Commodity prices threaten growth + Provocation in the Pacific
Expensive raw materials threaten growth
Navy advances into western Pacific
Maas criticizes vaccine diplomacy
World Bank predicts growth of 8.5 percent
Increase in electricity prices for households
Illegally imported jade from Myanmar
Guangzhou builds own hotel for quarantine
Profile: Tania Becker – China expert with diverse interests
Dear reader,
Surveys confirm: Few things frighten Germans more than rising living costs. Inflation in Germany is currently over two percent – which is still moderate, but higher than we have been used to recently. Some of this comes from China via detours and is caused by high raw material prices. China is the largest importer of raw materials. The country’s industry processes them into intermediate and end products. More and more small local companies are now suffering from rising prices, analyzes Christiane Kuehl. Some economists even see the upswing at risk. The government is now intervening and throwing some of the strategic raw material reserves onto the market.
The military strategy in the Indo-Pacific is clear: China is steadily expanding its sphere of influence. Frank Sieren analyses the motives behind the Chinese navy’s latest maneuver. It has entered the Celebes Sea between Indonesia and the Philippines for the first time. And weapons development is also a cause for concern: China has developed a new anti-aircraft carrier missile with a range of around 1,800 kilometers – double that of the previous version.
China is struggling with the rapidly rising prices of raw materials. Metals, ores, crude oil – everything has become extremely expensive. The price hike is putting a strain on the country’s industry, which should actually be running at full speed again after the end of the pandemic. Beijing will therefore release a total of 100,000 tons of stockpiles of non-ferrous metals at the beginning of July. The Food and Strategic Reserves Administration said it would publicly auction 20,000 tonnes of copper, 30,000 tonnes of zinc, and 50,000 tonnes of aluminum on July 5 and 6. According to the statement, copper and zinc will be auctioned on a platform run by state-owned metals company China Minmetals, while aluminum will be auctioned on a platform run by state-owned Norinco. Only companies that process these metals will be allowed to bid. According to official data, the amount of zinc to be auctioned corresponds to 5.7 percent of China’s monthly production in May.
The unusual step shows how dramatic the situation has become for China’s industry. High commodity prices are raising costs for producers – and thus prices for finished products. Ex-factory price inflation hit a 13-year high in China in May, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, as manufacturers passed on rising raw material prices to their customers. Nearly 100 Chinese steel companies, for example, raised prices in early May due to increased costs in purchasing iron ore.
Threat to economic recovery
The producer price index (PPI), which reflects the prices factories charge wholesalers for their products, rose nine percent year-on-year in May (China.Table reported). “In May, prices of international crude oil, iron ore, non-ferrous metals, and other bulk goods rose sharply,” said NBS senior statistician Dong Lijuan. Following the end of the pandemic in China, economic demand also surged, further pushing up prices across the board – and could subsequently cause inflation in the consumption sector. Beijing, therefore, fears that the explosion in commodity prices will jeopardize the entire economic recovery.
China is the world’s largest consumer of crude oil, iron ore, and non-ferrous metals and is thus exposed to high international inflationary pressures. On the other hand, the government controls large parts of the upstream industries concerned, which gives it opportunities to control at least local effects. The powerful National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) met with relevant companies in the commodities sector at the end of May – and after the meeting stressed that Beijing would show “zero tolerance” for price-fixing, spreading false information, hoarding or speculation. The NDRC did not give details so far – it was all about the signal. The municipal governments of Shanghai and Tangshan – which produced 13 percent of China’s steel last year – have already instructed their steel companies to “safeguard market order”. In plain language: Keep your prices stable!
Fight against commodity speculation
On its website, the NDRC reported that there had been “feedback from the industry about excessive speculation and hype that have disrupted the normal production and sales process and contributed to the price increase”. So the cause of the excesses is also seen to be at home, and not just in world markets. The NDRC, therefore, announced that it would once again tighten price controls on iron ore, copper, corn and other bulk commodities in the current five-year plan 2021-2025.
