De bijeenkomst van de EU-buitenlandministers blijkt stilletjes hardere taal te hebben aangenomen m.b.t China. Afgelopen maandag keurde de Raad Buitenlandse Zaken (FAC) een voorbereid document goed dat Rusland en China omschrijft als revisionistische landen en China als ‘key enabler’ van Europas grootste bedreiging Rusland. Nu er ook steeds meer klare taal komt uit Duitsland over handel, is de trend duidelijk.
Het benoemen is in de praktijk een kleine stapje, maar het is wél een stap. Het is diplomatiek een serieuze stap wanneer zulke klare taal nu ook door de lidstaten wordt geaccordeerd. Buitenland- en veiligheidsbeleid ligt bij de lidstaten, dus Brussel kan alleen handelen met goedkeuring. Deze woordkeuze kwam eerder voor bij de NAVO maar bij eurocraten enkel achter de schermen. Nu kunnen ambtenaren in Brussel hier openlijker over spreken en naar handelen.
Deze stap is niet alleen een belangrijk signaal over de richting van de aankomende eerste EU-veiligheidsstrategie, later dit jaar. Er lopen natuurlijk tot oktober ook nog gesprekken tussen Peking en Brussel over de handelsproblematiek. De economische veiligheidsdreiging die uitgaat van het Chinese industriebeleid versterkt in de praktijk ook de harde veiligheidsimpact die China op Europa heeft – o.a via Rusland. Gaan de twee onderwerpen nu ook meer aan elkaar gekoppeld worden?
Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten set to visit China next spring, sources say – SCMP: ‘It would be Jetten’s first trip to Beijing since taking office in February’
‘A visit to China by Dutch Economy Minister Heleen Herbert this autumn was also under consideration, one of the sources said on Wednesday, with that visit largely dependent on the outcome of the Dutch Enterprise Chamber’s investigation into Wingtech’s management of Nexperia.’ 🇳🇱
EU accuses China of seeking to reshape global order in stark new strategy paper – SCMP: ‘The paper, which was adopted by the EU’s 27 foreign ministers on Monday without any announcement, accuses Beijing of being both a “key enabler” and “crucial enabler” of Russia’s war on Ukraine, language previously used by Nato.’ 🇪🇺🇷🇺
Common Understanding – The Threats and Challenges We Face: Assessment of the EU’s Strategic Environment – PSC/COPS Council of the European Union ST‑11631/26: ‘With its unprovoked aggression against a peaceful neighbour – Ukraine – Russia has shattered the post-Cold War security architecture of Europe. It constitutes the most immediate and direct threat to European security, with China as key enabler of its aggression against Ukraine and collaboration with actors such as Belarus, Iran and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).’ 🇪🇺
China’s MSS think tank CICIR warns in report against European-led Nato 3.0 expansion in the Asia-Pacific – SCMP: ‘The transition of the North Atlantic military alliance to a more Europe-led “Nato 3.0” will fail to heal deep-seated strategic rifts between Washington and the European capitals’
‘“Nato 3.0 … will further expose the contradiction between US hegemony and European autonomy, leaving the alliance increasingly out of step with a multipolar world,” the report said.’ 🇪🇺
【现代院报告】“北约3.0”由虚入实 – 中国现代国际关系研究院: „Recentelijk hebben enkele NAVO-lidstaten de defensie- en militaire samenwerking met landen in de Aziatisch-Pacifische regio, zoals Japan, zelfs versneld, […], wat de veiligheidssituatie in andere regio’s ernstig verstoort. […] ‘NAVO 3.0’ heeft niets veranderd aan de essentie van de NAVO als instrument voor de VS om haar hegemonie te claimen en te verdedigen” 🇪🇺
Global views of China and Xi improve as perceptions of US decline, Pew survey finds – SCMP
Ukraine to buy Chinese drone parts with EU funds – FT: ‘Kyiv has obtained a carve-out for part of a €6bn tranche to purchase drone components from China, according to two people familiar with the decision.’ 🇺🇦🇪🇺
Czech citizen detained in China suspected of endangering national security – Reuters: ‘as [Beijing] demanded the release of one of its citizens awaiting trial in the Czech Republic on charges of working for Beijing intelligence.’ 🇨🇿
Hongaarse oud-buitenlandminister Péter Szijjártó aan de slag bij Chinese autofabrikant BYD 比亚迪 waarmee hij deal sloot onder Orbán – de Volkskrant 🇭🇺
Onbegrijpelijke keuze van BYD. Behalve Moskou, in welke Europese hoofdstad is Szijjártó nog welkom? Minsk?
