The summit of the 20 important developed and emerging countries in India’s capital, New Delhi, was buzzing on all channels over the weekend. Together with the United States, India, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the EU agreed to create a new transport corridor between India and Europe. The summit participants already agreed on a final declaration on Saturday. This declaration significantly differs from the one made in Bali a year ago. Our editorial team has summarized the G20 weekend for you.
Trade war, technology transfers, export restrictions on chip machinery – the rivalry between China and the USA sometimes sounds abstract and far removed from the lives of ordinary people. In recent days, however, its implications have become apparent: in smartphones.
Huawei challenged the effectiveness of US sanctions by launching the Huawei Mate 60 Pro. The focus here is on the Kirin 9000S – Joern Petring provides more details on the processor and its performance.
The Huawei Mate 60 Pro is already a big success in China. Queues are forming outside Huawei stores – just as they once did outside Apple stores. So it doesn’t seem like a coincidence that the government now wants to restrict the iPhone, which has been a smartphone superseller so far. Civil servants are no longer supposed to use iPhones as work phones in the future. In this way, Beijing wants to spread distrust of the phone, writes Finn Mayer-Kuckuk. The goal is to replace the US brand with domestic brands. Like Huawei.
It is still only a memorandum of understanding, but one of far-reaching geopolitical significance: At the G20 summit in New Delhi, the EU participants agreed with the USA, India, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to launch a new transport corridor between India and Europe.
This corridor is expected to speed up the transport of goods by several days and include new lines for electricity, hydrogen and data. The parties want to expand their trade relations via the new India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor while countering China’s growing influence in the region.
China is also a G20 member and is building similar trade routes with its Silk Road Initiative. However, the new corridors are an initiative of India and the Western countries. This makes it a rival project to Belt-and-Road.
As a G20 member, the EU appears satisfied with the outcome. “We are building a bridge over which goods, clean energy and digital information can circulate faster and more reliably between strong economic areas,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Table.Media. The project is backed by partner nations “which not only have great experience with strategic infrastructure projects, but also the corresponding financial capabilities.”
According to von der Leyen, the new corridor could, therefore, contribute to strengthening trade flows between Europe, the Middle East and Asia. And not only transit countries would benefit from the corridor.
The MOU envisages two new corridors:
According to von der Leyen, completing the route would cut shipping time by 40 percent. So far, trade runs mainly through the Suez Canal. Michaël Tanchum, a researcher at the Austria Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES), estimates that a land corridor across the Arabian Peninsula could reduce transport times between Mumbai and Piraeus from 17 to 10 days. The expert already mapped out the potential route of such a corridor in a paper two years ago. The project will run as part of the EU’s Global Gateway Initiative.
Beijing apparently also took note of the project. China’s government has already responded: On the sidelines of the G20 meeting, it campaigned for more cooperation with the European Union. As two main drivers of global development, China and Europe should cooperate even more closely, China’s Premier Li Qiang said on Saturday in New Delhi in talks with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, according to the state news agency Xinhua.
Li said that The People’s Republic is ready to work with Europe to host an EU-China summit this year and strengthen mutual trust. His country’s development presents opportunities for Europe and the world, not risks.
China hopes the EU will maintain its market economy principles and fair competition, providing a “non-discriminatory environment” for Chinese companies that want to invest in Europe. In general, both sides must use the stability of their relations as “a hedge against the uncertainty of the world situation,” Li added. At a meeting on Sunday with EU Council President Charles Michel, Li reiterated the will to cooperate.
Besides the potential new trade corridor, another thing may have upset Beijing: Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reportedly signaled to Li at a meeting that her country would leave the Belt and Road Initiative. Bloomberg reported this based on information from sources close to Meloni. At a press conference, Meloni said the issue had been raised with Li, but that a decision had not yet been made.
The corridor initiative is a coup for India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, host of the G20 Summit – and so is the final declaration of the G20 Summit, as it clearly reflects the world view of the Global South. The United Nations is taking center stage with its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
There is also a push for reforms of global institutions. The African Union (AU) is admitted to the G20 on par with the EU. India’s Prime Minister Modi was thus able to position his country as a voice for the Global South. In competition with China, which also claims this role.
“We are One Earth, One Family, and we share One Future,” reads the first line of the declaration. The lack of a family photo showed that it was not that simple – the reason for this was allegedly the refusal of several Western representatives to pose with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. This is the second G20 summit without an official group photo. Some politicians already refused to pose with Lavrov last year in Bali.
This time, the assessment of the Ukraine war in the final declaration was also hard fought over beforehand. Host Modi had no intention of making it the main topic. Unlike last year’s G20 summit in Bali, he did not include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky via video link.
The war in Ukraine is only mentioned under item 8 of the final declaration: At least it speaks of “war” and not “conflict,” an expression Beijing usually prefers. However, Russia is not mentioned as the aggressor. Instead, “all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state.”
The differences among their ranks are summed up by the G20 in one sentence: “There were different views and assessments of the situation.” Just a year ago, in Bali, it said, “Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine.”
