https://www.scmp.com/rss/322662/feed Michael Clauss has been Germany’s ambassador to China since 2013. Before taking up the ambassadorship, he was the director general for European Affairs at the Foreign Office in Berlin. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” has come in the nick of time. Countries around the globe are struggling with difficult economic and social conditions like low living standards, low incomes and unemployment that remain widespread in much of the world and await global solutions. Many regions in central Asia, South Asia and Africa suffer low levels of investment in new infrastructure. Building the New Silk Road is therefore a highly welcome initiative that can boost connectivity, trade and... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2139266/china-should-be-open-more-foreign-involvement-belt-and-road?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2139266/china-should-be-open-more-foreign-involvement-belt-and-road?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Mar 2018 07:30:30 +0000 Reform of state-owned enterprises has been key in China’s continuing transformation from a command to a market economy. The country’s leadership has, incrementally, reduced the overall share of SOEs in the economy, created space for private Chinese and foreign enterprises, and made SOEs more productive by exposing them to market forces. Gradually, the government and party pulled out of board rooms, giving way to a market-based development. Banks, for instance, could give loans based on the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2112875/between-market-and-party-are-chinas-reforms-moving-right?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2112875/between-market-and-party-are-chinas-reforms-moving-right?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Sep 2017 03:46:56 +0000 Against international cross currents that are increasingly unfavourable to globalisation, China has achieved a lot of goodwill in the global political arena by supporting open trade and investment. At the recent G20 Summit in Germany, China played an important role to salvage a pro-open-trade consensus among the leading economies of the world. On the national stage, there are commitments galore by the state leadership to improve market access and reduce restrictions for foreign investment. Yet,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2109630/chinas-pledge-open-its-market-trade-and-investment-must-be?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2109630/chinas-pledge-open-its-market-trade-and-investment-must-be?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Sep 2017 09:31:55 +0000 China has a global strategy of engagement. The Belt and Road Initiative is only the most visible example. Its vision to create stability through development encompasses the European and Asian continents and large parts of Africa. Everywhere you see Chinese leaders travelling, you see giant pledges of further engagement, in Africa, Latin America and even Europe: more trade, more investment, and more scientific and people-to-people exchanges. And on global governance, China has promised more... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2101320/china-has-vision-how-engage-world-divided-west-needs-one-too?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2101320/china-has-vision-how-engage-world-divided-west-needs-one-too?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Jul 2017 09:31:01 +0000 China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” is gathering momentum. Enthusiasm for the promise of vast infrastructure projects, investment and more “connectivity” is great, but it seems to cool closer to the most developed parts of Europe and the US. The initiative is supported by US$3 trillion of foreign currency reserves and state-owned enterprises. The new Silk Road also reflects geopolitical ambitions; it shows how the Chinese leadership wants to shape the order of an area that represents more than... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2098527/why-europe-and-us-cannot-afford-ignore-chinas-belt-and-road?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2098527/why-europe-and-us-cannot-afford-ignore-chinas-belt-and-road?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Jun 2017 03:02:03 +0000 To outsiders, it might seem as if a wave of populist politics were gushing through European capitals. Critics of EU problems can also point to Brexit, to the challenges of migration and terrorism, or to the still unresolved Greek debt crisis. However, positive signs are growing. Many of the economies hardest hit by the 2008 financial crisis are now showing impressive growth. The result of the Dutch elections is a defeat of populism fair and square. According to the latest opinion polls, in none... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2080484/china-must-defend-globalisation-deeds-and-not-just-words?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2080484/china-must-defend-globalisation-deeds-and-not-just-words?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Mar 2017 09:51:14 +0000 The Communist Party’s sixth plenum, starting this week, will deal with a chief topic of China’s reform policy: discipline and anti-corruption within the party. Looking at this choice, it seems that the leadership does have its finger on the pulse of the population. A recent Pew poll confirmed that corrupt officials are the No 1 concern in China, with a whopping 83 per cent of people polled considering this a major or somewhat major problem. Why Xi Jinping’s bid to put ‘power in a cage’ must go... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2038984/its-time-china-honour-its-pledge-open-market-and-society-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2038984/its-time-china-honour-its-pledge-open-market-and-society-and?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Oct 2016 01:01:20 +0000 The world’s 20 largest economies will gather in Hangzhou ( 杭州 ) under the Chinese presidency on September 4 and 5 for their annual summit. In the light of sluggish world growth, finding new avenues for future growth will be high on the agenda. Following this logic, the G20 will focus on the digital economy as one of the prime motors for invigorating the global economy. Enmeshing Germany’s “Industry 4.0” – shorthand for a fourth industrial revolution – with China’s industrial modernisation... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2010768/dont-let-chinas-outdated-cybersecurity-laws-block?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2010768/dont-let-chinas-outdated-cybersecurity-laws-block?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 30 Aug 2016 09:04:31 +0000 The unsolicited takeover bid for Kuka, a German company with a multibillion-dollar turnover that successfully delivers industrial robots and other hi-tech automation solutions around the world, has stirred a controversial debate in Germany and Europe. A similar debate is also taking place in many other industrialised countries, not least the United States, which conducted its eighth US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue this week. Just days after that meeting, German Chancellor Angela Merkel... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1968113/china-must-play-fair-acquiring-foreign-assets-and-technology?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1968113/china-must-play-fair-acquiring-foreign-assets-and-technology?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Jun 2016 07:45:15 +0000 From a German perspective, recent powerful messages by China’s top leadership and its advisers on China’s economic reforms are right on target: we in Europe know full well what the risks are if an economy relies on debt-fuelled stimulus. And we also know how hard it is to wean an economy off this “sweet poison”. It is particularly encouraging that reform of China’s overprotected and overleveraged state-owned companies, for a long-time shoved towards the back of the reform agenda, seems to be... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1948578/its-chinas-own-interest-level-playing-field-foreign?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1948578/its-chinas-own-interest-level-playing-field-foreign?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 May 2016 05:02:12 +0000