If reasonable people rise up the ranks under Xi Jinping, China and its trading partners can only benefit from it. This is all the more true if they, as economic experts, favor internationalization and liberalization without wanting to set off a growth explosion at any cost. Liu He, now 70 years old, is such a type of politician. And his star is rising, analyzes Frank Sieren. Liu could even continue to play a decisive role after the Party Congress in the fall – and thus past retirement age. Premier Li Keqiang, meanwhile, remains on the sidelines.
Li’s inaction may have been one of the reasons why the EU-China summit last week achieved so little. After all, he was the summit’s main contact. But the EU Commission under Ursula von der Leyen also had a poor strategy: The summit was ill-prepared, and a focus on the Ukraine crisis left little room for China to address other issues. The fact that China was considered a good mediator at all was also a naïve assessment on Brussels’ part – this is the conclusion of the first Table.Live Briefing reviewing the summit.
Liu He gives you wings. The top economic advisor to President Xi Jinping sends China’s stocks soaring. From Shanghai to Hong Kong to New York. On March 16, a single sentence from the Vice Premier was enough to send the battered stock prices of Chinese tech companies into a rapid climb. Shanghai’s Hang Seng Index gained over nine percent, the biggest one-day increase in over a decade. The tech index even rose more than 22 percent.
Yet his statement, which wrote a significant chapter in the history of the stock market, sounded relatively unspectacular: Authorities should “actively introduce policies that benefit markets,” Liu said. But its massive impact raised the question of why Party leader Xi did not make this big political stroke himself.
Xi could have also entrusted this announcement to his prime minister. Li Keqiang, who will step down from office next spring, surely must have taken it as a slap in the face that Xi turns the political spotlight on his deputy. Especially since, while Liu is a member of the Communist Party’s Politburo, he is not part of the seven-member Standing Committee’s innermost circle, like Li.
Lately, Liu has repeatedly appeared in prominent positions on numerous fronts. The economic expert has now even been tasked by Xi to investigate the crash of the Boeing 737-800 in the province of Guangxi (China.Table reported). Once again, Li Keqiang remained a mere bystander.
Actually, the political career of 70-year-old Liu He should have already come to an end. This is because top cadres usually retire at the age of 68. Xi himself is one of the few exceptions. He is 68 and will probably extend his term of office by at least five years this fall. To this end, Xi abolished the corresponding constitutional regulation in 2018.
Another promotion for Liu would be a clear, political sign pointing to a trend toward a greater market economy, internationalization, and a welcome stock market boom. Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, recently gave insight into Liu’s core ideas. Liu “supports companies that want to list in Hong Kong and overseas.” The United States and China maintain “good communication” and “are making progress” in developing joint regulations for new issues on the stock market. Real estate developers should practice “risk prevention” but also “transform themselves for a new development boost.” Authorities should “respond quickly to issues that concern markets” and be cautious about political actions that have a “contractionary effect on markets.” Concrete actions “must now support the economy.”
And indeed, Liu strives for “market-friendly policies,” but without pushing for exorbitant growth at any price. All in all, Liu stands for slower, more sustainable and more consumer-oriented growth. He has scaled back debt-financed investments. He influences decisions at the central bank, wants to tighten control over banks and financial flows, and wants to avoid debt bubbles. Overcapacities are to be further reduced, for example in steel and coal production.
The private sector also plays an important role in stabilizing employment, adjusting the economic structure and promoting innovation, Liu said in a previous speech. The private sector would contribute more than 50 percent of tax revenue, more than 60 percent of gross domestic product, more than 70 percent of technological innovation, and more than 80 percent of urban employment.
Just how deep market-based mentality runs in the Liu family is also shown by Liu’s son, Tianran. In 2016, he founded the investment house Skycus Capital, which quickly invested in tech giants such as Tencent and JD.com. When his father became vice-premier, his son was forced to sell all of his holdings.
