Interview Klaus-Peter Willsch + mRNA vaccine

Dear reader,

“With our visit, we demonstrated that liberal democracies stand united”, said Klaus-Peter Willsch about the trip of the Berlin-Taipei Parliamentary Circle of Friends. The Bundestag member’s trip to Taiwan from Sunday to Thursday was clearly more in the focus of media coverage than such visits would normally be. They happen relatively often, but this time the impression of Beijing’s saber-rattling around Nancy Pelosi’s visit in August was still fresh. Speaking with David Demes, Willsch talks about the considerable influence Parliament has on geopolitics.

The lockdown reports from China are horrifying. Why is the country so insistent on its zero-Covid policy when effective vaccines are within reach? Where there are mysteries, rumors flourish. It has been suggested on several occasions that Biontech or Moderna might be on the verge of entering the Chinese market after all. It is a fact that the vaccines of the two mRNA pioneers still received no approval. And suddenly the following news reached us: a Chinese mRNA vaccine, which has been researched for some time, has been approved. Not in China, though, but in Indonesia. Finn Mayer-Kuckuk summarizes what is already known about the vaccine. In his analysis, he explores why China does not proudly present this great research success in its own country first.

There will be no debate at the United Nations on China’s human rights violations in Xinjiang. On Thursday, the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva rejected a proposal by mainly Western countries to that effect. So, as you can read in our detailed news on the subject, China has won once again.

Your
Julia Fiedler

‘As a parliament, we should use our leeway’

Klaus-Peter Willsch, Member of the German Bundestag, in Taipei.

Mr. Willsch, this visit was already your fourth delegation trip to Taiwan. The last time you were here was more than three years ago. What has changed since then?

The main change was the media coverage of our trip. Such attention is rather rare for trips of parliamentary groups. Of course, as always, our Taiwanese friends gave us a warm welcome. But the heated setting and the overreaction of the government in Beijing naturally brought the situation to a head.

Has the threat situation changed significantly?

Threats from Beijing have continued to intensify since Xi Jinping’s 2019 New Year’s speech. The violations of Taiwan’s air surveillance zone and also the maneuvers after Nancy Pelosi’s visit had a new quality. Nevertheless, Taiwan has actually been living with this situation for years. Beijing formulates its threats, sometimes more drastically and sometimes less drastically. At present, the drastic formulations predominate.

What can you and your colleagues do to support Taiwan?

I am focusing on how we can expand cooperation in culture, science, and business from within the parliament. The Taiwanese have absolutely legitimate concerns that are important not only for themselves but also for the global community. For example, within the framework of the WHO, what could Taiwan contribute to better prepare the global community as a whole for the next pandemic? And also the issue of aviation security. Of course, Taiwan belongs in the ICAO. The options of a parliament are limited. Nevertheless, we are trying to make our contribution.

You have been Chairman of the Parliamentary Group since 2010. How come a financial politician from the federal state of Hesse is interested in Taiwan?

I have actually been interested in Taiwan since the beginning of my place in the Bundestag in 1998. Mainly because of the tension between big China, which is ruled in a totalitarian way by the Communist Party, on the one hand, and this island of freedom on the other. With its parliamentary democracy, Taiwan is virtually a model country in Asia. When the chairmanship of the group was vacant in 2009 due to the departure of my predecessor, I was happy to take over. To this day, I have not regretted this decision.

You said in your welcoming address on Monday that you had perceived criticism of your trip, but that it did not concern you any further. Were you or other members of your delegation put under pressure by the Chinese side?

Personally, I cannot report anything of the sort. Nor have I heard anything from the delegation. We do know, however, that Beijing protested at the Foreign Office, as it always does. Above all, the public reaction to our visit was very unusual compared to our previous trips. But that was certainly also due to the fact that Nancy Pelosi’s visit was not long ago and the situation is still somewhat tense.

Your reception with President Tsai Ing-wen fell on Germany’s Unification Day, of all days. In your welcoming speech, you mentioned that the reunification of Germany had been the best day of your political career. The symbolism of this statement has not escaped many Chinese Internet users. Did you intend to send a message with reference to Taiwan and China?

I said afterward that Germany celebrated its unity in freedom and self-determination. That is quite different from Beijing’s ambitions.

