China
Transrapid + Hong Kong + Universal Studios + BDI + Alaska + Chips + Johnny Erling
Dear reader,
The Transrapid monorail was seen as a testament to German innovation and engineering prowess before it became a multi-billion-dollar grave and political disaster, ultimately ending in a human tragedy in Emsland. China has since further developed magnetic levitation technology and is now planning several high-speed lines. To push ahead with this ambitious project, the state-owned CRRC is now looking into working with German and European partners to revitalize the former Transrapid test track in Lathen. An initial inquiry in Emsland has been confirmed to China.Table. Frank Sieren has the details.
Seemingly completely unaffected by international criticism, the Chinese "people's representatives" ended the 2021 National People's Congress yesterday with the decision to only admit "patriotic" – i.e., loyal to Beijing – deputies to the political bodies in Hong Kong in the future. Marcel Grzanna classifies this attack on democracy. It will be interesting to see how the process influences the US-Chinese foreign ministers' meeting next Thursday in Alaska.
How the Chinese government has been using the accusation of "hurting the feelings of the Chinese people" for decades to enforce foreign policy interests — and, above all, how successful it has been in doing so — is dissected by Johnny Erling today. Angela Merkel was also once accused of this. However, she has long since become a "lao pengyou", a "time-honored friend of the Chinese people".
