MERICS China Podcast

July 23, 2019Since more than seven weeks, people in Hong Kong have taken to the streets in opposition to an extradition law and the continuous loss of Hong Kong’s autonomy. The protesters demand an independent investigation into the use of police violence during earlier demonstrations. On July 21st, the situation escalated, riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters following a large rally. For the first time, protests were not only directed at the Hong Kong government but also at Beijing.Yuen Chan, currently teaching at the City University of London, worked for many years as a journalist, columnist and senior lecturer for journalism in Hong Kong. She talks with MERICS’ Director of Communication, Kerstin Lohse-Friedrich, about the bloody weekend in Hong Kong and the special role of the media. She argues, “I think, for journalists in Hong Kong it is really, really important that they get to frame the narrative, get to tell the Hong Kong story. Don’t let other people tell your story!”

July 9, 2019China’s engagement in Africa is often reduced to infrastructure and resources. But China is also massively increasing its presence in the African tech sector. Chinese state-owned enterprises and private companies are providing telecommunication lines and consumer electronics, but also surveillance technologies and digital solutions to enhance government control. “It is important that we have a nuanced understanding of what is going on both positive and negative dimensions,” argues China-Africa researcher and former MERICS Visiting Academic Fellow Tom Bayes in the latest episode of the MERICS Experts podcast.

4. Juli 2019Anlässlich der Präsentation der neuen MERICS-Studie zu Chinas Made in China 2025 Strategie diskutierte Autor Max J. Zenglein mit Markus Heß, Leiter Unterabteilung Industrie und Mobilität der Zukunft im BMWi, Dr. Thomas Hueck, Chef-Volkswirt der Robert Bosch GmbH, Oliver Wack, Area Manager East Asia, VDMA Foreign Trade und Jörg Wuttke, Präsident der Europäischen Handelskammer in China, über die Bedeutung der chinesischen Innovationsoffensive für Deutschland und Europa. Kerstin Lohse-Friedrich, Leiterin Kommunikation am MERICS, moderierte die Veranstaltung.Zentrale Fragen der Diskussion waren: Was hat die Made in China 2025-Strategie seit 2015 am Umgang mit China verändert? Welche Technologien aus Deutschland sind durch Chinas Streben nach einer Verlagerung globaler Wertschöpfungsketten in Gefahr? Und Wie können sich Deutschland und Europa für den Wettstreit mit China wappnen?Einen gekürzten Mitschnitt der Veranstaltung am 2. Juli hören Sie im neuen MERICS Experts Podcast.Die Studie „Evolving Made in China 2025: China‘s industrial policy in the quest for global tech leadership“ finden Sie hier: https://www.merics.org/de/papers-on-china/evolving-made-in-china-2025

On June 3rd, MERICS and the Federal Agency of Civic Education (bpb) jointly organized a panel discussion on the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests. Leading experts from Germany and the US discussed the legacy of June 4th and its consequences for China’s domestic development and civic engagement. The debate was moderated by Kristin Shi-Kupfer, Director of the Research Area on Public Policy and Society at MERICS.Perry Link, Emeritus professor for East Asian Studies at Princeton University co-editor of “The Tiananmen Papers,” lived in Beijing at the time of the protests. For Link, the crackdown on protesters on June 4th marks a turning point in Chinese history: “The Communist leaders, seeing that their socialist ideology was now useless, looked elsewhere to bolster their regime and found that unbridled money-making, a narrow kind of nationalism, and meticulous repression of wayward thought were the answers. This toxic mixture has brought the nation to the brink of an abyss.”  Felix Lee, longtime China correspondent for the German newspapers taz and Zeit-Online, says: “Prosperity in exchange for political freedom – this formula works worse and worse 30 years after Tiananmen. China could soon be facing a watershed again.” Professor Sandra Heep, an expert on China’s economy at Bremen University of Applied Sciences, argues that “China achieved immense economic success in the last thirty years. However, economic risks are rising with today’s political repression.” The panelists agreed that social movements are unlikely in China’s near future. “But there is always a possibility that something unpredictable happens,” says  Daniel Leese, Professor of Modern Chinese History and Politics at the University of Freiburg.You can listen to an edited version of the debate in our latest MERICS Experts Podcast.

