The EU Commission originally wanted to present its legislative proposal on the ban on forced labor on Tuesday. Products manufactured by modern slaves and forced laborers are to be banned from entering EU markets. But the publication was postponed by another day on short notice. And in her State of the Union speech on Wednesday, Ursula von der Leyen made no mention whatsoever of this important plan. Could this be a sign of fear of one’s own courage?
The Commission will likely face fierce headwinds from business associations in the months ahead. In times of crisis and inflation, no new regulations should be introduced that create additional costs. We have heard this argument before in the preparations for a German supply chain law. Today, Amelie Richter is presenting the draft law on forced labor. We are very curious about the upcoming votes with the European Parliament and the member states – and how much of the proposal will be left in the end.
The UN Human Rights Council is often mocked because of some of its voting members. Whether Cuba, Russia, China or Pakistan – some of these countries trample on human rights. That is why the UN report on the disastrous human rights situation in Xinjiang by the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights could soon end up in the proverbial trash. China is currently pulling out all the stops to prevent any significant reaction from the Human Rights Council, as Marcel Grzanna reports. And yet, it is important that such reports are made public. They provide legislators and parliamentarians in democratic states with important arguments to help enforce the global validity of human rights.
China’s companies are important players in the global transition toward greater climate protection. They dominate the solar supply chains and are also growing very strongly in the wind energy sector. Their EV plans are equally ambitious, as Christian Domke Seidel reports. Manufacturers are being urged by the government to soon sell a larger share of their products internationally. The hope of even greater sales is also driving suppliers toward foreign markets. But the European market is considered particularly difficult terrain – thanks to different customer preferences, a lack of charging infrastructure and the absence of a distribution network.
After several delays, the EU Commission has presented its highly observed proposal for a ban on products from forced labor. In the future, forced labor products are to be banned from the European market without exception. According to the standards of the Commission’s proposal, products from the Chinese province of Xinjiang would soon have a hard time on the European market.
Unlike the US Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), the EU proposal is a marketing ban, not a pure import ban. Furthermore, the bill is not aimed at a specific region or products like the US legislation. The burden of proof is also different. What both laws have in common, however, is that a verifiable suspicion of forced labor is sufficient to remove a product from the domestic market and ban its import and export.
“Our aim is to eliminate all products made with forced labor from the EU market, irrespective of where they have been made,” said EU Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis. The 27 member countries are responsible for implementing the ban. National customs or market surveillance authorities are to enforce the ban.
How is the ban supposed to work? The EU Commission refers to its proposal as a “risk-based approach“. In the first stage, authorities of EU member states are to identify forced labor risks. This will be based on information, for example, from civil society, NGOs or companies. This information will also feed into a risk factor database. For example, witness testimonies, NGO reports and other documents on human rights violations will be compiled there.
The suspicion that a particular product was manufactured with forced labor can be raised by various bodies. In a second phase, national authorities must then request further information from companies or conduct audits and inspections, including of suppliers. If a violation is identified, the product will have to be removed from the European domestic market within six weeks. If an investigation stalls because the company in question or even the country of production refuses to cooperate, the product can simply be blocked on suspicion. This is to prevent endless review loops and stalling tactics by the involved country.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) also fall within the scope of the draft law. However, enforcement will likely focus on large companies. Aspects such as the scale of business activity and the volume of products affected are to be taken into account during the investigation. SMEs are also to receive special help for the audit of their supply chains.
What is considered forced labor in the first place will be determined based on the International Labor Organization (ILO). The United Nations organization has defined what is considered forced labor in Conventions 105 and 29.
And this is where a major problem for trade with China lies. The People’s Republic has signed and ratified both conventions (China.Table reported) – but the leadership in Beijing still refuses to acknowledge that forced labor exists in the country at all.
However, sufficient data should be available for the planned database for a risk-based suspicion approach. This way, the authorities do not have to prove forced labor individually down to the last detail to be able to ban products. There is sufficient documented evidence of forced labor in Xinjiang, not least the report by former UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet and verifiable witness statements by victims.
“Not every product can be checked 100 percent,” says Bernd Lange (Social Democratic Party), Chairman of the EU Parliament’s Committee on International Trade. But it can be identified, for example, that a product like Christmas tree ornaments largely comes from China’s Xinjiang province. In such cases, Lange says, “there will be changes in the value chains.” German companies in Xinjiang, including VW and BASF, would also have to take a close look at their supply chains.
