With the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the future of Taiwan has suddenly come into the focus of international strategists. Relations between Washington and Taipei are governed by the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979. Back then, the US was strong and keen to bring democracy to the world; China, on the other hand, was only at the dawning of a reform era that resulted in an almost unimaginable economic boom and rise in power.
Now, Washington is retreating from world politics, while Beijing is making increasingly brash moves. And so international observers are wondering whether the US, after Afghanistan, might drop Taiwan as an ally next? Does Beijing see a historic opportunity to finally reunite the motherland? In light of the current developments in the Hindu Kush, our authors take a look at Taiwan’s uncertain future. Three possible scenarios now present themselves – and not all of them are desirable.
Have you ever bought EirPods, aPhone or headphones from Semsung? Probably not. That’s because until now, only a small group of tech enthusiasts bought cheap electronic goods from China, most of which were little more than cheap knock-offs. It was always a gamble – what will be in the package and will the products even work? Sometimes you got lucky and you suddenly owned an inexpensive tech gadget.
Felix Lee shows how Chinese tech gadgets have long since emancipated themselves from their expensive original products – thanks to quality, fair prices and Aldi and Lidl. For example, Dreame’s T30 cordless vacuum cleaner has long since outperformed its competitor Dyson. As a result, more and more Germans consumers are buying products from Ecovac, Xiaomi and Dreame.
I hope you enjoy our latest issue!
Relations between Washington and Taipei are actually governed by the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979. But what good is such an agreement in times when America is increasingly withdrawing from world politics? After the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, America’s loyalty to its allies is in question.
Our authors Frank Sieren, Marcel Grzanna and Michael Radunski take the current developments in the Hindu Kush as an opportunity to take a look at Taiwan’s uncertain future. Three possible scenarios now present themselves:
After most US invasions have proven unsuccessful in recent decades, the US is withdrawing. The withdrawal from Afghanistan seals this trend. This reduces the likelihood of US involvement in a war over Taiwan.
US President Joe Biden is a realist. He knows a war over Taiwan won’t gain him any political sympathies. Five reasons:
Therefore, Joe Biden’s realpolitik line is: Taiwan remains off-limits, except for a few military exercises and large arms deliveries to deter Beijing. That’s a good political selling point back home because Taiwan is the one footing the bill. Just earlier this month, the U.S. Senate approved the sale of 40 howitzers worth $750 million to Taiwan. In 2020, five billion US dollars worth of weapons were sold: Missiles, drones, and defense systems.
But the fact that Biden does not want and can’t afford a war could make it all the more tempting for Beijing to take back Taiwan, just like Putin took back Crimea. This is supported by the fact that from Beijing’s point of view, Taiwan is a major historical flaw. The country’s unity has not been fully restored. It is certainly President Xi Jinping’s dream to remedy this flaw.
But Xi is no hothead. The international political cost of an invasion would be too high. China would isolate itself globally, at a time when Chinese products and companies are set to conquer the world and the Chinese economy is undergoing a challenging transformation.
But above all: there is no danger on the horizon. Xi is firmly in the saddle. He doesn’t need a foreign policy liberation blow. And international support for Taiwan is steadily dwindling. More and more countries are turning their diplomatic backs on Taiwan. China’s military power is not waning. Taiwan’s economic dependence on the mainland, on the other hand, is growing by the day. Frank Sieren
Chinese media are mocking the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. The US has abandoned the country, is what they claim. This interpretation is entirely legitimate, regardless of its veracity, which is hard to ascertain in such a situation. That Chinese media see this as a portent for Taiwan, however, is wishful thinking and merely an attempt to shake the confidence in the US in Taiwan’s citizens.
The Americans will not leave Taiwan, which Beijing considers an inseparable part of its territory, to its own devices for the foreseeable future. On the contrary, they will make it clear that, despite China’s rise, they claim the role of a leading superpower solely for themselves. In order to clearly demonstrate this claim to the world – and especially to the People’s Republic – Taiwan’s key position in the geostrategic chess game remains vital for Washington.
