Taishan nuclear power plant: radioactive leak or normal operation?
Green skyscrapers
Airbus warns of competition
Beijing accuses G7 of ‘interference’
Bundestag election program of the Greens
Heads: Philipp Boeing – ZEW researcher on subsidies for innovation
Dear reader,
It must have been a majorchallenge for NATO to get all 30 members on the same page vis-à-vis China. Although the final declaration suggests unity, and China is even described as a “systemic challenge”, behind the scenes, a wide variety of interests clashed, reports Amelie Richter. NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg speaks of a pivotal moment and states: The rise of the People’s Republic is the greatest security challenge of our time. His bottom line: China is moving closer to us. Whether that’s good or bad is in the eye of the beholder.
The US government’s view of China is clear even under US President Joe Biden. On Monday, reports circulated in the American media that the Taishan nuclear power plant was about to be shut down because of safety problems. China reacted indignantly, saying everything was fine. Finn Mayer-Kuckuk is very familiar with the nuclear reactor. In 2010 he researched on-site: The two pressurized water reactors in Taishan, built with French help, are of the EPR type and are the only units of this type in the world that so far supply electricity. Our Feature shows: The truth lies between the US warning of a radioactive leak and the Chinese replica of normal operation.
Frank Sieren has something amazing to report: China’s skyscrapers are among the most sustainable in the world. They even receive prestigious awards from America for their environmentally friendly innovations. But until now, the builders have mostly been state-owned. Beijing now wants to change that with new regulations. A look at the current construction figures shows how important that would be: No other country in the world is building more new skyscrapers than China.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made very clear how important the summit meeting of the North Atlantic defensive alliance was: NATO was at a“pivotal moment” and was beginning a “new chapter,” the Norwegian stressed several times throughout the day in Brussels on Monday. Not only because, with US President Joe Biden, the Transatlantic Alliance is once again experiencing a more responsive and committed Washington after four Trump years – but also because of Nato’s new orientation towards China. And it went from 0 to 100 because the People’s Republic was mentioned for the first time a good 18 months ago in a statement by the alliance. Now, China is mentioned in ten places in the communiqué adopted by the NATO heads of state and government. In the final declaration, China is classified as a “systemic challenge” for the first time.
The alliance of 30 states will, in the future, “engage China with a view to defending the security interest of the alliance,” the final paper states. The growing influence of the People’s Republic and its international policy could pose challenges that must be tackled jointly as an alliance. On one point, NATO is more explicit than the G7 countries were last weekend: China is pursuing a coercivepolicy contrary to thefundamental values of the North Atlantic Treaty.
Merkel speaks out in favor of dialogue format
The declaration calls on Beijing to“comply with its international obligations” and to live up to its “role as a great power” – including at sea, in cyberspace, and in outer space. In addition, China should create transparency with regard to its nuclear capabilities and take confidence-building measures: China is expanding its nuclear arsenal with more warheads and a greater number of sophisticated delivery systems but remains “opaque,” the final declaration continues. Stoltenberg stressed after the summit that there was also concern about the use of calculated disinformation by the People’s Republic.
With the adopted text, NATO has come a long way, the Secretary-General said, referring to the first mention of the People’s Republic just 18 months ago. Although China is now seen as a “systemic challenge”, it is important to continue talking to each other, Stoltenberg said. China is not an “adversary”, he said. That choice of words was also deliberately refrained from in the joint statement. Some Brussels watchers would have liked to see more challenging words – and also more concrete proposals. “What counts for me is that we have found a common and clear positioning vis-à-vis China,” Stoltenberg said.
NATO committed itself to dialogue with Beijing “where possible”. On climate issues, for example. Germany was not the last country to advocate this diplomatic position. After the summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke out in favor of the alliance developing its own dialogue format with China, as reported by Bloomberg, among others. China is increasingly playing a role, Merkel said, according to reports. But that is also the case for the entire Indo-Pacific region, she acknowledged. That is mainly because “the United States is also a Pacific nation,” Politico quoted the chancellor. “But I don’t think we should overstate the importance,” Merkel said, referring to the conclusions on China, according to the report.
NATO sets up Innovation Fund
When asked how willing countries like Germany, which have close economic ties to China, were to get tougher on Beijing, Stoltenberg replied, “We have to face the challenges that China’s rise poses to our security, even though many allies have economic ties to China.” There is not just one or the other, he said.
The NATO Secretary-General appealed to member states, pointing to their responsibility when it comes to meeting challenges: “It’s also very much about what we do ‘at home’.” He cited the protection of critical infrastructure, such as ports or Huawei’s equipment for the 5G network, as examples. “China is coming closer to us,” Stoltenberg said. To keep up with China in terms of technology, he announced the establishment of the Defence Innovation Accelerator and a NATO Innovation Fund.
Stoltenberg now has the task of drawing up a new strategic concept by the next meeting in a year’s time. The allies also agreed on eight core elements of the “Nato 2030” reform agenda. These include more political consultation in the alliance and a contribution by the military to climate protection. The alliance’s joint budget must also be increased following a needs assessment. An exact figure for the increase was not yet available.
Is China NATO’s concern? Disunity in the alliance
In the reform agenda, the alliance pledges to expand partnerships, for example, with the European Union or with states in the Indo-Pacific region. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also advocated an idea: “We need to make sure that as an alliance, even though we are much more ‘Atlantic’ than ‘Pacific,’ we are aware of China’s global influences,” the Canadian said.
But a key European state saw the newfound attention to China differently. “NATO is an organization that concerns the North Atlantic, China has little to do with the North Atlantic,” French President Emmanuel Macron said after the summit, according to media reports. “We should avoid distracting NATO, which already has many challenges.”
US President Biden, who visited Europe for the first time since taking office, made a clear commitment to the defensive alliance: “Our NATO alliance is stronger than ever,” Biden wrote on Twitter. Biden was still meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. Despite Nato’s new interest in China, Moscow remains the top topic in the allies’ communiqué: Russia accounted for 63 mentions in the text.
