As expected, the EU-China summit on Friday was merely a repetition of familiar positions on both sides. This is where the limits of an online summit become apparent. It does not leave any room for confidential discussions on the sidelines. There is also no opportunity to firmly reiterate one’s own stance to the other party.
But this sort of collateral damage caused by the pandemic currently pales in comparison to the situation in Shanghai. Infected are being herded tightly in quarantine centers. Food distribution is irregular. As important as the containment of the pandemic is, organizational problems start to become apparent. This is not good news for the CCP. After all, those who defy nature for the good of the people must also ensure a steady supply of provisions.
The side effects of zero-covid are now also part of the many reasons why foreigners turn their backs on China. Marcel Grzanna has spoken with employees on the ground and with returnees. Chinese society now tends to be more intolerant, nationalistic and arrogant. The overall living environment has become harsher. The ensuing exodus of expats is hardly a surprise. However, the pandemic is not the cause of the trend, but merely accelerates it.
With the end of the China chapter in his life, relief set in for Niklas. “I’m really glad to be out. Now I can feel how much energy this time actually took,” says the Dutchman, who left Shanghai two weeks ago after 17 years in the People’s Republic.
“Living as a foreigner in China is now like walking on eggshells all the time. ‘Us against you’ conflicts lurk everywhere,” says Niklas, who does not want to be quoted by his full name. For nearly two decades, the 48-year-old worked in China for international companies on sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). In Shanghai, he says, he experienced the “golden years” at the beginning of the century. As he says, things were comparatively liberal and cosmopolitan. That’s over now.
“The past few years under Xi Jinping have changed everything,” he says. Everyday situations have turned more and more into political discussions with the Chinese. Debates the Dutchman did not want to engage in. Time and again, he was pressured to take a position on China’s relationship with Europe or the rest of the world. “In the process, I was constantly confronted with the same arguments, without any differentiation from an extremely nationalistic position,” Niklas recounts. Criticism of the People’s Republic had been less and less accepted in such discussions. The country is turning into a “perfectly shielded society“.
Growing nationalism, totalitarian tendencies, higher taxes, and a harsh zero-covid strategy – for many citizens of large industrialized nations, the People’s Republic of China has lost its magic as a land of unlimited opportunities. Many long-time residents are turning their backs on the country, and far fewer foreigners are deciding to stay for the long term.
Indeed, foreign companies now have trouble finding people who want to live in the People’s Republic. The EU Chamber of Commerce notes a massive decline in the number of foreign employees. And in Hong Kong, where the local government has extremely accelerated the process of de-democratization, many foreign companies are closing their branches.
“China is simply no longer attractive for people my age,” says Stefan Sack, Vice President of the European Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai between 2013 and 2016. After 16 years in China, the 54-year-old returned to Hamburg a few months ago. “Many things have gotten out of balance. Salaries of Chinese colleagues have continuously risen sharply, but mine has not. And the upcoming significant increase in income tax for foreigners is reducing salaries,” Sack says.
The former business consultant also sees positive developments. The “wild years” of the Chinese economy are over. The government has created much more order through regulation. But Sack notes a progressive erosion of social plurality. The diversity of opinion is shrinking and comes close to “conformity”.
Cameron Wilson from Scotland made similar observations. Unlike others who have left China, the 47-year-old still lives in Shanghai with his Chinese family. But he admits that his frustration has grown dramatically. Any criticism of China voiced these days is reinterpreted as the result of fake news propagated by the Western media. Freedom for civil society has been dramatically curtailed.
Wilson cites professional soccer as an example. Fans are no longer allowed to stand in groups outside the stadium and celebrate together after a victory. Shanghai Shenhua supporters are even forbidden to bring stuffed turtles to the stadium for matches against archrival Beijing Guo’an. The Shanghainese disdainfully refer to the capital club as turtles. Authorities decided: These stuffed animals are uncivilized.
Such petty restrictions appear burdening. “If Shanghai wants to be an international city, it has to meet a minimum of international standards like diversity and inclusion. But the city is moving further and further away from that,” Wilson says. As a foreigner, getting a local job is becoming harder and harder.
All this has its consequences. “I just didn’t feel welcome anymore,” says Vuk Dragovic from Serbia. He lived in Shanghai until a few weeks ago, where he worked as an independent industrial designer for international clients. A key moment for him and his wife, he recalls, was when the police showed up at his apartment door unannounced and demanded a urine sample to test him for drug abuse.
