Welcome to Foreign PolicyOverview of China.
Highlights this week: Chinese President Xi Jinping reasserts power Xiong’an New Area Projectthe latest military cleanup seems to target scientists, and the Iran war is empowering the Chinese green technology.
Welcome to Foreign PolicyOverview of China.
Highlights this week: Chinese President Xi Jinping reasserts power Xiong’an New Area Projectthe latest military cleanup seems to target scientists, and the Iran war is empowering the Chinese green technology.
Xi Renews Push to Develop Xiong’an
On Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping he visited Xiong’an New Area and called for greater efforts to develop the planned metropolis, located 62 miles from Beijing. Xi conceived Xiong’an more than a decade ago to ease administrative problems in the capital, but these plans have yet to materialize.
The project will transfer some government agencies, including the management of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei capital cityto the new city while keeping central government authority in the capital. The goal is for Xiong’an to host 5 million people by 2035; the area currently has approximately 1.2 million inhabitants.
Xi’s visit appears to be aimed at reinvigorating the project, where construction began in 2017 and is behind schedule. When I visited Xiong’an in 2018, it had little more than a local government office and a few residential apartments. It has grown in the years since but is nowhere near its goals, due in part to disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier proposals envisioned expanding nearby Baoding into a regional administrative center, which would make sense given the city’s historical importance as the capital of Hebei until 1968. But creating a new city in Xiong’an also has its merits.
Beijing is big, expensive, and difficult to travel. Its administrative power is also not commensurate with its size. The official population of Beijing, which is less than 23 million people, is only 1.5 percent of the total population of China. By comparison, more than half of South Koreans and about 30 percent of Japanese live in Seoul and Tokyo, respectively.
Xiong’an also means to be used as a an example of advanced urban growth. The new city promises not only new buildings—which many dilapidated government offices in Beijing desperately need—but also a better quality of life. Xiong’an is planned to work as known City 15 minuteswhere residents can meet most of their daily needs within a short walk or bike ride from their home.
I have doubts about that promise. The old parts of Beijing also used to be unplanned cities 15 minutes away, and residential and commercial life have been comfortably intertwined, until the government demolished a large part because the diversity and vitality of the complex urban environment is. offensive to the government’s favor for order and control.
Furthermore, even if the new administrative center may be modern, convincing officials to relocate may be difficult. Other countries, including the UK he struggled Decentralizing government responsibilities, such as civil servants often see promotions outside the capital as the goals of their work.
Proximity is power, especially in political systems like China, where the institution is located hidden rules is more important than formal rules. That power helps explain why provincial leaders, accustomed to luxurious accommodations, will sleep four to a room when they visit Zhongnanhai, the Chinese Communist Party’s headquarters for the top leadership. The opportunity for face time is invaluable.
You can move state machines, but moving power motors is more difficult.
What we’re after
The fallout of the Iran war. China has largely stayed out of the US-Israel war on Iran, with top diplomat Wang Yi calling for immediate peace talks while Beijing seeks to balance its relationship with Tehran against it broad economic interests in the Gulf.
This expressed desire for peace is sincere. As with Asia, China is staring down the barrel energy crisis while oil tankers remain stuck behind the Strait of Hormuz. Although China’s oil reserves are large, they are not limitless, and Beijing is concerned that the destruction of the Middle East’s oil infrastructure could have lasting economic consequences.
At the same time, China is benefiting from the United States destroying its international status. In a dramatic shift from the COVID-19 period, when China was widely distrusted, even some of America’s longtime allies now see China as a country. the most trusted partner.
In fact, that is the minimum today. But for all China’s assertive rhetoric, particularly toward Taiwan, it has not gone to war since its disastrous invasion of Vietnam in 1979.
Military scientists cleaned up. China continues military cleansing apparently they have claimed a new set of targets. Biographies of several leading scientists associated with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), including nuclear experts, it has been removed from the official websitea move that usually signifies detention and the possibility of formal charges to come.
It is possible that the scientists were to be associated in the PLA Rocket Force transplant program that began this cleaning cycle. But some scientists were already retired, making them strange targets. A more plausible reading is that the purges have expanded beyond their original scope, becoming full-blown witch-hunts.
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Technology and Business
The rise of green technology. The turmoil in the Middle East has at least one clear beneficiary: China’s green energy industry. That the three leading battery manufacturers have added approx 70 billion dollars in market value alone since the Iran war began last month has underscored the weakness of oil dependence.
Although Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) are more popular than ever across Asia, it could be a brutal year for the domestic industry. Bright price war continues in China despite the government’s efforts to stabilize the market, and several companies are suffering heavy losses.
The medium-term outlook remains strong, though. China is well positioned to dominate global EV sales and shape laws and standards that guide the industry. That benefit is becoming more apparent as countries such as Canada ease early restrictions on Chinese EVs in response to the US trade war.
Chip exports. US Congressmen from both parties have done just that he demanded to be stopped of Nvidia’s high chip sales to China, following allegations that a a large smuggling network has been providing advanced controls through third-party intermediaries to obtain US shipping controls.
But it is unlikely that anything will change. US President Donald Trump sold out to China hawks in his party several months ago when he adopted exports of high-end chips, provided that the White House will be reduced. As I’ve noted before, theoretical debates about chips don’t matter much when the president’s priority seems to be profit.
