What must be on a person’s mind when they know the court will side with the prosecution even before the trial starts? A trial in which the government appoints the judge, which sees you as the enemy. A trial based on legislation that does not comply with the rule of law.
Jimmy Lai is not the first and by no means the last defendant to be disposed of by an autocratic system through the supposedly orderly administration of justice. However, the 76-year-old publisher is certainly one of the most prominent targets. The trial has been running since Monday.
His resistance to the slow takeover of his home city of Hong Kong by the Chinese Communist Party symbolized a population’s democratic will to survive that could only be persuaded to end its rebellion by force. Joern Petring summarizes first impressions and reactions.
Violence against its own population is also how Myanmar imposes its political will. The ruling military junta is fighting rebels in the north of the country.
The volatile situation is a problem for China. Myanmar is an important transit state to the Indian Ocean. That is why Beijing is keen not to antagonize any of the warring parties, writes Michael Radunski. A classic dilemma of interest-led foreign policy.
After a handful of convictions and three years in prison, things are now getting really serious for Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai. Since Monday, the 76-year-old has been in the dock for alleged violations of the National Security Law. Observers consider his conviction to be certain. Lai faces a life behind bars.
He is accused of conspiring with foreign forces and inciting unrest among the population in order to plunge the city into chaos. The trial was supposed to have started over a year ago, but was repeatedly postponed. It will probably be months before it is clear what will happen to Lai. After the opening session on Monday, the hearings are expected to last up to 80 days.
Hundreds of police officers secured the court in the West Kowloon district on Monday to prevent possible protests or pro-democracy activities. Lai’s supporters had already queued early in the morning to secure a seat in the courtroom.
The 76-year-old Jimmy Lai was driven to court from his prison in a police van around two hours before the start of the trial. Lai had previously been sentenced to three prison terms and has been in custody for three years. If, as expected, he is also found guilty in this trial, he could face a life sentence in the worst case.
Lai is considered one of the most important supporters of the Hong Kong democracy movement and is a thorn in Beijing’s side. Lai is the founder of the pro-democracy Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily. The tabloid was forced to shut down in 2021 after the authorities targeted it for allegedly violating security laws.
The Security Law, which was passed in 2020 in the wake of the mass democracy protests, is aimed at the opposition and activities that Beijing considers to be subversive, separatist, terrorist or conspiratorial. Numerous activists have already been sentenced or fled abroad since the end of the protests.
The start of the trial on Monday was accompanied by a diplomatic exchange of blows between Beijing and representatives of Western governments. The British government demanded Lai’s immediate release. The politically motivated prosecution of the 76-year-old, who also holds a British passport, must be stopped immediately, said Foreign Secretary David Cameron. accusing China of breaking its international obligations.
The US called on the authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing to respect the freedom of the press. A State Department spokesman said: “We call on Hong Kong authorities to immediately release Jimmy Lai and all others imprisoned for defending their rights.” The European Union deplored the charges against Jimmy Lai and said the trial undermined confidence in the city’s rule of law and damaged its reputation as an international financial hub.
As expected, a spokesperson for the Beijing Foreign Ministry rejected the criticism on Monday. Lai was “the major mastermind” in the city’s “anti-China riots” and “an agent and pawn of the anti-China forces.” The spokesperson urged other countries not to interfere in the internal affairs of China and Hong Kong.
On Monday, Beijing also underlined in another way that it is highly satisfied with the progress achieved against the democracy movement in Hong Kong. On the very day of the start of the trial against Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee was a guest in the Chinese capital, where he was received by both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.
A sober look at Lee‘s record since he took office last year reveals a poor track record: Hong Kong’s economy is not really taking off and political apathy prevails in the city. Voter turnout in last week’s district elections reached a record low of 27.5 percent. However, John Lee and Xi both seem to be focussing on other factors.
It only took a few days to show China’s power and impotence in dealing with its neighbor, Myanmar. Early last week, there was still relief in Beijing: The rebels of the Three Brotherhood Alliance (TBA) and Myanmar’s military junta met for negotiations. Beijing had organized the meeting between the two warring parties – and the Chinese Foreign Ministry was correspondingly satisfied.
