Hopes were high. Despite rising numbers, the leadership in Beijing seemed willing to relax the strict Covid measures at least a little. But with the first death in six months – and in Beijing of all places – the opening is already over. Schools, stores, restaurants, and offices in the capital will have to close until further notice.
But perhaps it will be the exponentially rising and thus uncontainable numbers that will make the government rethink its zero-Covid strategy in the coming weeks, writes our Beijing-based team of authors concerning Hong Kong. There, the city government abandoned zero-Covid after the situation spiraled out of control earlier this year. Instead, people have been living with the virus ever since – and, above all, are vaccinating eagerly.
Geopolitics overshadowed the climate talks at COP27, which ended this weekend in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. But it was not Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine that hampered an agreement, but the dispute over whether China, as a superpower, can continue to opt-out of commitments to finance climate aid like a developing country, our Climate.Table colleagues report on the ground. For now, China has prevailed.
At the Asia-Pacific Economic Summit Apec in Bangkok, the outcome in favor of China was less clear. Although the Ukraine war was put on the agenda at the request of the USA, China and Russia would have preferred to ignore the issue. In the end, it was even enough for a condemnation of Russian aggression. But China still managed to get its way with its position in the matter. Read Frank Sieren’s analysis to find out how.
Have a great start to the week!
After the first fatal Covid case in months, Chinese authorities respond with tighter restrictions in the capital. In Beijing, many stores and restaurants remained closed over the weekend. Schools announced that classes would be canceled in the new week. The German Embassy School in Beijing must also close its doors until further notice.
According to the Health Commission on Sunday, the 87-year-old male patient from Beijing is the first pandemic victim since the big spring wave in Shanghai. As was the case then, current infection rates are again above 24,000 cases per day nationwide. If the increase continues unchecked, a large number of deaths would be unavoidable. The authorities still want to prevent this at all costs.
Last week, the leadership presented a list of 20 adjustments to the Covid measures that tend to soften the provisions. According to the new rules, for example, it is now forbidden to quarantine secondary contacts, i.e. people who had contact with direct contacts of infected persons. Only direct contacts and infected persons themselves must now be isolated. In addition, cities are allowed to classify people into risk and non-risk areas.
The designation of medium-risk areas, on the other hand, will be dropped. This means that slightly fewer people will be stuck in lockdowns than before. Expats will also benefit from the fact that they will only have to spend eight days in quarantine after entering China instead of the previous ten. However, even with these measures, a significant relaxation was not in sight.
The southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou, which is currently particularly severely affected, announced last week that it intended to increase its quarantine capacity by more than 240,000 places. That stores, restaurants, and schools in Beijing across the board will now also have to close, is a zero-Covid policy based on the old pattern.
But at least in part, the new Covid rules suggest that the course is about to change. So far, too many medical resources have gone into mass testing and enforced strict lockdowns. Leadership seems to have understood that. One indication is that a larger stockpile of Covid drugs will be built up.
However, the new measures mainly envisage finally pushing the vaccination campaign more actively. How long it will take for a real opening is likely to depend on one figure in particular: the vaccination rate among the oldest people. As of August, only 67.8 percent of all people over 80 were triple-vaccinated. Shockingly, even according to the latest figures, this rate has not changed much. Last week, it was still at 68.2 percent.
Beijing will have to be judged by how quickly the vaccination rate among the elderly moves upward in the coming weeks and months. If it does not, too many people would die in the event of an opening, as Chinese doctors warned in the Financial Times on Friday.
China, they conclude, is not ready for an opening under the current conditions. The devastating consequences of an uncontrolled Covid wave could be observed in Hong Kong earlier this year, where the elderly, of all people, were also not sufficiently vaccinated. Many people lost their lives.
But mainland China can also learn something from the Hong Kong experience: According to a study conducted there, it is a misconception that China can only get a grip on the pandemic with a foreign vaccine. In Hong Kong, people can choose injections from Biontech or the Chinese preparation Coronavac. The research, published in the medical journal The Lancet, found that triple-vaccinated people with either vaccine had similar protection against severe courses or death. Biontech vaccinees were 97.1 percent protected, while Coronavac vaccinees were 97.3 percent protected. The similarly good effect of the booster with the Chinese products was already pointed out by virologist Hendrik Streeck in an interview with China.Table in the spring.
However, the coming months will definitely be difficult once again. Over the winter, infection rates in China will continue to rise. As a result, many resources will continue to go into tracking, testing, and isolation. Only if the authorities simultaneously succeed in advancing a large-scale vaccination campaign will it be possible to move closer to an opening in the spring.