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is finally showing some openness to backing the European Union’s push against China – Bloomberg: ‘After months of publicly warning about the risks of a trade war, the Christian Democratic Union politician is coming round to accept the need for action to tackle an ever-widening goods deficit and Beijing’s associated economic policies, according to people familiar with the matter.’ 🇩🇪🇪🇺
German engineering body VDMA urges broader EU duties and tougher action on China – Reuters: ‘In an updated position paper, the industry group said the European Commission’s current practice of investigating market distortions product by product was too slow to address competitive disadvantages faced by European manufacturers.’ 🇩🇪🇪🇺
VDMA-Präsident zu China: „Die EU muss uns helfen, einen Schild vor die anfliegenden Pfeile zu halten“ – FAZ: „Der VDMA bleibt ordoliberal, aber ich würde diese Ordnungspolitik gern zu einer robusten Ordnungspolitik weiterentwickeln. Es braucht auch mal einen Ellbogencheck, wenn ein Handelspartner nicht fair spielt.“ 🇩🇪🇪🇺
China Position: ‘The EU must tackle anti-competitive practices from China more effectively’ – VDMA: ‘Countervailing duties at product group level and reversal of the burden of proof’ 🇩🇪🇪🇺
German state minister says higher tariffs could boost Chinese interest in VW plant –Reuters 🇩🇪🇪🇺
EU chemical sector buried by China imports urge Brussels to act fast – Nikkei Asia: ‘“Part of the industry is already going,” Rudy Miller, vice president of Belgian chemicals business Vynova, told Nikkei Asia.’
‘Chinese chemical exports to Europe have risen 182% since 2020, while chemical plant closures in the region have surged sixfold, according to Cefic’ 🇪🇺
EU Commission readies crisis team for China rare earths stand-off – FT: ‘The group of European Commission officials from leading departments will aim to predict and respond to future emergencies’
‘One of the officials said China was only part of the focus of the new group, which should first meet in September.’ 🇪🇺
China’s rare earth curbs endanger US$6.5 trillion of Western industry, IEA says – Reuters: ‘The U.S. and Europe would account for nearly half of the economic impact, the report added.’