The State Council announced at the same time that import duties on iron and steel scrap would be suspended. Export rebates for certain steel products will also be temporarily canceled. The State Council plans to grant tax rebates and other financial support to smaller private companies affected by high commodity prices. Reports are piling up of companies that have had to temporarily cut back or halt production because they cannot cushion or fully pass on the huge price hike. If the gap between the cost of raw materials and the selling price becomes too wide, a company’s losses increase with every tonne it produces and sells.
The South China Morning Post cites a supplier of iron and steel castings in Guangdong as an example: Modern Casting Ltd. had informed customers that it could not deliver the ordered goods. “The cost of casting materials has far exceeded the company’s gross profit and reached a point where we can no longer afford to make a loss,” the company’s statement said, according to the newspaper.
Prices stabilized thanks to package of measures
So the government is bringing a whole package of measures on the way to somehow depress commodity prices. At least these announced measures have brought prices down slightly again – but they are still very high. It’s expected to stay that way, at least through the end of the year. NDRC spokesman Meng Wei announced that more strategic reserves could be released in the future.
The EU Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC), on the other hand, considers the price boom to be more of a normal cycle. The pendulum will swing back again, Chamber President Jörg Wuttke reassures China.Table. Until then, as always with high commodity prices, “winners are the upstream companies, losers are manufacturers and consumers”.
The price boom is nevertheless fueling speculation in China about a commodity supercycle of extreme, prolonged price increases followed by a hard landing, according to the South China Morning Post. Such supercycles are rare and have historically occurred only as a result of special circumstances, such as through post-World War II reconstruction. Whether the post-pandemic recovery represents such a situation, however, is a matter of debate among experts in the country.
Nervousness is rising in the Western Pacific: China’s navy recently crossed the Celebes Sea, which separates Indonesia and the Philippines. This marks the first time that the People’s Republic’s navy has entered the part of the Pacific that includes the strategically important US territory of Guam. The Pacific island is the Americans’ westernmost outpost in the Pacific, and the huge Andersen Air Force Base is located here. More than 6,100 US troops are stationed here. This has given the confrontation between the US and China in the South China Sea a new quality.
So far, quite unequal opponents meet here. Experts point to the difference between the largest formations and the greatest real striking power. “The Chinese navy is already the world’s largest in terms of numbers,” defense researcher Sheu Jyh-Shyang from the Institute for National Defence and Security Research in Taipei told Deutschlandfunk radio, “but the US has more large ships, aircraft carriers with 100,000 tons. That means in terms of strength, China is still inferior to the US, but in terms of numbers, China already has the largest navy.” Above all, the aircraft carrier units of the Chinese do not come close to the striking power of the American units.
After all, China now has anti-ship missiles that whiz along at supersonic speeds just above the surface of the water. The US did not yet have this capability as a standard. But the Americans are even more concerned about new missiles that can take out aircraft carriers from 1,800 kilometers away. The range has doubled compared to the previous model. All this costs money: In March, the Chinese People’s Congress approved a 6.8 percent increase in the military budget.
With its new assets, the Chinese navy has continuously expanded its area of operations in recent years. Especially in the South China Sea, the Chinese presence is growing. Beijing lays claim to an area known as the Nine-Dash Line (China.Table reported), and backs up its claim there with island fills and patrols. The current deployment in the Western Pacific fits into the trend of seeing its own sphere of influence grow ever larger.
Coastal states such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia feel that their sovereign rights have been violated. As recently as the beginning of June, 16 Chinese fighter jets had intruded into Malaysian airspace near the coast. The Malaysian Foreign Ministry called the maneuver a “serious threat to national sovereignty”. Meanwhile, the Philippines has stepped up its patrols in the South China Sea after Chinese ships apparently advanced near the disputed Whitsun Reef. Beijing said they were merely fishing boats seeking refuge from bad weather. Black boats shaped like fishing boats but equipped with guns have been spotted in the port of Sanya on Hainan Island.
Territorial claims: China ignores ruling
The legal situation is complicated: In 2013, the Philippines, with the support of the US, had filed a claim before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague based on Chinese territorial claims. The dispute concerned some of the Spratly Islands, which cover more than 420,000 square kilometers in the South China Sea and are controlled by various riparians, as well as some other reefs and rocks, including Scarborough Shoal, Second Thomas Shoal, Gaven Reef and Reed Bank. Other countries, such as Vietnam, joined in.