On the one hand, the island state is an important location for asserting American interests in the South China Sea, where raw materials, territorial claims and the securing of international trade routes are at stake. On the other hand, as a base on the doorstep of its great contender, Taiwan is many times more vital and symbolic than Afghanistan on the tip of China’s hinterland. In Taiwan, moreover, the US is backed by friends and China’s foes – Japan and South Korea are virtually around the corner. While in Afghanistan, they saw themselves surrounded by governments and social currents, some of which harbored sheer hatred towards them.
It cannot be ruled out that the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan may scratch the credibility of American security assurances in the Indo-Pacific. But this will tend to make the US all the more determined in its role as Taiwan’s ally. The superpower will seek to restore lost confidence in its presence.
If only because of a risk that the People’s Republic of China will try to drive a wedge into this trust gap in order not only to denigrate the presence of American troops to the Taiwanese, but to portray it as an immediate threat to their own safety and security. Should that happen, the Americans will flex their muscles and provoke angry reactions from Beijing. But even such reactions won’t stop the US from going toe-to-toe with the Chinese.
This is also because the People’s Republic has lost a lot of credibility and provoked anger over the past two years through its policies, not only in Hong Kong or Xinjiang, but also through its categorical denial of any responsibility for the Covid pandemic. The US and many of its allies have simply had enough of the Chinese government’s attitude. And this will translate into a greater US resolve in Taiwan. It certainly won’t lessen the threat of war. But a show of strength by its rival is the only argument that will be heard in Beijing. Marcel Grzanna
From Beijing’s position, America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan unexpectedly offers a perhaps unprecedented opportunity to finally reunite mainland China. It was Tibet’s turn in 1952, Hong Kong’s in 1997, and now China hopes for a return of its runaway province of Taiwan.
In any case, there should be no doubt about Beijing’s resolve. Time and again, President Xi Jinping has made one thing clear: China must be reunited and China will be reunited. For Beijing, the Taiwan question is like a decade-old festering wound and serves as a major reminder of a time of national weakness.
Now, finally, the opportunity seems to close in – and it is because two geostrategic trends are converging in Taiwan: China’s rise and America’s retreat.
So far, China has worked discreetly and pragmatically to increase the pressure on Taiwan: Diplomatically, the breakaway province has long been isolated. Almost the entire world has subscribed to a “one-China policy,” according to which one maintains relations with either Beijing or Taipei. Out of 195 countries, only 15 still officially recognize Taiwan – nations like Tuvalu, Palau, Nauru and the Marshall Islands. Beijing even managed to force Taiwan from international organizations such as the UN or the WHO. And economically, too, Beijing has risen to become such a dominant trading power that the people of Taiwan would lose a massive amount of their standard of living without exports to the People’s Republic.
The theme behind this strategy still derives from Deng Xiaoping: hide your strength and bide your time. The leadership in Beijing was aware that, despite growing strength, it had a problem: the US. As the undisputed superpower, Washington saw itself in the role of world policeman. Whether in Latin America, Iraq, Afghanistan or Vietnam – world politics was always US politics.
But this era now seems to be coming to an end. Donald Trump heralded America’s global withdrawal, and his successor Joe Biden is sticking the course. Addressing the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, Biden said: It is impossible for the US to take care of all the world’s problems.
From Xi Jinping’s point of view, the time prophesied by Deng has finally come. The time of restrained pragmatism is over; Xi is relying on nationalist showmanship and ideological backwardness. For years, people have been told that the East rises, and the West falls. And so, China is now suddenly caught in a kind of superiority trap: if you’re really so powerful, you have to act.
In 2019, Xi Jinping declared that the Taiwan issue could no longer be postponed from one generation to the next. Xi has thus made public the time pressure he is under. He wants to go down in history as the leader who successfully led China to its former strength and reunited the country. But Xi is already 68 years old.
