On "woke" politics and the deterioration in Western-Chinese relations...
On the CAI and complaints over perceived US hijacking of the investment deal
"When the United States competes with China and Russia, it needs Europe to be its sidekick, so the Americans have mobilized their own network of relationships."
On strategic autonomy...
"They talk about strategic autonomy only when a non-white*-left president, Donald Trump, is in the White House"
This term white-left keeps popping up on translate, referring to "woke left liberals" it seems
On Tibet
"I have seen in Lhasa and other parts of Tibet that the Chinese government invests heavily in improving people's lives and preserving local traditional culture."
On whether Chinese and Western cultures need to "reconcile".
"I know that you are studying the theory of the great German jurist Karl Schmidt. In my opinion, studying his point of view will lead you to the correct conclusion"
The Chinese mission to the EU shared this interview on their weekly newsletter.
Would have to feel a little worried for whoever spelled Xi Jinping's name wrong in the same edition
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Xi is *this* close to saying "overcapacity". On the tip of his tongue!
China needs to “lawfully regulate enterprises’ disorderly low-price competition, guide companies to improve product quality, promote the orderly exit of outdated production capacity”
In addressing the price wars plaguing many industries in China, the country’s top leadership has resorted to a phrase rarely seen at a high-level meeting, saying that enterprises’ “disorderly low-price competition” needs to be regulated.
Speaking at a top-level economic meeting on Tuesday, President Xi Jinping used that phrase to explicitly characterise the much-debated phenomenon, in stark contrast to officials who have, since late last year, favoured the vaguer term “involutionary competition”
NEW: Some bonkers numbers in China's May customs data.
Detailed figures came out Fri when I was off, so took a deep dive today
First big picture EU stuff:
China's EU exports up 12%
China's EU imports down 2.37%
There is a 22% increase in the EU's China deficit in May alone
Earlier in the month we saw some big jumps in China's exports to the big EU markets
China's exports to Germany up 21.5%
China's exports to France up 24.1%
China's exports to Netherlands up 7.1%
But I did the sums for the 27 and it is pretty mad...
In May, China's exports to:
Estonia up 79.4%
Cyprus up 70.5%
Bulgaria up 46.7%
Hungary up 42%
Denmark up 38.5%
Latvia up 38.3%
Lithuania up 26.1%
Sweden up 20.4%
Lux up 19.6%
Slovakia up 18.2%
Austria up 16.2%
Ireland up 15.6%
Finland up 14.8%
Poland up 12.7%
Spain up 9.7%
New Chinese trade data out today for May might deepen anxiety over trade diversion in Europe.
China's exports to the US down 34.52%
China's exports to the EU up 12%
China's exports to Germany up 21.5%
China's exports to France up 24.1%
China's exports to Netherlands up 7.1%
This is an extension of the theme noticed in April despite the Geneva deal that lowered US-China tariffs
Last week the commission published the first results of its trade diversion monitoring exercise, which suggested some rerouting on things like steel, robotics, LEDs.
There have been many signs of a messy divorce between Europe and the US since Trump’s return, but one of the most stark arrived earlier this month.
A survey of more than 100,000 people found that in Europe, net perceptions of China have overtaken those of the US.
Only in Poland, Hungary, Lithuania is the US more popular than China, according to @AoDemocracies a Danish NGO that was, ironically, sanctioned by Beijing in 2021 for “severely harming China’s sovereignty and interests and maliciously spreading lies and disinformation”.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said it had summoned Chinese Ambassador Ma Shengkun and expressed Ukraine’s “serious concerns” over Chinese involvement in the war.
More from Zelensky:
“Based on our information, it is possible that Russia has stolen these technologies in coordination with these citizens and without agreements with the Chinese leadership”