China News - 7 September
International
G20: US urges China not to “play spoiler” at leader’s meeting. Jake Sullivan, US National Security Adviser, believes China should set aside its current issues with India and focus on playing a “constructive role” in the international summit. Sullivan added it was China’s choice on whether it “wanted to play the role of spoiler”. BBC News, 6 September
China warns against “new Cold War” at ASEAN summit. Chinese Premier Li Qiang, said it is vital to avoid a “new Cold War” when dealing with conflicts between countries, and best not take sides. World leaders met in Indonesia amid increasing geopolitical rivalries across the Indo-Pacific region. Stanley Widianto and Kate Lamb. Reuters, 6 September
British Museum: Chinese Tik Tok hit amplifies calls for return of artefacts. Escape from the British Museum, a Tik Tok video, has gone viral as it calls for artefacts to be returned to China. The influencers tell the story of a jade teapot coming alive and taking human form with the wish to return home to China. Fan Wang and Derek Cai. BBC News, 6 September
Japan’s top court orders Okinawa to allow a divisive government plan to build US military runways. The Supreme Court dismissed Okinawa’s rejection of a central government plan to build US Marine Corps runways. Okinawa’s strategic role is seen as being increasingly important for the Japanese-US military alliance amid growing tensions with China. Mari Yamaguchi. The Independent, 4 September
Russia finalising Power of Siberia- 2 gas pipeline route to China. The new pipeline will increase pipeline gas supplies to China by 50bln cubic metres per year, while the current pipeline is due to provide 38 bcm a year by 2025. Vladimir Soldatkin. Reuters, 6 September
Indonesia threatens to curb Tik Tok’s shopping platform. The minister of cooperatives and small and medium enterprises, Teten, said Indonesia should “reject and prohibit” Tik Tok from combining online shopping with its social media platform. He thinks Indonesia should follow the lead of the US and India in limiting the company’s activities. Mercedes Ruehl and Cristina Criddle. Financial Times, 6 September
Economy & Tech
The US to investigate chips used in Huawei’s “Made in China” smartphone. Jake Sullivan, US National Security Adviser, said that they needed to get “more information” on the exact “character and composition” of the chip that powers Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro. Eleanor Olcott. Financial Times, 6 September
China bans iPhone use for government officials at work. The CCP has ordered officials not to use Apple and other foreign-branded devices for work, or even bring them into the office. The ban comes ahead of an Apple event next week, and could trigger concern among foreign companies operating in China. Yoko Kubota. WSJ, 6 September
China will dominate the world of tech, Web Summit’s Cosgrave says. For the past 50 years “advances within technology were driven by the US, but over the past decade, there has been rapid dispersion of technological capability to other parts of the world”. He says that China has managed to focus on the important partnership between the public and private sectors. Al Jazeera, 5 September
Volkswagen CEO: We want to be among top three carmakers in China. Oliver Blume stated that VW wants to retain its position in the top three international car manufacturers as the Chinese market transitions to EVs. Victoria Waldersee. Reuters, 6 September
Morgan Stanley says China is “overinvested”, but India’s the opposite. Some companies have started to pursue a “China-plus-one” strategy, to help diversify their supply chains to make them more resilient. India is benefitting from this, as investment and manufacturing have started to pick up. Lee Ying Shan. Cnbc, 5 September
Opinion & long-reads
Is China still a Confucian country? After decades of communism, Professor Daniel Bell considers whether China can still be considered to be confucian. Cindy Yu. The Spectator, 4 September
With US democracy in crisis, the Global South must ensure a peaceful transition to a more equitable world order. Nations in the Global South must continue to pursue collaboration over confrontation to facilitate a peaceful transition from the Western-centred world order. They must also ignore US-China hostilities. Peter Chang. South China Morning Post, 6 September