China wants to be the first major economy to introduce a state-owned digital currency. Companies like Alibaba, Tencent, and JD.com support the introduction. The first tests are already underway. Beijing is pursuing a major goal: The e-CNY is supposed to become the new world currency. But the project still has its limits. An interim solution could pave the way.
By Frank Sieren
Good business in a difficult environment: According to the latest survey by the EU Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, many companies in China are earning more than expected, even in the Covid year 2020. They want to continue investing – although they complain about obstacles to market access and persistent unequal treatment.
By Christiane Kuehl
The origin of the Covid pandemic remains unclear. But the mere suspicion that the pathogen originated in a laboratory in Wuhan could cause massive political damage to the People's Republic. Instead of convincing the world otherwise with a transparent investigation, Beijing is threatened with further loss of confidence. Claims for damages and a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics are just two possible consequences.
By Marcel Grzanna
He hasn't been Siemens CEO for four months – so Joe Kaeser can focus on his role as a thought leader for German business on Asian issues. Under his leadership, the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business (APA) recently advocated greater diversification of German activities in the region. In an interview with China.Table, he now warns: If the EU is not at the table when it comes to setting standards, German SMEs, in particular, will suffer. Meanwhile, the attempt to economically decouple the world's regions runs counter to the requirements of digitalization. Finn Mayer-Kuckuk spoke with Joe Kaeser.
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China has overtaken the Europeans in constructing the latest generation of nuclear power plants. However, one problem remains: With the current expansion of nuclear energy, the country's uranium reserves will only last for seven to eight years. A new way of extracting uranium from the sea is supposed to provide a remedy. Although it is much more expensive and complex than extraction on land, it is also more environmentally friendly. Chinese physicists are leading the way. The engineers want to start building the first plant in five years.
By Frank Sieren
German Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer claims that a recently passed law will make Germany "the first country in the world to put self-driving vehicles on the road." By 2022, this should be achieved. In China, however, autonomous driving cars, without safety drivers and centralized control, have been on the road since late 2020. And the gap between developments in Germany and the People's Republic is likely to widen.
By Frank Sieren
In hardly any other developed region of the world is the vaccination campaign progressing as slowly as in Hong Kong. Companies are now offering luxurious incentives: for example, those who want to be vaccinated can win an apartment worth more than €1 million or get extra vacation days. Whether the offer will have the intended effect is questionable. In Hong Kong, the waiver of vaccination also has a political connotation.
By Redaktion Table
It is supposed to be the Android killer and free the company from part of its US dependency. Indeed, Huawei showed many interesting and useful features during the presentation of HarmonyOS. A gradual market launch is now starting in Asia. But how new is the new product really? Experts smell a label fraud.
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During the Covid epidemic, the Chinese state has enabled local governments to borrow at record levels. They are supposed to use it to pay for infrastructure projects and thus boost the economy. As a result, China's economy has grown as desired but so has the debt burden. Depending on how it is calculated, it even exceeds US debt as a share of GDP. But China has some decisive advantages.
By Frank Sieren
Climate change is bringing a new region into the focus of geopolitics: the Arctic. Long covered by meters of ice, its raw materials are now arousing desires. China, too, wants to get involved as a major power and incorporate the region as the Polar Silk Road into President Xi Jinping's prestige project. But it won't be quite that easy.
By Michael Radunski