Another scenario would also be possible: Similar to Hong Kong in the spring, the situation could get out of control. Such chaos, with probably many deaths, would also force the authorities to rethink their current strategy and ultimately live with the virus. Jörn Petring
It’s an old argument in international climate negotiations. Until the Paris Agreement was concluded, China refused to make any commitment (China.Table reported) to reduce emissions at home. Instead, together with other emerging economies, it referred to the historically grown obligation of industrialized countries.
The Paris Climate Agreement of 2015 did break down the front between industrialized and developing countries. At COP27, however, the front came back to light again: China – now a major power and the world’s largest emitter – insisted on its status as a developing country under the UNFCCC process.
After decades of debate, the participating countries agreed on a joint fund to compensate for climate damage in poorer countries for the first time (Loss & Damage). The new compensation fund is intended to cushion the inevitable consequences of global warming – such as increasingly frequent droughts, floods, and storms, but also rising sea levels and desertification. Developing countries that are particularly at risk are to benefit. It is to come into force next year.
It is a historic decision because developing countries have been calling for a financial instrument that would take effect in the event of losses and damage as a result of climate change for 30 years. An“important breakthrough,” says Christoph Bals, Political Director of the environmental organization Germanwatch.
Nevertheless, the negotiations were extremely complicated. The main point of contention was who should provide the funds. The EU and later also some island states insisted that new sources of finance needed to be found. The original EU demand was the expansion of the group of donor countries. Thus, the now prosperous emerging countries such as China, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Mexico, and the oil-rich states would also have had to pay into the fund.
China in particular refused to pay into the fund. Instead, the country even wanted the chance to receive compensation payments in the future. “The EU wanted to make China and the Gulf states contributors – but in the end, it didn’t have the courage for the necessary confrontation,” analyzes David Ryfisch, Head of the International Climate Policy team at Germanwatch.
The development organization Care criticized that essential questions were not worked out until 2023 and that no sums were mentioned. Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) wrote: “This includes above all the largest emitters USA, China and of course the EU.”
On Sunday night, there was still wrangling over whether only “particularly vulnerable” developing countries or all developing countries should be eligible to receive funds from the “loss and damage” financial instruments. A formulation that classified all developing countries as recipients as of 1992 was deleted shortly before the closing plenary of the COP.
China kept a low profile with public appearances during the COP. Instead, in the meetings, the country, and its allies were careful to ensure that the COP did not develop too much ambition. “There was nothing on the agenda that really affected Chinese interests,” said Greenpeace expert Li Shuo. But the Chinese weren’t too loud either: after all, China itself is chairing a COP in early December – the Biodiversity Conference in Montreal.
EU negotiators report that many small countries feel economically and politically blackmailed by China and do not trust the West – but that is why they did not dare to leave the G77. So far, the strange alliance is holding, although the clashes of interests within are growing.
While the new wording in the final paper does not preclude the expansion of contributors, it is not particularly clear either. It is now up to the transition committee to propose new sources of Loss & Damage funding. Meaning: the debate on whether China, as the historically second-largest emitter, must also take responsibility for climate damage is by no means over, but merely postponed until COP28. Lukas Scheid/Bernhard Pötter/AlexandraEndres
The majority of the Asia-Pacific Economic Community (Apec) “strongly condemned” the war in Ukraine. Russia and probably also China thought that the topic did not belong on the agenda at all. Nevertheless, the issue made it into the final declaration at the Apec summit at the weekend.
In it, Apec notes with concern that the war is ” adversely impacting” the global economy. The war is “constraining growth, increasing inflation, disrupting supply chains, heightening energy costs and food insecurity, and elevating financial stability risks.”
There is also mention of the demand for Russia’s “complete and unconditional withdrawal” from Ukraine, albeit as a quotation from the corresponding vote of the UN General Assembly in March. There was widespread agreement on the “immense human suffering” caused by the war.
However, China and Russia were among the 21 participating countries, in addition to the USA. Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Beloussov attended the summit on behalf of Vladimir Putin. Thus, in the section on Ukraine, there are additions: “There were discussions on this issue.” And, “There are divergent opinions and assessments of the situation.”
Beijing was also obviously unsatisfied with the Apec outcome on Ukraine. For the state-run newspaper China Daily’s summary of the development of the Apec summit deals only with economic issues. The position on Ukraine is not even mentioned.
