De Franse en Duitse leiders waren bijeen in de buurt van Keulen. In de gezamenlijke persconferentie na afloop beloofden ze samen plannen te maken voor de Chinese uitdaging. Voor de volgende Europese Raad in oktober komen de ministers van buitenlandse zaken en financiën met een ‘roadmap’. Macron sprak meer klare taal dan Merz, maar dit is weer verder bewijs dat de Duitse bondskanselier steeds duidelijker voor ingrijpen is.
Noah Barkin schrijft op sociale media wel, dat er Frans-Duitse plannen waren om nu al een gezamenlijke paper te hebben over handelsbeleid t.o.v. China. Alleen zou dat volgens Barkin zijn mislukt door de onverzettelijkheid van het Duitse ministerie van economische zaken. Je hoort elders ook dat de Duitse economieminister nog tegenwerkt met haar ambtenaren, terwijl de rest van Berlijn wel mee zou bewegen.
Er is onrust in de techwereld. Het Chinese Moonshot AI heeft een nieuw model gelanceerd dat hoge ogen gooit. De achterstand van dit Chinese model op de Amerikaanse blijkt nog minder klein. Het nieuws komt kort na de aankondiging door Xi van een nieuwe internationale organisatie voor AI global governance. De aandelenmarkten dalen.
De Chinese propaganda kraait victorie, vooral vanuit de nationalistische hoek. Men is vol van de vermeende superioriteit van het Chinese systeem en de Chinese producten. Van de Amerikaanse kant komen zorgelijke geluiden. Ryan Fedasiuk legt uit, dat de beperkende factor voor de Chinese aanpak ‘compute’ is – rekenkracht. De ‘gesloten’ modellen van Anthropic en OpenAI draaien op eigen grote datacentra. De opensourcemodellen van Chinese leveranciers leggen de verantwoordelijkheid voor het kopen van die dure servers bij degene die het model zelf moet installeren.
Dat doet ertoe, want de beschikbaarheid van rekenkracht in China lijdt behoorlijk onder de Westerse exportcontrolemaatregelen. Ik verwacht daarom grote druk vanuit Chinese en Amerikaanse kant op de bestaande maatregelen, ook de Nederlandse m.b.t. ASML. Het Chinese verhaal zal onterecht stellen dat de maatregelen wel weg kunnen, omdat ze geen zin zouden hebben en vooral eigen innovatie in China stimuleren. Uit Washington zal Europa nog meer druk voelen om Chinese techbedrijven verder af te snijden.
EU Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee delegation heads to China raising concerns on AI, rights, and security – The Brussels Times 🇪🇺
Speaker of Czech Republic Chamber of Deputies Tomio Okamura to visit China – Xinhua 🇨🇿
Taiwanese foreign minister Lin Chia-lung 林佳龍 (DPP) reveals Germany trip last month – Taipei Times: ‘Lin wrote about his visit to Germany, including trips to the Berlin Wall and the Hohenschonhausen Memorial, a former prison used by the East German Ministry for State Security (“Stasi”) to hold political prisoners.’ 🇩🇪
歐洲議會邀謝志偉中方跳腳 學者：民主令北京坐立難安 – 中央社
De Chinese ambassade in Brussels zou druk hebben gezet op de organiserende europarlementariër Engin Eroglu over een boekpresentatie van Andreas Fulda over Taiwan met de Taiwanese vertegenwoordiger Shieh Jhy-wey als aanwezige in het EP-gebouw.
Taiwanese foreign ministry affirms EU Foreign Affairs Council document acknowledgement of Chinese dangers – Taipei Times 🇪🇺
Foreign ministry says China will take measures on UK’s nationalisation of British Steel – Reuters: ‘Britain nationalised British Steel on Thursday, fully taking over the loss-making company that was previously owned by Chinese private steelmaker Jingye on national security grounds.’ 🇬🇧
China to do what is necessary to protect its rights after UK nationalises British Steel, foreign ministry spokesperson says – Xinhua
China’s commerce ministry firmly opposes UK nationalisation of British Steel – Xinhua 🇬🇧
De zorgen van Londen begonnen met het feit dat de Chinese eigenaar Jingye de Britse staalfabriek zo aan het verwaarlozen was dat hij dreigde te moeten sluiten. Nu Londen stappen onderneemt, wordt Peking boos. Doet me deels denken aan de verwaarlozing van het niet-Chinese deel van Nexperia door eigenaar Wingtech.