Now, Xi faces the ghosts he has summoned by nationalist rhetoric. The Global Times newspaper writes: In the Hindu Kush, it is becoming clear that no one can rely on America’s leadership anymore. Afghanistan is not the first and will not be the last ally to be abandoned by the US. All this culminates in the question: Afghanistan today, Taiwan tomorrow? For Beijing’s hardliners, the answer is clear: If not now, when? Michael Radunski
Buying super-cheap China products from direct imports used to resemble a game of chance. Whether headphones, a robot vacuum cleaner or quick chargers are really compatible and don’t break immediately only became clear once used. But in return, an affordable alternative to original products from brands such as Apple, Sony, Samsung or Dyson was tempting. The fan forums did not hide what they were hoping for: the best possible copies of well-known products. Even today, there is still talk of “AirPods alternatives” or a “MagSafe copy for Android”.
But nowadays, the interest in Chinese hardware goes beyond groups of hobby buyers willing to compromise who exchange information on forums like China-Gadget. Chinese devices have become socially acceptable and are also offered at German discounters like Aldi, Lidl and Kaufland or even large electronics chains like MediaMarkt and Saturn. Admittedly, they still look suspiciously similar to the original, but now feature real innovations and in some cases better components – for example, larger and longer-lasting batteries. In this way, Chinese brands are now finding buyers in Germany, to whom they were completely unknown just four years ago. Dreame, Oclean, Xiaomi.
When it comes to smartphones, Chinese manufacturers like Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi have been a household name for most Germans for quite some time. No wonder. Oppo and Vivo now each have a market share of around ten percent with their devices, thus ranking among the top 5 most sold smartphones in Germany. With a market share of 23 percent, Xiaomi was even in second place according to market research institute Canalys – and has even caught up with Apple. Only Samsung still sells more smartphones in Germany.
What is less well known is that smartphones only make up a fraction of the business for companies like Xiaomi. Whether televisions, fitness watches, cordless vacuum cleaners, digital cameras – Xiaomi even offers air purifiers and electric toothbrushes. And BBK-Electronics, the parent company of Oppo, Realme and Vivo, also has kitchen appliances and other home and consumer electronics on offer.
As one of the first Chinese companies, Shenzhen-based Xiaomi has made the Internet of Things the guiding principle of its product policy. It operates its own app store and a large proportion of its household devices – be it smart light bulbs, webcams, timers and even air purifiers – all can be networked together. Xiaomi is even tinkering on its own electric car (as reported by China.Table). Now, these tech companies are also making inroads in Germany with their household and entertainment devices.
Vacuuming and cleaning robots have already arrived on the German market, a market for the longest time dominated by US company iRobot, which was the pioneer among service and house robots in the noughties with its Roomba series of vacuuming robots. But Chinese manufacturers have caught up. The first devices were still a cheap imitation with lower suction power and inferior batteries. In terms of price, they are still cheaper than the US competition. Qualitatively, they are at least equal, some even superior. German tech magazine Chip recently crowned the vacuuming and cleaning robot Deebot T9+ by company Ecovac from Suzhou as the winner. “If you want the best of the best here, the Ecovacs Deebot T9+ is a good choice. Thanks to its excellent navigation and suction performance, it came out on top of the robot cleaner ranking,” the trade journal concluded.
Among cordless vacuum cleaners, the former British company Dyson, which now relocated to Singapore, has been the leader with its special cyclone vacuum technology, which eliminated the need for vacuum bags. With a market share of just under 20 percent, Dyson still ranks third on the German vacuum cleaner market, and is even the leader in cordless vacuum cleaners. However, Chinese manufacturers are also catching up fast in this segment.
With a suction power of 25,000 revolutions per minute, the motor of the Mi G10 from Xiaomi already reaches the power of the V11 Absolute, Dyson’s current flagship model. The motor of the T30 cordless vacuum from Dreame, a partner company of Xiaomi, even reaches 150,000 RPM. The Dreame T30’s battery lasts up to 90 minutes, while Dyson’s vacuum only manages 60 minutes. “With 1.7 kilograms, the T30 is only almost half as heavy and with about 400 euros also only almost half as expensive. In terms of suction power, the Dreame T30 stick vacuum cleaner is way ahead and can also keep up with the Dyson larger devices,” writes German vacuum reviewer www.staubsauger-berater.de, calling it “one of the most powerful cordless vacuum cleaners we have ever tested”.
