MERICS China Podcast

December 14, 2017At the 19th Communist Party Congress in October, Chinese president and party leader Xi Jinping proclaimed a “new era”. China was ready to become a global power and move to center stage, he said. What lies behind such claims? Has China taken advantage of the global leadership vacuum left by US president Trump? “Xi Jinping is an action-oriented person”, but his foreign policy record...

October 19, 2017The 19th Party Congress is a “Xi Jinping Show” and China’s political system, under Xi’s rule, has lost much of its flexibility. That’s the rather blunt assessment of David Shambaugh of George Washington University in Washington D.C. Shortly before the start of the 19th Party Congress, Shambaugh visited Berlin and discussed China under Xi Jinping with Willy Lam of the Chinese Univer...

October 17, 2017The 19th Congress of the Communist Party kicks off in Beijing this week with the focus mainly on elite politics and personnel decisions in the top leadership. But the gathering of some 2300 delegates is also an opportunity to take stock of five years of Xi Jinping rule. Internationally, China plays a much more active and assertive role on the international stage. “Xi Jinping has be...

16. Oktober 2017Chinas Staats- und Parteichef Xi Jinping hat die Kommunistische Partei fest im Griff. Auf dem 19. Parteitag der KPC wird er sich als der starke Mann Chinas feiern und für eine zweite Amtszeit bestätigen lassen. Schon in den ersten fünf Jahren an der Spitze der KPC hat Xi die Macht zentralisiert und dafür gesorgt, dass das Ein-Parteien-System stabilisiert wurde. Aktiv nutzt die KPC...

Vor dem 19. Parteitag am 18. Oktober versucht die chinesische Kommunistische Partei mit aller Macht das Land auf Linie zu bringen. Doch trotz jahrelanger massiver Zensur und parteistaatlicher Durchdringung der sozialen Medien sind die öffentlichen Diskussionen über die politische Ausrichtung der Volksrepublik nicht völlig verstummt. Im neuen Merics Experts Podcast berichtet Kristin Shi-Kupfer, Lei...

26. September 2017China hat große Fußballträume und steckt viel Geld und Energie in die Entwicklung des Sports. Dabei hilft, dass auch Bundesligavereine China längst als Markt entdeckt haben. Top-Clubs wie Bayern München und der BVB Dortmund spielen regelmäßig im Reich der Mitte und haben dort eigene Büros eröffnet. Was bringt die deutsch-chinesische Zusammenarbeit? Warum geht etwa der BVB eine Pa...

September 15, 2017In setting up the so called Social Credit System, China plans to monitor, rate and regulate the behavior of citizens and companies with the help of big data, rewarding those who obey the rules and punishing those who cheat or don’t conform. “Social Credit is seen as a means of making people, companies, entire industrial sectors and the government more honest by monitoring behavio...

August 2, 2017The Chinese government spends millions to develop the Tibetan areas of China. But what can investment achieve in these remote regions? Can it create sustainable jobs and change people’s lives? The economist Carsten Holz of Hongkong University of Science and Technology has spent many months on the Tibetan plateau in Western Sichuan to study how Beijing’s policies affect local people’s...

July 14, 2017The announcement by US President Trump to withdraw from the Paris Agreement is a setback for international climate policy but “it will not derail the process,” says Karsten Sach, Germany’s top climate negotiator. At a conference in Berlin, jointly organized by MERICS, the European Climate Foundation and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) he call...

July 10, 2017Despite US President Trump’s planned withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, many American citizens, city mayors and companies still want to move ahead with transitioning to a low carbon economy. „Trump’s power isn’t as strong as you may think,“ said Barbara Finamore, Asia Director of the American environmental organization Natural Resources Defense Council (NDRC) recently in Berlin. Sti...

July 7, 2017Caio Koch-Weser, chairman of the board of the European Climate Foundation (ECF), calls on the G20 to speed up the transition to a low-carbon economy – despite the announcement by US President Trump to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. In his introductory remarks at a conference on Chinese-German cooperation in global climate policy, organized by MERICS, ECF and the Mercator Research I...

14. Juni 2017Mobile, bargeldlose Bezahlsysteme wie Alipay gehören in China längst zum Alltag. „Ich brauche in Shanghai kein Bargeld mehr“, sagt Clas Neumann, der sogar seinen Kindern ihr Taschengeld per App zahlt. Beim Software-Hersteller SAP leitet Neumann die Abteilung „Schnell wachsende Märkte“ und die SAP-Labs, die weltweiten Innovationslabore. Seit fünf Jahren lebt er in Shanghai. Im digitale...

