A fire in Urumqi sparked a political wildfire in China. In the country’s political and economic centers Beijing and Shanghai, young people openly protest against the party. This is the stuff of the CP’s nightmares. The courage of the people is admirable. Those who chant for Xi Jinping’s resignation put themselves at great risk.
Xi has made elementary mistakes that would have hardly been expected of the party just a few years ago: He has allowed the pressure in the pot to grow to an unbearable level. While the rest of the world has found its way out of the pandemic in recent months, China’s leadership doubled down on the oppression. Xi has acted on his lust for power, fighting the virus only through political control, rather than with the medical tools at hand. Despite all the propaganda, Chinese citizens have understood this difference. This also is the big difference to 2020, when acceptance for the measures was still rightfully high.
Our authors recap the dramatic events of Sunday. We also provide authentic eyewitness accounts from the flashpoint of the protests in Shanghai. But this is just the beginning. Because once the students and the young employees take to the streets and gather for protests, there can be no proper reaction from the state power. If it tolerates the protests, all the anger of the past decades comes to the surface. The youth would start to notice the cracks in the authoritarian facade. So the party will want to suppress the protests early on. In doing so, however, it will inevitably show its true colors.
What also bothers us now is the growing concern about Taiwan. Because how does a dictator restore national unity when he loses popular support? By focusing on a common enemy. An aggression against Taiwan (in CP terms then: a “special operation” in a “very own part of the country”) would turn many countries against China and could unite the Chinese people. The logic would be cynical, but that is exactly how rulers think.
Given the intensifying situation, the election results in Taiwan over the weekend come as a surprise when observed from a distance. The Kuomintang, which is said to be closer to Beijing, won. President Tsai Ing-wen even resigned from her post as leader of the Democratic-Progressive Party. David Demes’ analysis explains the implications of this.
It will be a politically exciting week.
Streets and squares packed with protesters in a dozen cities – there has not been this much courage against the government in China in decades. Even the resignation of the all-powerful head of state and party leader was called for by some of the protesters: In Shanghai on Wulumuqi Road in the center of the city named after the western Chinese city of Urumqi, protesters chanted, “Xi Jinping, xiatai, Gongchangdang, xiatai” – “Down with Xi Jinping, down with the Communist Party.” And, “We don’t want dictatorship. We want democracy.” Police forces initially responded with restraint, but eventually used pepper spray to break up the protests.
On Friday, ten people were killed in an apartment building fire in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. An unprecedented wave of protests against the government’s Covid policy has formed over the weekend out of the commemoration of the dead. First, people flooded social networks with such a massive number of angry comments that censors could barely keep up with deleting them. This was followed by protests in several major cities. Typical here is the confrontation of middle-class Chinese with brutal security forces in white protective suits.
Images not only came from Shanghai that astonished even long-time China observers. In Beijing, at the prestigious Tsinghua University of all places, where Xi Jinping and many other CP leaders also studied, hundreds gathered on Sunday in protest. “If we don’t speak out for fear of the dark regime, our people will be disappointed,” one student shouted through a megaphone. “As a Tsinghua student, I would regret this for the rest of my life.” The crowd responded in chorus, “Don’t be afraid! Don’t be afraid!” Student protests in Beijing bring back memories of 1989.
In Chengdu, hundreds also gathered for a public vigil with tea lights for the victims of the fire. They called for freedom of the press and freedom of expression. Protests were also held in Wuhan, Nanjing, Xi’an, Guangzhou and other cities. On social media, users shared hundreds of images from across the country of people holding up blank sheets of paper to express their powerlessness and anger over censorship. Social media footage showed face masks smeared with red paint hung on a railing at the Beijing Film Academy.
The protests were sparked by the circumstances of a fire in Urumqi. Videos of the fire on Thursday evening show that the water from the fire truck did not reach the flames at first. Apparently because the firefighters could not get close enough to the building. Accusations were made that the lockdown measures may have been partly to blame.