But just two days later, the big disappointment followed: The insurgents announced that they would continue to try and overthrow military rule in the country. An end to the fighting in Myanmar is not in sight.
This is a painful realization for Beijing, as Myanmar is of considerable importance to the People’s Republic – both from an economic and geostrategic perspective.
Unsurprisingly, Beijing has maintained good relations with the military junta in the capital Naypyidaw. At least until now.
However, civil war has been raging in Myanmar for several weeks now, more specifically in the northern state of Shan. The TBA has rebelled against the military on the border with China. It claims to have conquered more than 160 military bases and taken control of several towns and border posts.
Local clashes can very quickly become a problem for the entire region. The UN estimates that more than 300,000 people have been displaced since the fighting began on 27 October. Furthermore, important trade routes pass through combat zones, and drug and human trafficking are on the rise.
“Myanmar is at a tipping point: Once you hit it, you can’t come back,” Miemie Byrd told Table.Media. The Myanmar expert from the East-West Centre in Hawaii was recently in the region and spoke to many parties involved. Her conclusion: “The military junta is on the verge of collapse.”
Indeed, the junta appears to be in serious trouble for the first time since its coup in 2021. President Myint Swe recently warned that if the insurgency is not brought under control, the country will fall apart.
The junta is also alarmed because its traditional partner, China, is acting unusually this time. Officially, Beijing seemed surprised by the TBA uprising. However, this does not seem very credible given the traditionally excellent contacts and close ties. “It can be assumed that the action was carried out with China’s connivance,” Marco Buente, professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, told Table.Media, as China is dissatisfied with the junta.
The main reason for this is the criminal activities of so-called cyber gangs. The border region between China and Myanmar has become a major hub for the organized scam industry. Criminal networks operate veritable scam factories in the region with thousands of employees – a billion-dollar business: last year, the USA alone reported losses of more than two billion dollars from online scams allegedly coordinated and carried out there.
However, most victims of organized digital scammers are found in China. That is why Beijing has repeatedly called on the junta to intervene – to no avail. “The junta couldn’t do anything, and it didn’t want to do anything,” says analyst Byrd. This is because the military is closely linked to these gangs and “benefit greatly financially from these machinations.”
The insurgent groups saw their opportunity – and are killing two birds with one stone: By taking action against the cyber gangs, they cut off an important source of funding for the junta. Second, they present themselves as supporters of Chinese interests.
China suddenly finds itself in a dilemma and has to make a difficult choice: Influence or stability? Cooperation with the junta stands for more influence, while a swing towards the rebels means greater stability.
For years, Beijing exerted significant influence over the military junta. “However, China cannot openly support the military, as the population took to the streets after the military coup in 2021 – and China’s support at the time – and the mood in Myanmar could easily change,” explains Buente from the University of Erlangen. There were already attacks on the joint gas pipelines back then.
The current mood is even clearer: According to Byrd, 92 percent of the population opposes the junta. This also jeopardizes China’s billion-euro investments and geostrategic interests.
However, the insurgents are not an ideal solution for Beijing either. Even if they currently serve China’s interests, they are doing so primarily to achieve success against the military. “If that threat is gone and the military’s gone, I don’t think they’re going to listen to China as much as China wants them to listen to,” says Byrd. And Beijing is well aware of this. “That’s why it would be wrong to see China’s silence as unilateral support for the rebels,” says Buente.
In conclusion, China has no real ally, but follows only its own interests. They are clear: Beijing must prevent the fighting from escalating to achieve its economic and geostrategic goals. However, combining the role of a peace broker with its own interests requires a keen instinct – a quality that Beijing has so far lacked in international diplomacy.
At the start of the week, North Korea tested two ballistic missiles within a few hours. While the West reacted with harsh criticism, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi demonstratively backed Kim Jong-un’s regime. The traditional friendship between China and North Korea is a “valuable asset for both sides,” Wang told North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong Ho in Beijing on Monday.
China and North Korea have always firmly supported and trusted each other in the face of the turbulent global situation and demonstrated the strategic importance of friendly bilateral cooperation, Wang said, according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry. North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong Ho heads a delegation currently on a visit to Beijing. According to North Korean state media, the talks are aimed at strengthening cooperation.
