CRG Weekly: Party history, Hong Kong media freedom and tech ambitions
News from the China Research Group
Two upcoming events:
Briefing: PRC disinformation targeting the UK with three leading disinformation experts from the University of Oxford. 10am on Thursday 24 June. Register here.
NATO for Trade? We will be launching a new paper on the need to rethink economic alliances in the era of a rising China. With Rob Atkinson (President of ITIF), Reinhard Butikofer MEP (Co-chair of European Greens) and Agatha Kratz (Rhodium Group). 5pm on Tuesday 28 June. Register here.
Press coverage:
Comment: China links pose a threat to academic freedom in Britain (FT)
New CRG data shows leading UK universities accepted more than £40m from Huawei and state-owned Chinese companies (The Telegraph)
Councils to review CCTV contracts with Chinese firm amid human rights concerns (Sunday Telegraph).
Tom Tugendhat writes on the G7 on Politico China Watcher newsletter last week
The week in review
With just a month to go until the CCP’s centenary, Xi Jinping paid a visit this week to the newly inaugurated Museum of the CPC in Beijing. During his time as leader, Xi has ramped up efforts to forge what he calls a “correct outlook on history”. This fascinating WSJ report from this week includes the details of this year’s bumper push on party history. Party officials have cleaned up 2 million illegal posts propagating “historical nihilism”. A revised version of the “A Short History of the Chinese Communist Party” has added several chapters about Xi’s achievements and dropped the discussion of Mao’s mistakes in launching the Cultural Revolution. And the education ministry added questions on party history to this year’s college entrance exams, to “guide students to inherit red genes.”
Those domestic narratives are also increasingly deployed on the global stage. The PRC’s outspoken ambassador to France, Lu Shaye, made headlines this week with his comments that the country’s wolf warrior diplomacy was a “justified defence” against Western criticism and that the world had to get used to China’s new diplomatic style. “Westerners criticise us for being undiplomatic,” Lu said. “We do not evaluate our work by how foreigners see us but whether the people in our nation are happy with our work.”
It remains to be seen whether Britain’s new PRC ambassador, Zheng Zeguang, who arrived in London last week, will adopt the same tone as his French counterpart. High on Zheng’s agenda is likely to be managing tensions over Hong Kong. The UK was quick to condemn the latest crackdown on media freedom in Hong Kong after 500 police officers descended on the Apple Daily newsroom on Thursday. Police arrested five executives from the newspaper, including the editor-in-chief - the first time the national security law was used to arrest journalists. Two have been denied bail.
Bloomberg reported that Xi Jinping’s right-hand man Liu He has been chosen to lead a new whole-of-country initiative to develop the next generation of chip technology. The aim is to produce third-generation semiconductors that would supersede today’s silicon wafer chips; a technology leap that is yet to be mastered by any one country.
The man chosen to spearhead the drive, Vice Premier Liu He, has known Xi since childhood. He is China’s top economic adviser, responsible for overseeing vast swathes of Chinese government policy, including technology reform and trade. A busy man, Liu is a member of the Politburo and also chairs the Financial Stability and Development Committee that oversees China's entire financial sector. He also finds time to lead US-China trade talks (revived under Biden, the latest round took place earlier this month with Janet Yellen).
Liu’s appointment reflects the high priority that has been afforded to semiconductors. Part of the push reflects a desire for self-reliance in the face of threats to supply chain security under the shadow of wide-ranging US sanctions. Chinese companies have been hamstrung by limited access to chips from the US.
But on the topic of party history, there is also a broader picture to consider when looking at why China’s leaders place so much weight on emerging technologies: China’s leaders have made it clear that they see the Fourth Industrial Revolution (第四次工业革命) as a historical turning point. Emily de la Bruyère, who has pored over hundreds of Chinese speeches and policy documents, interprets China’s technology ambitions as a push for “systemic leadership”: the winner gets to “define the digital era architecture”.
Although Chinese leaders see the US as its main rival for tech dominance, the UK has also been caught up in this wider US-China tech competition, whether through the battle over Arm or the Chinese takeover of Imagination Technologies. And it has somewhat flown under the radar that the UK’s largest semiconductor foundry, Newport Wafer Fab, is on the cusp of being snapped up by a Chinese-owned firm.
In brief
The EU and US announced a new Trade and Technology Council to “coordinate approaches to key global trade, economic, and technology issues”. It will be co-chaired by top officials, including Margrethe Vestager and Antony Blinken.
The Nato leaders’ meeting statement criticised China’s “opaque” military modernisation and called its current behaviour a “systemic challenge”.
Montenegro’s finance minister said the country is in the ‘final phase’ of talks with an unnamed European state institution to refinance US$809 million debt to China.
A French energy company notified the US of a radiation leak at one of China’s nuclear stations; the risk was played down by Beijing.
The Times reported that China state TV channel CGTN has enlisted student influencers from British universities as part of its new “media challengers” campaign to promote China’s image abroad and disprove Western narratives.
The Telegraph’s Beijing correspondent Sophia Yan reported back from a nine-day trip to Xinjiang, where she was detained for hours and visibly followed on foot and by unmarked cars throughout the trip.
The first prosecution under the US Department of Justice’s “China Initiative ended in a hung jury. The trial revealed the extent of FBI operatives’ efforts to prove guilt, including using false information to justify spying on the accused academic and his son for nearly two years.
A Canadian parliamentary committee report called for banning Chinese state firms from security equipment contracts and greater weight given to national security concerns. It is worth noting that the firm that sparked the report, NucTech, has been given more than £12 million in security contracts at the border and in prisons in the UK.
What we’re reading:
The Clash of Systems? Leading political scientists Jessica Chen Weiss and Tom Pepinsky in Foreign Affairs argue that Washington should avoid ideological competition with Beijing in favour of interest-based alliances and a more flexible international order.
China and America are borrowing each other’s weapons. B3W, the G7’s alternative to the Belt and Road Initiative, and China’s new anti-sanctions law show that China and America are learning from each other - but those caught in the middle may lose out. The Economist.
Behind the scenes at China TV: soft power and state propaganda. The FT speaks to insiders who worked at CGTN amid fears of influence-building.
What we’re listening to:
An Update on Chinese Lending in Africa (It’s Not Good News). China Africa Project.
Has economic engagement with China failed? The Spectator’s Chinese Whispers.
And interesting events next week:
Mapping China's Tech Giants: Covid-19, supply chains and strategic competition. 23rd June - 8:30 AM (BST) at ASPI.
Investing in the Green Transition: EU and China in the Mediterranean. 9:30am EDT, 24 June at the German Marshall Fund.
A Historical View of Regime Security and State Capacity in China. 3:00pm EDT, 24 June at CSIS.