However, China did not recognize a ruling from 2016. The reason: The Convention on the Law of the Sea, on which it was based, is not accepted by the Americans either. Why should China comply with a ruling, so the logic goes, whose legality is not even recognized by the world power USA? Therefore, the lawof the strongest continues to apply in the South China Sea. China has ample room to expand. The question now is how the Americans will react to the advance into the Western Pacific.
The US government is pursuing a mixed strategy. It shows strength but knows the limits of possible provocations. Currently, a US aircraft carrier group led by the USS Ronald Reagan is on a routine mission in the South China Sea. Additionally, US naval units are conducting exercises off Hawaii in preparation for an upcoming deployment to the Indo-Pacific region.
For its part, China has sent 28 fighter jets and bombers over Taiwanese territory. The maneuver was seen as a response to the G7 summit in Cornwall, where leaders of the leading Western economies called for a peaceful resolution of the issue. Taiwanis the issue. The Chinese Foreign Ministry had subsequently accused the G7 countries of interfering in China’s internal affairs. The People’s Republic considers the island with its 23 million inhabitants to be part of its territory.
Maritime world power ambitions
The US sees all this as an attack on its hitherto unique position of power in the Indo-Pacific. China could replace the US as the largest military power in the Pacific as early as 2025, believes Philip Davidson, the retired commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command in April. In late summer, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is scheduled to replace the USS Ronald Reagan, which must leave to support the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. For the past week, the Vinson has been training near Hawaii for its new assignment.
On board are the new F-35C Lightning II stealth fighters and the CMV-22B Osprey, an aircraft with rotating engines that can land like a helicopter. The Carl Vinson is the first US aircraft carrier to be equipped with these aircraft. Until now, the aircraft carrier was based in San Diego. It just underwent a 17-month refit to bring it up to the latest technology. The fact that the Vinson, as the best-equipped US aircraft carrier, is now patrolling the South China Sea shows the importance Washington attaches to the region.
Geopolitics
Indo-Pacific
Military
News
World Bank predicts high growth
The World Bank predicts a further economic recovery for China and raised the growth forecast for the People’s Republic to 8.5 percent – an increase of 0.4 percentage points over the last forecast from last year. The reason given for the even better economic outlook is that both consumer confidence and business confidence have improved recently and that labor market conditions are also developing better as a result. According to the analysis, domestic demand and exports are also likely to remain positive. For the coming year, the World Bank expects growth of 5.4 percent, which would be in line with the long-term trend before the Coronavirus pandemic.
On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of the G20 countries met. The focus was on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas announced that he would also address the so-called vaccine diplomacy of China and Russia at the meeting, “of which we think nothing”. The COVID-19 pandemic should not be about “short-term geostrategic advantages“, Maas said. Rather, the G20 should join forces to fight the Covid pandemic. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also stressed the importance of providing Covid vaccines to poorer countries. The meeting in Matera, Italy, was the first face-to-face meeting in two years – previously the ministers had exchanged views virtually. nib
Health
Pharma
Electricity price increase planned
The Chinese government wants to raise electricity prices for households and lower them for businesses, Caixin reports. The NDRC, the development and reform commission, had recognized that energywas too cheap for individual customers but too expensive for businesses. How much the prices should rise and when the price changes will be finally decided is not yet clear.
China controls prices for electricity, water, and gas from the state. One of the goals is to keep these basic goods affordable for people with low incomes. However, the low prices tempt the well-heeled middle class, in particular, to waste energy, for example when the air conditioner runs all day. In Germany, electricity prices are on average almost five times higher than in China. fin
Energie
Power
Sustainability
NGO: smuggling of jade from Myanmar
Up to 90 percent of the jade mined in Myanmar is smuggled to China, according to a report by the non-governmental organization Global Witness. The organization accuses China of being massively involved in financing the military regime in Myanmar. Global Witness, in its report released on Tuesday, called on China to acknowledge its role in corruption and conflict related to the jade trade in Myanmar and to take steps against it. According to the report, corruption in the stones trade extends to Myanmar General Min Aung Hlaing, the country’s de facto ruler. Global Witness also called on the global community to boycott all jade and gemstones mined in Myanmar.
