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Stuart Lau Profile picture
Stuart Lau
@StuartKLau
Correspondent, NATO & Europe-China @POLITICOEurope | Author, China Watcher newsletter
Jul 31, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
#BREAKING Xi just named a new commander of the PLA Rocket Force, amid rumours of investigations into the very top of the key military unit in charge of ICBM deployment and Taiwan war planning.

The death of the deputy commander was recently announced 3 weeks after it happened. Image And the top job falls to a sort-of outsider:

Wang Houbin, formerly deputy commander of the PLA Navy and chief of staff of the South China Sea fleet, has been picked to lead the rocket force. Image
Mar 30, 2023 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
.@vonderleyen's China speech

"There has been a change of dynamic in the relationship between China and Russia. It is clear from the visit that China sees Putin’s weakness as a way to increase its leverage over Russia." "It is clear that the power balance in that relationship – which for most of the last century favoured Russia – has now reversed."
Jan 17, 2023 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Von der Leyen on China:

“Where trade is not fair, we must respond more robustly. China has made boosting clean-tech innovation and manufacturing a key priority in its five-year plan. It dominates global production in sectors like electric vehicles or solar panels, which are … essential for the transition. But competition on net zero must be based on a level-playing field. China has been openly encouraging energy-intensive companies in Europe and elsewhere to relocate all or part of their production. They do so with the promise of cheap energy…
Sep 3, 2022 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Finally got time to read Macron’s keynote speech to ambassadors last week. Key points 🇪🇺🇨🇳

- Rejects European “equidistance” between US and China. Recalls US as a democratic ally, while stressing the need to talk to China on climate

- Steers Europe away from US-China conflicts Macron: “We are not ready to have a strategy of confrontation with China in the Indo-Pacific, where we have a strategy of preserving the freedom of sovereignty, the protection of our space – dare I say it also the protection of our maritime space and our nationals, our partners.”
Aug 31, 2022 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
#BREAKING: UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet's office calls China's treatment of the Uyghur minority as constituting "serious human rights violations" in a report issued just minutes before the end of her tenure. The UN office says it is "reasonable to conclude that a pattern of large-scale arbitrary detention occurred" in Xinjiang, "at least during 2017 to 2019, affecting a significant proportion of the Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minority community."
Jul 1, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
A collection of EU messaging on the day marking the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from U.K. to China. Germany not mincing words
Jun 29, 2022 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
It's official: NATO designates China as a source of "systemic challenges" to Euro-Atlantic security in the latest once-a-decade Strategic Concept, and calls out Beijing-Moscow partnership for undercutting NATO countries' values and interests.

nato.int/strategic-conc… "The PRC's stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values ... The PRC’s malicious hybrid and cyber operations and its confrontational rhetoric and disinformation target Allies and harm Alliance security."
Apr 30, 2022 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Very interesting written interview with Ukraine’s FM Kuleba on China’s state news agency Xinhua.

Surely Xinhua asked questions in line with government wordings, but to publish Kuleba’s words verbatim — with lots of criticism of Russia — is fascinating.

Thread: 1/ Kuleba asks China to be a security guarantor.

“Ukraine is currently studying the possibility of acquiring security guarantee from UNSC permanent members, including China, as well as other major powers. We suggest China become one of the guarantors of Ukraine’s security.”
Mar 14, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
China provided a much longer readout than the U.S. on Yang Jiechi's talks in Rome with Sullivan. Today's Ukraine "is not what China wants to see... China is committed to promoting peace talks, and the international community should jointly support the Russia-Ukraine peace talks." Yang, as expected, brought up Russia’s concern: "The history and development of the Ukraine issue should be straightened out.

"China encourages relevant parties to... seek to build a...European security architecture in accordance with the principle of indivisible security."
Feb 20, 2022 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell made arguably his most hard-hitting rebuttal of China:

“The Russia-China joint statement... is the culmination of a long-standing campaign. It is an act of defiance. It is clear: revisionist manifesto. A manifesto to review the world order.” “Re-defining democracy is a major plank in their revisionist drive. They talk about ‘genuine democracy’. Adding qualifying adjectives reminds us of Soviet times when communist regimes were talking of ‘people’s democracy’ or ‘organic democracies’ in Franco’s Spain.
Nov 24, 2021 • 7 tweets • 1 min read
Key points on China from the coalition document of new German government:

- Any change in Taiwan Strait's status quo must be peaceful & mutually agreed
- 1 country 2 systems must be reasserted in Hong Kong
- Close transatlantic coordination
- Seek a comprehensive China strategy - Our expectation of China's foreign policy is that it plays a responsible role for peace and stability in its neighbourhood. We advocate that territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas be resolved on the basis of international law of the sea.
Sep 15, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Australia's move to ditch France and team up with the US and UK for nuclear-powered submarines cannot come at a more embarrassing timing for the EU, which will tomorrow formally announce its Indo-Pacific strategy in which it vows to play a role in security and defence. (1/3) Just half a month ago, France and Australia held their first 2+2 foreign and defence ministerial meeting, in which both sides "committed to ... enhance their capability edge in the region" and "underlined the importance of the Future Submarine program." (2/3)
Sep 15, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
On climate: "The goals that President Xi has set out for China are encouraging, but we call for that same leadership on setting out how China will get there. The world would be relieved if they show they could peak emission by mid-decade & move away from coal at home and abroad." Europe's future stability, security and prosperity is about "deepening partnership with our closest allies." "The European Union and the United States will always be stronger together," says von der Leyen.
May 25, 2021 • 14 tweets • 4 min read
Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Munich Security Conference event:

1. China under CCP is not a threat to the world. China tried different political models but none worked until Marxism was adopt. "China knows the value of peace ... and never started a war on foreign soil," Wang said. There's no place for words like bullying or coercion in China's diplomatic dictionary, Wang Yi told Europe.

China cooperates with the world, he said, citing ECB, climate change and Belt & Road. "China's development has never been at the expense of other countries' interest."
May 4, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Here’s what happened about the EU-China agreement row:

There are two processes for the deal looking forward:

Step 1: Technical (legal scrubbing & translation into 27 official languages)

Step 2: Political (Member states in Council adopts + European Parliament ratifies) EU trade commissioner Dombrovskis told AFP that all Commission efforts on “political outreach” over the deal have been suspended.

In other words, he’s not saying the technical preparation for the deal has been suspended.

In other words, it’s pretty much empty political talk.
Mar 12, 2021 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
After months of EU officials telling us what a great deal they've got to open up the Chinese market access ... today the full details are out and here's a snapshot of China telling us what are strictly forbidden for EU investors. Thread: 1/ Strategic sectors like rare earth exploration, geological mapping and atomic energy are ruled out by China. Research results will have to be shared with China on certain circumstances.
Mar 12, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
EU's latest annual report on Hong Kong:

"The EU encourages the Hong Kong SAR and the central government to resume electoral reform as enshrined in the Basic Law."

Reform they did. The EU took aim at the Liaison Office, the Communist Party organ in Hong Kong: "The HKLO has exerted increasing influence over Hong Kong’s policymaking and its political establishment, calling into question the maintenance of Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy."
Jan 27, 2021 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
EU's top trade official @WeyandSabine explains CAI deal with China at @CEPS_thinktank now. The EU would "first and foremost" work with the US and trusted partners eg Japan & other like-minded countries to "move things forward in the interest of free and fair trade", she said. "I was struck by some of the remarks here," @WeyandSabine said of @bueti's points, adding CAI is not "a yardstick to miraculously transform China into a liberal democracy". All benefits EU got from China are also available to other countries under the most-favoured nation clause.
Jan 26, 2021 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
.@HSBC CEO Noel Quinn is currently grilled by @TomTugendhat of the UK Parliament on the bank's position on the Hong Kong national security law.

He defended HSBC deputy chairman Peter Wong Tung-shun's signing a pro-NSL partition – Quinn said it wasn't a political statement. "I understand that individuals may be concerned by our role in Hong Kong, but I can only focus on what I can influence, and that is, I want to continue to support Hong Kong, the people of Hong Kong, and I believe that's what I need to be focused on" – HSBC CEO
Jan 25, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Xi's main points:

- World should abandon ideological biases, co-exist in peace and stop interfering in others' domestic affairs

- Sanctions and new cold wars only push the world towards confrontation

- Vows support for WHO, WTO and Paris climate accord Image - Economic globalisation and opening up remain China's goals

- Supply chain stability

- High-quality Belt and Road initiative

- Technological innovation

- Improve IP protection
Jan 6, 2021 • 15 tweets • 7 min read
From 🇪🇺: One of the three German politicians vying to lead Merkel’s CDU party became the first major European voice to link today’s mass arrests in Hong Kong with the EU-China investment deal. A prominent critic of the deal in the European Parliament asked: “Democracy in HK is dying before our eyes, and the priority of our dear European leaders is to sell us their investment agreement with Beijing. How can we be so out of time?”