The assessment of the final declaration was also extremely varied: While the USA sees a “step forward” and Russia speaks of a “success,” Ukraine sees “nothing to be proud of” in the G20 declaration.
French President Emmanuel Macron rejected criticism of the final declaration. On Sunday, Macron said at the end of the summit that he did not believe that the declaration was a diplomatic victory for Russia. Rather, he said, Russia emerged isolated from the meeting. However, he added that the G20 format is not necessarily the place to expect diplomatic progress in the Ukraine war, as it was founded to solve international economic issues.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also commented positively on the declaration, partly because clear words had been found that made it clear that the territorial integrity of a state like Ukraine could not simply be challenged with violence by its neighbor.
While the fight against climate change plays an important role in the declaration, economic prosperity is also emphasized: “No country should have to choose between fighting poverty and fighting for our planet.”
A clear commitment to a rapid phase-out of coal, oil and gas, as Western nations, especially the German government, are calling for, is absent from the declaration. The declaration states that developing countries should be given a louder voice in decision-making in the global international economic and financial institutions in order to create “more effective, credible, accountable and legitimate institutions.”
The summits in the next two years will be hosted by Brazil and South Africa. Things will get interesting in 2026, when the USA will host the summit. Till Hoppe/Frank Sieren/Amelie Richter
The Huawei flagship store in Shenzhen in southern China is seeing more visitors these days than it has in a long time. Not much was happening here recently, which was mainly due to US export restrictions. Since 2020, they have made it practically impossible for Huawei to integrate high-end foreign chips into its smartphones. From being a top player in the smartphone business, Huawei has since virtually faded into obscurity.
But now the queues outside Huawei stores have returned. Everyone wants to take at least a glimpse at the Mate 60 Pro, which was surprisingly unveiled last week. The phone could be the beginning of the end of a long ordeal for Huawei – and simultaneously startles the US.
Huawei itself does not provide detailed information about the inner workings of its new flagship smartphone, which finally allows users to surf the web at 5G again, thanks to the new chip. However, tech experts have long since disassembled it. They discovered that it is powered by a Kirin 9000s designed by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon and manufactured by Chinese chipmaker SMIC. The chip is, therefore, a 7-nm chip. This is remarkable because SMIC was previously not believed to be able to manufacture such a powerful processor.
However, the chips are still not as sophisticated as the latest models of the 4-nm class, whose manufacturers are just about to take the step down to 3 nanometers. And yet, if the semiconductors have indeed been developed entirely without Western input, China has taken an enormous step towards chip independence.
Unsurprisingly, the US government immediately took a closer look at the new Huawei smartphone. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stressed that “more information” about the chip’s “character and composition” is needed.
After all, semiconductors have so far been considered one of the strongest leverages in the economic dispute with Beijing. If the new Huawei chip holds up as first tests indicate, that could soon be over. More and more US tech experts believe so, too. They argue that China’s back is against the wall, which makes it all the more determined to develop its own technologies.
“China was supposed to be years away (some said a decade),” says Cameron Johnson from consulting firm Tidalwave Solutions. But now, at least in 7-nm chips, the breakthrough has been achieved in just two to three years. A technological gap remains, however. Johnson believes China will still be two to three generations behind the latest Western chips for at least five years.
But that hardly interests anyone in China at the moment. Pride over Huawei’s breakthrough dominates the social networks. Above all, people are gloating about the date Huawei launched its new smartphone.
The Mate 60 Pro hit the stores just as the US Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, visited the country. The memes quickly followed: The US minister poses as a promotional figure with the new smartphone. “Thank you for the sanctions. China couldn’t have done it without this relentless encouragement,” polemicized ShanghaiPanda, an X account (formerly Twitter) known for its nationalistic tones. The state-run Global Times newspaper published a cartoon showing a car with Huawei lettering speeding through a roadblock, freeing itself from the Americans’ technological stranglehold.
Analysts now expect that other Chinese smartphone manufacturers, as well as Apple and Samsung, will be forced to give up market share to Huawei in China. However, this could take longer than the Shenzhen-based company, which has been under pressure for years, might hope.
After all, lost customers must first be painstakingly regained from competitors. According to projections, the new Mate 60 Pro could sell four to six million units in China by the end of the year. However, 280 million smartphones are expected to be sold on the market this year.
Apple will unveil the new iPhone in the US on Tuesday. But shareholders’ attention will not be focused on speculation about the camera and display, but on its China business. Because the government is apparently trying to steer customers towards domestic products in Apple’s largest market.
Government officials in China will no longer be allowed to use iPhones as work phones. This was reported by Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal and the South China Morning Post. On Friday, the rumors received a new spin. The Apple ban could affect all government agencies, including in provinces, and even state-owned enterprises. That would be an enormous user base in the Chinese state economy. Apple’s share price plummeted.
With such a move, the leadership raises mistrust towards a foreign product. Civil servants act as an example for the rest of the population. It often helps in China to adapt one’s own wishes to those of the party anyway. Moreover, the civil service certainly enjoys prestige. One example was Audi. Its use as the state’s preferred service car gave the German brand a tremendous boost at the time.