But there is one loophole in the EU proposal regarding China: In the case of forced labor in Xinjiang, the state is the executing force. It is not clearly stated how this should be dealt with. “The ambiguity of the Commission’s proposal on state-imposed forced labor is deeply concerning,” says Helene de Rengerve of the organization Anti-Slavery International. “The lack of clear procedures severely limits the power to force companies to remove state-imposed forced labor from their supply chains,” de Rengerve said.
The Commission’s proposal is also criticized because it does not provide for any compensation for victims of forced labor. Those affected cannot claim compensation. The fact that the ban applies to products but not to services is also a weak point of the draft legislation.
What happens next? First, the European Parliament and the Council of Member States must define their positions. That might take some time. The EU Commission’s proposal must now be analyzed and, if necessary, improved, wrote Trade Committee Chairman Lange on Twitter. It will likely take until early next year for MEPs to define their position for negotiations with the Commission and the EU Council. Conservative MEPs have already called for the bill to be shelved. CDU politician Daniel Caspary, for example, called for a general moratorium on EU laws “that hinder economic activity.”
The SPD MEP and Vice Chair of the Parliament’s China delegation, René Repasi, sees some potential in the ban: “I assume that this legal act will have a great impact.” It is highly doubtful that Beijing will simply accept it. “There will be a reaction,” Repasi believes. But China cannot afford to restrict trade with the EU, he adds. He does not expect major disruptions to trade chains, Repasi says. EU companies will have sufficient time to prepare: Once the EU institutions have agreed on a legislative proposal, it should take a full 24 months for the ban on forced labor products to take effect.
These are busy times for Chen Xu, China’s envoy in Geneva. The permanent representative of the People’s Republic at the headquarters of the UN Human Rights Council is doing everything in his power these days to prevent a possible resolution against the People’s Republic. And he will probably be successful. However, the signs at the 51st session of the Council, which will drag on into October, are special.
The report by now-departed High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet on the human rights situation in China’s autonomous region of Xinjiang has generated international momentum to hold the Chinese government accountable for the arbitrary imprisonment of millions of people and their political re-education. The clarity with which the report denounces “possible crimes against humanity” had surprised even the Chinese. A Council resolution would automatically result in a UN investigation.
But China’s continuous lobbying at all levels of the United Nations and with all its member states pays off. For years, China has been exerting intensive influence on the work of the body and has repeatedly secured the necessary majorities there to prevent resolutions by the international community against human rights violations in the People’s Republic. While the US government and numerous parliaments of democratic states in the political West speak of genocide in Xinjiang, states including Ethiopia, Pakistan and Cuba label the crimes as internal governmental affairs that are of no concern to the rest of the world. Very much to China’s liking.
Even in the current composition of the council, the coalition of Beijing’s defenders is too large. “China is cocooning itself and doesn’t feel compelled to cooperate in any way, shape, or form. I think that’s a clear indication that the country is certain, that a resolution will not happen,” said a representative of a participating UN agency, who is not authorized for public comment. “The Human Rights Council is experiencing a deeper schism. It’s like a bipolar disorder in the multilateral context.”
China’s ambassador Chen Xu is certain of support and is accordingly confident. “The world of developing countries will fend off all initiatives directed against China,” the diplomat predicts. Any efforts to launch such initiatives would be doomed to fail.
Olaf Wientzek of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Geneva also sees the balance of power in favor of China. He indicated to the Reuters news agency an expected vote of 16-14 against a resolution, with 17 abstentions, in the 47-nation body. “The stronger the mandate, the bigger chances of it being defeated,” Wientzek believes.
The People’s Republic also demonstrates its self-confidence through its formal concessions on the issue of forced labor. By ratifying International Labor Organization (ILO) Conventions 29 and 105, Beijing recently pledged to reject forced labor as a measure for political re-education or for ethnic and religious reasons. Yet these are precisely what a Japanese special rapporteur accused Beijing of in his report to the Human Rights Council.
But the accusations simply bounce off China. The current five-year plan for the Xinjiang region also gives little hope that the arbitrary internment of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities will change in the short term. The paper, a reference for political and economic goals through 2025, specifically mentions “counterterrorism,” which China uses as justification for its crackdown in Xinjiang. However, numerous state documents and eyewitness accounts prove that imprisonment and forced labor as a means of re-education are part of a supposed counter-terrorism crackdown that has gotten completely out of hand.
