German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Beijing on Monday morning. The first item on the agenda of her short trip is a strategic dialog with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. The main topic of discussion will be China’s role in the war in Ukraine. In a press statement, Baerbock used unequivocal words: “Putin’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine is a direct threat to our peace.” In Germany’s relations with China, this fact cannot simply be ignored, as Beijing’s economic and arms support for Russia undermines core European interests, Baerbock said. “I will also talk about this in Beijing.”
Among Baerbock’s delegation in Beijing is Oliver Rentschler, Director-General for Climate Diplomacy and Geoeconomics. “Climate policy cannot be discussed without geopolitics, as we saw at the World Climate Conference in Baku,” Baerbock explained in her statement. “At COP29 in Baku, a result was also achieved in the end because Europe and China worked together for a new approach to climate finance.” Cooperation is better than confrontation – but we must not be naive, Baerbock explained the basic tenor of her visit. Our chief correspondent Angela Köckritz is in Beijing to see what is left of this approach after the talks.
The almost standard fatalism that China and the USA have left Europe in the dust when it comes to artificial intelligence is too simplistic and too hasty, believes Feiyu Xu. The AI expert, supervisory board member and senior consultant should know: Her extensive AI research has earned her several awards. She has helped develop AI strategies at companies such as Lenovo and SAP and – unusual for a researcher – has also contributed to their commercialization. The knowledge is there, especially in Germany, she explains in an interview with Julia Fiedler. The only thing that is still lacking is the courage to think big.
Without any AI, but with a lot of love for the Chinese language, Verena Menzel has prepared an advent calendar for you. Starting today, you will find a little word surprise every morning instead of our usual dessert. Enjoy!
Ms. Xu, several important industries in Germany are in crisis. Can AI close a growth gap here?
Yes, AI is a huge opportunity for Germany. It contributes to developing intelligent or new products and helps optimize processes to increase efficiency and cut costs.
Is there even any room left for Germany and Europe in the AI race between the US and China?
We in Germany are too modest. We haven’t been aggressive enough in the last few years. If you look at basic AI research – deep learning, machine translation, etc. – German scientists rank among the best in the world. But to drive commercialization, AI adoption by the industry, we have not invested enough. That’s why we should now invest heavily in infrastructure, research and innovation. And then, I believe, we can quickly return to being among the best in the world. You can’t reap without investing.
Where exactly are China and the USA ahead?
The AI ecosystem consists of chips and the hardware infrastructure, the cloud infrastructure, the infrastructure for training AI models, and the training and deployment infrastructure for AI models. It is rounded off by the applications that make AI technologies usable in practice. All of this is the AI technology stack. In terms of hyperscalers – the large cloud infrastructure used to enable scaling in Big Data and cloud computing – the United States is leading with companies such as Google, AWS, Microsoft and Meta. But China is also at the forefront with Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu. Around 60 percent of large language model companies are based in the USA and over 30 percent in China.
And where does Europe stand?
Europe only has a very limited number of companies developing large language models. We also don’t have a hyperscaler in Europe. Many German and European companies develop AI applications based on US and Chinese AI stacks. The EU, national governments, and businesses investing in start-ups must work together to fill the gaps in the AI stack. Many are aware of this, but there is a lack of investment. Talking about it or complaining that we are perhaps not as far along as the US or China will not cut it.
Access to data is essential for AI development. Do we need to reconsider our regulatory framework?
With the GDPR or the Data Act, Europe is playing a leading role in the careful handling of data. The Data Act also aims to encourage companies to share data in order to build applications. China, but also other countries, take Europe as an example. But regulation alone is not enough. Additionally, companies need to be offered services and technologies to help them find out, for example, which data they can use, which not, and which technology is accessible under regulation.
What could such services look like in practice?
The EU could offer an app. Developers could then run the data through this app, and it would tell them: This data contains personal data and cannot be used, or: This use case is safe. I think offering something like this is very important, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.
To what extent can cooperation with China in the development of AI work – against the backdrop of the escalating tech conflict with the US? Do we have to choose which tech stack we want to be in so that we are not potentially sanctioned for cooperating with China?
Cooperation with China is a very abstract issue. Many companies are global companies and offer products or services to the Chinese market. Conversely, many Chinese companies operate globally. If you don’t want to miss out on the Chinese market, you must take a close look. Where are you in the AI ecosystem? At what level do you need partnerships? If a company is operating in China, for example, it needs Chinese language models; for the US, it needs Western language models. It’s about how you can operate as a global company in order to be successful. On the other hand, a closer look at AI research partnerships reveals that US universities collaborate the most with Chinese universities.
