Happy New Year of the Rabbit! According to the horoscope, it promises balance and peace. This is something global politics and our private lives need.
One of our most important China actors will – hopefully -also have a more peaceful private life in May: Joerg Wuttke will step down as President of the EU Chamber of Commerce. European business in China will lose a truly outstanding figure. During his visit to Berlin, we interviewed Wuttke again in detail and will publish the interview in two parts today and tomorrow. It covers China strategies, Taiwan risks, dealing with Covid and supply chain laws.
Wuttke does not believe that the European economy can afford to invest less in China. Instead, it already invests in other parts of the world as well – this way, the diversification of investments will succeed in time.
Meanwhile, a Chinese private company with the best connections to the CCP is investing in Djibouti. That in itself is nothing unusual. However, the construction project is particularly interesting. Right in the geopolitically hotly contested area, China is building Africa’s first space launch site. Djibouti is shaping up to be a remarkable place, writes Frank Sieren. With only one million inhabitants, but six international military bases, control over one of the most important straits for trade, and now a rocket launch site. For us, this is both a warning and an inspiration.
The Year of the Rabbit will be the year of China strategies in Germany. The drafts of two German ministries are already well known; they prioritize rivalry and the reduction of dependencies. What is the EU Chamber’s position?
By the time the paper comes out the end of the voting grinder, it will probably look quite different.
Is it the Chamber’s hope that not much will be left of it?
No. We hope that all aspects are represented: China as partner, competitor and rival. The weighting depends on where the greatest advantages lie. What matters now is that we make a clear, robust Europe and Germany First policy.
Germany First? That sounds like Donald Trump.
Germany and Europe First – for me, that is the same thing. Yes, we have to look at where our interests lie. It is not about protectionism, but about focusing. The Chinese have been doing China First for a long time. We have to respond robustly to this.
Does that mean more industrial policy?
I consider industrial policy to be important in certain fields that need to be safeguarded. These include pharmaceutical precursors such as antibiotics and vitamin B, and industrial metals such as rare earth elements and magnesium. We must not be susceptible to blackmail here. China will not hesitate to politically exploit such dependencies. That is why we need alternatives.
Reducing dependencies ultimately means less China. Doesn’t that bother you? After all, you’ve been so involved in the China business for 35 years.
It’s not less China, it’s smarter China. Because one thing is clear: Things can’t go on like this. We’re good at selling, but we keep running into market access barriers.
The USA is consistently wielding its economic power in its confrontation with China. Should the EU also use trade barriers?
Tariffs on Chinese imports only result in taxing our own consumers. I don’t think we will achieve anything with it. More containers from China are going to America today than ever before. What we really see here is a failure of the sanctions policy. We need to approach the issue of reciprocity more skillfully.
And how?
In the discussion about the stake in a terminal at the Port of Hamburg, for example, the emphasis should have been on Chinese shipping companies being able to ship between ports in Europe, such as from Piraeus to Antwerp, from Valencia to Hamburg. We are not allowed to do that as Europeans in China. We first have to go from Dalian to Pusan in South Korea and only then can we continue to Shanghai. Here we could have said: OK, you take a stake in the port of Hamburg, but we will only do that if you grant our ships in China the same opportunities.
China protects its industries through a distinct industrial policy. Government and economic actors work hand in hand. Is cooperation between politics and business in Europe adequate?
With all this industrial policy, we have to be careful not to adopt China’s system. We should stay with our liberal DNA and see how we can deal with the competition. I don’t think much of a “Made in Europe 2025” based on “Made in China 2025,” where authorities dictate to companies how high their market share should be by a target date. We have to force the Chinese companies to play with open sights. We have to see to what extent they are subsidized and then draw conclusions to what extent they are allowed to participate here.
So you favor stricter investment screening?
Screening for investment can make sense. However, Chinese private companies should generally be allowed to continue to invest in Europe. The most important thing is market access in China.