On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released new numbers showing that more than half a million people have been sentenced to prison terms in Xinjiang by the Chinese judicial system since 2017. “These formal prosecutions, in which many people received punishments without being tried, are distinct from the arbitrary detentions in the extralegal ‘political education’ facilities,” the organization wrote in its report. The number of detainees in the re-education camps reaches into the millions, but can at best be estimated.
“China’s hope is that the West will run out of breath in the medium term and the coalition against forced labor and human rights abuses in Xinjiang will begin to crumble,” says a representative of the UN agency who is not authorized to comment publicly. “Their attitude is that if only enough time has passed, the turmoil will subside. That’s why I’m afraid that nothing will change in China, despite the ratification of conventions.”
It will probably not be until early next year that a technical advisory commission will travel to the People’s Republic to work with local authorities to identify a common definition of forced labor and to advance legislative implementation. However, the commission will not conduct an investigation, in the way a Human Rights Council resolution would entail.
Amid this constellation, Austrian Volker Tuerk will take up his post as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in mid-October. Tuerk has 30 years of experience in the UN Refugee Agency and most recently served on the advisory board of UN Secretary-General António Guterres. The appointment is reportedly bitterly felt by many staff members of the High Commissioner’s Office. Tuerk is regarded as a careerist and an extension of Guterres, who is accused of being overly close to the Chinese government. In Geneva, Tuerk also has the reputation of favoring a softer stance toward Beijing.
A flying vehicle and a toxic green sports car with gullwing doors are parked in front of the Xpeng store in Copenhagen. Naturally, this attracts customers. Although you can’t buy the HT Aero – which looks like an oversized drone – or the futuristic P7 Wing, the effect itself is enough. And, of course, the location: The salesrooms are across the street from the Tivoli amusement park. The two-story Lego flagship store is just a few minutes away, as is the main train station.
So during the vacation season, around 12,000 visitors showed up within a month to look at the cars, all of which are electric – and to test drive the available P7 e-sedan (without gullwing doors).
Xpeng wants to be close to the customer, as a company spokesperson tells China.Table. The showroom looks like a living room where someone has parked two cars: Couch, coffee machine, wood paneling. Anyone who wants to take a test drive has to wait a good 15 minutes there.
Just like its electric competitors NIO and BYD, Xpeng is currently pursuing its European plans. Brian Gu, Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the electric startup, plans to sell half of all cars outside China in the future. However, he did not name a specific year for this goal. In August, the brand sold just over 9,500 vehicles in China. In the second quarter, it sold a total of more than 34,000 cars – an increase of 98 percent compared to the same period last year. And in the third quarter, the figure is expected to range between 29,000 and 31,000 cars.
The expansion plans – not just Xpeng’s – are also a response to the “Made in China 2025” strategy paper. In it, the government in Beijing has stipulated that the two leading Chinese EV manufacturers are to sell 10 percent of their cars outside China from the year 2025. For Xpeng, this currently means Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.
However, Xpeng has not officially announced a launch on the German market yet. That is probably a good thing. The manufacturer simply does not yet have the right vehicles to compete. The only car available in Denmark is the aforementioned P7. It is a sporty electric sedan. However, it is a vehicle class that has been losing market share for years because of the ongoing SUV boom – also in the electric segment. The only reason it still plays a role is because of the high share in the company car segment.
One of the main selling points for Xpenisre taxes. Luxury cars with combustion engines are taxed up to 150 percent in Denmark – in addition to VAT. EVs are exempt. For example, a fully equipped Xpeng P7 (around €56,000) is cheaper than a comparable Audi A4. If you order the EV now, you can expect delivery in the second quarter of 2023. Plenty of time to build up the currently non-existent service network.
This means that the Xpeng P7 will not revolutionize the car market just yet. According to Xpeng, this will soon follow with the G9. The G9 is an SUV of the next EV generation – with an 800-volt electrical system that will be available for around €71,000. With one of the startup’s own Superchargers (480 kW), the battery can be charged with enough power within five minutes to cover a distance of around 200 kilometers.
Within just 24 hours after its presentation, Xpeng received around 23,000 pre-orders for the model in China. The problem is that these Superchargers do not exist in Europe yet. Xpeng only operates a corresponding network in China.