At the same time, images from various cities in Xinjiang circulated, showing doors barricaded with poles and wires. Apparently, this is how the authorities enforce curfews. Video recordings showed a large crowd gathering in Urumqi to protest in front of the city administration.
However, many protesters in Beijing, Shanghai and the other cities are not just upset about the fire in Urumqi. They are no longer willing to follow the zero-Covid strategy that the CP leadership has been pursuing fanatically for months. Because of the recent rapid increase in nationwide infection numbers, the authorities recently imposed curfews on more and more residential complexes in numerous cities. Residents shared videos of heated discussions outside locked access gates over the weekend. In Beijing, angry citizens tore down barricades to single-handedly free their apartment block from the lockdown. In other cases, residents simply presented what they saw as a clear legal case that the curfews were illegal.
In previous weeks, sporadic images of anti-Covid protests already surfaced, but they were limited mainly to migrant workers. The protests were aimed at barriers at the plant of Apple’s supplier Foxconn in Zhengzhou and Guangzhou. Now the middle class in the metropolises is also protesting.
Some observers called the images from Shanghai and Beijing the most visible anti-government protests since the 1989 Tiananmen Square student movement crackdown in Beijing. “I’ve lived in China for 30 years, and I’ve never seen such a brazenly open and sustained expression of rage against the PRC government,” commented sinologist David Moser on Twitter, calling it “a serious test of CCP governance”. In a Twitter thread, Kristin Shi-Kupfer, a political scientist and sinology professor at the University of Trier, pointed out three aspects that she considered remarkable and that represented a new quality:
“This is what makes it volatile for the Chinese government,” writes Shi-Kupfer. Even if the protest wave is successfully broken, the problem of how to deal with Covid remains for the government. Xi’s grip on power could be challenged.
Other China experts fear that a harsh reaction from the authorities is to be expected. Not the anti-Covid protests, but the explicit anti-government slogans in Shanghai and Urumqi could result in a “qualitatively different reaction” from the party leadership, Yale professor Taisu Zhang wrote on Twitter. However, despite the unrest over the weekend, Zhang believes it is clear who has the upper hand in the end. “Whatever else might happen in China as a result of these protests, regime change is not one of the possibilities.”
Many people in Beijing and Shanghai would probably be happy if they were spared a chaotic Covid winter. But it currently does not look like that is going to happen. The number of cases in Beijing in particular increased significantly once again. The Beijing Health Commission reported a new daily record of 4,307 infections on Sunday. Joern Petring, Collaboration: Felix Lee
I live very close to Wulumuqi Road (Urumqi Road – translator’s note). On WeChat, I saw that many of my friends went out on the street. I did not want to participate in any “fun” or anything like that. I went there because I was worried. I wanted to help in case something went wrong.
Everything happened spontaneously. At first, people mourned and held up white sheets of paper. Then more and more people shouted slogans. The crowd moved back and forth at the ends of the intersection. When they encountered a police line, they asked the policemen to go home.
The slogans that were shouted also came spontaneously. When they met with approval in the crowd, more people joined in. The chants kept going longer and longer. Some people were so excited that they shouted them directly in the faces of the police officers. Many slogans revolved around the pandemic, from “no masks” to “give me back my youth.” But they also extended the theme with strong language, and very often: “Caonima” (“Fuck your mother” – translator’s note). However, the national anthem, which was sung over and over again, had the biggest impact.
I didn’t join in shouting the slogans, and I don’t agree with many of them. But I wanted to support the people there. The oppression needed to find an outlet. And there were a lot of people there, which made me feel safer. But there were also people in the crowd who were drunk and out of control, laughing and ready to run away at any time. There were also some foreigners who were clearly excited about all the drama and action.
I was scared considering all the cameras and the expectation that someone would turn around after me. But I was also not wearing a mask and was ready to face the responsibility. Up close, it was clear that the police officers were just following orders. They were supposed to control the scene and find a way to evacuate the crowd. The tactic was to hold out and watch the crowd until they ran out of energy. Then, at about three o’clock, the crowd would be pushed away by a human wall into various streets branching off from the intersection. The final strategy was to simply push people away or convince them to go to sleep. More violent methods were used on individuals who showed stronger reactions. By four o’clock, I was so tired that I couldn’t think straight. When I left the scene, no one stopped me.
