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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At a press conference this morning, EU trade commissioner Dombrovskis says that the WTO case will be dropped if China responds positively to requests to drop the coercion
He is hopeful that the anti-coercion instrument's legislative process can be concluded this year under the French and Czech presidencies of the EU
EU spent the past month interviewing Lithuanian businesses who had been blocked from Chinese market, after the government in Vilnius permitted the opening of a "Taiwanese Representative Office" in the capital.
EU feels it has gathered enough evidence to make a case in Geneva.
A request for consultation will be lodged. China may or may not enter bilateral talks with Brussels. It will then go to a dispute settlement panel
Both parties are signatories to the MPIA, alternative to the defunct appellate body, so this one can't be appealed into the void.
EU DG trade @WeyandSabine has just presented to the @EP_Trade committee on a proposed forced labour ban, which would of course have serious impact on China, given issues in Xinjiang.
Some takeaways 🧵
Weyand and EC seem keen to avoid the US model, which combines product-based bans with origin bans.
So in the case of Xinjiang, cotton products linked to Xinjiang, and also just Xinjiang products in general.
The "rebuttable assumption" places "a heavy burden" on the importer, which has to prove that it has no traces of forced labour in any product it imports that may have connection to the region and its cotton + other goods
Chinese ambassador to the European Union Zhang Ming urged European Parliament President @DavidSassoli to “leverage” his role to sway opinion on landmark Taiwan vote
“I hope that you can leverage your role to enable the Parliament to fully appreciate the seriousness and sensitivity of the Taiwan issue and play a positive and constructive role in upholding the political foundation of China-EU relations,” he wrote in a letter dated August 31
He said the report was a “rather negative document” and warned that its recommendations would “constitute serious violations of the one-China principle"
NEW: European Parliament adopts first ever report calling on EU to ramp up relations with Taiwan.
580 for
26 against
66 abstentions
Landslide.
Vote pressures EU Commission to:
- Lay the groundwork for a new Bilateral Investment Agreement
- Express deep concerns over Chinese military pressure against Taiwan
- Change name of the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan to ‘European Union Office in Taiwan
It is not binding, but is a sign of the groundswell of support for the EU to intensify its relations with Taiwan.