Other times, he was asked for his ID in the artists’ quarter Tianzifang and his residence permit was checked. “I’ve never experienced that in all the years before,” says Dragovic, who now makes a new start in Berlin after eleven years in the People’s Republic. Especially after the eruption of the trade war between China and the US under President Donald Trump, he noticed a growing hostility from the local population. He experienced that the Chinese avoided taking the same elevator with him.
Europe’s reputation has also been tarnished, Niklas has noted. “I sensed a real contempt for Europe. We are considered sleepy, boring and chaotic.” Exaggerated reporting by Chinese media on violent demonstrations or riots in EU countries had further reinforced the image of a bleak Europe that is no longer in control.
The trend toward alienation between local and Westernized populations is fueled by the divergent positioning of China and the West in the Ukraine war. “It would be China’s time to gain credibility and respect on the global stage, which the country craved for so long. Instead, it is using conspiracy theories to drive its own policies,” Wilson says. As a result, China’s external communication is getting more and more aggressive.
Former Chamber Vice President Stefan Sack sees these political trends as a good reason to leave the country. He fears a Chinese invasion of Taiwan within the next five years. “If it comes to that, I wouldn’t want to be in China anymore as a citizen of a NATO country, and certainly not as an American,” Sack says.
Elisabeth Liu is American and has lived in Shanghai for over a decade and a half. She is the mother of four children. Her husband is from Singapore. She planned to return to Texas in five years. Now she wants to leave the People’s Republic this year. Here, too, one reason is concern about a war with Taiwan.
Shanghai’s uncompromising Covid policy was the final straw. For weeks, she has used gallows humor to vent her discontent on social media about how health authorities deal with the situation. Recently, she posted a voice message from her husband reporting “good news”. He had managed to find a few tomatoes, six carrots and two broccoli. Liu: “In all honesty, I hope to forget about all of this and just move on with my life.”
Barely 15 minutes after China’s leader Xi Jinping met with EU representatives, the Chinese side had already released the first statement with quotes: The People’s Republic hopes that Europe will formulate an independent understanding of China, maintain an independent China policy and jointly advance stable China-EU relations, the statement said. Xi spoke about the Covid pandemic and global economic challenges. The “Ukraine crisis” was only mentioned at the end of the statement.
The early release of the statement was hardly surprising. It showed what was already clear before the 23rd EU-China summit was held on Friday. The Chinese leadership will not sway much from its position. This especially applies to the Ukraine war, which is a pressing matter for Brussels. At the virtual summit, the European Union wanted to renew pressure on Beijing over China’s controversial support for Russia – with moderate success.
The EU described the tone of the conversation as “open and frank”. EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Charles Michel said they found clear words and warned China against supporting Moscow. “No European citizen would understand any support to Russia’s ability to wage war,” the Commission President said after the summit. This “would lead to major reputational damage for China here in Europe.” The country would also have a special responsibility as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, von der Leyen stressed.
The EU Commission President also indirectly threatened Beijing with consequences: “It was clear that this is not only a defining moment for our continent, but it is also a defining moment for our relationship with the rest of the world,” EU Council President Michel added: “We called on China to end the war in Ukraine. China cannot turn a blind eye to Russia’s violation of international law.”
Publicly, EU leaders were much clearer about their expectations of China over sanctions against Russia: “We expect China, if not supporting the sanctions, at least to do everything not to interfere in any kind” von der Leyen and Michel stressed in unison. According to EU officials, Xi had also been urged to speak with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
After this quick first statement from the Chinese side, it took some time on Friday before a second statement was released. In it, Xi went into more detail about Ukraine – and once again blamed the West for the conflict: He warned against “pouring fuel on the fire and fueling tensions“. The crisis had been caused by years of growing regional security tensions. “In this day and age, global and regional security frameworks should no longer be built with a Cold War mentality.”
Especially after the second statement, it was clear: The summit parties failed to approach a common response to the Ukraine invasion. “Systemic rivalry is a new reality,” Janka Oertel, Director of the Asia program at think tank ECFR, summed up the meeting. “There was little agreement between the two sides and the conversation was far from being ‘business as usual’.” Instead, it had merely been “a frank exchange of opposing views.” When it came to the position on punitive measures against Moscow, however, Brussels had clear words, Oertel said. “If China openly undermines the sanctions regime that has been imposed there will be serious consequences. This could not be clearer now.”
The G7, NATO, and EU states had already sent this message in unison to Beijing at the marathon summit a week and a half ago. Washington had a close eye on Friday’s meeting. “There is a sense in Washington that the US and the EU are currently closer than ever in their assessment of the challenge posed by China,” says foreign policy expert Noah Barkin of the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund (GMF).