EU pilots €14.5m plan to retrain car workers facing unemployment challenges – The Brussels Times: ‘The pilots sit under a new initiative called the Skills Guarantee, one of the actions under the Commission’s “Union of Skills” programme.’ 🇪🇺
Trump administration officials are complaining that China isn’t honouring a key trade pact, but they’re staying quiet to avoid plunging the countries back into a trade war – Bloomberg: ‘Reopening access to critical minerals and rare earths, crucial for US companies manufacturing a wide range of products including cars and fighter jets, was a central objective of the pact Trump struck with Chinese President Xi Jinping last year in South Korea.’ 🇺🇸
Brazil is starting to feel the impact of China’s beef import quota – Bloomberg 🇧🇷
ASML lifted its annual sales forecast for the second time this year as a surge in artificial intelligence spending drives demand for the Dutch company’s chip-making machines – Bloomberg 🇳🇱
ASML working to cut the time it takes to build and test its advanced lithography tools in its factories by about a third – Bloomberg 🇳🇱
ASML plans price increases for chipmaking equipment, despite TSMC 台積電 resistance – The Information 🇳🇱
Bij techbedrijf ASML lijken de bomen tot in de hemel te groeien, maar blijft dat wel zo? – de Volkskrant: „ASML verwacht dit jaar 20 procent van zijn omzet uit China te halen, een hap daaruit kan miljarden euro’s kosten. Pijnlijk, maar niet genoeg om de groei te stoppen, zegt Hesselink. ‘De vraag naar machines is zo groot dat als ze niet naar China mogen, ze wel ergens anders heen gaan.’” 🇳🇱
Die doemverhalen dat de exportcontrolemaatregelen tegen China ‘ons’ ASML zouden opofferen aan Washington zijn niet helemaal waar gebleken…
Chipmaker TSMC 台積電 maakt gigawinst en gaat nog eens 100 miljard dollar investeren in de VS – NRC
EU okays €659m German semiconductor funding amid races for tech independence – The Brussels Times 🇩🇪🇪🇺
Twenty-nine countries, including Russia, have joined the China-led World AI Cooperation Organization, as Beijing steps up its bid to rival the US in shaping artificial intelligence – Bloomberg
29 countries sign agreement on establishing World AI Cooperation Organization – Xinhua: ‘The WAICO will be an independent intergovernmental international organization headquartered in Shanghai, according to the agreement.’
‘including Kazakhstan, Laos, Pakistan, Russia and Indonesia’ 🇰🇿🇱🇦🇵🇰🇷🇺🇮🇩
Chinese in the driver’s seat? India-China reset hits a bump on New Delhi’s streets – SCMP: ‘Indian government pulls the plug on Chinese battery apps after e-rickshaws are stopped in their tracks’ 🇮🇳
Beyond Borders: Chinese use of foreign interference tactics in Dutch strategic industries – Benedetta Girardi and Hans Horan for the China Knowledge Network 🇳🇱
China targets strategic sectors in Netherlands, report warns, citing ASML – Nikkei Asia 🇳🇱
When China’s open-source AI is a trap – The Economist’s The Telegram
China and the new era of critical minerals diplomacy – FT: ‘One executive at a large Japanese user of rare earths says China wants to keep companies in a “neither alive nor dead” state, by supplying them with the minimum needed’
How China is winning friends and influencing people: Private companies are making Beijing look good in the developing world – Lizzi C Lee and Eric Olander for Foreign Affairs
Out of Battery? China’s EV Dreams Flicker – The Little Red Podcast 🍎
Chinese foreign vice-minister Mǎ Zhāoxù 马朝旭 set for US visit in ‘temperature test’ for Xi – SCMP: ‘According to the sources, a stop in Miami – host city of the Group of 20 (G20) summit in December – was also likely to be on the itinerary.’ 🇺🇸
Continuously Promote the Building of a Community of Shared Future for Mankind – Mao Zhaoxu in People’s Daily, Translated by Bill Bishop’s Sinocism
Panama officials visit Beijing in bid to end shipping row – FT: ‘Beijing stopped four times more Panama-flagged ships in the four months to the end of June than in the year before’ 🇵🇦🇺🇸
US Coast Guard ships previously deployed in the Middle East are now operating out of Singapore and the Philippines to help challenge China’s assertion of power in the Pacific – WSJ: ‘command and logistics for the cutters are handled out of Singapore and that the vessels are rotating through Subic Bay.’ 🇺🇸🇸🇬🇵🇭
RSF and Safeguard Defenders urge Thailand to halt forcible return of Chinese journalist Bai Zhaodong to China – Reporters Without Borders 🇹🇭
China-backed Saindak Copper-Gold Project mine threatens Pakistan shutdown over security risk – FT: ‘a worsening insurgency in the restive province of Balochistan may force it to suspend operations.’ 🇵🇰
Senior Chinese and North Korean officials hold talks in Pyongyang, KCNA reports – Reuters 🇰🇵
2026 SCO Dialogue of Civilizations highlights mutual learning – Xinhua
ICC must be independent and impartial regarding Sudan’s Darfur, Chinese UN envoy says – Xinhua: ‘The ICC should respect the judicial sovereignty of the states concerned, he said.’ 🇸🇩
NED experts fear ‘great democratic depression’ as China gains ground globally – Nikkei Asia
Chinese envoy at UN calls for efforts to safeguard political stability in West Africa and Sahel – Xinhua
China’s [official] Q2 economic growth cools to 3-1/2-year low as imbalances worsen – Reuters: ‘At 4.3%, gross domestic product growth in April-June eased from the first quarter’s 5.0%, landing below the lower end of China’s 4.5% to 5.0% full-year target.’