In an interview with China.Table, political scientist Eberhard Sandschneider called the discussion about the China strategy “hysterical”. How do you feel about the mood here in Berlin?
My tour in Brussels and Berlin shows me that there is an insane interest in China. And I take a positive note of that. But we should now return to the People’s Republic as soon as possible to see for ourselves what the situation is like there. Travel educates.
The elephant in the discussion room, however, is Taiwan. The leadership in Beijing massively increased its threats against Taiwan. The draft strategies take this into account.
I am absolutely in favor of a deeper economic integration of Taiwan. But we should watch the red lines and help maintain the status quo. Any salami-slicing tactics that breaks this will lead to problems that are then hard to control.
But shouldn’t we prepare for a potential invasion of Taiwan by China?
The red line is there to prevent such a scenario. . A war over Taiwan would make Russia’s war against Ukraine look small. A war over Taiwan would not simply be a threat to Western investment in China, but would lead to a global meltdown. But the war variant seems artificial; there is no sign of it happening. The danger of not being in China seems to me greater than being in China too much. Personally, I am against pre-emptive fear. There is already a glaring labor shortage in Germany and Europe, so who is supposed to produce all the goods?
And car expert Dudenhoeffer says that if VW withdraws from China now, it would be the end of the German automotive industry.
One thing holds true for the automotive industry: If you’re not in China, you miss out on the scaling of technical capabilities. The point is not just to sell cars. The market for electric cars is currently developing in China. At the same time, the transition from gasoline-powered cars to computers on wheels is underway. Those who don’t participate won’t learn. That’s why the Americans are investing in China just as much as we are. The same is true for many other industries, for chemicals, for infrastructure.
What you have now listed leaves precious little left of the simple idea that China could simply be diversified away.
On the contrary, in reality, diversification has been taking place for a long time. We register that no European company is leaving China. At the same time, we see that company bosses are increasingly traveling to the ASEAN states or India. For many, it pays off, because China has become more expensive. Of course, Cambodia is no substitute for China, because there is often only one road, where the trucks then get stuck. In Shenzhen, the highways lead four lanes toward the world’s largest port. But we have to do our homework and look for new sites, perhaps again in Europe or America.
Jörg Wuttke has lived in China for 35 years and knows both the economy and the political system like no other. The chief representative of BASF has served three times as president of the EU Chamber of Commerce. In the next elections in May, he will not run again for this position.
The second part of the interview will follow in tomorrow’s issue.
China plans to invest about $1 billion in Djibouti to build Africa’s first spaceport. Investors are the private company Hong Kong Aerospace Technology Group and Shanghai-based Touchroad International Holdings Group. Touchroad is owned by He Liehui, an entrepreneur who specifically focuses on Africa. He is Vice President of the politically important Chinese African People’s Friendship Association and already established a special economic zone in Djibouti in 2016.
The project is not only of economic, but also of geopolitical importance. It binds China and Africa closer together and is important for the self-confidence of the African continent. “None of the 54 satellites from 15 African countries so far have been sent into space from Africa,” Temidayo Oniosun, Managing Director of the consultancy Space In Africa, told the business magazine African Business. He expressed hope for “the first African satellite to launch from African soil.”
However, the market is still small. Last year, all African countries spent a combined $534 million on their space programs. There is still a lot of possible growth, from which the Chinese are now benefiting for the time being.
China’s spaceport in Djibouti will be outfitted with seven launch pads and three rocket test stations. The rocket station is expected to begin operations as early as 2027. Its main purpose is to send satellites into space. The Chinese will manage the spaceport for 30 years. After that, it will be handed over to Djibouti. President Ismail Omar Guelleh welcomed the cooperation at the signing of the agreement, as did China’s local ambassador, Hu Bin.
Djibouti is similarly conveniently located on the equator as Kourou, the spaceport of the European Space Agency ESA in French Guiana (South America). Along the equator, rockets launched benefit from the Earth’s rotation, which gives them higher speed on their way into orbit.