But it also works the other way around. Banning a product for civil servants will likely trigger a series of thought processes. Will I make myself suspicious if I use the US brand in the future? Is there something wrong with it? Is there suspicion of espionage?
Beijing generally prefers Chinese citizens to use domestic technology. Wherever Chinese products offer a reasonable alternative, the authorities have made the environment more difficult for foreign suppliers.
This pattern is particularly striking for internet services. When Baidu provided search results equal to Google’s, the censorship demands on the US service increased so much that it had to withdraw from the market. That was in 2010. Similarly, Facebook or YouTube could not gain a foothold in China. Most recently, LinkedIn discontinued its service in China.
But this approach can also be observed in other industries. High-speed trains and modern nuclear reactors were initially provided by foreign corporations. Later, China adapted the technology and quickly switched to home-grown models. This approach is perfectly legitimate – but industry players should be aware that they are less welcome on the market as long-term partners and are only tolerated as long as they have a use.
When it comes to smartphones, the transition to Chinese models makes particular sense. After all, the Chinese Android versions already contain functions for blocking content at the operating system level. It is reasonable to assume that this also applies to surveillance functions. Apple would hardly accept such an approach despite all its adaptability.
The leadership had a problem with the iPhone for a long time. Customers loved the fancy US smartphone. So far, owning a highly expensive iPhone has also conveyed a bit more status than a Chinese cell phone, even though they have, of course, long been technologically on par. By banning the phones for civil servants, the state could now change the brand’s perception.
Rising nationalism plays a role here, as does a strictly interest-driven industrial policy. Xi Jinping’s economic concept of dual circulation also means that the inner cycle remains purely Chinese. From a trade perspective, the iPhone was a domestic product from the outset. After all, Foxconn manufactures the iPhone in China not only for the international market, but also for the Chinese one.
To protect national security, US investments in China in quantum technology, artificial intelligence and semiconductors, among other things, are to be screened first. In this way, the US government wants to reduce technological knowledge transfer from the USA to China. It thus opens another chapter in the economic rivalry between the great powers. The two have also long found themselves in a geo-economic power tug-of-war regarding underwater cable infrastructure.
For decades, consortia of state-owned telecommunications providers operated the undersea cable infrastructure. Growing costs, bigger business, and the increased data demands of tech companies have prompted big tech companies, such as Alphabet, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft, to now invest heavily in cable infrastructure themselves, displacing the telecom providers. Between 2016 and 2022, they collectively invested about 2 billion US dollars (about 15 percent of global infrastructure investment). Another 3.9 billion US dollars are to follow by 2025.
The Chinese group HMN Tech, which acquired Huawei’s submarine cable division in 2019, is also increasingly entering the market and trying to establish itself as a manufacturer with low-cost products. So far, the United States and US corporations such as American cable manufacturer Subcom have ensured that HMN Tech is not yet a major player in the global submarine cable market.
For example, the Chinese equipment supplier holds only ten percent of all existing and planned global cables. On the other hand, the French cable manufacturer ASN has supplied 41 percent and the US company Subcom 21 percent of the cables.
To keep Chinese competition at bay, the United States relies on increased economic leverage, including the Sea-Me-We 6 submarine cable project. The cable will stretch from Singapore through the Indian Ocean, the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea to Marseille. It is expected to be one of the fastest cables of its kind and will connect Asia and Europe.
The project tender was initially won by HMN Tech, which submitted the lowest bid. The bid was one-third lower than that of the US company Subcom, not least due to government subsidies. The US government first stopped the construction project due to national security concerns, as HMN also carries out contracts for the Chinese military, according to US sources.
After the project was put out to tender again, the US company Subcom was awarded the contract. This time, the US bid was supported by loans from the US Export-Import Bank and amounted to 600 million US dollars. However, as HMN Tech’s bid once again undercut Subcom’s bid, the US government unceremoniously placed HMN Tech on the sanctions list to prevent it from participating.
In the past four years, the US government has prevented at least six construction projects of this kind with the Chinese supplier HMN Tech. For example, planned cable links between the US and Hong Kong were also blocked because the US government feared losing control of transmitted data to China.
Meta and Alphabet’s Apricot cable illustrates a similar point. It bypasses Hong Kong and is intended to connect Japan, Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore, and originally also Malaysia. Malaysia’s link failed due to a 2020 ban on cabotage by foreign vessels in the autonomous region of Sabah in East Malaysia, which was intended to protect local shipping. Cabotage is the loading and unloading of cargo by transport companies that are not based in the country in question.
US investors demanded the Malaysian government lift the ban, as this would complicate the construction of the Apricot cable. But when Kuala Lumpur refused, Malaysia was excluded from the Apricot project. Not only that, it was also denied access to the other cable projects of US tech companies Echo and Bifrost. As a result, Malaysia joined the Chinese-backed Southeast Asia-Hainan-Hong Kong Express Cable (SEA-H2X) system last year. The 5,000-kilometer cable is designed to connect Hong Kong, China, the Philippines and Thailand with East Malaysia and Singapore.
