• EU moves to cut dependency on China for battery and solar panel materials
• [Uk] China poses threat to UK way of life, says Rishi Sunak
• Chinese recruiters ‘headhunt’ UK nationals in key positions, Downing St says
• China trying to headhunt British nationals in key positions, UK says
• China“s defence minister, not seen in weeks, skipped Vietnam meet
• UK government says China attempting to headhunt Britons in sensitive positions
• China cuts banks“ reserve ratio for second time in 2023 to aid recovery
• Beijing blasts “protectionist“ EU probe as China EV stocks slip
• Taiwan blasts Elon Musk over latest China comments
• China denounces Europe probe of EVs as “naked protectionist“ act
• Beijing blasts EU probe as protectionist as China EV maker stocks slide
• Taiwan tells Elon Musk it is ‘not for sale’ after latest China comments
• A spy for China in Britain’s Parliament? | Britain
• Venezuela vows to send astronauts to the moon on Chinese spaceship

EU moves to cut dependency on China for battery and solar panel materials

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/14/eu-diversify-materials-car-battery-solar-panels-vote-parliament

The EU has voted in a plan to secure more of the critical materials needed to make solar panels, electric car batteries and other key elements of its green transition.

The European parliament agreed on Thursday to diversify its supplies of critical raw materials and cut red tape for mining companies. In an attempt to reduce its dependency on China, it plans to ensure that by 2030 it does not depend on a single country for more than 65% of its supply of any strategic raw material.

The details of the act, which was passed with 515 votes in favour and 34 against, will now be negotiated between the parliament and the council.

“The path towards European sovereignty and competitiveness has been set,” said Nicola Beer, a German MEP with the liberal Renew Europe grouping, who was in charge of the proposal. “With an overwhelming majority across political groups in the vote, the European parliament has made its position on security of supply very clear.”

To run its economy on clean energy instead of fossil fuels, the EU needs critical raw materials such as lithium for electric car batteries and silicon for semiconductors in solar panels. It currently relies on a handful of countries including China to supply them.

“There will be no e-mobility without batteries, and there won’t be more batteries without more lithium,” said Hildegard Bentele, a German MEP from the centre-right European People’s party and the group’s lead negotiator for the proposal. “A credible and strategic raw materials policy must increase our supply from reliable sources.”

The new proposal sets targets for extracting, processing and recycling critical raw materials. It calls for the EU to build the capacity by 2030 to extract materials meeting at least 10% of its demand and process materials meeting 50% of its demand, with a clause allowing for up to 20% of new processing capacity to come from partnerships with emerging markets. It should also boost recycling capacity to collect, sort and process 45% of the strategic materials in its waste for recycling.

The demand for imports can be decreased with better material efficiency and recycling, said Mohammed Chahim, a Dutch MEP with the centre-left Socialists and Democrats and the group’s lead negotiator for the proposal. Compared with the original plan put forward by the European Commission, he added, “we have expanded the scope of national circularity plans to include more reuse, refurbishment and recycling”.

Global demand for each of the five key critical minerals – nickel, cobalt, lithium, copper and neodymium – will grow 1.5 to seven times by the end of the decade, according to a net zero emissions scenario from the International Energy Agency.

But since Russia invaded Ukraine, exposing the continent’s overreliance on imports of Russian gas, European politicians and businesses have raced to source key minerals from a wider range of suppliers.

“Securing and diversifying our supply of critical raw materials is crucial, and this was recognised by the European parliament today in some key improvements to the act,” said Markus Beyrer, head of industry lobby group BusinessEurope. “We particularly welcome its support for timely permitting processes, the reduction of red tape for companies and the focus on enhancing partnerships with trading partners.”

Some environmentalists have raised concerns the act will open up countries like Finland, which is home to a range of critical minerals, to mines that are too poorly regulated to protect nature. They have criticised the proposal for speeding up the issuing of permits without raising the environmental standards that mining companies must follow.

Mines in Europe should reflect their true cost, said Satu Jaatinen, who sits on the board of environmental nonprofit MiningWatch Finland. “The mines can be made sustainable. The battery industry can be made sustainable. The only thing is that they need is to take on board the technologies that exist – but they don’t want to because it’s an extra investment.”

[Uk] China poses threat to UK way of life, says Rishi Sunak

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66810912?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

Chinese recruiters ‘headhunt’ UK nationals in key positions, Downing St says

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/sep/14/chinese-recruiters-headhunt-uk-nationals-in-key-positions-downing-st-says

Chinese recruitment schemes have tried to “headhunt” British nationals in “key positions” including from government and the military, Downing Street has said.

