CRG Weekly: Briefing on German election and climate meetings
News from the China Research Group
Next event: Join us for a pre-election briefing with Constanze Stelzenmüller, Noah Barkin and Janka Oertel and Tom Tugendhat MP on Monday 20 September at 3pm BST. We'll be discussing how the upcoming German election will shape Germany's foreign policy and the EU's approach to China. Register here.
The week in brief
The UK’s President for COP26, Alok Sharma, spent two days in China meeting with Chinese diplomats including Xie Zhenhua and Han Zheng. The Guardian reported on Friday that Boris Johnson is planning to convene last-ditch climate talks with the leaders of 30 countries, including Xi Jinping, to a high-level meeting on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York on 20 September.
President Xi held calls with world leaders including Biden (for the first time in seven months), Merkel and Draghi.
The UK government ordered a review on national security grounds into the takeover of a Welsh graphene firm by a Chinese academic. While Perpetuus has just 14 employees and turnover of less than £500,000, it supplies "at least one quarter" of all graphene plasma goods in the UK.
Four leaders of a pro-democracy Hong Kong activist group were arrested and accused of working for a “foreign agent” under the national security law. Jimmy Lai’s Hong Kong media group filed for liquidation after it was forced to close.
The Taliban called China its “principal partner” in the international community, while experts downplayed the prospect of billions of dollars of investment.
The families of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig marked 1,000 days since their arbitrary detention in China.
New figures showed 65,000 Hongkongers have applied for a BNO visa since applications opened in January. A much smaller proportion of visas have been granted.
Britain showed off its HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier to Japan's defence chief on Monday at a naval base near Tokyo. Two British warships also set off on a permanent five-year mission.
With the university year set to begin shortly, Caixin reported that Chinese students have experienced lengthy delays in being granted their student visas from the UK Home Office.
Xi and Liu He moved to reassure private sector as Beijing’s Big Tech crackdown rattles entrepreneurs. Liu said private firms must be offered “vigorous” support so they can play a more significant part in growing China’s economy, creating jobs and deepening technological innovation.
According to a new report from cybersecurity firm Mandiant and experts at Google, a pro-Chinese government online influence operation is targeting Americans in an effort to exploit divisions over the Covid-19 pandemic and - for the first time - "physically mobilize protestors in the US in response.”
Investors are facing the growing possibility that Evergrande - the world’s most indebted property company - could default. The liquidity crisis has left some of Evergrande’s bonds trading at less than 30 cents on the dollar.
The second round of hearings of the Uyghur Tribunal into alleged Chinese genocide in Xinjiang started on Friday in London.
Weekend reads:
The UK and China’s security and trade relationship: A strategic void. House of Lords International Relations and Defence Committee, 10 September.
Fish and ships: Chinese fishing and Europe’s Indo-Pacific strategy. A new report predatory fishing activities threaten Europe’s geopolitical and geo-economic interests, as well as its attempts to protect marine biodiversity. ECFR, 24 August