Tons of bioplastics + South Korea and the US presence + Xi in textbooks

Dear reader,

The oceans are full of plastic. Images of empty bottles, brightly colored bags, white plastic forks, half-rotten diapers and masks washing up on shores are probably familiar to most. And on land, the “tide” is rising as well: Plastic packaging strewn everywhere blemishes the beauty of the cities and landscapes. And since most plastic packaging is white, this is called “white pollution”.

China has a massive problem with this – and now wants to counteract it with bioplastics. Newly planned production capacities for polylactic acid even exceed the current global production volume, as our author Christiane Kühl reports. Ambitions are high, but the probability of success is modest: the benefits of bioplastics without industrial composting are limited. And the People’s Republic still lacks the necessary facilities for this.

In our second analysis in today’s issue, we take a look at South Korea’s relationship with the USA. Plans by the US to house Afghan refugees in Asian military bases weren’t too well received in Seoul. This is fuelling the debate in South Korea about how much US presence the country is still willing to tolerate, writes Frank Sieren. A debate that is not inconvenient for China. Seoul is also beginning to look more and more towards Beijing due to the situation with North Korea.

As a particularly interesting read, I would like to recommend Johnny Erling’s column. He opened China’s new textbooks and discovered “Xi Jinping Thought”. Not only marks this a new high point in the cult of Xi’s personality, but also a signal that Xi wants to and will continue to rule China after more than ten years in office.

Have a nice weekend!

Your
Amelie Richter

Fighting “white pollution” with bioplastics

By

Christiane Kühl

China likes to think big, not small. And so it hardly comes as a surprise that the production of bioplastics is also being launched on a grand scale. One particular company, the chemical company BBCA Group from Bengbu, is a pioneer in this field. According to a report in the Japanese newspaper Nikkei , the company plans to massively expand its capacity for a new type of preliminary product based on corn starch or sugar cane. The BBCA plans a production volume for 2023 that will exceed what’s currently available on the entire global market. Namely, around 700,000 tons of polylactic acid (PLA) per year. The forecast for global PLA sales for 2023 is 370,000 tons, Nikkei Asia writes. “We want to show our answer to white pollution,” the newspaper quoted BBCA president Li Rongjie as saying.

“White pollution” is a term coined for the masses of discarded plastic waste that characterizes China’s suburbs, roadsides and villages. As consumption throughout the country grew, so did plastic consumption. Garbage collection, recycling management and environmental awareness have not been able to keep pace. The result is carelessly discarded food packaging, plastic bags hanging in trees, overflowing trash cans in the countryside. Only in city centers have the authorities been paying more attention to cleanliness for some years now and have put up trash cans along the pavements. Recycling is in its infancy. 40 percent of used plastics end up in landfills or as waste in public spaces. It is estimated that the country is responsible for a quarter of the world’s plastic waste in the oceans.

Per capita, however, each Chinese individual produces significantly less waste from single-use plastics than people in top-ranked countries, such as Australia (59 kilograms per year), the United States (53) and South Korea (44), according to the Australian Minderoo Foundation’s Plastic Waste Makers Index published in May. China ranks 45th (18), while Germany ranks 35th (22). China’s state-owned chemical giants Sinopec and Petrochina, however, are among global polymer manufacturers whose products generate the most waste from single-use plastics (3rd and 6th, respectively), according to complex analysis.

Solving the plastic problem by phasing out single-use products

Beijing plans to solve the problem by banning certain single-use plastic products, improving recycling and promoting biodegradable plastics. At the beginning of the year, a ban on plastic drinking cups, disposable cutlery, plastic bags and similar products went into effect in China’s major cities – unless they are made of biodegradable plastic. Single-use plastic drinking straws are also already banned across the country. A nationwide ban for all other products will follow in 2025.

Hard data on the success of these measures is not yet available – but certain changes can be already seen in everyday life. “Most shopping malls, supermarkets or online grocery stores have switched to the use of PLA bags,” plastics expert Molly Jia of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation tells China.Table. But traditional plastic bags can still be found at farmer’s markets. Implementation at delivery services has also been mixed so far. “In general, the law is better enforced in larger cities than in small ones, and better in cities than in rural areas,” says Jia.