Xpeng recently came under a bit of pressure. The aforementioned quarterly figures caused the share price to plummet to an all-time low. Analysts had simply expected more and were disappointed by the outlook for the third quarter. But this is only a snapshot. After all, Xpeng is one of China’s top domestic performers. And ultimately, it is not the quarterly figures that matter, but medium- and long-term goals. In addition, with investors such as Alibaba and Foxconn, the company is backed by investors worth billions of dollars.
Whether that will be enough, however, remains to be seen. With Lexus (Toyota) and Infiniti (Nissan), Asian companies have already tried to win over customers from the European premium manufacturers – with limited success. Lexus never advanced beyond the niche manufacturer status, and Infiniti has since withdrawn from the market. But the difference is that these manufacturers only offered more of the same old, same old.
Xpeng, Nio and BYD, on the other hand, have the unique selling point of high-quality EVs. European manufacturers are simply lagging behind in this segment. Xpeng also has the advantage that it has developed everything in-house. The technology behind autonomous driving, the artificial intelligence and the surrounding infrastructure (app store) all belong to the brand. And so do the margins hidden in these areas. It is an advantageous approach that European manufacturers have struggled with so far – as Volkswagen’s Cariad shows.
On YouTube with creative DIY videos, on the big stage on German television and in the ear wherever podcasts are available. Versatility is what distinguishes Hang-Shuen Lee. The Hong Kong native is a freelance journalist. Alternating with Steffen Wurzel, she hosts the ARD podcast “Welt.Macht.China” and explores the question of what makes China a world power and, in turn, what the world makes of China.
Lee values the exchange with former and current China correspondents on the podcast. She has learned a lot more about the country where she was born through their “tremendous wealth of knowledge,” she says. Since the podcast’s inception in May, Lee has been passionate about the project. . Her motivation is clear: ” In Germany, a lot is reported about China, but it tends to remain superficial. But people want to know why the Chinese sometimes tick so differently.” Lee ponders, for example, why some Germans “still love cash so much,” while people in China can pay everywhere with QR codes. By no means does she want to generalize. Instead, she wants to try and explain the differences through in-depth journalism.
The 32-year-old identifies herself as a Hong Kong citizen. “The education system is different, the currency, the language, the culture, and there is actually a physical border as well,” she tells of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Today, she calls the German city of Muenster her home. Once a month, Lee travels to the German capital, on assignment for Deutsche Welle (DW), for newsroom shifts.
In retrospect, it turns out that her trip to Germany in 2011 as an exchange student at Witten/Herdecke University was the unexpected start of a new life. She then returned in 2013, with a bachelor’s degree in her pocket.
At the beginning of her journalistic career, Lee reported for DW’s China editorial team in Bonn, with a particularly keen insider’s view of events on the ground. When she was offered a traineeship there in 2015, she knew: This is “the chance”. She dropped out of her studies in Düsseldorf after one semester. To this day, she never regretted taking this step, even though it wasn’t an easy one for her. “I wanted to get to know other areas, radio or television,” she recalls.
One of her greatest hobbies: handicrafts. It used to be a separate section of Deutsche Welle’s YouTube channel. Videos of her shaping a lamp out of wire rope, for example, can still be found on the web. In 2017, Hang-Shuen Lee appeared on the big stage, performing in the casting show “The Voice of Germany”. Singing is another passion of the journalist.
As if that weren’t enough hobbies, Lee is passionate about learning languages. Especially on stressful days, she finds the necessary balance in it: “I can immerse myself in it and forget everything else. It soothes my soul.” For her, mastering languages has always been a door opener. To other cultures.
What motivates her most in her job is the chance to share knowledge. Above all, her personal ambition is to stay in touch with the people in China. “Not everything always has to be political, but cultural exchange is important,” she summarizes. This has become more difficult, especially in the last decade. The political mood has changed, she says – for example, with the mass protests against the pro-Beijing government in Hong Kong in the summer of 2019. “People don’t listen to each other anymore. And it’s the same with China and Taiwan now,” she notes. Julia Klann
There’s no end to the struggle over semiconductors – but at Semicom in Taipei, the world’s largest chip trade show, things remained civil. The trade fair will be held until September 16. A total of 50,000 guests are expected. 700 exhibitors are presenting new products and technology trends.
