CRG Weekly: BRICS summit, forced labour ban and UK-China research slump
The stories driving the week
BRICS kick off flurry of multilateral summits as Xi slams sanctions
Chinese President Xi Jinping criticised sanctions for stoking global economic pain in a speech kicking off this year’s BRICS summit, as he seeks to bolster relations with emerging markets in the wake of strained Western ties.
The SCMP reported that China has proposed a free-trade bloc among the five BRICS countries, with Russian President Vladimir Putin suggesting the emerging economies are exploring their own international reserve currency.
New data published by the Chinese general administration of customs revealed that China's crude oil imports from Russia soared 55% from a year earlier to a record level in May.
Meanwhile, G7 leaders are set to meet in Germany next week, before heading to a NATO summit in Madrid. The inclusion of leaders from Australia, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand at NATO talks is aimed at showing the Ukraine crisis has not detracted from Western nations' focus on China, according to NATO officials.
In a speech to fellow foreign ministers from 54 Commonwealth countries today, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will argue that the bloc should act as a “robust counterweight to authoritarian regimes”.
2. US ban on cotton from forced Uyghur labour comes into force
The Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act (UFLPA) came into effect in the US on Tuesday, with firms having to prove imports from Xinjiang province are not produced using forced labour.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US is rallying allies and partners to follow suit and make global supply chains free from the use of forced labour.
A number of businesses told the Wall Street Journal that it will be difficult and costly to comply with the law, as uncertainty clouds how it will be enforced.
The Guardian ran a piece on how the fashion industry will be particularly severely affected, with about 20% of the world’s cotton coming from China, and 84% of that coming from Xinjiang. Any British or EU fashion brand exporting to the US will also be subject to the new law.
Separately, lawyers for Uyghur exiles made their case to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigating Beijing’s abuses in Xinjiang, based on the forced disappearances and returns of Uyghurs from foreign countries, to circumvent the fact that China is not an ICC member.
3. UK academics: China research ties ‘damaged by vague security guidelines’
A new report conducted by Rand Europe, and commissioned by the British Embassy in Beijing on behalf of the Foreign Office, revealed that academics are “confused and frustrated” by the government’s ambiguous approach to the education sector’s work with China.
They warned of the economic, strategic and intellectual harm from the decline in the number of partnerships with leading research centres, after collaboration had flourished during a “golden era” in UK-China relations between 2014 and 2019.
Number of new joint UK-China research centres (source: RAND):
4. Musk draws further scrutiny from Chinese government
The FT revealed that Elon Musk’s Starlink has triggered security concerns in Beijing over its provision of satellite kits to fortify Ukraine’s internet network against Russian forces.
Starlink has more than 2,000 satellites in low-earth orbit - analysts contest that the billionaire will struggle to balance the competing interests of the US and China as their space race intensifies.
Musk’s Tesla, which makes a quarter of its revenues in China, will see its vehicles prohibited from entering the Chinese coastal district of Beidaihe, the site of a secretive annual summer party leadership conclave, according to Reuters. The automaker continues to face mistrust from CCP officials about whether its vehicles could be used for spying.
Meanwhile, Musk said he doesn’t think there’ll be any issue balancing his Tesla interests in China with the future acquisition of Twitter.
5. Floods in southern China force tens of thousands to evacuate their homes
Residents of communities living along river banks and in low-lying neighbourhoods have been urged to move to higher ground as rivers overflowed and floodwater levels broke a 50-year high.
The manufacturing hub of Guangdong suspended classes, office work and public transport amid rising waters and the threat of landslides, while almost 500,000 people in the neighbouring province of Jiangxi have seen their homes damaged.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang warned that there would be more extreme weather to come during this year’s flood season, which is typically July and August. Li also called for increased production of coal to stave off mass blackouts, as early summer heatwaves have prompted record electricity usage.
The Chinese government this week released a new National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy 2035 to become "climate-resilient" by 2035.
Weekend reads
China’s Surveillance State Is Growing. These Documents Reveal How. A New York Times analysis of over 100,000 government bidding documents found that China’s ambition to collect digital and biological data from its citizens is more expansive and invasive than previously known.
Video: China's 20th Party Congress - Macro and personnel policy change. The Wall Street Journal’s Lingling Wei talks to Wall Street TV’s Lizzi Lee about the direction of macroeconomic policy and personnel reshuffles in the months before the 20th Party Congress.
Will China and Russia stay aligned? Foreign Affairs magazine asks the experts whether China and Russia’s emerging partnership will last.