Geopolitics
Nato
Taishan nuclear power plant: radioactive leak or normal operation?
When nuclear power plant operators assure the public that there is no cause for alarm, the public usually becomes really suspicious. Especially when the plant is located in theimmediate vicinity of the Pearl River Delta, a mega-metropolitan region with over 100 million inhabitants in a very small area. Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, among others, are in this immediate vicinity.
Following reports of a leak at the Taishan nuclear power plant in China, the operators have now vehemently denied speculation about possible dangers and environmental damage (China.Table reports). The China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) said on Monday night that the environmental data at the nuclear power plant and its surroundings were all “normal”.
The authorities and the operators regularly measure the values of the nuclear power plant in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, and both units are operating by safety regulations, CGN announced. In addition to the China General Nuclear Power Group, the French nuclear company Framatome also has a stake in the power plant.
The energy company Electricité de France (EDF), once involved in the construction of the plant, also gave the all-clear on Monday. At the beginning of the week, it confirmed that the limits for the release of gases into the atmosphere had been met. “We have no dynamics of an accident with meltdown,” a spokesman said. EDF has a 30 percent stake in the power plant. The company is the corporate parent of co-operator Framatome.
The operators report “damage to the cladding” of some fuel rods. This causes radioactive noble gases to enter the internal cooling circuit, explains EDF. This is undesirable, but in this form, it is also not dangerous. The companies involved did not say how many fuel rods are affected. Only this much: “We are not dealing with a contamination, but with a controlled release,” the EDF spokesman added to the AFP news agency.
The noble gases xenon and krypton are produced from uranium in the reactor. Under the bombardment of neutrons during the chain reaction, the atomic nuclei of uranium split into lighter elements. In the process, numerous isotopes are created. In addition to metals and other elements, these also include small amounts of noble gases. They play a role in safety insofar as gases naturally escape into the environment particularly easily. On the other hand, they disperse quickly in the air and hardly enter the human food chain.
Framatome saw nuclear threat
One unit of the power plant was built starting in 2009 by Framatome, which was still called Areva at the time. The identical second unit was built by CGN a few months later – as a study project, so to speak. The construction period was supposed to be only three years, but in fact, after several delays and additional safety tests, the units were not connected to the grid until 2018 and 2019.
On Monday, the American news channel CNN startled the world public with reports of an “imminent radioactive threat” in China. The US government had received a call for help from Framatome because a dangerous situation had arisen at the Taishan nuclear power plant. CNN reported that Chinese authorities raised the limits because otherwise, they would have had to shut down the plant.
However, CNN also stressed that a critical level had not been reached. At present, there is no serious threat – neither to the workers at the plant nor to the public in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant. Nevertheless, the situation must continue to be monitored.
CNN also quotes American experts trying to assess the situation. According to them, the quantities of noble gases – which are not where they are supposed to be – exceed the EU standards to which the operators feel bound. This is a situation in which, according to Framatome’s assessment, there is at least a need for discussion. China, however, reflexively insists that everything is completely in order – and wants to stifle the discussion as quickly as possible.
However, the situation is so serious that the US President’s Security Council dealt with the incident several times last week, CNN reports. Joe Biden’s administration discussed the situation with the French government. China’s government had also been contacted. At what level and to what extent remained unclear at first.
Meanwhile, on Monday, EDF said further that it had requested an extraordinary board meeting with the Chinese operators to evaluate all available data and make necessary decisions. Framatome’s alert to US authorities was prompted by a request on June 8 for urgent permission to share American technical data and support to resolve the issue, CNN reported.
Safe reactor with practical problems
Taishan nuclear power plant is located west of Macao and Zhuhai in Yaogu on the coast of China’s Guangdong province. The name sounds similar to the mountain range (泰山) in the northeast of the country, which is popular among tourists but is written with different characters (台山).
The two new-type European Pressurized Water Reactors (EPR) built with French assistance are so far the only units of this type worldwide that supply electricity. Other power plants with such reactors are being built in the UK and France, among other countries. However, new construction in Flamanville in northern France had been delayed due to safety mishaps. Among other things, the French nuclear regulator criticized cracks in the reactor’s shell.
A project in Olkiluoto, Finland, also had to contend with massive delays due to safety concerns. Unit 3, which is technically very similar to the project at the Taishan nuclear power plant, could only be completed this year – after 16 years of construction. Finnish inspectors kept finding new problems, including with the concrete and with welds; the parts delivered did not fit together. In retrospect, the project is considered a disaster that bankrupted Areva. A new EPR unit at the UK’s Hinkley Point power station is also over budget and behind schedule. It is due to go online in 2026.
In China, too, the project was overshadowed by criticism of the safety level. However, compared to the construction in Olkiluoto, the inspections were much less close, which favored the progress of construction. Nevertheless, the list of irregularities at the Taishan nuclear power plant is also long: Here, too, the material quality of crucial components such as the pressure vessel was questioned at times. In the end, however, all components were approved.
Meanwhile, the third-generation European Pressurized Water Reactor (EPR) is one of the safest types of nuclear power plants in the world. It is precisely the discussion about the risks of nuclear energy that has spurred on the engineers to high performance. Even in the event of a total power failure, as in Fukushima, the necessary minimum level of cooling would be maintained. This makes a meltdown very unlikely. If it does occur, a heat-resistant “core-catcher” under the reactor traps the glowing mass of molten uranium. During normal operation, the sensors and computers monitor the plant on a particularly small scale and automatically warn of unsafe situations.
