European sanctions against China triggered off a backlash against fashion brand H&M and business analyst Shaun Rein explains at the BBC why China’s consumers are starting boycotts against European companies like H&M.
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The new US president Biden is following closely his predecessor’s approach on China. Wrongly, says long-term China correspondent Ian Johnson in an opinion piece at the New York Times. “Washington’s plan appears to be to wait for the results of the comprehensive review of America’s national security policy toward China that Mr. Biden announced in February. This caution is a mistake,” says Johnson.
Ian Johnson:
Mr. Biden’s most effective attempt so far to reorient America’s China policy has been to re-energize U.S. alliances and international commitments. At a virtual summit last week, Mr. Biden and the leaders of Japan, India and Australia stressed the need for coordinated action to counterbalance China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.
But that leaves unresolved almost all major bilateral issues, including: how to deal with the trade sanctions imposed by the Trump administration; China’s military expansion in the South China Sea; how to handle weapons sales to Taiwan; or what to do about Chinese tech giants, such as Huawei, that offer Western countries technology that is cheap but may be a Trojan horse for Chinese intelligence services.
Washington’s plan appears to be to wait for the results of the comprehensive review of America’s national security policy toward China that Mr. Biden announced in February. This caution is a mistake.
What’s needed are immediate low-rent measures to reverse the downward spiral in the two countries’ relations.
One, the Biden administration should offer to restart the Peace Corps and Fulbright scholarship programs in China, two key ways that Americans have learned about the country over the past decades. The Trump administration canceled both as part of an effort to isolate China. All that accomplished instead was to hurt America’s ability to train a new generation of scholars and analysts.
Two, in exchange for this, the U.S. government should stop vilifying China’s Confucius Institutes as sinister propaganda machines. These are largely cultural centers and much like educational outposts from other countries trying to push a good image of themselves. American universities should prevent Confucius Institutes from offering accredited courses — no university should allow a foreign government to set its curriculum — but the centers should be able to function off campus, much like Germany’s Goethe Institutes or British Councils do.
Three, the Biden administration should allow back into the United States some of the scores of Chinese journalists expelled by the Trump administration last year — provided that Beijing also agrees to welcome again accredited journalists from American news organizations and commits to not harassing them.
The Trump administration’s measures gutted America’s ability to understand China. China, by contrast, still has many reporters and diplomats, and tens of thousands of students in the United States.
Four, the U.S. government should lift restrictions on visas for Chinese Communist Party members wanting to travel to the United States. The policy was crafted to protect Americans from the C.C.P.’s supposedly malign influence. But the party counts some 90 million members, the majority of whom are civil servants doing normal jobs, not followers of some evil cult that needs to be kept at bay.
Finally, China should be invited to reopen its consulate in Houston, which the Trump team closed last year in retaliation for alleged espionage. In return, the Chinese government would allow the United States to reopen its consulate in Chengdu, which Beijing had closed in retaliation.
These are small measures, but they could be meaningful confidence-building steps and pave the way for more constructive exchanges later on thornier problems, such as the threat of war with Taiwan, conflicts in the South China Sea or industrial espionage.
Also: None of these measures are gifts; they require something in exchange. As such, they would serve as a test of Beijing’s willingness to improve relations. If Beijing turns them down, Washington will know much more clearly the scope of the problem.
Modest moves might seem less decisive than acting tough, but they are what, in the end, makes realpolitik real.
Ian Johnson is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your (online)meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.
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However, women still account for less than a quarter of all NPC and CPPCC members. As China inches towards greater female participation in politics, it is being outpaced by many other countries.
The Global Gender Gap Report 2020, which tracks progress towards gender equality, ranked China 106th out of 153 countries surveyed, down three places from the year before. In the latest Women’s Power Index, China was ranked 150th out of 193 UN member states in political parity.
How can this be? China has one of Asia’s highest rates of female participation in the workforce. Furthermore, the Communist Party has long trumpeted gender equality. Chairman Mao famously proclaimed: “Women hold up half the sky.”
When the party took power in 1949, Chinese women were in a miserable position, with low literacy and labour participation rates. The first NPC in 1954 was attended by 147 women representatives, or 12 per cent of all representatives; by 1975, women accounted for 22.6 per cent. Since then, however, female participation in the NPC has hovered at this level.
The roots of the problem of low female political participation lie in the depths of China’s patriarchal culture. Hostile attitudes towards women in public affairs, along with domestic burdens that are traditionally placed on women, prevent rural women from entering politics in villages, which also tend to be more conservative than cities.
More in the South China Morning Post.
Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your (online) meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.
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The massive US$34.5 billion IPO by Jack Ma’s Ant Group has been derailed by regulatory action, days before its listing, and that does not make the investors happy, says political analyst Shaun Rein at AP. The decision also might rattle Chinese entrepreneurs who were considering selling shares on their own country’s market, said Rein.