The EU Commission originally wanted to present its legislative proposal on the ban on forced labor on Tuesday. Products manufactured by modern slaves and forced laborers are to be banned from entering EU markets. But the publication was postponed by another day on short notice. And in her State of the Union speech on Wednesday, Ursula von der Leyen made no mention whatsoever of this important plan. Could this be a sign of fear of one’s own courage?
The Commission will likely face fierce headwinds from business associations in the months ahead. In times of crisis and inflation, no new regulations should be introduced that create additional costs. We have heard this argument before in the preparations for a German supply chain law. Today, Amelie Richter is presenting the draft law on forced labor. We are very curious about the upcoming votes with the European Parliament and the member states – and how much of the proposal will be left in the end.
The UN Human Rights Council is often mocked because of some of its voting members. Whether Cuba, Russia, China or Pakistan – some of these countries trample on human rights. That is why the UN report on the disastrous human rights situation in Xinjiang by the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights could soon end up in the proverbial trash. China is currently pulling out all the stops to prevent any significant reaction from the Human Rights Council, as Marcel Grzanna reports. And yet, it is important that such reports are made public. They provide legislators and parliamentarians in democratic states with important arguments to help enforce the global validity of human rights.
China’s companies are important players in the global transition toward greater climate protection. They dominate the solar supply chains and are also growing very strongly in the wind energy sector. Their EV plans are equally ambitious, as Christian Domke Seidel reports. Manufacturers are being urged by the government to soon sell a larger share of their products internationally. The hope of even greater sales is also driving suppliers toward foreign markets. But the European market is considered particularly difficult terrain – thanks to different customer preferences, a lack of charging infrastructure and the absence of a distribution network.
After several delays, the EU Commission has presented its highly observed proposal for a ban on products from forced labor. In the future, forced labor products are to be banned from the European market without exception. According to the standards of the Commission’s proposal, products from the Chinese province of Xinjiang would soon have a hard time on the European market.
Unlike the US Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), the EU proposal is a marketing ban, not a pure import ban. Furthermore, the bill is not aimed at a specific region or products like the US legislation. The burden of proof is also different. What both laws have in common, however, is that a verifiable suspicion of forced labor is sufficient to remove a product from the domestic market and ban its import and export.
“Our aim is to eliminate all products made with forced labor from the EU market, irrespective of where they have been made,” said EU Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis. The 27 member countries are responsible for implementing the ban. National customs or market surveillance authorities are to enforce the ban.
How is the ban supposed to work? The EU Commission refers to its proposal as a “risk-based approach“. In the first stage, authorities of EU member states are to identify forced labor risks. This will be based on information, for example, from civil society, NGOs or companies. This information will also feed into a risk factor database. For example, witness testimonies, NGO reports and other documents on human rights violations will be compiled there.
The suspicion that a particular product was manufactured with forced labor can be raised by various bodies. In a second phase, national authorities must then request further information from companies or conduct audits and inspections, including of suppliers. If a violation is identified, the product will have to be removed from the European domestic market within six weeks. If an investigation stalls because the company in question or even the country of production refuses to cooperate, the product can simply be blocked on suspicion. This is to prevent endless review loops and stalling tactics by the involved country.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) also fall within the scope of the draft law. However, enforcement will likely focus on large companies. Aspects such as the scale of business activity and the volume of products affected are to be taken into account during the investigation. SMEs are also to receive special help for the audit of their supply chains.
What is considered forced labor in the first place will be determined based on the International Labor Organization (ILO). The United Nations organization has defined what is considered forced labor in Conventions 105 and 29.
And this is where a major problem for trade with China lies. The People’s Republic has signed and ratified both conventions (China.Table reported) – but the leadership in Beijing still refuses to acknowledge that forced labor exists in the country at all.
However, sufficient data should be available for the planned database for a risk-based suspicion approach. This way, the authorities do not have to prove forced labor individually down to the last detail to be able to ban products. There is sufficient documented evidence of forced labor in Xinjiang, not least the report by former UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet and verifiable witness statements by victims.
“Not every product can be checked 100 percent,” says Bernd Lange (Social Democratic Party), Chairman of the EU Parliament’s Committee on International Trade. But it can be identified, for example, that a product like Christmas tree ornaments largely comes from China’s Xinjiang province. In such cases, Lange says, “there will be changes in the value chains.” German companies in Xinjiang, including VW and BASF, would also have to take a close look at their supply chains.