The US and China are both aware that whoever controls the cable infrastructure in the region will not only control data transmission, but also exert influence on the booming economy. The Internet economy in Southeast Asia is estimated to reach a volume of one trillion US dollars by 2030. This will give both countries new leverage in the trade war.
Ferdinand Gehringer is a homeland and cyber security consultant at the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.
Life isn’t always a walk in the park and can sometimes be rather depressing. Luckily, nature has equipped us with certain neurotransmitters that can lift us out of misery and emotionally paint everyday dullness with happier colors. Chief among them: dopamine.
These days, dopamine junkies know many ways to quickly get their “fix”: streaming series, TikTok shorts, Instagram likes, excessive jogging, after-work beers, Tinder flings – you name it. But did you know that you can also extract happiness vibes from your wardrobe? The magic term here is “Dopamine Dressing,” and it (of course) comes from China!
If you’re picturing rainbow skirts, neon fur, and other flashy garments, you’re on the wrong track. True dopamine dressers reach into their closets for refreshingly colorful (鲜亮彩色 xiānliang cǎisè), perfectly coordinated outfits with rich colors (高饱和度的颜色 gāo bǎohédù de yánsè). These outfits stand out from the dull gray crowd but don’t induce a color shock when looking at them. Instead, the colorful, mood-lifting outfits inevitably create happiness and joy. Hence the name: 多巴胺穿搭 duōbā’àn chuāndā (from 多巴胺 duōbā’àn “dopamine” + 穿搭 chuāndā “to put together an outfit”).
The term first went viral for the first time this summer in connection with “Hand-Holding Gate” (牵手门 qiānshǒumén) in Chengdu. What happened? The married CEO of a Chinese state-owned enterprise was photographed by street photographers strolling hand in hand with his mistress, an employee of his company, through the trendy Taikoo Li shopping district of Chengdu. Snapshots and videos of the scene were widely shared.
The gossip not only sparked a moral debate but also a fashion one. Because the typically conservatively dressed company CEO had donned a fashionable pink polo shirt for the romantic lunchtime shopping spree. His beloved strolled color-coordinated beside him, wearing a long, off-the-shoulder pink summer dress. The pink floral sheath dress went viral, just like the caught cheaters, and suddenly led to surging demand on shopping platforms like Taobao. Netizens dubbed this summery, cheerful eye-catcher look “Dopamine Outfit.”
This broke all the linguistic dopamine dams and the label flooded the everyday vocabulary. On social media and elsewhere, the Chinese suddenly spotted colorful dopamine touches everywhere: from the Dopamine-Look bouquet (多巴胺花束 duōbā’àn huāshù) and Dopamine Hairstyle (多巴胺发型 duōbā’àn fàxíng) to colorful Dopamine Drinks (多巴胺饮品 duōbā’àn yǐnpǐn) and vibrant Dopamine Furniture (多巴胺家具 duōbā’àn jiājù). Good-mood musicians are now often labeled as Dopamine Singers (多巴胺歌手 duōbā’àn gēshǒu), and feel-good books as Dopamine Literature (多巴胺文学 duōbā’àn wénxué).
The hype surrounding the current Barbie blockbuster also hit this trend perfectly, attracting millions to the screens in China. With it, Barbie Pink (芭比粉 Bābǐ-fěn), a quintessential dopamine color, trended. Barbie Style (芭比风 Bābǐ-fēng) made waves in China and sparked trends like dazzling makeup, known as Dopamine Makeup (多巴胺美妆 duōbā’àn měizhuāng).
Those who find these happy, brightly colored outfits visually too stimulating, can opt for a slightly less flashy happiness variant: the Endorphin Look (内啡肽穿搭 nèifēitài chuāndā). Dopamine is primarily released through unexpected, positively associated stimuli, driving us to perform certain actions (eating, drinking, mating).
Endorphins, on the other hand, have pain-relieving and stress-reducing effects and lead to a more relaxed sense of well-being, such as after eating (or drinking/mating). Following this logic, the Endorphin Look, when observed, doesn’t provide an uplifting effect but rather a cozy vibe.
For those who want to give it a try: To achieve an authentic Chinese Endorphin Look, harmoniously coordinate your outfit, don’t be afraid to include some colorful highlights, but with less saturation compared to the Dopamine version. In other words, choose pastel shades, as well as soothing, carefully selected color combinations. A visual vacation that momentarily lets you forget the everyday blues.
So if you want to do something good for your fellow human beings this week, give yourself a jolt and a little effort when reaching into the wardrobe box and bring color into the mousy office routine. Whether it’s a dopamine or endorphin look, it’s best to decide for yourself.
So, if you want to do something nice for your fellow humans this week, muster up the effort to add some color to the drab office routine when you delve into your wardrobe. It’s up to you whether it’s the Dopamine or Endorphin Look.
Verena Menzel runs the online language school New Chinese in Beijing.