AP:
The planned market launch of Ant, spun off from Alibaba Group, the world’s biggest e-commerce company by sales volume, symbolized China’s rebound and added to a string of smaller offerings by biotech and other new companies. In an unusual move, it was due to trade in both Shanghai for mainland investors and in Hong Kong for international buyers.
A brief official announcement Tuesday cited regulatory changes. It gave no details, but authorities have tightened controls on lending by online finance platforms and raised the amount of capital they must have.
The abrupt action might make investors more cautious about China, said Shaun Rein of China Market Research Group in Shanghai, whose clients include hedge funds and institutional investors. He said they are left to wonder whether regulators were worried about risks or acted out of irritation at Ant founder Jack Ma, China’s richest entrepreneur, who publicly complained they hamper innovation.
“Whatever it is, it doesn’t make the system look good,” Rein said. “It makes a lot of global institutional investors more nervous about investing into China.”
Ant said Wednesday it will return subscription fees to investors, suggesting it might be some time before the company is allowed to offer shares to the public…
The decision also might rattle Chinese entrepreneurs who were considering selling shares on their own country’s market, said Rein.
“Until yesterday, every entrepreneur I talked to wanted to go public in the mainland, because they thought valuations would be better, and it might make them look better in front of the government,” said Rein. “Now, after Jack Ma, I’m not sure what they’re going to do.”
Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your (online) meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.
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Attention has been focused on the expected purchase of Bytedance’s Tiktok by Oracle, but authorities in Beijing fear this will only be the start of more pressure on Chinese tech companies, says political economist Shirley Yu on CNN.
CNN:
“Beijing wants to protect its ascending status in global technology,” said Shirley Yu, visiting fellow at the London School of Economics and founder of an eponymous company that assesses strategy, business, and political risk for companies working in China.If the United States succeeds in forcing TikTok to sell key tech to an American company, “China would be concerned that, as its technology companies continue to ascend, more Chinese companies … might be targeted by the United States in a similar way,” she said.
Shirley Yu is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your (online) meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.
Are you looking for more experts on the ongoing fight between China and the US? Do check out this list.
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| Shirley Ze Yu |
According to Shirley Ze Yu, a political economist and Asia fellow at the Ash Center in Harvard Kennedy School, China should be more receptive, and less defensive, to criticism.
She said instead of "refuting" allegations of European nations, China should "investigate domestic medical device manufacturers, and eradicate substandard or un-licenced production capacity within the country".
China has built itself into the "world's factory" over the past three decades, she added, saying it would be challenging for any other country to match its manufacturing efficiency.
"China should use the occasion to clean out any speculative business activity that not only puts human lives, but China's global manufacturing reputation at stake.
"At the end of the global pandemic, not only world leaders, but all people all around the world will form a very personal opinion about China.
"China needs to understand that leadership is ... not about just helping 'friends' and allies, but all under suffering."
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| Victor Shih |
Manufacturers are struggling to resume production because of worker shortages, according to Caijing, while Caixin added that some local governments are reluctant to order companies back to work because they fear mass gatherings will lead to another outbreak.
"Because local officials and factories know that they would be punished severely by the government for allowing new infections to spread, they have played it safe by delaying the resumption of [real] economic activities," said Victor Shih, an associate professor at the University of California at San Diego and the author of "Economic Shocks and Authoritarian Stability."
More at CNN."The threat of harsh punishment works to enforce self-quarantine, but will lead to risk avoidance behavior in the aftermath," he said.
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| Victor Shih |
The sudden jump in new cases raises questions about China’s commitment to transparency, said Victor Shih, a specialist in Chinese politics at the School of Global Policy & Strategy at UC San Diego.
“The adjustment of the data today proved without doubt that they have had two sets of numbers for confirmed infected all along,” he said. “If that were not the case, the government could not have added so many new cases in one day.”
“A very disturbing aspect of today’s new numbers is that the vast majority of new cases accrued to Wuhan, but what if the rest of Hubei Province still did not adjust their reporting methods?”
Hubei had previously only allowed infection to be confirmed by RNA tests, which can take days to process and delay treatment. RNA, or ribonucleic acid, carries genetic information allowing for identification of organisms like viruses.
Using CT scans that reveal lung infection would help patients receive treatment as soon as possible and improve their chances of recovery, the commission said.More in Reuters.
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| Victor Shih |
For domestic audiences, state media coverage of the situation, and China’s role, has boosted a long-term drive to present the country as a stabilising international force in contrast to the United States, analysts said.
“This event obviously has helped China make the argument that the US is in fact isolating itself in the world by engaging in unilateral interventions in other countries, and China is on the side of the righteous majority in resisting [what it frames as] US hegemonic activities,” said Victor Shih, associate professor of political economy at the University of California San Diego’s school of global policy and strategy.