Tegelijkertijd wijst Henry Gao er ook terecht op dat Londen aan Washington in 2025 beloofde om aan Amerikaanse eisen te voldoen wat betreft de veiligheid van de leveringsketens van staal en aluminium voor de VS – wat vergelding extra noodzakelijk zou kunnen maken in de ogen van Peking.
Germany and France to draw up roadmap on EU-China trade imbalances – Bloomberg: ‘Merz signaled that the ballooning trade deficit with China must be addressed — even as he reiterated that he wanted no new conflict with Beijing. Speaking in sharper terms, Macron warned that Europe is facing an “aggressive” trade war from China.’ 🇩🇪🇫🇷🇪🇺
Paris and Berlin vow to align on tougher trade measures against China – FT: ‘Paris and Berlin have called for new “emergency measures” to shield European industry from surging Chinese imports’ 🇩🇪🇫🇷🇪🇺
‘France & Germany set out last month to put together a joint paper on trade policy towards China. They were unable to do so because of intransigence from the German Economy Ministry, I was told. Instead we got this👇🏼’ – Noah Barkin, Bluesky 🇩🇪🇫🇷🇪🇺
EU submits three papers to advance WTO reform discussions – European Commission: ‘On balancing rights and obligations, the EU is calling for discussions that reflect today’s global economic realities.’
‘On restoring a level playing field, the EU is proposing updates to WTO rules to better address distortive state interventions’ 🇪🇺
Spain’s biggest Chinese industrial investment will rely on workers brought in from China during construction, according to a government report laying out Madrid’s blueprint to bolster auto industry – Bloomberg: ‘says building the €4.1 billion ($4.7 billion) battery factory owned by China’s CATL and carmaker Stellantis NV will rely on “expatriate workers” until the fourth quarter of 2028’ 🇪🇸
Airbus won an order from Air China for 15 A350-900 widebody aircraft as well as 40 A320neo series for its Shenzhen Airlines subsidiary – Bloomberg 🇪🇺
Chinese AI pioneer Moonshot AI 月之暗面 touts a model that performs on par with some of the top-tier platforms from OpenAI and Anthropic – Bloomberg: ‘the latest sign that the Asian country’s artificial intelligence labs are closing a technology gap with the US.’
Tech stocks tumbled after Moonshot AI 月之暗面 released a new model – Bloomberg: ‘AI and semiconductor stocks tumbled on investor concerns that the rise of China’s AI businesses could force US leaders such as Anthropic to pull back on their investments.’
China’s latest AI breakthrough threatens America’s lead – The New York Times: ‘experts say the recent advances by Moonshot and Z.ai cannot be explained by distillation alone. Years of operating under export controls have forced Chinese companies to innovate within tight computing constraints.’ 🇺🇸
China has caught up in frontier AI: What’s left is an industrial systems competition – Ryan Fedasiuk for AEI: ‘On the other hand, the race is now on to build industrial quantities of computational power needed to serve these models at scale. To serve K3 to millions of monthly active users, Moonshot will likely spend billions of dollars on chips and energy to power them—chips that Chinese companies still struggle to produce at scale.’
The CIA’s man in Abu Dhabi was sent in to spy on the ‘spy sheikh’—and went on to play a role in the UAE’s AI win – WSJ: ‘While conducting espionage against powerful sheikh’s tech company, Jonny Gannon helped Gulf country quash Washington suspicions about China ties’ 🇦🇪🇺🇸
Medewerkers ASML krijgen aandelenpakket van 20.000 euro als ze er tot 2030 werken – NOS Nieuws 🇳🇱
Powertech 力成 plans joint venture with Broadcom in Singapore – Focus Taiwan 🇺🇸🇸🇬
US Federal employees can download TikTok on government devices, DOJ says – Reuters: ‘citing a deal by TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance to transfer control of the app's U.S. user data and operations to the joint venture TikTok USDS’ 🇺🇸
Chinese regulator tells automakers to boost safety, quality checks – Reuters
China Focus: Tech tours emerge as new magnet for global visitors to China – Xinhua: ‘As the “China Travel” trend continues to gain momentum, a growing number of international tourists, many visiting under China's visa-free entry policies, are flocking to the country for an eye-opening tech-focused itinerary.’