But there is one loophole in the EU proposal regarding China: In the case of forced labor in Xinjiang, the state is the executing force. It is not clearly stated how this should be dealt with. “The ambiguity of the Commission’s proposal on state-imposed forced labor is deeply concerning,” says Helene de Rengerve of the organization Anti-Slavery International. “The lack of clear procedures severely limits the power to force companies to remove state-imposed forced labor from their supply chains,” de Rengerve said.
The Commission’s proposal is also criticized because it does not provide for any compensation for victims of forced labor. Those affected cannot claim compensation. The fact that the ban applies to products but not to services is also a weak point of the draft legislation.
What happens next? First, the European Parliament and the Council of Member States must define their positions. That might take some time. The EU Commission’s proposal must now be analyzed and, if necessary, improved, wrote Trade Committee Chairman Lange on Twitter. It will likely take until early next year for MEPs to define their position for negotiations with the Commission and the EU Council. Conservative MEPs have already called for the bill to be shelved. CDU politician Daniel Caspary, for example, called for a general moratorium on EU laws “that hinder economic activity.”
The SPD MEP and Vice Chair of the Parliament’s China delegation, René Repasi, sees some potential in the ban: “I assume that this legal act will have a great impact.” It is highly doubtful that Beijing will simply accept it. “There will be a reaction,” Repasi believes. But China cannot afford to restrict trade with the EU, he adds. He does not expect major disruptions to trade chains, Repasi says. EU companies will have sufficient time to prepare: Once the EU institutions have agreed on a legislative proposal, it should take a full 24 months for the ban on forced labor products to take effect.
These are busy times for Chen Xu, China’s envoy in Geneva. The permanent representative of the People’s Republic at the headquarters of the UN Human Rights Council is doing everything in his power these days to prevent a possible resolution against the People’s Republic. And he will probably be successful. However, the signs at the 51st session of the Council, which will drag on into October, are special.
The report by now-departed High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet on the human rights situation in China’s autonomous region of Xinjiang has generated international momentum to hold the Chinese government accountable for the arbitrary imprisonment of millions of people and their political re-education. The clarity with which the report denounces “possible crimes against humanity” had surprised even the Chinese. A Council resolution would automatically result in a UN investigation.
But China’s continuous lobbying at all levels of the United Nations and with all its member states pays off. For years, China has been exerting intensive influence on the work of the body and has repeatedly secured the necessary majorities there to prevent resolutions by the international community against human rights violations in the People’s Republic. While the US government and numerous parliaments of democratic states in the political West speak of genocide in Xinjiang, states including Ethiopia, Pakistan and Cuba label the crimes as internal governmental affairs that are of no concern to the rest of the world. Very much to China’s liking.
Even in the current composition of the council, the coalition of Beijing’s defenders is too large. “China is cocooning itself and doesn’t feel compelled to cooperate in any way, shape, or form. I think that’s a clear indication that the country is certain, that a resolution will not happen,” said a representative of a participating UN agency, who is not authorized for public comment. “The Human Rights Council is experiencing a deeper schism. It’s like a bipolar disorder in the multilateral context.”
China’s ambassador Chen Xu is certain of support and is accordingly confident. “The world of developing countries will fend off all initiatives directed against China,” the diplomat predicts. Any efforts to launch such initiatives would be doomed to fail.
Olaf Wientzek of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Geneva also sees the balance of power in favor of China. He indicated to the Reuters news agency an expected vote of 16-14 against a resolution, with 17 abstentions, in the 47-nation body. “The stronger the mandate, the bigger chances of it being defeated,” Wientzek believes.
The People’s Republic also demonstrates its self-confidence through its formal concessions on the issue of forced labor. By ratifying International Labor Organization (ILO) Conventions 29 and 105, Beijing recently pledged to reject forced labor as a measure for political re-education or for ethnic and religious reasons. Yet these are precisely what a Japanese special rapporteur accused Beijing of in his report to the Human Rights Council.
But the accusations simply bounce off China. The current five-year plan for the Xinjiang region also gives little hope that the arbitrary internment of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities will change in the short term. The paper, a reference for political and economic goals through 2025, specifically mentions “counterterrorism,” which China uses as justification for its crackdown in Xinjiang. However, numerous state documents and eyewitness accounts prove that imprisonment and forced labor as a means of re-education are part of a supposed counter-terrorism crackdown that has gotten completely out of hand.
