Reinhard Buetikofer is the EU Parliament’s designated China expert. However, this June, the Green Party member will no longer be a candidate in the European elections. In today’s interview with Amelie Richter, he is now campaigning for more unity between EU member states on China policy matters like drafting economic instruments.
Unity was crucial when it came to taking important steps. For example, Buetikofer was pleased that the framework definition for European relations with China as a “partner, competitor and systemic rival” had been successfully established five years ago. “At the time, there were many concerns as to whether this was not overly critical,” said Buetikofer. Today, this term is also commonly used in Germany.
The private Chinese car manufacturer Geely is pressing ahead with building its own satellite network. A subsidiary called Geespace manufactures the satellites itself and manages the rocket launches that put them into orbit. Geely wants to stay ahead of the competition in areas such as autonomous driving, navigation and entertainment. But the competition is not sleeping: Several German companies are also working on satellite infrastructure for the future of mobility.
Are you happier with the EU’s China policy today than five years ago?
Yes, because five years ago, the EU had just completed the difficult operation of presenting a new framework definition for European relations with China: the triad of partner, competitor, and systemic rival. At the time, there were many concerns whether this was not over-critical. The German government only gave pushback. The Chancellor did not even use the word systemic rivalry until the end of her term of office. There were defeatist tendencies in the European Union, along the lines of “You can’t rely on the USA with President Trump, we Europeans can’t come to a common denominator – then you just have to take what you can get from China.”
Today we see that the more critical stance was the more realistic one. This is not a minority position but is widely shared and also very clearly represented by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Xi Jinping has not only brought about a political regression in China itself but has also struck a new, much more aggressive chord regarding China’s role in the world. If we Europeans had not set out on this path, we would be in a pretty sorry state today. The European Parliament can proudly boast of this: Thanks to our unity on China policy, we have helped ensure that several trade defense instruments really do exist today.
The past three years, in particular, have marked a clear change of course for the EU Commission. Where is still room for improvement?
We still have too much disagreement on important China policy issues, which is also reflected in reactions to proposals from the EU Commission. With regard to economic security, the Commission rightly says that we need additional strategies and measures. We will need outbound investment screening. But so far, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck has been the only one who dared to say this. There is not enough consensus between the capitals on other issues relating to relations with China.
Where do you see that?
Take the current situation in Hong Kong, for example. It passed a National Security Law, under which a person can be sentenced to 14 years in prison if they do not report a neighbor thinking about participating in a peaceful protest that the government does not like. Where are the appropriate responses to this? It would be entirely appropriate to sanction Hong Kong’s Government Executive and human rights opponent, John Lee, as the United States has done for a long time. Incidentally, China policy is not just what we do in our direct relationship with China. China policy has to consider the entire international environment.
What needs to be on the to-do list of the next EU Commission?
This agenda almost writes itself. Economic security is becoming more pressing due to China’s policy of further subsidizing overcapacity in many industrial sectors. Where is all this going? The US market is largely closed. The Japanese are also protecting themselves. We are relatively open. Jens Eskelund, President of the European Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, warns that this Chinese subsidy offensive threatens to partially deindustrialize Europe. That has to be taken seriously.
What else?
A second issue remains China’s relationship with Russia. China is not somewhat neutral. Without China’s active support, Russian President Vladimir Putin would not be able to wage his war the way he is waging it. China is a country that is helping Putin to destroy Europe’s security architecture. A third issue is China’s actions in its own neighborhood: in the South China Sea, the East China Sea and especially in the Taiwan Strait. The Indian-Himalayan border and China’s confrontational policy in the global environment through economic blackmail also deserve mentioning.
We cannot wait our turn, we must show solidarity to maintain an international order based on the principles of the United Nations. One weakness is that our China policy comes across more as European self-defense than as a European contribution to a positive order for the majority of international partners in the future.
What is on your personal agenda for the next few years?