Since there are not too many Covid risk areas in Shanghai at the moment, it was mainly an emotional outburst about previous lockdowns and the epidemic itself. I am concerned that this kind of protest will not find a rational outcome without clear demands. I hope that the worst case scenario can be avoided as far as possible.
I witnessed Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street in the United States. I know that these kinds of protests and power plays fail because of the same things. Young people put themselves in the forefront because they have the least burdens to bear and because they respond more emotionally. But they also have little experience and do things without preparation.
I no longer feel physically or mentally part of this group of young people. But I want to use my experience to protect them, in the country of which I am a citizen. To all my friends who are watching the protests and want to join, I want to say: You have the freedom to act according to your ideals and needs. Take whatever position you want, but also try to see the big picture and look beyond your personal experience as far as possible. And then be prepared to take responsibility for any of the consequences. Recorded by rz and fpe.
On Saturday evening, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen stepped in front of the press at the headquarters of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taipei and took political responsibility for her party’s defeat. In the so-called 9-in-1 (九合一選舉) elections, citizens voted for 21 mayoral, county council and some 11,000 local council positions. But the local elections also show how satisfied the population is with the government – a bit like the midterms in the United States. “The results have not met our expectations,” Tsai acknowledged, declaring her immediate resignation from the post of party leader. She had rejected a resignation request from her government chief Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌). KMT candidates won a majority of votes in 13 of the 21 counties and cities – Tsai’s DPP, by contrast, only in five.
Although the conservative KMT already speaks of a “blue wave,” both KMT and DPP effectively lost votes. At 59.86 percent, voter turnout in the non-government cities was the lowest in 14 years. Sociologist Lin Thung-hong (林宗弘) of the state-run Academia Sinica research academy attributes this to the deterrence of many voters. “The KMT has managed to demobilize voters from the green camp and effectively lower voter turnout with the help of a negative campaign,” Lin told China.Table. Overall, the DPP lacked a central campaign theme that would have encouraged young people and swing voters to travel home specifically for the election. There is no absentee voting in Taiwan, and young people in particular are often still registered in their hometowns.
In fact, the election campaign had been plagued by scandals and hostility for months. The plagiarism case involving its rising star Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) probably hurt the DPP the most. Lin had ruled for eight years in the semiconductor stronghold of Hsinchu and entered the election campaign in the growing megacity of Taoyuan with strong poll numbers. Following allegations of plagiarism, Lin dropped his candidacy despite his party’s support and thus massively damaged the DPP election campaign in Hsinchu, Taoyuan and nationwide.
In the capital Taipei, the DPP fielded its Covid-experienced Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中). Within the party, Chen was considered the most promising candidate in Taipei, which is traditionally dominated by voter groups loyal to the KMT. However, his successful pandemic management quickly became his most significant liability during the election campaign. From baseless accusations of obstructing the procurement of foreign vaccines for personal gain to the relaxation of quarantine rules for airline staff, Chen had to justify himself virtually every day and barely managed to set his own agenda.
Election winner Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) of the KMT promised his supporters to protect Taipei from “evil forces” and not allow Chen to “take what is not his.” Critics saw Chiang’s remarks as an attempt to tap into old prejudices against ancestral Taiwanese and a sense of superiority of Chinese immigrants. Chiang owes much of his success to his family name: His father Chiang Hsiao-yen (蔣孝嚴) was a high-ranking KMT official and, by his own admission, is the illegitimate son of former President Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國). Other than harsh criticism of Chen and the ruling party, however, Chiang Wan-an did not have much to offer. During a televised debate, he left a full five minutes of speaking time unused, during which he could have presented his election program.