In the past, you often spoke of a “free China” when referring to Taiwan. How do you perceive the changes in the identity of the Taiwanese? Is that also a topic in your bilateral talks?

In the course of the last few years, it has become clear that a Taiwanese identity has formed more and more. But that is not surprising. The generations born after the war know nothing else. Nevertheless, for me, Taiwan and China belong to a common cultural sphere. If you visit the Palace Museum in Taipei and see what Chinese cultural heritage is on display there, that becomes quite notable. Nevertheless, I believe that this categorization still holds true. In Taiwan, there is freedom, self-determination, and the rule of law, and unfortunately, the opposite is true for the larger People’s Republic.

Back to the greeting on Monday. A significantly expanded version of a quote from you made the rounds. As you know, China.Table reported on it …

That was very commendable. Thank you very much for your clarification. I can only recommend to all who want to read up on it to have a look at the live recording and the translation on the homepage of our embassy, the German Institute. There, it is all classified correctly. (Editor’s note: On Thursday, the transcript was not yet available.)

Nevertheless, I would like to ask you again. You never denied your comment that Germany would support Taiwan in the event of a military threat. Was that perhaps because the statement was not so different from Foreign Minister Baerbock’s remarks in New York?

Yes, that is the case.

The threat of military escalation in the Taiwan Strait is getting a lot of attention lately. Are you concerned that your trip could contribute to such an escalation?

We should make it clear to Beijing that this is part of parliamentarians. We have a parliament that keeps a government. That is clearly different in the People’s Republic of China. As a parliament, we should confidently use our leeway. As a parliamentary group, we are trying to make our contribution to this.

You also addressed the issue of semiconductors during your trip. How do you assess Germany’s dependence on the Taiwanese semiconductor industry? During the pandemic, your party colleague Altmaier sent a petition to the Taiwanese Minister of Economics asking for more chips.

Political intervention is not always needed. Within the framework of free trade, market participants who can cooperate well will find each other by themselves. Nevertheless, the disruption of supply chains as a result of closed ports, Covid-19, and also political upheavals have, of course, taught us something. No normal company depends on a single supplier. The same is true for an economy. It is wise to be more imaginative and put more brainpower into it. Realistically speaking, Taiwan and especially TSMC have a huge lead in the field of high-end semiconductors. From my point of view, however, there is no great need for this now. We are good and welcome customers.

What do you think of the silicon shield theory? That Taiwan is protected from a Chinese attack by its semiconductor industry?

The developed world, which wants to move forward, especially with regard to digitalization, naturally has this in mind, and this is not a disadvantage for Taiwan.

So do you think China might refrain from attacking?

China is also dependent on Taiwan’s semiconductors. When I hear that Taiwan is thinking about ways to protect its technology and prevent it from falling into the hands of the enemy, the Chinese also know what that means for their machine tool manufacturing, for their ambitions in aerospace, automobiles, et cetera. It’s not an uncomfortable situation for Taiwan, and it will give China reason to perhaps think twice about whether or not to attack Taiwan.

The diluted mRNA triumph

By

Finn Mayer-Kuckuk

News of the approval of a Chinese mRNA vaccine in Indonesia came as something of a surprise last week. It is unclear why Indonesia is rushing ahead with approval while trials are still ongoing. Vaccines, after all, are no longer in short supply. What is clear now, however, is that AWcorna is expected to be the first Chinese mRNA drug that will also soon be officially ready for approval.

AWcorna is called Woaikexin 沃艾可欣 in China. It was originally introduced under the name Arcov. The manufacturer is Walvax Biotechnology 沃森生物 from Yunnan. The military is involved in the development: The Academy of Military Science is among the research partners. This is of significant importance: The People’s Liberation Army is a central state player under the direct control of Xi Jinping. Thus the project presumably has Beijing’s approval. Practical application of any kind is therefore likely. Even if fundamental reservations about the young mRNA technology were to waft in China’s leadership.

A former competitor, Suzhou Abogen Biosciences, is also on board. Apparently, an alliance has been formed to increase the chances of success. A registered trial with 28,000 participants is currently underway in Mexico, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Nepal. China is also one of the locations, but it is not currently suitable for Covid trials because the virus is not sufficiently widespread there.