According to the market researcher Euromonitor, the predecessor models of Dreame had a market share of just 2.2 percent on the German market last year. That doesn’t sound like much. However, these numbers only include devices sold via electronic stores such as Saturn and MediaMarkt or via Lidl, Aldi or online sales platforms such as Amazon. However, many Chinese brands sell their goods on eBay or their own websites and ship them directly from China to their customers.
For companies like Xiaomi, direct sales have been part of the recipe for success from the very beginning. In China, the company still distributes the majority of products via its own website. Here, new devices are often announced months in advance, which are then pre-ordered by customers well in advance. Through this, the company is able to decide early on how many devices it will order for production. Like Apple, Xiaomi mostly does not manufacture its hardware itself, but sources the goods from contract manufacturers. This lowers the costs massively.
This business model cannot be directly transferred to the European markets. German consumers in particular still prefer to shop in stores. Chinese manufacturers, on the other hand, prefer online direct sales. While the fact that ordering and shipping via Chinese retail platforms like AliExpress is actually quite reliable was only known to tech geeks at first, more and more consumers now catch on.
“I’m in China because I believe that a part of automotive history is being written here,” says Holger Klein. Since 2018, the former McKinsey consultant is responsible for the Asia-Pacific region at German automotive supplier ZF. The Friedrichshafen company, which was founded in 1915 as a factory producing cogwheels, has been selling its products in China for more than 40 years, but like many other Western companies, was for a long time only a “sleeping giant” in the Middle Kingdom.
“A lot of things happen very quickly here. It’s a challenge. We have to be very modest,” says the 51-year-old. At ZF, it is already described as “China Speed”.
In 2018, the group located at Lake Constance generated sales of more than six billion euros in China, the majority of which was from drive and chassis technology as well as safety technology for passenger cars and commercial vehicles. However, the rapid electrification, increased networking and the far-reaching autonomy of assistance systems are the major trends of the next few years, believes the industrial engineer. Companies like NIO and Xiaopeng are already rethinking the automobile in China, he said. “I admire many of the newcomers. They are definitely great cars. Infotainment and connectivity play a big role there, and without any legacy at all. Because they don’t already have thousands of cars in the field.”
Klein, who is also responsible for the Car Chassis Technology and Aftermarket divisions at ZF, first came to China in the 1990s, where he visited Shenzhen, among other places, which at that time hardly resembled the high-tech metropolis of today. The tech manager, who was born in Mülheim an der Ruhr in 1970, has now been living in Shanghai with his family for two years. There is one big difference from his time as a consultant: “if you are not just flying in and out, you develop a deeper understanding of the culture, country and people. When you live there, you only begin to understand what you don’t understand,” he says with a laugh.
To stay on top of developments, ZF is now investing more and more in mechatronics, software and high-tech. “Things that are now an integral part of the ZF portfolio,” as Klein points out. Earlier this year at Auto Shanghai, he unveiled the next generation of ZF’s high-performance computer, the ZF ProAI. “It is currently the most flexible, scalable and powerful supercomputer in the world for the automotive industry,” Klein emphasized at the presentation. It is suitable for every type of vehicle and for all stages of automated or autonomous driving and is scheduled to go into serial production in 2024.
Expanding business in China is an important goal of ZF’s “Next Generation Mobility” strategy. “Covid has accelerated this development even further because we have seen how fragile supply chains are. We want to produce ‘local for local’, an ambitious goal.” ZF is currently building its third research and development center in China, which is scheduled to begin operations in 2023.
In China, the Covid crisis has rather benefited ZF than harmed it, also because the company was able to increase its popularity with unconventional measures. As early as May 2020, ZF had begun the production of masks on an industrial scale – initially to protect employees. But production was quickly expanded so that Chinese citizens could also be provided with masks. Cities and municipalities thanked the Germans. “We pushed that to perfection. Typical motorists,” Holger Klein says with a grin. Fabian Peltsch
On Monday, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen received the vaccine by Medigen – signaling her support for the domestic Covid vaccine. Taiwan is currently dealing with unstable supplies of AstraZeneca, Moderna and Biontech vaccines. The Medigen vaccine had received emergency approval from Taiwan authorities in July. Physicians and scientists criticized the fact that long-term studies were omitted from the trails.
