GOOD MORNING FROM LONDON
CHINA AND THE FOREIGN MEDIA
IN THIS ISSUE THE FOCUS IS ON THREE SUBJECTS.
FIRST, AN ABOUT TURN BY TRUMP. PREVIOUSLY THE ARCHITECT OF HIGH TARIFFS ON CHINESE GOODS ENTERING THE US, HE IS NOW INVITING CHINA TO CONSIDER MANUFACTURING THEIR SUCCESSFUL ELECTRIC VEHICLES IN THE US.
SECOND, CHINA’S COURTS HAVE RULED IN FAVOUR OF INDIVIDUAL CITIZENS CLAIMING DAMAGES FROM CHINESE COMPANIES FOR UNLAWFUL APPROPRIATION OF INDIVIDUAL’S VOICE RECOGNITION.
THIRD, CORRUPTION IN HIGH PLACES AND THE CONTINUATION OF XI JINPING’S LONG TERM POLICY OF EXPOSING CORRUPTION AT THE HEART OF GOVERNMENT.
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#1 TRUMP INVITES CHINA TO PRODUCE ELECTRIC VEHICLES IN US!
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
Republican Presidential candidate, Donald Trump, last week repeated in recent days a campaign commitment he made at March 2024 rally in Ohio, when he broke with party rhetoric on Chinese investment and welcomed carmakers from China to build factories in the US.
“If they want to build a plant in Michigan, in Ohio, in South Carolina, they can – using American workers, they can,” the former president said in Dayton. It’s an invitation he has since repeated, including at the Republican National Convention last month.
The remarks also reflect Trump’s retreat from his long-time dire rhetoric about electric vehicle, which Chinese carmakers overwhelmingly focus on for international markets.
While the former president has previously only taken hits at EVs – saying that they will “kill” the US auto industry and that he would rescind federal support for them – he now strikes a more flexible tone. They’re “incredible” but “not for everybody”, he said, after meeting Tesla’s chief executive Elon Musk.
GRAHAM PERRY COMMENTS
Is war a distinct possibility between the US and China? Yes. The build up of military power by both countries has to increase the likelihood that the two countries may stumble into confrontations leading to hostilities. It is not a definite but it is more likely than it is unlikely that tensions will lead to war.
One of the issues that will reduce the possibility of war is a deepening ongoing contact between the two countries on a lengthening list of issues of common interest and importance.
One significant area of ongoing contact is climate control because both sides recognise that is in their mutual interests to lead the way towards a reduction in carbon emissions across the globe. John Kerry for the US and Xie Zhenhua for China have strengthened the relationship between the two countries and engaged in productive exchanges.
Another sign of ongoing contact between the two countries came in November 2023 when they agreed to restart mutual cooperation to counter the flow of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids and their precursors into the United States. The diplomatic breakthrough was announced at the November 2023 meeting between President Biden and President Xi in the US. As part of the renewed cooperation, a joint U.S.-China counternarcotics working group was recreated and was followed by a visible concession from Washington: being the removal of sanctions on the Institute of Forensic Science in China, which had been identified for its alleged complicity in human rights abuses in Xinjiang. China also agreed to expand its multilateral engagement on synthetic drug control and China has exchanged information with the US about drug networks.
And now another door has been opened by US Presidential candidate, Donald Trump, who has welcomed carmakers from China to build factories in the US. This is a big turnaround by Trump who has previously imposed tariffs on Chinese exports to the US in an attempt to squeeze China into economic submission. In a variation of the “If You Can’t Beat Them – Join Them” approach Trump, instead of imposing tariffs to keep China’s EVs out of the US, is now encouraging China to commence production of their EV’s in the US. If Chinese car production comes to the US and leads to new car manufacturing plants in the US instead of China, then it gives both countries a bigger stake in their respective economies and a greater incentive to ensure that Peace, and not War, is the preferred option going forward.
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#2 CHINA COURT RULES ON VOICE RECOGNITION AI CASE
NIKKEI ASIA
The dispute between Scarlett Johansson and OpenAI over the Chat GPT developer’s alleged use of the actress’ voice without her consent in one of their latest models has brought public attention to the dark side of artificial intelligence.
The Hollywood star threatened to sue OpenAI, but it is hard to say how the U.S. for infringement involving AI like this yet.
Maybe China can offer some help. In April, a Beijing court made China’s first ruling on a person’s right to their voice. A voice actor had sued several companies for AI-replicated voice infringement. The court found that some of the companies had indeed infringed on the plaintiff’s rights and ordered them to pay 250,000 yuan ($35,000) in damages.
It’s not the only ruling with landmark implications in governing artificial intelligence, Nikkei’s Maki Sagami writes. Chinese courts have been handing down a series of judgments related to generative AI, indicating how Beijing views the technology and aims to take the lead in setting standards.
GRAHAM PERRY COMMENTS
The idea that China’s Courts could be setting the world pace by issuing judgments in favour of Chinese citizens and awarding damages for infringement by Chinese companies of the voice recognition rights will surprise many in the West who have overlooked the progress made by the Chinese legal system in protecting the individuals against abuse by Corporations. It highlights the progress that the Chinese legal system has made in imposing penalties upon companies that abuse the voice recognition rights of citizens by employing AI techniques.
People outside China struggle with the term “Dictatorship of the Proletariat” and assume that the State is all powerful and that the people are all oppressed. In the same way Westerners have difficulty in accepting that the Courts in China are a source of protection of the rights of the individual when conflict arises between citizens and corporations. And for these reasons it is reassuring that individuals can obtain justice when right is on their side. In this important sense the Courts of China are not playthings of the Party but guardians of the rights of individual citizens when disputes have arisen which have a ‘David and Goliath’ quality.
