China

Gavin Williamson’s speech today is another demonstration of how the UK government’s attitude to China has changed. In the Cameron Osborne era, the UK was determined to be China’s best friend in the West. All the emphasis was on creating a ‘golden era’ in Anglo-Chinese relations. But now, the government strikes a more realistic—and hawkish—tone on China. In his speech today, Williamson brackets China with Russia as a threat. The headlines today have been about Williamson’s decision to send the UK’s new aircraft carrier, carrying both US and UK jets, to the Pacific in a message to Beijing. But just as telling is the emphasis that Williamson places on various alliances.

Does President Xi's first address of the new year spell trouble for Taiwan? In a 30 minute speech on Taiwan, Xi used much fiercer language than his predecessors on Taiwan’s reunification. Journalists have reported it as 'chest-beating' and 'threatening'. Phrases like ‘the reunification of Taiwan…is the inevitable requirement of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation’ and ‘we do not promise to renounce the use of force’ certainly don't bode well. But the speech is actually interesting for a different reason: it reveals why the Chinese are so obsessed with Taiwan. Many outside China don't understand why a country of 1.7 billion people with the world’s second largest economy is so obsessed with a tiny island of 23 million people.

Sitting in a bar in Shanghai, each person at our table is listing all the Dolce & Gabbana items they have in their closet. In a normal setting this would be crass, but today they’re deciding what to burn. Dolce is not cheap and my friends would have saved up to buy one of their pieces, yet the brand is now so unpopular that they are considering not just a boycott, but total incineration. From social media it’s clear that we are not unique in China, where the outrage against Dolce began with their adverts for their ‘Great Show’ fashion event in Shanghai. Short video clips, which were subsequently removed from Weibo, showed a docile Chinese girl attempting to eat Italian food with chopsticks with a male voice-over.

After repeated denials, Chinese officials finally admitted last month that they have set up internment camps in the far-western province of Xinjiang, where up to one million ethnic Uighurs, almost all of whom are Muslim, are being held. Under China’s anti-terrorism law and ‘religious affairs regulation,’ the government in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region publicly introduced the 'Regulation on De-extremification.' What it describes is a new gulag, where re-education and the suppression of Uighur identity is its main goal. There are approximately 25 million Muslims in China today, but these new draconian laws in Xinjiang are aimed solely at the ethnic Uighurs, of which there are just over 11 million.

The bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai is the fastest in the world. It takes just over four hours to travel the 819-mile journey. From the train, it is impossible to ignore China’s economic success. There are cities the size of London that many westerners will never even have heard of. They are filled with glass towers and shopping centres, selling Cartier watches and Gucci bags. As the train sets off from each station, an announcement plays in both Chinese and stilted English: ‘Dear passengers, people who travel without a ticket or behave disorderly, or smoke in public areas, will be punished according to regulations and the behaviour will be recorded in the individual credit information system.

A few months ago I wrote about the damning revelations surrounding one of China’s most trusted vaccines providers. Changsheng Biotech had been profiteering from the creation and distribution of useless vaccines for children. First, they mixed old vaccines with new ones when selling jabs meant to immunise against diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus (all three diseases are potentially fatal to infants); then, a year later, they faked the production dates and batch numbers of rabies vaccines. The punishment for the first drugs transgression was a mere 3.4 million yuan – less than £400,000, and only 0.0003 per cent of the company’s annual turnover. It was no more than a slap on the wrist.

‘What the hell is going on?’ That anxious wail of economic incomprehension has been heard ever since President Trump decided last January to impose tens of billions of dollars of tariffs on China and other countries, including Canada, Mexico and the member states of the EU. The wail went up another octave last week as the White House announced a further $200 billion in tariffs. Among the politicians and think tanks of Washington DC, where I have spent the past few days, there is talk of little else; talk rendered more feverish by the prospect of midterm elections in November. A hundred billion here, a hundred billion there — pretty soon we could be talking real money.

In the last decade or so there has been a thawing of relations between China and the Holy See. Sure, China can still be harsh in its treatment of some Catholics and the Vatican continues to maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but a change is coming. Earlier this year, there was talk of a potential deal between Beijing and the Vatican, which would see China recognising the Pope as head of Chinese Catholics, in return the Vatican would give the Chinese government a say in the appointment of bishops. This week, we hear from two sources close to the negotiations that the deal is to be signed imminently – before the end of September. It’s no secret that Pope Francis has designs on China.