The NGO report did not target China alone, Keel Dietz of Global Witness told the South China Morning Post, but revealed the military regime’s connection in the jade trade in general. However, the People’s Republic was clearly the biggest buyer of the smuggled jade. Between 70 and 90 percent of the jade mined in Myanmar – most of which comes from Hpakant in Kachin state, according to Dietz – is brought through Mandalay as well as across the border between Muse city in Myanmar and Ruili city in Yunnan. “Customs checks between Muse and Ruili are not very strict, so it’s quite easy to move large quantities of goods across the border,” Dietz said.
According to Global Witness, Chinese companies and private individuals are investing heavily in Myanmar’s jade miningindustry. According to the report, forged passports are used for this purpose, as foreigners are not actually allowed to own companies for the mining of jade in Myanmar. Also, a large part of the equipment used for the mining is financed by Chinese companies or by Chinese credits, it is further said in the report. According to the report, the raw jade is mostly sent to China for further processing. ari
Geopolitics
Rare earths
Raw materials
Guangzhou builds own hotel for quarantine
The city of Guangzhou on the Pearl River Delta will build a quarantine hotel near the airport by September. The accommodation is to have 5,000 rooms isolated from each other, the Financial Times reports. Housing travelers in hotels closer to the city is more likely to lead to infections, the newspaper reproduces a Chinese doctor as saying. More than 80 percent of China travelers have been quarantined in the cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen, according to the FT. The hotel’s construction suggests that travelers will continue to face quarantine regulations and entry restrictions (China.Table reported). nib
Health
Travel
Profile
Tania Becker – China expert with diverse interests
Tania Becker, Sinologist at the TU Berlin (Center for Cultural Studies on Science and Technology in China)
In a way, her fascination with China saved Tania Becker’s life. The Croatian came to Germany as a guest student at the end of the 1980s. A short time later, war broke out in her home country and she stayed in the German Federal Republic. At the time, Becker was still studying art history and actually had ambitions to write a doctoral thesis at the Ruhr University in Bochum. “At some point, as life would have it, I suffered from severe depression for three years,” she reports.
She discovered Tai-Chi, the Chinese movement theory and martial art, and researched the country more intensively. “But the words had so many meanings. I wanted to crack the mystery of the Chinese language,” Becker says. She enrolled in sinology in her mid-30s.
This was followed by a master’s degree, numerous stays in China, a completed doctorate and a subsequent position at the Ruhr University. In 2010, Tania Becker joined TU Berlin as a research assistant and is now a highly respected China expert. Her research interests range from Chinese Daoist philosophy to robotics and artificial intelligence. “At first I was more concerned with classical topics, but now I am particularly interested in the future of China,” she says. At her first seminar on robotics and AI in China, there were 110 seminar participants.
China expert Tania Beckers launches ‘chinnotopia’
Tania Becker pursues a very universal approach and tries to learn as much as possible about China and bring it closer to her students. Together with two colleagues from Ruhr-Universität and Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel, she created the online format “chinnotopia“. Once a month, experts and students discuss new technological and cultural developments interactively.
Becker has already traveled frequently to China and Taiwan for her research. In 2019, she was in the People’s Republic five times and Taiwan once. “I’ve tried to spend one to two months in China every year,” she says. “Every time I apply for a visa, I tremble at the counter.” That fear, she says, has mostly to do with her advocacy for Uyghurs, but also critical interviews for Amnesty International.
But despite all the criticism, she is also fascinated by the Chinese striving for progress. “They always try to keep up with the best,” says Tania Becker. Most recently, this became clear when they emulated Google and developed a similar quantum computer (China.Table reported) to the Internet giant. She would like to see this single-minded approach in Germany as well. The Chinese market offers excellent opportunities, especially for German start-ups. From her point of view, pure competition and isolationism would not help. Constantin Eckner
Education
Society
TU Berlin
Executive Moves
Translation missing.
