This is my offer: nothing
China's in no rush to talk to Trump, five minute charge for long-range electric cars, robots, and more.
This is The China Week, a succinct roundup and analysis of what happened in the People’s Republic in the last seven days. The China Week is free for the next few weeks—please subscribe here if this was forwarded to you, or give a subscription as a gift. I love feedback: email jeremy@goldkorn.net.
If you’re in Atlanta tomorrow evening, April 24, I’ll be giving a talk at the Carter Center on “China in the Age of American Isolation” as part of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations China Town Hall event.
Analysis
China's in no rush to talk to Trump
It’s been another seven days of Trump-induced market chaos, as the world reacts to on-again off-again tariffs, presidential threats to anchors of global trust in the U.S. such as the Fed, Harvard University, and almost everything that once made America great.
The latest tariff escalation was on April 21, when the U.S. Department of Commerce announced tariffs at the comically high rate of 3,521% on imports of solar panels from Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam, intended to target Chinese-owned factories.
The next day, there was a climbdown. On April 22, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a private meeting in Washington that he expects a “de-escalation.” Later that day, Trump said the tariff rates on China" “will come down substantially,” and that the U.S. and China are “going to live together very happily and ideally work together.”
But China’s answer so far has been similar to what Michael Corleone in The Godfather II told the Nevada senator who wanted him to pay bribes for a casino permit: “You can have my answer now if you like. My offer is this: nothing. Not even the fee for the gaming license, which I would appreciate if you would put up personally.”
Since April 11 when China raised its tariffs on U.S. goods to 125%, Beijing has officially treated Trump's tariffs as a “joke” that "no longer have any economic significance" because the current levels make U.S. exports to China financially unviable, there has been so sign that Xi Jinping is interested in picking up the phone to talk to Donald Trump. In fact, the latest gesture from China was to return two recently purchased Boeing airliners because tariffs have made them too expensive.
Ordinary Chinese people also seem ready to fight or wait out a trade war. The writer Chang Che visited Yiwu, a Chinese city whose business is selling cheap manufactures to the rest of the world and talked to local traders. This is what he concluded, in The Atlantic: “The broad message I heard … was this: Trump had overestimated America’s leverage. At the end of this standoff, China, not America, would come out stronger: more self-reliant at home and more respected abroad.”
Meanwhile, Beijing has been gently, and often successfully, pushing a narrative to the rest of the world that China is an anchor of stability in a Trump-crazy world.
Read on for a summary of trade war events and reporting from the last week, and other topics you should know about to stay informed on China.
—Jeremy Goldkorn
Robots, electric cars, and more
Charge your car for five minutes, drive 500 miles
On April 20, at the world's first human and bipedal robot half-marathon in Beijing, 21 bipedal robots competed against about 12,000 humans. Only six robots completed the course and none of the robots did very well, but it was another demonstration of Chinese companies’ determination to advance humanoid robot technology, with government support.
This week saw an even more important demonstration of new Chinese technology: On April 21, the day before Tesla announced that its profits fell 71% during the first quarter, Chinese battery giant CATL unveiled five new ultra-high performance batteries for electric vehicles (EV). According to the company:
The new Naxtra sodium-ion battery offers a range of 500km (310 miles), and can operate at very low and high temperatures, unlike the lithium-ion batteries that power most EVs. Sodium is also cheaper than lithium.
A second generation Shenxing lithium-iron-phosphate battery will give cars a range of 800km (497 miles), and superfast charging: CATL says this model can power 500km (310 miles) of driving with a five minute charge. (Tesla’s Model S has a range of 400 miles and takes about seven hours to fully charge. )
Three new hybrid battery models will offer ranges of 700km (435 miles), 1,000km (621 miles), and 1,500km (932 miles).
More future tech from China
The Shanghai Auto Show begins today and will likely bring fear into the heart of car company executives from around the world.
Unitree, one of China’s most prominent developers of humanoid robots, has opened a new 10,000-square-metre (107,000 sqare foot) facility in Hangzhou.