In its full response to the intelligence and security committee (ISC)’s report, it said some Chinese action “crosses the line from influence to interference”.

It said: “The government recognises that Chinese recruitment schemes have tried to headhunt British and allied nationals in key positions and with sensitive knowledge and experience, including from government, military, industry and wider society.

“As the committee notes, there is more work to be done.”

Nevertheless, ministers ruled out banning Chinese-backed Confucius Institutes saying such a move would be “disproportionate”, after concerns were raised earlier this year by parliament’s spy agency watchdog.

A response to the ISC report said: “The government recognises concerns about overseas interference in the higher education sector, including through Confucius Institutes, and keeps the risks under regular review.

“The government is taking action to remove any direct or indirect government funding from these institutions in the United Kingdom and currently judges that it would be disproportionate to ban them.

“This policy remains under active review, but wider measures, including those introduced through the National Security Act 2023 and Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, are expected to provide effective tools to prevent any malign behaviour within the higher education sector.”

China trying to headhunt British nationals in key positions, UK says

https://reuters.com/article/britain-china/china-trying-to-headhunt-british-nationals-in-key-positions-uk-says-idUSKBN30K0Z7

Chinese spies are targeting British officials in sensitive positions in politics, defence and business as part of an increasingly sophisticated spying operation to gain access to secrets, the British government said on Thursday.

The government, responding to a parliamentary report in July that found the government's approach to the threat posed by China was inadequate, highlighted the "prolific" scale of Chinese espionage.

"Chinese recruitment schemes have tried to headhunt British and allied nationals in key positions and with sensitive knowledge and experience," the government said.

There has been growing anxiety about Chinese activity in Britain, exacerbated since it was revealed at the weekend that a parliamentary researcher was arrested in March on suspicion of spying for China.

The arrest of the young researcher, who denied being a spy, has led to calls by British members of parliament for a tougher stance. The Chinese foreign ministry called the spying claims "entirely groundless".

In its highly critical report, the Intelligence and Security Committee said Beijing had successfully penetrated every sector of the British economy and ministers had been too slow to deal with the threat.

China is involved in a "whole state" assault on Britain and the government's approach has been "completely inadequate" and dominated by short-term economic interests, the committee concluded after a four-year inquiry.

Sunak told parliament that he accepted the report and recognised that it identified areas where "we can do better".

Britain's domestic intelligence service MI5 has said it is now running seven times as many investigations into Chinese activity as it did in 2018 and plans more. The government has set up a unit to protect elections from foreign interference.

Last year, MI5 issued a rare security alert, warning members of parliament that a suspected Chinese spy was "involved in political interference activities" in Britain.

There was also a newspaper report this week that MI5 had warned the ruling party that two potential candidates to become lawmakers were Chinese spies.

The government said it regularly vets officials and has set up software to help identify fake profiles on social media.

More than 25,000 people used a "Think Before You Link" app, launched last year, to report approaches from people suspected of using fake profiles, including Chinese intelligence services, the government said.

China“s defence minister, not seen in weeks, skipped Vietnam meet

https://reuters.com/article/china-vietnam-minister/exclusive-chinas-defence-minister-not-seen-in-weeks-skipped-vietnam-meet-idUSKBN30K1BR

Chinese defence minister Li Shangfu abruptly pulled out of a meeting with Vietnamese defence leaders last week, three officials with direct knowledge of the matter said, amid questions about his more than two-weeks-long absence from public view.

Li, 65, was due to attend an annual gathering on defence cooperation hosted by Vietnam on its border with China on Sept. 7-8 but the meeting was postponed after Beijing told Hanoi days before the event that the minister had a "health condition," two Vietnamese officials said.

The sudden postponement of the meeting and the reasons cited by China are being reported by Reuters for the first time.

China's State Council Information Office, as well as its defence and foreign ministries did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the Vietnam event. The Vietnamese embassy in Beijing couldn't immediately be reached for comment Thursday evening.

The abrupt cancellation of Li's trip follows China's unexplained replacement of Foreign Minister Qin Gang in July after a prolonged absence from public view and a shake-up of the leadership of the People's Liberation Army's elite Rocket Force in recent months, moves that have raised questions about the Chinese leadership's decision-making.

Qin's meteoric ascent through the ranks of the Communist Party was partly attributed to his closeness to President Xi Jinping, making his removal after just seven months on the job even more unexpected. Chinese officials initially said Qin's absence from public view was due to health reasons.