Dessert
Flowers are an important part of the upcoming 100th anniversary celebration of the CCP. At the Martyrs’ Cemetery in Nanjing, 170,000 flower pots have been placed to represent the Communist Party emblem, the number 100, and the numbers 1921 and 2021.
Profile: Tania Becker – China expert with diverse interests
Dear reader,
Surveys confirm: Few things frighten Germans more than rising living costs. Inflation in Germany is currently over two percent – which is still moderate, but higher than we have been used to recently. Some of this comes from China via detours and is caused by high raw material prices. China is the largest importer of raw materials. The country’s industry processes them into intermediate and end products. More and more small local companies are now suffering from rising prices, analyzes Christiane Kuehl. Some economists even see the upswing at risk. The government is now intervening and throwing some of the strategic raw material reserves onto the market.
The military strategy in the Indo-Pacific is clear: China is steadily expanding its sphere of influence. Frank Sieren analyses the motives behind the Chinese navy’s latest maneuver. It has entered the Celebes Sea between Indonesia and the Philippines for the first time. And weapons development is also a cause for concern: China has developed a new anti-aircraft carrier missile with a range of around 1,800 kilometers – double that of the previous version.
China is struggling with the rapidly rising prices of raw materials. Metals, ores, crude oil – everything has become extremely expensive. The price hike is putting a strain on the country’s industry, which should actually be running at full speed again after the end of the pandemic. Beijing will therefore release a total of 100,000 tons of stockpiles of non-ferrous metals at the beginning of July. The Food and Strategic Reserves Administration said it would publicly auction 20,000 tonnes of copper, 30,000 tonnes of zinc, and 50,000 tonnes of aluminum on July 5 and 6. According to the statement, copper and zinc will be auctioned on a platform run by state-owned metals company China Minmetals, while aluminum will be auctioned on a platform run by state-owned Norinco. Only companies that process these metals will be allowed to bid. According to official data, the amount of zinc to be auctioned corresponds to 5.7 percent of China’s monthly production in May.
The unusual step shows how dramatic the situation has become for China’s industry. High commodity prices are raising costs for producers – and thus prices for finished products. Ex-factory price inflation hit a 13-year high in China in May, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, as manufacturers passed on rising raw material prices to their customers. Nearly 100 Chinese steel companies, for example, raised prices in early May due to increased costs in purchasing iron ore.
Threat to economic recovery
The producer price index (PPI), which reflects the prices factories charge wholesalers for their products, rose nine percent year-on-year in May (China.Table reported). “In May, prices of international crude oil, iron ore, non-ferrous metals, and other bulk goods rose sharply,” said NBS senior statistician Dong Lijuan. Following the end of the pandemic in China, economic demand also surged, further pushing up prices across the board – and could subsequently cause inflation in the consumption sector. Beijing, therefore, fears that the explosion in commodity prices will jeopardize the entire economic recovery.
China is the world’s largest consumer of crude oil, iron ore, and non-ferrous metals and is thus exposed to high international inflationary pressures. On the other hand, the government controls large parts of the upstream industries concerned, which gives it opportunities to control at least local effects. The powerful National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) met with relevant companies in the commodities sector at the end of May – and after the meeting stressed that Beijing would show “zero tolerance” for price-fixing, spreading false information, hoarding or speculation. The NDRC did not give details so far – it was all about the signal. The municipal governments of Shanghai and Tangshan – which produced 13 percent of China’s steel last year – have already instructed their steel companies to “safeguard market order”. In plain language: Keep your prices stable!
Fight against commodity speculation
On its website, the NDRC reported that there had been “feedback from the industry about excessive speculation and hype that have disrupted the normal production and sales process and contributed to the price increase”. So the cause of the excesses is also seen to be at home, and not just in world markets. The NDRC, therefore, announced that it would once again tighten price controls on iron ore, copper, corn and other bulk commodities in the current five-year plan 2021-2025.
The State Council announced at the same time that import duties on iron and steel scrap would be suspended. Export rebates for certain steel products will also be temporarily canceled. The State Council plans to grant tax rebates and other financial support to smaller private companies affected by high commodity prices. Reports are piling up of companies that have had to temporarily cut back or halt production because they cannot cushion or fully pass on the huge price hike. If the gap between the cost of raw materials and the selling price becomes too wide, a company’s losses increase with every tonne it produces and sells.
