May 2023
Hi everyone, let’s kick off this new “The Empire” newsletter with some of the most important China-related news that took place during the month of May.
This newsletter aims at decluttering the news around China and its empire by giving a monthly recap. Subscriber can also access my google sheet news aggregator that I maintain to create this newsletter and get more selected content throughout the month in (more or less) real time.
Monthly highlights :
— China sends mixed signals, promoting foreign investment in China to alleviate its economic crisis, while cracking down on foreign businesses with made up charges and taking drastic measures to limit foreign capital outflows. Multiples western firms in China were raided in operations Beijing claim “safeguard National Security”. China’s economy is not doing so well, with youth unemployment at historic highs, demography going down a steep slope and international community becoming increasingly aware of how China’s exploits international organizations. Poor countries are on the verge of crumbling under the weight of debt from Chinese loans. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
— Canada summons ambassador over threats against Canadian MP. Trudeau government takes strong action and decides to expel diplomat to send Beijing a message that Canada will not be intimidated by China. [1][2]
— Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs goes to Myanmar to visit junta’s chief Min Aung Hlaing and vows support. Chinese MFA already met weeks before the junta’s february coup in a show of support, two years ago, against the democratically elected government. [1]
— French court drops investigation on Uyghur exploitation in textile industry. Claims it is “not competent”. French President Emmanuel Macron met with Xi in China last month with an important business delegation that signed several contracts with Chinese counterparts. During that trip, Macron committed one of the biggest French diplomatic blunder, claiming Europe shouldn’t involve itself in case of an invasion of Taiwan by China, triggering protests from other governments. [1]
— France sells China 50 helicopters with military capacity. Europe protests. About 2/3 of China’s PLAA (and all of its attack/recon) helicopter fleet is of French Making (last third is Russian). [1] [2] [3] [4]
— The delivery of 66 new F-16V to Taiwan will be delayed by 9 months due to supply chain disruptions. The ROCAF, Taiwan’s Air Force, is already stretched on resources due to a highly solicited and aging fleet. Taiwan’s MOD is working to minimize the impact of the delays. The US also authorized USD 1b worth of military aid to Taiwan, half of it moving ahead now. [1] [2]
— Early May, US Secretary Anthony Blinken hopes being able to travel to China in 2023. Biden said that the US-China relationship would thaw very shortly after the Spy Balloon episode earlier this year, only to be rebuked by Beijing the next day, putting Biden’s olive branch back into the freezer. The US already delayed human-right related sanctions following the Spy Balloon, hoping to limit the damage to the US-China relationship.
China also refused a high level defense meeting between Chinese and US military proposed by the US and added that the “US must correct its mistaken actions”, probably related to sanctions on the PLA after arms transfer from Russia to China in 2018 and more broadly actions taken to deter China from invading Taiwan unchallenged. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
— China took inspiration from Russia and built a troll and disinformation farm operating on Facebook reveals Meta investigation. [1]
— The fentanyl crisis in the US and Canada keeps developing. After a brief “victory” in 2019 when US pressured China into “controlling” fentanyl production, followed immediately by Chinese chemist changing their formula and ship multi-component products, Mexican president claimed that he had proof that illegal shipments of fentanyl were arriving from China and asked Chinese authorities to “help stop the shipments”. At the end of may, the US slapped sanctions against Mexican and Chinese individuals linked in that traffic. [1] [2]
— The European Union has proposed sanctions on Chinese companies accused of selling equipment that could be used in weapons to support Russia's war machine, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. Seven Chinese businesses have been listed in a new package of sanctions that will be discussed by EU member states this week, the report said, citing a copy of the sanctions list seen by the FT. [1]
— China put a lid on data available to foreign think tanks by closing the CNKI, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure. A decision that will not help Beijing steer away from the “West doesn’t understand China” line. [1]
— Italy has signaled to the US that it intends to pull out of a controversial investment pact with China before the end of the year. [1]
— With war raging in Ukraine after Russia’s Putin invaded the country 9 years ago and again in february 2022, China has been try to pry Europe aways from the US as both of them intensify their cooperation to help Ukraine fend off Russian invaders. Europe represents a market China absolutely wants to dominate and be able to influence, mainly directly through economic means and also by supporting Russia’s invasion from the shadows, especially as it increasingly becomes China’s vassal. Since 2019 however, Europe has grown increasingly wary of China (and closer to Taiwan) and the relation is not going in Beijing’s way, to the point of complaining that the EU is sanctioning Chinese companies helping Russia and rebuffing Beijing silly “peace plan” calling for ceasefire and giving up Ukraine’s invaded territory to Russia. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
— China’s CO2 emissions hit record in first quarter, report says
Increase driven by post-COVID economic rebound, stimulus and drought. In 2022, China said it was ending cooperation with the United States on a litany of key issues including climate change, anti-drug efforts and military talks, as relations between the two superpowers nosedive over the island of Taiwan. [1] [2]
— The Chip wars continues as industry leaders meet to counter China’s influence and protect the industry. Likewise in Europe with the Netherlands, producing vital equipment for the chip industry, takes a more defensive stance against China. [1] [2]
— Xi Jinping met with Central Asia leaders, increasing its influence in the region as relations with Russia sour and with Putin too busy losing his war on Ukraine. [1]
Hong Kong highlights :
— Democratically-elected seats to be slashed to 20% for local Hong Kong elections; candidates vetted
After a pro-democracy landslide in 2019, only 88 seats in November’s District Council elections will be directly elected by the public – down from 452 in the last poll. 179 will be appointed by the city’s leader, whilst all candidates will be screened. [1]
— Hong Kong government increases recruitment of civil servants directly from China. [1]
— Promote Hong Kong ‘red tourism’ to mainland Chinese visitors, Hong Kong lawmaker says
In mainland China, red tourism – referring to landmarks with historical significance to the Chinese Communist Party – has been promoted by authorities in a bid to boost the country’s tourism industry. [1]
Go further with these interesting pieces :
— https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/04/23/china-mongolia-tibetan-buddhism-reincarnation-dalai-lama/
— https://carnegieendowment.org/politika/89552
— https://features.csis.org/hiddenreach/china-polar-research-facility/
— https://www.economist.com/china/2023/04/13/communist-party-members-must-study-xi-jinpings-thinking
— https://www.ft.com/content/a101d2c1-13b7-4a20-9e8e-38fb1d54723d
— https://www.institutmontaigne.org/expressions/macron-et-la-chine-les-perils-du-en-meme-temps
— https://alliancecanadahk.com/murky-waters/
— https://isdp.eu/content/uploads/2023/04/Asia-Paper-Zsuzsa-April-2023-final.pdf