With the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the future of Taiwan has suddenly come into the focus of international strategists. Relations between Washington and Taipei are governed by the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979. Back then, the US was strong and keen to bring democracy to the world; China, on the other hand, was only at the dawning of a reform era that resulted in an almost unimaginable economic boom and rise in power.
Now, Washington is retreating from world politics, while Beijing is making increasingly brash moves. And so international observers are wondering whether the US, after Afghanistan, might drop Taiwan as an ally next? Does Beijing see a historic opportunity to finally reunite the motherland? In light of the current developments in the Hindu Kush, our authors take a look at Taiwan’s uncertain future. Three possible scenarios now present themselves – and not all of them are desirable.
Have you ever bought EirPods, aPhone or headphones from Semsung? Probably not. That’s because until now, only a small group of tech enthusiasts bought cheap electronic goods from China, most of which were little more than cheap knock-offs. It was always a gamble – what will be in the package and will the products even work? Sometimes you got lucky and you suddenly owned an inexpensive tech gadget.
Felix Lee shows how Chinese tech gadgets have long since emancipated themselves from their expensive original products – thanks to quality, fair prices and Aldi and Lidl. For example, Dreame’s T30 cordless vacuum cleaner has long since outperformed its competitor Dyson. As a result, more and more Germans consumers are buying products from Ecovac, Xiaomi and Dreame.
I hope you enjoy our latest issue!
Relations between Washington and Taipei are actually governed by the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979. But what good is such an agreement in times when America is increasingly withdrawing from world politics? After the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, America’s loyalty to its allies is in question.
Our authors Frank Sieren, Marcel Grzanna and Michael Radunski take the current developments in the Hindu Kush as an opportunity to take a look at Taiwan’s uncertain future. Three possible scenarios now present themselves:
After most US invasions have proven unsuccessful in recent decades, the US is withdrawing. The withdrawal from Afghanistan seals this trend. This reduces the likelihood of US involvement in a war over Taiwan.
US President Joe Biden is a realist. He knows a war over Taiwan won’t gain him any political sympathies. Five reasons:
Therefore, Joe Biden’s realpolitik line is: Taiwan remains off-limits, except for a few military exercises and large arms deliveries to deter Beijing. That’s a good political selling point back home because Taiwan is the one footing the bill. Just earlier this month, the U.S. Senate approved the sale of 40 howitzers worth $750 million to Taiwan. In 2020, five billion US dollars worth of weapons were sold: Missiles, drones, and defense systems.
But the fact that Biden does not want and can’t afford a war could make it all the more tempting for Beijing to take back Taiwan, just like Putin took back Crimea. This is supported by the fact that from Beijing’s point of view, Taiwan is a major historical flaw. The country’s unity has not been fully restored. It is certainly President Xi Jinping’s dream to remedy this flaw.
But Xi is no hothead. The international political cost of an invasion would be too high. China would isolate itself globally, at a time when Chinese products and companies are set to conquer the world and the Chinese economy is undergoing a challenging transformation.
But above all: there is no danger on the horizon. Xi is firmly in the saddle. He doesn’t need a foreign policy liberation blow. And international support for Taiwan is steadily dwindling. More and more countries are turning their diplomatic backs on Taiwan. China’s military power is not waning. Taiwan’s economic dependence on the mainland, on the other hand, is growing by the day. Frank Sieren
Chinese media are mocking the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. The US has abandoned the country, is what they claim. This interpretation is entirely legitimate, regardless of its veracity, which is hard to ascertain in such a situation. That Chinese media see this as a portent for Taiwan, however, is wishful thinking and merely an attempt to shake the confidence in the US in Taiwan’s citizens.
The Americans will not leave Taiwan, which Beijing considers an inseparable part of its territory, to its own devices for the foreseeable future. On the contrary, they will make it clear that, despite China’s rise, they claim the role of a leading superpower solely for themselves. In order to clearly demonstrate this claim to the world – and especially to the People’s Republic – Taiwan’s key position in the geostrategic chess game remains vital for Washington.
