How the West changed its view on China – Kaiser Kuo

 

Kaiser Kuo

Already in early 2025, China watcher Kaiser Kuo predicted Western leaders would change their view on how to deal with China and Xi Jinping. In a discussion on Novara Media, those Western leaders are queuing up to go to Beijing to restore relations they just a few years ago warned against. And where does Donald Trump fit into that change?

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How the UK view on China changed – Rupert Hoogewerf

 

Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of the Hurun Report, explains in the state-owned China Daily how the attitude of the UK towards China has changed for the better.

China Daily:

As the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer continued his China visit in Shanghai, Rupert Hoogewerf, Chairman & Chief Research Officer of Hurun Report, told China Daily that he is excited to see British industry leaders travel with Starmer to visit China as they are able to witness China’s rapid developments on life science, consumer electronics and electric vehicles. On Friday, Hurun Research Institute released the Hurun Chinese Luxury Consumer Survey & Hurun Best of the Best Awards 2026 in Shanghai, marking its 22nd consecutive year of publication.

Video at the China Daily.

Rupert Hoogewerf is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

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How Europe missed its chances in the trade war between China and the US – Shaun Rein

 

Shaun Rein

Europe could have been a winner in the trade war between China and the US, says political analyst Shaun Rein at the Thinkers Forum. Not only did they lose the opportunity to win from the trade war, but they are going to be the larger economic losers of the next decade, becoming an open-air museum, he adds.

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US and Australia lose without China students – Shaun Rein

 

Shaun Rein

More than three million Chinese students went to the US for their study, but with the rising sinophobia both the US and Australia are losing out huge advantages of those eager learners, says business analyst Shaun Rein to state-broadcaster CGTN. Even losing only tuition fees might cost them dearly, he adds.

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UK's Huawei ban does not strengthen post-Brexit confidence among China investors - Shirley Ze Yu

Shirley Ze Yu

The UK's irrational turnabout by banning Huawei is not growing post-Brexit confidence among Chinese investors, says political analyst Shirley Ze Yu at her vlog. For the introduction of 5G it might put the UK even five to ten years behind compared to the rest of the world, she adds.

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Christians return from China's diaspora - Ian Johnson

Ian Johnson

Religion is on the rise in China, despite worries from the government. China's diaspora's are a source of Christianians, as a growing number of Chinese return home with their newly found religious feelings, says journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, at CNN in a story on Kenya.

CNN:

It is not only the Chinese in Kenya who are embracing Christianity. Many Chinese students in America, Australia and the UK are returning home Christian, says Ian Johnson, author of "The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao." Their conversion chimes with a broader trend at home: China itself is on track to be the world's biggest Christian nation by 2030, by some estimates.

For much of the 20th century, Chinese citizens were taught to worship the founding father of the Communist Party, Mao Zedong, the revolutionary leader who destroyed much of the nation's Buddhist and Taoist religious infrastructure during the Cultural Revolution. "There used to be 900 temples in Beijing alone," says Johnson. "Now there are 20."...

Mao's death in 1976 left the Chinese searching for a new value system. Christianity seemed fresh and modern to the country's newly urban residents, Johnson says, although more people in China are still Buddhist. 

By 2017, there were between 93 million and 115 million Christians in China -- around 5% of the country's population -- but fewer than 30 million practice in official churches, according to Purdue University scholar Yang Fenggang. If those estimates pan out, there would now be almost as many Christians in China as there are members of the Communist Party, which had an estimated 90 million members in 2016. 

That has riled the government. Under President Xi Jinping rhetoric has grown on the need to "Sinicize" religions perceived to be Western, despite the fact many Christians in China do not feel "un-Chinese or foreign," says Johnson.

Today, only state-sanctioned Christian organizations are legal in China. Overcrowded state churches run as many as 5 services a day and their pastors' wages are paid by the government, says Johnson. The alternatives are so-called house churches which operate illegally but can offer a more personal ministry, with pastors on first-name terms with their congregation...

In Chinese state media, the clampdown on faith goes largely unreported and Christianity is "virtually invisible," says Johnson -- the government doesn't want to "encourage anyone to think about religion."

More at CNN.

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Brexit does not concern China investors - Rupert Hoogewerf

Rupert Hoogewerf

Investors from China are not discouraged by the upcoming Brexit, the exit of Britain from the EU, says Hurun China Rich List founder Rupert Hoogewerf on his second tour with twelve Chinese investors through the UK, he tells the China Daily.

The China Daily:

Twelve Chinese investors attended the event as part of a weeklong tour of the United Kingdom in search of opportunities. 

Rupert Hoogwerf, chairman of Hurun and organizer of the trip, said the fact that Britain is in the process of leaving the European Union does not trouble Chinese entrepreneurs at the individual level. 