The final declaration thus clearly does not fully meet Beijing’s wishes. But the USA did not get its way in the Apec round with its desired wording on Ukraine either. They wanted to include a clear attribution of blame to Russia in the final declaration. There was to be talk of “Russia’s brutal and provoked war of aggression against Ukraine,” and Ukraine was to be explicitly named as a “peaceful and democratic country.” These formulations were missing from the final version.
Apec resolutions are not binding. Nevertheless, Apec’s position carries weight in the world. It represents 2.9 billion people who generate over 60 percent of the world’s gross domestic product and account for about half of world trade. Apec stands above all for the liberalization of trade and investment. It aims to facilitate economic and technical-innovative cooperation with the goal of sustainable growth in the region.
Apec was founded in 1989 by the USA, Japan, and Australia to bring Asia and America closer together. But it is becoming increasingly difficult for the USA to convince with its position in Asia. It is having increasing difficulty finding majorities. The Apec formulation on Ukraine thus resembles the position of the G20 countries more than the US position (China.Table reported).
Both the wording of the G20 declaration and the Apec declaration ultimately overlap more with Beijing’s stance than with Washington’s – after all, Xi Jinping’s influence at the summit is evident. Apec also received praise from Xi. It was guided by “open regionalism, the principle of diversity and non-discrimination.”
This reinforces a trend that could be observed this year not only at G20 but also at other summits. The US stance is increasingly becoming a global minority position that is no longer simply adopted by Asian countries. Evidence of this was seen, among other places, at:
This applies not only to politics but also to the economy. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world’s largest free trade area, has been active since 2020. In RCEP, China has joined forces with Asia, not yet with India, but certainly with South Korea, Australia, and Japan, the US’s closest economic and political partner in Asia.
By contrast, the planned Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), the US’s free trade counterpart with Asia, made little headway at the Apec summit in Bangkok. For Apec host and chair Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the “significant progress” was to adopt a “multi-year work plan” for FTAAP.
This means that a breakthrough for the ambitious project is unlikely in the next year either when the USA will chair Apec. In Bangkok, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke of “seamless cooperation” and that there is “no better economic partner for this region than the United States of America.” The problem is that the concessions demanded by the USA for FTAAP are hardly accepted in Asia.
“If I hadn’t taken the job in Hong Kong, I would have visited German schools with Andrei Ivanovich,” says Hannes Farlock, the new delegate of German business to the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce Abroad. Andrei Ivanovich is a 96-year-old former concentration camp prisoner from Minsk and also the main character in Farlock’s movie “Yes, Andrei Ivanovich,” in which he documents his everyday life.
Hannes Farlock has been involved with Holocaust survivors since his civilian service in Krakow. While working for a Danish IT company in Belarus, he worked at the “Minsk History Workshop” in his spare time, where he met Andrei Ivanovich.
Professionally, the 40-year-old has many years of experience in the development of international business relations. In addition to Belarus, he has also worked in Ukraine and Germany, including in business development in the IT and start-up sectors, as well as in the former TACIS program of the European Commission.
Most recently, he was Head of Business Development and later Managing Director of the AHK in Moscow for six years. There, the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the beginning of the year created enormous challenges. He sums up his experiences in Russia succinctly under the slogan “Times of crisis are also times of the Chamber.” In the years before, he modernized the structures on site, switched to agile management, and was one of the first AHKs in the world to introduce business intelligence.
He now has similar plans in Hong Kong. “Down-to-earth, small and medium-sized companies are the chamber’s main clientele, but we also have to be attractive to young, innovative companies and start-ups,” says the Erlangen native. “This can only succeed if we present it to the outside world and live it internally.”
He also wants to bring the German community in Hong Kong closer together again. According to the new Chief Representative and successor to Wolfgang Ehmann, there are many companies and individuals in the city who have been active for a long time and are highly integrated but have had little contact with the AHK. For quite a few of them, a large part of their network has broken away with the Covid pandemic; friends and acquaintances have turned their backs on Hong Kong.
Many companies are short of skilled workers, as many expats, as well as qualified locals, have left the city. In his new position, Farlock wants to actively reach out to these groups and offer new points of contact through the AHK.
