CRG Weekly: FOCAC, Global Gateway and MI6 chief's speech
We will be trialling a change in the timing of the delivery of our weekly newsletter to Friday afternoons (UK time). We hope this will provide readers with the option of catching up on the week’s China developments before the weekend, or reading the top stories and analysis over a Saturday morning coffee. As always, your feedback is very welcome. 谢谢你的支持!
News from the China Research Group
In the press:
CRG committee member Damian Green has led an amendment to the Nationality and Borders Bill that would enable those with at least one parent who is a BNO to be eligible for the UK’s BNO visa scheme. It has been covered in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Spectator and more.
The Telegraph and Daily Mail covered the award of £80,000 by UKRI (the UK’s independent government-funded research body) for a PhD thesis analysing the political and discursive influence of the China Research Group.
Alicia Kearns is quoted in a Mail on Sunday report on new evidence of the use of Hikvision cameras in internment camps in Xinjiang, and the growing push to ban the company from government departments.
Chair Tom Tugendhat wrote a piece in The Telegraph on increased Chinese investment in the Commonwealth and the evolving nature of the BRI.
Chinese diplomacy still winning the day in the Global South
This week saw China’s leaders meet with Africa’s political, military, and civil elites in Dakar, Senegal for the eighth triennial Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
The summit has been a successful tool for China to enact public diplomacy campaigns focused on relationship building and cultivating partnerships based on national agendas. At this week’s summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to donate one billion coronavirus vaccines, advance billions of dollars for African trade and infrastructure, and write off interest-free loans to African countries to help the continent heal from the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, The Times revealed that the Covax scheme, aimed at providing “global equitable access to a vaccine”, had fallen around 1.5 billion doses short of its yearly developing country jab target. Britain has pledged 100 million doses to the effort but only 11.5 million have been delivered to the countries where they are needed.
Whilst the press has been awash with stories of Chinese ‘debt trap diplomacy’ in the Caribbean, Africa, and South-East Asia, there has been little coverage of how China has made impressive progress in the developing world through prioritising economic engagement and addressing the individual development needs of recipient nations.
China remains the biggest bilateral lender to the world’s poorest countries and has also been the most active participant in the G20’s debt service suspension initiative, launched last year to help poorer countries fund their pandemic response. Xi has effectively blended promises to provide Covid relief and further open Chinese markets with talk of “true multilateralism” that delivers freedom, justice, democracy and development.
Grand strategies to counter the political influence entangled in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, through schemes such as the UK’s British International Investment (BII) and the newly announced $300billion EU ‘Global Gateway Strategy’, are welcome and long overdue. However, failing to understand and engage with the immediate needs of the Global South - the most urgent being the provision of effective vaccines - has been an enduring diplomatic pitfall of the UK and its allies. We are missing a soft power open goal by screaming foul play at the opposition.
The gap between the Western and Chinese approaches to international development has become a source of friction over whose model works better. Whilst this debate is only likely to intensify as OECD countries roll out promising new schemes, it’s difficult to argue against the notion that China’s offering is still winning in large parts of the world.
Chris Cash, Researcher
In brief
The Women’s Tennis Association suspended its China events over concerns for Peng Shuai’s safety.
In his first public speech, the MI6 chief said “adapting to a world affected by the rise of China is the single greatest priority for MI6”, setting out a range of challenges including surveillance technology and data traps.
The EU announced its new €300 billion ‘Global Gateway’ infrastructure financing deal. The Economist notes that the plans are mainly a mixture of existing commitments, loan guarantees and heroic assumptions about the ability of the club to “crowd in” private investment.
Shinzo Abe warned that China invading Taiwan would be ‘economic suicide’, and that any crisis with Taiwan would pull in Japan and its ally the US.
After the US announced the invitee list for its Summit for Democracy next week, China's State Council Information Office announced they will release a white paper titled "China: Democracy That Works" at the weekend.
Facebook removed more than 500 accounts linked to an online disinformation network on Covid origins primarily based in China. It said the social media campaign was "largely unsuccessful".
The first large survey of 1,000 Hong Kongers with BNO status showed more than a third with BN(O) status were considering a move to the UK. 88,900 Hongkongers have applied for the visa so far.
Vice-Premier Liu He said China is on track to beat its gross domestic product growth target of ‘above 6 per cent’ this year.
China may close a loophole that has long allowed Chinese tech firms like Alibaba and Tencent to list on foreign stock exchanges, according to Bloomberg.
Weekend reads
China says it is more democratic than America. China is creating a zero-sum contest between autocracy and democracy. Western dysfunction tempts the Communist Party to make risky boasts. Chaguan - The Economist
Chinese youth: Westernised but not pro-democracy. Multiple national sample surveys find that Chinese youth are adopting Westernised values, with a greater preference for individualism and self-expression, and are less nationalistic. Yet they are far from embracing Western democracy, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Wei Shan and Juan Chen. China Story
New report: Benchmarking critical technologies. The authors look to develop an objective and repeatable methodology for measuring technical achievements against clearly defined strategic goals for the critical technology sector. ASPI
Podcasts
What is it to be ‘Chinese’? Cindy Yu and Bill Hayton discuss the origins of modern Chinese nationalism and what it means today on The Spectator’s Chinese Whispers podcast.
FOCAC 8 recap and review. Making sense of the FOCAC summit in Senegal and the EU’s Global Gateway infrastructure initiative. The China in Africa Podcast.
All guns blazing: the political messages of Chinese war films. SOAS - China in Context