On the one hand, the island state is an important location for asserting American interests in the South China Sea, where raw materials, territorial claims and the securing of international trade routes are at stake. On the other hand, as a base on the doorstep of its great contender, Taiwan is many times more vital and symbolic than Afghanistan on the tip of China’s hinterland. In Taiwan, moreover, the US is backed by friends and China’s foes – Japan and South Korea are virtually around the corner. While in Afghanistan, they saw themselves surrounded by governments and social currents, some of which harbored sheer hatred towards them.
It cannot be ruled out that the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan may scratch the credibility of American security assurances in the Indo-Pacific. But this will tend to make the US all the more determined in its role as Taiwan’s ally. The superpower will seek to restore lost confidence in its presence.
If only because of a risk that the People’s Republic of China will try to drive a wedge into this trust gap in order not only to denigrate the presence of American troops to the Taiwanese, but to portray it as an immediate threat to their own safety and security. Should that happen, the Americans will flex their muscles and provoke angry reactions from Beijing. But even such reactions won’t stop the US from going toe-to-toe with the Chinese.
This is also because the People’s Republic has lost a lot of credibility and provoked anger over the past two years through its policies, not only in Hong Kong or Xinjiang, but also through its categorical denial of any responsibility for the Covid pandemic. The US and many of its allies have simply had enough of the Chinese government’s attitude. And this will translate into a greater US resolve in Taiwan. It certainly won’t lessen the threat of war. But a show of strength by its rival is the only argument that will be heard in Beijing. Marcel Grzanna
From Beijing’s position, America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan unexpectedly offers a perhaps unprecedented opportunity to finally reunite mainland China. It was Tibet’s turn in 1952, Hong Kong’s in 1997, and now China hopes for a return of its runaway province of Taiwan.
In any case, there should be no doubt about Beijing’s resolve. Time and again, President Xi Jinping has made one thing clear: China must be reunited and China will be reunited. For Beijing, the Taiwan question is like a decade-old festering wound and serves as a major reminder of a time of national weakness.
Now, finally, the opportunity seems to close in – and it is because two geostrategic trends are converging in Taiwan: China’s rise and America’s retreat.
So far, China has worked discreetly and pragmatically to increase the pressure on Taiwan: Diplomatically, the breakaway province has long been isolated. Almost the entire world has subscribed to a “one-China policy,” according to which one maintains relations with either Beijing or Taipei. Out of 195 countries, only 15 still officially recognize Taiwan – nations like Tuvalu, Palau, Nauru and the Marshall Islands. Beijing even managed to force Taiwan from international organizations such as the UN or the WHO. And economically, too, Beijing has risen to become such a dominant trading power that the people of Taiwan would lose a massive amount of their standard of living without exports to the People’s Republic.
The theme behind this strategy still derives from Deng Xiaoping: hide your strength and bide your time. The leadership in Beijing was aware that, despite growing strength, it had a problem: the US. As the undisputed superpower, Washington saw itself in the role of world policeman. Whether in Latin America, Iraq, Afghanistan or Vietnam – world politics was always US politics.
But this era now seems to be coming to an end. Donald Trump heralded America’s global withdrawal, and his successor Joe Biden is sticking the course. Addressing the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, Biden said: It is impossible for the US to take care of all the world’s problems.
From Xi Jinping’s point of view, the time prophesied by Deng has finally come. The time of restrained pragmatism is over; Xi is relying on nationalist showmanship and ideological backwardness. For years, people have been told that the East rises, and the West falls. And so, China is now suddenly caught in a kind of superiority trap: if you’re really so powerful, you have to act.
In 2019, Xi Jinping declared that the Taiwan issue could no longer be postponed from one generation to the next. Xi has thus made public the time pressure he is under. He wants to go down in history as the leader who successfully led China to its former strength and reunited the country. But Xi is already 68 years old.