He openly admits that this is not entirely without self-interest. Only about 30 percent of the German companies in Hong Kong are members of the AHK, which has lost members and sponsors due to Covid. But Farlock is combative. The city still offers many opportunities not only to have production in China but also to develop and test products in the Greater Bay Area. As long as you can get the right people together, with the right motivation, you can do anything, Farlock says. That’s how his movie came about, and at the same time, that’s also “the quintessential AHK.” Clemens Ruben
Are you familiar with this: Endless rolling around on the pillow and being unable to fall asleep? Or do you often find yourself curled up under the covers as a cell phone firefly, flickering through the night until well after the witching hour? Have you ever tried a slumber service?
In the online service mecca of China, a corresponding all-around carefree package is only a few cell phone swipes away. On online shopping portals such as Taobao (淘宝 Táobǎo), Xianyu (闲鱼 Xiányú), and others, it has recently become possible to book an individual sleep service. The magic word is 哄睡 hǒngshuì – “to lull someone to sleep”. If you type these Chinese characters into the search mask, numerous sleep services (哄睡服务 hǒngshuì fúwù) pop up, where you can book your personal sandman or sandwoman – in technical jargon 哄睡师 hǒngshuìshī “sleep master.”
And there are a lot og potential customers. According to the National Sleep Report 2022 (中国国民健康睡眠白皮书) published by the Chinese Sleep Research Society (中国睡眠研究会), 44 percent of 19- to 25-year-olds in China stay up until well after midnight – many have problems getting to bed or sleep. And so it is primarily (predominantly female!) employees of the post-90s generation or younger who order the online lulling services.
And this is how it works: Select the desired sleep guru in the store. Anyone who is undecided can fill out a short questionnaire with key personal data such as age, gender, interests, and hobbies. Then the customer service fishes suitable virtual pillow candidates from the sleep master pool. For beginners, there is a low-cost surprise box variant (盲盒 mánghé “blind box”). You are randomly assigned a companion to help you fall asleep. The cost is a measly ¥10 to ¥20 per quarter of an hour or around €1.40 to €1.80.
For VIP virtuosos among the slumber magicians, you’ll have to dig deeper into your pajama pocket – you’ll have to pay ¥500 yuan per hour, or a good €70. And if you have a favorite master of ceremonies, it’s best to book a monthly flat rate (包月套餐 bāoyuè tàocān). Not that at the end of the day someone will snatch the desired candidate away from the edge of the bed.
And what miracle weapons are in the toolbox of a professional slumber companion? First of all, you can choose between text and sound services (文字 wénzì or 语音 yǔyīn). The former involves sending chat messages only, while the latter involves sending sound messages or making phone calls over the Internet. Depending on the customers preference, the performance includes singing or playing lullabies and other songs (唱歌 chànggē and 放歌 fànggē), falling asleep stories (讲故事 jiǎng gùshi), or just attentive conversation and patient listening (陪聊 péiliáo). Those who have not found their way into the realm of dreams after the lulling time has expired can add further time credit (续单 xùdān).
Sleep service providers boast of supposedly professionally trained sleep companions. In fact, however, the dream domestics are casual jobbers and part-time workers, including students. After all, their services are usually only needed in the evening hours (the call rush hour starts around 9 p.m.). Therefore, the profession is perfectly compatible with ordinary day jobs.
In general, a real industry has sprung up in China in recent years around the subject of slumber aid – the so-called sleep economy (睡眠经济 shuìmián jīngjì). As sleep miracle weapons (助眠神器 zhùmián shénqì) for night owls against their will (夜猫子 yèmāozi “night owl”), popular web portals such as the social-media platform Xiaohongshu (小红书 Xiǎohóngshū) various sleep products such as sleep medicines (助眠药品 zhùmián yàopǐn), Sleep patches (睡眠贴 shuìmiántiē) and snooze aromatherapies (助眠香薰 zhùmián xiāngxūn) are touted. There is also a boom in snooze apps (助眠 APP zhùmián APP), which have such soothingly wholesome names as “Sleepy Snail” (蜗牛睡眠 wōniú shuìmián) or “Sleepy Koala” (考拉睡眠 kǎolā shuìmián). They rely on a mix of meditation exercises (冥想练习 míngxiǎng liànxí), soothing background sounds (白噪音 báizàoyīn), audiobooks (听书 tīngshū), and bedtime stories (睡前故事 shuìqián gùshi).
Anyone who has finally been lulled to sleep by all this cradle-business need not worry about not being able to get up the next morning. China has a solution for morning grogginess, too – personalized wake-up services, or 叫醒服务 jiàoxǐng fúwù in Chinese. The online service paradise of China makes it possible!
Verena Menzel runs the online language school New Chinese in Beijing.
