That the German government wants to ban Huawei technology from 5G networks was somewhat lost in China in view of the flood of news surrounding the National People’s Congress at the beginning of the week. But in the meantime, the topic is being hotly debated in the People’s Republic, especially on social media.
However, the leadership in Beijing itself seems conspicuously indecisive, writes Fabian Kretschmer: On the one hand, an economic threat backdrop is supposed to be built up and Berlin is supposed to be portrayed as Washington’s vassal. On the other hand, China continues to see Germany as a potential partner. It seems unwise to seek confrontation prematurely.
Modern technology from China, a prestigious brand from Europe – that was the idea when Geely took over the then-ailing Swedish car company 13 years ago and, in this way, actually ensured a comeback for the brand. But this recipe no longer quite works. Volvo has had a difficult year, as Frank Sieren analyzes, and must now thin out its distribution network.
Of all things, the Chinese competitors, until recently no-names, are becoming the biggest problem for Volvo. Once again, the brand seems to play less and less of a role in purchasing.
Initially, the Chinese government responded to the headlines with silence. Only late Tuesday evening did it release a first statement via its embassy in Berlin: “In recent years, countries and anti-China forces have continued to attempt to smear Huawei with trumped-up charges, but there has never been any evidence that Huawei equipment and components pose security risks.” If media reports of a ban on Chinese 5G equipment turn out to be true, the Chinese side is very puzzled and strongly dissatisfied with the hasty decision.
But just such a decision is apparently imminent, according to German media reports. According to the report, the German government is planning to retroactively ban certain critical technology from Chinese network suppliers such as Huawei and ZTE – a step that other countries such as the US and the UK have already taken.
In China itself, the leading state media reacted remarkably late. Of course, this also has to do with the flood of news surrounding the National People’s Congress, in which the Huawei ban in Germany is not necessarily one of the most pressing issues.
But at the same time, the case also puts the People’s Republic of China in an awkward position: At a time when it is trying to revive its troubled trade relations with the EU after two and a half years of “zero-Covid”, a political scandal with Europe’s most important trading partner would be particularly unfavorable. Germany is seen by many in Beijing as the “last pragmatic voice” of the West.
Finally, on Wednesday, the editorials followed in droves. “German security is threatened not by dependence on Huawei, but by the US,” the Party newspaper China Daily headlined in an initial commentary. While Huawei and ZTE are ordinary “private companies” doing “business all over the world,” it said, “the real threat to Germany’s national security is on the other side of the Atlantic”. As evidence, the daily cites controversial research by US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, which has been quoted up and down the Chinese state media for weeks: According to it, the US government would have blown up the Nord Stream gas pipeline to plunge “millions of Germans into bitter cold”.
The Global Times, usually a touch more belligerent in its nationalistic tone, warns that a ban on Chinese 5G equipment could “backfire”. It quotes an expert as providing the following explanation: “Some Western countries are being goaded by the US government to also hype an espionage conspiracy that is completely unfounded.”
The appeal is clear: Europe should emancipate itself from Washington’s clutches – not to please China, but for its own economic interests. This was also emphasized by Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang at his press conference on Tuesday.
It is noteworthy that the opinions of users on social media are quite divergent. On the one hand, people criticize Germany for its presumed hypocrisy: “The United States eavesdrops on the German president around the clock, but they can still be trusted. The equipment from China, on the other hand, must be removed – very funny!” reads one posting.
Many commentaries also write of the Federal Republic being like a “colony of the United States”: “As soon as Merkel left, Germany became the dog of the United States.” And most Chinese believe that the United States’ China policy is primarily aimed at curbing the rise of the emerging world power – and not just since head of state Xi Jinping also voiced this opinion on Tuesday.
On the other hand, the gloating of a smaller portion of Chinese Internet users is also directed at their own government. “Everything is always a conspiracy of foreign powers,” writes one user, alluding to the fact that the Chinese government always sees US strings behind all criticism. Another even says, “Finally, Germany has woken up.” Fabian Kretschmer
Sales have become too expensive for Volvo. In times of sales difficulties, company boss Jim Rowan is now making cuts in sales. Although the parent company Geely presents itself as highly digital, the lean sales models of the competition also put pressure on the European-Chinese showcase project.
