He hasn't been Siemens CEO for four months – so Joe Kaeser can focus on his role as a thought leader for German business on Asian issues. Under his leadership, the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business (APA) recently advocated greater diversification of German activities in the region. In an interview with China.Table, he now warns: If the EU is not at the table when it comes to setting standards, German SMEs, in particular, will suffer. Meanwhile, the attempt to economically decouple the world's regions runs counter to the requirements of digitalization. Finn Mayer-Kuckuk spoke with Joe Kaeser.
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The US made it clear that it will not compromise on climate policy cooperation with China on the contentious issues of Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The tensions between the two countries so far prevented them from agreeing to binding climate commitments. Nevertheless, in the coming years, both countries will have to be judged on how they translate climate policy promises into action.
By Redaktion Table
It was already on the brink of collapse: The CAI investment agreement was supposed to symbolize greater proximity between China and Europe, but now it is becoming part of a major conflict between the trading blocs. By rejecting the agreement, Brussels is sending a signal to Beijing – and the German government, as a supporter of the agreement, is embarrassed. Meanwhile, the G7 is finding its way back to a common line in dealing with China.
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The summit in Alaska could hardly have got off to a worse start. In an astonishingly aggressive manner – and on camera – both sides hurled their differing views at each other. Did Washington deliberately provoke the scandal? Some things point to that.
By Felix Lee
Joe Biden should roll back the tariffs Donald Trump imposed on China. They are hurting US workers and companies and have failed to bring down the overall US trade deficit. However, Biden should persuade China to do something in return, for example, in the climate sector.
By Redaktion Table
The idea that US President Joe Biden would act differently in foreign relations than his predecessor Donald Trump has already been buried. Now his tough approach to Chinese telecoms suppliers shows that, in part, he is just as tough as his predecessor. The situation is not expected to ease in the foreseeable future.
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China can't seem to let it go: Despite agreements with Western countries to the contrary, hackers from the Far East are repeatedly accessing the data of authorities, banks, and companies. With access to Microsoft's Exchange servers, a particularly spectacular case is now causing outrage. But is the state really behind the espionage?
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In his annual press conference, Foreign Minister Wang Yi raised controversial issues – and made China's positions clear: In Hong Kong, the politicians there must "love their motherland", and the accusations of genocide in Xinjiang are "rumors". He called for more cooperation with the USA but, at the same time, forbade Washington to interfere in internal affairs. With regard to the ILO's forced labor requirements, he promised "efforts". However, there were no concrete announcements.
By Frank Sieren
The only way to prevent Sino-American relations from deteriorating further is for either US President Joe Biden or Chinese President Xi Jinping to offer a goodwill gesture, and then respond in kind to the other’s subsequent moves. And Xi appears better positioned to take the initiative.
By Antje Sirleschtov
Joe Biden's China policy is designed to slow down the People's Republic. He wants to prevent China's rise to become a world power. The Table.Media editorial team provides all the news on the topic.
U.S. President Joe Biden continues the hard course against China. Sanctions and the search for new political allies serve to protect "core U.S. national security interests and democratic values," according to a White House statement. The statement was prompted by Biden's executive order that blacklisted 59 Chinese companies. Joe Biden thus continues the China policy that his predecessor in office Donald Trump had initiated. Albeit somewhat more diplomatically and with fewer nationalistic undertones. The goal, according to the unanimous opinion of observers, is to prevent China's rise to become a world power and technology leader in future key technology.
The U.S. blacklist goes back to former President Donald Trump. During his term in office, he had a total of forty Chinese companies put on it, which he accused of having ties to the People's Republic's military. Joe Biden added 59 more companies to this list as part of his China policy. According to the U.S., the companies are said to be those whose technologies "facilitate repression or serious human rights abuses." Since former President Donald Trump, the blacklist has become a common tool in sanctions, economic and foreign policy. It is also an important part of Joe Biden's China policy. If a company is blacklisted, it is denied access to American technologies. If a U.S. company wants to trade them, it needs an exemption.
Xiaomi is not on the US blacklist. Although U.S. President Joe Biden had the smartphone provider put on it as part of his China policy, it sued in a court in Washington and was proven right. The government had to remove the Chinese company from the list. Other companies, such as telecommunications provider Huawei and oil company CNOOC, remained on the list. Nevertheless, it is clear that Joe Biden's China policy follows the principle of decoupling. A policy that has already been initiated by former President Donald Trump. By this, the U.S. understands the "decoupling" of the American and Chinese economies. Imports and exports are to be cut back. Politics is also affected by this. Both the U.S. and the People's Republic are working hard to establish new partnerships with other countries.