Hopes were high. Despite rising numbers, the leadership in Beijing seemed willing to relax the strict Covid measures at least a little. But with the first death in six months – and in Beijing of all places – the opening is already over. Schools, stores, restaurants, and offices in the capital will have to close until further notice.
But perhaps it will be the exponentially rising and thus uncontainable numbers that will make the government rethink its zero-Covid strategy in the coming weeks, writes our Beijing-based team of authors concerning Hong Kong. There, the city government abandoned zero-Covid after the situation spiraled out of control earlier this year. Instead, people have been living with the virus ever since – and, above all, are vaccinating eagerly.
Geopolitics overshadowed the climate talks at COP27, which ended this weekend in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. But it was not Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine that hampered an agreement, but the dispute over whether China, as a superpower, can continue to opt-out of commitments to finance climate aid like a developing country, our Climate.Table colleagues report on the ground. For now, China has prevailed.
At the Asia-Pacific Economic Summit Apec in Bangkok, the outcome in favor of China was less clear. Although the Ukraine war was put on the agenda at the request of the USA, China and Russia would have preferred to ignore the issue. In the end, it was even enough for a condemnation of Russian aggression. But China still managed to get its way with its position in the matter. Read Frank Sieren’s analysis to find out how.
Have a great start to the week!
After the first fatal Covid case in months, Chinese authorities respond with tighter restrictions in the capital. In Beijing, many stores and restaurants remained closed over the weekend. Schools announced that classes would be canceled in the new week. The German Embassy School in Beijing must also close its doors until further notice.
According to the Health Commission on Sunday, the 87-year-old male patient from Beijing is the first pandemic victim since the big spring wave in Shanghai. As was the case then, current infection rates are again above 24,000 cases per day nationwide. If the increase continues unchecked, a large number of deaths would be unavoidable. The authorities still want to prevent this at all costs.
Last week, the leadership presented a list of 20 adjustments to the Covid measures that tend to soften the provisions. According to the new rules, for example, it is now forbidden to quarantine secondary contacts, i.e. people who had contact with direct contacts of infected persons. Only direct contacts and infected persons themselves must now be isolated. In addition, cities are allowed to classify people into risk and non-risk areas.
The designation of medium-risk areas, on the other hand, will be dropped. This means that slightly fewer people will be stuck in lockdowns than before. Expats will also benefit from the fact that they will only have to spend eight days in quarantine after entering China instead of the previous ten. However, even with these measures, a significant relaxation was not in sight.
The southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou, which is currently particularly severely affected, announced last week that it intended to increase its quarantine capacity by more than 240,000 places. That stores, restaurants, and schools in Beijing across the board will now also have to close, is a zero-Covid policy based on the old pattern.
But at least in part, the new Covid rules suggest that the course is about to change. So far, too many medical resources have gone into mass testing and enforced strict lockdowns. Leadership seems to have understood that. One indication is that a larger stockpile of Covid drugs will be built up.
However, the new measures mainly envisage finally pushing the vaccination campaign more actively. How long it will take for a real opening is likely to depend on one figure in particular: the vaccination rate among the oldest people. As of August, only 67.8 percent of all people over 80 were triple-vaccinated. Shockingly, even according to the latest figures, this rate has not changed much. Last week, it was still at 68.2 percent.
Beijing will have to be judged by how quickly the vaccination rate among the elderly moves upward in the coming weeks and months. If it does not, too many people would die in the event of an opening, as Chinese doctors warned in the Financial Times on Friday.
China, they conclude, is not ready for an opening under the current conditions. The devastating consequences of an uncontrolled Covid wave could be observed in Hong Kong earlier this year, where the elderly, of all people, were also not sufficiently vaccinated. Many people lost their lives.
But mainland China can also learn something from the Hong Kong experience: According to a study conducted there, it is a misconception that China can only get a grip on the pandemic with a foreign vaccine. In Hong Kong, people can choose injections from Biontech or the Chinese preparation Coronavac. The research, published in the medical journal The Lancet, found that triple-vaccinated people with either vaccine had similar protection against severe courses or death. Biontech vaccinees were 97.1 percent protected, while Coronavac vaccinees were 97.3 percent protected. The similarly good effect of the booster with the Chinese products was already pointed out by virologist Hendrik Streeck in an interview with China.Table in the spring.
However, the coming months will definitely be difficult once again. Over the winter, infection rates in China will continue to rise. As a result, many resources will continue to go into tracking, testing, and isolation. Only if the authorities simultaneously succeed in advancing a large-scale vaccination campaign will it be possible to move closer to an opening in the spring.