Friday’s summit reinforced that feeling, Barkin said. On both sides of the Atlantic, the rapprochement between China and Russia is seen as a threat. When Putin and Xi assured each other of limitless cooperation in February, perceptions had shifted forever. “That was also the message of the summit,” Barkin said. “But it’s still unclear whether the turning point proclaimed by Olaf Scholz marks a geopolitical turning point, or it only applies to Russia.” The US is now hoping for signals from Berlin that the re-evaluation in Berlin will also involve China.
Von der Leyen and Michel also spoke with Premier Li Keqiang Friday morning. China expressed its general opposition to “the division into blocs and partisanship,” Li said. The People’s Republic wishes to cooperate with the EU and the world, the Premier said. However, his country would work for peace “its own way”.
During the meeting with Li, it became clear that several differences needed to be addressed, the EU side pointed out. At the subsequent press conference, von der Leyen cited as examples the sanctions imposed by Beijing on members of the EU Parliament, the restricted access of European companies to the Chinese market, human rights issues and China’s trade embargo against Lithuania (China.Table reported). There was no substantive progress in resolving these differences.
Yet it is precisely in the EU-China-US triangle that China has an interest in keeping Brussels in a positive mood and thus avoiding closer ties with the US, says Thomas des Garets Geddes, Research Fellow at German think tank Merics: “The US has long been China’s most feared and despised adversary, not the EU.” That’s why many analysts of China would agree that the EU is currently in a relatively favorable position in this triangle, the expert said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if China would be willing to do certain things for the EU to prevent it from drifting too much toward the United States.” The People’s Republic is interested in the EU’s neutrality or strategic autonomy, des Garets Geddes said. “That would be extremely important for China.” In collaboration with Christiane Kuehl
Food is becoming harder and harder to come by in Shanghai. The city government does distribute bags of basic foodstuffs through local committees. But the usual orders from supermarkets are almost impossible to get due to high demand and supply bottlenecks. The number of delivery drivers is noticeably lower than in regular operation. As a result, many households currently have to limit themselves massively. The best chances for successful deliveries come from group orders placed by entire neighborhoods.
Even many citizens who are generally in favor of a strict pandemic policy are now critical of the effects of the lockdown. Regular protests are being organized, with a few dozen participants each gathering in backyards and side streets. Videos of these protests are quickly deleted on China’s social media. Nevertheless, numerous outraged messages and videos have gone viral, including reports that Covid-positive toddlers have been separated from their parents.
Meanwhile, there is uncertainty about how many cases the city’s healthcare facilities are dealing with. On Sunday, authorities reported 7,788 new cases, of which all but 438 were asymptomatic. This number would be negligible given Shanghai’s sophisticated infrastructure. At the same time, warnings about overcrowded hospitals and the importance of infection containment are increasing.
In the case of exponential spread, individual Omicron cases would become a wave within a few weeks. The current trend also shows this. Despite the lockdown, which has already lasted for a week, the number of newly identified infections is rising. At least one health facility is also reported to have reached capacity. Nationwide, the number of new infections is at 13,287, the highest level since the initial wave of infection in 2020.
Consequently, the senior leadership is beginning to intervene in Shanghai’s pandemic management. Politburo member Sun Chunlan traveled to the city on Saturday and did not spare on advice and rhetoric. Speaking on behalf of Xi Jinping, she stressed that it was “imperative to resolutely and stringently implement the dynamic zero-covid strategy” to allow the lockdown to be lifted quickly. Sun joined expert panel meetings on the ground and gave numerous briefings. She also visited a hospital.
The lockdowns in the city continue in the meantime. The curfew in Pudong has officially been lifted, while Puxi has been completely sealed off. But even there, numerous apartment blocks and neighborhoods are under quarantine. If a positive test is found in one of the city’s planned squares, an extension of one week automatically goes into effect. On Sunday, the city also urged its citizens to self-test at home in addition to mass testing to help locate the last pockets of infection.
Ominous news is currently arriving from the neighboring city of Suzhou, just 90 kilometers from Shanghai. According to the local disease control authority, a new virus subtype has been found. A mutant of Sars-CoV-2 derived from Omicron was found in a sample from a patient at the end of March, but is not yet listed in the international virus database GISAID, CCTV reports on WeChat. Suzhou reports that it was currently sequencing the genome of all incoming samples. This increases the likelihood of encountering mutations in the process. While Viruses mutate all the time, only very few new variants reproduce successfully. fin
“Actually, I wanted to become a musician, like my mother,” says Barbara Mittler. But her father, who worked in China, encouraged her to learn Mandarin while she was still attending school. Then she got a spot at Oxford, where she took private lessons, including history under Mark Elvin and classical Chinese under Raymond Dawson. “We had to write and read an essay every week. We received criticism right away, left and right,” recalls the 54-year-old, who is now a professor of sinology herself at the University of Heidelberg.