However, China’s presentation of itself as respectful of the sovereignty of other nations does not square with numerous examples of China looking to use its economic sway to influence other nations’ diplomacy or politics, Shih said.
Major outlets including state news agency Xinhua, China Daily and People’s Daily, have highlighted the potential for China to play a role in stabilising the region and characterised the US as a destabilising presence in the Middle East.
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| Sara Hsu |
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| Ian Johnson |
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| Victor Shih |
And as it wears on, it is not just a problem for farmers, but also for the country's leaders—afraid of social repercussions and spiralling economic costs.
"Historically, high food inflation has triggered bouts of urban protests," says Victor Shih, the Hi Ho Miu Lam chair professor at University of California San Diego.
Beijing has implemented several measures to boost the pig population, including subsidies of up to five million yuan ($700,000) for breeders.
They also announced in September that new large-scale breeding bases were being built in southwest Sichuan province with the capacity to produce two million pigs a year.
But farmers contacted by AFP—reluctant to be identified—were afraid to raise new herds despite government subsidies, fearing that any trade deal between Beijing and Washington would undercut Chinese producers or that their hogs would be taken away again...
In a bid to keep a grip on escalating prices, the government auctioned 30,000 tonnes of pork from its strategic meat reserves ahead of the National Day holiday.
Officials insisted in September that there was sufficient supply and prices would now be stable.
But given the slowing economy and the trade war, "pork-driven inflation has further limited the government's options", says Shih.More at Phys.org. Victor Shih 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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| Victor Shih |
Policy analysts gave written and spoken testimony to the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission annual review just hours before top trade negotiators confirmed a face-to-face meeting in early-October in a step resolve their increasingly bitter trade conflict.
Among them was Victor Shih, associate professor of global policy and strategy at University of California San Diego, who said that the trade war may succeed in creating divisions among policymakers in Beijing as to how to deal with China’s economic slowdown.
As economic losses accumulate under the trade war, Shih expects divergent camps in the ruling Chinese Communist Party to emerge and pressure Xi to ramp up economic stimulus. Beijing has already announced a series of monetary easing steps and increased fiscal spending in a step to push for new growth under the tense trading environment. “It would take a truly massive economic shock to threaten [Xi’s] power,” Shih said, adding that high domestic debt and trade frictions with the US are leading to increased state intervention in the Chinese economy.More at the South China Morning Post.
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| Kaiser Kuo |
The short answer is "it's the economy, stupid." The dissolute rulers of pre-Revolutionary China governed badly, and between their wealth hoarding and colonial extraction by the British, China was a deeply unequal place whose political instability tipped over into revolution. But the post-Revolutionary Chinese catastrophes -- the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution -- left tens of millions dead and scarred the psyches of hundreds of millions of others.
The market reforms of the Deng era changed that, creating massive, sustained growth and (less unequal, but still imperfectly distributed) prosperity. The result is a kind of bargain between the authoritarian technocrats of the Chinese state and its people: "let us govern as we wish, and we will keep chaos at bay and sustain the growth that is lifting you out of poverty." As Kuo notes, this is the opposite of the American doctrine of Benjamin Franklin: "Anyone who would trade a little freedom for a little personal safety deserves neither freedom nor safety."
This explains why anti-corruption programs are so popular (and why corruption scandals are so politically consequential), even if they hint at the political purges of the Cultural Revolution; it explains why Chinese censorship is so focused on social order and preventing online dissent from erupting into physical manifestations of political anger.
As China's political star rises and rises on the world stage, many western thinkers are looking to the Chinese people to demand a more pluralistic, participatory state with respect for human rights and democratic fundamentals. Kuo explains why so many people in China are indifferent to this proposition (though Hong Kong is a different story!).More in BoingBoing.
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| Zhang Lijia |
No woman has ever led the Communist Party of China, and currently there‘s only one woman among the 25 members of its Politburo.
Author of “Lotus” – a book that talks about prostitution, based on extensive research – Zhang Lijia, said that the CPC was sexist.
Zhang added that Chinese women are being left behind in terms of political participation and the salary gap between men and women is becoming wider.
According to the United Nations Development Programme, among the members of the decision making bodies of the Chinese government, only 24.2 per cent are women.
China must guarantee a minimum quota for women in the National Assembly, which continues to have very few women representatives, Zhang says.
The CPC, she adds, took a concrete step to improve women‘s lives in the 1950s, when it abolished child marriage and introduced the right to education and work, but after that gender equality has not been prioritised.
According to Zhang, if China wants to improve the lives of women, it will first need to accord them equal status in society and politics.More at the Addison Gazette.
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| Ian Johnson |
Do you miss the university?