The successful Chinese competitors entering the European market could become Volvo’s biggest problem with their digital business models. This is one reason why Volvo, owned by the Chinese car group Geely since 2010, wants a leaner sales force. Competitors rely much more on online retail and pop-up stores, pocketing dealers’ margins or passing them on to customers. This trend is also affecting car dealerships in China.
That’s why the bad news came at the end of last week: The German dealer network of the premium brand Volvo is being drastically reduced, with 65 Volvo partners losing their sales contracts. The number of sales locations is even shrinking from 230 to 150 because some Volvo partners have several locations.
Most terminated dealers have been offered to continue with less lucrative service contracts. That is bitter. At the same time, however, the concentration increases efficiency: The remaining partners hope to be able to sell 250 cars a year per location instead of 180 cars as before. The only question is how long the physical car dealerships will continue to have any significance when more and more is being sold online.
The cut comes at a time when Volvo’s resurgence has been marked by both ups and downs. Volvo had a difficult year in 2022:
On the other hand, on the success side:
Volvo is on the right track, but it’s still a long way from being on par with BMW or Audi. Forgotten are the times when no one wanted to drive a Volvo. When Volvo was taken over by Geely in 2010, most observers were skeptical. In 2009, the Swedish government even had to guarantee 90 percent so that Volvo could still get a loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB).
Ford wanted to get rid of the difficult Swedish manufacturer. There was only one interested party: Chinese private entrepreneur Li Shufu, of all people, with his company Geely Holding Group, bought Volvo and, as mentioned, paid $1.8 billion. Ford had still paid $6.47 billion.
It was the first major takeover of a European group by a Chinese competitor. And also the first time that a leading European brand was now owned by the Chinese. Volvo has been building cars since 1927. Then in 2017, Geely acquired 51 percent of sports car maker Lotus and became the largest shareholder in Volvo Trucks. Then in 2018, Li Shufu became the largest single shareholder in Mercedes-Benz Group with 9.7 percent.
Despite all its problems, Volvo is a success story of Chinese-European cooperation. Geely CEO Li’s strategy has largely worked. More jobs have been created in Europe than have been cut. Know-how is being developed hand in hand between Europe and China. Li had seen it that way from the start. “I see Volvo as a tiger that cannot be kept in a cage in a zoo in a limited way. We want to release the tiger and free Volvo from the shackles of lack of funds.”
Geely and Volvo still have a long way to go, however: Volvo is to become an all-electric manufacturer by 2030, with its own software, “computers on wheels,” as CEO Rowan emphasizes. So far, only 19 percent are EVs. In order to make progress, a few days ago, Volvo announced the opening of a development center for software in Krakow, with between 500 and 600 new employees by 2025. After all, not everything can be done from China. Another development center is located in Bangalore, India. However, the main development sites remain Shanghai and Gothenburg.
The American investment bank Morgan Stanley supports Rowan’s strategy and at the end of last week left its rating for Volvo at “Buy”. The Swedes have confirmed their ambitions for more dynamic growth with stable margins.
In the beginning, there is emptiness, the white paper. “From here, the ideas unfold and later the works of art,” Yi Meng Wu says. Ten years ago, she founded the “Studio Wu 無” in Berlin, which specializes in intercultural design. The Chinese character in the name represents this emptiness, the beginning of each of her works.
“Ever since I was three, I’ve been drawing and painting” – as a child, Yi Meng lived with her family on the outskirts of Shanghai for several years. Art was omnipresent in the family. Her mother, Lili Yuan, is a painter of Chinese ink painting. When Yi Meng was nine, the family moved to Germany, to the Ruhr area in Bochum. Her parents were curious about what life would be like outside China. “There were many academics in China in the nineties who moved abroad to study and work,” Yi Meng reports. “Culturally and especially aesthetically, Bochum was, of course, completely new and different.”