I have been involved with China for more than 50 years. I will not let that go. The details of what I will do have not yet been decided. However, I have taken over the chairmanship of a new German-Taiwanese dialogue platform that the German government has set up. I will strive to strengthen civil society engagement with our Taiwanese partners. I am particularly interested in not always looking at Taiwan through the lens of cross-strait relations. It is also interesting to discuss how Taiwan deals with its own history of dictatorship, how it handles minority issues and how it facilitates social diversity – more so than other Asian countries do.
Will you also try to generate more interest in Taiwan in Berlin and Brussels so that there will be some progress towards a bilateral trade agreement?
We are currently in an interesting phase on that. Taiwan has long insisted that we need a bilateral investment agreement. We have also clearly supported this several times in the European Parliament with huge majorities. However, many companies tell us we should follow the old American principle: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The problem is not that you can’t invest. Other unresolved issues are more important. For example, I would like to see an agreement on resilient supply chains with Taiwan. I think we need to take a pragmatic approach here. The five major democratic groups in the European Parliament have managed to reach a consensus. I would like to see the same for the EU member states and the German Bundestag.
Who will succeed you as the German voice for China in Brussels and Strasbourg?
Wait and see.
Reinhard Bütikofer is a Green MEP and Chairman of the European Parliament’s China delegation. He recently became co-chair of the German-Taiwanese dialogue forum.
The car manufacturer Geely has big plans. In early February, it launched eleven satellites into low-Earth orbit, bringing the car manufacturer to 20 communication satellites. The aim is to have 72 by 2025; the project envisages 240 satellites in the final constellation. Such a satellite network will enable extremely precise positioning of cars, communication between vehicles, software updates, and the internet, even in places with no 5G coverage.
Geely will be the first car manufacturer to operate its own satellite network. To this end, the company has founded the aerospace company Geespace. The satellites are manufactured in-house at a test and production center in Taizhou in the coastal province of Zhejiang. The company also arranged the launch of the “Long March CZ-2C” rocket itself: The most recent one launched the latest eleven satellites into space on 3 February 2024 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan. Geely had launched the first of them into space as early as 2022. The first attempt in 2021 had failed; the satellites failed to reach the planned orbit back then.
Communication satellites are considered an essential infrastructure basis for autonomous driving. The Chinese manufacturer has aptly christened its program “Geely Future Mobility Constellation.” According to information from Geespace, the satellites can provide positioning data for vehicles down to the centimeter – in other words, significantly more precise data than conventional GPS technology. They can also provide real-time data on traffic volumes, transmit new software or provide internet access where there would otherwise be no reception. This is particularly important for onboard entertainment, as it is heavily internet-based.
There are two types of communication satellites with different strengths and weaknesses – and at various altitudes: satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) and geostationary orbit (GEO). LEO satellites orbit the Earth at 200 to 1,200 kilometers, a German Aerospace Center (DLR) spokesperson explained to Table Briefings. Due to their proximity to Earth, their delays are extremely short – the so-called latencies are 0.04 seconds. The latency of GEO satellites, which are always above the same place at an altitude of around 35,000 kilometers, is around 0.5 seconds. For comparison, the International Space Station (ISS) orbits Earth at an altitude of 408 kilometers.
“Numerous so-called mega-constellations are currently being planned or are already under construction,” the spokesperson explains. “There are currently almost 10,000 active satellites in space. This number has increased massively over the last few years. The number of registered satellites is in the hundreds of thousands.” However, it is already foreseeable that not all projects can be realized, partly because the risk of collision has increased significantly due to active satellites and inactive space debris.
The costs also play a decisive role. “The cost of building Starlink is rumored to be 10 billion US dollars. Elon Musk himself has put the cost of maintaining the constellation at around 20 to 30 billion US dollars over ten years,” the DLR spokesperson calculates. This is due to the short lifespan of the satellites used. They have to be replaced regularly. The Geespace satellites are also designed for a service life of just five years. After that, they are supposed to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere and leave no space debris behind.