Nevertheless, the KMT’s successes in this election did not come as a surprise, according to sociologist Lin Thung-hong. In the last local elections in 2018, the KMT already scored major victories. “The KMT traditionally has a strong local lineup, organizations, and networks, and usually the more grassroots the elections, the more dominant it is.” The party, which has often been marked by internal disputes in recent years, also displayed unusual unity during this election, Lin said.
Taiwanese media already speak of the beginning of a “post-Tsai Ing Wen era”. Whether Tsai will really lose influence in the party, however, remains to be seen. After all, she resigned from the party leadership in 2012 and 2018 after electoral defeats, only to run again a short time later. There are voices within the party that hold Tsai responsible for the election defeat. Only about three weeks before the election, the president unsuccessfully tried to turn the election campaign into a vote on her policies and to put the theme “Resist China, Protect Taiwan” (抗中保台) at the center of the campaign.
It is still uncertain what impact the election will have on Taiwan’s political future. Hou You-yi (侯友宜), mayor of New Taipei City, emerged stronger from the election and is currently considered the most promising KMT candidate for the 2024 presidential election. Meanwhile, it is to be expected that many of the KMT mayors will again seek increased exchanges with the People’s Republic after the Covid situation in China relaxes.
In our analysis “China’s inglorious role at COP27” of Nov. 25, 2022, we wrote that the United States had not set an official target date for carbon neutrality. In fact, shortly after taking office in 2021, US President Joe Biden declared that the US wanted to become carbon neutral by 2050.
Jeff Zhou decided against Cambridge and in favor of Aachen. In retrospect, that was the right choice. Today, he not only networks China and Germany, he also brings together teams from the fields of e-mobility and autonomous driving to develop them into a business.
Zhou grew up in Shanghai in the 1970s. While China was opening up to the world under Deng Xiaoping’s reform policies, the gateway to the world also opened up for Zhou. In 1983, he earned his physics degree at the renowned Fudan University and was selected for an international research program. RWTH Aachen invited him and he accepted the call. Even when he also received an invitation from MIT in Cambridge, he stuck to his decision for Aachen. “I accepted spontaneously, even though I knew little about Germany. But I didn’t regret it,” says Zhou today.
In Aachen, he finished his doctorate in elementary particle physics with distinction. Over the years, he got to know Germany thoroughly – and Germany and China also moved closer together. China’s huge market became a gold mine for the German industry. An achievement for both sides, Zhou says, stressing how important the freedom of private enterprise was in China. “A tremendous impetus came from that. People were encouraged to take their destiny into their own hands.”
After earning his doctorate, Zhou spent several years researching at the CERN particle accelerator in Switzerland and at the Desy in Hamburg. In the mid-1990s, he moved to the private sector. He took the plunge as a strategy consultant and then gained operational experience in German companies before taking on management roles at Elektrobit, Siemens and Maxwell. There, he built up and expanded the China and Asia business. His specialty became the automotive industry with a focus on electromobility and software.
“I witnessed the growth of the Chinese automotive industry and the associated success of German carmakers,” he recalls. He was amazed that Chinese companies so quickly took a significant position in the e-mobility market. Germany, on the other hand, rested too long on its successes with the internal combustion engine and slept on e-mobility, says the industry expert.
Zhou has been the Intron Group’s branch manager for Europe since 2020. The company develops and distributes electronic components for the automotive industry, among other things. In his role, Zhou is responsible for cooperation between European suppliers and the Intron Group. He is optimistic about the future because “the Chinese market continues to grow.” Here, it has become clear that the dependency is not one-sided, but mutual. While China is one of the largest markets for electromobility, EVs built in China depend on key components from Europe and the US, for example semiconductor products for vehicle electronics.
The current debate about decoupling and deglobalization worries him. “You can now feel how fragile the global economy is when the supply chain doesn’t work for whatever reason,” he says. The world needs to move closer together to address major challenges, such as climate change, he says. Zhou hopes that the economic interdependencies and open exchanges that are important to a functioning global economy will also serve to reduce confrontation and prevent further conflict. “The world gets better when you work together,” he believes. Jonathan Kaspar Teacher
A fire in Urumqi sparked a political wildfire in China. In the country’s political and economic centers Beijing and Shanghai, young people openly protest against the party. This is the stuff of the CP’s nightmares. The courage of the people is admirable. Those who chant for Xi Jinping’s resignation put themselves at great risk.