Radioactive noble gases also escape in Germany
The formation of radioactive noble gases during power plant operation is normal – they should just not escape into the environment in too large quantities. In the reactor, uranium 235 first decays into uranium 236 and then into the gas krypton 89 and barium 144. However, krypton 89 only exists for a few minutes because of its rapid decay. But nuclear fission also produces krypton 85, which is much more stable with a half-life of 10,000 years. Radioactive xenon, another noble gas, is also produced in reactors. Hydrogen also exists in a radiative variant, which is produced in nuclear power plants.
At the end of last week, the Washington-based US Green Building Council (USGBC) presented the LeadershipAward for Sustainable Building to Gensler China. The Chinese offshoot of the American architecture firm has built, among other things, one of the most sustainable skyscrapers in the world: the Shanghai Tower, with its 632 meters the second tallest building in the world after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The tower was commissioned by the Shanghai Municipality.
The tower achieved the LEEDPlatinum standard. LEED is the highest environmental certification worldwide and has been awarded by the USGBC for over 20 years. That the award ceremony is taking place in the context of the G7 summit is no coincidence. It is a successful example of cooperation between the USA and China. Despite all the differences of opinion, which were also evident at the G7 summit, Washington and Beijing are keen to work together on climate protection.
Exemplary sustainability
The latest technology has been installed in the tower, which was commissioned back in 2015 and is still considered exemplary: the facade rotates 120 degrees in itself and thus reduces the surface area for the wind to attack. This means that the building requires 25 percent less steel, which has saved $58 million in costs.
270 vertical wind turbines are installed in the facade, generating 350,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. That is ten percent of the electricity demand. The double glass facade protects the building from overheating, which is important in subtropical Shanghai. The air conditioning systems have to work correspondingly less. Geothermal energy is used for cooling and heating, and most of the water is recycled. Rainwater is collected.
However, the Shanghai Tower is not the only building to be certified as particularly sustainable by the Green Building Council.
Green highlights
The Kingkey 100 Tower in Shenzhen is one of them, as is the Jinmao Tower, the third tallest building in Shanghai-Pudong and one of the most beautiful contemporary skyscrapers. It stands right next to the Shanghai Tower. Designed by American Adrian Smith of the architectural firm SOM, the building, which is already more than 20 years old, recycles 70 percent of the waste and wastewater from its 88 floors, among other things, according to the American environmental magazine EcoWatch. The Jinmao Tower thus shows that Sustainability in Chinese skyscrapers was not discovered just yesterday – and that the Americans also play a central role in this.
There are also exemplary skyscrapers in Hong Kong, even if they are not as spectacular as in Shanghai or Shenzhen: The 48-story One Taikoo Place is one of them, as is the International Commerce Centre with its 108 floors. With LEED Gold certification, the buildings are among the top three percent of green skyscrapers worldwide, according to USGBC. Since 2012, the eco-tower One Taikoo has saved the annual electricity consumption of 4500 three-person households.
On the mainland, such houses are mostly demanded by the state as the builder. For private builders, environmental investments are often still too expensive.
Stricter rules
Beijing is forcing developers to do more to protect the environment with a new regulation that came into force on April 27, 2020, and was issued jointly by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the National Development and Reform Commission. A limit of 500 meters was introduced in the process, where the two authorities are particularly strict in checking environmental standards and also earthquake resistance. Water collection and recycling also play a role. And there is the issue of heating facades or questions of insulation to reduce temperature fluctuations. But even buildings over 100 meters have been scrutinized more closely since then.
Instead of height and prestige, cities should increasingly base their architecture on whether it is “suitable for use, economical, green and artistically appealing,” the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said. The days when “high” was enough for Beijing to make China’s economic power obvious to the world are over. In the meantime, it’s all about the quality of life.
Some developers have already reacted to the directive by cutting back the height of ongoing projects without further ado. For example, the Zhongnan Center in Suzhou was reduced from 729 meters to 499 meters. The Wuhan Greenland Center in Hubei Province, which was to be more than 600 meters tall, was shortened to 475 meters last year. The ChinaResources Hubei Landmark Tower in Shenzhen’s Luohu District was planned to be 830 meters tall but is now expected to measure “only” 500 meters. This is how the new modesty works.
Skyscrapers as polluters
According to estimates by EcoWatch, the world’s skyscrapers produce 40 percent of carbon emissions. Nevertheless, skyscrapers are not fundamentally harmful to the environment. An American study found that suburban commuters, even if they live near a commuter train, consume 27 percent more energy than people who live in environmentally friendly skyscrapers and can walk to work.
So that China is building sustainable skyscrapers is not only important for the country itself but also for the world. According to a survey by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, a Chicago-based non-profit organization that specializes in the design and construction of skyscrapers, five of the ten tallest buildings in the world are currently in China. In addition to the Shanghai Tower, these include the Ping An Finance Center (599 meters) in Shenzhen, the Guangzhou CTF Finance Center and the Tianjin CTF Finance Center (both 530m), and the Citic Tower in Beijing (528 meters).
In addition, 44 of the world’s 100 tallest buildings are now located in China. More than half of the new buildings built last year with a height of 200 meters or more were also located in China. As a city, however, Dubai is still ahead with twelve skyscraper completions, followed by the Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Shenyang with nine and eight new buildings respectively.
Concerning the buildings currently under construction, China is also far ahead in terms of height. 18 of the 25 newly planned record skyscrapers are being built in the People’s Republic, including the Tianshan Gate of the World in Shijiazhuang (450 meters, completion: 2025). According to the US Skyscraper Database, the tallest building currently under construction in the People’s Republic is the GreenlandJinmao International Financial Center in Nanjing at 499.8 meters (completion: 2025).
But not all of these buildings are sustainable yet. Among the green buildings on the Chinese mainland that are currently attracting the most attention are the Vertical Forest buildings by the Italian architecture firm Stefano Boeri in the cities of Huanggang and Nanjing.
But such concepts do not always work out. In the city of Chengdu, for example, eight residential towers could not be occupied for a time because masses of insects had settled in the lush green facades and balconies.