Geespace plans to use the new infrastructure for a much broader application than just in Geely-branded cars. If other companies are interested, Geespace has the capacity to build up to 500 satellites a year in Taizhou. The company has logistics partners whose delivery vehicles Geely is supposed to monitor. The company also plans to launch an environmental project. The company’s own cars currently only benefit from the new infrastructure to a limited extent.
Cars that are supposed to communicate with satellites require a corresponding communication system – in other words, a mobile equivalent to the satellite dishes that are often seen on house walls and roofs. One solution is so-called phased array antennas. However, only three Geely cars (Zeekr 001 FR, Zeekr 007 and Geely Galaxy E8) are currently equipped with such hardware.
German manufacturers have also recognized the importance of a satellite infrastructure for the future of mobility and are working on a corresponding infrastructure. However, unlike Geely, the Germans are not planning to go it alone. Instead, the start-up Unio is currently working on a corresponding network. The company aims to put 1,000 satellites into low-Earth orbit by 2030. To this end, it is in talks with all the major German car manufacturers.
One of Unio’s founding investors is the rocket manufacturer Isar Aerospace, in which Porsche has a stake. Unio is meant to be a competitor to Starlink. The company aims to provide its services primarily to car manufacturers, logistics companies and the agricultural sector. Compared to existing providers, Unio has the advantage that the data does not have to be transmitted via American or Chinese satellites.
Gummy bears go straight on the hips. Naturally, we’ve known this for a long time in the land of gummy bear connoisseurs. But the Chinese have had a cute euphemism for this kind of gourmet flab for even longer – namely the bear waist! It appeared in classical texts as part of the four-character idiom 虎背熊腰 hǔbèi-xióngyāo – literally “tiger’s back and bear’s waist.” This chengyu (proverb) refers to people with a back as wide as a tiger and a waist as thick as a bear, in Chinese 背宽厚如虎，腰粗壮如熊 (bèi kuānhòu rú hǔ, yāo cūzhuàng rú xióng).
Once upon a time, this term was meant as a compliment and used as a flattering homage to the imposing stature of a hero. Today, this venerable idiom is often applied with a wink to the chubby problems of modern times – a burly appearance that doesn’t quite fit into society’s usual beauty standards. Or, as the Chinese would say, a physique that is more horse-horse-tiger-tiger (马马虎虎 mǎmahūhū), or “so-so.”
Slender shapes are also considered beautiful in China, especially for women. Instead of a wasp waist, however, some Chinese women literally dream of a sexy “water snake waist” (水蛇腰 shuǐshéyāo). Less sexy, on the other hand, is the “water can” or “water bucket waist” (水桶腰 shuǐtǒngyāo), regardless of gender. Just think of the plastic canisters of Chinese water dispensers in the office and you’ll have the perfect image in mind.
The Chinese are usually more lenient with chubby-cheeked offspring. In Chinese, well-fed kids are affectionately referred to as 小胖墩 xiǎo pàngdūn – literally “cute little blocks” (from 墩 dūn – boulder, block). Of course, there is also a matching adjective: 胖墩墩 pàng-dūndūn (literally “chubby and blocky”). The Beijing Olympic mascot of the Winter Games may serve as a mnemonic: The panda in the ice suit was called 冰墩墩 bīng-dūndūn, meaning “ice block,” and famously also had no waist.
By the way, don’t be linguistically fooled by all the bear waists. A “bear child” (熊孩子 xióngháizi) is not a chubby little child but describes naughty little children full of mischief.
Back to the waistline: Of course, this is also a sensitive issue in China. Just as anywhere else, careless remarks about someone’s weight can also get you on thin ice in the Middle Kingdom. So let’s conclude with a small linguistic life preserver that can be used to tactfully describe voluptuous curves in Chinese: namely the adjective 丰满 fēngmǎn – a full and well-proportioned figure. Just in case.
Verena Menzel runs the online language school New Chinese in Beijing.
