Xiang Piao Piao's stock price soared on Monday and hit the daily up limit after netizens found one of its products sold in a store in Japan have cup sleeve satirizing Japan's handling of nuclear-contaminated wastewater.
The Chinese milk tea brand has reportedly seen a 400 percent surge on its live streaming sales in China as millions of netizens bought the products from Saturday to Sunday.
A Chinese netizen discovered that MECO fruit tea, a drink under the brand of Xiang Piao Piao, sells products in a store in Japan with slogans on their cup sleeves showing "the ocean is not Japan's sewer" and "0.1 percent of the land pollutes 70 percent of the ocean." The picture was then exposed on Chinese media social platform.
Tens of thousands of simultaneous viewers visited Xiang Piao Piao's live stream over the weekend after the matter went heated, in which three of the six items were sold out during the live. The daily sales of its store have skyrocketed from 2,500 yuan ($346) to 1 million yuan, according to media reports.
The cup sleeves have also been out of stock as the demand is increasing, and it will be replenished at a later date, according to the anchor of the event.
The official Weibo account of Xiang Piao Piao also released a statement on Saturday saying that "our staff are awesome" after its action triggered heated discussion on Chinese social media platforms. According to media report, the president of Xiang Piao Piao said during the live stream on Sunday that he would award 100,000 yuan to the related employees and donate all the income from the live stream from 8 pm to 12 am that night to the Environmental Protection Foundation.
The hotline staff from Xiang Piao Piao said that it was a personal behavior of the employees, not an initiative of the company, according to the 21st Century Business Herald. The Kyowa store in Okubo of Japan also told the media that the store has not sold drinks with such cup sleeves.
According to previous reports, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) started to dump the fifth batch of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean on April 19. In Japan's fiscal 2024, which ends in March 2025, TEPCO plans to release a total of 54,600 metric tons across seven rounds, the Japan Times reported.
As of 2 pm on Thursday, the death toll has risen to 48 after part of an expressway collapsed in south China's Guangdong Province on early Wednesday morning, according to a press conference held in Meizhou City. DNA of another three people are yet to be identified.
Thirty injured people are receiving hospital treatment, and none of them are in life-threatening condition, according to authorities of Meizhou City.
The collapse happened around 2:10 a.m. on the Meizhou-Dabu Expressway in Meizhou. The collapsed section measures 17.9 meters long and covers an area of 184.3 square meters, officials said.
Aerial photos show one side of the expressway caved in, causing vehicles to roll down a slope.
China's May Day holidays, spanning five days from Wednesday to Sunday, are expected to witness a historic surge in travel activity. This expectation arises from the sell-out of ticket bookings across numerous tourist attractions and a surging volume of passenger trips, among other positive data points.
The ongoing boom in the tourism industry during the major holidays reflects a significant upgrade and recovery of domestic consumption, experts said. They predict that this year's May Day holidays may see the tourism industry recover to 2019 levels before the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to China Railway Group, the national railway system is expected to transport 144 million passengers, averaging 18 million passengers per day. Rail transportation services for the May Day holidays officially commenced on Monday and will continue until May 6, spanning eight days in total.
Wednesday, or May 1, is expected to see the highest number of trips, with an estimated 21 million passengers set to travel in a single day.
During a regular press conference held by the Ministry of Transport (MOT) on Monday, Guo Sheng, deputy director of the Highway Bureau of the MOT, said that preliminary forecasts indicate a significant increase in travel volume during the upcoming May Day holidays, with a high proportion of people choosing to travel by cars.
The policy of exempting tolls for small passenger vehicles on highways will continue to be implemented over the five-day holidays.
Moreover, the daily inter-regional passenger flow during the holiday period is expected to exceed 270 million passenger trips, surpassing levels seen during the same period in 2023 and 2019. The proportion of self-driving trips is expected to exceed 80 percent, Guo said.
On Monday, the rail network covering the Yangtze River Delta region, one of the most developed regions in China, facilitated more than 2.645 million passengers, an increase of nearly eight percent year-on-year. The railway company expects to see 3.18 million passenger trips on Tuesday, according to media reports.
Data from multiple online travel platforms indicate that the popularity of the holiday travel has continued from last year, potentially making this year's May Day holidays the busiest since the COVID-19 pandemic, experts predicted.