Climate
Culture
Environment
Sustainability
News
Airbus warns of competition from China
European aircraft manufacturer Airbus expects growing competition from China. Aviation is increasingly influenced by digital technologies and the entry of new competitors into the market, Airbus CEO René Obermann told the Handelsblatt. Obermann mentioned the new Chinese aircraft manufacturer Comac, which is currently developing the C919, an aircraft the size of Airbus’ best-selling A320. The C919 took off for the first time in 2017; test flights for certification are now underway. According to a report in the trade magazine Simple Flying this could even take place in 2021. According to Handelsblatt, the engines are made by CFM, a joint venture between US company General Electric and French manufacturer Safran.
In telecommunications, too, “Chinese competitors, especially Huawei, have more or less conquered the global industry within a decade,” said Obermann, former head of Deutsche Telekom. Therefore, if Airbus Group still wants to defend its world leadership in aviation in 10 or 15 years, it will have to make all possible efforts in efficiency and innovation. ck
Aviation
Industry
Beijing accuses G7 of ‘interference’
Beijing accused the Group of Seven industrialized nations (G7) of “interference in internal affairs” after its summit meeting in England. The spokesman for the Chinese embassy in London said on Monday that the communiqué distorted facts about Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and Taiwan and denigrated China. It reveals “the sinister intentions of the US and some other countries.”
In their final declaration, the G7 were unusually critical of China and announced that they would work together to combat unfair trade practices, human rights abuses, and Beijing’s crackdown on the former British crown colony of Hong Kong.
Regarding Hong Kong, the Chinese embassy spokesman stressed that the G7 should face the reality that Hong Kong had already been returned to China 24 years ago. At the G7 meeting, he said the summit showed “the world the practice of ‘small circles’ and bloc and power politics that artificially create confrontation and division.”
Xinjiang is not a question of human rights, he said, but rather a fight against violence, separatism and extremism in China’s northwestern region. In addition to the US, the EU and other states have also imposed sanctions on China over the human rights situation of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Beijing, for its part, countered with sanctions and punitive measures against Western politicians and organizations.
The embassy spokesman also rejected accusations of unfair trade practices, accusing the US of harassing Chinese firms under the pretext of national security. niw
But what does it actually say? China.Table has listed the most important passages with reference to China:
China is Europe’s competitor, partner and systemic rival.
We demand an end to China’s blatant human rights violations, for example, in Xinjiang and Tibet and increasingly also in Hong Kong.
We need a constructive climate dialogue with China and we are striving for joint political, economic, and technological efforts as well as compliance with sustainable product standards and a transparent roadmap to combat the climate crisis, for example, by phasing out coal in China.
Cooperation with China must not be at the expense of third countries or human and civil rights.
We adhere to the European Union’s one-China policy and emphasize that unification with Taiwan must not be forced against the will of the Taiwanese people. At the same time, we want to expand political exchange with Taiwan.
We want to use our trade relations with China to demand fair market access for foreign investment, legal certainty, and a level playing field.
We expect China to ratify the crucial core standards of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and end all forms of forced labor. The European Supply Chain Act must deny access to the domestic market for goods made with forced labor in the face of human rights abuses – for example, in Xinjiang – just as it holds companies liable for their products.
Philipp Boeing – ZEW researcher on subsidies for innovation
Senior Researcher ZEW-Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim
When Philipp Böing sat in Beijing in 2010 and analyzed patent papers, few people were interested in Chinese innovation funding. The research community did not concern itself with the matter, and he had to search for the data painstakingly. “I can remember spending days in the copy room of the National Bureau of Statistics, trying to gather the figures from the yearbooks.” But for his master’s thesis, Philipp Boeing was determined to find out how much innovation potential existed in this country, which 15 years earlier had still been a planned economy. His conclusion at the time: There is clearly room for improvement.
The topic of Chinese innovation has not left the economist, now a senior researcher at the ZEW Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim. After his master’s thesis at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, he completed his doctorate summa cum laude in economics at the same institution. Always questioning: How well does China’s innovation promotion work, and what does the country’s innovation-driven development mean for the rest of the world? Boeing says that not enough of his German colleagues are dealing with these issues. The now 38-year-old has been at ZEW since 2014, and until 2019 he spent two years doing research as a visiting professor at Peking University. “There, you get the feeling that you are watching world history in passing,” Boeing says. “It’s so dynamic, there’s so much happening.” He wants to share his insights on that. He has advised the World Bank and the US-China Commission, among others.
China is trying to become more efficient in promoting innovation. To get more innovation for their money and thus productivity and economic growth out of it. China’s subsidy policy is well-designed and can achieve this. That is what his latest research, which is not yet published, found. “However, in the past, a not insignificant part of Chinese subsidies in research and innovation was misappropriated by Chinese firms.” China likes to think of itself as the world’s innovation champion, Boeing says. But many innovations come from necessity. For example, mobile payment, which developed in China because the highest bill was 100 renminbi and it could happen that the wallet after the ATM “was so thick that it didn’t fit into your pant’s back pocket anymore.”
Whether Chinese innovations can nevertheless succeed in driving German competitors out of the market or motivating them to invest more is something Philipp Boeing intends to find out over the next three years, with funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. In his private life, it is the Chinese past that captivates him. In the morning when he practices Chen Thai Chi with a sword on his terrace or in the afternoon when he drinks Chinese tea, preferably grown on Wuyi Mountain. “These are classic aspects of Chinese culture that I find very enriching and that partly help me get over the weal and woe of day-to-day work with China,” Boeing says. Marita Wehlus
Domestic policy of the CP China
Finance
Executive Moves
Translation missing.
Dessert
Dragon boat races are the highlight of the Duanwu holiday. Traditionally, in remembrance of poet Qu Yuan. To save him from the water, fishermen paddled to the scene of the accident in a race. Now, dragon boat races are organized all over the world.