It is the first sign that North Korea may slowly reopen its borders after the COVID-19 pandemic and resume trade with its neighbors. Pak Myong Ho had already spoken to his Chinese counterpart Sun Weidong on Friday about strengthening strategic cooperation and bilateral relations.
North Korea carried out two missile tests on Sunday and Monday: According to South Korean information, a short-range ballistic missile was fired first and later, according to Japanese information, an intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of more than 15,000 kilometers. This means it could theoretically hit anywhere in the territory of the USA. rad/rtr
On Monday, Taiwan announced that it had detected two Chinese balloons. According to the Ministry of Defense, the balloons had crossed the Taiwan Strait and were spotted on Sunday about 110 nautical miles (204 kilometers) northwest of the city of Keelung.
China has been running a large balloon program since 2019. It is part of the modernization of its Air Force on behalf of Xi Jinping. Experts say the program is large enough to carry out intelligence missions in dozens of countries for several years with countless surveillance balloons.
However, the Taiwanese ministry did not say whether the incident over the weekend involved spy balloons. The last time a Chinese balloon was detected near Taiwan was December 7. At the beginning of the year, a presumed spy balloon over the United States had led to a crisis between China and the US. At the time, Beijing claimed that it was a rogue weather balloon. The US, however, shot down the balloon.
China did not comment on the balloon incident of Taiwan on Monday. Instead, Beijing criticized American arms sales to Taiwan. “China resolutely opposes and is strongly dissatisfied about the latest US arms sale to the island of Taiwan,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in Beijing on Monday. He urged the United States to stop arming Taiwan and not cause tensions in the Taiwan Strait. Beijing announced that it would take countermeasures against companies involved in the arms deal. rad/rtr
The EU Parliament, Council and Commission have reached final compromises in the negotiations on the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). The agreements are as follows:
The CSDDD will apply to around 15,000 companies, including thousands whose value creation originates at least in part from China. It focuses on the upstream value chain (such as the extraction of raw materials) and, in some cases, the downstream chain (utilization, recycling, disposal).
Several industry associations had called on the Council and Parliament to reject the law in the upcoming votes. BDI Director General Tanja Goenner said it would jeopardize the competitiveness, security of supply and diversification of the European economy. Leonie Duengefeld
Rare snowfall surprised the southern Chinese province of Guangdong on Monday. Precipitation was reported at high altitudes not far from the provincial capital, Guangzhou, resulting from unusually low temperatures in the region. The thermometer in Guangzhou climbed to just eight degrees Celsius, remaining below the typical early winter temperatures in the double-digit range. The typical average for January in the region is 14 degrees Celsius.
The authorities in Guangzhou called for precautionary measures, especially for the elderly and young, who could be susceptible to “cold wave illnesses” as winter progresses. Unusual sleet has been forecast for some cities in neighboring Guangxi.
Northern China had already experienced an unusually early cold snap last month, with temperatures in the double-digit minus range. rtr/grz
Gallery owner Lu Mei aims to build bridges between the art worlds of Europe and China in her “Migrant Bird Space.” Located on Koppenplatz in the heart of Berlin, the gallery of Beijing-based curator Lu Mei is surrounded by art galleries and museums. However, Asian or even Chinese artists were a rarity there for a long time – until Lu Mei closed the gap in 2014 and has been offering Chinese artists a place to exhibit their work in the German capital ever since.
In the 1990s, Lu Mei studied in Amsterdam and Utrecht. Europe fascinated her. At the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, she developed a very traditional idea of what art should be. “Back then, 80 percent was traditional calligraphy and ink drawings. In Europe, on the other hand, I could finally devote myself to modern art.”
After completing her postgraduate studies in art history and art education in the Netherlands, she worked in Vienna and Paris. Over the years, her desire to open her own gallery grew. While looking for a suitable location, she remembered a visit to Berlin in 1999, when she was struck by the large number of artist groups and the general interest in Asian art. This experience was the deciding factor for the location of the Migrant Bird Space. Today, the city is a new home for her: “For me, Berlin is somewhere between Beijing and Amsterdam – not too big and not too small.”