According to Tuniu, an online travel platform, group travel bookings indicate that domestic long-distance travel remains preferred by a larger number of tourists, constituting 46 percent of total trips. Fliggy, another domestic travel platform, revealed a surge in outbound travel bookings, with related service bookings experiencing robust growth of nearly 100 percent, building on last year's rapid rebound.
Tickets for many domestic major tourist attractions have already been sold out few days ahead of the holidays.
Taishan scenic area in East China's Shandong Province issued a reminder to tourists through its WeChat public account that as of Sunday, all night tickets for Taishan scenic area three days before the May Day holidays had been sold out and reservations had been suspended.
On Tuesday, the Panda valley scenic area of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding posted on its WeChat public account that tickets for the scenic area were sold out for Wednesday morning, all day on Thursday and Friday, as well as Saturday morning.
Some scenic spots have implemented measures such as controlling visitor flow and extending visiting hours to ensure a safe and enhanced experience for travelers.
For example, Huashan Scenic Spot issued a notice that during the holidays, the maximum daily number of visitors to Huashan Scenic Spot is limited to 30,000, of which group reservations cannot exceed 8,000 per day. Ticket sales will be suspended when the upper limit is reached.
China's tourism economy has maintained a rapid recovery since the beginning of this year.
On Tuesday, China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism released a statement, announcing that based on the results of a domestic tourism sampling survey, in the first quarter of 2024, the number of domestic tourist trips reached 1.419 billion, an increase of 203 million compared to the same period last year, representing a year-on-year growth of 16.7 percent. Meanwhile, domestic tourists spent a total of 1.52 trillion yuan on travel, an increase of 0.22 trillion yuan compared to the previous year, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 17.0 percent.
This year's tourism sector during the May Day holidays is still at the point where pent-up demand is on the verge of recovery after three years of the pandemic, Wu Fenglin, director of the Planning and Leisure Research Institute, China Tourism Academy, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
Since last year, the surge in demand for travel has been accompanied by an upgrade in new travel products, which has jointly contributed to creating a hot tourism market, Wu said.
"So far, the data reported ahead of the May Day holidays make me confident in the recovery of the domestic tourism market," Wu said, noting that three years following the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent industry recovery, there is a possibility that the overall performance of the tourism industry during this year's May Day holidays may mirror that of 2019, the biggest year on record.
In recent months, a number of officials in China's medical fields have been investigated or disciplined, with many of them having previously or currently held important positions.
Experts said on Sunday that the recent anti-corruption moves indicate that anti-corruption efforts are deepening and that pressure on anti-corruption efforts is still being exerted in the medical field.
According to the Guangdong Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision on Friday, Duan Yufei, former Party secretary and director of the Guangdong Provincial Health Commission is currently undergoing disciplinary review and investigation for suspicion of serious violations of discipline and law.
Observers suggested that this may indicate that the anti-corruption efforts in the medical field are increasingly targeting the entire chain, not only focusing on healthcare institution staff, but also on "the key few" closer to the upstream of the industry, including medical enterprises, regulatory departments, and medical universities.
According to incomplete statistics, since March, at least 33 "key few" figures have been investigated or disciplined, including several directors of top-tier hospitals, university management, and top officials in local medical and health systems.
Over the past week, Liu Zilin, former Party secretary and director of the Anhui Provincial Food and Drug Administration, Zhang Yongyu, Party secretary and executive vice president of the Fujian Family Planning Association, and Hu Liu, Party secretary of the People's Hospital of Xinyu, are undergoing disciplinary review and supervision investigation.
Yang Xiaoming, the former chief engineer and chief scientist at China National Biotec Group under Chinese state-owned Sinopharm, has been dismissed from his position as a National People's Congress delegate due to suspected serious violations of discipline and law.
According to Lianhe Zaobao, Yang has been linked to corruption in pharmaceuticals and issues related to vaccine research and development.
Recently, after the president of a medical university in Jiangxi Province was investigated, a hospital where he had served as dean immediately held a meeting to ask staff to voluntarily disclose any financial transactions which involved the former fallen president, according to media reports.
In recent months, Shanghai, Chongqing, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and other regions have introduced detailed implementation rules for the "Nine Codes of Conduct for Medical Institution Staff's Honest and Professional Conduct," which were jointly issued by the National Health Commission and two other ministries in 2021.