Her passion for music is one reason why Barbara Mittler has always closely combined teaching, research and the transfer of knowledge to society in her own work. The musical contact between Europe and Asia was the subject of her first dissertation and later in the Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context,” which eventually evolved into the “Center for Asian Studies and Transcultural Studies” (CATS) in Heidelberg. From the old to the new Silk Road, from old empires to the new colonialism: “Here, we studied the asymmetries in cultural flows – which, for example, went primarily from West to East in the last two hundred years, but are now reversing once again,” she explains. For two centuries now, knowledge has flowed from Europe to Asia. Today, China would know much more about Europe than Europe about China.
In her work, the sinology professor always takes Chinese perspectives into account – even if she sometimes has the feeling of being criticized for it. “China is not an easy subject of study and not an easy dialogue partner. But when I try to understand China in its diversity, which includes very different voices from Taiwan, Hong Kong and overseas, as well as the present and the past. That doesn’t mean I’m selling out to ‘China,’” she stresses.
Barbara Mittler also repeatedly arranges exhibitions, concerts or theater performances related to China and accompanies them academically. A prominent example was the event series “1968 Global – China and the World,” which placed Mao’s Cultural Revolution in a global context using movies, lectures, exhibitions and concerts, and a chamber opera. With her scientific findings, she wants to reach out to people – in art and culture, but also in school education, for example.
The project “China in Schools” has been running since the 2000s, and Heidelberg offers a Chinese teacher training program. Today, the professor heads the China School Academy, which develops teaching materials for specialized classes on China and offers advanced training for teachers as well as a certificate in “China Competence for Schools“.
In her personal life, Barbara Mittler is motivated by both her fascination with China and her passion for music. Like herself, her husband and children also pursue music. One of her sons wants to become a horn player – and puts his mother in her place: “When we play music together, I realize: he’s the pro.” Jana Degener-Storr
What is the most popular animal in China these days? The green horse, of course! Confused? Here is the explanation straight from the horse’s mouth: 绿马 lǜmǎ – literally “green horse” – is a play on words based on the green Covid health code (健康码 jiànkāngmǎ “health code”), which you currently have to present every time you go for a ride in China. If this digital pass jumps to green (绿码 lǜmǎ “green code”) you can let your horses run free. Coincidentally, “green code” is pronounced the same as “green horse” (but written with different characters, of course). This has inspired the Internet community to this animal metaphor. You can check your status in the “health treasure” (健康宝 jiànkāngbǎo) of the social media app WeChat or in the “payment treasure” (支付宝 zhīfùbǎo) of Alibaba’s mobile payment app (these two are really called that, by the way!).
Those who want to sit firmly in the everyday saddle in China have to care for their “green horse”. Because without this green pony, you can’t go to the park or the supermarket, let alone go on a cross-province city trip. The Chinese Internet community takes it with humor. Memes of lovingly groomed and tightly hugged green four-legged friends are shared. 抱住绿马 bàozhù lǜmǎ “hugging the green horse tightly” is the motto. Another phonetic allusion, namely to the similar-sounding “preserve the green health code” (保住绿码 bǎozhù lǜmǎ).
Red horses, on the other hand, are bad news. When the “health treasure” jumps to “red” (红码 hóngmǎ “red code”), it’s time to ride to the next Covid test (核酸检测 hésuān jiǎncè “nucleic acid test”).
By the way, even before Covid, it was difficult to avoid horses as a Chinese learner. The character 马 (mǎ) is a popular choice for the phonetic transcription of foreign male names, from Mark (马克 Mǎkè) and Max (马克斯 Mǎkèsī) to Markus (马尔库斯 Mǎ’ěrkùsī) and Martin (马丁 Mǎdīng). Surnames are not spared either, especially in Chinese itself. Here, for example, Alibaba founder Jack Ma (马云 Mǎ Yún), table tennis legend Ma Long (马龙 Mǎ Lóng), or Tencent founder Ma Huateng (马华腾 Mǎ Huáténg), who even adopted the English name Pony Ma. Among the most famous translation stallions on the international racetrack, for example, is the “Oba horse” (you know – former US president who won the Nobel Peace Prize, in Chinese: 奥巴马 Ào-bā-mǎ).
Verena Menzel runs the online language school New Chinese in Beijing.