Liu joined the Communist Party in 1976 at the age of 24 and climbed the career ladder in various government agencies before he left for the United States to study – first as a visiting scholar at Seton Hall University in New Jersey in 1992, then at Harvard University, where he both received a master’s degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government there and lectured.
Back in China, Liu held several senior positions in the Chinese government, including the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s highest planning agency. United States Nobel Laureate in Economics Michael Spence counts Liu among his friends. In 2014, Liu wrote his most recent paper for the Harvard Kennedy School. Paper No. 33 is titled, “Overcoming the Great Recession. Lessons from China.” The foreword was written by Larry Summers, former United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, World Bank chief economist and professor of economics. In his paper, Liu compares the Great Depression of 1929 with the Great Recession of 2008.
In 2017, Liu was named one of the 25 members of the CP Politburo. In 2018, he became Vice Premier for Economic Affairs and chief negotiator in the trade war with the United States, where he received a bloody nose from then-President Donald Trump. As director of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission, he plays a key role in steering China’s economic course. Liu also convinced Head of State Xi to appoint Yi Gang as head of the central bank, which now allows Liu to exert a great deal of influence over the country’s monetary policy.
Liu gained the attention of a broad international public when he delivered a speech at the 2018 World Economic Forum in Davos. In the year before, Xi had still done this himself. Back then, this was already a clear sign of how much trust Xi places in Liu. A year later, Liu had a salutatory message from President Xi to Donald Trump be read in Washington. The first sentence of the message sounds like an adulation: “I entrust Vice Premier Liu He to be my Special Envoy.”
Last week’s EU-China summit ended without any tangible results (China.Table reported). In public perception, the buck was mostly passed to Beijing. This is because Chinese foreign policy has stubbornly refused to join international sanctions against Russia. But there are reasons for China’s passiveness in the Ukraine war, two leading experts stressed at a Table.Media event on Thursday. The topic of our Table.Live Briefing event was “Assessing the EU-China Summit Confirmation”.
Expecting a sudden turn away from Russia was unrealistic from the very beginning, says Alicia García-Herrero. She is a China expert at Bruegel, a renowned Brussels-based think tank, and an advisor to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). “I was surprised from the beginning about the attempt to convince China to be a mediator.” The country had never acted as a mediator in any major international conflict before.
Also, actors in Brussels surely must have been aware of how hard it would be for China to turn away from Russia. ” Thus, the problem lies not so much with China but with a misperception of China’s position,” García-Herrero believes. China is working toward the creation of a new political world order. García-Herrero asks pointedly, “If China abandons Russia, who else will stand by China’s side? Without Russia, how can China work toward the change in the international order it seeks?” It is simply the lack of allies that leaves China no choice but to stand with Russia. Expecting it to side with the United States and the EU was naïve from the start.
However, the EU not only misjudged the Chinese sensitivities. It also gave China no real chance to come to terms with the Europeans. “The summit was poorly prepared,” says Matthias Stepan, Head of Beijing Representative Office at Stiftung Mercator. When its own leaders are involved, China disdains diplomatic surprises. Yet the EU had made the Ukraine invasion a major topic at the online summit on short notice that day. “This was supposed to be a summit about economics,” García-Herrero affirmed. The date for the online meeting had been set before the start of the Ukraine war.
According to Stepan, the abrupt change of the summit’s agenda had already significantly lowered the chances of success. It had deprived diplomats and other officials at the working level of the chance to broker a compromise in advance. Normally, a large team of experts from both sides would spend months leading up to such a summit fine-tuning their drafts. This had not been the case this time.
In fact, shortly before the summit, Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis had still cited unresolved economic issues to be the main focus. “That could have been an opportunity to resume dialogue,” Stepan said. Since the CAI investment agreement has already been shelved a year ago (China.Table reported), there is indeed a considerable need for exchange here as well. This makes it all the more disappointing that no agreements were reached once again.
García-Herrero and Stepan also stress the importance of continuing cooperation between the EU and China. Despite “a watershed moment”, the EU needs to maintain a functioning relationship with China. What has worked so far does not necessarily have to end now, Stepan says. “These are two completely different political systems, and yet cooperation was possible.”