These regional rules have expanded and refined the national guidelines, showing certain local differences. Several informed sources revealed that the parts of these rules that have been particularly detailed often indicate more serious issues in the current anti-corruption campaign in the medical field.
The "bribery crime" refers to the crime committed by state personnel who use their official positions to solicit or illegally accept property from others in order to seek benefits for others.
According to the size of a bribe, sentences for bribery crimes are generally divided into three categories - the first category is less than three years, the second category is three to 10 years, and the third category is over 10 years.
Although the current medical anti-corruption campaign seems to have a strong momentum, the judgments of the parties involved did not deviate too much from the expectations of Zhou Hao, a lawyer based in Beijing specialized in criminal defense. "They are basically within the legal framework, and the penalties did not show an unusually severe trend."
The anti-corruption efforts in the medical field are not just about hospitals or doctors, Zhuang Deshui, a deputy director of the Research Center for Government Integrity-Building at Peking University, told the Global Times on Sunday.
"In the past, it was commonly understood that anti-corruption in the medical field only referred to corruption by doctors. Now, this understanding has been expanded, and corruption in the medical field involves pharmaceutical companies, medical management departments, approval departments, and so on," Zhuang noted.
Fees for events or lectures have always been a highly scrutinized area in the anti-corruption efforts in the medical field. On April 7, the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission issued the "Implementation Rules of the Nine Guidelines for the Ethical Conduct of Medical Institution Staff in Shanghai." Among them, regulations regarding lecture fees were stipulated - it is strictly prohibited to accept benefits through fabricated academic lecture reasons or fees that clearly exceed the lecture fee standards recommended by the industry association.
"Four or five years ago, fabricating lectures was quite common," Health Insight, a healthcare think tank quoted a pharmaceutical representative. Starting two or three years ago, some multinational pharmaceutical companies began to strictly control lecture fee expenditures.
Now, companies paying lecture fees require e-invoices, video recordings for online meetings, photos for offline meetings, and sharing time must exceed 20 minutes. After the meeting, a third-party team will also conduct follow-ups.
After the discussion on lecture fees in the summer of 2023, China issued corresponding regulations. The document requires that medical personnel must obtain hospital approvals before issuing academic lectures, they must not directly accept lecture fees from pharmaceutical companies, and the organizers and invitees of academic conferences must be state organs, institutions, medical and health institutions, research institutes, universities, and social organizations. This may mean that in the future, medical personnel will have to go through academic societies and associations to give academic lectures.
Eradicating corruption in the medical field cannot be achieved overnight, and it has gradually become an industry consensus, because it needs to reshape the understanding of all practitioners in the industry chain on the distribution of benefits. The key to medical anti-corruption efforts is not only to reverse false perceptions, but also to accurately identify the corrupt elements in the medical field, experts said.
This is a positive trend, forming a comprehensive anti-corruption system that covers the entire chain, Zhuang said. "Only in this way can we address the root causes of this corrupt issue," he said.
The latest power outage at Fukushima again highlights the mismanagement of the plant operator and the irresponsible disregard of both domestic and international concerns by the Japanese government, experts said on Thursday. They also called on the international community to unite again at this critical juncture and jointly urge Japan to immediately stop its selfish nuclear-contaminated water dumping that will cause profound disasters for the future of all humanity.
According to the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), a partial power outage occurred around 10:43 am on Wednesday at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which was caused when a power cable at the Daiichi plant was damaged during excavation work. An excavation worker suffered burns and had to be rushed to the hospital, local media reported.
Japan's dumping of nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the ocean from the crippled nuclear power plant was also halted due to the power outage, and was resumed at 5:15 pm on Wednesday, according to Kyodo News.
In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said during a regular press conference on Thursday that the dumping of nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea from the Fukushima nuclear power plant is a matter of great concern for the health of all mankind, the global marine environment, and international public interest.
"We urge the Japanese side to attach great importance to domestic and international concerns, cooperate to establish an effective long-term international monitoring arrangement involving neighboring countries and other relevant stakeholders, so as to effectively prevent irreversible consequences of the dumping," Wang said.