As expected, the EU-China summit on Friday was merely a repetition of familiar positions on both sides. This is where the limits of an online summit become apparent. It does not leave any room for confidential discussions on the sidelines. There is also no opportunity to firmly reiterate one’s own stance to the other party.
But this sort of collateral damage caused by the pandemic currently pales in comparison to the situation in Shanghai. Infected are being herded tightly in quarantine centers. Food distribution is irregular. As important as the containment of the pandemic is, organizational problems start to become apparent. This is not good news for the CCP. After all, those who defy nature for the good of the people must also ensure a steady supply of provisions.
The side effects of zero-covid are now also part of the many reasons why foreigners turn their backs on China. Marcel Grzanna has spoken with employees on the ground and with returnees. Chinese society now tends to be more intolerant, nationalistic and arrogant. The overall living environment has become harsher. The ensuing exodus of expats is hardly a surprise. However, the pandemic is not the cause of the trend, but merely accelerates it.
With the end of the China chapter in his life, relief set in for Niklas. “I’m really glad to be out. Now I can feel how much energy this time actually took,” says the Dutchman, who left Shanghai two weeks ago after 17 years in the People’s Republic.
“Living as a foreigner in China is now like walking on eggshells all the time. ‘Us against you’ conflicts lurk everywhere,” says Niklas, who does not want to be quoted by his full name. For nearly two decades, the 48-year-old worked in China for international companies on sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). In Shanghai, he says, he experienced the “golden years” at the beginning of the century. As he says, things were comparatively liberal and cosmopolitan. That’s over now.
“The past few years under Xi Jinping have changed everything,” he says. Everyday situations have turned more and more into political discussions with the Chinese. Debates the Dutchman did not want to engage in. Time and again, he was pressured to take a position on China’s relationship with Europe or the rest of the world. “In the process, I was constantly confronted with the same arguments, without any differentiation from an extremely nationalistic position,” Niklas recounts. Criticism of the People’s Republic had been less and less accepted in such discussions. The country is turning into a “perfectly shielded society“.
Growing nationalism, totalitarian tendencies, higher taxes, and a harsh zero-covid strategy – for many citizens of large industrialized nations, the People’s Republic of China has lost its magic as a land of unlimited opportunities. Many long-time residents are turning their backs on the country, and far fewer foreigners are deciding to stay for the long term.
Indeed, foreign companies now have trouble finding people who want to live in the People’s Republic. The EU Chamber of Commerce notes a massive decline in the number of foreign employees. And in Hong Kong, where the local government has extremely accelerated the process of de-democratization, many foreign companies are closing their branches.
“China is simply no longer attractive for people my age,” says Stefan Sack, Vice President of the European Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai between 2013 and 2016. After 16 years in China, the 54-year-old returned to Hamburg a few months ago. “Many things have gotten out of balance. Salaries of Chinese colleagues have continuously risen sharply, but mine has not. And the upcoming significant increase in income tax for foreigners is reducing salaries,” Sack says.
The former business consultant also sees positive developments. The “wild years” of the Chinese economy are over. The government has created much more order through regulation. But Sack notes a progressive erosion of social plurality. The diversity of opinion is shrinking and comes close to “conformity”.
Cameron Wilson from Scotland made similar observations. Unlike others who have left China, the 47-year-old still lives in Shanghai with his Chinese family. But he admits that his frustration has grown dramatically. Any criticism of China voiced these days is reinterpreted as the result of fake news propagated by the Western media. Freedom for civil society has been dramatically curtailed.
Wilson cites professional soccer as an example. Fans are no longer allowed to stand in groups outside the stadium and celebrate together after a victory. Shanghai Shenhua supporters are even forbidden to bring stuffed turtles to the stadium for matches against archrival Beijing Guo’an. The Shanghainese disdainfully refer to the capital club as turtles. Authorities decided: These stuffed animals are uncivilized.
Such petty restrictions appear burdening. “If Shanghai wants to be an international city, it has to meet a minimum of international standards like diversity and inclusion. But the city is moving further and further away from that,” Wilson says. As a foreigner, getting a local job is becoming harder and harder.
All this has its consequences. “I just didn’t feel welcome anymore,” says Vuk Dragovic from Serbia. He lived in Shanghai until a few weeks ago, where he worked as an independent industrial designer for international clients. A key moment for him and his wife, he recalls, was when the police showed up at his apartment door unannounced and demanded a urine sample to test him for drug abuse.