Li was appointed to his post in March. He is watched closely by diplomats and other observers because, like Qin, he is also one of China's five State Councillors, a cabinet position that ranks higher than a regular minister.

A U.S. official, on condition of anonymity, said Washington was aware of Li's cancelled meetings with the Vietnamese. U.S. President Joe Biden visited Hanoi last week, where the two sides inked a historic upgrade of their partnership.

Li's prolonged absence from public view has drawn some comment. U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Sept. 8: "First, Foreign Minister Qin Gang goes missing, then the Rocket Force commanders go missing, and now Defense Minister Li Shangfu hasn't been seen in public for two weeks. Who's going to win this unemployment race? China's youth or Xi's cabinet?"

Asked about Emanuel's post this week, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told reporters she was "not aware of the situation."

Li was last seen in Beijing on Aug. 29 delivering a key-note address at a security forum with African nations. Before that he held high-level meetings during a trip to Russia and Belarus.

China's defence minister is mainly responsible for defence diplomacy and does not command combat forces. He has a less public profile than the foreign minister, who frequently appears in state media.

"Li's disappearance, following so shortly after Qin, speaks to how mysterious Chinese elite politics can be to the outside world," said Alfred Wu, associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.

"China under Xi simply does not feel a need to explain itself to the world."

Li was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2018 for buying weapons from Russia's largest arms exporter, Rosoboronexport.

Chinese officials have repeatedly said they want those sanctions dropped to facilitate better discussions between the two sides' militaries. U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin attempted talks with Li during a defence conference in Singapore in June, but did not get beyond a handshake.

In 2016, Li was named deputy commander of the military's then-new Strategic Support Force - an elite body tasked with accelerating the development of space and cyber warfare capabilities. He then headed the military's procurement unit from 2017 until he became defence minister.

In a rare notice in July, the unit said it was looking to "clean-up" its bidding process and invited the public to report irregularities dating back to 2017. There has been no update on possible findings.

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UK government says China attempting to headhunt Britons in sensitive positions

https://reuters.com/article/britain-china/uk-government-says-china-attempting-to-headhunt-britons-in-sensitive-positions-idUSKBN30K0Z7

Chinese spies are targeting British officials in sensitive positions as part of an increasingly sophisticated spying operation to gain access to secrets and their specialised knowledge, the British government said on Thursday.

The government, responding to a parliamentary report in July which found the government's approach to the threat posed by China was inadequate, said measures were in place to stop officials from being recruited, including regular vetting and software to help them identify fake profiles on social media.

"The government recognises that Chinese recruitment schemes have tried to headhunt British and allied nationals in key positions and with sensitive knowledge and experience," the government said.

There has been growing anxiety about Chinese activity in Britain, exacerbated since it was revealed at the weekend that a parliamentary researcher was arrested in March on suspicion of spying for China.

The arrest of the young researcher, who denied being a spy, has led to calls by British members of parliament for a tougher stance on China. The Chinese foreign ministry called the spying claims "entirely groundless".

Sunak has come under pressure from some lawmakers in his Conservative Party to take a tougher stance with China, but he wants to while boost economic ties within the constraints of protecting national security.

In its highly critical parliamentary report, the Intelligence and Security Committee said Beijing had successfully penetrated every sector of the British economy and ministers have been too slow to deal with the threat.

China is involved in a "whole state" assault on Britain and the government's approach has been "completely inadequate" and dominated by short-term economic interests, the ISC concluded after a four-year inquiry.

Chinese spying efforts in Britain were once focused on the hacking and stealing of intellectual property, according to lawmakers. But there has been a growth in human intelligence, targeting officials in senior positions, the lawmakers said.

China cuts banks“ reserve ratio for second time in 2023 to aid recovery

https://reuters.com/article/china-economy-rrr/china-cuts-banks-reserve-ratio-for-second-time-in-2023-to-aid-recovery-idUSKBN30K0SN

China's central bank said on Thursday it would cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves for the second time this year to boost liquidity and support the country's economic recovery.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said it would cut the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for all banks, except those that have implemented a 5% reserve ratio, by 25 basis points from Sept. 15.

The reduction follows a 25-bps cut for all banks in March and comes as the world's second-biggest economy is struggling to sustain a post-pandemic recovery.

China's economy is facing sluggish demand, and "the RRR cut can better guide financial institutions to increase support for the real economy and boost the confidence of market players," said Wen Bin, chief economist at Minsheng Bank.

The move is expected to free up over 500 billion yuan ($68.71 billion) for medium to long term liquidity, an official at the central bank was cited by state media Xinhua as saying.

