China News - 31 October 2022
Event: China’s Global Security Initiative. CRG Director Chris Cash will be joined by Alicia Kearns MP and Beijing to Britain’s Sam Hogg for this Council on Geostrategy event. The panel discussion takes place in the Palace of Westminster - 6pm this Wednesday 2nd November. Register here.
International
UK sent RAF pilots to teach Chinese counterparts and allowed students to attend British military colleges. Up to four frontline RAF pilots took part in the 'Aviation English Course' in Beijing that ran in 2016, while at least three Chinese nationals have gone through basic officer training at the RAF's college at Cranwell in Lincolnshire. The most recent Chinese officer is thought to have attended the college in 2019. According to Sky News, defence officials were well aware of the Chinese security risks, with concern expressed internally about the balance between security and the so-called "prosperity agenda". Sky News, 29 October
Workers flee China’s Covid restrictions at Foxconn’s huge iPhone factory. Videos of hundreds of workers climbing over fences and huge lines of people with suitcases walking along highways were shared widely across WeChat over the weekend amid a coronavirus outbreak at the Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou. Workers who spoke to the Financial Times said that the situation at the plant had gradually deteriorated as Covid continued to spread, with food and medical supplies running low and workers being locked in dormitory rooms for quarantine. FT, BBC, 30 October
Xi kicks off third term with flurry of diplomatic activity. China is set to host the leaders of Vietnam, Germany, Pakistan this week, as President Xi Jinping kicks off a norm-busting third term during which he’s vowed to increase his nation’s global influence. Vietnam’s Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong will arrived on Sunday, becoming the first foreign leader to meet Xi since the Chinese president removed rivals and installed loyalists at a leadership reshuffle earlier this month. Bloomberg, 30 October
China nods to even tighter ties with Russia in Xi Jinping’s third term. WSJ, 28 October
US suggests allies consider using export limits to target China. The US has raised with European allies the idea of drawing upon lessons from the export control regime they’re using to punish Russia to target China, according the Bloomberg sources. The conversations came up as European Union and US officials are negotiating the agenda for their next high-level trade forum in early December. Bloomberg, 31 October
US to deploy 6 bombers to Australia as tensions with China mount. Sending as many as six B-52 bombers would mark a big increase in presence and comes as the US and Australia seek to work more closely together to counter Chinese activity, particularly near Taiwan. It is unclear when the US will begin the B-52 deployments. FT, 31 October
Taiwan plans satellite back-up amid China invasion fears. Taiwan is urgently exploring a back-up satellite communication network to be used in the event of a Chinese invasion amid concerns it could not rely on Elon Musk’s Starlink. The Telegraph, 29 October
Ports in a storm: Chinese investments in Europe spark fear of malign influence. Cosco stakes in Belgium’s two largest shipping ports and one in Germany renew scrutiny of Chinese ownership of critical EU infrastructure. SCMP, 29 October
Spurs urged to drop Chinese sponsor AIA. The Times, 31 October
Britain prioritising India trade deal but can't give timeline, Cleverly says. Reuters, 30 October
Economy & tech
China shows the LME there are still buyers for Russian metal. More than half of the copper in LME warehouses - much of which was of Russian origin - has been ordered out for delivery in the past three weeks, mostly by traders planning to deliver it to Chinese buyers, according to people familiar with the matter. Bloomberg, 29 October
China's factory, services activity skid on persistent COVID curbs. China's factory activity unexpectedly fell in October, weighed by softening global demand and strict domestic COVID-19 curbs, which hit production, travel and shipping in the world's second-largest economy. Nikkei Asia, 31 October
China’s C919 jet inches forward against duopoly of Boeing and Airbus. After more than a decade in development, China’s first passenger jet is finally on the runway. The single-aisle C919, built by state-backed aerospace champion Comac, won regulatory approval by authorities late last month, a move hailed as a major milestone by officials. FT, 28 October
AVZ vs Zijin: the fight for the world’s biggest lithium deposit. SCMP, 30 October
BYD posts 350% jump in Q3 net profit ahead of European surge. Reuters, 28 October
China focus
China passes new women's protection law, revamped for first time in decades. The legislation comes as activists have expressed concern about increasing government rhetoric on the value of traditional women's roles, and what some see as setbacks for women's rights and more restrictive attitudes towards abortion. Reuters, 30 October
Xi takes leaders to revolutionary site, signals struggles ahead. The seven-man Politburo Standing Committee - China’s most powerful body - traveled to Yanan, in China’s northwestern Shaanxi province, to tour one of the party’s main revolutionary bases and prepare for “challenges ahead.” Bloomberg, 28 October
China names Chen Yixin as new state security minister in latest leadership shake-up. A long-time confidant of Chinese President Xi Jinping has been named the country’s new intelligence chief, the latest in a series of challenging jobs assigned to the Zhejiang native. SCMP, 30 October
Opinion & editorial
The Guardian view on China’s response to dissent: repression, at home and away. The Guardian, 30 October
The West’s loss of faith in liberalism risks opening the door to great evils. Matthew Syed. The Sunday Times, 30 October
China and America are barely speaking, though crises loom. A comfortless calm reigns, but a storm is coming. David Rennie. The Economist, 28 October
A Chinese invasion of Taiwan is coming. The recent CCP congress and other signs show Xi is preparing for war. Jason Morgan. The Spectator, 30 October
Long reads
‘We do rely on China — but so does every university’. Peter Mathieson, the principal of Edinburgh, says universities are disproportionately dependent on China. The Times, 29 October
How Xi sacrificed China’s future in pursuit of total power. As he consolidates his grip, Xi is condemning his country – and the world – to lower prosperity. Szu Ping Chan. The Sunday Telegraph, 30 October
There is no hope the Communist Party can reform — Q&A with Frank Dikötter. Jeremy Goldkorn. The China Project, 30 October
BN(O) Hongkongers and Britain’s Chinese proficiency deficit. Artie Lam. Agora HK, 28 October