But doesn’t this contradict current US policy, which prevents the export of certain AI chips or machines to China?
I think we German or European countries may need to learn to understand the Americans a bit better. What they say and what they do can be different. Apart from that, I think we’re all curious to see what next year has in store for us.
Is European AI even possible without becoming entangled with the US, and without China? This question was one of the sticking points that led to the split in your previous company, Nyonic.
It is vital for Europe’s sovereignty that we have our own AI technology stack. But globally operating companies still depend on international cooperation in order to be successful.
Which AI issue do you consider so relevant that you would set up a company for?
I am currently supporting start-up companies that support the development of generative AI for industrial applications. That was also Nyonic’s original idea – to make generative AI successful for the European industry. The second area is the combination of AI with synthetic biology. We know how hard life is for patients who have kidney failure, liver failure or heart problems. If we can successfully combine AI with synthetic biology, we can improve the quality of life of many people and save many.
Let’s return to regulations. Different regional regulations can cause tensions. Do we need global interoperability?
Absolutely. Humanity is in a very critical phase. However, we must always keep the most important goals for humanity in mind: Eradicating famines, creating better medical conditions for everyone and preserving our climate. This requires global cooperation. We have also seen this in the fight against the pandemic. That’s why I also believe in cooperation on AI, because AI needs data. Let’s look at rare diseases: There might only be a few cases in some countries, but many more in others. Without collaboration, efforts to fight them would not be successful.
Furthermore, we need an organization like the UN for AI regulation and data regulation to enable global collaboration on technology applications.
Do such initiatives already exist?
There are initiatives. Last year, the US, the EU, China and Australia, along with 28 other countries, held the first AI Safety Summit in the UK in November. The US and Chinese governments have also met twice to coordinate their AI regulations.
So, do we have to think bigger?
Absolutely!
Dr. Feiyu Xu studied at Tongji University in Shanghai and Saarland University and habilitated in Big Text Data Analytics. She has published more than 100 scientific papers and co-founded Nyonic, which she left in March 2024, and was Senior Vice President, Global Head of Artificial Intelligence at SAP from May 2020 to June 2023, where she led the company’s AI strategy. Xu is Chairwoman of AsiaBerlin Forum e.V. and Non-Executive Director of Airbus Group, member of the Supervisory Board of ZF Group, and member of the Board of Directors of ChainIQ Group and Zühlke Group.
Portugal’s former head of government, António Costa, has formally assumed the post of EU Council President. A first exchange with Ursula von der Leyen and Roberta Metsola is planned for this Monday. Costa wants to make a “jour fix” with the President of the Commission and Parliament every two weeks a tradition. The Portuguese politician is committed to more exchange and cooperation – and this is urgently needed, especially regarding China. The EU Council in particular has been divided in recent years when it comes to new regulations and requirements affecting relations with the People’s Republic.
The 63-year-old Costa stands for a new style and, above all, a better climate between the three institutions in Brussels’ European quarter. One diplomat describes him as pragmatic and humorous, with a “no-nonsense” approach and no desire for grandstanding. Maintaining good cooperation with the Commission President and the new Foreign Affairs Commissioner, Kaja Kallas, will be a priority, not least to improve Europe’s clout. Things can only get better after the Charles Michel era. He will hardly be missed and will be mainly remembered for his private feuds with von der Leyen.
With a view to a focused exchange, Costa plans to limit EU summits to one day. There are also plans for regular meetings outside Brussels, which should be genuinely informal again, with small delegations, free discussion and no conclusions. The Portuguese MEP also wants to improve cooperation with the Parliament, where he wants to meet regularly with the heads of the political groups.
Costa met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin last October. The two social democrats are said to get along well. As it happens, Costa already knows many of the heads of the European Council: As Portugal’s Prime Minister, he sat on the most important EU body for eight years until he resigned from office in November 2023 due to corruption investigations in his environment. The investigations have drawn a lot of criticism.
As Prime Minister, Costa also met China’s President Xi Jinping. Xi congratulated Costa on his nomination for the new office by telephone in July. As Prime Minister of Portugal, Costa regularly advocated strong economic ties with China and warned against protectionism. “Our experience with Chinese investment has been very positive. The Chinese have shown complete respect for our legal framework and the rules of the market,” the Financial Times quoted him as saying in 2019.