The central bank said the weighted average reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for financial institutions stood at around 7.4% after the cut.

China's offshore yuan weakened after the decision, lifting the dollar to 7.2921 against the yuan, up 0.3% on the day.

To support the economy, the government has rolled out a series of policy measures in recent months, including steps to spur housing demand.

In the statement, the central bank also promised to make its policy "precise and forceful" to support the economy and keep yuan exchange rate basically stable.

Xu Tianchen, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said the government was keen to support the economy given the risk to its 5% GDP growth target for this year.

The statistics bureau will release key economic figures for August including retail sales, industrial output and property investment on Friday.

Dan Wang, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank China, cautioned to watch for a cut in Medium-term Lending Facility (MLF) on Friday off the back of the RRR cut.

"That would be more significant than the RRR cut and suggest central bank is up to something," said Wang.

($1 = 7.2770 Chinese yuan renminbi)

Beijing blasts “protectionist“ EU probe as China EV stocks slip

https://reuters.com/article/eu-china-autos/beijing-blasts-protectionist-eu-probe-as-china-ev-stocks-slip-idUSKBN30K037

Beijing on Thursday blasted the launch of a probe by the European Commission into China's electric vehicle (EV) subsidies as protectionist and warned it would damage economic and trade relations, as shares in Chinese EV makers slipped.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the investigation on Wednesday, accusing China of flooding global markets with electric cars that had artificially low prices because of huge state subsidies.

The probe, which could result in punitive tariffs, has prompted analyst warnings of retaliatory action from Beijing as well as pushback from Chinese industry executives who say the sector's competitive advantage was not due to subsidies.

The investigation "is a naked protectionist act that will seriously disrupt and distort the global automotive industry and supply chain, including the EU, and will have a negative impact on China-EU economic and trade relations," China's Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.

"China will pay close attention to the EU's protectionist tendencies and follow-up actions, and firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies," it added.

Eurasian Group analysts warned that should Brussels ultimately levy duties against subsidized Chinese EVs, Beijing would likely impose countermeasures to hurt European industries.

Other analysts said the probe could slow capacity expansion by China's battery suppliers, although the move should not pose a big risk for Chinese EV makers because they could turn to other growing markets like Southeast Asia.

Still, it could hurt perceptions of Chinese EV makers as they expand abroad, Bernstein analysts said in a client note.

The manufacturers have been accelerating export efforts as slowing consumer demand in China exacerbates production overcapacity.

Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese EV makers pared initial losses, with market leader BYD closing down 1.2%. Smaller rivals Geely Auto (0175.HK) and Nio (9866.HK) fell 0.5% and 0.9%, respectively. Xpeng (9868.HK) reversed losses to rise 0.4%.

Shanghai-listed shares of state-owned car giant SAIC (600104.SS), whose MG brand is the best-selling China-made brand in Europe, fell as much as 3.4% before closing down 0.3%.

Nio and Geely declined to comment on the EU probe, while BYD, Xpeng and SAIC did not respond to requests for comment.

The Shenzhen-listed shares of battery maker CATL (300750.SZ) fell 0.8%. CATL did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Shares in European carmakers were also among the biggest fallers on the euro zone stock index (.STOXXE50) in early trading. BMW (BMWG.DE), Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), Mercedes (MBGn.DE) and Stellantis (STLAM.MI) were down between 1.1% and 2.2% at 0720 GMT.

The anti-subsidy probe, initiated unusually by the European Commission and not from any industry complaint, comes amid broader diplomatic strains between the EU and China.

Relations have become tense due to Beijing's ties with Moscow after Russian forces swept into Ukraine, and the EU's push to rely less on the world's second-largest economy, which is also its No.1 trading partner.

The EV probe will set the agenda and tone for bilateral talks ahead of the annual China-EU Summit, set to take place before year-end, with a focus returning to EU demands for wider access to the Chinese market and a rebalance of a trade relationship that Brussels describes as "imbalanced".

Cui Dongshu, the secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association, said on his personal WeChat account on Thursday that he was personally "strongly against" the review and urged the EU to take an objective view of the industry's development and not "arbitrarily use" economic or trade tools.

The price of China-made cars exported to Europe is generally almost double the price they sell for in China, he added.

Underscoring challenges facing established European automakers as they battle growing competition from China, Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) is looking at cutting staff at its all-electric plant in eastern Germany due to lower than expected demand for EVs, the dpa news agency reported on Wednesday.

EU officials believe Chinese EVs are undercutting the prices of local models by about 20% in the European market, piling pressure on European automakers to produce lower-cost EVs.

