GOOD MORNING FROM LONDON
#1 RARE EARTH TENSIONS – UPDATE
#2 CHINA AND JACK PERRY – PART 3
#3 CHINA FILMS BREAK OVERSEAS BOX OFFICE RECORDS
———————————————————–
#1 RARE EARTH – CHINA-U.S. TENSIONS – UPDATE
THE FINANCIAL TIMES
“China’s export controls are spilling over into products beyond the rare earths and magnets officially identified by Beijing, threatening broader supply chain disruption and undermining US claims that a new trade deal had resolved delays to shipments. Beijing, which dominates global supply of critical minerals, began requiring licences for exports of seven rare earth metals and related magnet materials in April in retaliation for Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports.
Beijing’s export controls are a significant point of leverage over its trading partners. The country dominates the processing of rare earths and the manufacturing of the magnets in which they are used. Rare earths and their related magnets are widely deployed in electronics, heavy machinery and defence applications such as in fighter jets.
In response to US curbs on tech exports to China, Beijing has over the past two years expanded controls over other strategic materials crucial to chip manufacturing, including gallium, germanium, antimony, graphite and tungsten.
GRAHAM PERRY COMMENTS;-
Tensions persist in China – U.S. relations. There is no kiss and make up. We are in for the long term – not because of Face or Ego or Pride. Just hard – headed history. Trump sees things in a short-term perspective whereas China sees the whole picture; the long term perspective. They have a strategy that is grounded in fundamental changes in the world balance of power. Remember the Thucydides Principle – the U.S. is the Established Power and China is the Rising Power and conflict between the two is more likely – not less likely.
Trump wants to be done with the Ukraine War and the Middle East War. They are diversions from his #1 problem – China. His focus is the Far East – not the Middle East or Europe. China is his main problem – not Russia. Xi Jinping is his main problem – not Putin. Trump likes to laud it over his partners, opponents and enemies and it is a mistake to disregard his bluster. He is quite unique and possessed of an outsized ego. He possesses reach, power and influence. He is a major force but he suffers from inbuilt psychological weaknesses.
His biggest problem is not the Democrats or the Russians or the Europeans. It is History. Time is not on his side. Things are slipping from his grasp. The U.S. economy is not secure. It suffers from Imperial Overreach. The cost of world wide military bases is too high. Alliances are harder to maintain. And Trump relies too much on bluster. Following the Rare Earths power play by China, Trump knows he is not in control. It makes for an unstable world. Change and instability are dominating the world agenda.
#2 CHINA AND JACK PERRY – PART 3
JACK PERRY AND THE BRITISH COMMUNIST PARTY
Jack Perry’s journey from the East End of London to Beijing has two aspects – his own narrative and the narrative of China. In this Part 3 of the journey there is more to say about developments in the U.K in the 1930’s before addressing in Part 4 the first encounter between the People’s Republic of China and Jack Perry at the Moscow International Economic Conference in 1952.
Jack was on a journey. He was moving from a sheltered, religious non-political upbringing in the East End of London to a role as a left wing militant prepared to confront the anti-semitic threat from Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists. He parted company with his commitment to Judaism and a belief in God. In its place, he embraced politics, atheism and a commitment to confront the growing Fascist threat on the streets of the East End. Religion faded as Politics grew. The spur for his move to the Left was the Mosley threat.
It was apparent to Jack that the organisation that best confronted Mosley was the Communist Party. He was not alone. In the 1930’s many Jews responded positively to the policy of confrontation that the Communist Party espoused because it offered action against virulent anti-semitism. Jews were not so much attracted to the Party by Marxism as by the willingness of the Party to challenge the growing street power of Mosley’s Blackshirts.
The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was established in August 1920 and rapidly grew to a membership of 2,500. At the time of its founding, the major issues of controversy to be settled were over participation in Parliament and the trade unions.
The Party had limited but spirited representation in the British Parliament but it was the decisive force in the General Strike of 1926. Communists were prominent amongst the thousands arrested during the strike and were the backbone of those forces supporting the miners who were left on their own to resist lock-out for nine months before being starved back to work. The Party’s membership rose to more than 10,000 members.
In the 1929 general election, which saw the election of a Labour Government, the Party put up 25 candidates who averaged 5.3% of the poll in the areas where they stood. In the 1931 election, after the Labour cabinet split and a ‘National’ coalition government took over, the Party’s 26 candidates received 7.5% of the poll. Membership of the party fell to 2,555 in November 1930 in the wake of deep recession, with over a third of Party members being unemployed.
But Fascism and the arrival of Hitler in Germany and Oswald Mosley in the UK gave the Party a clear identity and a specific political platform. It was the only serious opposition to Fascism. The Party’s fortunes rose with the approach of war and reached a peak of about 16,000 at the outbreak of the Second World War, rising to about 56,000 by the end of the War.
On 4 October 1936 a violent confrontation between the Metropolitan Police and local communities on the streets of the East End was later named the Battle of Cable Street. A broad cross-section of East Enders – Communists, Anarchists, Labour and Jewish groups came together with a number of local people including Dockers and Irish labourers – to resist a Police protected planned march through the East End by Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists.