Other times, he was asked for his ID in the artists’ quarter Tianzifang and his residence permit was checked. “I’ve never experienced that in all the years before,” says Dragovic, who now makes a new start in Berlin after eleven years in the People’s Republic. Especially after the eruption of the trade war between China and the US under President Donald Trump, he noticed a growing hostility from the local population. He experienced that the Chinese avoided taking the same elevator with him.
Europe’s reputation has also been tarnished, Niklas has noted. “I sensed a real contempt for Europe. We are considered sleepy, boring and chaotic.” Exaggerated reporting by Chinese media on violent demonstrations or riots in EU countries had further reinforced the image of a bleak Europe that is no longer in control.
The trend toward alienation between local and Westernized populations is fueled by the divergent positioning of China and the West in the Ukraine war. “It would be China’s time to gain credibility and respect on the global stage, which the country craved for so long. Instead, it is using conspiracy theories to drive its own policies,” Wilson says. As a result, China’s external communication is getting more and more aggressive.
Former Chamber Vice President Stefan Sack sees these political trends as a good reason to leave the country. He fears a Chinese invasion of Taiwan within the next five years. “If it comes to that, I wouldn’t want to be in China anymore as a citizen of a NATO country, and certainly not as an American,” Sack says.
Elisabeth Liu is American and has lived in Shanghai for over a decade and a half. She is the mother of four children. Her husband is from Singapore. She planned to return to Texas in five years. Now she wants to leave the People’s Republic this year. Here, too, one reason is concern about a war with Taiwan.
Shanghai’s uncompromising Covid policy was the final straw. For weeks, she has used gallows humor to vent her discontent on social media about how health authorities deal with the situation. Recently, she posted a voice message from her husband reporting “good news”. He had managed to find a few tomatoes, six carrots and two broccoli. Liu: “In all honesty, I hope to forget about all of this and just move on with my life.”
Barely 15 minutes after China’s leader Xi Jinping met with EU representatives, the Chinese side had already released the first statement with quotes: The People’s Republic hopes that Europe will formulate an independent understanding of China, maintain an independent China policy and jointly advance stable China-EU relations, the statement said. Xi spoke about the Covid pandemic and global economic challenges. The “Ukraine crisis” was only mentioned at the end of the statement.
The early release of the statement was hardly surprising. It showed what was already clear before the 23rd EU-China summit was held on Friday. The Chinese leadership will not sway much from its position. This especially applies to the Ukraine war, which is a pressing matter for Brussels. At the virtual summit, the European Union wanted to renew pressure on Beijing over China’s controversial support for Russia – with moderate success.
The EU described the tone of the conversation as “open and frank”. EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Charles Michel said they found clear words and warned China against supporting Moscow. “No European citizen would understand any support to Russia’s ability to wage war,” the Commission President said after the summit. This “would lead to major reputational damage for China here in Europe.” The country would also have a special responsibility as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, von der Leyen stressed.
The EU Commission President also indirectly threatened Beijing with consequences: “It was clear that this is not only a defining moment for our continent, but it is also a defining moment for our relationship with the rest of the world,” EU Council President Michel added: “We called on China to end the war in Ukraine. China cannot turn a blind eye to Russia’s violation of international law.”
Publicly, EU leaders were much clearer about their expectations of China over sanctions against Russia: “We expect China, if not supporting the sanctions, at least to do everything not to interfere in any kind” von der Leyen and Michel stressed in unison. According to EU officials, Xi had also been urged to speak with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
After this quick first statement from the Chinese side, it took some time on Friday before a second statement was released. In it, Xi went into more detail about Ukraine – and once again blamed the West for the conflict: He warned against “pouring fuel on the fire and fueling tensions“. The crisis had been caused by years of growing regional security tensions. “In this day and age, global and regional security frameworks should no longer be built with a Cold War mentality.”
Especially after the second statement, it was clear: The summit parties failed to approach a common response to the Ukraine invasion. “Systemic rivalry is a new reality,” Janka Oertel, Director of the Asia program at think tank ECFR, summed up the meeting. “There was little agreement between the two sides and the conversation was far from being ‘business as usual’.” Instead, it had merely been “a frank exchange of opposing views.” When it came to the position on punitive measures against Moscow, however, Brussels had clear words, Oertel said. “If China openly undermines the sanctions regime that has been imposed there will be serious consequences. This could not be clearer now.”
The G7, NATO, and EU states had already sent this message in unison to Beijing at the marathon summit a week and a half ago. Washington had a close eye on Friday’s meeting. “There is a sense in Washington that the US and the EU are currently closer than ever in their assessment of the challenge posed by China,” says foreign policy expert Noah Barkin of the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund (GMF).