The European Commission said China's share of EVs sold in Europe had risen to 8% and could reach 15% in 2025.

In 2022, 35% of all exported electric cars originated from China, 10 percentage points higher than the previous year, according to U.S. think-tank the Center for Strategic and Internal Studies (CSIS).

Most of the vehicles, and the batteries they are powered by, were destined for Europe where 16% of batteries and vehicles sold were made in China in 2022, it said.

The single largest exporter from China is U.S. giant Tesla (TSLA.O), CSIS data showed. It accounted for 40.25% of EV exports from China between January and April 2023.

---

Taiwan blasts Elon Musk over latest China comments

https://reuters.com/article/taiwan-musk/taiwan-blasts-elon-musk-over-latest-china-comments-idUSKBN30K02L

Taiwan is "not for sale", the island's foreign minister said in a stern rebuke to Elon Musk who asserted Taiwan was an integral part of China, as the billionaire again waded into the thorny issue of relations between Beijing and Taipei.

Musk, the owner of the social media platform X formerly known as Twitter, as well as the Tesla (TSLA.O) electric car company and Starlink satellite network, made the comments to the All-In Summit in Los Angeles uploaded to YouTube this week.

"Their (Beijing's) policy has been to reunite Taiwan with China. From their standpoint, maybe it is analogous to Hawaii or something like that, like an integral part of China that is arbitrarily not part of China mostly because ... the U.S. Pacific Fleet has stopped any sort of reunification effort by force," he said.

Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, in a post on X late Wednesday, responded that he hoped Musk could ask China to "open @X to its people". China blocks X, along with other major Western social media like Facebook.

"Perhaps he thinks banning it is a good policy, like turning off @Starlink to thwart Ukraine's counterstrike against Russia," Wu added, referring to Musk's refusing a Ukrainian request to activate his Starlink satellite network in Crimea's port city of Sevastopol last year to aid an attack on Russia's fleet there.

"Listen up, Taiwan is not part of the PRC & certainly not for sale!" Wu said, using the acronym for the People's Republic of China.

Taiwan's democratically elected government strongly rejects China's sovereignty claims, and says only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

This is not the first time Musk, whose Tesla had a large factory in Shanghai, has riled Taiwan.

Last October, he suggested that tensions between China and Taiwan could be resolved by handing over some control of Taiwan to Beijing, drawing a similarly strong reprimand from Taiwan.

(This story has been refiled to add the dropped word 'of' in paragraph 1)

Related Galleries:

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China denounces Europe probe of EVs as “naked protectionist“ act

https://reuters.com/article/eu-china-autos-trade/china-denounces-europe-probe-of-evs-as-naked-protectionist-act-idUSKBN30K09M

A European Commission investigation into Chinese electric vehicles believed to have benefited from state subsidies will have a "negative" impact on economic and trade ties, China's commerce ministry warned on Thursday.

The investigation launched on Wednesday will determine if punitive tariffs are warranted to protect EU producers from what European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described as a "flood" of cheaper Chinese EV imports.

"China believes the investigative measures proposed by the European Union are in reality to protect its own industry in the name of 'fair competition'," the commerce ministry said in a statement.

"It is a naked protectionist act that will seriously disrupt and distort the global automotive industry and supply chain, including the EU, and will have a negative impact on China-EU economic and trade relations."

The probe, initiated by the European Commission and not from any industry complaint, will further irritate a tense relationship with China partly strained by trade and investment imbalances.

In 2022, China's exports to the EU rose 8.6% to $562 billion, according to Chinese customs data. But imports from the EU slumped 7.9% to $285 billion due to weaker Chinese demand and sharply widened the EU's trade deficit with China for the second year.

Beijing blasts EU probe as protectionist as China EV maker stocks slide

https://reuters.com/article/eu-china-autos/beijing-blasts-eu-probe-as-protectionist-as-china-ev-maker-stocks-slide-idUSKBN30K037

Beijing on Thursday blasted the launch of a probe by the European Commission into China's electric vehicle subsidies as protectionist and warned it would negatively impact economic and trade relations, as shares in Chinese EV makers slid.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the investigation on Wednesday, accusing China of flooding global markets with electric cars that had artificially low prices because of huge state subsidies.

The probe, which could result in punitive tariffs, has prompted analyst warnings of retaliatory action from Beijing as well as pushback from Chinese industry executives who say the sector's competitive advantage was not due to subsidies.