Since the economic crisis in 2010, Chinese companies have made massive acquisitions in Portugal: REN, the former state-owned power grid operator, the largest insurance companies, the largest private hospitals and banks. For example, China helped Portugal massively during the crisis by buying Portuguese sovereign bonds that no one else wanted.
The two countries also have a shared history with Macau, which was in Portuguese hands from the 16th century until its return in 1999. Beijing praises it as an example of cooperation and mutual benefit – in contrast to the difficult handover of the UK’s colony of Hong Kong.
Xi visited Lisbon in 2018. During the visit, Costa signed a memorandum of understanding for Portugal as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, which was, however, very vague in its wording and has yet to be implemented in practice.
Europe hopes that Costa will bring more leadership to the table: His task is to “bring the positions together in a targeted manner with a clear vision instead of just leading a list of speeches,” one diplomat said. Initially, Costa will probably adopt a more cautious tone, as he first wants to gain the trust of the others.
His task will be anything but easy. On January 20, Donald Trump will be sworn in as US President, and Costa will have to try to close the ranks of the member states both in the looming trade conflict and in Ukraine policy. “It will be very, very, very difficult,” he recently told the Financial Times. But his interlocutors are aware of the scale of the problems. And: “Europe usually works best in moments of crisis.”
António Costa will have to moderate the power shifts in the Council. The domestic political turmoil has weakened the traditional leadership duo of Germany and France. Nationalist politicians such as Viktor Orbán and Giorgia Meloni demand a greater say. Costa says that he has always perceived Meloni as constructive. Even with Hungary, solutions have been found at critical moments. Stephan Israel/ Amelie Richter
There is good news for all lazybones and couch potatoes: You can now buy meals in China that practically prepare themselves. I beg your pardon? Yes, really. All you need is plain, room-temperature mineral or tap water. 方便自热食品 fāngbiàn zìrè shípǐn, or “self-heating ready meals,” is the name of this new highlight on supermarket shelves. How does it work? It’s simple: the dishes come with a small “heat pack” (加热袋 jiārèdài or 发热包 fārèbāo) containing quicklime or calcium oxide (生石灰 shēngshíhuī). This white, crystalline substance releases intense heat over several minutes upon contact with water. And this is what these instant meals use to cook the ingredients. A highlight for lazy foodies is, without a doubt, the self-heating hotpot (自热火锅 zìrè huǒguō).
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Beijing on Monday morning. The first item on the agenda of her short trip is a strategic dialog with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. The main topic of discussion will be China’s role in the war in Ukraine. In a press statement, Baerbock used unequivocal words: “Putin’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine is a direct threat to our peace.” In Germany’s relations with China, this fact cannot simply be ignored, as Beijing’s economic and arms support for Russia undermines core European interests, Baerbock said. “I will also talk about this in Beijing.”
Among Baerbock’s delegation in Beijing is Oliver Rentschler, Director-General for Climate Diplomacy and Geoeconomics. “Climate policy cannot be discussed without geopolitics, as we saw at the World Climate Conference in Baku,” Baerbock explained in her statement. “At COP29 in Baku, a result was also achieved in the end because Europe and China worked together for a new approach to climate finance.” Cooperation is better than confrontation – but we must not be naive, Baerbock explained the basic tenor of her visit. Our chief correspondent Angela Köckritz is in Beijing to see what is left of this approach after the talks.
The almost standard fatalism that China and the USA have left Europe in the dust when it comes to artificial intelligence is too simplistic and too hasty, believes Feiyu Xu. The AI expert, supervisory board member and senior consultant should know: Her extensive AI research has earned her several awards. She has helped develop AI strategies at companies such as Lenovo and SAP and – unusual for a researcher – has also contributed to their commercialization. The knowledge is there, especially in Germany, she explains in an interview with Julia Fiedler. The only thing that is still lacking is the courage to think big.
Without any AI, but with a lot of love for the Chinese language, Verena Menzel has prepared an advent calendar for you. Starting today, you will find a little word surprise every morning instead of our usual dessert. Enjoy!
Ms. Xu, several important industries in Germany are in crisis. Can AI close a growth gap here?
Yes, AI is a huge opportunity for Germany. It contributes to developing intelligent or new products and helps optimize processes to increase efficiency and cut costs.
Is there even any room left for Germany and Europe in the AI race between the US and China?
We in Germany are too modest. We haven’t been aggressive enough in the last few years. If you look at basic AI research – deep learning, machine translation, etc. – German scientists rank among the best in the world. But to drive commercialization, AI adoption by the industry, we have not invested enough. That’s why we should now invest heavily in infrastructure, research and innovation. And then, I believe, we can quickly return to being among the best in the world. You can’t reap without investing.