Xi has made elementary mistakes that would have hardly been expected of the party just a few years ago: He has allowed the pressure in the pot to grow to an unbearable level. While the rest of the world has found its way out of the pandemic in recent months, China’s leadership doubled down on the oppression. Xi has acted on his lust for power, fighting the virus only through political control, rather than with the medical tools at hand. Despite all the propaganda, Chinese citizens have understood this difference. This also is the big difference to 2020, when acceptance for the measures was still rightfully high.
Our authors recap the dramatic events of Sunday. We also provide authentic eyewitness accounts from the flashpoint of the protests in Shanghai. But this is just the beginning. Because once the students and the young employees take to the streets and gather for protests, there can be no proper reaction from the state power. If it tolerates the protests, all the anger of the past decades comes to the surface. The youth would start to notice the cracks in the authoritarian facade. So the party will want to suppress the protests early on. In doing so, however, it will inevitably show its true colors.
What also bothers us now is the growing concern about Taiwan. Because how does a dictator restore national unity when he loses popular support? By focusing on a common enemy. An aggression against Taiwan (in CP terms then: a “special operation” in a “very own part of the country”) would turn many countries against China and could unite the Chinese people. The logic would be cynical, but that is exactly how rulers think.
Given the intensifying situation, the election results in Taiwan over the weekend come as a surprise when observed from a distance. The Kuomintang, which is said to be closer to Beijing, won. President Tsai Ing-wen even resigned from her post as leader of the Democratic-Progressive Party. David Demes’ analysis explains the implications of this.
It will be a politically exciting week.
Streets and squares packed with protesters in a dozen cities – there has not been this much courage against the government in China in decades. Even the resignation of the all-powerful head of state and party leader was called for by some of the protesters: In Shanghai on Wulumuqi Road in the center of the city named after the western Chinese city of Urumqi, protesters chanted, “Xi Jinping, xiatai, Gongchangdang, xiatai” – “Down with Xi Jinping, down with the Communist Party.” And, “We don’t want dictatorship. We want democracy.” Police forces initially responded with restraint, but eventually used pepper spray to break up the protests.
On Friday, ten people were killed in an apartment building fire in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. An unprecedented wave of protests against the government’s Covid policy has formed over the weekend out of the commemoration of the dead. First, people flooded social networks with such a massive number of angry comments that censors could barely keep up with deleting them. This was followed by protests in several major cities. Typical here is the confrontation of middle-class Chinese with brutal security forces in white protective suits.
Images not only came from Shanghai that astonished even long-time China observers. In Beijing, at the prestigious Tsinghua University of all places, where Xi Jinping and many other CP leaders also studied, hundreds gathered on Sunday in protest. “If we don’t speak out for fear of the dark regime, our people will be disappointed,” one student shouted through a megaphone. “As a Tsinghua student, I would regret this for the rest of my life.” The crowd responded in chorus, “Don’t be afraid! Don’t be afraid!” Student protests in Beijing bring back memories of 1989.
In Chengdu, hundreds also gathered for a public vigil with tea lights for the victims of the fire. They called for freedom of the press and freedom of expression. Protests were also held in Wuhan, Nanjing, Xi’an, Guangzhou and other cities. On social media, users shared hundreds of images from across the country of people holding up blank sheets of paper to express their powerlessness and anger over censorship. Social media footage showed face masks smeared with red paint hung on a railing at the Beijing Film Academy.
The protests were sparked by the circumstances of a fire in Urumqi. Videos of the fire on Thursday evening show that the water from the fire truck did not reach the flames at first. Apparently because the firefighters could not get close enough to the building. Accusations were made that the lockdown measures may have been partly to blame.
