China
'Mind the Gap' + In the capital of electric cars.
Dear reader,
For EU institutions, China often remains the notorious elephant in the room. Everyone knows what it's about, everyone knows who it is, but no one talks about it. Official communication only speaks of it as "other important economies". Earlier this week, even the declaration of the EU foreign ministers on "globally networked Europe" was keeping quiet about the obvious. Not a single word about the People's Republic - and that of all things in an Initiative, with which Brussels wants to directly challenge China's New Silk Road.
But an alternative to the BRI is not only of importance for the EU. In a joint report by the Munich Security Conference, Berlin-based research institute Merics and the US think tank Aspen Strategy Group, it is considered as one of the core tasks for a fresh start of transatlantic policy on China. Marcel Grzanna analyses the key points of the 67-page paper. And one thing is clear in advance: there is a lot of work to be done to make up for the shortcomings of the recent past.
In today's issue, our author Christiane Kühl takes you on a relaxing trip to China's capital of electric cars. Liuzhou is teeming with small, colorful electric cars. The city, with a population of around four million people, including its suburbs, is one of the largest local markets for electric cars in the world. Only Oslo has more electric cars per capita. How did Liuzhou manage this?