But Djibouti is also one of the geo-strategically most important places in the world. It is located on the Bab al-Mandab, a narrow strait only 27 kilometers wide that connects the Suez Canal with the Indian Ocean. It is a lifeline for global trade, especially with Europe. This is why the former colonial power France operates its largest foreign military base there, as does Italy, and even Japan’s military operates a base there. Since 2002, however, the United States has had the strongest presence there with Camp Lemonnier, a two-square-kilometer site with the right to use the nearby airport.
China has also been in the region since 2017: 2,000 soldiers are stationed at its first foreign military base. China has constructed a military port there, at whose pier aircraft carriers can also berth. At just half a square kilometer, the base is significantly smaller than the neighboring US base.
However, China now plays the most important role in terms of trade infrastructure. Just last summer, China Merchants Group, the world’s largest port operator, signed a deal with Djibouti to expand the port for $3 billion. China Merchants Group now owns a 23.5 percent stake in the port. The port is also virtually the lifeline of Africa’s second-largest country by population: Ethiopia, whose economy grew 5.3 percent even in the difficult year of 2022.
The 750-kilometer railroad between the Ethiopian capital Adis Ababa and Djibouti was also built by the Chinese at a cost of around €4 billion. China has also made Djibouti the most important submarine cable hub in the region. This is where the Peace fiber optic cable arrives from Pakistan, a part of China’s global network. The Peace cable is planned to run through the Suez Canal and terminate in Marseille, France.
The spaceport, in turn, will be built in the northern Obock region and will have a new highway and an international port. In addition, one wind, one solar, and one hydroelectric power plant are to be built. This is a significant development step for the small former French colony with only about one million inhabitants. However, the EU – or even a private company, as in the case of China’s involvement – could not bring itself to invest in a spaceport on a large scale.
An investment that comes at a critical time for President Guelleh: At the end of November last year, Djibouti had to stop payments for loans to China, but also to Kuwait. According to the World Bank, Djibouti’s international borrowing costs tripled last year to $184 million. They could rise as high as $266 billion this year. As early as the end of 2021, the International Monetary Fund described the country’s debt as “unsustainable.”
Boston University’s Global Development Policy Centre has calculated that Djibouti borrowed $1.5 billion from China over the past 20 years. Beijing apparently does not mind this development enough to stop the project. On the contrary, the Chinese Embassy announced to “actively provide the necessary support and guarantees.”
The geostrategic considerations seem to be more important than possible economic risks.
Although nothing is known yet about the exact financing structure of the new spaceport. However, it looks as if Djibouti will not have to go deeper into debt in this case. Rather, the state will only provide the land, while the Chinese will invest in the project, build it, operate it for 30 years, train the locals and then hand over the spaceport to Djibouti.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says progress is being made in vaccinating and boosting older people. “China is making tremendous progress and effort to get to every older adult with both primary doses and with booster doses,” said Kate O’Brien, WHO Director of the immunization department. However, it is difficult for some elderly to understand policy changes, O’Brien said. After all, they were the very ones who had previously been advised not to get vaccinated.
Meanwhile, the number of Covid patients in hospitals continues to rise and is expected to reach new highs these days. According to the WHO’s weekly report, based on data provided by Beijing, the number was up 70 percent from the previous week to 63,307 patients by Friday. This figure does not reflect the true infection situation, as Chinese authorities have largely stopped testing and Chinese authorities and state media are downplaying the dramatic situation.
The London-based research institute Airfinity expects the current Covid wave could peak in the coming week with up to 36,000 deaths per day. Authorities expect nearly two billion passenger movements around the Chinese New Year. This is likely to contribute to an additional spread of the virus. rtr/flee
Wolfgang Hirn has started learning Chinese about twenty times – and stopped just as often. The journalist and book author has been traveling to China regularly since the 1980s and has written several bestsellers about the country and its continent. “Again and again, I resolve to keep my eye on the ball this time, but then I let Chinese slip again.”