The fact that the retail trade is responding is also shown by figures according to which biodegradable alternatives such as PLA or fossil-based compostable material polybutylene terephthalate (PBAT) are sold out at chemical companies. Since the beginning of the year, corporations – including Sinopec – have been ramping up PBAT production. In addition to plastic bags and other packaging, these materials can also be used for plastic mulch in agriculture.

Debatable efficiency of bioplastics

As things stand, BBCA’s ambitious plans seem absurd. However, rival Japan, among others, is expecting a wave of subsidies from local governments in China for organic alternatives as a result of the plastic ban. High subsidies could lead to huge capacity expansions and low prices for bioplastics in China, according to Nikkei Asia.

Accordingly, some Japanese companies are currently holding out on large planned investments in this sector. They do not wish to experience what global manufacturers of solar cells, wind turbines, or LCD screens have gone through. With its low-cost photovoltaics, China quickly pushed all the world’s top dogs out of the market, including several German companies. It was a similar story with wind power and LCD’s – and Japan’s companies fear that the same could happen with bioplastics.

The effectiveness of biodegradable plastic is also quite controversial. Among other things, it requires a minimum temperature to decompose. According to Molly Jia, most biodegradable plastics only decompose in controlled composting facilities with temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius and carefully adjusted humidity. But there are only a few such facilities in China, Jia wrote in a study for environmental organization Greenpeace East Asia. Jia is convinced that a far more sensible approach would be the overall reduction of single-use plastic products, finding ways for their recycling and the establishment of a true circular economy. She also supports the idea of a plastic tax.

Import ban on plastic waste takes effect

Unlike, for example, Germany, China tends to shy away from talking about bans when it comes to environmental issues. China’s authorities only impose bans when it deems them necessary – as happened with the import of garbage, including plastic waste, a few years ago. The West used to send its garbage to China, where it was often recycled in small shops with no environmental standards – if it was recycled at all. Plastic bags recycled in this way were often handed out at markets just a few years ago – and no one knew whether their material even met food safety laws

The ban on plastic import has changed the materials economy in China, says Richard Brubaker, founder of sustainability consultancy Collective Responsibility in Shanghai. “It first led to shortages of certain materials, among other things. This led a number of Chinese companies to invest in waste processing overseas. This allowed them to process materials that meet the new standards – and then imported them,” Brubaker told China.Table. There are now also new standards for food packaging, for example. Brubaker is equally skeptical about bioplastics as is Molly Jia due to the lack of composting facilities.

Nevertheless, the domestic bioplastics industry is apparently feeling a tailwind from Beijing. Dozens of companies are currently planning to set up production. China certainly has some catching up to do. PBAT, for example, was not produced at all in the People’s Republic until mid-2020, according to Nikkei Asia, but instead, was only imported – for example, by BASF for the past ten years under the brand name Ecoflex. In May 2020, however, BASF reached an agreement with Red Avenue New Materials Group to license the production of PBAT in Shanghai, which is scheduled to start in 2022. The production plant will have a capacity of 60,000 metric tons and utilizes BASF’s processing technology, the company announced at the time. Bioplastics are predicted to have good growth rates worldwide. The Ludwigshafen-based company also sees China as a promising market.

Turning to China: US presence in South Korea is being questioned

By

Frank Sieren

Seoul is annoyed by Washington – because the US apparently did not communicate its plans in advance to use military bases in South Korea and Japan for the temporary housing of refugees from Afghanistan. The US also wants to temporarily house refugees at bases in Spain, Germany, Kosovo, Bahrain and Italy. Song Young-gil, chairman of South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party (DP), said the US should first consider other countries before bringing Afghan refugees to South Korea.

Seoul’s response to the U.S. plans was abundantly clear: “It has not been discussed with our government, and I don’t think it’s realistic,” Song explained. “I doubt whether it’s appropriate. Considering the logistical problem, wouldn’t it be better for them to go to nearby countries?”