The summit of the 20 important developed and emerging countries in India’s capital, New Delhi, was buzzing on all channels over the weekend. Together with the United States, India, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the EU agreed to create a new transport corridor between India and Europe. The summit participants already agreed on a final declaration on Saturday. This declaration significantly differs from the one made in Bali a year ago. Our editorial team has summarized the G20 weekend for you.
Trade war, technology transfers, export restrictions on chip machinery – the rivalry between China and the USA sometimes sounds abstract and far removed from the lives of ordinary people. In recent days, however, its implications have become apparent: in smartphones.
Huawei challenged the effectiveness of US sanctions by launching the Huawei Mate 60 Pro. The focus here is on the Kirin 9000S – Joern Petring provides more details on the processor and its performance.
The Huawei Mate 60 Pro is already a big success in China. Queues are forming outside Huawei stores – just as they once did outside Apple stores. So it doesn’t seem like a coincidence that the government now wants to restrict the iPhone, which has been a smartphone superseller so far. Civil servants are no longer supposed to use iPhones as work phones in the future. In this way, Beijing wants to spread distrust of the phone, writes Finn Mayer-Kuckuk. The goal is to replace the US brand with domestic brands. Like Huawei.
It is still only a memorandum of understanding, but one of far-reaching geopolitical significance: At the G20 summit in New Delhi, the EU participants agreed with the USA, India, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to launch a new transport corridor between India and Europe.
This corridor is expected to speed up the transport of goods by several days and include new lines for electricity, hydrogen and data. The parties want to expand their trade relations via the new India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor while countering China’s growing influence in the region.
China is also a G20 member and is building similar trade routes with its Silk Road Initiative. However, the new corridors are an initiative of India and the Western countries. This makes it a rival project to Belt-and-Road.
As a G20 member, the EU appears satisfied with the outcome. “We are building a bridge over which goods, clean energy and digital information can circulate faster and more reliably between strong economic areas,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Table.Media. The project is backed by partner nations “which not only have great experience with strategic infrastructure projects, but also the corresponding financial capabilities.”
According to von der Leyen, the new corridor could, therefore, contribute to strengthening trade flows between Europe, the Middle East and Asia. And not only transit countries would benefit from the corridor.
The MOU envisages two new corridors:
According to von der Leyen, completing the route would cut shipping time by 40 percent. So far, trade runs mainly through the Suez Canal. Michaël Tanchum, a researcher at the Austria Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES), estimates that a land corridor across the Arabian Peninsula could reduce transport times between Mumbai and Piraeus from 17 to 10 days. The expert already mapped out the potential route of such a corridor in a paper two years ago. The project will run as part of the EU’s Global Gateway Initiative.
Beijing apparently also took note of the project. China’s government has already responded: On the sidelines of the G20 meeting, it campaigned for more cooperation with the European Union. As two main drivers of global development, China and Europe should cooperate even more closely, China’s Premier Li Qiang said on Saturday in New Delhi in talks with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, according to the state news agency Xinhua.
Li said that The People’s Republic is ready to work with Europe to host an EU-China summit this year and strengthen mutual trust. His country’s development presents opportunities for Europe and the world, not risks.
China hopes the EU will maintain its market economy principles and fair competition, providing a “non-discriminatory environment” for Chinese companies that want to invest in Europe. In general, both sides must use the stability of their relations as “a hedge against the uncertainty of the world situation,” Li added. At a meeting on Sunday with EU Council President Charles Michel, Li reiterated the will to cooperate.
Besides the potential new trade corridor, another thing may have upset Beijing: Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reportedly signaled to Li at a meeting that her country would leave the Belt and Road Initiative. Bloomberg reported this based on information from sources close to Meloni. At a press conference, Meloni said the issue had been raised with Li, but that a decision had not yet been made.
The corridor initiative is a coup for India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, host of the G20 Summit – and so is the final declaration of the G20 Summit, as it clearly reflects the world view of the Global South. The United Nations is taking center stage with its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
There is also a push for reforms of global institutions. The African Union (AU) is admitted to the G20 on par with the EU. India’s Prime Minister Modi was thus able to position his country as a voice for the Global South. In competition with China, which also claims this role.
“We are One Earth, One Family, and we share One Future,” reads the first line of the declaration. The lack of a family photo showed that it was not that simple – the reason for this was allegedly the refusal of several Western representatives to pose with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. This is the second G20 summit without an official group photo. Some politicians already refused to pose with Lavrov last year in Bali.
This time, the assessment of the Ukraine war in the final declaration was also hard fought over beforehand. Host Modi had no intention of making it the main topic. Unlike last year’s G20 summit in Bali, he did not include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky via video link.
The war in Ukraine is only mentioned under item 8 of the final declaration: At least it speaks of “war” and not “conflict,” an expression Beijing usually prefers. However, Russia is not mentioned as the aggressor. Instead, “all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state.”
The differences among their ranks are summed up by the G20 in one sentence: “There were different views and assessments of the situation.” Just a year ago, in Bali, it said, “Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine.”