Altijd in het hoofd blijven houden dat instellingen als Rhodium grote vraagtekens plaatsen bij de officiële Chinese groeicijfers.
China’s record consumer defaults undermine Beijing’s push to boost spending – Reuters: ‘Consumer loan defaults have soared to record highs, and analysts expect the situation to worsen as lower-income Chinese in particular sink deeper into debt. It comes with Beijing actively encouraging consumers to borrow and spend as part of a years-long effort to pivot the stuttering, two-speed economic recovery towards domestic demand.’
China’s new home prices fell at a slower pace in June, fuelling hopes that the battered real estate market is stabilising – Bloomberg
Hoe vaak heeft Bloomberg deze kop al geschreven?
China’s auto market is being flooded with hundreds of model launches and refreshes – Bloomberg
Media Freedoms Report 2025: ‘The New Abnormal’ – FCCC
Legacy of Edgar Snow: Contemporary Value and Inspiration to the World – Xinhua Institute
Xi Focus: Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 stresses high-quality urban renewal in Shanghai inspection trip – Xinhua
China investigates retired top media censor – Reuters
Behind Bars: Survey reveals exploitation and violence in Chinese prisons – Safeguard Defenders
Hong Kong national security police raid two independent bookstores, arrest five for alleged sedition – HKFP: ‘Police investigation found that the five had displayed and sold items carrying seditious intent.’
China aims to derail Taiwan’s drone efforts, source tells [pro-DPP paper] Liberty Times – Taipei Times: ‘that Chinese officials and their intermediaries in May and last month gave detailed instructions to opposition politicians to derail Taiwan’s efforts to develop uncrewed systems.’
‘claims that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) called “false and malicious.”’ 🇨🇳
Two Taiwanese police officers report of interrogation during trip in China – Taipei Times: ‘The two were forcibly relocated from their lodgings to an unknown location by Chinese personnel during their travels and questioned about Taiwan’s organizational structure regarding infrastructure development and other information due to their affiliation with certain unnamed units’ 🇨🇳
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office rejects DPP attempts to define cross-Strait status quo under new ‘two states’ theory – Xinhua: ‘when asked about comments by politicians from Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who accused the mainland of changing the status quo through military and non-military actions.’ 🇨🇳
Chinese barge captain not prosecuted over Dongyin subsea cable damage – Focus Taiwan 🇨🇳
Taiwan’s foreign ministry protests Papua New Guinea’s decision to close its representative office, vows to reassess ties – Focus Taiwan: ‘The decision underscored the government of Papua New Guinea’s commitment to honor the country’s fundamental one China policy, according to the statement.’ 🇵🇬
DPP caucus leader Tsai Chi-chang 蔡其昌 to lead US delegation next week focused on security and trade – Focus Taiwan 🇺🇸
Mayoral candidate Puma Shen 沈伯洋 (DPP) to visit US, says he would not be ‘silenced’ – Taipei Times 🇺🇸
Taiwan orders dozens of sea drones to fend off China’s maritime squeeze – Nikkei Asia
China-born candidates face new election rules – 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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