Friday’s summit reinforced that feeling, Barkin said. On both sides of the Atlantic, the rapprochement between China and Russia is seen as a threat. When Putin and Xi assured each other of limitless cooperation in February, perceptions had shifted forever. “That was also the message of the summit,” Barkin said. “But it’s still unclear whether the turning point proclaimed by Olaf Scholz marks a geopolitical turning point, or it only applies to Russia.” The US is now hoping for signals from Berlin that the re-evaluation in Berlin will also involve China.
Von der Leyen and Michel also spoke with Premier Li Keqiang Friday morning. China expressed its general opposition to “the division into blocs and partisanship,” Li said. The People’s Republic wishes to cooperate with the EU and the world, the Premier said. However, his country would work for peace “its own way”.
During the meeting with Li, it became clear that several differences needed to be addressed, the EU side pointed out. At the subsequent press conference, von der Leyen cited as examples the sanctions imposed by Beijing on members of the EU Parliament, the restricted access of European companies to the Chinese market, human rights issues and China’s trade embargo against Lithuania (China.Table reported). There was no substantive progress in resolving these differences.
Yet it is precisely in the EU-China-US triangle that China has an interest in keeping Brussels in a positive mood and thus avoiding closer ties with the US, says Thomas des Garets Geddes, Research Fellow at German think tank Merics: “The US has long been China’s most feared and despised adversary, not the EU.” That’s why many analysts of China would agree that the EU is currently in a relatively favorable position in this triangle, the expert said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if China would be willing to do certain things for the EU to prevent it from drifting too much toward the United States.” The People’s Republic is interested in the EU’s neutrality or strategic autonomy, des Garets Geddes said. “That would be extremely important for China.” In collaboration with Christiane Kuehl
Food is becoming harder and harder to come by in Shanghai. The city government does distribute bags of basic foodstuffs through local committees. But the usual orders from supermarkets are almost impossible to get due to high demand and supply bottlenecks. The number of delivery drivers is noticeably lower than in regular operation. As a result, many households currently have to limit themselves massively. The best chances for successful deliveries come from group orders placed by entire neighborhoods.
Even many citizens who are generally in favor of a strict pandemic policy are now critical of the effects of the lockdown. Regular protests are being organized, with a few dozen participants each gathering in backyards and side streets. Videos of these protests are quickly deleted on China’s social media. Nevertheless, numerous outraged messages and videos have gone viral, including reports that Covid-positive toddlers have been separated from their parents.
Meanwhile, there is uncertainty about how many cases the city’s healthcare facilities are dealing with. On Sunday, authorities reported 7,788 new cases, of which all but 438 were asymptomatic. This number would be negligible given Shanghai’s sophisticated infrastructure. At the same time, warnings about overcrowded hospitals and the importance of infection containment are increasing.
In the case of exponential spread, individual Omicron cases would become a wave within a few weeks. The current trend also shows this. Despite the lockdown, which has already lasted for a week, the number of newly identified infections is rising. At least one health facility is also reported to have reached capacity. Nationwide, the number of new infections is at 13,287, the highest level since the initial wave of infection in 2020.
Consequently, the senior leadership is beginning to intervene in Shanghai’s pandemic management. Politburo member Sun Chunlan traveled to the city on Saturday and did not spare on advice and rhetoric. Speaking on behalf of Xi Jinping, she stressed that it was “imperative to resolutely and stringently implement the dynamic zero-covid strategy” to allow the lockdown to be lifted quickly. Sun joined expert panel meetings on the ground and gave numerous briefings. She also visited a hospital.
The lockdowns in the city continue in the meantime. The curfew in Pudong has officially been lifted, while Puxi has been completely sealed off. But even there, numerous apartment blocks and neighborhoods are under quarantine. If a positive test is found in one of the city’s planned squares, an extension of one week automatically goes into effect. On Sunday, the city also urged its citizens to self-test at home in addition to mass testing to help locate the last pockets of infection.
Ominous news is currently arriving from the neighboring city of Suzhou, just 90 kilometers from Shanghai. According to the local disease control authority, a new virus subtype has been found. A mutant of Sars-CoV-2 derived from Omicron was found in a sample from a patient at the end of March, but is not yet listed in the international virus database GISAID, CCTV reports on WeChat. Suzhou reports that it was currently sequencing the genome of all incoming samples. This increases the likelihood of encountering mutations in the process. While Viruses mutate all the time, only very few new variants reproduce successfully. fin
“Actually, I wanted to become a musician, like my mother,” says Barbara Mittler. But her father, who worked in China, encouraged her to learn Mandarin while she was still attending school. Then she got a spot at Oxford, where she took private lessons, including history under Mark Elvin and classical Chinese under Raymond Dawson. “We had to write and read an essay every week. We received criticism right away, left and right,” recalls the 54-year-old, who is now a professor of sinology herself at the University of Heidelberg.