The assessment of the final declaration was also extremely varied: While the USA sees a “step forward” and Russia speaks of a “success,” Ukraine sees “nothing to be proud of” in the G20 declaration.
French President Emmanuel Macron rejected criticism of the final declaration. On Sunday, Macron said at the end of the summit that he did not believe that the declaration was a diplomatic victory for Russia. Rather, he said, Russia emerged isolated from the meeting. However, he added that the G20 format is not necessarily the place to expect diplomatic progress in the Ukraine war, as it was founded to solve international economic issues.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also commented positively on the declaration, partly because clear words had been found that made it clear that the territorial integrity of a state like Ukraine could not simply be challenged with violence by its neighbor.
While the fight against climate change plays an important role in the declaration, economic prosperity is also emphasized: “No country should have to choose between fighting poverty and fighting for our planet.”
A clear commitment to a rapid phase-out of coal, oil and gas, as Western nations, especially the German government, are calling for, is absent from the declaration. The declaration states that developing countries should be given a louder voice in decision-making in the global international economic and financial institutions in order to create “more effective, credible, accountable and legitimate institutions.”
The summits in the next two years will be hosted by Brazil and South Africa. Things will get interesting in 2026, when the USA will host the summit. Till Hoppe/Frank Sieren/Amelie Richter
The Huawei flagship store in Shenzhen in southern China is seeing more visitors these days than it has in a long time. Not much was happening here recently, which was mainly due to US export restrictions. Since 2020, they have made it practically impossible for Huawei to integrate high-end foreign chips into its smartphones. From being a top player in the smartphone business, Huawei has since virtually faded into obscurity.
But now the queues outside Huawei stores have returned. Everyone wants to take at least a glimpse at the Mate 60 Pro, which was surprisingly unveiled last week. The phone could be the beginning of the end of a long ordeal for Huawei – and simultaneously startles the US.
Huawei itself does not provide detailed information about the inner workings of its new flagship smartphone, which finally allows users to surf the web at 5G again, thanks to the new chip. However, tech experts have long since disassembled it. They discovered that it is powered by a Kirin 9000s designed by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon and manufactured by Chinese chipmaker SMIC. The chip is, therefore, a 7-nm chip. This is remarkable because SMIC was previously not believed to be able to manufacture such a powerful processor.
However, the chips are still not as sophisticated as the latest models of the 4-nm class, whose manufacturers are just about to take the step down to 3 nanometers. And yet, if the semiconductors have indeed been developed entirely without Western input, China has taken an enormous step towards chip independence.
Unsurprisingly, the US government immediately took a closer look at the new Huawei smartphone. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stressed that “more information” about the chip’s “character and composition” is needed.
After all, semiconductors have so far been considered one of the strongest leverages in the economic dispute with Beijing. If the new Huawei chip holds up as first tests indicate, that could soon be over. More and more US tech experts believe so, too. They argue that China’s back is against the wall, which makes it all the more determined to develop its own technologies.
“China was supposed to be years away (some said a decade),” says Cameron Johnson from consulting firm Tidalwave Solutions. But now, at least in 7-nm chips, the breakthrough has been achieved in just two to three years. A technological gap remains, however. Johnson believes China will still be two to three generations behind the latest Western chips for at least five years.
But that hardly interests anyone in China at the moment. Pride over Huawei’s breakthrough dominates the social networks. Above all, people are gloating about the date Huawei launched its new smartphone.
The Mate 60 Pro hit the stores just as the US Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, visited the country. The memes quickly followed: The US minister poses as a promotional figure with the new smartphone. “Thank you for the sanctions. China couldn’t have done it without this relentless encouragement,” polemicized ShanghaiPanda, an X account (formerly Twitter) known for its nationalistic tones. The state-run Global Times newspaper published a cartoon showing a car with Huawei lettering speeding through a roadblock, freeing itself from the Americans’ technological stranglehold.
Analysts now expect that other Chinese smartphone manufacturers, as well as Apple and Samsung, will be forced to give up market share to Huawei in China. However, this could take longer than the Shenzhen-based company, which has been under pressure for years, might hope.
After all, lost customers must first be painstakingly regained from competitors. According to projections, the new Mate 60 Pro could sell four to six million units in China by the end of the year. However, 280 million smartphones are expected to be sold on the market this year.
Apple will unveil the new iPhone in the US on Tuesday. But shareholders’ attention will not be focused on speculation about the camera and display, but on its China business. Because the government is apparently trying to steer customers towards domestic products in Apple’s largest market.
Government officials in China will no longer be allowed to use iPhones as work phones. This was reported by Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal and the South China Morning Post. On Friday, the rumors received a new spin. The Apple ban could affect all government agencies, including in provinces, and even state-owned enterprises. That would be an enormous user base in the Chinese state economy. Apple’s share price plummeted.
With such a move, the leadership raises mistrust towards a foreign product. Civil servants act as an example for the rest of the population. It often helps in China to adapt one’s own wishes to those of the party anyway. Moreover, the civil service certainly enjoys prestige. One example was Audi. Its use as the state’s preferred service car gave the German brand a tremendous boost at the time.