This episode is of great importance because, for years, South Korean politicians and the public are torn between security interests linked to the US and economic interests with neighboring China. In the meantime, Washington has put its plans on hold.

US retains authority over military in the event of war

The chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the rapid Taliban takeover is now raising questions throughout Asia, especially in Taiwan and South Korea, about the long-term dependability of US military protection. The U.S. has some 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea – largely because the Korean War ended with only a truce with North Korea and no peace treaty. At the time, South Korea had even handed over operational control of its troops to the US-led UN command.

The US retained this authority until 1994 when South Korea regained “operational control” of its armed forces. In wartime, however, the command remains in the hands of the US, which would then command hundreds of thousands of South Korean troops. But for a long time now it has no longer been about South Korea’s security interests, but more about US political interests in Asia.

Party leader Song now stressed that events in Afghanistan underline how important it is for South Korea to regain operational power over its armed forces in wartime. “We must use the Afghanistan crisis as an opportunity to strengthen self-defense capabilities,” Song said. In 2018, the US and South Korea had agreed to launch a three-step process to assess whether Seoul is ready to take control of its forces in an emergency. However, this process is still ongoing. Instead, Seoul gave in to U.S. pressure and agreed in March to a 13.9 percent increase in its subsidy for the cost of U.S. soldiers.

Beijing pleased by the schism between South Korea and the US

It was the largest increase in nearly two decades. U.S. troops now cost Seoul more than $1 billion a year. Seoul would not accept this without resistance: Negotiations between the two nations had never dragged on so long, with an agreement a year after the contract had expired. But the South Koreans still did not want to pay nearly as much as Washington had planned. Only when the U.S. sent 9,000 civilian South Korean employees back home without further payment did Seoul relent. But Washington also made an important concession: for the first time, the US now allowed Seoul to deploy its own ballistic missiles, with a range of over 500 kilometers. “This is a pivotal change,” comments Wall Street Journal. Seoul’s missiles are even able to reach Beijing now.

What at first glance appears to be a new threat to China is, however, generally welcomed by Beijing. After all, the US presence on its doorstep has been a thorn in the side of the People’s Republic for many decades. But South Korea’s turning away from the US brings new concerns for observers: “The anti-American sentiment is alarming,” says US human rights lawyer Robert Carmona-Borjas. He fears South Korea may turn too much toward China. “The US cares about the region, not South Korea in particular,” Eurasia Review comments. “The majority of South Koreans were tricked into believing that U.S. troops are not withdrawing from South Korea because South Korea is vital to U.S. interests due to its geopolitical importance.”

Export dependence and BRI interest

The public opinion toward China is even more complicated. Disapproval is on the rise. In a survey conducted this spring, China scored about 3.1 points out of 10, about the same as Japan (3.2 points). In 2019, China’s score was 4.8. At the same time, however, there is hope for better business with China, interest in military service among young men is also declining at the same time: Pacifists and businessmen find common ground here.

A quarter of South Korea’s exports go to China. If you add Hong Kong, the figure is a third, while the US accounts for only 13.6 percent. To make matters worse, the South Korean economy is even more dependent on exports than the German economy. Trade accounts for more than 76 percent of its GDP, compared to only 44 percent in Germany. Many South Korean goods are also produced in China and then exported to other countries. They do not appear in trade statistics at all.

That is why Seoul’s politicians are extremely cautious when it comes to the US. When the US decided in July 2016 to install a new defense system with a reach far into China, Beijing cut all economic cooperation with Seoul until South Korea gave in and convinced the US not to expand the new system further. There was no economic support from Washington. For this reason, Seoul avoided an overly obvious shoulder-to-shoulder with the US during Foreign Minister Antony Blinken’s inaugural visit this spring. Criticism of Beijing’s handling of Hong Kong and the Uighurs in Xinjiang has also been awfully quiet. Huawei’s 5G is not banned yet, and Seoul has shown interest in joining the Belt and Road Initiative.