Trump beschuldigt China in speech vol ongegronde beweringen van manipulatie Amerikaanse verkiezingen – de Volkskrant 🇺🇸
China’s foreign ministry rejects Trump’s election meddling claims as ‘fabricated’ and ‘slanderous’ – SCMP: ‘Trump also alleged that China had paid US journalists to write negative articles about his administration during his first term.’ 🇺🇸
Als hij dit echt zou menen en/of geloven, dan zouden de vergaande beschuldigingen grote gevolgen moeten hebben voor de bilaterale betrekkingen tussen China en de VS. Dat lijkt er niet op.
China shares that the US has restored privileges for Hong Kong that Trump revoked in 2020, describing the move as an important step toward improving ties – Bloomberg: ‘The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a statement Friday that Executive Order 13936 on Hong Kong Normalization has expired.’ 🇺🇸🇭🇰
China’s commerce ministry welcomes US decision not to extend Hong Kong-related national emergency – Xinhua: ‘During China-U.S. economic and trade consultations in Madrid last year, the United States made commitments on issues including Hong Kong and investment.’ 🇺🇸🇭🇰
Secretary Rubio expected to discuss Trump-Xi summit in ASEAN meetings in Manila – Reuters: ‘It said Rubio will also meet with senior government officials from Indo-Pacific countries in a trip lasting until next Thursday.’ 🇺🇸
US congressional advisory panel heads to China to examine national security implications of trade relationship – SCMP 🇺🇸
Husband of Code Pink founder being investigated under federal foreign agent and tax laws – CBS News 🇺🇸
Probe of Alibaba 阿里巴巴 unearthed evidence it knowingly let dangerous drugs be sold to US consumers—but DOJ did not prosecute – CBS News: ‘Instead, the case was recently resolved for $600 million in penalties and forfeitures and a non-prosecution agreement’ 🇺🇸
Inside the Chinese fraud rings stealing billions from banks and retailers – CNBC 🇺🇸
China’s foreign ministry calls US visa regulations ‘discriminatory’, threatens countermeasures – Reuters 🇺🇸
ICE arrests human rights lawyer who fled Chinese crackdown – The Guardian 🇺🇸
Philippines condemns Chinese state media’s ‘racist’ AI-generated video depicting Filipinos as monkeys – Reuters: ‘a monkey dressed in Filipino attire being directed by arms representing the United States and Japan on what to sing.’ 🇵🇭
Commerce minister Wang said China hopes Indonesia can provide a stable and transparent policy environment for its mineral sector, as the two countries deepen economic ties – Bloomberg: ‘follows months of policy uncertainty under President Prabowo Subianto.’ 🇮🇩
Think-tank claiming to be Singapore-based used AI profiles to target analysts, intelligence community – The Straits Times 🇸🇬
Chinese leader Xi urges Thailand and Cambodia to settle long-running border dispute – SCMP: ‘after meeting both countries’ leaders on the same day.’
‘Beyond the border issue, Xi called for deeper strategic coordination with both countries’ 🇰🇭🇹🇭
Senior Chinese delegation visits North Korea’s Wonsan Kalma resort, KCNA says – Reuters 🇰🇵
Chinese medical team launches hybrid TCM nursing training in Sierra Leone – Xinhua 🇸🇱
Het is een probleem dat Peking steeds actiever deze kwakzalverij verspreidt via ontwikkelingssamenwerking of binnen de WHO.
Chinese leaders zero in on need for stimulus for economy – FT: ‘The leaders are expected to focus on speeding up bond issuance at their next Politburo meeting to enable greater infrastructure spending in an economy in which exports are performing strongly but domestic demand is weak.’
