Chinese police stations overseas have caused global outrage.

It’s been under-appreciated that these stations were not set up by the central government, but by the police of individual Chinese cities, one of which is Qingtian.

We went there and made interesting discoveries /1 Qingtian has a population of ~500,000. According to local authorities, an additional 330,000 people from Qingtian live abroad.

Traders who dealt in sculptures crafted from pyrophyllite, a colorful mineral abundant in the mountains around Qingtian, were the first to emigrate /2

About that #Hamburg port deal: From my perspective, not a national security problem per se, as #Cosco gets no controlling stake and there won’t be a sale of physical infrastructure or land, but only of company shares.

BUT

1/ The dealmaking apparently was highly dubious. If a partner blackmails you with rerouting freight if you don’t sell him a stake, he’s maybe not such a desirable partner to begin with.

2/

Today in Beijing, I investigated the #chinacoup so you don’t have to. At considerable personal risk, I ventured out to some neuralgic key points in the city. Disturbing finds. Brace yourselves. /1 This is Xinhua Gate, the main entrance to the Zhongnanhai compound, where the entire central leadership resides and works, including Xi Jinping.

Elite paratroopers have wrested control over the gate, cunningly disguised as the five middle-aged dudes who always stand there. /2

Hartmut Rosa ist die nächste intellektuelle Enttäuschung. Seine Vorstellung, man könne China als Friedensmakler mobilisieren, schreit von einem erheblichen Unverständnis und Uninformiertheit über den strategischen Outlooks Chinas spiegel.de/politik/deutsc… China sieht sich als aufsteigende und die USA als absteigende Macht. Noch nie, so sieht man es in Peking, hat ein Hegemon friedlich den Staffelstab an die nächste Supermacht übergeben. Eine Eskalation mit Washington scheint aus dieser Warte unvermeidlich

Something really worrying is going on in China. The State Immigration Bureau has now strictly restricted „non-necessary exits“ of Chinese citizens Recent news included that returning citizens had their passports destroyed upon arrival in China

rfa.org/english/news/c…

Yesterday, I landed in Germany for a visit. It’s the first time I left China in ~10 months.

Some first random observations 🧵 1. Frankfurt airport was full of people, and almost nobody was wearing a mask. UNTHINKABLE in China.

It felt liberating, but frankly also quite reckless. I’ll need time to wean off my Chinese pandemic socialization.

Some random things I’ve seen on my flight from Beijing to Frankfurt:

1. mountains behind Beijing, with what I believe is a stretch of the Great Wall on the ridge (middle left) 2. a burning piece of land close to St. Petersburg

(I flew with Air China, to which Russian airspace is still open)