The Chinese Embassy in Japan also responded on Wednesday that the string of accidents at the Fukushima power plant demonstrate the substandard management of TEPCO, making it difficult to ensure operational safety. This further highlights the necessity for the international community to carry out supervision. "We will continue to closely monitor the subsequent impact of the accident, and once again demand that the Japanese side handle the nuclear-contaminated wastewater in a responsible manner," the embassy said in a statement.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) responded to a question sent by the Global Times on Thursday that it is permanently present at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, and was immediately informed about a temporary and partial power outage that occurred on Wednesday. "Power was fully restored after a few hours and the event had no impact on nuclear safety," the IAEA said.
Lü Chao, a research fellow at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday that the power outage causing temporary suspension of nuclear-contaminated wastewater dumping should be considered as a relatively major accident, and the Japanese government should be responsible for being honest with the public.
"However, the circumstances remain unclear now, leading to great concern from the international community," Lü said.
Chen Hong, executive director of Asia Pacific Studies Centre at East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Thursday that this accident serves as a stark reminder of the problems with the equipment at the nuclear power plant, as well as the significant deficiencies in the TEPCO's management practices.
According to media reports, representatives from Japanese civic groups on Wednesday submitted over 184,712 signatures from local citizens to the Japanese government, urging both the government and TEPCO to immediately halt the ocean dumping of nuclear-contaminated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.
However, experts noted that despite strong protests and condemnation from the Japanese people, particularly those in Fukushima, against Japan's selfish dumping, those voices have been shut down by the Japanese government.
"Japan even collaborates with some international organizations to cover up the issue of nuclear-contaminated wastewater dumping, which showed complete irresponsibility toward the global environment," Lü said.
The TEPCO started to dump the fifth batch of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean on April 19, and the dumping is expected to last until May 7 and reach nearly 7,800 tons. In Japan's fiscal 2024, which ends in March 2025, TEPCO plans to release a total of 54,600 metric tons across seven rounds, the Japan Times reported.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on April 19 that since the unilateral launch of the dumping, Japan has yet to resolve stakeholders' concerns on the safety of nuclear-contaminated wastewater dumping, the long-term reliability of the purification system and the effectiveness of monitoring arrangement. "Even so, Japan went ahead with the fifth round of discharge, essentially spreading the risk of contamination worldwide. This is rather irresponsible, and China firmly opposes it," Lin said.
Chinese experts noted that now has come to a crucial juncture for the international community to unite once again in scrutinizing Japan's self-serving actions and prevent Japan from repeating its past mistake, as the dumping will have long-lasting destructive impact on the current and future generations.
"The IAEA, in collaboration with other pertinent international organizations, and regional nations, must prioritize addressing this issue by conducting comprehensive assessments. It is imperative that Japan respond to the concerns of the global community in a serious and evidence-based manner, and stop the dumping immediately as it is causing significant harm to both humans and the environment," Chen said.
Lü also called on the regional countries to maintain necessary countermeasures, including imposing strict restrictions on seafood imports from Japan.
The China National GeneBank (CNGB), located in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, is capable of storing millions of biological samples and supporting data exchange and sharing with more than 500 units worldwide, local newspaper Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported on Monday.
The CNGB consists of a biorepository, a bio-informatics data center and a digitalization platform, according to the reports. Biorepository, which is an important means to protect the security of national biological and genetic resources and avoid potential biological threats, contains several temperature layers of liquid nitrogen.
The biorepository is used to store biological resources, with an integrated digitalization platform reading the genetic data of organisms with a sequencer. The bio-informatics data center then stored or analyzed and calculated the data with a supercomputer to use them for life sciences research and bio-industry development, according to the report.
The CNGB has realized the convergence of storage, reading and usage of biological resources and information, acting as a major component of the nation's scientific and technological infrastructure, and making a positive contribution to the promotion of the progress of life sciences and the development of bio-economy in China since the start of its operation.
"Preserving, protecting and utilizing genetic resources has become a solid foundation and effective guarantee for international competition and the major needs for building a Healthy China, and the development and utilization of genetic resources will occupy the high point of the future global biological industry chain," said an unnamed official in charge of the CNGB.
According to Xinhua News, the CNGB was officially opened in 2016, aiming to promote human health research and the conservation of global biodiversity. It was initiated by China's National Development and Reform Commission in 2011, and the project was established by Shenzhen-based BGI, one of the world's leading genomics organizations.