EHang, one of China’s most advanced manufacturer of passenger drones, says it will launch an air taxi service this year in Guangzhou, which would be a world first.
Electric car giant BYD continues to dominate, with news this week that it will sell a “mini” EV in Japan next year, and that it has slashed the price to $18,300 of its Titanium 3 which includes its new self-driving technology. Slightly more expensive models come equipped with a DJI drone.
China’s reaches out to the world
Xi schmoozes (and threatens)
Xi Jinping has been meeting visitors to Beijing and touring China’s neighborhood, inking deals. Kenya’s President William Ruto arrived in Beijing on April 22 for a state visit as did Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev. The two leaders meet Xi, fresh off a whirlwind Southeast Asian trip:
“China-Malaysia sign 30 deals; ASEAN will not concede to any unilaterally imposed tariffs” said the Communist Party newspaper the People’s Daily on April 16, in a front page with four photographs of Xi with Malaysian leaders.
On April 17, the People’s Daily front page had six photos of Xi with Vietnamese leaders.
On April 18, there were five photos of Xi meeting with Cambodian leaders.
It’s unusual for the People’s Daily to feature so many photos, and it sends a clear message to Communist Party members and anyone abroad who is listening: China wants to have friends now. The subtext: Beijing won’t stab you in the back, and can promise carrots.
But there are also sticks. A Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson warned: “China firmly opposes any party reaching a deal [with the U.S.] at the expense of China’s interests. If this happens, China will not accept it and will resolutely take reciprocal countermeasures.”
Finally, Beijing is also preparing a variety of stimulus and support measures to boost the domestic economy, after first-quarter economic growth that exceeded expectations, bolstered by strong consumption and industrial output.
Beijing monitors Myanmar ceasefire
On April 22, Beijing confirmed that it had sent a team to northern Myanmar to supervise the ceasefire it brokered in January between the country's ruling military and a rebel group, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA).
As research firm Trivium points out: “There are plenty of reasons why Beijing may be intervening—from border security to regional influence—but we suspect securing China’s supply of rare-earth-rich ores is paramount: Myanmar supplies roughly a quarter of the ore that China imports for processing into rare earth elements.”
Forced TV confessions are back
“China's illegal forced TV confessions are back” says advocacy group Safeguard Defenders: “On April 3, domestic channel CCTV-13 and the international Chinese-language channel CCTV-4 broadcast the forced confessions of three Filipino expats living in China.” The trio have been accused of espionage, which the Philippine government strongly denies.
The use of forced confessions had largely ceased for foreigners (except Taiwanese citizens) after 2020, following international pressure, much of it coordinated by Safeguard Defenders.
Fretting over fish
“China has officially joined the Agreement on Port State Measures, signaling its commitment to combating illegal fishing and strengthening its role in global fisheries governance,” the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said last week.
It remains to be seen whether this will actually stop illegal fishing by China’s vast fleets. See this 2022 New York Times report to understand the size of the problem, or this CNN report for a recent case in Argentine waters.
Meanwhile, “Anger is building in South Korea over Chinese fish farming installations in the Yellow Sea, opening another front in Beijing’s tensions with its neighbours over its assertive conduct in disputed maritime territory,” reports the Financial Times.
Other things I worked on this week:
Donkeys from Pakistan to China
I edited a story for ChinaFile from Pakistan by Akbar Notezai about the new trade in donkey hides to China, where they are in high demand in China to produce a beauty treatment known as ejiao 阿胶, which is based on traditional Chinese medicine. The piece is a follow up to Why the African Union stopped the donkey hide trade by Lauren Johnston, which examines why African countries decided that the lucrative export was doing more harm than good.
South Korean chaos
On the Rhyming Chaos podcast, I interviewed Anthony Kuhn, NPR correspondent in Seoul, South Korea on how that country managed to stop a power-crazed president from declaring martial law and carrying out a self-coup.