Reinhard Buetikofer is the EU Parliament’s designated China expert. However, this June, the Green Party member will no longer be a candidate in the European elections. In today’s interview with Amelie Richter, he is now campaigning for more unity between EU member states on China policy matters like drafting economic instruments.
Unity was crucial when it came to taking important steps. For example, Buetikofer was pleased that the framework definition for European relations with China as a “partner, competitor and systemic rival” had been successfully established five years ago. “At the time, there were many concerns as to whether this was not overly critical,” said Buetikofer. Today, this term is also commonly used in Germany.
The private Chinese car manufacturer Geely is pressing ahead with building its own satellite network. A subsidiary called Geespace manufactures the satellites itself and manages the rocket launches that put them into orbit. Geely wants to stay ahead of the competition in areas such as autonomous driving, navigation and entertainment. But the competition is not sleeping: Several German companies are also working on satellite infrastructure for the future of mobility.
Are you happier with the EU’s China policy today than five years ago?
Yes, because five years ago, the EU had just completed the difficult operation of presenting a new framework definition for European relations with China: the triad of partner, competitor, and systemic rival. At the time, there were many concerns whether this was not over-critical. The German government only gave pushback. The Chancellor did not even use the word systemic rivalry until the end of her term of office. There were defeatist tendencies in the European Union, along the lines of “You can’t rely on the USA with President Trump, we Europeans can’t come to a common denominator – then you just have to take what you can get from China.”
Today we see that the more critical stance was the more realistic one. This is not a minority position but is widely shared and also very clearly represented by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Xi Jinping has not only brought about a political regression in China itself but has also struck a new, much more aggressive chord regarding China’s role in the world. If we Europeans had not set out on this path, we would be in a pretty sorry state today. The European Parliament can proudly boast of this: Thanks to our unity on China policy, we have helped ensure that several trade defense instruments really do exist today.
The past three years, in particular, have marked a clear change of course for the EU Commission. Where is still room for improvement?
We still have too much disagreement on important China policy issues, which is also reflected in reactions to proposals from the EU Commission. With regard to economic security, the Commission rightly says that we need additional strategies and measures. We will need outbound investment screening. But so far, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck has been the only one who dared to say this. There is not enough consensus between the capitals on other issues relating to relations with China.
Where do you see that?
Take the current situation in Hong Kong, for example. It passed a National Security Law, under which a person can be sentenced to 14 years in prison if they do not report a neighbor thinking about participating in a peaceful protest that the government does not like. Where are the appropriate responses to this? It would be entirely appropriate to sanction Hong Kong’s Government Executive and human rights opponent, John Lee, as the United States has done for a long time. Incidentally, China policy is not just what we do in our direct relationship with China. China policy has to consider the entire international environment.
What needs to be on the to-do list of the next EU Commission?
This agenda almost writes itself. Economic security is becoming more pressing due to China’s policy of further subsidizing overcapacity in many industrial sectors. Where is all this going? The US market is largely closed. The Japanese are also protecting themselves. We are relatively open. Jens Eskelund, President of the European Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, warns that this Chinese subsidy offensive threatens to partially deindustrialize Europe. That has to be taken seriously.
What else?
A second issue remains China’s relationship with Russia. China is not somewhat neutral. Without China’s active support, Russian President Vladimir Putin would not be able to wage his war the way he is waging it. China is a country that is helping Putin to destroy Europe’s security architecture. A third issue is China’s actions in its own neighborhood: in the South China Sea, the East China Sea and especially in the Taiwan Strait. The Indian-Himalayan border and China’s confrontational policy in the global environment through economic blackmail also deserve mentioning.
We cannot wait our turn, we must show solidarity to maintain an international order based on the principles of the United Nations. One weakness is that our China policy comes across more as European self-defense than as a European contribution to a positive order for the majority of international partners in the future.
What is on your personal agenda for the next few years?