The investigation "is a naked protectionist act that will seriously disrupt and distort the global automotive industry and supply chain, including the EU, and will have a negative impact on China-EU economic and trade relations," China's Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.

"China will pay close attention to the EU's protectionist tendencies and follow-up actions, and firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies," it added.

Eurasian Group analysts warned that should Brussels ultimately levy duties against subsidized Chinese EVs, Beijing would likely impose countermeasures to hurt European industries.

Other analysts said the probe could slow capacity expansion by China's battery suppliers, although the move should not pose a big downside risk for Chinese EV makers because they could turn to other growing markets like Southeast Asia.

Still, it could hurt perceptions of Chinese EV makers as they expand abroad, Bernstein analysts said in a client note.

The manufacturers have been accelerating export efforts as slowing consumer demand in China exacerbates production overcapacity.

Hong Kong-listed shares of market leader BYD fell more than 3%. Smaller rivals Xpeng (9868.HK) and Geely Auto (0175.HK) dropped 0.6%, while Nio (9866.HK) slid 2%.

Shanghai-listed shares of state-owned car giant SAIC (600104.SS), whose MG brand is the best-selling Chinese-made brand in Europe, fell as much as 3.4%.

Nio and Geely declined to comment on the EU probe, while BYD, Xpeng and SAIC did not respond to requests for comment.

The Shenzhen-listed shares of battery maker CATL (300750.SZ) fell more than 1%. CATL did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

The anti-subsidy probe, initiated by the European Commission and not from any industry complaint, comes as the bloc navigates an already strained relationship with China.

Ties have become tense due to Beijing's ties with Moscow after Russian forces swept into Ukraine, and the EU push to rely less on the world's second-largest economy and also its No.1 trading partner.

In his meeting with von der Leyen on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi on Saturday, Chinese Premier Li Qiang urged the bloc to provide a non-discriminatory environment for Chinese firms and urged stability in Sino-EU relations as a "hedge" against global uncertainties.

The EV probe will set the agenda and tone for bilateral talks ahead of the annual China-EU Summit, set to take place before year-end, with a focus returning to EU demands for wider access to the Chinese market and a rebalance of a trade relationship that Brussels describes as "imbalanced".

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce to the EU on Wednesday hit back at the move, saying it was opposed to the probe and that the sector's competitive advantage was not due to subsidies.

Cui Dongshu, the secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association, said on his personal WeChat account on Thursday that he was personally "strongly against" the review and urged the EU to take an objective view of the industry's development and not "arbitrarily use" economic or trade tools.

The price of China-made cars exported to Europe is generally almost double the price they sell for in China, he added.

EU officials believe Chinese EVs are undercutting the prices of local models by about 20% in the European market, piling pressure on European automakers to produce lower-cost electric vehicles.

The European Commission said China's share of EVs sold in Europe has risen to 8% and could reach 15% in 2025.

In 2022, 35% of all exported electric cars originated from China, 10 percentage points higher than the previous year, according to U.S. think-tank Center for Strategic and Internal Studies (CSIS).

Most of the vehicles, and the batteries they are powered with, were destined for Europe where 16% of batteries and vehicles sold were made in China in 2022, it said.

The single largest exporter from China is U.S. giant Tesla (TSLA.O), CSIS data showed. It accounted for 40.25% of EV exports from China between January and April 2023, up from 36.5% in 2022.

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Taiwan tells Elon Musk it is ‘not for sale’ after latest China comments

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/14/taiwan-elon-musk-china-comments-response-all-in-summit-los-angeles

Taiwan is “not for sale”, the island’s foreign minister has said in a stern rebuke to Elon Musk, who asserted Taiwan was an integral part of China, again wading into the thorny issue relations between Beijing and Taipei. His comments came as dozens of Chinese warships and planes were detected near Taiwan for suspected military exercises.

Musk, the billionaire owner of the social media platform X formerly known as Twitter, as well as the Tesla electric car company and SpaceX, made the comments to the All-In Summit in Los Angeles uploaded to YouTube this week.

“Their [Beijing’s] policy has been to reunite Taiwan with China. From their standpoint, maybe it is analogous to Hawaii or something like that, like an integral part of China that is arbitrarily not part of China mostly because … the US Pacific Fleet has stopped any sort of reunification effort by force,” he said.

Taiwan foreign minister Joseph Wu, in a post on X late Wednesday, responded that he hoped Musk could ask China to “open @X to its people“. China blocks X, along with other major western social media like Facebook.