Withdrawal is also still being debated in the US

While South Koreans are divided, voices in the U.S. calling for the reconsideration of its presence are not ceasing after the departure of U.S. President Donald Trump. “Withdrawal from South Korea isn’t a likely prospect or a good idea as things stand,” U.S. magazine Foreign Policy recently wrote, “but if the United States is willing to approach the Korean Peninsula more imaginatively, it may get to a point where withdrawal is a realistic possibility.” Such a proposition would have been unthinkable a decade ago. In a poll last year, two-thirds of U.S. respondents favored a focus on domestic issues and the withdrawal of U.S. troops in countries.

During Trump’s term, the US involvement in South Korea was already up for debate. First, the US wanted to withdraw troops to save money. When Trump learned that South Korea was paying half the cost, he demanded Seoul to pay a larger share of the cost of stationed US troops. Still, many Republicans who had seen eye to eye allied with Trump. And on the left side of the political spectrum, senior US politicians like Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez continue to call for a drastic reduction in the Pentagon budget and a more restrained US global agenda.

Meanwhile, Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, clarifies that the U.S. has “no intention of withdrawing troops from South Korea.” This month, the U.S. and South Korea held a nine-day military exercise despite threats from the North. Pyongyang regularly accuses the U.S. of using such maneuvers as preparations for an attack. In a television interview, Biden described “a fundamental difference” between Afghanistan and US partners in Asia. The U.S. has a “sacred obligation” to respond to an attack on Japan, South Korea, or Taiwan, Biden said. He did not mention whether or how many troops would be needed in foreign countries.

North Korea pushes Seoul towards Beijing

When it comes to dealing with North Korea, opinions between allies are divided. Both sides are in favor of resuming negotiations and call for the discontinuation of North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. However, while South Korea already wants to establish economic relations with the North, the U.S. demands North Korea to first begin a denuclearization.

Seoul’s fear: Now that international sanctions have contributed to North Korea’s recent food shortage, Seoul could counter with rapid decisions. And indeed, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported late last week “with great concern” that North Korea has resumed operations on the Yongbyon nuclear facility in July. Now, Seoul begins to turn with imploring eyes not to the US, but towards China. South Korea considers Beijing’s influence over Pyongyang to be far greater than Washington’s.

Beijing creates new stock exchange for medium-sized companies

Beijing is to become a new stock trading hub: China plans to set up a stock exchange for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in its capital, President Xi Jinping announced on Thursday. This is to further support the “innovation-driven development” of SMEs, Xi said in a video address during the opening of the International Trade Fair for Services (CIFTIS), state media reported. Mainland China’s two main stock exchanges are currently located in the financial hub of Shanghai and Shenzhen, located on the mainland’s border to Hong Kong.

The re-establishment of the exchange will correspond to an upgrade and reform of the so-called “New Third Board”, Xi further said. The “New Third Board” is the name given to the National Equities Exchange And Quotations (NEEQ) direct trading venue. Stocks not listed in Shenzhen or Shanghai are traded there. By the end of 2020, a total of 8,187 companies were listed on NEEQ, according to a CGTN report. Of these, 94 percent were SMEs with a total capitalization of around 2.65 trillion yuan (410 billion U.S. dollars).

The government in Beijing is currently tightening the thumbscrews on companies listed abroad. The market for IPOs in the US is likely to be hit hard by China’s rigorous approach, experts predict (as reported by China.Table). Over the past decade, the US has been an important source of financing for Chinese companies.ari

Conditions for cooperation on climate protection

China has set conditions for cooperation with the USA on climate change. Washington cannot be allowed to try and curb China’s development on the one hand – and push for cooperation on the other, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during a visit by US climate envoy John Kerry to Tianjin on Thursday. Wang accused President Joe Biden’s administration of a “major strategic miscalculation toward China.” He said the US must stop “stop seeing China as a threat and opponent” and meet Beijing halfway.

Wang thus strikes the same tone as in during his meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman (as reported by China.Table). The policy of “we’ve had enough” seems to have become a fundamental strategy of Beijing towards Washington. In this particular case: only if overall relations are “healthy” can Beijing talk about things like tightening climate targets. “The ball is now in the United States’ court,” Wang Yi said.