I have been involved with China for more than 50 years. I will not let that go. The details of what I will do have not yet been decided. However, I have taken over the chairmanship of a new German-Taiwanese dialogue platform that the German government has set up. I will strive to strengthen civil society engagement with our Taiwanese partners. I am particularly interested in not always looking at Taiwan through the lens of cross-strait relations. It is also interesting to discuss how Taiwan deals with its own history of dictatorship, how it handles minority issues and how it facilitates social diversity – more so than other Asian countries do.
Will you also try to generate more interest in Taiwan in Berlin and Brussels so that there will be some progress towards a bilateral trade agreement?
We are currently in an interesting phase on that. Taiwan has long insisted that we need a bilateral investment agreement. We have also clearly supported this several times in the European Parliament with huge majorities. However, many companies tell us we should follow the old American principle: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The problem is not that you can’t invest. Other unresolved issues are more important. For example, I would like to see an agreement on resilient supply chains with Taiwan. I think we need to take a pragmatic approach here. The five major democratic groups in the European Parliament have managed to reach a consensus. I would like to see the same for the EU member states and the German Bundestag.
Who will succeed you as the German voice for China in Brussels and Strasbourg?
Wait and see.
Reinhard Bütikofer is a Green MEP and Chairman of the European Parliament’s China delegation. He recently became co-chair of the German-Taiwanese dialogue forum.
The car manufacturer Geely has big plans. In early February, it launched eleven satellites into low-Earth orbit, bringing the car manufacturer to 20 communication satellites. The aim is to have 72 by 2025; the project envisages 240 satellites in the final constellation. Such a satellite network will enable extremely precise positioning of cars, communication between vehicles, software updates, and the internet, even in places with no 5G coverage.
Geely will be the first car manufacturer to operate its own satellite network. To this end, the company has founded the aerospace company Geespace. The satellites are manufactured in-house at a test and production center in Taizhou in the coastal province of Zhejiang. The company also arranged the launch of the “Long March CZ-2C” rocket itself: The most recent one launched the latest eleven satellites into space on 3 February 2024 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan. Geely had launched the first of them into space as early as 2022. The first attempt in 2021 had failed; the satellites failed to reach the planned orbit back then.
Communication satellites are considered an essential infrastructure basis for autonomous driving. The Chinese manufacturer has aptly christened its program “Geely Future Mobility Constellation.” According to information from Geespace, the satellites can provide positioning data for vehicles down to the centimeter – in other words, significantly more precise data than conventional GPS technology. They can also provide real-time data on traffic volumes, transmit new software or provide internet access where there would otherwise be no reception. This is particularly important for onboard entertainment, as it is heavily internet-based.
There are two types of communication satellites with different strengths and weaknesses – and at various altitudes: satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) and geostationary orbit (GEO). LEO satellites orbit the Earth at 200 to 1,200 kilometers, a German Aerospace Center (DLR) spokesperson explained to Table Briefings. Due to their proximity to Earth, their delays are extremely short – the so-called latencies are 0.04 seconds. The latency of GEO satellites, which are always above the same place at an altitude of around 35,000 kilometers, is around 0.5 seconds. For comparison, the International Space Station (ISS) orbits Earth at an altitude of 408 kilometers.
“Numerous so-called mega-constellations are currently being planned or are already under construction,” the spokesperson explains. “There are currently almost 10,000 active satellites in space. This number has increased massively over the last few years. The number of registered satellites is in the hundreds of thousands.” However, it is already foreseeable that not all projects can be realized, partly because the risk of collision has increased significantly due to active satellites and inactive space debris.
The costs also play a decisive role. “The cost of building Starlink is rumored to be 10 billion US dollars. Elon Musk himself has put the cost of maintaining the constellation at around 20 to 30 billion US dollars over ten years,” the DLR spokesperson calculates. This is due to the short lifespan of the satellites used. They have to be replaced regularly. The Geespace satellites are also designed for a service life of just five years. After that, they are supposed to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere and leave no space debris behind.