So far, there are no known problems with the vaccine, and the emergency approval in Indonesia (China.Table reported) indicates favorable study results. Since 2020, a production facility has been built in Yuxi, Yunnan Province. It is expected to reach a capacity of at least 120 million doses annually or even 200 million doses. Everything points to the planned large-scale domestic use of the vaccine sooner or later. The mRNA vaccine would be used primarily as a booster, given China’s high vaccination rate with conventional vaccines.

Waiting for accurate study data

Indonesian authorities have now presented key data from AWcorna. They report an efficacy rate of 84 percent against the original variant and 71 percent against Omicron. Depending on what the percentages refer to, this would be somewhat lower than the values obtained by Biontech and Moderna, but at first glance, they indicate an effective vaccine.

However, although journalists have already inquired, a lot of important information is missing. Do the figures refer to use as a booster to a first vaccination? Is it protection against all symptomatic infections, or only against severe ones? While Western manufacturers usually publish protection against all visible infections, China has mostly referred to severe infections recently. Until further details are known, AWcorna cannot be accurately assessed.

Application as a booster tested

In June, Chinese researchers already published some details on the properties of the vaccine in the journal Nature. They first analyzed a problem currently plaguing China: Conventional Chinese vaccines produce little immunity against Omicron. A booster with Biontech would produce good immunity, but the vaccine is not available in China.

Researchers tested AWcorna as a booster after two vaccinations with the Chinese inactivated vaccine. This was a limited study with 300 test subjects. A booster with the conventional Chinese vaccine Coronavac served as a comparison. The result: 84 percent of the participants had usable antibodies against Omicron after the booster with AWcorna. With the conventional Chinese vaccine, the figure was only 35 percent.

This is consistent with information on the first, still small (Phase I) study of AWcorna on humans. There, between 80 and 95 percent of the subjects developed antibodies. This figure refers to the production of any antibodies, the 84 percent to effective antibodies against Omicron.

But even this figure raises questions. If 16 percent of the participants do not form sufficient antibodies against Omicron, the preparation is far below the penetrating power of the competition from Moderna and Biontech. In practically all test subjects, the vaccine from Mainz leads to the formation of antibodies even with the first dose. With the booster, the effect is even more pronounced.

The manufacturer’s low level of transparency is regrettable but likely owed to the basic business behavior of a Chinese company with close ties to the military. All instincts there go presumably for secrecy, unlike at Biontech, which as a European stock corporation is even obliged to publish data and information on a regular basis.

It is entirely unclear when the drug will go into mass production in China. A year ago, there was already a false alarm in the Global Times: The claim was that production is imminent. Since then, nothing visible has happened until, surprisingly, approval came from Indonesia.

Zero-Covid is here to stay

Indonesia is a close ally of China and an important part of the Silk Road Initiative. It was one of the first recipients of Chinese vaccines after the pandemic outbreak. It can be speculated that allowing the vaccine there was a friendly gesture. But the move also raises questions. Why doesn’t China triumphantly proclaim the achievement of having mastered one of the most complex biotechnologies of our time?

The swift shipment of the substance to Indonesia devalues the PR coup a good deal. China could have boasted that it achieved through its own efforts, what should have been achieved through technology transfer. The authorities urged both Biontech and Moderna to share the methods for making mRNA usable with China. This was a prerequisite for market entry – the refusal of the Western companies was probably one of the reasons why they are still on the sidelines today.

The thought remains that mRNA vaccines are so far only a Plan B in China, while their use is the main line of defense against the virus in the West. China’s big Plan A, by contrast, is Xi Jinping’s zero-Covid policy, of which propaganda reports only victories. Infections of vaccinated people, as occurred in Europe and the US, would be harder to convey in China. After all, the Party has now been committed for years to completely shielding the population from the virus.

So it may well be that even the availability of AWcorna does not mean the beginning of the end for zero-Covid. Perhaps the leadership will find it difficult to say goodbye to the unimagined degree of control over the population without further ado. In any case, the transition period will remain for a long time (China.Table reported). Even mRNA vaccinations are not known to provide protection against infection.

