In my new book ‘The Struggle for Democracy in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong’ I critique the ‘winner-takes-all’ (你死我活) conception of politics in the People’s Republic of China /1
On p.73 I cite Thomas Gold’s definition of Chinese political culture /2
I subsequently quote Joseph Fewsmith who “suggests that a ‘winner-take-all conception of politics has been the hallmark of CCP politics’”/3
Why am I revisiting these paragraphs in my new book? This morning I read Andrew Higgins New York Times report from Monday, 26 August on Jimmy Lai, the 71-year old Hong Kong tycoon, owner of the online Next magazine and staunch supporter of the pro-democracy movement /4
Higgins points out that Chinese state-media has vilified Lai “as a CIA agent, a ‘black hand’, and a member of an American-directed ‘gang of four’ supposedly responsible for orchestrating the Hong Kong protest movement”.
These accusations reveal the paranoia among CCP leaders /5
But the most remarkable paragraph in Higgins excellent New York Times report comes a bit later, which reveals the real-world implications of the CCP’s political culture of ‘you die, I live’ (你死我活) /6
Higgins writes: “China’s relentless campaign of vilification against Mr. Lai took a particular nasty turn this month when his name was purged from the genealogical records of his family across the border in southern China” /7
This act of ‘eliminating names’ — in this case Jimmy Lai’s — supports Thomas Gold’s definition of Chinese political culture /8
Higgins reports: “His relatives, according to a report in Ta Kung Pao, a Communist Party-controlled newspaper in Hong Kong that invariably refers to him as ‘fatty Lai’, deleted his name from a family tree going back 28 generations, declaring him a ‘traitor’ to his ancestors... /9
... and his country who is no longer part of the clan.”
Anyone vaguely familiar with Chinese culture and society will understand how crass this campaign of demonization of Chinese party-state critics like Jimmy Lai is /10
Anyone who still believes that the Chinese Communist Party is a guardian of ‘Chinese culture’ and anyone who argues that the cultural identity of China is somehow pre-political should reflect on what has just happened to Jimmy Lai, a very good and decent man /End
Strategic blindness in Germany’s approach to China has led to mounting costs in terms of national sovereignty, economic independence and civil liberties. Learn how entanglement with China erodes Germany's strategic autonomy. A short 🧵/1 rusi.org/explore-our-re…
Beyond the partner, competitor, and systemic rival trifecta. A neo-totalitarian Chinese Communist Party (CCP) threatens freedom, prosperity, and security, at home and abroad /2
Why the CCP struggles against its opponents. A key feature of both Maoism and Stalinism, 'perpetual struggle', informs Xi Jinping's thinking and fuels the party's friend-enemy mentality /3
German China policy remains highly contested 🇩🇪🇨🇳. On the one hand there are the German industrialists representing the interests of the #4BigCorps VW, BMW, Daimler, BASF etc and their defenders of the status quo in politics and academia /1
On the other hand we have a motley crew of independent-minded parliamentarians, journalists & analysts, who would like to see a more principled and assertive German China policy. Thus far the silverbacks are winning. How can we bring about policy change under such conditions? /2
In my newest book "Germany and China: How Entanglement Undermines Freedom, Prosperity and Security" (Bloomsbury, 2024) 📖🇩🇪🇨🇳 I have outlined my theory of change (TOC) /3
On 14 March 2024 the Centre for Finance and Security at @RUSI_org, in partnership with SOC ACE, organised a workshop on the threats faced by 🇩🇪 and 🇬🇧 from hostile state actors. What follows is a short 🧵 with key takeaways from the conference report /1 rusi.org/explore-our-re…
The workshop brought together experts, academics, policymakers from Germany and the UK, private sector representatives, and civil society members /2
State threats are defined as hostile acts orchestrated by foreign governments and proxies that fall short of war but include threats to people, assets, services, information acquisition, interference with democracy, and shaping the international environment /3
Der Einfluss der Kommunistischen Partei Chinas in 🇩🇪 beschränkt sich nicht nur auf die extremen politischen Ränder links und rechts, sondern reicht tief in unser politisches und wirtschaftliches Establishment hinein. Wann wird diese #Elitenkooptierung aufgedeckt? Ein kurzer 🧵 /1
🇨🇳 Einmischung in 🇩🇪 ist schon länger auf der Agenda. Der Fokus liegt aber meist auf bestechliche Politiker. Journalisten haben mir erklärt, dass sich Leser nicht für von Peking kultivierte 🇩🇪 Eliten in Wirtschaft und Wissenschaft interessieren, da sie nicht sehr bekannt seien /2
Die China-Debatte ist stark durch Personen mit Agenda geprägt, wobei nicht immer klar ist, ob aufgeklärte 🇩🇪 Interessen oder die der 🇨🇳 Partei vertreten werden. Es darf uns aber nicht egal sein, wenn von Peking kultivierte 🇩🇪 Eliten unseren Chinadiskurs so stark prägen /3
Herr @Ischinger stellt auf Twitter gerne Fragen, die er beantwortet haben möchte. Wenn er aber gefragt wird, soll man seine Position aus Veröffentlichungen rekonstruieren. Schauen wir uns also mal seine Unterstützung für Scholz an & befassen uns dann mit seiner China-Expertise /1
n-tv berichtet zur Maischberger-Runde das @ischinger letzte Woche in 🇨🇳 war, womöglich um @Bundeskanzler Scholz bei der Organisation einer Friedenskonferenz zu 🇺🇦 mit Beteiligung von 🇨🇳 und 🇷🇺 in der 🇨🇭im Juni zu unterstützen /2 n-tv.de/politik/Ischin…
@ischinger @Bundeskanzler Das erklärt jetzt auch, warum @ischinger allergisch auf Kritik reagiert, z.B. wenn man die Eignung Xi Jinpings 🇨🇳 als Friedensvermittler zwischen 🇷🇺 und 🇺🇦 in Frage stellt /3
A @Tagesspiegel report suggests that @Bundeskanzler Scholz still believes in the falsified Steinmeier doctrine of 'Rapprochement through interweaving'. According to this foreign policy paradigm, economic ties with autocracies lead to mutual dependency and stability. A short 🧵/1
In my forthcoming book 'Germany and China: How Entanglement Undermines Freedom, Prosperity, and Security' (2024) I deconstruct the Steinmeier doctrine. This paradigm is let down by mirroring and misunderstandings about the nature of democratisation processes in autocracies /2
As I argue in my book, the Scholz administration may not be able to learn from the mistakes made in Russian policy in time to adequately address the challenges posed by China's Xi regime. Scholz's reported comments confirm my concerns /3