The South China Morning Post cites a supplier of iron and steel castings in Guangdong as an example: Modern Casting Ltd. had informed customers that it could not deliver the ordered goods. “The cost of casting materials has far exceeded the company’s gross profit and reached a point where we can no longer afford to make a loss,” the company’s statement said, according to the newspaper.
Prices stabilized thanks to package of measures
So the government is bringing a whole package of measures on the way to somehow depress commodity prices. At least these announced measures have brought prices down slightly again – but they are still very high. It’s expected to stay that way, at least through the end of the year. NDRC spokesman Meng Wei announced that more strategic reserves could be released in the future.
The EU Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC), on the other hand, considers the price boom to be more of a normal cycle. The pendulum will swing back again, Chamber President Jörg Wuttke reassures China.Table. Until then, as always with high commodity prices, “winners are the upstream companies, losers are manufacturers and consumers”.
The price boom is nevertheless fueling speculation in China about a commodity supercycle of extreme, prolonged price increases followed by a hard landing, according to the South China Morning Post. Such supercycles are rare and have historically occurred only as a result of special circumstances, such as through post-World War II reconstruction. Whether the post-pandemic recovery represents such a situation, however, is a matter of debate among experts in the country.
Nervousness is rising in the Western Pacific: China’s navy recently crossed the Celebes Sea, which separates Indonesia and the Philippines. This marks the first time that the People’s Republic’s navy has entered the part of the Pacific that includes the strategically important US territory of Guam. The Pacific island is the Americans’ westernmost outpost in the Pacific, and the huge Andersen Air Force Base is located here. More than 6,100 US troops are stationed here. This has given the confrontation between the US and China in the South China Sea a new quality.
So far, quite unequal opponents meet here. Experts point to the difference between the largest formations and the greatest real striking power. “The Chinese navy is already the world’s largest in terms of numbers,” defense researcher Sheu Jyh-Shyang from the Institute for National Defence and Security Research in Taipei told Deutschlandfunk radio, “but the US has more large ships, aircraft carriers with 100,000 tons. That means in terms of strength, China is still inferior to the US, but in terms of numbers, China already has the largest navy.” Above all, the aircraft carrier units of the Chinese do not come close to the striking power of the American units.
After all, China now has anti-ship missiles that whiz along at supersonic speeds just above the surface of the water. The US did not yet have this capability as a standard. But the Americans are even more concerned about new missiles that can take out aircraft carriers from 1,800 kilometers away. The range has doubled compared to the previous model. All this costs money: In March, the Chinese People’s Congress approved a 6.8 percent increase in the military budget.
With its new assets, the Chinese navy has continuously expanded its area of operations in recent years. Especially in the South China Sea, the Chinese presence is growing. Beijing lays claim to an area known as the Nine-Dash Line (China.Table reported), and backs up its claim there with island fills and patrols. The current deployment in the Western Pacific fits into the trend of seeing its own sphere of influence grow ever larger.
Coastal states such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia feel that their sovereign rights have been violated. As recently as the beginning of June, 16 Chinese fighter jets had intruded into Malaysian airspace near the coast. The Malaysian Foreign Ministry called the maneuver a “serious threat to national sovereignty”. Meanwhile, the Philippines has stepped up its patrols in the South China Sea after Chinese ships apparently advanced near the disputed Whitsun Reef. Beijing said they were merely fishing boats seeking refuge from bad weather. Black boats shaped like fishing boats but equipped with guns have been spotted in the port of Sanya on Hainan Island.
Territorial claims: China ignores ruling
The legal situation is complicated: In 2013, the Philippines, with the support of the US, had filed a claim before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague based on Chinese territorial claims. The dispute concerned some of the Spratly Islands, which cover more than 420,000 square kilometers in the South China Sea and are controlled by various riparians, as well as some other reefs and rocks, including Scarborough Shoal, Second Thomas Shoal, Gaven Reef and Reed Bank. Other countries, such as Vietnam, joined in.