Taishan nuclear power plant: radioactive leak or normal operation?
Green skyscrapers
Airbus warns of competition
Beijing accuses G7 of ‘interference’
Bundestag election program of the Greens
Heads: Philipp Boeing – ZEW researcher on subsidies for innovation
Dear reader,
It must have been a majorchallenge for NATO to get all 30 members on the same page vis-à-vis China. Although the final declaration suggests unity, and China is even described as a “systemic challenge”, behind the scenes, a wide variety of interests clashed, reports Amelie Richter. NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg speaks of a pivotal moment and states: The rise of the People’s Republic is the greatest security challenge of our time. His bottom line: China is moving closer to us. Whether that’s good or bad is in the eye of the beholder.
The US government’s view of China is clear even under US President Joe Biden. On Monday, reports circulated in the American media that the Taishan nuclear power plant was about to be shut down because of safety problems. China reacted indignantly, saying everything was fine. Finn Mayer-Kuckuk is very familiar with the nuclear reactor. In 2010 he researched on-site: The two pressurized water reactors in Taishan, built with French help, are of the EPR type and are the only units of this type in the world that so far supply electricity. Our Feature shows: The truth lies between the US warning of a radioactive leak and the Chinese replica of normal operation.
Frank Sieren has something amazing to report: China’s skyscrapers are among the most sustainable in the world. They even receive prestigious awards from America for their environmentally friendly innovations. But until now, the builders have mostly been state-owned. Beijing now wants to change that with new regulations. A look at the current construction figures shows how important that would be: No other country in the world is building more new skyscrapers than China.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made very clear how important the summit meeting of the North Atlantic defensive alliance was: NATO was at a“pivotal moment” and was beginning a “new chapter,” the Norwegian stressed several times throughout the day in Brussels on Monday. Not only because, with US President Joe Biden, the Transatlantic Alliance is once again experiencing a more responsive and committed Washington after four Trump years – but also because of Nato’s new orientation towards China. And it went from 0 to 100 because the People’s Republic was mentioned for the first time a good 18 months ago in a statement by the alliance. Now, China is mentioned in ten places in the communiqué adopted by the NATO heads of state and government. In the final declaration, China is classified as a “systemic challenge” for the first time.
The alliance of 30 states will, in the future, “engage China with a view to defending the security interest of the alliance,” the final paper states. The growing influence of the People’s Republic and its international policy could pose challenges that must be tackled jointly as an alliance. On one point, NATO is more explicit than the G7 countries were last weekend: China is pursuing a coercivepolicy contrary to thefundamental values of the North Atlantic Treaty.
Merkel speaks out in favor of dialogue format
The declaration calls on Beijing to“comply with its international obligations” and to live up to its “role as a great power” – including at sea, in cyberspace, and in outer space. In addition, China should create transparency with regard to its nuclear capabilities and take confidence-building measures: China is expanding its nuclear arsenal with more warheads and a greater number of sophisticated delivery systems but remains “opaque,” the final declaration continues. Stoltenberg stressed after the summit that there was also concern about the use of calculated disinformation by the People’s Republic.
With the adopted text, NATO has come a long way, the Secretary-General said, referring to the first mention of the People’s Republic just 18 months ago. Although China is now seen as a “systemic challenge”, it is important to continue talking to each other, Stoltenberg said. China is not an “adversary”, he said. That choice of words was also deliberately refrained from in the joint statement. Some Brussels watchers would have liked to see more challenging words – and also more concrete proposals. “What counts for me is that we have found a common and clear positioning vis-à-vis China,” Stoltenberg said.
NATO committed itself to dialogue with Beijing “where possible”. On climate issues, for example. Germany was not the last country to advocate this diplomatic position. After the summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke out in favor of the alliance developing its own dialogue format with China, as reported by Bloomberg, among others. China is increasingly playing a role, Merkel said, according to reports. But that is also the case for the entire Indo-Pacific region, she acknowledged. That is mainly because “the United States is also a Pacific nation,” Politico quoted the chancellor. “But I don’t think we should overstate the importance,” Merkel said, referring to the conclusions on China, according to the report.
NATO sets up Innovation Fund
When asked how willing countries like Germany, which have close economic ties to China, were to get tougher on Beijing, Stoltenberg replied, “We have to face the challenges that China’s rise poses to our security, even though many allies have economic ties to China.” There is not just one or the other, he said.
The NATO Secretary-General appealed to member states, pointing to their responsibility when it comes to meeting challenges: “It’s also very much about what we do ‘at home’.” He cited the protection of critical infrastructure, such as ports or Huawei’s equipment for the 5G network, as examples. “China is coming closer to us,” Stoltenberg said. To keep up with China in terms of technology, he announced the establishment of the Defence Innovation Accelerator and a NATO Innovation Fund.
Stoltenberg now has the task of drawing up a new strategic concept by the next meeting in a year’s time. The allies also agreed on eight core elements of the “Nato 2030” reform agenda. These include more political consultation in the alliance and a contribution by the military to climate protection. The alliance’s joint budget must also be increased following a needs assessment. An exact figure for the increase was not yet available.
Is China NATO’s concern? Disunity in the alliance
In the reform agenda, the alliance pledges to expand partnerships, for example, with the European Union or with states in the Indo-Pacific region. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also advocated an idea: “We need to make sure that as an alliance, even though we are much more ‘Atlantic’ than ‘Pacific,’ we are aware of China’s global influences,” the Canadian said.
But a key European state saw the newfound attention to China differently. “NATO is an organization that concerns the North Atlantic, China has little to do with the North Atlantic,” French President Emmanuel Macron said after the summit, according to media reports. “We should avoid distracting NATO, which already has many challenges.”
US President Biden, who visited Europe for the first time since taking office, made a clear commitment to the defensive alliance: “Our NATO alliance is stronger than ever,” Biden wrote on Twitter. Biden was still meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. Despite Nato’s new interest in China, Moscow remains the top topic in the allies’ communiqué: Russia accounted for 63 mentions in the text.