In the past, the foundation for successful dialogue was mutual benefit. Trade had brought more prosperity for both sides – and this was the common ground for compromise. That is why it is all the more important to keep trade going, the policy experts believe. This makes the current global trend toward autarky and protectionism all the more detrimental and leads to ever greater alienation.
But the Chinese side also needs to learn to better understand the EU. “China has to realize that the EU is a foreign policy player,” Stepan says. Beijing had long only tolerated Brussels as a pro forma interlocutor and turned to Berlin or Paris for concrete issues. But geopolitical developments ultimately turn the slower and cumbersome EU into a crucial interlocutor in Europe.
Shanghai’s municipal government promises to improve supply distribution during the lockdown. To this end, the number of active delivery drivers will be increased to 11,000. Cooperation partners continue to be private companies such as Meituan, Hema (Freshippo), Dingdong and Ele.me. Meituan alone announced plans to deploy a thousand additional drivers.
As the lockdown drags on, citizens’ pantries are emptying. Normally, there is enough food to go around, but distribution continues to be a problem, said Vice Mayor Chen Tong at a press conference. Food distribution continues to suffer from gaps. For example, residents who are not registered in Shanghai (hukou) or hotel guests are not properly identified.
Despite more than a week of curfew, case numbers in the metropolis continue to rise. Shanghai reported 19,989 confirmed new infections on Thursday. The day before, the number was 17,007. This means that there is no end in sight to the lockdown. Restrictions are also increasing in other cities due to local outbreaks.
Meanwhile, authorities also plan to impose stricter restrictions on flights bound for Shanghai. A rule already stipulates that international flights operated by Chinese airlines must be diverted to other airports. This will remain in effect at least until May 1. In addition, all remaining Shanghai flights are to be at least 60 percent empty. Vacant seats are supposed to reduce the likelihood of infection on board, Reuters reports. Previously, carriers were required to keep at least 25 percent of seats empty. The requirement is set to take effect next Monday, according to the report.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party is ramping up its propaganda campaign to present itself as a relentless fighter against the virus. In a letter to members, the Shanghai CP vowed to “wield the sword against all those who oppose efforts against the pandemic.” State media reported a punitive disciplinary action against a mid-level cadre from Hebei. He reportedly bragged online that he could effortlessly cross the borders of restricted zones with his official ID. While legal, his actions were careless. The comment stated that Party membership was not for the sake of convenience. Those who harm its image should be punished. fin
Only a few weeks after Tibet saw an act of self-immolation, another death was reported in Tibet. According to the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), an 81-year-old man named Taphun set himself on fire in front of a police station in the eastern Tibetan county of Aba in the province of Sichuan on March 27 and later died of his injuries. Earlier, in late February, 25-year-old Tibetan singer Tsewang Norbu set himself on fire in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa. (China.Table reported.) He, too, died a few days later.
Self-immolation is an extreme form of protest by Tibetans against the Chinese occupation. Since 2009, nearly 160 Tibetans have set themselves on fire in protest of Chinese repression. One-third of the self-immolations were committed by residents of the Aba region. Since 2015, however, the number of such incidents has drastically decreased.
Chinese authorities do not publicize such self-immolations to avoid public awareness. Due to this hermetic information policy, news about such tragedies only make it days or weeks past China’s national border. grz
He didn’t have to take the plunge. Stefan Sielaff started his new job as Vice President of Global Design at Chinese carmaker Geely rather gently. Although the Munich native began his position a good six months ago, he was unable to make it to the People’s Republic during the first few months of his new job due to strict quarantine regulations.
But there weren’t any major issues. The global design headquarters is located in Gothenburg anyway. Sielaff now also has his office there. Here, 500 employees work in design, 500 more are located in Shanghai, and 15 each in Barcelona and California. Geely has invested vast sums in digitization to unite this global team. The pandemic may have sped up this process, but it was not the catalyst. Geely sees itself as a global and modern corporation and wants to operate accordingly. When Sielaff presents a car to the board, he does so in virtual reality. There, avatars stroll around the vehicle and express their opinions.
