Chinese companies in last year’s ranking: CATL, Longi, Hangzhou First Applied Material and BYD.
As the “father of democracy,” he became one of Hong Kong’s best-known politicians: Martin Lee is regarded as a pragmatic idealist in his fight for human rights and democracy. Two Norwegian MPs, Mathilde Tybring-Gjedde and Peter Frolich of the conservative Hoyre party have now nominated the 82-year-old for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.
In recent years, the lawyer has come under increasing criticism from younger Hong Kong activists. They say he did not go far enough with his demands. But when Lee began advocating in the 1980s that Hong Kong residents should be able to choose their own political leaders, he was considered anything but moderate. He provoked Beijing by championing civil liberties at the head of his United Democrats of Hong Kong (UDHK) party while remaining a respected part of Hong Kong’s political elite.
In 1985, Martin Lee joined the drafting committee for the Basic Law of the Special Administrative Region. He helped draft a mini-constitution for the city after Hong Kong’s handover from Britain to China. However, Lee was expelled from the committee in 1989 after the violent crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protest because he condemned the Beijing government’s role in the incident and vocally supported the student protesters.
When the government offered only ten directly elected seats on Hong Kong’s Legislative Council for restricted elections in 1991, Lee publicly burned a hard copy of the proposal. Under his leadership, the UDHK won a landslide in the 1991 direct elections, with 12 out of 18 council seats going to the party. Political scientist Victoria Hui told the New York Times that party colleagues at the time criticized him for being too radical. They accused him of wanting too much too fast, Hui said.
Martin Lee is considered a staunch defender of “one country, two systems”. Born in Hong Kong in 1938 and educated in Britain, he switches effortlessly between Mandarin, Cantonese and English when speaking. He is married and has one son. Lee’s father was a lieutenant general in the Chinese army before fleeing to Hong Kong before the Communist takeover in 1949. He had studied together with China’s first Premier Zhou Enlai – although the two men had strongly differing views, their relationship had always been cordial, Martin Lee said in a 1991 interview.
Shortly before the handover of Hong Kong, in June 1997, Martin Lee had to resign from office – Beijing abolished the elected representations. In 1998, however, he was able to win back his seat in the Legislative Council. In December 2002, Lee resigned as Chairman of the Democratic Party, and in 2008 he retired from the Legislative Council. Since then, he has continued to champion the Democratic cause locally and internationally. Last spring, Lee was arrested for the first time for attending an “unauthorized meeting”.
Many younger activists criticized him for suggesting a compromise with Beijing in the debate over the National Security Act. “I am a public enemy from China’s point of view. And the kids don’t like me either because I do not agree with their objects,” he said, according to media reports. Popularity, however, was not the goal: “The goal is democracy for Hong Kong.”
The nomination for the peace prize can hopefully be a source of inspiration for freedom fighters around the world, Norwegian Tybring-Gjedde wrote on Twitter. The prize winners are usually announced in October. The – actually secret – list of nominees is long. However, names keep leaking out. According to media reports, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and former US President Donald Trump have also been nominated again for 2021. Amelie Richter
