The world is in play
U.S. allies reel at Trump's National Security Strategy, and a Chinese jet locks radar on Japanese aircraft.
Hello lovely reader,
I’ve stretched the definition of “weekly” in The China Week this time, but I’ll keep writing the newsletter for the duration of the holiday season. I am still playing with the format for this newsletter, and this week is a little different again: there’s a brief essay at the top, and I’ve combined the recommended links and news summaries in one section. I love feedback and have thick skin, so email me if you have anything to say by replying to this or to jeremy -at- goldkorn.net.
Last week I published a China-related episode of my Rhyming Chaos podcast: The end of a Mongolian-language newspaper, an interview with journalist Soyonbo Borjgin on growing up in Hohhot, and his “re-education” after protests against the suppression of Mongolian language.
If you’re not subscribed, please click the button below, and if you like what I’m doing and want to encourage me to do more, please take out a paid subscription.
—Jeremy Goldkorn
The new U.S. Security Strategy; Japan gets a taste of things to come
Radar lock, radio silence
“Chinese reading the document will say, our time has come,” said historian and former Canadian opposition leader Michael Ignatieff. He was referring to the U.S. National Security Strategy released by the White House on December 4. A spokesperson for the Kremlin called the document “largely consistent” with Moscow’s vision. Bill Emmot, former editor-in-chief of The Economist, said it is a “declaration of political war” that is “blatantly racist, declares an open intent of interfering in European politics, and is extraordinarily hostile to long-time allies.” He also said it reads “like slop, combining as it does brazen lies, absurd claims and frequent non-sequiturs.”
I could not find any official Chinese commentary on the document. The state Xinhua News Agency summarizes it but is vague on details concerning China.
The word “China” is mentioned 21 times in the Strategy document itself. It promises to “rebalance America’s economic relationship with China, prioritizing reciprocity and fairness to restore American economic independence,” but does not say how. It mentions the “security challenge [of] the potential for any competitor to control the South China Sea [and] impose a toll system over one of the world’s most vital lanes of commerce or—worse—to close and reopen it at will,” but aside from urging “investment in our military—especially naval—capabilities,” the main message seems to be “increased burden-sharing” i.e. defense spending and “focus on the capabilities—including new capabilities” from Japan and South Korea. “New capabilities” is not defined. There’s a slightly softer tone for Taiwan and Australia: The document promises to “maintain our determined rhetoric on increased defense spending.”
The document is yet another sign of the illiberal takeover of America, and Trump’s shattering of decades-long conventions.
Two days after the document’s release, on December 6, a Chinese fighter jet locked its radar on Japanese aircraft near Okinawa, Japan’s southern island where the U.S. has a military base. Tokyo and Beijing blamed one another for the incident.
It’s the latest escalation in bilateral tensions that began on November 7 when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said a Chinese attack on Taiwan could pose an “existential threat” that would justify Japan deploying military force. The war of words included a November 19 announcement in the state-run Global Times about a new “Ryukyu studies” academic program that questions Japan’s sovereignty over Okinawa and the other Ryukyu islands, and seeks to reshape “East Asian historical narratives.” The article was noticed in Japan: Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara was asked about the claims on December 1, and said “there is no doubt Okinawa is our nation’s territory.”
There has not been any public pushback to Beijing from Washington about any of this. In fact, Tokyo is “frustrated” at the “Trump administration’s silence” over the ongoing row with China,” according to the Financial Times.
The aircraft incident may not be directly connected with White House’s lack of support for Japan, nor with the new Strategy. But as Politico put it, the “Pentagon plan prioritizes homeland over China threat.” That is a message that won’t be lost in capitals around the Asia-Pacific, and across the world.
Articles, essays and podcasts about China worth your time
Recommended reading and listening
“Dave Chappelle would starve”: Luz Ding reports on how Chinese comedians in “small clubs and viral talent shows…are testing how far laughter can go in a system where every punchline must pass through censors.”
Murder House: Novelist and essayist Zhong Na talks to Kaiser Kuo on the Sinica podcast about her piece on the “Silicon Valley tragedy that exposed the cracks in China’s meritocracy.”
“A practical guide to identify a Chinese official’s rank “ is the title of a translation by Hé Yǔzhé 何宇喆 of a piece by two Chinese scholars that asserts that to “understand how officials behave, one must first understand their administrative ranks,” and then explains the Communist Party hierarchy.
Harnessing AI to strengthen the government was the theme of a Politburo meeting chaired by Xi Jinping on November 28. Bill Bishop noted that in the readout, “Xi Jinping framed AI not only as a challenge but as a vital ‘support condition’ for the regime.” Bitter Winter, a website about religious repression in China, said “the message is unmistakable: dissent will not only be silenced—it will be anticipated and erased before it can breathe.”
Authorities have told property data firms to stop publishing developer sales numbers, according to Bloomberg.
Some young Chinese are opting for companions (dāzǐ 搭子) rather than romantic partners. In contemporary slang, dazi refers to “a light relationship with a clear purpose and fairly defined boundaries: a meal dazi is for eating out, a drinking dazi for late-night talks over alcohol, a travel dazi for trips, a workout dazi for mutual supervision in the gym, a tree-hollow dazi for confiding secrets, a career dazi for pulling one another up…” Mǎ Sìwéi 马四维 at China Thought Express writes about “the exit of marriage and the marginalization of the family in the dazi era.”
“The robots taking over Chinese kitchens” is a 2024 piece recently republished by by Shanghai-based food-writer and gastronome Christopher St. Cavish, who quotes Hong Kong chef and restaurant owner Lucas Sin: “I’ve always suspected that there’s something particular about Chinese food that makes it ripe for automation.”
The November fire in Hong Kong that killed 128 people ”prompted anger against its China-backed authorities,” but dissent has been suppressed. Hong Kong’s election on December 7 “saw a near-record-low turnout.”
“Moroccan media is questioning whether deepening economic ties with China may result in a diplomatic convergence,” says ChinaMed Project, while Tuvia Gering has examined the future of Beijing-Tehran ties.