Now, Xi faces the ghosts he has summoned by nationalist rhetoric. The Global Times newspaper writes: In the Hindu Kush, it is becoming clear that no one can rely on America’s leadership anymore. Afghanistan is not the first and will not be the last ally to be abandoned by the US. All this culminates in the question: Afghanistan today, Taiwan tomorrow? For Beijing’s hardliners, the answer is clear: If not now, when? Michael Radunski
Buying super-cheap China products from direct imports used to resemble a game of chance. Whether headphones, a robot vacuum cleaner or quick chargers are really compatible and don’t break immediately only became clear once used. But in return, an affordable alternative to original products from brands such as Apple, Sony, Samsung or Dyson was tempting. The fan forums did not hide what they were hoping for: the best possible copies of well-known products. Even today, there is still talk of “AirPods alternatives” or a “MagSafe copy for Android”.
But nowadays, the interest in Chinese hardware goes beyond groups of hobby buyers willing to compromise who exchange information on forums like China-Gadget. Chinese devices have become socially acceptable and are also offered at German discounters like Aldi, Lidl and Kaufland or even large electronics chains like MediaMarkt and Saturn. Admittedly, they still look suspiciously similar to the original, but now feature real innovations and in some cases better components – for example, larger and longer-lasting batteries. In this way, Chinese brands are now finding buyers in Germany, to whom they were completely unknown just four years ago. Dreame, Oclean, Xiaomi.
When it comes to smartphones, Chinese manufacturers like Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi have been a household name for most Germans for quite some time. No wonder. Oppo and Vivo now each have a market share of around ten percent with their devices, thus ranking among the top 5 most sold smartphones in Germany. With a market share of 23 percent, Xiaomi was even in second place according to market research institute Canalys – and has even caught up with Apple. Only Samsung still sells more smartphones in Germany.
What is less well known is that smartphones only make up a fraction of the business for companies like Xiaomi. Whether televisions, fitness watches, cordless vacuum cleaners, digital cameras – Xiaomi even offers air purifiers and electric toothbrushes. And BBK-Electronics, the parent company of Oppo, Realme and Vivo, also has kitchen appliances and other home and consumer electronics on offer.
As one of the first Chinese companies, Shenzhen-based Xiaomi has made the Internet of Things the guiding principle of its product policy. It operates its own app store and a large proportion of its household devices – be it smart light bulbs, webcams, timers and even air purifiers – all can be networked together. Xiaomi is even tinkering on its own electric car (as reported by China.Table). Now, these tech companies are also making inroads in Germany with their household and entertainment devices.
Vacuuming and cleaning robots have already arrived on the German market, a market for the longest time dominated by US company iRobot, which was the pioneer among service and house robots in the noughties with its Roomba series of vacuuming robots. But Chinese manufacturers have caught up. The first devices were still a cheap imitation with lower suction power and inferior batteries. In terms of price, they are still cheaper than the US competition. Qualitatively, they are at least equal, some even superior. German tech magazine Chip recently crowned the vacuuming and cleaning robot Deebot T9+ by company Ecovac from Suzhou as the winner. “If you want the best of the best here, the Ecovacs Deebot T9+ is a good choice. Thanks to its excellent navigation and suction performance, it came out on top of the robot cleaner ranking,” the trade journal concluded.
Among cordless vacuum cleaners, the former British company Dyson, which now relocated to Singapore, has been the leader with its special cyclone vacuum technology, which eliminated the need for vacuum bags. With a market share of just under 20 percent, Dyson still ranks third on the German vacuum cleaner market, and is even the leader in cordless vacuum cleaners. However, Chinese manufacturers are also catching up fast in this segment.
With a suction power of 25,000 revolutions per minute, the motor of the Mi G10 from Xiaomi already reaches the power of the V11 Absolute, Dyson’s current flagship model. The motor of the T30 cordless vacuum from Dreame, a partner company of Xiaomi, even reaches 150,000 RPM. The Dreame T30’s battery lasts up to 90 minutes, while Dyson’s vacuum only manages 60 minutes. “With 1.7 kilograms, the T30 is only almost half as heavy and with about 400 euros also only almost half as expensive. In terms of suction power, the Dreame T30 stick vacuum cleaner is way ahead and can also keep up with the Dyson larger devices,” writes German vacuum reviewer www.staubsauger-berater.de, calling it “one of the most powerful cordless vacuum cleaners we have ever tested”.