Yi Meng eventually studied visual communication in Essen, Berlin and Paris and developed a special interest in Chinese and Latin calligraphy as well as pen-and-ink lettering. Today, as a freelance designer and art director, she has made multilingual typography, the juxtaposition and coexistence of Latin and Chinese characters, one of her main focuses. She also consults with institutions and design agencies with her expertise.
The fact that Yi Meng’s origins connect her to China, that she carries two countries and their cultures within her, serves not only as a source of inspiration for many of her works. For her, it also goes hand in hand with a social responsibility. “As an artist, I want to create images about my home country of China, and also conversely about Europe, that don’t convey the typical stereotypes, but make people curious about the other culture.” Especially at this time, when global crises are strengthening new nationalisms, it is important to promote genuine encounters between people of different origins, she says.
Yi Meng also creates these encounters in a playful way. For a book project, she gave people from Germany and China typical Chinese and typical German objects that they were to integrate into their everyday lives for a while – in the process, a Chinese woman interpreted a German school cone as a Christmas hat. “Only a few guessed the correct function,” the artist reports. The divergent uses reveal something about everyday life and the wishes of the participants, which is an exciting result, she says.
How does she come up with such project ideas? Yi Meng is inspired by the people themselves. With a sketchbook in hand, she wanders through cities, capturing things and encounters that are identity-forming for a place and the people who live there. “That’s my way of deceleration,” she says – and in this way, she always returns to her emptiness, the white paper. And if her rambles don’t do the trick, there’s always her overgrown allotment on the outskirts of Berlin. “You can also get wonderful inspiration from nature; it makes the most beautiful designs.” Svenja Napp
No, this creature is not an undersized horse but a Chinese Crested Dog. Under Mao, pedigree dogs were largely eradicated in the People’s Republic because they were considered too bourgeois. Now they are enjoying a resurgence in popularity. This hairless breed is named for the tufted hair growth on its head. They are offered in dog stores for the equivalent of up to €3,000.
That the German government wants to ban Huawei technology from 5G networks was somewhat lost in China in view of the flood of news surrounding the National People’s Congress at the beginning of the week. But in the meantime, the topic is being hotly debated in the People’s Republic, especially on social media.
However, the leadership in Beijing itself seems conspicuously indecisive, writes Fabian Kretschmer: On the one hand, an economic threat backdrop is supposed to be built up and Berlin is supposed to be portrayed as Washington’s vassal. On the other hand, China continues to see Germany as a potential partner. It seems unwise to seek confrontation prematurely.
Modern technology from China, a prestigious brand from Europe – that was the idea when Geely took over the then-ailing Swedish car company 13 years ago and, in this way, actually ensured a comeback for the brand. But this recipe no longer quite works. Volvo has had a difficult year, as Frank Sieren analyzes, and must now thin out its distribution network.
Of all things, the Chinese competitors, until recently no-names, are becoming the biggest problem for Volvo. Once again, the brand seems to play less and less of a role in purchasing.
Initially, the Chinese government responded to the headlines with silence. Only late Tuesday evening did it release a first statement via its embassy in Berlin: “In recent years, countries and anti-China forces have continued to attempt to smear Huawei with trumped-up charges, but there has never been any evidence that Huawei equipment and components pose security risks.” If media reports of a ban on Chinese 5G equipment turn out to be true, the Chinese side is very puzzled and strongly dissatisfied with the hasty decision.
But just such a decision is apparently imminent, according to German media reports. According to the report, the German government is planning to retroactively ban certain critical technology from Chinese network suppliers such as Huawei and ZTE – a step that other countries such as the US and the UK have already taken.
In China itself, the leading state media reacted remarkably late. Of course, this also has to do with the flood of news surrounding the National People’s Congress, in which the Huawei ban in Germany is not necessarily one of the most pressing issues.
But at the same time, the case also puts the People’s Republic of China in an awkward position: At a time when it is trying to revive its troubled trade relations with the EU after two and a half years of “zero-Covid”, a political scandal with Europe’s most important trading partner would be particularly unfavorable. Germany is seen by many in Beijing as the “last pragmatic voice” of the West.