Geopolitics
Nato
Taishan nuclear power plant: radioactive leak or normal operation?
When nuclear power plant operators assure the public that there is no cause for alarm, the public usually becomes really suspicious. Especially when the plant is located in theimmediate vicinity of the Pearl River Delta, a mega-metropolitan region with over 100 million inhabitants in a very small area. Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, among others, are in this immediate vicinity.
Following reports of a leak at the Taishan nuclear power plant in China, the operators have now vehemently denied speculation about possible dangers and environmental damage (China.Table reports). The China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) said on Monday night that the environmental data at the nuclear power plant and its surroundings were all “normal”.
The authorities and the operators regularly measure the values of the nuclear power plant in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, and both units are operating by safety regulations, CGN announced. In addition to the China General Nuclear Power Group, the French nuclear company Framatome also has a stake in the power plant.
The energy company Electricité de France (EDF), once involved in the construction of the plant, also gave the all-clear on Monday. At the beginning of the week, it confirmed that the limits for the release of gases into the atmosphere had been met. “We have no dynamics of an accident with meltdown,” a spokesman said. EDF has a 30 percent stake in the power plant. The company is the corporate parent of co-operator Framatome.
The operators report “damage to the cladding” of some fuel rods. This causes radioactive noble gases to enter the internal cooling circuit, explains EDF. This is undesirable, but in this form, it is also not dangerous. The companies involved did not say how many fuel rods are affected. Only this much: “We are not dealing with a contamination, but with a controlled release,” the EDF spokesman added to the AFP news agency.
The noble gases xenon and krypton are produced from uranium in the reactor. Under the bombardment of neutrons during the chain reaction, the atomic nuclei of uranium split into lighter elements. In the process, numerous isotopes are created. In addition to metals and other elements, these also include small amounts of noble gases. They play a role in safety insofar as gases naturally escape into the environment particularly easily. On the other hand, they disperse quickly in the air and hardly enter the human food chain.
Framatome saw nuclear threat
One unit of the power plant was built starting in 2009 by Framatome, which was still called Areva at the time. The identical second unit was built by CGN a few months later – as a study project, so to speak. The construction period was supposed to be only three years, but in fact, after several delays and additional safety tests, the units were not connected to the grid until 2018 and 2019.
On Monday, the American news channel CNN startled the world public with reports of an “imminent radioactive threat” in China. The US government had received a call for help from Framatome because a dangerous situation had arisen at the Taishan nuclear power plant. CNN reported that Chinese authorities raised the limits because otherwise, they would have had to shut down the plant.
However, CNN also stressed that a critical level had not been reached. At present, there is no serious threat – neither to the workers at the plant nor to the public in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant. Nevertheless, the situation must continue to be monitored.
CNN also quotes American experts trying to assess the situation. According to them, the quantities of noble gases – which are not where they are supposed to be – exceed the EU standards to which the operators feel bound. This is a situation in which, according to Framatome’s assessment, there is at least a need for discussion. China, however, reflexively insists that everything is completely in order – and wants to stifle the discussion as quickly as possible.
However, the situation is so serious that the US President’s Security Council dealt with the incident several times last week, CNN reports. Joe Biden’s administration discussed the situation with the French government. China’s government had also been contacted. At what level and to what extent remained unclear at first.
Meanwhile, on Monday, EDF said further that it had requested an extraordinary board meeting with the Chinese operators to evaluate all available data and make necessary decisions. Framatome’s alert to US authorities was prompted by a request on June 8 for urgent permission to share American technical data and support to resolve the issue, CNN reported.
Safe reactor with practical problems
Taishan nuclear power plant is located west of Macao and Zhuhai in Yaogu on the coast of China’s Guangdong province. The name sounds similar to the mountain range (泰山) in the northeast of the country, which is popular among tourists but is written with different characters (台山).
The two new-type European Pressurized Water Reactors (EPR) built with French assistance are so far the only units of this type worldwide that supply electricity. Other power plants with such reactors are being built in the UK and France, among other countries. However, new construction in Flamanville in northern France had been delayed due to safety mishaps. Among other things, the French nuclear regulator criticized cracks in the reactor’s shell.
A project in Olkiluoto, Finland, also had to contend with massive delays due to safety concerns. Unit 3, which is technically very similar to the project at the Taishan nuclear power plant, could only be completed this year – after 16 years of construction. Finnish inspectors kept finding new problems, including with the concrete and with welds; the parts delivered did not fit together. In retrospect, the project is considered a disaster that bankrupted Areva. A new EPR unit at the UK’s Hinkley Point power station is also over budget and behind schedule. It is due to go online in 2026.
In China, too, the project was overshadowed by criticism of the safety level. However, compared to the construction in Olkiluoto, the inspections were much less close, which favored the progress of construction. Nevertheless, the list of irregularities at the Taishan nuclear power plant is also long: Here, too, the material quality of crucial components such as the pressure vessel was questioned at times. In the end, however, all components were approved.
Meanwhile, the third-generation European Pressurized Water Reactor (EPR) is one of the safest types of nuclear power plants in the world. It is precisely the discussion about the risks of nuclear energy that has spurred on the engineers to high performance. Even in the event of a total power failure, as in Fukushima, the necessary minimum level of cooling would be maintained. This makes a meltdown very unlikely. If it does occur, a heat-resistant “core-catcher” under the reactor traps the glowing mass of molten uranium. During normal operation, the sensors and computers monitor the plant on a particularly small scale and automatically warn of unsafe situations.