According to the market researcher Euromonitor, the predecessor models of Dreame had a market share of just 2.2 percent on the German market last year. That doesn’t sound like much. However, these numbers only include devices sold via electronic stores such as Saturn and MediaMarkt or via Lidl, Aldi or online sales platforms such as Amazon. However, many Chinese brands sell their goods on eBay or their own websites and ship them directly from China to their customers.
For companies like Xiaomi, direct sales have been part of the recipe for success from the very beginning. In China, the company still distributes the majority of products via its own website. Here, new devices are often announced months in advance, which are then pre-ordered by customers well in advance. Through this, the company is able to decide early on how many devices it will order for production. Like Apple, Xiaomi mostly does not manufacture its hardware itself, but sources the goods from contract manufacturers. This lowers the costs massively.
This business model cannot be directly transferred to the European markets. German consumers in particular still prefer to shop in stores. Chinese manufacturers, on the other hand, prefer online direct sales. While the fact that ordering and shipping via Chinese retail platforms like AliExpress is actually quite reliable was only known to tech geeks at first, more and more consumers now catch on.
“I’m in China because I believe that a part of automotive history is being written here,” says Holger Klein. Since 2018, the former McKinsey consultant is responsible for the Asia-Pacific region at German automotive supplier ZF. The Friedrichshafen company, which was founded in 1915 as a factory producing cogwheels, has been selling its products in China for more than 40 years, but like many other Western companies, was for a long time only a “sleeping giant” in the Middle Kingdom.
“A lot of things happen very quickly here. It’s a challenge. We have to be very modest,” says the 51-year-old. At ZF, it is already described as “China Speed”.
In 2018, the group located at Lake Constance generated sales of more than six billion euros in China, the majority of which was from drive and chassis technology as well as safety technology for passenger cars and commercial vehicles. However, the rapid electrification, increased networking and the far-reaching autonomy of assistance systems are the major trends of the next few years, believes the industrial engineer. Companies like NIO and Xiaopeng are already rethinking the automobile in China, he said. “I admire many of the newcomers. They are definitely great cars. Infotainment and connectivity play a big role there, and without any legacy at all. Because they don’t already have thousands of cars in the field.”
Klein, who is also responsible for the Car Chassis Technology and Aftermarket divisions at ZF, first came to China in the 1990s, where he visited Shenzhen, among other places, which at that time hardly resembled the high-tech metropolis of today. The tech manager, who was born in Mülheim an der Ruhr in 1970, has now been living in Shanghai with his family for two years. There is one big difference from his time as a consultant: “if you are not just flying in and out, you develop a deeper understanding of the culture, country and people. When you live there, you only begin to understand what you don’t understand,” he says with a laugh.
To stay on top of developments, ZF is now investing more and more in mechatronics, software and high-tech. “Things that are now an integral part of the ZF portfolio,” as Klein points out. Earlier this year at Auto Shanghai, he unveiled the next generation of ZF’s high-performance computer, the ZF ProAI. “It is currently the most flexible, scalable and powerful supercomputer in the world for the automotive industry,” Klein emphasized at the presentation. It is suitable for every type of vehicle and for all stages of automated or autonomous driving and is scheduled to go into serial production in 2024.
Expanding business in China is an important goal of ZF’s “Next Generation Mobility” strategy. “Covid has accelerated this development even further because we have seen how fragile supply chains are. We want to produce ‘local for local’, an ambitious goal.” ZF is currently building its third research and development center in China, which is scheduled to begin operations in 2023.
In China, the Covid crisis has rather benefited ZF than harmed it, also because the company was able to increase its popularity with unconventional measures. As early as May 2020, ZF had begun the production of masks on an industrial scale – initially to protect employees. But production was quickly expanded so that Chinese citizens could also be provided with masks. Cities and municipalities thanked the Germans. “We pushed that to perfection. Typical motorists,” Holger Klein says with a grin. Fabian Peltsch
On Monday, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen received the vaccine by Medigen – signaling her support for the domestic Covid vaccine. Taiwan is currently dealing with unstable supplies of AstraZeneca, Moderna and Biontech vaccines. The Medigen vaccine had received emergency approval from Taiwan authorities in July. Physicians and scientists criticized the fact that long-term studies were omitted from the trails.