Where exactly are China and the USA ahead?
The AI ecosystem consists of chips and the hardware infrastructure, the cloud infrastructure, the infrastructure for training AI models, and the training and deployment infrastructure for AI models. It is rounded off by the applications that make AI technologies usable in practice. All of this is the AI technology stack. In terms of hyperscalers – the large cloud infrastructure used to enable scaling in Big Data and cloud computing – the United States is leading with companies such as Google, AWS, Microsoft and Meta. But China is also at the forefront with Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu. Around 60 percent of large language model companies are based in the USA and over 30 percent in China.
And where does Europe stand?
Europe only has a very limited number of companies developing large language models. We also don’t have a hyperscaler in Europe. Many German and European companies develop AI applications based on US and Chinese AI stacks. The EU, national governments, and businesses investing in start-ups must work together to fill the gaps in the AI stack. Many are aware of this, but there is a lack of investment. Talking about it or complaining that we are perhaps not as far along as the US or China will not cut it.
Access to data is essential for AI development. Do we need to reconsider our regulatory framework?
With the GDPR or the Data Act, Europe is playing a leading role in the careful handling of data. The Data Act also aims to encourage companies to share data in order to build applications. China, but also other countries, take Europe as an example. But regulation alone is not enough. Additionally, companies need to be offered services and technologies to help them find out, for example, which data they can use, which not, and which technology is accessible under regulation.
What could such services look like in practice?
The EU could offer an app. Developers could then run the data through this app, and it would tell them: This data contains personal data and cannot be used, or: This use case is safe. I think offering something like this is very important, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.
To what extent can cooperation with China in the development of AI work – against the backdrop of the escalating tech conflict with the US? Do we have to choose which tech stack we want to be in so that we are not potentially sanctioned for cooperating with China?
Cooperation with China is a very abstract issue. Many companies are global companies and offer products or services to the Chinese market. Conversely, many Chinese companies operate globally. If you don’t want to miss out on the Chinese market, you must take a close look. Where are you in the AI ecosystem? At what level do you need partnerships? If a company is operating in China, for example, it needs Chinese language models; for the US, it needs Western language models. It’s about how you can operate as a global company in order to be successful. On the other hand, a closer look at AI research partnerships reveals that US universities collaborate the most with Chinese universities.
But doesn’t this contradict current US policy, which prevents the export of certain AI chips or machines to China?
I think we German or European countries may need to learn to understand the Americans a bit better. What they say and what they do can be different. Apart from that, I think we’re all curious to see what next year has in store for us.
Is European AI even possible without becoming entangled with the US, and without China? This question was one of the sticking points that led to the split in your previous company, Nyonic.
It is vital for Europe’s sovereignty that we have our own AI technology stack. But globally operating companies still depend on international cooperation in order to be successful.
Which AI issue do you consider so relevant that you would set up a company for?
I am currently supporting start-up companies that support the development of generative AI for industrial applications. That was also Nyonic’s original idea – to make generative AI successful for the European industry. The second area is the combination of AI with synthetic biology. We know how hard life is for patients who have kidney failure, liver failure or heart problems. If we can successfully combine AI with synthetic biology, we can improve the quality of life of many people and save many.
Let’s return to regulations. Different regional regulations can cause tensions. Do we need global interoperability?
Absolutely. Humanity is in a very critical phase. However, we must always keep the most important goals for humanity in mind: Eradicating famines, creating better medical conditions for everyone and preserving our climate. This requires global cooperation. We have also seen this in the fight against the pandemic. That’s why I also believe in cooperation on AI, because AI needs data. Let’s look at rare diseases: There might only be a few cases in some countries, but many more in others. Without collaboration, efforts to fight them would not be successful.
Furthermore, we need an organization like the UN for AI regulation and data regulation to enable global collaboration on technology applications.
Do such initiatives already exist?
There are initiatives. Last year, the US, the EU, China and Australia, along with 28 other countries, held the first AI Safety Summit in the UK in November. The US and Chinese governments have also met twice to coordinate their AI regulations.
So, do we have to think bigger?
Absolutely!
Dr. Feiyu Xu studied at Tongji University in Shanghai and Saarland University and habilitated in Big Text Data Analytics. She has published more than 100 scientific papers and co-founded Nyonic, which she left in March 2024, and was Senior Vice President, Global Head of Artificial Intelligence at SAP from May 2020 to June 2023, where she led the company’s AI strategy. Xu is Chairwoman of AsiaBerlin Forum e.V. and Non-Executive Director of Airbus Group, member of the Supervisory Board of ZF Group, and member of the Board of Directors of ChainIQ Group and Zühlke Group.