However, China did not recognize a ruling from 2016. The reason: The Convention on the Law of the Sea, on which it was based, is not accepted by the Americans either. Why should China comply with a ruling, so the logic goes, whose legality is not even recognized by the world power USA? Therefore, the lawof the strongest continues to apply in the South China Sea. China has ample room to expand. The question now is how the Americans will react to the advance into the Western Pacific.
The US government is pursuing a mixed strategy. It shows strength but knows the limits of possible provocations. Currently, a US aircraft carrier group led by the USS Ronald Reagan is on a routine mission in the South China Sea. Additionally, US naval units are conducting exercises off Hawaii in preparation for an upcoming deployment to the Indo-Pacific region.
For its part, China has sent 28 fighter jets and bombers over Taiwanese territory. The maneuver was seen as a response to the G7 summit in Cornwall, where leaders of the leading Western economies called for a peaceful resolution of the issue. Taiwanis the issue. The Chinese Foreign Ministry had subsequently accused the G7 countries of interfering in China’s internal affairs. The People’s Republic considers the island with its 23 million inhabitants to be part of its territory.
Maritime world power ambitions
The US sees all this as an attack on its hitherto unique position of power in the Indo-Pacific. China could replace the US as the largest military power in the Pacific as early as 2025, believes Philip Davidson, the retired commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command in April. In late summer, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is scheduled to replace the USS Ronald Reagan, which must leave to support the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. For the past week, the Vinson has been training near Hawaii for its new assignment.
On board are the new F-35C Lightning II stealth fighters and the CMV-22B Osprey, an aircraft with rotating engines that can land like a helicopter. The Carl Vinson is the first US aircraft carrier to be equipped with these aircraft. Until now, the aircraft carrier was based in San Diego. It just underwent a 17-month refit to bring it up to the latest technology. The fact that the Vinson, as the best-equipped US aircraft carrier, is now patrolling the South China Sea shows the importance Washington attaches to the region.
Geopolitics
Indo-Pacific
Military
News
World Bank predicts high growth
The World Bank predicts a further economic recovery for China and raised the growth forecast for the People’s Republic to 8.5 percent – an increase of 0.4 percentage points over the last forecast from last year. The reason given for the even better economic outlook is that both consumer confidence and business confidence have improved recently and that labor market conditions are also developing better as a result. According to the analysis, domestic demand and exports are also likely to remain positive. For the coming year, the World Bank expects growth of 5.4 percent, which would be in line with the long-term trend before the Coronavirus pandemic.
On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of the G20 countries met. The focus was on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas announced that he would also address the so-called vaccine diplomacy of China and Russia at the meeting, “of which we think nothing”. The COVID-19 pandemic should not be about “short-term geostrategic advantages“, Maas said. Rather, the G20 should join forces to fight the Covid pandemic. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also stressed the importance of providing Covid vaccines to poorer countries. The meeting in Matera, Italy, was the first face-to-face meeting in two years – previously the ministers had exchanged views virtually. nib
Health
Pharma
Electricity price increase planned
The Chinese government wants to raise electricity prices for households and lower them for businesses, Caixin reports. The NDRC, the development and reform commission, had recognized that energywas too cheap for individual customers but too expensive for businesses. How much the prices should rise and when the price changes will be finally decided is not yet clear.
China controls prices for electricity, water, and gas from the state. One of the goals is to keep these basic goods affordable for people with low incomes. However, the low prices tempt the well-heeled middle class, in particular, to waste energy, for example when the air conditioner runs all day. In Germany, electricity prices are on average almost five times higher than in China. fin
Energie
Power
Sustainability
NGO: smuggling of jade from Myanmar
Up to 90 percent of the jade mined in Myanmar is smuggled to China, according to a report by the non-governmental organization Global Witness. The organization accuses China of being massively involved in financing the military regime in Myanmar. Global Witness, in its report released on Tuesday, called on China to acknowledge its role in corruption and conflict related to the jade trade in Myanmar and to take steps against it. According to the report, corruption in the stones trade extends to Myanmar General Min Aung Hlaing, the country’s de facto ruler. Global Witness also called on the global community to boycott all jade and gemstones mined in Myanmar.