On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released new numbers showing that more than half a million people have been sentenced to prison terms in Xinjiang by the Chinese judicial system since 2017. “These formal prosecutions, in which many people received punishments without being tried, are distinct from the arbitrary detentions in the extralegal ‘political education’ facilities,” the organization wrote in its report. The number of detainees in the re-education camps reaches into the millions, but can at best be estimated.
“China’s hope is that the West will run out of breath in the medium term and the coalition against forced labor and human rights abuses in Xinjiang will begin to crumble,” says a representative of the UN agency who is not authorized to comment publicly. “Their attitude is that if only enough time has passed, the turmoil will subside. That’s why I’m afraid that nothing will change in China, despite the ratification of conventions.”
It will probably not be until early next year that a technical advisory commission will travel to the People’s Republic to work with local authorities to identify a common definition of forced labor and to advance legislative implementation. However, the commission will not conduct an investigation, in the way a Human Rights Council resolution would entail.
Amid this constellation, Austrian Volker Tuerk will take up his post as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in mid-October. Tuerk has 30 years of experience in the UN Refugee Agency and most recently served on the advisory board of UN Secretary-General António Guterres. The appointment is reportedly bitterly felt by many staff members of the High Commissioner’s Office. Tuerk is regarded as a careerist and an extension of Guterres, who is accused of being overly close to the Chinese government. In Geneva, Tuerk also has the reputation of favoring a softer stance toward Beijing.
A flying vehicle and a toxic green sports car with gullwing doors are parked in front of the Xpeng store in Copenhagen. Naturally, this attracts customers. Although you can’t buy the HT Aero – which looks like an oversized drone – or the futuristic P7 Wing, the effect itself is enough. And, of course, the location: The salesrooms are across the street from the Tivoli amusement park. The two-story Lego flagship store is just a few minutes away, as is the main train station.
So during the vacation season, around 12,000 visitors showed up within a month to look at the cars, all of which are electric – and to test drive the available P7 e-sedan (without gullwing doors).
Xpeng wants to be close to the customer, as a company spokesperson tells China.Table. The showroom looks like a living room where someone has parked two cars: Couch, coffee machine, wood paneling. Anyone who wants to take a test drive has to wait a good 15 minutes there.
Just like its electric competitors NIO and BYD, Xpeng is currently pursuing its European plans. Brian Gu, Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the electric startup, plans to sell half of all cars outside China in the future. However, he did not name a specific year for this goal. In August, the brand sold just over 9,500 vehicles in China. In the second quarter, it sold a total of more than 34,000 cars – an increase of 98 percent compared to the same period last year. And in the third quarter, the figure is expected to range between 29,000 and 31,000 cars.
The expansion plans – not just Xpeng’s – are also a response to the “Made in China 2025” strategy paper. In it, the government in Beijing has stipulated that the two leading Chinese EV manufacturers are to sell 10 percent of their cars outside China from the year 2025. For Xpeng, this currently means Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.
However, Xpeng has not officially announced a launch on the German market yet. That is probably a good thing. The manufacturer simply does not yet have the right vehicles to compete. The only car available in Denmark is the aforementioned P7. It is a sporty electric sedan. However, it is a vehicle class that has been losing market share for years because of the ongoing SUV boom – also in the electric segment. The only reason it still plays a role is because of the high share in the company car segment.
One of the main selling points for Xpenisre taxes. Luxury cars with combustion engines are taxed up to 150 percent in Denmark – in addition to VAT. EVs are exempt. For example, a fully equipped Xpeng P7 (around €56,000) is cheaper than a comparable Audi A4. If you order the EV now, you can expect delivery in the second quarter of 2023. Plenty of time to build up the currently non-existent service network.
This means that the Xpeng P7 will not revolutionize the car market just yet. According to Xpeng, this will soon follow with the G9. The G9 is an SUV of the next EV generation – with an 800-volt electrical system that will be available for around €71,000. With one of the startup’s own Superchargers (480 kW), the battery can be charged with enough power within five minutes to cover a distance of around 200 kilometers.
Within just 24 hours after its presentation, Xpeng received around 23,000 pre-orders for the model in China. The problem is that these Superchargers do not exist in Europe yet. Xpeng only operates a corresponding network in China.