No UN debate on Xinjiang

The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva rejected a debate on the human rights situation in Xinjiang. In doing so, the body on Thursday rejected a proposal by Britain, Turkey, the United States, and other mainly Western countries to hold a debate next year on China’s human rights abuses against Muslim Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in China’s western region of Xinjiang (China.Table reported). The outcome was extremely close: 19 states voted against the proposal, 17 in favor, with a whopping 11 abstentions. A simple majority was enough. It would have been the first resolution ever against China in the history of the Human Rights Council. The long-term goal was to install a special rapporteur for the People’s Republic.

An attempt to debate has now failed for the time being. There was an unusual storm of applause in the packed Geneva Council chamber after the result was announced. China’s Ambassador to the Council, Chen Xu, warned shortly before the vote that the motion would be a “dangerous shortcut” to examining the human rights situation in other countries. “If China is targeted, tomorrow, any other developing country is going to be targeted,” Chen said. The narrative is clear: China stands protectively in front of developing countries when the West interferes in their affairs.

Naturally, the initiators of the proposal see things differently. Given the gravity of the allegations against China, “it is important that UN members are allowed to consider it fully,” said Simon Manley, Britain’s ambassador to the Human Rights Council. “China’s attempts to stifle debate and hide the truth will not succeed.” Manley also turned the result around. He said the 17 states’ agreement shows “that a significant number of countries will not be silenced when it comes to egregious human rights violations – no matter where and by whom they are committed.”

China secured “no” votes from its usual allies in the vote, including many African countries, the Gulf states of Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Somalia was the only African country, and the only member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to vote “yes.” Turkey, a partially Westernized OIC member that is also home to many refugee Uyghurs, currently does not have a seat on the council. Argentina, Brazil, India, Malaysia, Mexico, and – interestingly – Ukraine were among the countries that abstained.

According to Reuters, observers saw the rejection as a setback for efforts to ensure accountability and for the West’s moral authority on human rights. Especially because it was only the second time in the 16-year history of the UN Human Rights Council that a motion was rejected. This says a lot about China’s growing influence in the United Nations. Beijing is increasingly succeeding in drawing states to its side, especially developing countries.

The vote was preceded by days of tough wrangling until just before the meeting. Diplomats had predicted a close result shortly before the vote. The Associated Press news agency had anonymously quoted the ambassador of a developing country with a seat on the Human Rights Council. He said he was not expecting an email from his capital with instructions on how to vote until the morning before the vote. ck

Travel from Xinjiang prohibited

Due to a Covid outbreak, residents of Xinjiang are not allowed to leave the province indefinitely, according to media reports. A total of 38 asymptomatic cases were detected on Tuesday, the report said. The region in western China is home to 22 million people, many of whom belong to minorities such as the Uyghurs. The travel restrictions in Xinjiang follow a weeks-long strict lockdown and in some parts of Xinjiang, this led to massive problems with food supplies, among other things.

Controls at airports and train stations were ramped up. Train and bus connections to other provinces were suspended, as were most flights. The authorities did not say how long the restrictions would last, and tourists who traveled to the region for the Golden Week were also affected.

The day before, the airport in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, was put into lockdown by armed police. As seen in videos on social media, Travelers were detained and voiced protests, some of them very vocal.

On October 16, the Communist Party Congress begins in Beijing. Before major political events, security precautions in China are particularly high. This year, the strict prevention of Covid outbreaks additionally plays a significant role. But the party also wants to prevent social or political protests in the capital at this time at all costs. jul

EU court deems deportation of Taiwanese man by Poland illegal

The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Poland to pay compensation for the planned deportation of a Taiwanese prisoner to China. The Taiwanese citizen Hung Tao Liu was threatened with torture in China, among other things, the court announced in Strasbourg on Thursday.

The man was originally wanted by Interpol for telecommunications fraud and was arrested in Poland five years ago. China has since demanded extradition. The authorities rejected an asylum application. In 2018, a court in Warsaw ruled that the Taiwanese man’s extradition to China was in accordance with the law. China had given assurances that it would sufficiently protect his rights.