But it also works the other way around. Banning a product for civil servants will likely trigger a series of thought processes. Will I make myself suspicious if I use the US brand in the future? Is there something wrong with it? Is there suspicion of espionage?
Beijing generally prefers Chinese citizens to use domestic technology. Wherever Chinese products offer a reasonable alternative, the authorities have made the environment more difficult for foreign suppliers.
This pattern is particularly striking for internet services. When Baidu provided search results equal to Google’s, the censorship demands on the US service increased so much that it had to withdraw from the market. That was in 2010. Similarly, Facebook or YouTube could not gain a foothold in China. Most recently, LinkedIn discontinued its service in China.
But this approach can also be observed in other industries. High-speed trains and modern nuclear reactors were initially provided by foreign corporations. Later, China adapted the technology and quickly switched to home-grown models. This approach is perfectly legitimate – but industry players should be aware that they are less welcome on the market as long-term partners and are only tolerated as long as they have a use.
When it comes to smartphones, the transition to Chinese models makes particular sense. After all, the Chinese Android versions already contain functions for blocking content at the operating system level. It is reasonable to assume that this also applies to surveillance functions. Apple would hardly accept such an approach despite all its adaptability.
The leadership had a problem with the iPhone for a long time. Customers loved the fancy US smartphone. So far, owning a highly expensive iPhone has also conveyed a bit more status than a Chinese cell phone, even though they have, of course, long been technologically on par. By banning the phones for civil servants, the state could now change the brand’s perception.
Rising nationalism plays a role here, as does a strictly interest-driven industrial policy. Xi Jinping’s economic concept of dual circulation also means that the inner cycle remains purely Chinese. From a trade perspective, the iPhone was a domestic product from the outset. After all, Foxconn manufactures the iPhone in China not only for the international market, but also for the Chinese one.
To protect national security, US investments in China in quantum technology, artificial intelligence and semiconductors, among other things, are to be screened first. In this way, the US government wants to reduce technological knowledge transfer from the USA to China. It thus opens another chapter in the economic rivalry between the great powers. The two have also long found themselves in a geo-economic power tug-of-war regarding underwater cable infrastructure.
For decades, consortia of state-owned telecommunications providers operated the undersea cable infrastructure. Growing costs, bigger business, and the increased data demands of tech companies have prompted big tech companies, such as Alphabet, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft, to now invest heavily in cable infrastructure themselves, displacing the telecom providers. Between 2016 and 2022, they collectively invested about 2 billion US dollars (about 15 percent of global infrastructure investment). Another 3.9 billion US dollars are to follow by 2025.
The Chinese group HMN Tech, which acquired Huawei’s submarine cable division in 2019, is also increasingly entering the market and trying to establish itself as a manufacturer with low-cost products. So far, the United States and US corporations such as American cable manufacturer Subcom have ensured that HMN Tech is not yet a major player in the global submarine cable market.
For example, the Chinese equipment supplier holds only ten percent of all existing and planned global cables. On the other hand, the French cable manufacturer ASN has supplied 41 percent and the US company Subcom 21 percent of the cables.
To keep Chinese competition at bay, the United States relies on increased economic leverage, including the Sea-Me-We 6 submarine cable project. The cable will stretch from Singapore through the Indian Ocean, the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea to Marseille. It is expected to be one of the fastest cables of its kind and will connect Asia and Europe.
The project tender was initially won by HMN Tech, which submitted the lowest bid. The bid was one-third lower than that of the US company Subcom, not least due to government subsidies. The US government first stopped the construction project due to national security concerns, as HMN also carries out contracts for the Chinese military, according to US sources.
After the project was put out to tender again, the US company Subcom was awarded the contract. This time, the US bid was supported by loans from the US Export-Import Bank and amounted to 600 million US dollars. However, as HMN Tech’s bid once again undercut Subcom’s bid, the US government unceremoniously placed HMN Tech on the sanctions list to prevent it from participating.
In the past four years, the US government has prevented at least six construction projects of this kind with the Chinese supplier HMN Tech. For example, planned cable links between the US and Hong Kong were also blocked because the US government feared losing control of transmitted data to China.
Meta and Alphabet’s Apricot cable illustrates a similar point. It bypasses Hong Kong and is intended to connect Japan, Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore, and originally also Malaysia. Malaysia’s link failed due to a 2020 ban on cabotage by foreign vessels in the autonomous region of Sabah in East Malaysia, which was intended to protect local shipping. Cabotage is the loading and unloading of cargo by transport companies that are not based in the country in question.
US investors demanded the Malaysian government lift the ban, as this would complicate the construction of the Apricot cable. But when Kuala Lumpur refused, Malaysia was excluded from the Apricot project. Not only that, it was also denied access to the other cable projects of US tech companies Echo and Bifrost. As a result, Malaysia joined the Chinese-backed Southeast Asia-Hainan-Hong Kong Express Cable (SEA-H2X) system last year. The 5,000-kilometer cable is designed to connect Hong Kong, China, the Philippines and Thailand with East Malaysia and Singapore.