Zhiwuzhi is better than a university. I could only give a few lectures a month at the university and the authorities had to approve everything. It was so difficult. If I tried to lecture, then the students’ advisers would try to convince them not to attend and would note who had and who hadn’t attended. Now we give on average ten lectures a week on everything from the environment to the #MeToo movement. It’s also much more meaningful. It’s open to the public. It’s helping to train a true civil society.
In this political climate how do you stay open?
I’ve tried to figure this out. We talk about being closed. It could happen. Last week we had [the Chengdu intellectual and Christian activist] Ran Yunfei. Thirty minutes into his talk, plainclothes police arrived. I went over to them and we spoke while Ran was speaking. They took pictures. We welcomed them and were courteous. But the first thing I’d say is I’m not a revolutionary. Secondly, if you have a place where you’re located, it’s easier for them. They know where you are. They can monitor you. And, finally, I’m not making a political statement. I also don’t make them into the enemy. I’m not their enemy. I respect them. It’s their job. They have to make a living too. I say to them, “Look, your politics is too low-class for me. We’re doing culture, not politics.” I say to them, “Look, politics is beyond me. It’s not my paygrade. But culture, that’s something else.” My argument is also that this is a good thing. It’s good for Xi’an’s culture. We’re a calling card for Xi’an. At the end of last year [2017] someone from Public Security came to see me and said they can basically support us, but sometimes you’ve made some mistakes. Basically they can accept us, even if some nights are more controversial.
I met an off-duty police officer here the other night.
That’s Zhiwuzhi! He’s a police officer[, but when he comes he’s here] on his own time. Some public servants are warned not to attend our events. “You’re talking to the enemy! It’s sensitive! Don’t go there! It’s not good for your career!” But some still come anyway. My main view is: no secrets. You have to realize they’ll hear everything, even our conversation right now. They will know. Absolutely. Don’t think you can keep a secret from them. They really do know everything. It’s a system. It’s not one guy following you.More in the NY Review of Books.
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| Victor Shih |
For now, Tianjin can continue to borrow for projects like the Juilliard campus because it has a powerful patron in Beijing, said Victor Shih, an associate professor at the University of California, San Diego, and an expert on the Chinese economy. That official, He Lifeng, was once the No. 2 Communist Party official in Tianjin. Mr. He now heads the central government agency that approves all major development projects, meaning he can authorize banks to lend more money to Tianjin.
“If the political will collapses for the Binhai area, then the bank loans will begin to dry up and the whole area is in trouble,” Mr. Shih said.
Officials at the National Development and Reform Commission, the agency where Mr. He works, did not respond to a request for comment.
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| Zhang Lijia |
China also has a long way to go as far as representation of women in politics goes.
No woman has ever led the Communist Party of China, and currently there's only one woman among the 25 members of its Politburo.
Author of "Lotus" - a book that talks about prostitution, based on extensive research - Zhang Lijia, said that the CPC was sexist.
Zhang added that Chinese women are being left behind in terms of political participation and the salary gap between men and women is becoming wider.
According to the United Nations Development Programme, among the members of the decision making bodies of the Chinese government, only 24.2 per cent are women. China must guarantee a minimum quota for women in the National Assembly, which continues to have very few women representatives, Zhang says.
The CPC, she adds, took a concrete step to improve women's lives in the 1950s, when it abolished child marriage and introduced the right to education and work, but after that gender equality has not been prioritised.
According to Zhang, if China wants to improve the lives of women, it will first need to accord them equal status in society and politics.More at Wion.
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| Tom Doctoroff |
Most companies targeted appear to have tried to accommodate Chinese demands by apologizing and amending references to Taiwan, for example, to read “Taiwan, China.”
“There’s a lot of fear. Companies are all trying to figure out if anything they’ve done is wrong,” says Shaun Rein, founder of China Market Research Group, a Shanghai-based consultancy. “They are looking at their websites … not just their own but also their suppliers’,” he adds.
The White House waded into the dispute in early May, calling Beijing’s demands “Orwellian nonsense,” and stating that Beijing’s demands were “part of a growing trend by the Chinese Communist Party to impose its political views on American citizens and private companies.”...
Tom Doctoroff, a partner at Prophet, a U.S.-based marketing consultancy, says Beijing’s intervention has so far been just a “minor irritation” to multinationals. “China has always been extremely sensitive when it comes to its territorial integrity,” he says. Recent events underlined the importance of making sure that marketing and other materials were vetted by staff with knowledge of the Chinese market, Doctoroff adds. “China is a market with a completely different worldview from the West … it’s imperative that how you go to market is localized,” he says.More in OZY.
Women are among the most active in the workforce, but political participation is lagging like nowhere else in the world. Social commentator Zhang Lijiia dives into the patriarchal culture of China and how political participation in government can be improved, for the South China Morning Post.