She has now been a gallery owner and curator for almost ten years and runs a consultancy office in Beijing for art collectors. Her first clients were luxury hotels in Beijing. While back then, it was mainly about interior design and decoration, today, Lu brokers mixed media, paintings and sculptures as part of the art collections of hotels, insurance companies and private banks.
Her evolving role also reflects the developments in China: Ten years ago, Chinese art collectors were not very familiar with the tastes of the international market. “But they are learning very quickly: Today, they act very systematically and hardly differ from Western collectors in their decisions.”
In her role as a consultant, Lu Mei is particularly aware of her ability to broaden horizons: For example, she fitted hotels with paper lamps not unlike those found in China. Hers, however, were Korean. “Most visitors from China didn’t even know that something like this existed elsewhere and were instantly impressed,” she says.
As a curator who tries to build bridges with art, she organized the exhibition “Boys Boys Boys” by photographer Lin Zhipeng this summer. Queer photography from China, which tends to be intolerant of queer themes and subcultures, connects young people from all over the world. She says the audiences in Beijing and Berlin were particularly young.
However, Lu did not follow the advice to exhibit more political art that some German curators gave her since the beginning of the geopolitical tensions between China and Europe: “I don’t see it as the role of art to bring politics to the fore.” If artists decide to be political, that is legitimate. But she does not want to be reduced to a political role.
“Of course, the role of mediating between the two art worlds has become more difficult due to the growing misunderstandings between China and Germany,” admits Lu. However, she also believes that many new opportunities arise from this. This gives bridge-builders like her an increasingly important role. Carlos Hanke Barajas
Anyone who has always wondered why the Yellow River got its name will find the answer in this picture. The snow-covered banks of the Huang He, as the country’s second-longest river is called in Mandarin, form a striking contrast to the frozen water surface. The coloration is caused by eroded loess, which is washed into the main course via tributaries. The Huang He has a length of 4845 kilometers. Here it is on its last stage in the coastal province of Shandong before it flows into the Gulf of Bohai.
What must be on a person’s mind when they know the court will side with the prosecution even before the trial starts? A trial in which the government appoints the judge, which sees you as the enemy. A trial based on legislation that does not comply with the rule of law.
Jimmy Lai is not the first and by no means the last defendant to be disposed of by an autocratic system through the supposedly orderly administration of justice. However, the 76-year-old publisher is certainly one of the most prominent targets. The trial has been running since Monday.
His resistance to the slow takeover of his home city of Hong Kong by the Chinese Communist Party symbolized a population’s democratic will to survive that could only be persuaded to end its rebellion by force. Joern Petring summarizes first impressions and reactions.
Violence against its own population is also how Myanmar imposes its political will. The ruling military junta is fighting rebels in the north of the country.
The volatile situation is a problem for China. Myanmar is an important transit state to the Indian Ocean. That is why Beijing is keen not to antagonize any of the warring parties, writes Michael Radunski. A classic dilemma of interest-led foreign policy.
After a handful of convictions and three years in prison, things are now getting really serious for Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai. Since Monday, the 76-year-old has been in the dock for alleged violations of the National Security Law. Observers consider his conviction to be certain. Lai faces a life behind bars.
He is accused of conspiring with foreign forces and inciting unrest among the population in order to plunge the city into chaos. The trial was supposed to have started over a year ago, but was repeatedly postponed. It will probably be months before it is clear what will happen to Lai. After the opening session on Monday, the hearings are expected to last up to 80 days.
Hundreds of police officers secured the court in the West Kowloon district on Monday to prevent possible protests or pro-democracy activities. Lai’s supporters had already queued early in the morning to secure a seat in the courtroom.
The 76-year-old Jimmy Lai was driven to court from his prison in a police van around two hours before the start of the trial. Lai had previously been sentenced to three prison terms and has been in custody for three years. If, as expected, he is also found guilty in this trial, he could face a life sentence in the worst case.
Lai is considered one of the most important supporters of the Hong Kong democracy movement and is a thorn in Beijing’s side. Lai is the founder of the pro-democracy Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily. The tabloid was forced to shut down in 2021 after the authorities targeted it for allegedly violating security laws.