At the same time, images from various cities in Xinjiang circulated, showing doors barricaded with poles and wires. Apparently, this is how the authorities enforce curfews. Video recordings showed a large crowd gathering in Urumqi to protest in front of the city administration.
However, many protesters in Beijing, Shanghai and the other cities are not just upset about the fire in Urumqi. They are no longer willing to follow the zero-Covid strategy that the CP leadership has been pursuing fanatically for months. Because of the recent rapid increase in nationwide infection numbers, the authorities recently imposed curfews on more and more residential complexes in numerous cities. Residents shared videos of heated discussions outside locked access gates over the weekend. In Beijing, angry citizens tore down barricades to single-handedly free their apartment block from the lockdown. In other cases, residents simply presented what they saw as a clear legal case that the curfews were illegal.
In previous weeks, sporadic images of anti-Covid protests already surfaced, but they were limited mainly to migrant workers. The protests were aimed at barriers at the plant of Apple’s supplier Foxconn in Zhengzhou and Guangzhou. Now the middle class in the metropolises is also protesting.
Some observers called the images from Shanghai and Beijing the most visible anti-government protests since the 1989 Tiananmen Square student movement crackdown in Beijing. “I’ve lived in China for 30 years, and I’ve never seen such a brazenly open and sustained expression of rage against the PRC government,” commented sinologist David Moser on Twitter, calling it “a serious test of CCP governance”. In a Twitter thread, Kristin Shi-Kupfer, a political scientist and sinology professor at the University of Trier, pointed out three aspects that she considered remarkable and that represented a new quality:
“This is what makes it volatile for the Chinese government,” writes Shi-Kupfer. Even if the protest wave is successfully broken, the problem of how to deal with Covid remains for the government. Xi’s grip on power could be challenged.
Other China experts fear that a harsh reaction from the authorities is to be expected. Not the anti-Covid protests, but the explicit anti-government slogans in Shanghai and Urumqi could result in a “qualitatively different reaction” from the party leadership, Yale professor Taisu Zhang wrote on Twitter. However, despite the unrest over the weekend, Zhang believes it is clear who has the upper hand in the end. “Whatever else might happen in China as a result of these protests, regime change is not one of the possibilities.”
Many people in Beijing and Shanghai would probably be happy if they were spared a chaotic Covid winter. But it currently does not look like that is going to happen. The number of cases in Beijing in particular increased significantly once again. The Beijing Health Commission reported a new daily record of 4,307 infections on Sunday. Joern Petring, Collaboration: Felix Lee
I live very close to Wulumuqi Road (Urumqi Road – translator’s note). On WeChat, I saw that many of my friends went out on the street. I did not want to participate in any “fun” or anything like that. I went there because I was worried. I wanted to help in case something went wrong.
Everything happened spontaneously. At first, people mourned and held up white sheets of paper. Then more and more people shouted slogans. The crowd moved back and forth at the ends of the intersection. When they encountered a police line, they asked the policemen to go home.
The slogans that were shouted also came spontaneously. When they met with approval in the crowd, more people joined in. The chants kept going longer and longer. Some people were so excited that they shouted them directly in the faces of the police officers. Many slogans revolved around the pandemic, from “no masks” to “give me back my youth.” But they also extended the theme with strong language, and very often: “Caonima” (“Fuck your mother” – translator’s note). However, the national anthem, which was sung over and over again, had the biggest impact.
I didn’t join in shouting the slogans, and I don’t agree with many of them. But I wanted to support the people there. The oppression needed to find an outlet. And there were a lot of people there, which made me feel safer. But there were also people in the crowd who were drunk and out of control, laughing and ready to run away at any time. There were also some foreigners who were clearly excited about all the drama and action.
I was scared considering all the cameras and the expectation that someone would turn around after me. But I was also not wearing a mask and was ready to face the responsibility. Up close, it was clear that the police officers were just following orders. They were supposed to control the scene and find a way to evacuate the crowd. The tactic was to hold out and watch the crowd until they ran out of energy. Then, at about three o’clock, the crowd would be pushed away by a human wall into various streets branching off from the intersection. The final strategy was to simply push people away or convince them to go to sleep. More violent methods were used on individuals who showed stronger reactions. By four o’clock, I was so tired that I couldn’t think straight. When I left the scene, no one stopped me.