Another scenario would also be possible: Similar to Hong Kong in the spring, the situation could get out of control. Such chaos, with probably many deaths, would also force the authorities to rethink their current strategy and ultimately live with the virus. Jörn Petring
It’s an old argument in international climate negotiations. Until the Paris Agreement was concluded, China refused to make any commitment (China.Table reported) to reduce emissions at home. Instead, together with other emerging economies, it referred to the historically grown obligation of industrialized countries.
The Paris Climate Agreement of 2015 did break down the front between industrialized and developing countries. At COP27, however, the front came back to light again: China – now a major power and the world’s largest emitter – insisted on its status as a developing country under the UNFCCC process.
After decades of debate, the participating countries agreed on a joint fund to compensate for climate damage in poorer countries for the first time (Loss & Damage). The new compensation fund is intended to cushion the inevitable consequences of global warming – such as increasingly frequent droughts, floods, and storms, but also rising sea levels and desertification. Developing countries that are particularly at risk are to benefit. It is to come into force next year.
It is a historic decision because developing countries have been calling for a financial instrument that would take effect in the event of losses and damage as a result of climate change for 30 years. An“important breakthrough,” says Christoph Bals, Political Director of the environmental organization Germanwatch.
Nevertheless, the negotiations were extremely complicated. The main point of contention was who should provide the funds. The EU and later also some island states insisted that new sources of finance needed to be found. The original EU demand was the expansion of the group of donor countries. Thus, the now prosperous emerging countries such as China, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Mexico, and the oil-rich states would also have had to pay into the fund.
China in particular refused to pay into the fund. Instead, the country even wanted the chance to receive compensation payments in the future. “The EU wanted to make China and the Gulf states contributors – but in the end, it didn’t have the courage for the necessary confrontation,” analyzes David Ryfisch, Head of the International Climate Policy team at Germanwatch.
The development organization Care criticized that essential questions were not worked out until 2023 and that no sums were mentioned. Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) wrote: “This includes above all the largest emitters USA, China and of course the EU.”
On Sunday night, there was still wrangling over whether only “particularly vulnerable” developing countries or all developing countries should be eligible to receive funds from the “loss and damage” financial instruments. A formulation that classified all developing countries as recipients as of 1992 was deleted shortly before the closing plenary of the COP.
China kept a low profile with public appearances during the COP. Instead, in the meetings, the country, and its allies were careful to ensure that the COP did not develop too much ambition. “There was nothing on the agenda that really affected Chinese interests,” said Greenpeace expert Li Shuo. But the Chinese weren’t too loud either: after all, China itself is chairing a COP in early December – the Biodiversity Conference in Montreal.
EU negotiators report that many small countries feel economically and politically blackmailed by China and do not trust the West – but that is why they did not dare to leave the G77. So far, the strange alliance is holding, although the clashes of interests within are growing.
While the new wording in the final paper does not preclude the expansion of contributors, it is not particularly clear either. It is now up to the transition committee to propose new sources of Loss & Damage funding. Meaning: the debate on whether China, as the historically second-largest emitter, must also take responsibility for climate damage is by no means over, but merely postponed until COP28. Lukas Scheid/Bernhard Pötter/AlexandraEndres
The majority of the Asia-Pacific Economic Community (Apec) “strongly condemned” the war in Ukraine. Russia and probably also China thought that the topic did not belong on the agenda at all. Nevertheless, the issue made it into the final declaration at the Apec summit at the weekend.
In it, Apec notes with concern that the war is ” adversely impacting” the global economy. The war is “constraining growth, increasing inflation, disrupting supply chains, heightening energy costs and food insecurity, and elevating financial stability risks.”
There is also mention of the demand for Russia’s “complete and unconditional withdrawal” from Ukraine, albeit as a quotation from the corresponding vote of the UN General Assembly in March. There was widespread agreement on the “immense human suffering” caused by the war.
However, China and Russia were among the 21 participating countries, in addition to the USA. Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Beloussov attended the summit on behalf of Vladimir Putin. Thus, in the section on Ukraine, there are additions: “There were discussions on this issue.” And, “There are divergent opinions and assessments of the situation.”
Beijing was also obviously unsatisfied with the Apec outcome on Ukraine. For the state-run newspaper China Daily’s summary of the development of the Apec summit deals only with economic issues. The position on Ukraine is not even mentioned.