The Security Law, which was passed in 2020 in the wake of the mass democracy protests, is aimed at the opposition and activities that Beijing considers to be subversive, separatist, terrorist or conspiratorial. Numerous activists have already been sentenced or fled abroad since the end of the protests.
The start of the trial on Monday was accompanied by a diplomatic exchange of blows between Beijing and representatives of Western governments. The British government demanded Lai’s immediate release. The politically motivated prosecution of the 76-year-old, who also holds a British passport, must be stopped immediately, said Foreign Secretary David Cameron. accusing China of breaking its international obligations.
The US called on the authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing to respect the freedom of the press. A State Department spokesman said: “We call on Hong Kong authorities to immediately release Jimmy Lai and all others imprisoned for defending their rights.” The European Union deplored the charges against Jimmy Lai and said the trial undermined confidence in the city’s rule of law and damaged its reputation as an international financial hub.
As expected, a spokesperson for the Beijing Foreign Ministry rejected the criticism on Monday. Lai was “the major mastermind” in the city’s “anti-China riots” and “an agent and pawn of the anti-China forces.” The spokesperson urged other countries not to interfere in the internal affairs of China and Hong Kong.
On Monday, Beijing also underlined in another way that it is highly satisfied with the progress achieved against the democracy movement in Hong Kong. On the very day of the start of the trial against Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee was a guest in the Chinese capital, where he was received by both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.
A sober look at Lee‘s record since he took office last year reveals a poor track record: Hong Kong’s economy is not really taking off and political apathy prevails in the city. Voter turnout in last week’s district elections reached a record low of 27.5 percent. However, John Lee and Xi both seem to be focussing on other factors.
It only took a few days to show China’s power and impotence in dealing with its neighbor, Myanmar. Early last week, there was still relief in Beijing: The rebels of the Three Brotherhood Alliance (TBA) and Myanmar’s military junta met for negotiations. Beijing had organized the meeting between the two warring parties – and the Chinese Foreign Ministry was correspondingly satisfied.
But just two days later, the big disappointment followed: The insurgents announced that they would continue to try and overthrow military rule in the country. An end to the fighting in Myanmar is not in sight.
This is a painful realization for Beijing, as Myanmar is of considerable importance to the People’s Republic – both from an economic and geostrategic perspective.
Unsurprisingly, Beijing has maintained good relations with the military junta in the capital Naypyidaw. At least until now.
However, civil war has been raging in Myanmar for several weeks now, more specifically in the northern state of Shan. The TBA has rebelled against the military on the border with China. It claims to have conquered more than 160 military bases and taken control of several towns and border posts.
Local clashes can very quickly become a problem for the entire region. The UN estimates that more than 300,000 people have been displaced since the fighting began on 27 October. Furthermore, important trade routes pass through combat zones, and drug and human trafficking are on the rise.
“Myanmar is at a tipping point: Once you hit it, you can’t come back,” Miemie Byrd told Table.Media. The Myanmar expert from the East-West Centre in Hawaii was recently in the region and spoke to many parties involved. Her conclusion: “The military junta is on the verge of collapse.”
Indeed, the junta appears to be in serious trouble for the first time since its coup in 2021. President Myint Swe recently warned that if the insurgency is not brought under control, the country will fall apart.
The junta is also alarmed because its traditional partner, China, is acting unusually this time. Officially, Beijing seemed surprised by the TBA uprising. However, this does not seem very credible given the traditionally excellent contacts and close ties. “It can be assumed that the action was carried out with China’s connivance,” Marco Buente, professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, told Table.Media, as China is dissatisfied with the junta.
The main reason for this is the criminal activities of so-called cyber gangs. The border region between China and Myanmar has become a major hub for the organized scam industry. Criminal networks operate veritable scam factories in the region with thousands of employees – a billion-dollar business: last year, the USA alone reported losses of more than two billion dollars from online scams allegedly coordinated and carried out there.