However, the language barrier does not seem to dampen his enthusiasm for work. After retiring from manager magazine, for which he spent almost 35 years traveling in China and other countries, his latest book “Shenzhen: The Global Economy of Tomorrow” was published in 2020. In the same year, Hirn launched the free newsletter Chinahirn – a private and financially independent project for anyone who wants to know more about the country and its society. In the bi-weekly format, he classifies China-related news, recommends books, podcasts, or events, and devotes an entire section to food and travel – two of his passions.
Hirn had been carrying the idea for Chinahirn around with him for some time but it was the Covid pandemic that gave him the decisive impetus: “I was sitting and lying around at home and decided, for lack of alternatives: So, now you start with the newsletter.” He started and couldn’t stop; he now writes for the format almost daily. His drive: to fill the gaps in knowledge about China. “China is the second world power – and we know little to nothing about this country and its people.”
When Hirn traveled to the country for the first time in 1986 for manager magazine, he hardly felt any different. It was “a journey into a completely different world,” he recalls. “Bicycles dominated the streets, even horse-drawn vehicles could still be seen in Beijing.” The only cars were the red VW Santanas used as cabs. “For foreigners, there was a special currency that felt like play money.” Everything seemed so foreign to him that he was eager to know more. “The fascination with China has remained unchanged since my first trip; the culture and long history of the country, the friendliness of the people – most of the time at least – that ambitious will to create, and, of course, the food.”
Hirn is concerned about the increasing alienation between China and the West, for which both sides are responsible. With Chinahirn, he hopes to take away the feeling of foreignness for at least some people – and tender thoughts for a new book are already being spun. “About a Chinese topic, of course,” Hirn reveals. Svenja Napp
The character 串 is so visually distinctive that you will probably not forget any time soon after reading this article – whether you know Chinese or not. In the form of neon signs, it has already guided the way for many hungry “big-nosed foreigners” to culinary sites. And maybe it’s also a hot candidate for the sign to your next BBQ party?
You may have guessed it: 串 – pronounced chuàn – means “skewer” or “to put on a skewer,” sometimes also “string” or “to pull on a string,” depending on the context. Amusingly, many surprising everyday words in Chinese include this iconic character, which evokes wonderfully figurative associations. And this extends beyond obvious basic vocabulary such as the 羊肉串 yángròuchuàn, the “lamb skewers” (authentically in Beijing dialect, of course, only with a long rolled retroflex “errrrr” sound at the end. Here again for you to repeat: 羊肉串儿 yángròuchuàrrr).
Around the time of the current Spring Festival – the most important family festival in the Chinese calendar – the Chinese like to practice “door skewering” (串门 chuànmén), for example. It does not involve damaging any doors, but rather the custom of making a visiting marathon to all one’s relatives over the holidays, in other words, going from one door to the next. Sometimes this is also referred to as “skewering the relatives” (串亲戚chuàn qīnqi “go visiting one’s relatives”) – which, fortunately, is not taken literally, even during holiday disputes. Of course, you can also go door-to-door on other social networks during the rest of the year. At work, for example. Here, too, people in China talk about “door skewers” when they drop in unannounced on colleagues in the offices next door when they have a free minute.
By the way, in Chinese you can also string alcohol bars like a string of pearls: 串酒吧 chuàn jiǔbā “stringing/skewering bars” is the equivalent of our booze or pub tour. Once you’ve had a good fill of baijiu, you might think you hear voices, for example, on the phone. In Chinese, if foreign words are used in a telephone call, this is called 串话 chuàn huà (“threading words, skewering language”).
And the pet lovers among us may even have a four-legged “skewer” at home. 串种 chuànzhǒng or colloquially also 串儿 chuàr is the Chinese term for a mixed-breed dog.
Verena Menzel runs the online language school New Chinese in Beijing.