The final declaration thus clearly does not fully meet Beijing’s wishes. But the USA did not get its way in the Apec round with its desired wording on Ukraine either. They wanted to include a clear attribution of blame to Russia in the final declaration. There was to be talk of “Russia’s brutal and provoked war of aggression against Ukraine,” and Ukraine was to be explicitly named as a “peaceful and democratic country.” These formulations were missing from the final version.
Apec resolutions are not binding. Nevertheless, Apec’s position carries weight in the world. It represents 2.9 billion people who generate over 60 percent of the world’s gross domestic product and account for about half of world trade. Apec stands above all for the liberalization of trade and investment. It aims to facilitate economic and technical-innovative cooperation with the goal of sustainable growth in the region.
Apec was founded in 1989 by the USA, Japan, and Australia to bring Asia and America closer together. But it is becoming increasingly difficult for the USA to convince with its position in Asia. It is having increasing difficulty finding majorities. The Apec formulation on Ukraine thus resembles the position of the G20 countries more than the US position (China.Table reported).
Both the wording of the G20 declaration and the Apec declaration ultimately overlap more with Beijing’s stance than with Washington’s – after all, Xi Jinping’s influence at the summit is evident. Apec also received praise from Xi. It was guided by “open regionalism, the principle of diversity and non-discrimination.”
This reinforces a trend that could be observed this year not only at G20 but also at other summits. The US stance is increasingly becoming a global minority position that is no longer simply adopted by Asian countries. Evidence of this was seen, among other places, at:
This applies not only to politics but also to the economy. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world’s largest free trade area, has been active since 2020. In RCEP, China has joined forces with Asia, not yet with India, but certainly with South Korea, Australia, and Japan, the US’s closest economic and political partner in Asia.
By contrast, the planned Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), the US’s free trade counterpart with Asia, made little headway at the Apec summit in Bangkok. For Apec host and chair Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the “significant progress” was to adopt a “multi-year work plan” for FTAAP.
This means that a breakthrough for the ambitious project is unlikely in the next year either when the USA will chair Apec. In Bangkok, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke of “seamless cooperation” and that there is “no better economic partner for this region than the United States of America.” The problem is that the concessions demanded by the USA for FTAAP are hardly accepted in Asia.
“If I hadn’t taken the job in Hong Kong, I would have visited German schools with Andrei Ivanovich,” says Hannes Farlock, the new delegate of German business to the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce Abroad. Andrei Ivanovich is a 96-year-old former concentration camp prisoner from Minsk and also the main character in Farlock’s movie “Yes, Andrei Ivanovich,” in which he documents his everyday life.
Hannes Farlock has been involved with Holocaust survivors since his civilian service in Krakow. While working for a Danish IT company in Belarus, he worked at the “Minsk History Workshop” in his spare time, where he met Andrei Ivanovich.
Professionally, the 40-year-old has many years of experience in the development of international business relations. In addition to Belarus, he has also worked in Ukraine and Germany, including in business development in the IT and start-up sectors, as well as in the former TACIS program of the European Commission.
Most recently, he was Head of Business Development and later Managing Director of the AHK in Moscow for six years. There, the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the beginning of the year created enormous challenges. He sums up his experiences in Russia succinctly under the slogan “Times of crisis are also times of the Chamber.” In the years before, he modernized the structures on site, switched to agile management, and was one of the first AHKs in the world to introduce business intelligence.
He now has similar plans in Hong Kong. “Down-to-earth, small and medium-sized companies are the chamber’s main clientele, but we also have to be attractive to young, innovative companies and start-ups,” says the Erlangen native. “This can only succeed if we present it to the outside world and live it internally.”
He also wants to bring the German community in Hong Kong closer together again. According to the new Chief Representative and successor to Wolfgang Ehmann, there are many companies and individuals in the city who have been active for a long time and are highly integrated but have had little contact with the AHK. For quite a few of them, a large part of their network has broken away with the Covid pandemic; friends and acquaintances have turned their backs on Hong Kong.
Many companies are short of skilled workers, as many expats, as well as qualified locals, have left the city. In his new position, Farlock wants to actively reach out to these groups and offer new points of contact through the AHK.