“Perhaps he thinks banning it is a good policy, like turning off @Starlink to thwart Ukraine’s counterstrike against Russia,” Wu added, referring to Musk’s refusing a Ukrainian request to activate his Starlink satellite network in Crimea’s port city of Sevastopol last year to aid an attack on Russia’s fleet there.

“Listen up, Taiwan is not part of the PRC & certainly not for sale!” Wu said, using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China.

This is not the first time Musk, who has a large Tesla factory in Shanghai, has riled Taiwan.

Last October, he suggested that tensions between China and Taiwan could be resolved by handing over some control of Taiwan to Beijing, drawing a similarly strong reprimand from Taiwan.

Beijing claims Taiwan is a province of China and Xi Jinping has pledged to annex it, by force if necessary. Taiwan’s democratically elected government, its major opposition parties, and a growing majority of Taiwan’s people reject the prospect of Chinese rule.

In response Beijing has increased pressure on Taiwan, through economic, diplomatic, and military means. This week has seen the largest scale Chinese military activity near Taiwan since major drills in April.

The People’s Liberation Army sends near daily incursions of planes and ships towards Taiwan, frequently entering its air defence identification zone and crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait. On Thursday Taiwan’s defence ministry said it had detected 68 aircraft and 10 ships around Taiwan in the previous 24 hours, including 40 aerial crossings of the median line.

Illustrated flight paths from recent days show unusual activity, with longer time spent traveling on Taiwan’s side of the line, and apparent accompaniment of a PLA carrier strike group which passed Taiwan’s southern point into the western Pacific. A second group of ships traveled across its northern point, and was on course to join the strike group, analysts said.

Japan’s ministry of defence on Wednesday evening reported the Shandong, one of the PLA’s two aircraft carriers, was at a location southwest of Taiwan’s main island, close to the Philippines.

The suspected military exercises – which have not been announced by Beijing or the PLA – are potentially in response to recent activity in the region by the US and Canadian navies, and joint exercises with other US allies including the Philippines.

On Wednesday Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office, accused the US and Taiwan of collusion to strengthen Taiwan’s defense capabilities. Chen said such moves only serve to increase the dangers faced by the island, China Daily reported.

Reuters contributed to this report

A spy for China in Britain’s Parliament? | Britain

https://www.economist.com/britain/2023/09/12/a-spy-for-china-in-britains-parliament

THE NEWS that a British parliamentary researcher had been arrested on suspicion of spying for China seemed like a throwback to the cold war when the Soviet Union used to recruit young men and women as agents. The Sunday Times, which broke the story, said the aide previously had access to MPs including Tom Tugendhat, Britain’s security minister, and Alicia Kearns, who heads the foreign-affairs select committee in Parliament. Both are known for their hawkish stances on China. Though the suspect denied the accusations, the case focused attention on how Britain should engage with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

This is not the first accusation of nefarious attempts by China to influence decision-makers. In 2022 it emerged that a Labour MP had taken donations from Christine Lee, a solicitor whom Britain’s security agencies said had spent years cultivating links to politicians on behalf of the CCP. This case is different: it involved a British national, possibly recruited when he was working in China; unlike Ms Lee, who was openly pro-CCP, the suspect does not seem to have expressed such views publicly.

A report by the House of Commons Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) in July slammed the government’s response to Chinese intelligence services that were already targeting the country “prolifically and aggressively”. In other countries it has taken a scandal like the one besetting Westminster to shift policy. Australia and New Zealand toughened laws and changed political priorities after revelations of Chinese-state interference operations.

The British aide was arrested in March, as was another man, but sparse details were only made public on September 10th. Some Conservative MPs called for Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, to designate China as a formal “threat” rather than the current term, “systemic competitor”. The government has hardened its stance on China since the period under David Cameron when commercial interests dominated.

In July a new National Security Law updated the Official Secrets Act to include a broader range of espionage work, notably “political influence activity”—meaning undisclosed attempts to change the way people behave. Designating China as a threat would mean that anyone in Britain who works for the government in Beijing, or a firm or agency with links to it, would in future have to register under a planned Foreign Influence Registration Scheme. This will come into force next year.

Much of the debate about branding China, however, is mere showmanship by disgruntled Tories. Britain has no clear policy on how to engage China, though James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, did just go to Beijing, the first visit by a high-level official since 2018. After revelations about the suspected spy, Mr Sunak told China’s prime minister, Li Qiang, that any actions to undermine British democracy were “completely unacceptable”.