The US and China are both aware that whoever controls the cable infrastructure in the region will not only control data transmission, but also exert influence on the booming economy. The Internet economy in Southeast Asia is estimated to reach a volume of one trillion US dollars by 2030. This will give both countries new leverage in the trade war.
Ferdinand Gehringer is a homeland and cyber security consultant at the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.
Life isn’t always a walk in the park and can sometimes be rather depressing. Luckily, nature has equipped us with certain neurotransmitters that can lift us out of misery and emotionally paint everyday dullness with happier colors. Chief among them: dopamine.
These days, dopamine junkies know many ways to quickly get their “fix”: streaming series, TikTok shorts, Instagram likes, excessive jogging, after-work beers, Tinder flings – you name it. But did you know that you can also extract happiness vibes from your wardrobe? The magic term here is “Dopamine Dressing,” and it (of course) comes from China!
If you’re picturing rainbow skirts, neon fur, and other flashy garments, you’re on the wrong track. True dopamine dressers reach into their closets for refreshingly colorful (鲜亮彩色 xiānliang cǎisè), perfectly coordinated outfits with rich colors (高饱和度的颜色 gāo bǎohédù de yánsè). These outfits stand out from the dull gray crowd but don’t induce a color shock when looking at them. Instead, the colorful, mood-lifting outfits inevitably create happiness and joy. Hence the name: 多巴胺穿搭 duōbā’àn chuāndā (from 多巴胺 duōbā’àn “dopamine” + 穿搭 chuāndā “to put together an outfit”).
The term first went viral for the first time this summer in connection with “Hand-Holding Gate” (牵手门 qiānshǒumén) in Chengdu. What happened? The married CEO of a Chinese state-owned enterprise was photographed by street photographers strolling hand in hand with his mistress, an employee of his company, through the trendy Taikoo Li shopping district of Chengdu. Snapshots and videos of the scene were widely shared.
The gossip not only sparked a moral debate but also a fashion one. Because the typically conservatively dressed company CEO had donned a fashionable pink polo shirt for the romantic lunchtime shopping spree. His beloved strolled color-coordinated beside him, wearing a long, off-the-shoulder pink summer dress. The pink floral sheath dress went viral, just like the caught cheaters, and suddenly led to surging demand on shopping platforms like Taobao. Netizens dubbed this summery, cheerful eye-catcher look “Dopamine Outfit.”
This broke all the linguistic dopamine dams and the label flooded the everyday vocabulary. On social media and elsewhere, the Chinese suddenly spotted colorful dopamine touches everywhere: from the Dopamine-Look bouquet (多巴胺花束 duōbā’àn huāshù) and Dopamine Hairstyle (多巴胺发型 duōbā’àn fàxíng) to colorful Dopamine Drinks (多巴胺饮品 duōbā’àn yǐnpǐn) and vibrant Dopamine Furniture (多巴胺家具 duōbā’àn jiājù). Good-mood musicians are now often labeled as Dopamine Singers (多巴胺歌手 duōbā’àn gēshǒu), and feel-good books as Dopamine Literature (多巴胺文学 duōbā’àn wénxué).
The hype surrounding the current Barbie blockbuster also hit this trend perfectly, attracting millions to the screens in China. With it, Barbie Pink (芭比粉 Bābǐ-fěn), a quintessential dopamine color, trended. Barbie Style (芭比风 Bābǐ-fēng) made waves in China and sparked trends like dazzling makeup, known as Dopamine Makeup (多巴胺美妆 duōbā’àn měizhuāng).
Those who find these happy, brightly colored outfits visually too stimulating, can opt for a slightly less flashy happiness variant: the Endorphin Look (内啡肽穿搭 nèifēitài chuāndā). Dopamine is primarily released through unexpected, positively associated stimuli, driving us to perform certain actions (eating, drinking, mating).
Endorphins, on the other hand, have pain-relieving and stress-reducing effects and lead to a more relaxed sense of well-being, such as after eating (or drinking/mating). Following this logic, the Endorphin Look, when observed, doesn’t provide an uplifting effect but rather a cozy vibe.
For those who want to give it a try: To achieve an authentic Chinese Endorphin Look, harmoniously coordinate your outfit, don’t be afraid to include some colorful highlights, but with less saturation compared to the Dopamine version. In other words, choose pastel shades, as well as soothing, carefully selected color combinations. A visual vacation that momentarily lets you forget the everyday blues.
So if you want to do something good for your fellow human beings this week, give yourself a jolt and a little effort when reaching into the wardrobe box and bring color into the mousy office routine. Whether it’s a dopamine or endorphin look, it’s best to decide for yourself.
So, if you want to do something nice for your fellow humans this week, muster up the effort to add some color to the drab office routine when you delve into your wardrobe. It’s up to you whether it’s the Dopamine or Endorphin Look.
Verena Menzel runs the online language school New Chinese in Beijing.