Happy New Year of the Rabbit! According to the horoscope, it promises balance and peace. This is something global politics and our private lives need.
One of our most important China actors will – hopefully -also have a more peaceful private life in May: Joerg Wuttke will step down as President of the EU Chamber of Commerce. European business in China will lose a truly outstanding figure. During his visit to Berlin, we interviewed Wuttke again in detail and will publish the interview in two parts today and tomorrow. It covers China strategies, Taiwan risks, dealing with Covid and supply chain laws.
Wuttke does not believe that the European economy can afford to invest less in China. Instead, it already invests in other parts of the world as well – this way, the diversification of investments will succeed in time.
Meanwhile, a Chinese private company with the best connections to the CCP is investing in Djibouti. That in itself is nothing unusual. However, the construction project is particularly interesting. Right in the geopolitically hotly contested area, China is building Africa’s first space launch site. Djibouti is shaping up to be a remarkable place, writes Frank Sieren. With only one million inhabitants, but six international military bases, control over one of the most important straits for trade, and now a rocket launch site. For us, this is both a warning and an inspiration.
The Year of the Rabbit will be the year of China strategies in Germany. The drafts of two German ministries are already well known; they prioritize rivalry and the reduction of dependencies. What is the EU Chamber’s position?
By the time the paper comes out the end of the voting grinder, it will probably look quite different.
Is it the Chamber’s hope that not much will be left of it?
No. We hope that all aspects are represented: China as partner, competitor and rival. The weighting depends on where the greatest advantages lie. What matters now is that we make a clear, robust Europe and Germany First policy.
Germany First? That sounds like Donald Trump.
Germany and Europe First – for me, that is the same thing. Yes, we have to look at where our interests lie. It is not about protectionism, but about focusing. The Chinese have been doing China First for a long time. We have to respond robustly to this.
Does that mean more industrial policy?
I consider industrial policy to be important in certain fields that need to be safeguarded. These include pharmaceutical precursors such as antibiotics and vitamin B, and industrial metals such as rare earth elements and magnesium. We must not be susceptible to blackmail here. China will not hesitate to politically exploit such dependencies. That is why we need alternatives.
Reducing dependencies ultimately means less China. Doesn’t that bother you? After all, you’ve been so involved in the China business for 35 years.
It’s not less China, it’s smarter China. Because one thing is clear: Things can’t go on like this. We’re good at selling, but we keep running into market access barriers.
The USA is consistently wielding its economic power in its confrontation with China. Should the EU also use trade barriers?
Tariffs on Chinese imports only result in taxing our own consumers. I don’t think we will achieve anything with it. More containers from China are going to America today than ever before. What we really see here is a failure of the sanctions policy. We need to approach the issue of reciprocity more skillfully.
And how?
In the discussion about the stake in a terminal at the Port of Hamburg, for example, the emphasis should have been on Chinese shipping companies being able to ship between ports in Europe, such as from Piraeus to Antwerp, from Valencia to Hamburg. We are not allowed to do that as Europeans in China. We first have to go from Dalian to Pusan in South Korea and only then can we continue to Shanghai. Here we could have said: OK, you take a stake in the port of Hamburg, but we will only do that if you grant our ships in China the same opportunities.
China protects its industries through a distinct industrial policy. Government and economic actors work hand in hand. Is cooperation between politics and business in Europe adequate?
With all this industrial policy, we have to be careful not to adopt China’s system. We should stay with our liberal DNA and see how we can deal with the competition. I don’t think much of a “Made in Europe 2025” based on “Made in China 2025,” where authorities dictate to companies how high their market share should be by a target date. We have to force the Chinese companies to play with open sights. We have to see to what extent they are subsidized and then draw conclusions to what extent they are allowed to participate here.
So you favor stricter investment screening?
Screening for investment can make sense. However, Chinese private companies should generally be allowed to continue to invest in Europe. The most important thing is market access in China.