The judges in Strasbourg, on the other hand, found that the situation in Chinese prisons was equivalent to a “general situation of violence.” This is based on UN reports on torture in China. The Polish courts should have more carefully assessed the risks to the detainee after deportation. Poland must now pay the man a total of €18,000 for the already overlong detention. fin

Yuan to become strongest currency in Russia

This week, the Chinese currency outperformed the US dollar on the Moscow Exchange for the first time, becoming the most traded foreign currency. A total of 64,900 yuan-ruble transactions were completed on Monday. According to the Moscow Exchange Group, trading volume reached ₽70 billion (about $1.2 billion). In contrast, securities trading denominated in US dollars amounted to a volume of only ₽68.2 billion.

In the face of Western sanctions over Putin’s war on Ukraine, Russia is trying to squeeze the dollar out of trade with other countries. The Russian central bank announced as recently as September that it would diversify its foreign exchange reserves and buy up currencies of “friendly states” on a large scale. The Chinese yuan is to account for the largest share of the purchases.

Russia’s yuan reserves accounted for about 17 percent of foreign exchange holdings at the beginning of the year. According to the plans, they are to be increased from the equivalent of $100 billion to $180 billion. In return, the currencies of the G7 countries are to be gradually removed from the country’s own foreign exchange reserves. The Russian Gazprom Group additionally announced in September that future payments for gas deliveries to China would be made in yuan and rubles instead of dollars. flee

Pentagon blacklists DJI

The US Department of Defense has blacklisted more than a dozen Chinese companies. This was reported by the South China Morning Post. Among those affected is the well-known drone manufacturer DJI, China’s largest genetic research company BGI Genomics, and the China State Construction Group. The authority suspects the companies of having links to the Chinese military.

The Pentagon blacklist was already issued last year. It is the basis for restrictions imposed by the US Department of Commerce. This may include banning American companies from investing in Chinese corporations. The blacklist already includes Huawei.

The Pentagon suspects that China is trying to modernize its army with the help of companies that only appear to be civilian. These provide access to advanced technologies. Economic ties with these companies could ultimately contribute to the modernization and growth of the Chinese military, the Pentagon said.

DJI is the world market leader in civil drones (China.Table reported). DJI drones are popular in the consumer market as well as in the professional sector for filming, among other things. However, there are allegations that they may have been used by the Russian military in the war against Ukraine. DJI denies this. jul

Agency David+Martin receives account from Great Wall

The large Chinese car manufacturer Great Wall Motor from Baoding chose the Munich advertising agency David+Martin to promote its luxury-class brand Wey in Europe. The aim is to “establish a completely new brand on the saturated European car market,” said Managing Director Sven Koesling, according to the press release. The agency is to accompany the brand’s communications as early as the Paris Motor Show, starting Oct. 17, reports the trade journal Horizont.

Last November, Great Wall opened a European headquarters in Munich (China.Table reported). The aim is to enter the German market with the electric car brands Wey and Ora (China.Table reported). The Wey Coffee 01 SUV is currently Great Wall’s hybrid flagship with a particularly long electric range and lots of digital technology. Great Wall was China’s first notable private automaker. In 2021, the company sold 1.3 million cars – so far almost exclusively in China. fin

The Party, the Party, is always right!

A key aspect of membership in the Chinese Communist Party is that once you join, you can’t leave.

The option to leave the party is enshrined in the party’s statutes, but in practice, it does not exist. The only way to leave the party is expulsion. And once that happens, you have a big problem. That is one of the reasons why the number of the party’s members keeps going up. Another one is obviously China’s growing population.

As the world’s biggest political organization, the CCP boasts 97 million members, almost the population of Germany, Austria and Switzerland combined. It’s impossible to know the exact number of the members who still have true faith in communism. But that number could be very close to zero.

In China, as in other parts of the world, communism, as an ideology, is bankrupt. Although the party still bears the moniker of communism, it generally shuns away from not only the classic communist vision about the global future, but also from most of the fundamental doctrines of Marxism such as the analysis of relations between capitalists and workers.

Instead, leaders and senior apparatchiks keep grinding out new concepts and theories, the latest being “China Dream” and “Xi Jinping Thoughts on New Era Socialism with Chinese Characteristics”. At the heart of the evolving jargon patchwork are these points: The party is there to

lead the country to make people richer and to
defend the country and raise the country’s status in the world.