Speaking to Wang, Kerry stressed that China plays a “super crucial role” in climate protection. He also encouraged China to take additional measures against climate-damaging emissions. In preparation for November’s climate summit in Glasgow, Kerry traveled to Tianjin to meet with his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua. Details on these talks are yet unknown. On Thursday, Kerry also conferred with Vice Premier Han Zheng.

China and the USA are the largest emitters of climate-damaging gases such as CO2. Their cooperation is therefore crucial for the global climate, leaving not much time for geopolitical banter: in August the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presented a report according to which global warming could reach 1.5 degrees as early as 2030. That would be ten years earlier than it assumed three years ago. Kerry will remain in Tianjin until Friday. ck

Ban on reality shows and high pays

Chinese authorities have further tightened their grip on the entertainment industry. Broadcasters were ordered on Thursday to exclude artists with “incorrect political positions” from programs. A “patriotic atmosphere” must be cultivated, the National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) said. The regulation of cultural programs must be tightened, it announced.

The administration also banned reality talent shows and urged media outlets to promote a more masculine representation of men. “Broadcasters are not allowed to show variety and reality shows,” the regulator said. It mandated broadcasters to oppose “abnormal aesthetics” such as “effeminate” men, as well as “vulgar influencers”, inflated pay and “lapsed morals” of artists.

NRTA also announced regulations to limit the pay of actors and actresses. Actors are also to be encouraged to participate in welfare programs and to take on more social responsibility. Tax evasion is to be severely punished. The entertainment industry has recently been in the crosshairs after a series of scandals involving tax evasion and sexual assault (as reported by China.Table). ari

ARM: China subsidiary did not go rogue

Confusion surrounds the Chinese subsidiary of the UK’s major semiconductor services provider ARM: The company is denying reports stating that China-CEO Allen Wu has gone independent with the company’s intellectual property. It is true that the parent company and the China subsidiary have been clashing for some time now. ARM wanted to fire its China chief Allen Wu last year, but Wu refused to leave. A legal battle ensued. Meanwhile, it turned out that Wu pursued his own business interests and apparently shifted orders back and forth between his own companies and ARM China.

But various reports later this week claiming that Wu has gone full rogue with ARM patents don’t seem to be true. ARM clarifies to the media that not that much has changed at all. The company is still absurdly at odds with its China subsidiary. And the latter apparently develops its own technologies and products, and also shows an astonishing life of its own in other respects. But at least the notion of technology theft by its own staff seems to be a misinterpretation. ARM makes it clear that it continues to sell millions of components through ARM China. fin

Beijing’s new textbooks: “I am a disciple of Xi Jinping”

By Johnny Erling

In Zhuxian, a village near Kaifeng, harbors a picturesque temple complex built in the 15th century to the glory of the Song-era general Yue Fei (1103-1142). His name traditionally epitomizes patriotic behavior in China. When I visited the site back in 2019, Yue Fei’s life was on display, with a 1950s comic book copied onto large display panels. The comic praised the army leader who sought to reclaim his former kingdom.

According to the museum, Xi Jinping’s mother once read this comic to her son. Little Xi is said to have been particularly fascinated by the part when Yue Fei’s mother engraved four characters on her 24-year-old son’s back with a red-hot needle: “Jin Zhong Bao Guo” (精忠报国) – “Serve your country with the utmost loyalty”. Xi himself later recalled, “I said it must have been a great pain to have those words tattooed on the back, but my mother said that although it was painful, he remembered it by heart. Since then, I’ve kept these four characters in my heart so that they will also accompany me throughout my life.”

The statue of General Yue Fei in the Zhuxian Temple, which has characters with patriotic meaning tattooed on his back by his mother.

This sappy anecdote can be found in the new third-grade primary school textbook, Financial Times UK reported. Xi’s stories, thoughts and statements about socialist values will find their way into the lessons for the new school year. In this way, patriotism is to be ignited in the youngest of children and all trainees are to be immunized against Western influences. Some parents secretly expressed their indignation to FT reporters: they felt reminded of the personality cult in Mao’s time.