Finally, on Wednesday, the editorials followed in droves. “German security is threatened not by dependence on Huawei, but by the US,” the Party newspaper China Daily headlined in an initial commentary. While Huawei and ZTE are ordinary “private companies” doing “business all over the world,” it said, “the real threat to Germany’s national security is on the other side of the Atlantic”. As evidence, the daily cites controversial research by US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, which has been quoted up and down the Chinese state media for weeks: According to it, the US government would have blown up the Nord Stream gas pipeline to plunge “millions of Germans into bitter cold”.
The Global Times, usually a touch more belligerent in its nationalistic tone, warns that a ban on Chinese 5G equipment could “backfire”. It quotes an expert as providing the following explanation: “Some Western countries are being goaded by the US government to also hype an espionage conspiracy that is completely unfounded.”
The appeal is clear: Europe should emancipate itself from Washington’s clutches – not to please China, but for its own economic interests. This was also emphasized by Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang at his press conference on Tuesday.
It is noteworthy that the opinions of users on social media are quite divergent. On the one hand, people criticize Germany for its presumed hypocrisy: “The United States eavesdrops on the German president around the clock, but they can still be trusted. The equipment from China, on the other hand, must be removed – very funny!” reads one posting.
Many commentaries also write of the Federal Republic being like a “colony of the United States”: “As soon as Merkel left, Germany became the dog of the United States.” And most Chinese believe that the United States’ China policy is primarily aimed at curbing the rise of the emerging world power – and not just since head of state Xi Jinping also voiced this opinion on Tuesday.
On the other hand, the gloating of a smaller portion of Chinese Internet users is also directed at their own government. “Everything is always a conspiracy of foreign powers,” writes one user, alluding to the fact that the Chinese government always sees US strings behind all criticism. Another even says, “Finally, Germany has woken up.” Fabian Kretschmer
Sales have become too expensive for Volvo. In times of sales difficulties, company boss Jim Rowan is now making cuts in sales. Although the parent company Geely presents itself as highly digital, the lean sales models of the competition also put pressure on the European-Chinese showcase project.
The successful Chinese competitors entering the European market could become Volvo’s biggest problem with their digital business models. This is one reason why Volvo, owned by the Chinese car group Geely since 2010, wants a leaner sales force. Competitors rely much more on online retail and pop-up stores, pocketing dealers’ margins or passing them on to customers. This trend is also affecting car dealerships in China.
That’s why the bad news came at the end of last week: The German dealer network of the premium brand Volvo is being drastically reduced, with 65 Volvo partners losing their sales contracts. The number of sales locations is even shrinking from 230 to 150 because some Volvo partners have several locations.
Most terminated dealers have been offered to continue with less lucrative service contracts. That is bitter. At the same time, however, the concentration increases efficiency: The remaining partners hope to be able to sell 250 cars a year per location instead of 180 cars as before. The only question is how long the physical car dealerships will continue to have any significance when more and more is being sold online.
The cut comes at a time when Volvo’s resurgence has been marked by both ups and downs. Volvo had a difficult year in 2022:
On the other hand, on the success side:
Volvo is on the right track, but it’s still a long way from being on par with BMW or Audi. Forgotten are the times when no one wanted to drive a Volvo. When Volvo was taken over by Geely in 2010, most observers were skeptical. In 2009, the Swedish government even had to guarantee 90 percent so that Volvo could still get a loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB).
Ford wanted to get rid of the difficult Swedish manufacturer. There was only one interested party: Chinese private entrepreneur Li Shufu, of all people, with his company Geely Holding Group, bought Volvo and, as mentioned, paid $1.8 billion. Ford had still paid $6.47 billion.
It was the first major takeover of a European group by a Chinese competitor. And also the first time that a leading European brand was now owned by the Chinese. Volvo has been building cars since 1927. Then in 2017, Geely acquired 51 percent of sports car maker Lotus and became the largest shareholder in Volvo Trucks. Then in 2018, Li Shufu became the largest single shareholder in Mercedes-Benz Group with 9.7 percent.