Her passion for music is one reason why Barbara Mittler has always closely combined teaching, research and the transfer of knowledge to society in her own work. The musical contact between Europe and Asia was the subject of her first dissertation and later in the Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context,” which eventually evolved into the “Center for Asian Studies and Transcultural Studies” (CATS) in Heidelberg. From the old to the new Silk Road, from old empires to the new colonialism: “Here, we studied the asymmetries in cultural flows – which, for example, went primarily from West to East in the last two hundred years, but are now reversing once again,” she explains. For two centuries now, knowledge has flowed from Europe to Asia. Today, China would know much more about Europe than Europe about China.
In her work, the sinology professor always takes Chinese perspectives into account – even if she sometimes has the feeling of being criticized for it. “China is not an easy subject of study and not an easy dialogue partner. But when I try to understand China in its diversity, which includes very different voices from Taiwan, Hong Kong and overseas, as well as the present and the past. That doesn’t mean I’m selling out to ‘China,’” she stresses.
Barbara Mittler also repeatedly arranges exhibitions, concerts or theater performances related to China and accompanies them academically. A prominent example was the event series “1968 Global – China and the World,” which placed Mao’s Cultural Revolution in a global context using movies, lectures, exhibitions and concerts, and a chamber opera. With her scientific findings, she wants to reach out to people – in art and culture, but also in school education, for example.
The project “China in Schools” has been running since the 2000s, and Heidelberg offers a Chinese teacher training program. Today, the professor heads the China School Academy, which develops teaching materials for specialized classes on China and offers advanced training for teachers as well as a certificate in “China Competence for Schools“.
In her personal life, Barbara Mittler is motivated by both her fascination with China and her passion for music. Like herself, her husband and children also pursue music. One of her sons wants to become a horn player – and puts his mother in her place: “When we play music together, I realize: he’s the pro.” Jana Degener-Storr
What is the most popular animal in China these days? The green horse, of course! Confused? Here is the explanation straight from the horse’s mouth: 绿马 lǜmǎ – literally “green horse” – is a play on words based on the green Covid health code (健康码 jiànkāngmǎ “health code”), which you currently have to present every time you go for a ride in China. If this digital pass jumps to green (绿码 lǜmǎ “green code”) you can let your horses run free. Coincidentally, “green code” is pronounced the same as “green horse” (but written with different characters, of course). This has inspired the Internet community to this animal metaphor. You can check your status in the “health treasure” (健康宝 jiànkāngbǎo) of the social media app WeChat or in the “payment treasure” (支付宝 zhīfùbǎo) of Alibaba’s mobile payment app (these two are really called that, by the way!).
Those who want to sit firmly in the everyday saddle in China have to care for their “green horse”. Because without this green pony, you can’t go to the park or the supermarket, let alone go on a cross-province city trip. The Chinese Internet community takes it with humor. Memes of lovingly groomed and tightly hugged green four-legged friends are shared. 抱住绿马 bàozhù lǜmǎ “hugging the green horse tightly” is the motto. Another phonetic allusion, namely to the similar-sounding “preserve the green health code” (保住绿码 bǎozhù lǜmǎ).
Red horses, on the other hand, are bad news. When the “health treasure” jumps to “red” (红码 hóngmǎ “red code”), it’s time to ride to the next Covid test (核酸检测 hésuān jiǎncè “nucleic acid test”).
By the way, even before Covid, it was difficult to avoid horses as a Chinese learner. The character 马 (mǎ) is a popular choice for the phonetic transcription of foreign male names, from Mark (马克 Mǎkè) and Max (马克斯 Mǎkèsī) to Markus (马尔库斯 Mǎ’ěrkùsī) and Martin (马丁 Mǎdīng). Surnames are not spared either, especially in Chinese itself. Here, for example, Alibaba founder Jack Ma (马云 Mǎ Yún), table tennis legend Ma Long (马龙 Mǎ Lóng), or Tencent founder Ma Huateng (马华腾 Mǎ Huáténg), who even adopted the English name Pony Ma. Among the most famous translation stallions on the international racetrack, for example, is the “Oba horse” (you know – former US president who won the Nobel Peace Prize, in Chinese: 奥巴马 Ào-bā-mǎ).
Verena Menzel runs the online language school New Chinese in Beijing.