All party members can chant out slogans on these points or their variations. Some are even able to give lengthy talks on them. But the number of those who sincerely join the party for these reasons is extremely small.

As a result of rampant corruption and chronic social and economic injustice, cynicism shrouds almost the entire nation. People live by the rule of serving self-interests.

Although the CCP lacks convincing, inspiring political ideas, it nevertheless held on to power unchallenged. And it is an unwritten rule that the top leadership of every state organization at all levels must be members of the party. This also applies to the army, state-owned enterprises and other public institutions, such as hospitals and universities.

The Party, State companies and the public sector in general always play the dominant role in communist China. Under Xi Jinping, their position has become even stronger. So anyone with professional or personal ambitions knows where to turn. Membership may not be a guarantee of power and money, but it certainly can’t hurt.

Anyone who wants to become a member must be professionally competent. But most importantly, they have to follow the party line, which means talking the party talk and always remaining loyal to party policy. Thinking freely or expressing dissenting thoughts is an absolute taboo. The true self must always remain hidden, no matter what it may look like.

Members are systematically brainwashed

Once in, that’s not the end of it. The party committees in all organizations at different levels will keep educating members about the latest concepts and guidelines in the form of meetings and studying sessions, using materials such as speech scripts of Party leaders and books on their thoughts and theories.

From time to time, model party members who reportedly study voluntarily would be trotted out, the most intriguing ones being a young couple transcribing the party’s charter on their wedding night in 2016.

The party also runs party schools at the central, provincial and county levels. Party officials of the senior and middle rankings must take turns to receive full-time education on party policy every couple of years. The courses could be up to 4-month long. (It’s a great networking opportunity, by the way.)

In the age of New Media, the party has kept pace with technological progress. It has developed its own website and a sophisticated app to educate its members. They are called “Xuexi Qiangguo” in Chinese, which literally means “Study makes the country stronger”. They allow members to test themselves with quiz questions. Typical questions include, “What are the most important points of Xi Jinping’s thoughts on diplomacy?” Or, “What punishment does a member receive if he or she makes unfounded criticisms of the party’s central leadership?”

In one of the education campaigns, many party committees stipulated the time length that their members need to spend on the website or the app. The website and the app have functions for committee chiefs or those with the mandate to check on that.

All education serves the purpose of brainwashing, to some extent. But they are more of rituals to foster allegiance. The grandest ritual is the CP Congress, held once every five years.

The teachings of Marx seem more and more dangerous

At the last party congress in 2017, Xi called on members “Not to forget the initial heart; keep firmly in mind the mission”. Soon afterward, an education campaign was launched with that quote as the theme. As learning material, a German film released in the same year, The Young Karl Marx (Der junge Karl Marx) was chosen, which depicts Marx’s life between 1843 and 1848. Party members and government employees were urged to go to cinemas to watch the film during office hours.

It doesn’t sound like a bad idea for a communist party to pick up Marx for its “initial heart”.

Unfortunately, what was neglected was that a key phenomenon that the German philosopher addressed is the miseries of workers caused by capitalist exploitation, which happened to resonate loudly in contemporary China.

Sure enough, students at the prestigious Peking University had launched their independent Society of Marxism. Some joined workers in Beijing and Shenzhen to protest for workers’ rights, which resulted in a harsh government crackdown.

It showed the party and government officials that a fundamental component of Marxism was very dangerous. Indeed, the song The Internationale, the anthem for the communist movement, which calls the oppressed to rise up to fight, is now all but banned in China. Singing the song loudly, in public, either individually or in groups, could attract police intervention and risk of being arrested.

The Marxist tenets the party can still comfortably resort to are public ownership of key economic elements and the proletariat dictatorship, which help justify its monopoly of power and the economy.

Golden October, colorful harvest: These tourists were drawn to the village of Duanzhuang in the northern Chinese province of Hebei. The first week of October is travel season in China. A good opportunity to fill the social media profile with new pictures.

CHINA.TABLE EDITORIAL OFFICE

Amelie
Richter

Marcel
Grzanna

Fabian
Peltsch

Julia
Fiedler

Angela
Köckritz

Jörn
Petring