Since there are not too many Covid risk areas in Shanghai at the moment, it was mainly an emotional outburst about previous lockdowns and the epidemic itself. I am concerned that this kind of protest will not find a rational outcome without clear demands. I hope that the worst case scenario can be avoided as far as possible.
I witnessed Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street in the United States. I know that these kinds of protests and power plays fail because of the same things. Young people put themselves in the forefront because they have the least burdens to bear and because they respond more emotionally. But they also have little experience and do things without preparation.
I no longer feel physically or mentally part of this group of young people. But I want to use my experience to protect them, in the country of which I am a citizen. To all my friends who are watching the protests and want to join, I want to say: You have the freedom to act according to your ideals and needs. Take whatever position you want, but also try to see the big picture and look beyond your personal experience as far as possible. And then be prepared to take responsibility for any of the consequences. Recorded by rz and fpe.
On Saturday evening, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen stepped in front of the press at the headquarters of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taipei and took political responsibility for her party’s defeat. In the so-called 9-in-1 (九合一選舉) elections, citizens voted for 21 mayoral, county council and some 11,000 local council positions. But the local elections also show how satisfied the population is with the government – a bit like the midterms in the United States. “The results have not met our expectations,” Tsai acknowledged, declaring her immediate resignation from the post of party leader. She had rejected a resignation request from her government chief Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌). KMT candidates won a majority of votes in 13 of the 21 counties and cities – Tsai’s DPP, by contrast, only in five.
Although the conservative KMT already speaks of a “blue wave,” both KMT and DPP effectively lost votes. At 59.86 percent, voter turnout in the non-government cities was the lowest in 14 years. Sociologist Lin Thung-hong (林宗弘) of the state-run Academia Sinica research academy attributes this to the deterrence of many voters. “The KMT has managed to demobilize voters from the green camp and effectively lower voter turnout with the help of a negative campaign,” Lin told China.Table. Overall, the DPP lacked a central campaign theme that would have encouraged young people and swing voters to travel home specifically for the election. There is no absentee voting in Taiwan, and young people in particular are often still registered in their hometowns.
In fact, the election campaign had been plagued by scandals and hostility for months. The plagiarism case involving its rising star Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) probably hurt the DPP the most. Lin had ruled for eight years in the semiconductor stronghold of Hsinchu and entered the election campaign in the growing megacity of Taoyuan with strong poll numbers. Following allegations of plagiarism, Lin dropped his candidacy despite his party’s support and thus massively damaged the DPP election campaign in Hsinchu, Taoyuan and nationwide.
In the capital Taipei, the DPP fielded its Covid-experienced Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中). Within the party, Chen was considered the most promising candidate in Taipei, which is traditionally dominated by voter groups loyal to the KMT. However, his successful pandemic management quickly became his most significant liability during the election campaign. From baseless accusations of obstructing the procurement of foreign vaccines for personal gain to the relaxation of quarantine rules for airline staff, Chen had to justify himself virtually every day and barely managed to set his own agenda.
Election winner Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) of the KMT promised his supporters to protect Taipei from “evil forces” and not allow Chen to “take what is not his.” Critics saw Chiang’s remarks as an attempt to tap into old prejudices against ancestral Taiwanese and a sense of superiority of Chinese immigrants. Chiang owes much of his success to his family name: His father Chiang Hsiao-yen (蔣孝嚴) was a high-ranking KMT official and, by his own admission, is the illegitimate son of former President Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國). Other than harsh criticism of Chen and the ruling party, however, Chiang Wan-an did not have much to offer. During a televised debate, he left a full five minutes of speaking time unused, during which he could have presented his election program.