It quickly becomes clear why Geely wanted Sielaff at all costs. He was previously Chief Designer at Bentley and was responsible for the global interior design of the entire VW Group. The result speaks for itself. Bentley radiates monolithic calm, and the interiors of the Wolfsburg brands are considered well-composed benchmarks. Sielaff: “You have to try to calm the design and introduce a clear design language. Chinese customers recognize when the quality is right. And you achieve this effect with a calm style, organic surfaces and clear lines in the exterior and the interplay of materials in the interior.”
Sielaff is considered well-organized and works structured. These are qualities that Chinese executives value, but which are rare, especially in creative professions such as design. China’s work ethic also suits him. “The first thing you notice is the pace – how fast things are decided. I’m a demanding person, I want to see results fast, and I can’t stand it when decisions drag on for months. That’s why I’m also a proponent of working digitally.”
In his 35 years of experience at almost all VW Group brands – including a stint at Daimler – Sielaff has learned not to simply design cars. He thinks of them holistically. In his opinion, workmanship quality begins with the first sketches. Sielaff knows when a design is too playful and can lead to manufacturing problems. “You can always argue about design. But not about whether it’s top quality. Everyone notices it right away, even if they may not be aware of where the effect comes from. My job is to get that message across.”
The zeitgeist is also working in his favor, he believes: “The Chinese like luxury that is not over the top, but discreet. And that will come in the next few years. That’s why I’m in the right place at the right time.” Christian Domke-Seidel
Gaofen 3-03 on its way to space: A Long March-4C rocket launches the satellite into space from the Jiuquan Cosmodrome in northwest China. The new high-resolution Earth observation satellite has successfully entered its planned orbit, state officials reported. Together with Gaofen 3, launched in August 2016, and Gaofen 3-02, launched in November 2021, Gaofen 3-03 forms a constellation that can observe every point on Earth once a day.
If reasonable people rise up the ranks under Xi Jinping, China and its trading partners can only benefit from it. This is all the more true if they, as economic experts, favor internationalization and liberalization without wanting to set off a growth explosion at any cost. Liu He, now 70 years old, is such a type of politician. And his star is rising, analyzes Frank Sieren. Liu could even continue to play a decisive role after the Party Congress in the fall – and thus past retirement age. Premier Li Keqiang, meanwhile, remains on the sidelines.
Li’s inaction may have been one of the reasons why the EU-China summit last week achieved so little. After all, he was the summit’s main contact. But the EU Commission under Ursula von der Leyen also had a poor strategy: The summit was ill-prepared, and a focus on the Ukraine crisis left little room for China to address other issues. The fact that China was considered a good mediator at all was also a naïve assessment on Brussels’ part – this is the conclusion of the first Table.Live Briefing reviewing the summit.
Liu He gives you wings. The top economic advisor to President Xi Jinping sends China’s stocks soaring. From Shanghai to Hong Kong to New York. On March 16, a single sentence from the Vice Premier was enough to send the battered stock prices of Chinese tech companies into a rapid climb. Shanghai’s Hang Seng Index gained over nine percent, the biggest one-day increase in over a decade. The tech index even rose more than 22 percent.
Yet his statement, which wrote a significant chapter in the history of the stock market, sounded relatively unspectacular: Authorities should “actively introduce policies that benefit markets,” Liu said. But its massive impact raised the question of why Party leader Xi did not make this big political stroke himself.
Xi could have also entrusted this announcement to his prime minister. Li Keqiang, who will step down from office next spring, surely must have taken it as a slap in the face that Xi turns the political spotlight on his deputy. Especially since, while Liu is a member of the Communist Party’s Politburo, he is not part of the seven-member Standing Committee’s innermost circle, like Li.
Lately, Liu has repeatedly appeared in prominent positions on numerous fronts. The economic expert has now even been tasked by Xi to investigate the crash of the Boeing 737-800 in the province of Guangxi (China.Table reported). Once again, Li Keqiang remained a mere bystander.