In an interview with China.Table, political scientist Eberhard Sandschneider called the discussion about the China strategy “hysterical”. How do you feel about the mood here in Berlin?
My tour in Brussels and Berlin shows me that there is an insane interest in China. And I take a positive note of that. But we should now return to the People’s Republic as soon as possible to see for ourselves what the situation is like there. Travel educates.
The elephant in the discussion room, however, is Taiwan. The leadership in Beijing massively increased its threats against Taiwan. The draft strategies take this into account.
I am absolutely in favor of a deeper economic integration of Taiwan. But we should watch the red lines and help maintain the status quo. Any salami-slicing tactics that breaks this will lead to problems that are then hard to control.
But shouldn’t we prepare for a potential invasion of Taiwan by China?
The red line is there to prevent such a scenario. . A war over Taiwan would make Russia’s war against Ukraine look small. A war over Taiwan would not simply be a threat to Western investment in China, but would lead to a global meltdown. But the war variant seems artificial; there is no sign of it happening. The danger of not being in China seems to me greater than being in China too much. Personally, I am against pre-emptive fear. There is already a glaring labor shortage in Germany and Europe, so who is supposed to produce all the goods?
And car expert Dudenhoeffer says that if VW withdraws from China now, it would be the end of the German automotive industry.
One thing holds true for the automotive industry: If you’re not in China, you miss out on the scaling of technical capabilities. The point is not just to sell cars. The market for electric cars is currently developing in China. At the same time, the transition from gasoline-powered cars to computers on wheels is underway. Those who don’t participate won’t learn. That’s why the Americans are investing in China just as much as we are. The same is true for many other industries, for chemicals, for infrastructure.
What you have now listed leaves precious little left of the simple idea that China could simply be diversified away.
On the contrary, in reality, diversification has been taking place for a long time. We register that no European company is leaving China. At the same time, we see that company bosses are increasingly traveling to the ASEAN states or India. For many, it pays off, because China has become more expensive. Of course, Cambodia is no substitute for China, because there is often only one road, where the trucks then get stuck. In Shenzhen, the highways lead four lanes toward the world’s largest port. But we have to do our homework and look for new sites, perhaps again in Europe or America.
Jörg Wuttke has lived in China for 35 years and knows both the economy and the political system like no other. The chief representative of BASF has served three times as president of the EU Chamber of Commerce. In the next elections in May, he will not run again for this position.
The second part of the interview will follow in tomorrow’s issue.
China plans to invest about $1 billion in Djibouti to build Africa’s first spaceport. Investors are the private company Hong Kong Aerospace Technology Group and Shanghai-based Touchroad International Holdings Group. Touchroad is owned by He Liehui, an entrepreneur who specifically focuses on Africa. He is Vice President of the politically important Chinese African People’s Friendship Association and already established a special economic zone in Djibouti in 2016.
The project is not only of economic, but also of geopolitical importance. It binds China and Africa closer together and is important for the self-confidence of the African continent. “None of the 54 satellites from 15 African countries so far have been sent into space from Africa,” Temidayo Oniosun, Managing Director of the consultancy Space In Africa, told the business magazine African Business. He expressed hope for “the first African satellite to launch from African soil.”
However, the market is still small. Last year, all African countries spent a combined $534 million on their space programs. There is still a lot of possible growth, from which the Chinese are now benefiting for the time being.
China’s spaceport in Djibouti will be outfitted with seven launch pads and three rocket test stations. The rocket station is expected to begin operations as early as 2027. Its main purpose is to send satellites into space. The Chinese will manage the spaceport for 30 years. After that, it will be handed over to Djibouti. President Ismail Omar Guelleh welcomed the cooperation at the signing of the agreement, as did China’s local ambassador, Hu Bin.
Djibouti is similarly conveniently located on the equator as Kourou, the spaceport of the European Space Agency ESA in French Guiana (South America). Along the equator, rockets launched benefit from the Earth’s rotation, which gives them higher speed on their way into orbit.