The consequences of decoupling are complex. On a technical level, this tactic of Joe Biden's China policy leads to the emergence of different standards. For example, in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, or 5G. Countries like Germany, which trade with both China and the U.S., have to put a lot of money into research and development to be able to serve both standards. Originally, former President Donald Trump coined the term. But Joe Biden's China policy follows the general direction. Biden, like Trump before him, uses it to justify various sanctions against blacklisted companies. China itself opposes decoupling with the concept of dual circulation. The current five-year plan stipulates that the domestic economy is to be strengthened. This should make China less dependent on exports and imports.
Tensions between the USA and China began in 2018, when then-U.S. President Donald Trump ordered punitive tariffs on imports from the People's Republic. The sanctions affected $50 billion worth of goods. Just one year later, Trump had ordered punitive tariffs on goods worth $500 billion. These are virtually all imports of the United States from China. Trump justified the sanctions against China with alleged unfair trade methods of the People's Republic. The punitive tariffs served to reduce the trade deficit. Of course, there were also geostrategic goals behind this. China's rise as a technology leader was to be slowed down or stopped altogether.
The U.S.-China trade dispute escalated when Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada on Dec. 1, 2018. Huawei's chief financial officer and daughter of Ren Zhengfei, Huawei's founder, was accused of circumventing U.S. sanctions on Iran. In addition, Huawei is alleged to be using 5G technology to spy for the Chinese Communist Party. Tensions between China and the U.S. intensified in late 2019 due to the coronavirus crisis. Both the People's Republic and the US were looking for a scapegoat for the pandemic and problems at home. For then-U.S. President Trump, China was to blame for everything. He called COVID-19 the "China virus" and spoke of an attack.
During the election campaign, both then-U.S. President Donald Trump and Joe Biden made China policy a central issue. Both attacked the Communist Party harshly for its global world power aspirations and human rights abuses. Among U.S. voters, opinions on China changed significantly during the campaign and turned negative.
Joe Biden's China policy gets a framework with the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act of 21 (USICA). The law sets the course toward the People's Republic. Republicans and Democrats passed the bill together in rare unity. Among other things, the law frees up larger subsidies to build technology centers and increase scholarships. The U.S. Innovation and Competition Act of 21 (USICA) includes $250 billion. $52 billion of that is earmarked for semiconductor manufacturing. It is intended to reduce dependence on China. Both Democrats and Republicans speak of a "threat" from China in connection with the USICA. A choice of words that offends diplomats. "We call on the U.S. Congress to look objectively and rationally at China's development and Sino-American relations, immediately stop considering the bill, and stop interfering in China's internal affairs," Wang Wenbin, spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, assesses this part of Joe Biden's China policy.
The People's Republic has already reacted to Joe Biden's tough China policy. For example, the Communist Party passed the Anti-Sanctions Act in June 2021. Or: Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law. China's Anti-Sanctions Act is a legal framework to respond to U.S. sanctions on their part. China's Anti-Sanctions Act specifies when and in what form Chinese authorities can intervene should sanctions be imposed against the People's Republic. All of China's other sanctions against the United States or Europe, however, remain in place. The Anti-Sanctions Act, however, allows for the punishment of individuals involved in "discriminatory measures against Chinese citizens" or "interference in China's internal affairs." They are blacklisted.
Central to China's Anti-Sanctions Act as a replica of Joe Biden's China policy is Article Three. This states that individuals and organizations involved in "interference in China's internal affairs" can be punished. For them, the Communist Party has created a blacklist. Article five of the Anti-Sanctions Act also states that the spouses and family members of the accused are also affected. If a person is on the blacklist, he or she can be expelled from the country. Article twelve additionally grants Chinese citizens and organizations the right to sue for damages.
In response to Joe Biden's China policy, the Communist Party has also already placed some individuals and organizations on its own blacklist. Among them are US politicians Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton. They are joined by European academics and non-governmental organizations such as the National Endowment for Democracy, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House and Merics. In addition, Reinhard Bütikofer (Greens) and Michael Gahler (CDU) of the EU Commission are on the blacklist. Canadian politician Michael Chong and members of the European Parliament's Human Rights Committee are also affected.
Joe Biden's China policy will shape the global politics of the USA, but also of China, for years to come. Accordingly, the Table.Media editorial team will bring you all the relevant news on this.