Xpeng recently came under a bit of pressure. The aforementioned quarterly figures caused the share price to plummet to an all-time low. Analysts had simply expected more and were disappointed by the outlook for the third quarter. But this is only a snapshot. After all, Xpeng is one of China’s top domestic performers. And ultimately, it is not the quarterly figures that matter, but medium- and long-term goals. In addition, with investors such as Alibaba and Foxconn, the company is backed by investors worth billions of dollars.
Whether that will be enough, however, remains to be seen. With Lexus (Toyota) and Infiniti (Nissan), Asian companies have already tried to win over customers from the European premium manufacturers – with limited success. Lexus never advanced beyond the niche manufacturer status, and Infiniti has since withdrawn from the market. But the difference is that these manufacturers only offered more of the same old, same old.
Xpeng, Nio and BYD, on the other hand, have the unique selling point of high-quality EVs. European manufacturers are simply lagging behind in this segment. Xpeng also has the advantage that it has developed everything in-house. The technology behind autonomous driving, the artificial intelligence and the surrounding infrastructure (app store) all belong to the brand. And so do the margins hidden in these areas. It is an advantageous approach that European manufacturers have struggled with so far – as Volkswagen’s Cariad shows.
On YouTube with creative DIY videos, on the big stage on German television and in the ear wherever podcasts are available. Versatility is what distinguishes Hang-Shuen Lee. The Hong Kong native is a freelance journalist. Alternating with Steffen Wurzel, she hosts the ARD podcast “Welt.Macht.China” and explores the question of what makes China a world power and, in turn, what the world makes of China.
Lee values the exchange with former and current China correspondents on the podcast. She has learned a lot more about the country where she was born through their “tremendous wealth of knowledge,” she says. Since the podcast’s inception in May, Lee has been passionate about the project. . Her motivation is clear: ” In Germany, a lot is reported about China, but it tends to remain superficial. But people want to know why the Chinese sometimes tick so differently.” Lee ponders, for example, why some Germans “still love cash so much,” while people in China can pay everywhere with QR codes. By no means does she want to generalize. Instead, she wants to try and explain the differences through in-depth journalism.
The 32-year-old identifies herself as a Hong Kong citizen. “The education system is different, the currency, the language, the culture, and there is actually a physical border as well,” she tells of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Today, she calls the German city of Muenster her home. Once a month, Lee travels to the German capital, on assignment for Deutsche Welle (DW), for newsroom shifts.
In retrospect, it turns out that her trip to Germany in 2011 as an exchange student at Witten/Herdecke University was the unexpected start of a new life. She then returned in 2013, with a bachelor’s degree in her pocket.
At the beginning of her journalistic career, Lee reported for DW’s China editorial team in Bonn, with a particularly keen insider’s view of events on the ground. When she was offered a traineeship there in 2015, she knew: This is “the chance”. She dropped out of her studies in Düsseldorf after one semester. To this day, she never regretted taking this step, even though it wasn’t an easy one for her. “I wanted to get to know other areas, radio or television,” she recalls.
One of her greatest hobbies: handicrafts. It used to be a separate section of Deutsche Welle’s YouTube channel. Videos of her shaping a lamp out of wire rope, for example, can still be found on the web. In 2017, Hang-Shuen Lee appeared on the big stage, performing in the casting show “The Voice of Germany”. Singing is another passion of the journalist.
As if that weren’t enough hobbies, Lee is passionate about learning languages. Especially on stressful days, she finds the necessary balance in it: “I can immerse myself in it and forget everything else. It soothes my soul.” For her, mastering languages has always been a door opener. To other cultures.
What motivates her most in her job is the chance to share knowledge. Above all, her personal ambition is to stay in touch with the people in China. “Not everything always has to be political, but cultural exchange is important,” she summarizes. This has become more difficult, especially in the last decade. The political mood has changed, she says – for example, with the mass protests against the pro-Beijing government in Hong Kong in the summer of 2019. “People don’t listen to each other anymore. And it’s the same with China and Taiwan now,” she notes. Julia Klann
There’s no end to the struggle over semiconductors – but at Semicom in Taipei, the world’s largest chip trade show, things remained civil. The trade fair will be held until September 16. A total of 50,000 guests are expected. 700 exhibitors are presenting new products and technology trends.