Nevertheless, the KMT’s successes in this election did not come as a surprise, according to sociologist Lin Thung-hong. In the last local elections in 2018, the KMT already scored major victories. “The KMT traditionally has a strong local lineup, organizations, and networks, and usually the more grassroots the elections, the more dominant it is.” The party, which has often been marked by internal disputes in recent years, also displayed unusual unity during this election, Lin said.
Taiwanese media already speak of the beginning of a “post-Tsai Ing Wen era”. Whether Tsai will really lose influence in the party, however, remains to be seen. After all, she resigned from the party leadership in 2012 and 2018 after electoral defeats, only to run again a short time later. There are voices within the party that hold Tsai responsible for the election defeat. Only about three weeks before the election, the president unsuccessfully tried to turn the election campaign into a vote on her policies and to put the theme “Resist China, Protect Taiwan” (抗中保台) at the center of the campaign.
It is still uncertain what impact the election will have on Taiwan’s political future. Hou You-yi (侯友宜), mayor of New Taipei City, emerged stronger from the election and is currently considered the most promising KMT candidate for the 2024 presidential election. Meanwhile, it is to be expected that many of the KMT mayors will again seek increased exchanges with the People’s Republic after the Covid situation in China relaxes.
In our analysis “China’s inglorious role at COP27” of Nov. 25, 2022, we wrote that the United States had not set an official target date for carbon neutrality. In fact, shortly after taking office in 2021, US President Joe Biden declared that the US wanted to become carbon neutral by 2050.
Jeff Zhou decided against Cambridge and in favor of Aachen. In retrospect, that was the right choice. Today, he not only networks China and Germany, he also brings together teams from the fields of e-mobility and autonomous driving to develop them into a business.
Zhou grew up in Shanghai in the 1970s. While China was opening up to the world under Deng Xiaoping’s reform policies, the gateway to the world also opened up for Zhou. In 1983, he earned his physics degree at the renowned Fudan University and was selected for an international research program. RWTH Aachen invited him and he accepted the call. Even when he also received an invitation from MIT in Cambridge, he stuck to his decision for Aachen. “I accepted spontaneously, even though I knew little about Germany. But I didn’t regret it,” says Zhou today.
In Aachen, he finished his doctorate in elementary particle physics with distinction. Over the years, he got to know Germany thoroughly – and Germany and China also moved closer together. China’s huge market became a gold mine for the German industry. An achievement for both sides, Zhou says, stressing how important the freedom of private enterprise was in China. “A tremendous impetus came from that. People were encouraged to take their destiny into their own hands.”
After earning his doctorate, Zhou spent several years researching at the CERN particle accelerator in Switzerland and at the Desy in Hamburg. In the mid-1990s, he moved to the private sector. He took the plunge as a strategy consultant and then gained operational experience in German companies before taking on management roles at Elektrobit, Siemens and Maxwell. There, he built up and expanded the China and Asia business. His specialty became the automotive industry with a focus on electromobility and software.
“I witnessed the growth of the Chinese automotive industry and the associated success of German carmakers,” he recalls. He was amazed that Chinese companies so quickly took a significant position in the e-mobility market. Germany, on the other hand, rested too long on its successes with the internal combustion engine and slept on e-mobility, says the industry expert.
Zhou has been the Intron Group’s branch manager for Europe since 2020. The company develops and distributes electronic components for the automotive industry, among other things. In his role, Zhou is responsible for cooperation between European suppliers and the Intron Group. He is optimistic about the future because “the Chinese market continues to grow.” Here, it has become clear that the dependency is not one-sided, but mutual. While China is one of the largest markets for electromobility, EVs built in China depend on key components from Europe and the US, for example semiconductor products for vehicle electronics.
The current debate about decoupling and deglobalization worries him. “You can now feel how fragile the global economy is when the supply chain doesn’t work for whatever reason,” he says. The world needs to move closer together to address major challenges, such as climate change, he says. Zhou hopes that the economic interdependencies and open exchanges that are important to a functioning global economy will also serve to reduce confrontation and prevent further conflict. “The world gets better when you work together,” he believes. Jonathan Kaspar Teacher