Actually, the political career of 70-year-old Liu He should have already come to an end. This is because top cadres usually retire at the age of 68. Xi himself is one of the few exceptions. He is 68 and will probably extend his term of office by at least five years this fall. To this end, Xi abolished the corresponding constitutional regulation in 2018.
Another promotion for Liu would be a clear, political sign pointing to a trend toward a greater market economy, internationalization, and a welcome stock market boom. Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, recently gave insight into Liu’s core ideas. Liu “supports companies that want to list in Hong Kong and overseas.” The United States and China maintain “good communication” and “are making progress” in developing joint regulations for new issues on the stock market. Real estate developers should practice “risk prevention” but also “transform themselves for a new development boost.” Authorities should “respond quickly to issues that concern markets” and be cautious about political actions that have a “contractionary effect on markets.” Concrete actions “must now support the economy.”
And indeed, Liu strives for “market-friendly policies,” but without pushing for exorbitant growth at any price. All in all, Liu stands for slower, more sustainable and more consumer-oriented growth. He has scaled back debt-financed investments. He influences decisions at the central bank, wants to tighten control over banks and financial flows, and wants to avoid debt bubbles. Overcapacities are to be further reduced, for example in steel and coal production.
The private sector also plays an important role in stabilizing employment, adjusting the economic structure and promoting innovation, Liu said in a previous speech. The private sector would contribute more than 50 percent of tax revenue, more than 60 percent of gross domestic product, more than 70 percent of technological innovation, and more than 80 percent of urban employment.
Just how deep market-based mentality runs in the Liu family is also shown by Liu’s son, Tianran. In 2016, he founded the investment house Skycus Capital, which quickly invested in tech giants such as Tencent and JD.com. When his father became vice-premier, his son was forced to sell all of his holdings.
Liu joined the Communist Party in 1976 at the age of 24 and climbed the career ladder in various government agencies before he left for the United States to study – first as a visiting scholar at Seton Hall University in New Jersey in 1992, then at Harvard University, where he both received a master’s degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government there and lectured.
Back in China, Liu held several senior positions in the Chinese government, including the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s highest planning agency. United States Nobel Laureate in Economics Michael Spence counts Liu among his friends. In 2014, Liu wrote his most recent paper for the Harvard Kennedy School. Paper No. 33 is titled, “Overcoming the Great Recession. Lessons from China.” The foreword was written by Larry Summers, former United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, World Bank chief economist and professor of economics. In his paper, Liu compares the Great Depression of 1929 with the Great Recession of 2008.
In 2017, Liu was named one of the 25 members of the CP Politburo. In 2018, he became Vice Premier for Economic Affairs and chief negotiator in the trade war with the United States, where he received a bloody nose from then-President Donald Trump. As director of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission, he plays a key role in steering China’s economic course. Liu also convinced Head of State Xi to appoint Yi Gang as head of the central bank, which now allows Liu to exert a great deal of influence over the country’s monetary policy.
Liu gained the attention of a broad international public when he delivered a speech at the 2018 World Economic Forum in Davos. In the year before, Xi had still done this himself. Back then, this was already a clear sign of how much trust Xi places in Liu. A year later, Liu had a salutatory message from President Xi to Donald Trump be read in Washington. The first sentence of the message sounds like an adulation: “I entrust Vice Premier Liu He to be my Special Envoy.”
Last week’s EU-China summit ended without any tangible results (China.Table reported). In public perception, the buck was mostly passed to Beijing. This is because Chinese foreign policy has stubbornly refused to join international sanctions against Russia. But there are reasons for China’s passiveness in the Ukraine war, two leading experts stressed at a Table.Media event on Thursday. The topic of our Table.Live Briefing event was “Assessing the EU-China Summit Confirmation”.