However, most victims of organized digital scammers are found in China. That is why Beijing has repeatedly called on the junta to intervene – to no avail. “The junta couldn’t do anything, and it didn’t want to do anything,” says analyst Byrd. This is because the military is closely linked to these gangs and “benefit greatly financially from these machinations.”
The insurgent groups saw their opportunity – and are killing two birds with one stone: By taking action against the cyber gangs, they cut off an important source of funding for the junta. Second, they present themselves as supporters of Chinese interests.
China suddenly finds itself in a dilemma and has to make a difficult choice: Influence or stability? Cooperation with the junta stands for more influence, while a swing towards the rebels means greater stability.
For years, Beijing exerted significant influence over the military junta. “However, China cannot openly support the military, as the population took to the streets after the military coup in 2021 – and China’s support at the time – and the mood in Myanmar could easily change,” explains Buente from the University of Erlangen. There were already attacks on the joint gas pipelines back then.
The current mood is even clearer: According to Byrd, 92 percent of the population opposes the junta. This also jeopardizes China’s billion-euro investments and geostrategic interests.
However, the insurgents are not an ideal solution for Beijing either. Even if they currently serve China’s interests, they are doing so primarily to achieve success against the military. “If that threat is gone and the military’s gone, I don’t think they’re going to listen to China as much as China wants them to listen to,” says Byrd. And Beijing is well aware of this. “That’s why it would be wrong to see China’s silence as unilateral support for the rebels,” says Buente.
In conclusion, China has no real ally, but follows only its own interests. They are clear: Beijing must prevent the fighting from escalating to achieve its economic and geostrategic goals. However, combining the role of a peace broker with its own interests requires a keen instinct – a quality that Beijing has so far lacked in international diplomacy.
At the start of the week, North Korea tested two ballistic missiles within a few hours. While the West reacted with harsh criticism, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi demonstratively backed Kim Jong-un’s regime. The traditional friendship between China and North Korea is a “valuable asset for both sides,” Wang told North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong Ho in Beijing on Monday.
China and North Korea have always firmly supported and trusted each other in the face of the turbulent global situation and demonstrated the strategic importance of friendly bilateral cooperation, Wang said, according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry. North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong Ho heads a delegation currently on a visit to Beijing. According to North Korean state media, the talks are aimed at strengthening cooperation.
It is the first sign that North Korea may slowly reopen its borders after the COVID-19 pandemic and resume trade with its neighbors. Pak Myong Ho had already spoken to his Chinese counterpart Sun Weidong on Friday about strengthening strategic cooperation and bilateral relations.
North Korea carried out two missile tests on Sunday and Monday: According to South Korean information, a short-range ballistic missile was fired first and later, according to Japanese information, an intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of more than 15,000 kilometers. This means it could theoretically hit anywhere in the territory of the USA. rad/rtr
On Monday, Taiwan announced that it had detected two Chinese balloons. According to the Ministry of Defense, the balloons had crossed the Taiwan Strait and were spotted on Sunday about 110 nautical miles (204 kilometers) northwest of the city of Keelung.
China has been running a large balloon program since 2019. It is part of the modernization of its Air Force on behalf of Xi Jinping. Experts say the program is large enough to carry out intelligence missions in dozens of countries for several years with countless surveillance balloons.
However, the Taiwanese ministry did not say whether the incident over the weekend involved spy balloons. The last time a Chinese balloon was detected near Taiwan was December 7. At the beginning of the year, a presumed spy balloon over the United States had led to a crisis between China and the US. At the time, Beijing claimed that it was a rogue weather balloon. The US, however, shot down the balloon.
China did not comment on the balloon incident of Taiwan on Monday. Instead, Beijing criticized American arms sales to Taiwan. “China resolutely opposes and is strongly dissatisfied about the latest US arms sale to the island of Taiwan,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in Beijing on Monday. He urged the United States to stop arming Taiwan and not cause tensions in the Taiwan Strait. Beijing announced that it would take countermeasures against companies involved in the arms deal. rad/rtr
The EU Parliament, Council and Commission have reached final compromises in the negotiations on the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). The agreements are as follows:
The CSDDD will apply to around 15,000 companies, including thousands whose value creation originates at least in part from China. It focuses on the upstream value chain (such as the extraction of raw materials) and, in some cases, the downstream chain (utilization, recycling, disposal).