Radioactive noble gases also escape in Germany
The formation of radioactive noble gases during power plant operation is normal – they should just not escape into the environment in too large quantities. In the reactor, uranium 235 first decays into uranium 236 and then into the gas krypton 89 and barium 144. However, krypton 89 only exists for a few minutes because of its rapid decay. But nuclear fission also produces krypton 85, which is much more stable with a half-life of 10,000 years. Radioactive xenon, another noble gas, is also produced in reactors. Hydrogen also exists in a radiative variant, which is produced in nuclear power plants.
At the end of last week, the Washington-based US Green Building Council (USGBC) presented the LeadershipAward for Sustainable Building to Gensler China. The Chinese offshoot of the American architecture firm has built, among other things, one of the most sustainable skyscrapers in the world: the Shanghai Tower, with its 632 meters the second tallest building in the world after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The tower was commissioned by the Shanghai Municipality.
The tower achieved the LEEDPlatinum standard. LEED is the highest environmental certification worldwide and has been awarded by the USGBC for over 20 years. That the award ceremony is taking place in the context of the G7 summit is no coincidence. It is a successful example of cooperation between the USA and China. Despite all the differences of opinion, which were also evident at the G7 summit, Washington and Beijing are keen to work together on climate protection.
Exemplary sustainability
The latest technology has been installed in the tower, which was commissioned back in 2015 and is still considered exemplary: the facade rotates 120 degrees in itself and thus reduces the surface area for the wind to attack. This means that the building requires 25 percent less steel, which has saved $58 million in costs.
270 vertical wind turbines are installed in the facade, generating 350,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. That is ten percent of the electricity demand. The double glass facade protects the building from overheating, which is important in subtropical Shanghai. The air conditioning systems have to work correspondingly less. Geothermal energy is used for cooling and heating, and most of the water is recycled. Rainwater is collected.
However, the Shanghai Tower is not the only building to be certified as particularly sustainable by the Green Building Council.
Green highlights
The Kingkey 100 Tower in Shenzhen is one of them, as is the Jinmao Tower, the third tallest building in Shanghai-Pudong and one of the most beautiful contemporary skyscrapers. It stands right next to the Shanghai Tower. Designed by American Adrian Smith of the architectural firm SOM, the building, which is already more than 20 years old, recycles 70 percent of the waste and wastewater from its 88 floors, among other things, according to the American environmental magazine EcoWatch. The Jinmao Tower thus shows that Sustainability in Chinese skyscrapers was not discovered just yesterday – and that the Americans also play a central role in this.
There are also exemplary skyscrapers in Hong Kong, even if they are not as spectacular as in Shanghai or Shenzhen: The 48-story One Taikoo Place is one of them, as is the International Commerce Centre with its 108 floors. With LEED Gold certification, the buildings are among the top three percent of green skyscrapers worldwide, according to USGBC. Since 2012, the eco-tower One Taikoo has saved the annual electricity consumption of 4500 three-person households.
On the mainland, such houses are mostly demanded by the state as the builder. For private builders, environmental investments are often still too expensive.
Stricter rules
Beijing is forcing developers to do more to protect the environment with a new regulation that came into force on April 27, 2020, and was issued jointly by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the National Development and Reform Commission. A limit of 500 meters was introduced in the process, where the two authorities are particularly strict in checking environmental standards and also earthquake resistance. Water collection and recycling also play a role. And there is the issue of heating facades or questions of insulation to reduce temperature fluctuations. But even buildings over 100 meters have been scrutinized more closely since then.
Instead of height and prestige, cities should increasingly base their architecture on whether it is “suitable for use, economical, green and artistically appealing,” the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said. The days when “high” was enough for Beijing to make China’s economic power obvious to the world are over. In the meantime, it’s all about the quality of life.
Some developers have already reacted to the directive by cutting back the height of ongoing projects without further ado. For example, the Zhongnan Center in Suzhou was reduced from 729 meters to 499 meters. The Wuhan Greenland Center in Hubei Province, which was to be more than 600 meters tall, was shortened to 475 meters last year. The ChinaResources Hubei Landmark Tower in Shenzhen’s Luohu District was planned to be 830 meters tall but is now expected to measure “only” 500 meters. This is how the new modesty works.
Skyscrapers as polluters
According to estimates by EcoWatch, the world’s skyscrapers produce 40 percent of carbon emissions. Nevertheless, skyscrapers are not fundamentally harmful to the environment. An American study found that suburban commuters, even if they live near a commuter train, consume 27 percent more energy than people who live in environmentally friendly skyscrapers and can walk to work.
So that China is building sustainable skyscrapers is not only important for the country itself but also for the world. According to a survey by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, a Chicago-based non-profit organization that specializes in the design and construction of skyscrapers, five of the ten tallest buildings in the world are currently in China. In addition to the Shanghai Tower, these include the Ping An Finance Center (599 meters) in Shenzhen, the Guangzhou CTF Finance Center and the Tianjin CTF Finance Center (both 530m), and the Citic Tower in Beijing (528 meters).
In addition, 44 of the world’s 100 tallest buildings are now located in China. More than half of the new buildings built last year with a height of 200 meters or more were also located in China. As a city, however, Dubai is still ahead with twelve skyscraper completions, followed by the Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Shenyang with nine and eight new buildings respectively.
Concerning the buildings currently under construction, China is also far ahead in terms of height. 18 of the 25 newly planned record skyscrapers are being built in the People’s Republic, including the Tianshan Gate of the World in Shijiazhuang (450 meters, completion: 2025). According to the US Skyscraper Database, the tallest building currently under construction in the People’s Republic is the GreenlandJinmao International Financial Center in Nanjing at 499.8 meters (completion: 2025).
But not all of these buildings are sustainable yet. Among the green buildings on the Chinese mainland that are currently attracting the most attention are the Vertical Forest buildings by the Italian architecture firm Stefano Boeri in the cities of Huanggang and Nanjing.
But such concepts do not always work out. In the city of Chengdu, for example, eight residential towers could not be occupied for a time because masses of insects had settled in the lush green facades and balconies.