Despite all its problems, Volvo is a success story of Chinese-European cooperation. Geely CEO Li’s strategy has largely worked. More jobs have been created in Europe than have been cut. Know-how is being developed hand in hand between Europe and China. Li had seen it that way from the start. “I see Volvo as a tiger that cannot be kept in a cage in a zoo in a limited way. We want to release the tiger and free Volvo from the shackles of lack of funds.”
Geely and Volvo still have a long way to go, however: Volvo is to become an all-electric manufacturer by 2030, with its own software, “computers on wheels,” as CEO Rowan emphasizes. So far, only 19 percent are EVs. In order to make progress, a few days ago, Volvo announced the opening of a development center for software in Krakow, with between 500 and 600 new employees by 2025. After all, not everything can be done from China. Another development center is located in Bangalore, India. However, the main development sites remain Shanghai and Gothenburg.
The American investment bank Morgan Stanley supports Rowan’s strategy and at the end of last week left its rating for Volvo at “Buy”. The Swedes have confirmed their ambitions for more dynamic growth with stable margins.
In the beginning, there is emptiness, the white paper. “From here, the ideas unfold and later the works of art,” Yi Meng Wu says. Ten years ago, she founded the “Studio Wu 無” in Berlin, which specializes in intercultural design. The Chinese character in the name represents this emptiness, the beginning of each of her works.
“Ever since I was three, I’ve been drawing and painting” – as a child, Yi Meng lived with her family on the outskirts of Shanghai for several years. Art was omnipresent in the family. Her mother, Lili Yuan, is a painter of Chinese ink painting. When Yi Meng was nine, the family moved to Germany, to the Ruhr area in Bochum. Her parents were curious about what life would be like outside China. “There were many academics in China in the nineties who moved abroad to study and work,” Yi Meng reports. “Culturally and especially aesthetically, Bochum was, of course, completely new and different.”
Yi Meng eventually studied visual communication in Essen, Berlin and Paris and developed a special interest in Chinese and Latin calligraphy as well as pen-and-ink lettering. Today, as a freelance designer and art director, she has made multilingual typography, the juxtaposition and coexistence of Latin and Chinese characters, one of her main focuses. She also consults with institutions and design agencies with her expertise.
The fact that Yi Meng’s origins connect her to China, that she carries two countries and their cultures within her, serves not only as a source of inspiration for many of her works. For her, it also goes hand in hand with a social responsibility. “As an artist, I want to create images about my home country of China, and also conversely about Europe, that don’t convey the typical stereotypes, but make people curious about the other culture.” Especially at this time, when global crises are strengthening new nationalisms, it is important to promote genuine encounters between people of different origins, she says.
Yi Meng also creates these encounters in a playful way. For a book project, she gave people from Germany and China typical Chinese and typical German objects that they were to integrate into their everyday lives for a while – in the process, a Chinese woman interpreted a German school cone as a Christmas hat. “Only a few guessed the correct function,” the artist reports. The divergent uses reveal something about everyday life and the wishes of the participants, which is an exciting result, she says.
How does she come up with such project ideas? Yi Meng is inspired by the people themselves. With a sketchbook in hand, she wanders through cities, capturing things and encounters that are identity-forming for a place and the people who live there. “That’s my way of deceleration,” she says – and in this way, she always returns to her emptiness, the white paper. And if her rambles don’t do the trick, there’s always her overgrown allotment on the outskirts of Berlin. “You can also get wonderful inspiration from nature; it makes the most beautiful designs.” Svenja Napp
No, this creature is not an undersized horse but a Chinese Crested Dog. Under Mao, pedigree dogs were largely eradicated in the People’s Republic because they were considered too bourgeois. Now they are enjoying a resurgence in popularity. This hairless breed is named for the tufted hair growth on its head. They are offered in dog stores for the equivalent of up to €3,000.