Several industry associations had called on the Council and Parliament to reject the law in the upcoming votes. BDI Director General Tanja Goenner said it would jeopardize the competitiveness, security of supply and diversification of the European economy. Leonie Duengefeld
Rare snowfall surprised the southern Chinese province of Guangdong on Monday. Precipitation was reported at high altitudes not far from the provincial capital, Guangzhou, resulting from unusually low temperatures in the region. The thermometer in Guangzhou climbed to just eight degrees Celsius, remaining below the typical early winter temperatures in the double-digit range. The typical average for January in the region is 14 degrees Celsius.
The authorities in Guangzhou called for precautionary measures, especially for the elderly and young, who could be susceptible to “cold wave illnesses” as winter progresses. Unusual sleet has been forecast for some cities in neighboring Guangxi.
Northern China had already experienced an unusually early cold snap last month, with temperatures in the double-digit minus range. rtr/grz
Gallery owner Lu Mei aims to build bridges between the art worlds of Europe and China in her “Migrant Bird Space.” Located on Koppenplatz in the heart of Berlin, the gallery of Beijing-based curator Lu Mei is surrounded by art galleries and museums. However, Asian or even Chinese artists were a rarity there for a long time – until Lu Mei closed the gap in 2014 and has been offering Chinese artists a place to exhibit their work in the German capital ever since.
In the 1990s, Lu Mei studied in Amsterdam and Utrecht. Europe fascinated her. At the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, she developed a very traditional idea of what art should be. “Back then, 80 percent was traditional calligraphy and ink drawings. In Europe, on the other hand, I could finally devote myself to modern art.”
After completing her postgraduate studies in art history and art education in the Netherlands, she worked in Vienna and Paris. Over the years, her desire to open her own gallery grew. While looking for a suitable location, she remembered a visit to Berlin in 1999, when she was struck by the large number of artist groups and the general interest in Asian art. This experience was the deciding factor for the location of the Migrant Bird Space. Today, the city is a new home for her: “For me, Berlin is somewhere between Beijing and Amsterdam – not too big and not too small.”
She has now been a gallery owner and curator for almost ten years and runs a consultancy office in Beijing for art collectors. Her first clients were luxury hotels in Beijing. While back then, it was mainly about interior design and decoration, today, Lu brokers mixed media, paintings and sculptures as part of the art collections of hotels, insurance companies and private banks.
Her evolving role also reflects the developments in China: Ten years ago, Chinese art collectors were not very familiar with the tastes of the international market. “But they are learning very quickly: Today, they act very systematically and hardly differ from Western collectors in their decisions.”
In her role as a consultant, Lu Mei is particularly aware of her ability to broaden horizons: For example, she fitted hotels with paper lamps not unlike those found in China. Hers, however, were Korean. “Most visitors from China didn’t even know that something like this existed elsewhere and were instantly impressed,” she says.
As a curator who tries to build bridges with art, she organized the exhibition “Boys Boys Boys” by photographer Lin Zhipeng this summer. Queer photography from China, which tends to be intolerant of queer themes and subcultures, connects young people from all over the world. She says the audiences in Beijing and Berlin were particularly young.
However, Lu did not follow the advice to exhibit more political art that some German curators gave her since the beginning of the geopolitical tensions between China and Europe: “I don’t see it as the role of art to bring politics to the fore.” If artists decide to be political, that is legitimate. But she does not want to be reduced to a political role.
“Of course, the role of mediating between the two art worlds has become more difficult due to the growing misunderstandings between China and Germany,” admits Lu. However, she also believes that many new opportunities arise from this. This gives bridge-builders like her an increasingly important role. Carlos Hanke Barajas
Anyone who has always wondered why the Yellow River got its name will find the answer in this picture. The snow-covered banks of the Huang He, as the country’s second-longest river is called in Mandarin, form a striking contrast to the frozen water surface. The coloration is caused by eroded loess, which is washed into the main course via tributaries. The Huang He has a length of 4845 kilometers. Here it is on its last stage in the coastal province of Shandong before it flows into the Gulf of Bohai.