But Djibouti is also one of the geo-strategically most important places in the world. It is located on the Bab al-Mandab, a narrow strait only 27 kilometers wide that connects the Suez Canal with the Indian Ocean. It is a lifeline for global trade, especially with Europe. This is why the former colonial power France operates its largest foreign military base there, as does Italy, and even Japan’s military operates a base there. Since 2002, however, the United States has had the strongest presence there with Camp Lemonnier, a two-square-kilometer site with the right to use the nearby airport.
China has also been in the region since 2017: 2,000 soldiers are stationed at its first foreign military base. China has constructed a military port there, at whose pier aircraft carriers can also berth. At just half a square kilometer, the base is significantly smaller than the neighboring US base.
However, China now plays the most important role in terms of trade infrastructure. Just last summer, China Merchants Group, the world’s largest port operator, signed a deal with Djibouti to expand the port for $3 billion. China Merchants Group now owns a 23.5 percent stake in the port. The port is also virtually the lifeline of Africa’s second-largest country by population: Ethiopia, whose economy grew 5.3 percent even in the difficult year of 2022.
The 750-kilometer railroad between the Ethiopian capital Adis Ababa and Djibouti was also built by the Chinese at a cost of around €4 billion. China has also made Djibouti the most important submarine cable hub in the region. This is where the Peace fiber optic cable arrives from Pakistan, a part of China’s global network. The Peace cable is planned to run through the Suez Canal and terminate in Marseille, France.
The spaceport, in turn, will be built in the northern Obock region and will have a new highway and an international port. In addition, one wind, one solar, and one hydroelectric power plant are to be built. This is a significant development step for the small former French colony with only about one million inhabitants. However, the EU – or even a private company, as in the case of China’s involvement – could not bring itself to invest in a spaceport on a large scale.
An investment that comes at a critical time for President Guelleh: At the end of November last year, Djibouti had to stop payments for loans to China, but also to Kuwait. According to the World Bank, Djibouti’s international borrowing costs tripled last year to $184 million. They could rise as high as $266 billion this year. As early as the end of 2021, the International Monetary Fund described the country’s debt as “unsustainable.”
Boston University’s Global Development Policy Centre has calculated that Djibouti borrowed $1.5 billion from China over the past 20 years. Beijing apparently does not mind this development enough to stop the project. On the contrary, the Chinese Embassy announced to “actively provide the necessary support and guarantees.”
The geostrategic considerations seem to be more important than possible economic risks.
Although nothing is known yet about the exact financing structure of the new spaceport. However, it looks as if Djibouti will not have to go deeper into debt in this case. Rather, the state will only provide the land, while the Chinese will invest in the project, build it, operate it for 30 years, train the locals and then hand over the spaceport to Djibouti.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says progress is being made in vaccinating and boosting older people. “China is making tremendous progress and effort to get to every older adult with both primary doses and with booster doses,” said Kate O’Brien, WHO Director of the immunization department. However, it is difficult for some elderly to understand policy changes, O’Brien said. After all, they were the very ones who had previously been advised not to get vaccinated.
Meanwhile, the number of Covid patients in hospitals continues to rise and is expected to reach new highs these days. According to the WHO’s weekly report, based on data provided by Beijing, the number was up 70 percent from the previous week to 63,307 patients by Friday. This figure does not reflect the true infection situation, as Chinese authorities have largely stopped testing and Chinese authorities and state media are downplaying the dramatic situation.
The London-based research institute Airfinity expects the current Covid wave could peak in the coming week with up to 36,000 deaths per day. Authorities expect nearly two billion passenger movements around the Chinese New Year. This is likely to contribute to an additional spread of the virus. rtr/flee
Wolfgang Hirn has started learning Chinese about twenty times – and stopped just as often. The journalist and book author has been traveling to China regularly since the 1980s and has written several bestsellers about the country and its continent. “Again and again, I resolve to keep my eye on the ball this time, but then I let Chinese slip again.”