The Committee Office of the Education Ministry had set the guidelines to include “Xi’s Thought” in the curriculum for each course of education (from primary and middle schools to universities). Xi’s theories have been enshrined in CCP statutes and the Constitution as China’s official guiding ideology since the 19th Party Congress in 2018. Therefore, “we must also arm students’ minds with Xi’s thinking.” Through descriptive examples as well as vivid and concise language, the young students are to be indoctrinated to love China, the Party, socialism, and that “General Secretary Xi leads the Party and the people.” Graduate students are to be able to “study and interpret his theory.” These guidelines are to be extended to all branches of education in the future.

The integration of Xi’s thinking as a direct part of education is a continuation of his ideological reorientation of schooling, which he demanded as party leader after his election in late 2012. The first thing he did was to reinstate the state monopoly on centralized and unified learning materials. He had textbooks revised. In addition to increased teaching of traditional classics, poetry, and literature, they are supposed to instill communist ideals in students, a love for collectivism, and a “correct” understanding of China’s history and national sovereignty.

From September 2014 on, 140 experts scrambled to write new textbooks. In the Chinese textbook handed to millions of first-graders at the start of the 2018 school year in September, the introductory drawing depicts a large crowd of children of the 56-Chinese nationalities. Students are now asked to find out whether they recognize themselves as Han Chinese, Tibetan or Mongolian. In the picture, the children from all different minorities stand in front of the red national flag at Beijing’s Tiananmen Gate and shout in unison, “I am Chinese.” That’s the first lesson for the six-year-old readers. Next, they learn to sing the back-to-school song: “I love learning, I love working. When I grow up, I want to serve the fatherland.”

A page of the 2018 “Chinese Language” textbook for first-graders: children in the traditional costumes of China’s 56 national minorities. All shout: “I am Chinese”

Xi brought the textbooks back in line. With one stroke, he undid all previous reforms. From the beginning of 2000, more than 70 academies and publishers had developed 167 experimental modern textbooks for 22 school subjects to supplement the compulsory curriculum. Beijing allowed them to be used as pilot projects with optimism at the time. China had joined the World Trade Organization (WTO). Its People’s Congress enshrined the right to property and the protection of human rights in the constitution for the first time.

This was reflected in the curriculum and in reform textbooks such as the six-volume Beijing New Citizens series (新公民) for students in third grade and above, published in 2006. It begins with “Know Thyself” and the prompt, “Look in the mirror. Who do you see there? Yourself! Just as there are no two sheets of paper alike in the whole world, you too are unique in this world. Can you stand yourself? Stand in front of your mirror and say: I like me!”

The first page of the 2006 Beijing New Citizens reform textbook, “Look in the Mirror. Know Thyself.”

100 renowned educators, historians, social scientists and natural scientists developed modern learning material for the Beijing University Publishing House. The intention was to prepare China’s students for a globalized world in which initiative, critical thinking, self-confidence, and the ability to innovate are essential. Every student was more than just an interchangeable cog in the socialist wheel, like the model soldier Lei Feng, whom party leader Xi Jinping is again touting as a role model today. Today’s textbooks demand the individual to be integrated into the collective and to demonstrate secondary virtues such as diligence, obedience, and civilized behavior.

The Party attaches “high priority” to socialist orientation in education, Xi announced at his Politburo meeting this Tuesday. With his recent reform of school textbooks, he has steered young people away from the once critical reform question, “Who am I?” Now, the answers are supposed to be “I am a Chinese” and “I am a disciple of Xi Jinping.”

Chinese soldiers carry coffins to a transport plane at South Korea’s Incheon Airport. They contain remains of Chinese army personnel who died in the Korean War. Mao Zedong had sent the “People’s Volunteer Army” 人民志愿军 to the neighboring country in 1950 as unofficial units to fight the US alongside North Korea. Unofficially, because he did not want to risk a war with the US. The US accepted this charade because, for its part, it had no interest in escalation. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers were left behind in the chaos of this war. The eighth round of repatriations of their remains to China is currently underway, where they are being received with full honors.

CHINA.TABLE EDITORIAL OFFICE

Amelie
Richter

Marcel
Grzanna

Fabian
Peltsch

Julia
Fiedler

Angela
Köckritz

Jörn
Petring