Expecting a sudden turn away from Russia was unrealistic from the very beginning, says Alicia García-Herrero. She is a China expert at Bruegel, a renowned Brussels-based think tank, and an advisor to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). “I was surprised from the beginning about the attempt to convince China to be a mediator.” The country had never acted as a mediator in any major international conflict before.
Also, actors in Brussels surely must have been aware of how hard it would be for China to turn away from Russia. ” Thus, the problem lies not so much with China but with a misperception of China’s position,” García-Herrero believes. China is working toward the creation of a new political world order. García-Herrero asks pointedly, “If China abandons Russia, who else will stand by China’s side? Without Russia, how can China work toward the change in the international order it seeks?” It is simply the lack of allies that leaves China no choice but to stand with Russia. Expecting it to side with the United States and the EU was naïve from the start.
However, the EU not only misjudged the Chinese sensitivities. It also gave China no real chance to come to terms with the Europeans. “The summit was poorly prepared,” says Matthias Stepan, Head of Beijing Representative Office at Stiftung Mercator. When its own leaders are involved, China disdains diplomatic surprises. Yet the EU had made the Ukraine invasion a major topic at the online summit on short notice that day. “This was supposed to be a summit about economics,” García-Herrero affirmed. The date for the online meeting had been set before the start of the Ukraine war.
According to Stepan, the abrupt change of the summit’s agenda had already significantly lowered the chances of success. It had deprived diplomats and other officials at the working level of the chance to broker a compromise in advance. Normally, a large team of experts from both sides would spend months leading up to such a summit fine-tuning their drafts. This had not been the case this time.
In fact, shortly before the summit, Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis had still cited unresolved economic issues to be the main focus. “That could have been an opportunity to resume dialogue,” Stepan said. Since the CAI investment agreement has already been shelved a year ago (China.Table reported), there is indeed a considerable need for exchange here as well. This makes it all the more disappointing that no agreements were reached once again.
García-Herrero and Stepan also stress the importance of continuing cooperation between the EU and China. Despite “a watershed moment”, the EU needs to maintain a functioning relationship with China. What has worked so far does not necessarily have to end now, Stepan says. “These are two completely different political systems, and yet cooperation was possible.”
In the past, the foundation for successful dialogue was mutual benefit. Trade had brought more prosperity for both sides – and this was the common ground for compromise. That is why it is all the more important to keep trade going, the policy experts believe. This makes the current global trend toward autarky and protectionism all the more detrimental and leads to ever greater alienation.
But the Chinese side also needs to learn to better understand the EU. “China has to realize that the EU is a foreign policy player,” Stepan says. Beijing had long only tolerated Brussels as a pro forma interlocutor and turned to Berlin or Paris for concrete issues. But geopolitical developments ultimately turn the slower and cumbersome EU into a crucial interlocutor in Europe.
Shanghai’s municipal government promises to improve supply distribution during the lockdown. To this end, the number of active delivery drivers will be increased to 11,000. Cooperation partners continue to be private companies such as Meituan, Hema (Freshippo), Dingdong and Ele.me. Meituan alone announced plans to deploy a thousand additional drivers.
As the lockdown drags on, citizens’ pantries are emptying. Normally, there is enough food to go around, but distribution continues to be a problem, said Vice Mayor Chen Tong at a press conference. Food distribution continues to suffer from gaps. For example, residents who are not registered in Shanghai (hukou) or hotel guests are not properly identified.
Despite more than a week of curfew, case numbers in the metropolis continue to rise. Shanghai reported 19,989 confirmed new infections on Thursday. The day before, the number was 17,007. This means that there is no end in sight to the lockdown. Restrictions are also increasing in other cities due to local outbreaks.