Geespace plans to use the new infrastructure for a much broader application than just in Geely-branded cars. If other companies are interested, Geespace has the capacity to build up to 500 satellites a year in Taizhou. The company has logistics partners whose delivery vehicles Geely is supposed to monitor. The company also plans to launch an environmental project. The company’s own cars currently only benefit from the new infrastructure to a limited extent.
Cars that are supposed to communicate with satellites require a corresponding communication system – in other words, a mobile equivalent to the satellite dishes that are often seen on house walls and roofs. One solution is so-called phased array antennas. However, only three Geely cars (Zeekr 001 FR, Zeekr 007 and Geely Galaxy E8) are currently equipped with such hardware.
German manufacturers have also recognized the importance of a satellite infrastructure for the future of mobility and are working on a corresponding infrastructure. However, unlike Geely, the Germans are not planning to go it alone. Instead, the start-up Unio is currently working on a corresponding network. The company aims to put 1,000 satellites into low-Earth orbit by 2030. To this end, it is in talks with all the major German car manufacturers.
One of Unio’s founding investors is the rocket manufacturer Isar Aerospace, in which Porsche has a stake. Unio is meant to be a competitor to Starlink. The company aims to provide its services primarily to car manufacturers, logistics companies and the agricultural sector. Compared to existing providers, Unio has the advantage that the data does not have to be transmitted via American or Chinese satellites.
Gummy bears go straight on the hips. Naturally, we’ve known this for a long time in the land of gummy bear connoisseurs. But the Chinese have had a cute euphemism for this kind of gourmet flab for even longer – namely the bear waist! It appeared in classical texts as part of the four-character idiom 虎背熊腰 hǔbèi-xióngyāo – literally “tiger’s back and bear’s waist.” This chengyu (proverb) refers to people with a back as wide as a tiger and a waist as thick as a bear, in Chinese 背宽厚如虎，腰粗壮如熊 (bèi kuānhòu rú hǔ, yāo cūzhuàng rú xióng).
Once upon a time, this term was meant as a compliment and used as a flattering homage to the imposing stature of a hero. Today, this venerable idiom is often applied with a wink to the chubby problems of modern times – a burly appearance that doesn’t quite fit into society’s usual beauty standards. Or, as the Chinese would say, a physique that is more horse-horse-tiger-tiger (马马虎虎 mǎmahūhū), or “so-so.”
Slender shapes are also considered beautiful in China, especially for women. Instead of a wasp waist, however, some Chinese women literally dream of a sexy “water snake waist” (水蛇腰 shuǐshéyāo). Less sexy, on the other hand, is the “water can” or “water bucket waist” (水桶腰 shuǐtǒngyāo), regardless of gender. Just think of the plastic canisters of Chinese water dispensers in the office and you’ll have the perfect image in mind.
The Chinese are usually more lenient with chubby-cheeked offspring. In Chinese, well-fed kids are affectionately referred to as 小胖墩 xiǎo pàngdūn – literally “cute little blocks” (from 墩 dūn – boulder, block). Of course, there is also a matching adjective: 胖墩墩 pàng-dūndūn (literally “chubby and blocky”). The Beijing Olympic mascot of the Winter Games may serve as a mnemonic: The panda in the ice suit was called 冰墩墩 bīng-dūndūn, meaning “ice block,” and famously also had no waist.
By the way, don’t be linguistically fooled by all the bear waists. A “bear child” (熊孩子 xióngháizi) is not a chubby little child but describes naughty little children full of mischief.
Back to the waistline: Of course, this is also a sensitive issue in China. Just as anywhere else, careless remarks about someone’s weight can also get you on thin ice in the Middle Kingdom. So let’s conclude with a small linguistic life preserver that can be used to tactfully describe voluptuous curves in Chinese: namely the adjective 丰满 fēngmǎn – a full and well-proportioned figure. Just in case.
Verena Menzel runs the online language school New Chinese in Beijing.