May 30, 2017Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and independent journalists have played a vital role in raising awareness in China of the dangers of air pollution and other environmental challenges. Yet under the leadership of Xi Jinping, the climate for NGOs has become noticeably chillier, especially with the introduction of a new law earlier this year on overseas organizations. But “civil soci...

24. Mai 2017China arbeitet mit Hochdruck am Aufbau eines umfassenden gesellschaftlichen Bonitätssystems. Damit soll das Verhalten von Unternehmen wie auch von Einzelpersonen erfasst und gesteuert werden. Für dieses „Social Credit System“ sammeln IT-Unternehmen und Behörden umfangreiche Daten über Bürger und Firmen und erstellen mithilfe von Algorithmen Bewertungen, die Einfluss auf das ganz alltäg...

February 28, 2017China’s official media like to criticize “hostile foreign forces” and “Western values” that purportedly undermine the country. Western institutions are equally singled out for their “inefficiency” in dealing with problems and crises. But do these arguments resonate with the Chinese public? Is there rising anti-Western nationalism in China? Those questions were tackled by three emi...

The „New Silk Road“ or „One Belt One Road Initiative“ launched by China’s President Xi Jinping in 2013 is unprecedented in scope and reach. China wants to spend some $900bn on infrastructure projects connecting the Middle Kingdom to other parts of Asia, Africa and Europe. This, Beijing hopes, will create new markets for Chinese products and provide contracts for Chinese companies. But some project...

20. Januar 2017Neue Krankenhäuser, moderne Geräte und eine Krankenversicherung für alle – viel hat sich verändert im chinesischen Gesundheitssystem. Der Arzt Eckehard Scharfschwerdt hat das miterlebt: 15 Jahre lang hat er auf dem Land in der Provinz Yunnan im Südwesten Chinas gearbeitet. „Die Verbesserungen sind für jeden sichtbar“, sagt er. Aber es gebe noch viel zu tun: Das Vertrauen in die Ärzt...

Chinesische Auslandsinvestitionen haben 2016 erneut ein Rekordniveau erreicht. Das Investitionsvolumen stieg weltweit auf etwa 200 Milliarden US-Dollar (180 Mrd. Euro), dies entspricht einem Zuwachs von 40 Prozent gegenüber dem Vorjahr. Die Europäische Union gehört weiterhin zu den beliebtesten Investitionsstandorten, angeführt von Deutschland. Rund 35 Mrd. Euro – ein Plus von 77 Prozent – flossen...

China has launched a high-tech revolution: Beijing has devised an industrial masterplan named "Made in China 2025" and is investing billions to turn China into one of the leading industrial countries by 2049.According to the plan, the domestic market share of Chinese suppliers for "basic core components and important basic materials" is intended to increase to 70 per cent by 20...

12 October 2016, with Kevin RuddWhat does China really want with its foreign policy? Is there a grand strategy for Xi Jinping’s new multilateralism? And is China’s „One Belt, One Road“ initiative maybe less about geopolitics and more of an encounter with the complex realities in some of the most unstable countries in the world? Former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd has met Xi Jinping several...

5 October 2016, with Zhang JiepingThese are tough times for independent media in China: Censorship and controls have increased considerably in recent years. The pressure is also felt in Hongkong despite the territory’s greater freedoms. Still, several media start-ups have sprung up in Hongkong recently. One of the biggest is the online platform “Initium”. Within a year it has attracted more than t...

2. September 2016, mit Mikko HuotariBeim G20-Gipfel in Hangzhou soll globales Wachstum gefördert werden. Gastgeber China setzt dabei auf globale Infrastrukturinvestitionen. Auch aus Eigeninteresse, sagt Mikko Huotari, Leiter des Programmbereichs Internationale Beziehungen bei Merics. Die G20, so Pekings Hoffnung, könnten der chinesischen Seidenstraßen-Initiative den Ritterschlag geben. Aber auch C...

4 August 2016, with Richard McGregorFor all its problems, China is an incredibly successful country and still has a lot of growth potential, says Richard McGregor, visiting fellow at George Washington University. All gloomy scenarios about economic or political collapse have proved wrong so far. So, what if Xi Jinping succeeds in restructuring the economy and strengthening the Communist Party? Chi...

26 July 2016, with You JiXi Jinping has used military reforms to strengthen his command over the People’s Liberation Army. And he’s using personal connections, some dating back to his childhood years, to fill central positions within the military, says professor You Ji of Macau University. On strategy, Xi is moving away from his predecessors’ approach. China is now preparing to project power well...

22 July 2016, with Victor ShihFor years China was led by consensus – factions in the upper echelons of power were carefully calibrated to keep a balance. But with Xi Jinping all that has changed, says Victor Shih of the University of California, San Diego. Since Xi’s faction within the Central Committee is still rather small, he established a number of new leading small groups to strengthen his in...