The NGO report did not target China alone, Keel Dietz of Global Witness told the South China Morning Post, but revealed the military regime’s connection in the jade trade in general. However, the People’s Republic was clearly the biggest buyer of the smuggled jade. Between 70 and 90 percent of the jade mined in Myanmar – most of which comes from Hpakant in Kachin state, according to Dietz – is brought through Mandalay as well as across the border between Muse city in Myanmar and Ruili city in Yunnan. “Customs checks between Muse and Ruili are not very strict, so it’s quite easy to move large quantities of goods across the border,” Dietz said.
According to Global Witness, Chinese companies and private individuals are investing heavily in Myanmar’s jade miningindustry. According to the report, forged passports are used for this purpose, as foreigners are not actually allowed to own companies for the mining of jade in Myanmar. Also, a large part of the equipment used for the mining is financed by Chinese companies or by Chinese credits, it is further said in the report. According to the report, the raw jade is mostly sent to China for further processing. ari
Geopolitics
Rare earths
Raw materials
Guangzhou builds own hotel for quarantine
The city of Guangzhou on the Pearl River Delta will build a quarantine hotel near the airport by September. The accommodation is to have 5,000 rooms isolated from each other, the Financial Times reports. Housing travelers in hotels closer to the city is more likely to lead to infections, the newspaper reproduces a Chinese doctor as saying. More than 80 percent of China travelers have been quarantined in the cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen, according to the FT. The hotel’s construction suggests that travelers will continue to face quarantine regulations and entry restrictions (China.Table reported). nib
Health
Travel
Profile
Tania Becker – China expert with diverse interests
Tania Becker, Sinologist at the TU Berlin (Center for Cultural Studies on Science and Technology in China)
In a way, her fascination with China saved Tania Becker’s life. The Croatian came to Germany as a guest student at the end of the 1980s. A short time later, war broke out in her home country and she stayed in the German Federal Republic. At the time, Becker was still studying art history and actually had ambitions to write a doctoral thesis at the Ruhr University in Bochum. “At some point, as life would have it, I suffered from severe depression for three years,” she reports.
She discovered Tai-Chi, the Chinese movement theory and martial art, and researched the country more intensively. “But the words had so many meanings. I wanted to crack the mystery of the Chinese language,” Becker says. She enrolled in sinology in her mid-30s.
This was followed by a master’s degree, numerous stays in China, a completed doctorate and a subsequent position at the Ruhr University. In 2010, Tania Becker joined TU Berlin as a research assistant and is now a highly respected China expert. Her research interests range from Chinese Daoist philosophy to robotics and artificial intelligence. “At first I was more concerned with classical topics, but now I am particularly interested in the future of China,” she says. At her first seminar on robotics and AI in China, there were 110 seminar participants.
China expert Tania Beckers launches ‘chinnotopia’
Tania Becker pursues a very universal approach and tries to learn as much as possible about China and bring it closer to her students. Together with two colleagues from Ruhr-Universität and Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel, she created the online format “chinnotopia“. Once a month, experts and students discuss new technological and cultural developments interactively.
Becker has already traveled frequently to China and Taiwan for her research. In 2019, she was in the People’s Republic five times and Taiwan once. “I’ve tried to spend one to two months in China every year,” she says. “Every time I apply for a visa, I tremble at the counter.” That fear, she says, has mostly to do with her advocacy for Uyghurs, but also critical interviews for Amnesty International.
But despite all the criticism, she is also fascinated by the Chinese striving for progress. “They always try to keep up with the best,” says Tania Becker. Most recently, this became clear when they emulated Google and developed a similar quantum computer (China.Table reported) to the Internet giant. She would like to see this single-minded approach in Germany as well. The Chinese market offers excellent opportunities, especially for German start-ups. From her point of view, pure competition and isolationism would not help. Constantin Eckner
Education
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TU Berlin
Executive Moves
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Dessert
Flowers are an important part of the upcoming 100th anniversary celebration of the CCP. At the Martyrs’ Cemetery in Nanjing, 170,000 flower pots have been placed to represent the Communist Party emblem, the number 100, and the numbers 1921 and 2021.