However, the language barrier does not seem to dampen his enthusiasm for work. After retiring from manager magazine, for which he spent almost 35 years traveling in China and other countries, his latest book “Shenzhen: The Global Economy of Tomorrow” was published in 2020. In the same year, Hirn launched the free newsletter Chinahirn – a private and financially independent project for anyone who wants to know more about the country and its society. In the bi-weekly format, he classifies China-related news, recommends books, podcasts, or events, and devotes an entire section to food and travel – two of his passions.
Hirn had been carrying the idea for Chinahirn around with him for some time but it was the Covid pandemic that gave him the decisive impetus: “I was sitting and lying around at home and decided, for lack of alternatives: So, now you start with the newsletter.” He started and couldn’t stop; he now writes for the format almost daily. His drive: to fill the gaps in knowledge about China. “China is the second world power – and we know little to nothing about this country and its people.”
When Hirn traveled to the country for the first time in 1986 for manager magazine, he hardly felt any different. It was “a journey into a completely different world,” he recalls. “Bicycles dominated the streets, even horse-drawn vehicles could still be seen in Beijing.” The only cars were the red VW Santanas used as cabs. “For foreigners, there was a special currency that felt like play money.” Everything seemed so foreign to him that he was eager to know more. “The fascination with China has remained unchanged since my first trip; the culture and long history of the country, the friendliness of the people – most of the time at least – that ambitious will to create, and, of course, the food.”
Hirn is concerned about the increasing alienation between China and the West, for which both sides are responsible. With Chinahirn, he hopes to take away the feeling of foreignness for at least some people – and tender thoughts for a new book are already being spun. “About a Chinese topic, of course,” Hirn reveals. Svenja Napp
The character 串 is so visually distinctive that you will probably not forget any time soon after reading this article – whether you know Chinese or not. In the form of neon signs, it has already guided the way for many hungry “big-nosed foreigners” to culinary sites. And maybe it’s also a hot candidate for the sign to your next BBQ party?
You may have guessed it: 串 – pronounced chuàn – means “skewer” or “to put on a skewer,” sometimes also “string” or “to pull on a string,” depending on the context. Amusingly, many surprising everyday words in Chinese include this iconic character, which evokes wonderfully figurative associations. And this extends beyond obvious basic vocabulary such as the 羊肉串 yángròuchuàn, the “lamb skewers” (authentically in Beijing dialect, of course, only with a long rolled retroflex “errrrr” sound at the end. Here again for you to repeat: 羊肉串儿 yángròuchuàrrr).
Around the time of the current Spring Festival – the most important family festival in the Chinese calendar – the Chinese like to practice “door skewering” (串门 chuànmén), for example. It does not involve damaging any doors, but rather the custom of making a visiting marathon to all one’s relatives over the holidays, in other words, going from one door to the next. Sometimes this is also referred to as “skewering the relatives” (串亲戚chuàn qīnqi “go visiting one’s relatives”) – which, fortunately, is not taken literally, even during holiday disputes. Of course, you can also go door-to-door on other social networks during the rest of the year. At work, for example. Here, too, people in China talk about “door skewers” when they drop in unannounced on colleagues in the offices next door when they have a free minute.
By the way, in Chinese you can also string alcohol bars like a string of pearls: 串酒吧 chuàn jiǔbā “stringing/skewering bars” is the equivalent of our booze or pub tour. Once you’ve had a good fill of baijiu, you might think you hear voices, for example, on the phone. In Chinese, if foreign words are used in a telephone call, this is called 串话 chuàn huà (“threading words, skewering language”).
And the pet lovers among us may even have a four-legged “skewer” at home. 串种 chuànzhǒng or colloquially also 串儿 chuàr is the Chinese term for a mixed-breed dog.
Verena Menzel runs the online language school New Chinese in Beijing.