Climate
Culture
Environment
Sustainability
News
Airbus warns of competition from China
European aircraft manufacturer Airbus expects growing competition from China. Aviation is increasingly influenced by digital technologies and the entry of new competitors into the market, Airbus CEO René Obermann told the Handelsblatt. Obermann mentioned the new Chinese aircraft manufacturer Comac, which is currently developing the C919, an aircraft the size of Airbus’ best-selling A320. The C919 took off for the first time in 2017; test flights for certification are now underway. According to a report in the trade magazine Simple Flying this could even take place in 2021. According to Handelsblatt, the engines are made by CFM, a joint venture between US company General Electric and French manufacturer Safran.
In telecommunications, too, “Chinese competitors, especially Huawei, have more or less conquered the global industry within a decade,” said Obermann, former head of Deutsche Telekom. Therefore, if Airbus Group still wants to defend its world leadership in aviation in 10 or 15 years, it will have to make all possible efforts in efficiency and innovation. ck
Aviation
Industry
Beijing accuses G7 of ‘interference’
Beijing accused the Group of Seven industrialized nations (G7) of “interference in internal affairs” after its summit meeting in England. The spokesman for the Chinese embassy in London said on Monday that the communiqué distorted facts about Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and Taiwan and denigrated China. It reveals “the sinister intentions of the US and some other countries.”
In their final declaration, the G7 were unusually critical of China and announced that they would work together to combat unfair trade practices, human rights abuses, and Beijing’s crackdown on the former British crown colony of Hong Kong.
Regarding Hong Kong, the Chinese embassy spokesman stressed that the G7 should face the reality that Hong Kong had already been returned to China 24 years ago. At the G7 meeting, he said the summit showed “the world the practice of ‘small circles’ and bloc and power politics that artificially create confrontation and division.”
Xinjiang is not a question of human rights, he said, but rather a fight against violence, separatism and extremism in China’s northwestern region. In addition to the US, the EU and other states have also imposed sanctions on China over the human rights situation of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Beijing, for its part, countered with sanctions and punitive measures against Western politicians and organizations.
The embassy spokesman also rejected accusations of unfair trade practices, accusing the US of harassing Chinese firms under the pretext of national security. niw
But what does it actually say? China.Table has listed the most important passages with reference to China:
China is Europe’s competitor, partner and systemic rival.
We demand an end to China’s blatant human rights violations, for example, in Xinjiang and Tibet and increasingly also in Hong Kong.
We need a constructive climate dialogue with China and we are striving for joint political, economic, and technological efforts as well as compliance with sustainable product standards and a transparent roadmap to combat the climate crisis, for example, by phasing out coal in China.
Cooperation with China must not be at the expense of third countries or human and civil rights.
We adhere to the European Union’s one-China policy and emphasize that unification with Taiwan must not be forced against the will of the Taiwanese people. At the same time, we want to expand political exchange with Taiwan.
We want to use our trade relations with China to demand fair market access for foreign investment, legal certainty, and a level playing field.
We expect China to ratify the crucial core standards of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and end all forms of forced labor. The European Supply Chain Act must deny access to the domestic market for goods made with forced labor in the face of human rights abuses – for example, in Xinjiang – just as it holds companies liable for their products.
Philipp Boeing – ZEW researcher on subsidies for innovation
Senior Researcher ZEW-Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim
When Philipp Böing sat in Beijing in 2010 and analyzed patent papers, few people were interested in Chinese innovation funding. The research community did not concern itself with the matter, and he had to search for the data painstakingly. “I can remember spending days in the copy room of the National Bureau of Statistics, trying to gather the figures from the yearbooks.” But for his master’s thesis, Philipp Boeing was determined to find out how much innovation potential existed in this country, which 15 years earlier had still been a planned economy. His conclusion at the time: There is clearly room for improvement.
The topic of Chinese innovation has not left the economist, now a senior researcher at the ZEW Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim. After his master’s thesis at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, he completed his doctorate summa cum laude in economics at the same institution. Always questioning: How well does China’s innovation promotion work, and what does the country’s innovation-driven development mean for the rest of the world? Boeing says that not enough of his German colleagues are dealing with these issues. The now 38-year-old has been at ZEW since 2014, and until 2019 he spent two years doing research as a visiting professor at Peking University. “There, you get the feeling that you are watching world history in passing,” Boeing says. “It’s so dynamic, there’s so much happening.” He wants to share his insights on that. He has advised the World Bank and the US-China Commission, among others.
China is trying to become more efficient in promoting innovation. To get more innovation for their money and thus productivity and economic growth out of it. China’s subsidy policy is well-designed and can achieve this. That is what his latest research, which is not yet published, found. “However, in the past, a not insignificant part of Chinese subsidies in research and innovation was misappropriated by Chinese firms.” China likes to think of itself as the world’s innovation champion, Boeing says. But many innovations come from necessity. For example, mobile payment, which developed in China because the highest bill was 100 renminbi and it could happen that the wallet after the ATM “was so thick that it didn’t fit into your pant’s back pocket anymore.”
Whether Chinese innovations can nevertheless succeed in driving German competitors out of the market or motivating them to invest more is something Philipp Boeing intends to find out over the next three years, with funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. In his private life, it is the Chinese past that captivates him. In the morning when he practices Chen Thai Chi with a sword on his terrace or in the afternoon when he drinks Chinese tea, preferably grown on Wuyi Mountain. “These are classic aspects of Chinese culture that I find very enriching and that partly help me get over the weal and woe of day-to-day work with China,” Boeing says. Marita Wehlus
Domestic policy of the CP China
Finance
Executive Moves
Translation missing.
Dessert
Dragon boat races are the highlight of the Duanwu holiday. Traditionally, in remembrance of poet Qu Yuan. To save him from the water, fishermen paddled to the scene of the accident in a race. Now, dragon boat races are organized all over the world.