“Most of the interest today is either to send children to school here, or to buy real estate for long-term investments,” he said. “Not one of these entrepreneurs this year and last year was particularly concerned, so it wasn’t really relevant.” 

At this year’s event, the companies making pitches were scale-ups, rather than start-ups. Hoogwerf said the event focused on start-ups last year but that “was actually a little bit too much for these people to swallow, so we think that the idea of scale-ups is potentially a much better way of doing it”. 

Hoogwerf said several investors had shown interest in some of the presentations.

More in the China Daily.

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Brexit and capital control do not deter investments into UK - Sam Crispin

Sam Crispin

Chinese investors are still flocking into the Royal Albert Docks in London, says property consultant Sam Crispin in the South China Morning Post. Doomsday scenario's with rigid capital control from Beijing and the Brexit is not stopping those investments.

The South China Morning Post:

Firms from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and India have acquired or reserved 60 per cent of total office space, or 33,388 square metres, in the first phase of the Royal Albert Dock project, Sam Crispin, chief executive officer of ABP’s Hong Kong sales unit told the South China Morning Post. 

Costing £1.7 billion (US$2.2 billion), the revival of the 137-year-old dock in East London, seen as the city’s third financial and business district, aims to attract Chinese and other Asian firms looking to expand into Europe. ABP, founded in 2003, is a privately held Chinese developer of economic zones, including the Royal Albert Docks project. 

Beijing’s crackdown on capital outflows and debt-fuelled overseas acquisitions by aggressive conglomerates has not deterred companies interested in moving into Royal Albert Dock, said Crispin, who led PwC’s urbanisation team and real estate business advisory services before joining ABP this year. 

“The concern is where Chinese banks have been lending to fund overseas acquisition, whether that’s a risky thing to do or not, and how future acquisitions will be funded in what’s perceived to be a less risky way,” he said.

The latest State Council directive issued on Friday restricting Chinese overseas investments in property, hotels and sports clubs is likely to have limited impact on the project, Crispin said on Monday, as ABP primarily targets “companies that already have operations in Hong Kong and other Asian countries” and hopes “to attract owner occupiers.” 

Unlike landmark buyers such as sauce maker Lee Kum Kee, which bought London’s “Walkie Talkie” tower in July, potential and existing Chinese buyers of ABP’s project are mostly smaller firms, financed in a less risky way and making “smaller investments that are below the radar” of Beijing, Crispin said.

More at the South China Morning Post. 

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Why China´s billionnaires look for European soccer clubs - Rupert Hoogewerf

Rupert Hoogewerf

European soccer clubs and their stakeholders look on with mixed feelings when yet another Chinese billionnaire sets his eyes on their clubs. But from the perspective of the Chinese billionnaires it makes perfectly sense, says Rupert Hoogewerf, founder of the China Rich List Hurun to the Telegraph.

The Telegraph:

For an idea of the potential investment in China that might yet pour into European football, and in particular the English game, one need only consult the unofficial rich list of Chinese society to learn that the country now has 596 dollar billionaires, more even than the United States. 

The Hurun Report, which attempts to track the rising fortunes of China’s richest men and women estimates those 596 head count of billionaires is up from a total of 20 just 10 years ago, growing over the last year at the rate of five a week. Speaking to Telegraph Sport this week, the chairman of The Hurun Report, Rupert Hoogewerf, said that the interest in European football is “huge”. 

“I know at least three billionaires who are looking to buy English or Spanish football clubs,” he said. “The real size of the market is probably 10 times that.”... 

All (recent purchases) have been acquired according to different business strategies with different aims in mind but, says Hoogewerf, on the basis that these are viable investments with a long-term return. President Xi Linping’s visit to the City Football Academy headquarters of Manchester City last October was the ultimate state endorsement, and Chinese investors seeking to buy clubs will find state policy in their favour. 

Buying a European football club represents a relatively trouble-free way of moving money overseas and, Hoogewerf says, it also equates to value at home. The effect of the brand of a British club on the value of a company in China can be transformative. “Once you have made an acquisition [as a Chinese investor] and put that asset into a Chinese-listed company you might find that its [the club’s] value is much higher than in the UK.”

More in the Telegraph.

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Where do you lose your mobile?

Amazing statistics from the Brits. Annually they flush 855,00 mobiles down the toilet. In total they lose 4.5 million mobiles, roughly worth five billion Renminbi or 500 million Euro. Second best is the bar, where they lose 810,000 handsets and third the taxi, good for 315,000, ahead of the bus (225,000) An additional 58,500 are damaged by chewing dogs and 116,000 did not survive the washing machine.
Now the number of mobiles in China is roughly ten times that in the UK (50 vs 500 million), so in absolute number I'm sure Chinese are dropping more mobiles in the toilets. I lost myself two handsets in taxi's and I think that would be one of the highest scorers in China. People tend to be much closer to their handset, and I expect not so many to end up in washing machines.
Where do you lose your mobile?