Portugal’s former head of government, António Costa, has formally assumed the post of EU Council President. A first exchange with Ursula von der Leyen and Roberta Metsola is planned for this Monday. Costa wants to make a “jour fix” with the President of the Commission and Parliament every two weeks a tradition. The Portuguese politician is committed to more exchange and cooperation – and this is urgently needed, especially regarding China. The EU Council in particular has been divided in recent years when it comes to new regulations and requirements affecting relations with the People’s Republic.
The 63-year-old Costa stands for a new style and, above all, a better climate between the three institutions in Brussels’ European quarter. One diplomat describes him as pragmatic and humorous, with a “no-nonsense” approach and no desire for grandstanding. Maintaining good cooperation with the Commission President and the new Foreign Affairs Commissioner, Kaja Kallas, will be a priority, not least to improve Europe’s clout. Things can only get better after the Charles Michel era. He will hardly be missed and will be mainly remembered for his private feuds with von der Leyen.
With a view to a focused exchange, Costa plans to limit EU summits to one day. There are also plans for regular meetings outside Brussels, which should be genuinely informal again, with small delegations, free discussion and no conclusions. The Portuguese MEP also wants to improve cooperation with the Parliament, where he wants to meet regularly with the heads of the political groups.
Costa met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin last October. The two social democrats are said to get along well. As it happens, Costa already knows many of the heads of the European Council: As Portugal’s Prime Minister, he sat on the most important EU body for eight years until he resigned from office in November 2023 due to corruption investigations in his environment. The investigations have drawn a lot of criticism.
As Prime Minister, Costa also met China’s President Xi Jinping. Xi congratulated Costa on his nomination for the new office by telephone in July. As Prime Minister of Portugal, Costa regularly advocated strong economic ties with China and warned against protectionism. “Our experience with Chinese investment has been very positive. The Chinese have shown complete respect for our legal framework and the rules of the market,” the Financial Times quoted him as saying in 2019.
Since the economic crisis in 2010, Chinese companies have made massive acquisitions in Portugal: REN, the former state-owned power grid operator, the largest insurance companies, the largest private hospitals and banks. For example, China helped Portugal massively during the crisis by buying Portuguese sovereign bonds that no one else wanted.
The two countries also have a shared history with Macau, which was in Portuguese hands from the 16th century until its return in 1999. Beijing praises it as an example of cooperation and mutual benefit – in contrast to the difficult handover of the UK’s colony of Hong Kong.
Xi visited Lisbon in 2018. During the visit, Costa signed a memorandum of understanding for Portugal as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, which was, however, very vague in its wording and has yet to be implemented in practice.
Europe hopes that Costa will bring more leadership to the table: His task is to “bring the positions together in a targeted manner with a clear vision instead of just leading a list of speeches,” one diplomat said. Initially, Costa will probably adopt a more cautious tone, as he first wants to gain the trust of the others.
His task will be anything but easy. On January 20, Donald Trump will be sworn in as US President, and Costa will have to try to close the ranks of the member states both in the looming trade conflict and in Ukraine policy. “It will be very, very, very difficult,” he recently told the Financial Times. But his interlocutors are aware of the scale of the problems. And: “Europe usually works best in moments of crisis.”
António Costa will have to moderate the power shifts in the Council. The domestic political turmoil has weakened the traditional leadership duo of Germany and France. Nationalist politicians such as Viktor Orbán and Giorgia Meloni demand a greater say. Costa says that he has always perceived Meloni as constructive. Even with Hungary, solutions have been found at critical moments. Stephan Israel/ Amelie Richter
There is good news for all lazybones and couch potatoes: You can now buy meals in China that practically prepare themselves. I beg your pardon? Yes, really. All you need is plain, room-temperature mineral or tap water. 方便自热食品 fāngbiàn zìrè shípǐn, or “self-heating ready meals,” is the name of this new highlight on supermarket shelves. How does it work? It’s simple: the dishes come with a small “heat pack” (加热袋 jiārèdài or 发热包 fārèbāo) containing quicklime or calcium oxide (生石灰 shēngshíhuī). This white, crystalline substance releases intense heat over several minutes upon contact with water. And this is what these instant meals use to cook the ingredients. A highlight for lazy foodies is, without a doubt, the self-heating hotpot (自热火锅 zìrè huǒguō).