Why China’s soaring export numbers and tech prowess hide a brutal economy and a growing army of underemployed workers at home – WSJ
China plans to end a decade-long consumption tax exemption for solar and lithium-ion batteries – Bloomberg
China’s solar cell exports fell for a second month in June, an indication that overseas demand is weakening after a surge in shipments earlier in the year – Bloomberg
China’s oil imports have plunged during the Iran war. How much will they recover? – Reuters: ‘Market observers are puzzled over how the world's biggest oil importer achieved that reduction and want to know how permanent the drop in demand is.’
Landslide buries residents in southwest China’s Chongqing – Reuters
Central government warned China’s flood-control situation remains ‘severe and complex’ as the country’s main rain belt shifted south again, prompting authorities to step up disaster preparedness - Bloomberg
Senior CCP official Li Xi urges tackling misconduct, corruption that affect people – Xinhua: ‘during an inspection tour in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality from Wednesday to Friday.’
‘At a sci-tech industrial park affiliated with China Changan Automobile Group’
‘visited Southwest University of Political Science and Law’
Chinese social media accounts ‘profit from leaking official corruption scandals’ – SCMP: ‘The trend had created a new challenge for Chinese law enforcement, state-run journal Banyuetan reported on Friday.’
Chinese Politburo member Mǎ Xìngruì 马兴瑞’s downfall exposes shadowy network tied to Evergrande 恒大 and Vanke 万科 – Caixin Global: ‘a sprawling political-business syndicate that extracted billions of yuan from real estate deals and dumped toxic assets onto property giant China Vanke’
Chinese blogger jailed for fabricating Xiaomi 小米 EV video claims, state media say – Reuters
Former China Development Bank president put under anti-graft investigation – Reuters
Chinese vice premier He calls for developing Inner Mongolia as gateway for opening up to north – Xinhua: ‘He called for deepening bilateral and multilateral economic and trade cooperation, and advancing Belt and Road cooperation and the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor.’ 🇷🇺🇲🇳
China’s hospitals are turning patient data into a cash cow – Caixin Global
China unveils five-year plan to bolster soil, groundwater, and rural environment protection – Xinhua
China Focus: Tradition meets academia: the new Hanfu look of Chinese graduation gowns – Xinhua
‘Law is clear’: Booksellers must ensure books are lawful, says security chief Chris Tang 鄧炳強 after arrests – but won’t give list of banned titles – HKFP: ‘Tang said on Thursday that the government would not make a list of banned books, as offenders could avoid detection by changing the wording of titles.’
Democratic Taiwan must not become ‘China’s Taiwan’, President Lai says – Reuters: ‘calling on members of his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to oppose the “red terror” coming from Beijing.’ ‘Speaking to the DPP’s annual convention’ 🇨🇳
Taiwan’s foreign ministry drops Cambodia from visa facilitation programs, extends others – Focus Taiwan: ‘the ministry said Cambodia had failed to reciprocate Taiwan’s goodwill and had instead echoed China in statements undermining Taiwan’s sovereignty.’
‘Cambodia’s links to recent cross-border fraud cases have also raised public concern, the ministry said.’ 🇰🇭
Taiwan reviewing gas imports after Papua New Guinea orders office closure – Focus Taiwan 🇵🇬
US says it is ‘deeply concerned’ by PNG closure of Taiwan office – Reuters 🇵🇬🇺🇸
President Lai urges quick drone budget approval – Taipei Times
KMT Taipei councillor Lee Fu Chung-wu 李傅中武 indicted over alleged assistant subsidy fraud – Focus Taiwan
KMT to rally in Taipei on July 25 over tainted Central Union cooking oil scandal – Focus Taiwan
KMT targets agency funds amid cooking oil scandal – Taipei Times: ‘The operating budgets of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Ministry of Health and Welfare should be cut from next month through December in response to the Central Union Oil Corp tainted cooking oil scandal, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers said yesterday.’
Cabinet to introduce food safety law amendments amid oil scandal – Focus Taiwan
KMT lawmaker proposes gutting culture budget – Taipei Times
Bedankt voor het lezen van de Chinese Wouden 森中台! Deze post was gratis, voel je vrij om hem te delen of laat je waardering blijken d.m.v een kleine donatie.
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