Meanwhile, authorities also plan to impose stricter restrictions on flights bound for Shanghai. A rule already stipulates that international flights operated by Chinese airlines must be diverted to other airports. This will remain in effect at least until May 1. In addition, all remaining Shanghai flights are to be at least 60 percent empty. Vacant seats are supposed to reduce the likelihood of infection on board, Reuters reports. Previously, carriers were required to keep at least 25 percent of seats empty. The requirement is set to take effect next Monday, according to the report.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party is ramping up its propaganda campaign to present itself as a relentless fighter against the virus. In a letter to members, the Shanghai CP vowed to “wield the sword against all those who oppose efforts against the pandemic.” State media reported a punitive disciplinary action against a mid-level cadre from Hebei. He reportedly bragged online that he could effortlessly cross the borders of restricted zones with his official ID. While legal, his actions were careless. The comment stated that Party membership was not for the sake of convenience. Those who harm its image should be punished. fin
Only a few weeks after Tibet saw an act of self-immolation, another death was reported in Tibet. According to the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), an 81-year-old man named Taphun set himself on fire in front of a police station in the eastern Tibetan county of Aba in the province of Sichuan on March 27 and later died of his injuries. Earlier, in late February, 25-year-old Tibetan singer Tsewang Norbu set himself on fire in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa. (China.Table reported.) He, too, died a few days later.
Self-immolation is an extreme form of protest by Tibetans against the Chinese occupation. Since 2009, nearly 160 Tibetans have set themselves on fire in protest of Chinese repression. One-third of the self-immolations were committed by residents of the Aba region. Since 2015, however, the number of such incidents has drastically decreased.
Chinese authorities do not publicize such self-immolations to avoid public awareness. Due to this hermetic information policy, news about such tragedies only make it days or weeks past China’s national border. grz
He didn’t have to take the plunge. Stefan Sielaff started his new job as Vice President of Global Design at Chinese carmaker Geely rather gently. Although the Munich native began his position a good six months ago, he was unable to make it to the People’s Republic during the first few months of his new job due to strict quarantine regulations.
But there weren’t any major issues. The global design headquarters is located in Gothenburg anyway. Sielaff now also has his office there. Here, 500 employees work in design, 500 more are located in Shanghai, and 15 each in Barcelona and California. Geely has invested vast sums in digitization to unite this global team. The pandemic may have sped up this process, but it was not the catalyst. Geely sees itself as a global and modern corporation and wants to operate accordingly. When Sielaff presents a car to the board, he does so in virtual reality. There, avatars stroll around the vehicle and express their opinions.
It quickly becomes clear why Geely wanted Sielaff at all costs. He was previously Chief Designer at Bentley and was responsible for the global interior design of the entire VW Group. The result speaks for itself. Bentley radiates monolithic calm, and the interiors of the Wolfsburg brands are considered well-composed benchmarks. Sielaff: “You have to try to calm the design and introduce a clear design language. Chinese customers recognize when the quality is right. And you achieve this effect with a calm style, organic surfaces and clear lines in the exterior and the interplay of materials in the interior.”
Sielaff is considered well-organized and works structured. These are qualities that Chinese executives value, but which are rare, especially in creative professions such as design. China’s work ethic also suits him. “The first thing you notice is the pace – how fast things are decided. I’m a demanding person, I want to see results fast, and I can’t stand it when decisions drag on for months. That’s why I’m also a proponent of working digitally.”
In his 35 years of experience at almost all VW Group brands – including a stint at Daimler – Sielaff has learned not to simply design cars. He thinks of them holistically. In his opinion, workmanship quality begins with the first sketches. Sielaff knows when a design is too playful and can lead to manufacturing problems. “You can always argue about design. But not about whether it’s top quality. Everyone notices it right away, even if they may not be aware of where the effect comes from. My job is to get that message across.”
The zeitgeist is also working in his favor, he believes: “The Chinese like luxury that is not over the top, but discreet. And that will come in the next few years. That’s why I’m in the right place at the right time.” Christian Domke-Seidel
Gaofen 3-03 on its way to space: A Long March-4C rocket launches the satellite into space from the Jiuquan Cosmodrome in northwest China. The new high-resolution Earth observation satellite has successfully entered its planned orbit, state officials reported. Together with Gaofen 3, launched in August 2016, and Gaofen 3-02, launched in November 2021, Gaofen 3-03 forms a constellation that can observe every point on Earth once a day.
