Beijing deluge kills 30
Floods, sex and corruption at Shaolin Temple, supplicant Trump, EU-China talks, $500 a year to have a baby, Belt and Road is back.
This is The China Week, an all-killer-no-filler analysis of what happened in the People’s Republic in the last seven days with plenty of links. The newsletter is based on Chinese state sources and social media, Western media reports, government press releases, and factchecking with people from China and all over the rest of the world who know China well.
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Another summer deluge
Deadly floods in Beijing
At least 30 people have died and more than 80,000 people evacuated after heavy rains caused floods and more than 60 road closures in Beijing’s suburbs as well in neighboring Hebei Province.
The main report in the Communist Party’s newspaper, the People’s Daily, on July 28 was about Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang issuing instructions for rescue and recovery.
BBC China correspondent Stephen McDonnel posted photos and a video and noted: “My crappy phone camera does not do justice to the massive amount of water being released from Beijing’s Miyun Reservoir to ease the flood pressure from heavy rain.”
In July 2012, 79 people died in the city of Beijing after flash floods overwhelmed drainage systems. In July 2023, Beijing’s surrounding areas experienced deadly floods which killed at least 20 people; some blamed diversion of water from the city on the death toll in satellite towns ands nearby rural areas.
An errant abbot in the home of kung fu
Corruption and sex scandal at Shaolin Temple
Shì Yǒngxìn 释永信, the abbot of Shaolin Temple—a major Buddhist temple and center of kung fu study—has become the object of a “multi-departmental investigation,” according to the Buddhist Association of China, which cited the Shaolin Temple Administration. He is suspected of criminal activity, “including embezzling project funds and temple assets; serious violations of Buddhist precepts, including long-term improper relationships with multiple women, and the fathering of illegitimate children.”
Shi has been called “the CEO Monk” (佛门CEO or CEO 和尚) because of his entrepreneurial projects that have expanded Shaolin into a global business empire. He is, or was, well connected with the Chinese government, and hosted Vladimir Putin at Shaolin in 2006. In 2015, he was accused of embezzling temple funds and having sexual relations with women, but he remained at his position.
TACO tariffs, Trump says no to Taiwan presidential stopover
Another pause in U.S.-China trade war
China and the United States agreed to extend a pause on tariffs aimed at each other's imports, following nearly two days of talks in Stockholm, but the meetings ended “with divergence on timing of tariff pause extension, and no breakthroughs or details on the duration of the extension…announced by the Chinese side” according to the South China Morning Post.
The U.S. president is increasingly looking like a supplicant:
Trump keeps on hinting that he will visit China at Xi Jinping’s invitation, but there has been no word from Beijing on this.
The U.S. has allowed Nvidia to resume sales of H20 graphics processing units to China, ending a ban imposed in April intended to stop China from buying advanced AI chips. Reuters reported that Nvidia has ordered for 300,000 H20 chipsets with Taiwanese manufacturer TSMC, citing a source who said that “strong Chinese demand had led the U.S. firm to change its mind about just relying on its existing stockpile.”
The Financial Times reported that “Donald Trump’s administration has denied permission for Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te (賴清德 Lài Qīngdé) to stop in New York en route to Central America, after China raised objections with Washington about the visit,” or as Bloomberg put it, “Taiwan leader calls off U.S. stopover as Trump seeks Xi summit.” (On July 29, Taipei denied that Lai had been blocked from visiting the U.S. )
Meanwhile Beijing is doing dealmaking of its own: On July 28, “China offered to strengthen economic ties with Brazil…and defend what it called ‘fairness’ in global trade, days before sweeping U.S. tariffs on Brazilian exports are set to take effect,” according to the South China Morning Post.
An unsatisfactory meeting in Beijing
Inconclusive but cordial EU-China talks
The European Union and China held a summit in Beijing on July 24, marking the 50th anniversary of EU-China diplomatic relations. European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. The summit was originally planned as a two-day event but it was scaled back to a day and moved from Brussels to Beijing, apparently at Xi Jinping’s request.
Some of the disagreements that they discussed included
EU tariffs of up to 45% on Chinese electric vehicles, reciprocal tariffs on medical equipment, and China's investigations into European pork, dairy, and cognac imports.
China’s rare earth export restrictions
China’s support for Russia's war effort in Ukraine (Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi 王毅 reportedly told some EU diplomats at earlier meeting that China could not “accept Russia losing" as this would mean the U.S. would focus on China.
DW commented that “Despite calls for cooperation and limited climate pledges, the EU-China summit exposed deep divisions and confirmed that long-term tensions are likely to persist.” For notes on the event, see this thread or this article by Finbarr Bermingham, Senior Correspondent for Europe at the South China Morning Post.
New policy to raise birth rates
$500 a year to have a baby
Since the end of the One Child Policy in 2016, China has loosened restrictions on the number of children couples can have, and then launched a number of policies to boost the birth rate, as demographers and officials worry about China getting old before it can get rich.
On July 28, Beijing announced a new incentive policy: Households can claim 3,600 yuan ($500) per child per year, up to the age of three. The policy will apply “irrespective of local government cash handouts,” notes research firm Trivium, and “20 of China’s 31 provincial-level regions already offer some form of childcare allowance.”
As U.S. retreats, China advances
Belt and Road is back
Talk in recent years of reduced ambitions for Belt and Road Initiative, China’s ambitious global infrastructure project, doesn’t seem to be translating into smaller budgets:
Chinese companies are continuing to invest heavily in energy, mining, and construction projects in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, according to new data published by Australia’s Griffith University. The China Global South Podcast interviewed Christoph Nedopil, lead author of the report.