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#3 CHINA MILITARY PERSONNEL
PEARLS AND IRRITATIONS – AUSTRALIA
“A significant difference between China and the countries that are reined against China is the coverage of the ups and downs of political leadership. If a Minister of Defence is removed from office in a non-China country the media is usually full of information of the political tussle that has led to the removal. In China, by comparison, little is written beyond the announcement of the individual’s departure – there is no speculation, gossip or indeed information. It happens. It is mentioned briefly and that is that.
Andrew Wedeman is the Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University and leads its China Studies Program. He reports that in June 2024, Xi Jinping told a meeting of senior commanders in Yan’an, the CCP’s old revolutionary wartime base, that ‘the barrels of guns must always be in the hands of those who are loyal and dependable to the party’ and that ‘there is no place for any corrupt elements in the military’.
Immediately after taking power in 2013, Xi cracked down on corruption. Whereas his predecessors had battled corruption among low and mid-level officials, Xi opened a new drive against corruption at the CCP’s senior levels — officials tagged ‘tigers’ by the Chinese press. Xi’s ‘hunters’ have since ‘bagged’ over 400 tigers, including one former member of the Politburo Standing Committee and four members of the Politburo. The crackdown remains ongoing and Xi’s second purge of the PLA coincided with a surge that pushed the annual number of tigers bagged to levels similar to the early years of Xi’s attack on corruption.
The fact that Xi is still confronting widespread corruption after a decade at the top might suggest that — contrary to the conventional wisdom that Xi is an unchallenged strongman — Xi has actually failed to consolidate his grip on the CCP.
Corruption on an individual level involves usurping public authority for personal gain. Yet persistent widespread corruption, particularly in the face of a putatively intense anti-corruption drive, suggests that many of Xi’s subordinates — including those he promoted — are continuing to flaunt CCP discipline.
Even more critically, they have not been cowed by the takedown of tens of thousands of their comrades. Xi may command fevered pledges of fidelity in public, but these seem hollow given the failure of officials at all levels to comply with his demand that they honestly serve the people and the party — and obey him.
The possibility of serious corruption and possible disloyalty in the strategic forces, and perhaps other branches of the PLA, ought to cause Xi grave concern. Like the Qing emperors who spent large sums importing a state-of-the art navy in the wake of China’s defeat in the Opium Wars, Xi has spent heavily to upgrade and expand China’s strategic forces in the face of worsening relations with the US and Japan and increasing tensions over Taiwan.
If the commanders of his strategic forces have lined their pockets buying unreliable weapons and promoting corrupt officers, Xi faces a grim possibility. His shiny new arsenal might fail like the Qing navy did during the 1894–95 Sino–Japanese War, where incompetent commanders and equipment failures crippled the Qing fleet and deepened China’s humiliation at the hands of foreign imperialists.”
GRAHAM PERRY COMMENTS
Remember the maxim “Mao saved the Country. Deng saved the Economy. Xi saved the Party” and in light of speculation in the above article about continuing corruption in high places, it is appropriate to review again Xi’s focus on eliminating corruption within the Party. The starting point is not political rivalries in the higher echelons of the Party but the importance of the Party maintaining the trust of the People.
The late UK historian, Lord Acton, observed – “Power Corrupts and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.” Applying his dictum to China, people like Professor Wedeman view the Communist Party in China as an authoritarian body which exercises absolute power. China, they contend, will therefore become corrupt because the Party exercises absolute power. It is, they say, the inevitable consequence of rejecting the Western One Man One Vote system of government and its emphasis on the Separation of Power between the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary.
China starts from a different viewpoint. The Party governs with the consent of the People. It is the People who put their trust in the Party in 1949 to build a new Socialist Society. If the Party fails the People – as it did in the Cultural Revolution 1966-1976 – the People will turn against the Party and join together to replace it as the central organ of government and power.
Generally speaking, the Party has done a good job. It pulled China back from the brink of chaos and collapse in 1976 and, the Tiananmin Incident apart, has succeeded it providing increasing prosperity to the 1.4bn population. But the job is not done. China may have edged itself off the lowest rung of the ladder but much more needs to be done before China can reach its goal of building a “prosperous” society. And corruption remains as an ever present threat that needs to be confronted lest China is blown off course.
The biggest danger is that the Party becomes corrupt, loses the support of the people and is toppled from power. It can happen if the Party loses touch with its roots. People in power must always serve and Xi stressed this in one of his first speeches as General Secretary of the Party. The Party exists to do well for the People. It represents the People and is charged with the responsibility to meet the needs of the People. But Party members can become comfortable with power and begin to enjoy the trappings of authority. They can become corrupt and look after their family and friends at the expense of the community at large. Corruption is an ever-present threat. Wielding power and authority can blow good people off course and undermine the core strategy of building a new modern socialist society.
Vigilance is essential. Complacency must be confronted and if leaders fall short they must – after being given a chance to mend their ways – be removed from office. And this goes all the way to the top. Corruption within the leading organs of the Party can never be tolerated.
Sometimes China does not help itself by its reluctance to provide more information about the unmasking of officials who become corrupt. Observers are often left in the dark especially in relation to officialdom and this sparks speculation that fills the columns of the Western media – perhaps in China as well.
But Xi deserves praise for recognising and confronting corruption. It can never be allowed to grow and prosper. The People’s confidence in the Party is at the core of the Chinese state and that confidence is strengthened every time the Party takes action to keep the Party clean and healthy.