He openly admits that this is not entirely without self-interest. Only about 30 percent of the German companies in Hong Kong are members of the AHK, which has lost members and sponsors due to Covid. But Farlock is combative. The city still offers many opportunities not only to have production in China but also to develop and test products in the Greater Bay Area. As long as you can get the right people together, with the right motivation, you can do anything, Farlock says. That’s how his movie came about, and at the same time, that’s also “the quintessential AHK.” Clemens Ruben
Are you familiar with this: Endless rolling around on the pillow and being unable to fall asleep? Or do you often find yourself curled up under the covers as a cell phone firefly, flickering through the night until well after the witching hour? Have you ever tried a slumber service?
In the online service mecca of China, a corresponding all-around carefree package is only a few cell phone swipes away. On online shopping portals such as Taobao (淘宝 Táobǎo), Xianyu (闲鱼 Xiányú), and others, it has recently become possible to book an individual sleep service. The magic word is 哄睡 hǒngshuì – “to lull someone to sleep”. If you type these Chinese characters into the search mask, numerous sleep services (哄睡服务 hǒngshuì fúwù) pop up, where you can book your personal sandman or sandwoman – in technical jargon 哄睡师 hǒngshuìshī “sleep master.”
And there are a lot og potential customers. According to the National Sleep Report 2022 (中国国民健康睡眠白皮书) published by the Chinese Sleep Research Society (中国睡眠研究会), 44 percent of 19- to 25-year-olds in China stay up until well after midnight – many have problems getting to bed or sleep. And so it is primarily (predominantly female!) employees of the post-90s generation or younger who order the online lulling services.
And this is how it works: Select the desired sleep guru in the store. Anyone who is undecided can fill out a short questionnaire with key personal data such as age, gender, interests, and hobbies. Then the customer service fishes suitable virtual pillow candidates from the sleep master pool. For beginners, there is a low-cost surprise box variant (盲盒 mánghé “blind box”). You are randomly assigned a companion to help you fall asleep. The cost is a measly ¥10 to ¥20 per quarter of an hour or around €1.40 to €1.80.
For VIP virtuosos among the slumber magicians, you’ll have to dig deeper into your pajama pocket – you’ll have to pay ¥500 yuan per hour, or a good €70. And if you have a favorite master of ceremonies, it’s best to book a monthly flat rate (包月套餐 bāoyuè tàocān). Not that at the end of the day someone will snatch the desired candidate away from the edge of the bed.
And what miracle weapons are in the toolbox of a professional slumber companion? First of all, you can choose between text and sound services (文字 wénzì or 语音 yǔyīn). The former involves sending chat messages only, while the latter involves sending sound messages or making phone calls over the Internet. Depending on the customers preference, the performance includes singing or playing lullabies and other songs (唱歌 chànggē and 放歌 fànggē), falling asleep stories (讲故事 jiǎng gùshi), or just attentive conversation and patient listening (陪聊 péiliáo). Those who have not found their way into the realm of dreams after the lulling time has expired can add further time credit (续单 xùdān).
Sleep service providers boast of supposedly professionally trained sleep companions. In fact, however, the dream domestics are casual jobbers and part-time workers, including students. After all, their services are usually only needed in the evening hours (the call rush hour starts around 9 p.m.). Therefore, the profession is perfectly compatible with ordinary day jobs.
In general, a real industry has sprung up in China in recent years around the subject of slumber aid – the so-called sleep economy (睡眠经济 shuìmián jīngjì). As sleep miracle weapons (助眠神器 zhùmián shénqì) for night owls against their will (夜猫子 yèmāozi “night owl”), popular web portals such as the social-media platform Xiaohongshu (小红书 Xiǎohóngshū) various sleep products such as sleep medicines (助眠药品 zhùmián yàopǐn), Sleep patches (睡眠贴 shuìmiántiē) and snooze aromatherapies (助眠香薰 zhùmián xiāngxūn) are touted. There is also a boom in snooze apps (助眠 APP zhùmián APP), which have such soothingly wholesome names as “Sleepy Snail” (蜗牛睡眠 wōniú shuìmián) or “Sleepy Koala” (考拉睡眠 kǎolā shuìmián). They rely on a mix of meditation exercises (冥想练习 míngxiǎng liànxí), soothing background sounds (白噪音 báizàoyīn), audiobooks (听书 tīngshū), and bedtime stories (睡前故事 shuìqián gùshi).
Anyone who has finally been lulled to sleep by all this cradle-business need not worry about not being able to get up the next morning. China has a solution for morning grogginess, too – personalized wake-up services, or 叫醒服务 jiàoxǐng fúwù in Chinese. The online service paradise of China makes it possible!
Verena Menzel runs the online language school New Chinese in Beijing.