Nor does the government have the means to prevent potential malign influence by China more generally. A report that is due out on September 13th by researchers at King’s College London, notes universities’ dependence on collaborations with Chinese universities for research, for example. Yet the ISC in July observed that such institutions are ill-equipped to assess any potential risks from such co-operation. Official efforts to protect critical infrastructure from Chinese meddling do exist. So do attempts to stop Chinese firms from buying British ones with expertise that could have military applications. But the government does a poor job of co-ordinating those efforts.

The implications of arresting a suspected spy at the heart of government are unclear, says Martin Thorley of the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime, an NGO. If true, the researcher’s work for China is embarrassing for the government. The arrest could also show that, along with British actions against Ms Lee in 2022, the authorities are at last confronting Chinese efforts more robustly, says Mr Thorley.

Parliament is likely to remain vulnerable, however. MPs are supposed to scrutinise and influence foreign policy, but they lack resources and have tiny budgets for staff. Thus they rely, typically, on poorly paid young graduates to write speeches and carry out research. Given an amateurish system for recruiting, and scrutinising, such aides, the parliamentary system remains susceptible to further foreign interference. Those grabbed by the drama of a suspected spy in the seat of democracy can plausibly expect a sequel.■

Venezuela vows to send astronauts to the moon on Chinese spaceship

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/09/13/venezuela-china-astronaut-space-moon/2023-09-13T16:36:46.621Z

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Venezuela president Nicolás Maduro vowed to send “the first Venezuelan man or woman to the moon” on a Chinese spacecraft as part of a new strategic partnership between the two countries, he said Wednesday during a state visit to Beijing.

In their first meeting in years, Maduro and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to boost cooperation in several areas, including oil, trade, finance, mining — and space exploration, Maduro said.

“Very soon, Venezuelan youth will come to prepare as astronauts, here in Chinese schools,” Maduro said, touting a “new era” of collaboration between China and Venezuela.

After years of drifting away from Beijing, Maduro is strengthening ties with China as he seeks to revive Venezuela’s crumbling economy and oil industry. The visit comes as Venezuela is also in continued talks with the United States, which is exploring the possibility of lifting some oil sanctions against Venezuela as long as Maduro promises to hold free and fair presidential elections next year.

Maduro’s far-fetched pledge to send his citizens to the moon comes as Venezuelans continue to flee the political, economic and social crises in their country, adding to an exodus that has now surpassed 7 million, according to the U.N. refugee agency. The country still struggles with frequent power outages, insufficient running water, political instability and an inflation rate that reached 234 percent in 2022.

“Maduro is not able to feed his own people, much less get a Venezuelan on the moon,” said Geoff Ramsey, a senior fellow for the Atlantic Council. The lunar aspirations are a “little ridiculous,” he said, but come at a time when Maduro is “desperate to broadcast an image of himself as a successful statesman.”

China has become increasingly influential in Latin America in recent years, and has been an important lender to Venezuela since the years of socialist President Hugo Chávez. Venezuela is Latin America’s biggest borrower from China, with $60 billion worth of Chinese state loans. On Wednesday, China announced that it was upgrading its relationship to an “all-weather strategic partnership,” a label suggesting the ties between the two countries will hold regardless of changes in the external environment.

The announcement also comes as more countries are entering the global race to reach the moon. Japan launched a lunar mission this month in an attempt to become the fifth nation to land on the moon, just weeks after India successfully landed a robotic spacecraft near the south pole. The only other countries to reach Earth’s closest neighbor are the United States, the Soviet Union and China.

In May, China sent another three astronauts into space and made clear its ambitions to send a team to the moon before 2030, intensifying a Cold War-like space race with the United States. NASA is aiming to send American astronauts back on the moon by the end of 2025.

Venezuela recently became the first Latin American country to be invited to the International Lunar Research Station, a program led by China and Russia and focused on establishing a permanent lunar base.

Maduro has also expressed interest in joining BRICS — the economic grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — which will add six nations to its ranks next year.

The timing of the Beijing trip, amid ongoing talks with the U.S., is likely an attempt by Maduro to show the Americans he has other options, Ramsey said.

“But I’m not sure he got what he wanted,” Ramsey said. “The reality is that Venezuela owes over $15 billion to China at the moment, and the Chinese are looking to recover their investment before they get any deeper.”

In a diplomatic shift, the Biden administration has shown a willingness to deal directly with the Maduro government and granted Chevron a license to resume pumping oil in Venezuela, home to the world’s largest crude reserves. U.S. officials have said they would be willing to consider further easing of sanctions in exchange for legitimate elections.

The country is expected to hold presidential elections next year, but Maduro has not yet set a date for the vote. His government has also banned the leading opposition candidates from running in the race.