May 29, 2019Only recently international companies have been allowed to start their own major projects in China. The German car builder BMW is for the first time majority shareholder of a joint venture in Shenyang, whereas chemical company BASF announced the investment of 10 billion dollars into a joint project in Guangdong Province. China opens up its market in areas where it could benefit from prestigious partners, says old China hand Joerg Wuttke, BASF China chief representative and newly elected president of the European Chamber in Beijing. Together with Kerstin Lohse-Friedrich and Frank N. Pieke he discusses the latest cooperation, the US-Chinese trade dispute and European-China relations. Listen to the live recording of the MERICS event from May 7 in our latest podcast.

10. Mai 2019Mit der wirtschaftlichen Öffnung Chinas entwickelte sich in den 90er Jahren ein rasanter Bauboom. Ausländische Architekturfirmen erhielten dort Möglichkeiten zu Großprojekten wie in kaum einem anderen Land. In jüngerer Zeit verändert sich das Umfeld: Präsident Xi Jinping kritisierte für „China unpassende“ Architektur und löste damit eine Debatte über eine Rückbesinnung auf eine traditionelle chinesische Bauweise aus. Stephan Schütz, Partner bei dem renommierten deutschen Architekturbüro Gerkan, Marg und Partner, spricht in der „China Lounge“ mit Claudia Wessling, Leiterin Publikationen am MERICS, über seine Begegnungen mit dem chinesischen Bauhandwerk und das Abenteuer, das Beijinger Nationalmuseum umzubauen.

April 30, 2019Over the last year, the Chinese government has been tightening its grip on labor activism across the country. In the southern industrial hub of Shenzhen, factory workers of a welding machinery company were arrested after trying to form their own union in July 2018. Many of them remain in custody until today. But crackdowns on labor activists do not seem to discourage workers and employees. Recent social media protests against excessive working hours in the tech industry show that they are increasingly aware of their rights and actively oppose poor labor conditions. In our special Labor Day issue of MERICS experts, French researcher Chloé Froissart talks to Claudia Wessling about her field work with Chinese workers and explains the dilemma of official trade unions torn between workers’ demands and party loyalty.

April 16, 2019China’s advances in research and development range from its ambitious space program to controversial experiments with gene editing. Yet scientific cooperating with China can also offer benefits and opportunities for Europe and its scientists. But how to spot the risks and where to draw red lines? Merics director Frank Pieke, co-author of a recent study on Europe-China cooperation in higher education and research, says Europe has been somewhat naïve in dealing with China’s strategic approach to research and development. Europe, he argues, urgently needs to develop its own research strategy to better defends its own interests when dealing with China. Listen to Frank Pieke in the latest Merics Experts podcast.

April 8, 2019China spends a lot to develop digital technologies. For Beijing, digitization is as a unique opportunity to upgrade its industries, increase social control, and become a global leader in digital technologies, says MERICS researcher Kristin-Shi-Kupfer. In a new study that she co-authored with MERICS research associate Mareike Ohlberg, she argues that China’s digital ambitions are mainly state-driven and rely on close cooperation between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the state, and private companies. China’s digital ambitions present a huge challenge to Europe, Shi-Kupfer says, but there also opportunities for cooperation. Listen to Kristin-Shi-Kuper, director of the MERICS research program on politics, society and media, in the latest MERICS Experts Podcast.

27. März 2019Die Veröffentlichung des BDI-Grundsatzpapiers zum künftigen Umgang der deutschen Wirtschaft mit China hat seit Januar für heftige Kontroversen gesorgt. Dem DIHK gingen die Forderung nach einem härteren Kurs gegenüber China teilweise zu weit, andere hätten sich noch klarere Worte gewünscht. Bei einem gemeinsamem Lunch-Talk von MERICS und Global Bridges am 28. Februar 2019 diskutierte der stellvertretende Direktor von MERICS Mikko Huotari mit Stefan Mair, Mitglied der Hauptgeschäftsführung des BDI, und dem Außenwirtschaftschef des DIHK Volker Treier über den Umgang der deutschen Wirtschaft mit China. Hören Sie einen gekürzten und bearbeiteten Mitschnitt der Veranstaltung im neuen MERICS Experts Podcast.