The East End was an area of London with a large Jewish population. It is estimated that around 100,000 Jews from Eastern Europe had fled to the East End in the period 1881–1914. Mosley and his Blackshirts were determined to march through the East End. Permission for his march had been given by the Metropolitan Police but, with the Communist Party taking the leading role, an alliance was formed to ensure the march was stopped. Violence ensued on a large scale. A bus was overturned and used as a barricade. Mosley’s car was attacked with bricks, and there was some of the most violent hand-to-hand fighting ever seen in London.
The march was eventually abandoned. Mosley was defeated and many of his followers were beaten up in the side streets of the East End. A large mural on St George’s Town Hall, next to Library Place, depicts scenes from the day and a red plaque at Cable Street’s junction with Dock Street commemorates the Battle.
Aside from domestic issues of unemployment and economic recession, the two main political issues were the fight against Mosley and his British Union of Fascists, and the fight against the Nazis – Mussolini’s Italy and Japan as well – in World War II.
For Jews in the East End of London it was the Communist Party (CP) that took the battle to the Fascists and won support in large numbers. The USSR was also seen in a good light in its efforts to build a new society based on the ideas of Marx and Lenin and – with the support of Prime Minister Winston Churchill – the new Soviet state became the wartime ally of the UK in the fight against Germany, Italy and Japan.
Jack was a leader and not a follower. He was quickly recognised by the CP leadership to be a person of stature and influence and he gained the attention of CP leaders including Harry Pollitt, Johnny Gollan and the Party theoretician Palme Dutt. He was never a card carrying member of the Party and his name would not have appeared in the membership files in the HQ at 16 King Street, London. Jack was free to speak on platforms without the label of being a CP member in order to widen his appeal but he accepted the discipline of the Party. By the end of the War, Jack’s position had become public knowledge and he worked very closely – and very publicly – to bring about the election of Phil Piratin as the Communist Member of Parliament for Mile End for the five years up to 1950.
The end of World War II in 1945 also brought an end to the alliance with the USSR. The UK’s wartime ally was now the Post-war enemy. In Churchill’s famous 1946 Fulton Missouri speech he said – “from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an Iron Curtain has descended across Europe”. The Cold War had commenced.
In Part 4, the focus will be on the Moscow International Economic Conference and Jack Perry’s first encounter with representatives from the newly inaugurated People’s Republic of China.
——————————-
#3 CHINA FILMS
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
“Over the past month, one of the biggest hit streaming shows globally has been a fictional drama about a young man who plots revenge after his family is murdered.
The made-in-China historical fantasy is the latest major production to showcase the growing international influence of one of the country’s fastest growing cultural exports – storytelling.
In the week after its May 18 debut, Legend of Zang Hai topped multiple overseas rankings in 15 regions, including the No 1 spot on Disney+ in Taiwan for seven days, while becoming the only mainland Chinese production in the local top 10 in Hong Kong.
The 40-episode series also trended globally at #12 on social media platform X, hitting No 1 in Thailand and charting in the top 10 in Vietnam and Malaysia. It has even trended in Ukraine.
It rates 8.8 out of 10 on the online entertainment database IMDb, making it the highest-rated Chinese suspense drama on the platform, attracting praise for its intricate plot, stunning visuals, and exceptional acting, as well as its use of Chinese intangible heritage like shadow puppetry and Kunqu opera.”
GRAHAM PERRY COMMENTS;–
The story follows protagonist Zang Hai, who, after his family is massacred, seeks revenge through years of meticulous planning and strategic cunning to infiltrate the enemy’s ranks. As he gains power amid political intrigue, he shifts his focus from personal vengeance to protecting his people.
“For fans of epic historical dramas with soul, this is a must-watch. And for those unfamiliar with Chinese television, Legend of Zang Hai is the perfect gateway – a show that proves great storytelling transcends language and borders,” one viewer wrote on IMDb.
It is not the only Chinese TV drama to find acclaim overseas. The expanding popularity of Chinese TV dramas – known as C-dramas – has become a potent indicator of China’s expanding soft power.
Driven by increasing production quality, industry advancement and the global reach of Chinese celebrities, such dramas have fused Chinese history, culture, language and values into a formidable entertainment export.
According to analysts, the growing recognition of Chinese dramas has been propelled by a mix of stories rooted in rich cultural heritage, high production values and expanding international distribution, helping them to serve as both cultural ambassadors and agents of China’s evolving soft power.
“Today’s C-dramas are faster-paced, more diverse in genre, visually richer and tailored to younger, global audiences,” said Peter T.C. Chang, former deputy director at the University of Malaya’s Institute of China Studies. “These shifts not only enhance entertainment value but also reflect a strategic evolution in Chinese media, positioning C-dramas as dynamic cultural carriers. By blending traditional values with modern storytelling, they contribute to a more nuanced, relatable and positive global image”,
China is about much more than production targets, annual growth rate and the rapid increase in STEM graduates – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
There is the critical arena of Soft Power with its emphasis on persuasion and influence which shapes views and opinions on politics and the direction of development. Soft Power is about more than the Voice of America, the BBC and the Xinhua News Agency. It is about culture, social norms and the social life of the people and just as China has jumped to the top of the table of economic development so we can expect to see more examples in the West of China’s films, plays, books and art in the years ahead.
GRAHAM PERRY