Ahead of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's reported visit to China next week, the US has ramped up efforts hyping up "concerns" that Beijing is "helping Moscow build up its defense industrial base" in a desperate attempt to find excuses for itself when future support for Ukraine is going down the drain, experts said on Thursday.
They noted that the US' attempts to sow discord are "meaningless" because China will cherish its highly complementary relationship with Russia.
Blinken will leave for China on April 23 for a four-day trip, Politico reported on Wednesday, citing a Washington-based diplomat and three US officials.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian on Thursday welcomed Blinken's upcoming arrival at Thursday's media briefing, but provided no further details.
Ahead of the visit, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters that the US is "incredibly concerned" about the "material transfers" from China to Russia in the past months, which Russia has used to rebuild its industrial base and produce arms that are showing up on the battlefield in Ukraine, Reuters reported.
Washington even warned that it is prepared to "take further steps as necessary" if Beijing helps prop up Moscow's military capability, State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, US lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill called the No Limits Act, which would impose sanctions on Chinese firms that provide material support to Russia.
"The Biden administration is facing a dilemma on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Withdrawal of support for Ukraine now means betraying its own commitments and allies, and if the next administration, possibly Trump's, withdraws, the Democratic Party will bear a bad reputation for being capable of instigating war but not being able to offer protection," Lü Xiang, a research fellow of US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.
As a result, they are trying to muddy the waters to extricate themselves by blaming the US' failure on China's "support" for Russia, Lü said, adding that the US' tactic is to amplify the argument that products China sold for civilian use can be used for military purposes.
China's strategic partnership with Russia, featuring non-alliance, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party, is the same as that with other major countries including Germany and France, Lü added.
China is expected to clear a few things up during Blinken's visit, observers believe.
China is not a party to the conflict, said the expert, pointing out that as long as the US refrains from adding fuel to the fire, China can facilitate dialogue and reconciliation between the conflicting parties. It is hoped that the US can abandon the idea of completely defeating Russia in all aspects as Russia's existence is a fundamental aspect of the balance of power in a multipolar world. "It's probably more important for the US to never expect China to become a party to containing Russia," Lü said.
"Washington's efforts to sow discord between Beijing and Moscow will undoubtedly turn out to be futile, because the two value their relations as well as the vast cooperation potential empowered by their highly complementary economies," Lü said.
Analysts reached by the Global Times believe the purpose of Blinken's visit may also be to seek Chinese involvement in settling potential conflict overspill in the Middle East.
China's special representative on Eurasian affairs Li Hui met with Ukrainian Ambassador to China Pavlo Riabikin on Wednesday. The two sides exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis as well as bilateral relations and other issues of common concern.
China's top diplomat Wang Yi held phone talks with his Iranian and Saudi counterparts Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud separately on Monday regarding the tensions between Israel and Iran, and the wider situation in the Middle East. Chinese experts emphasized that Beijing's recent actions demonstrate its commitment to playing a constructive role in de-escalating tensions in the Middle East and maintaining stability in the Gulf region.
They note that China's impartiality in mediating conflicts in the region has earned support and trust from regional countries. Experts also point out that causality on the recent Iran-Israel conflict is clear.
Noting that the current regional situation is very sensitive, Amir-Abdollahian said Iran is willing to exercise restraint and has no intention of further escalating the situation.
Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, told Amir-Abdollahian that China strongly condemns and firmly opposes the attack on the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, regarding it as a serious violation of international law and unacceptable.
China has noted Iran's statement that its action taken was limited and was an act of self-defense in response to the attack against the Iranian consulate in Syria, Wang said.
Wang told Faisal that China appreciates Saudi Arabia's emphasis on resolving issues through diplomatic means, and that China is willing to work together with Saudi Arabia to avoid further escalation of confrontation in the Middle East.
Noting that Saudi Arabia highly expects China to play an active and important role in this regard, Faisal said the Saudi side is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with China to promote an immediate and unconditional cease-fire in Gaza, start the implementation of the two-state solution, and help achieve stability in the Middle East at an early date.
Wang's phone calls with his counterparts of Iran and Saudi Arabia reflect that there are high expectations for China to mediate regional conflicts, Liu Zhongmin, a professor at the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University, told the Global Times on Tuesday. China has been actively involved in resolving hotspot issues in the Middle East in recent years, and this mediation has become an integral part of China's Middle East diplomacy, which is also shaping China's approach in resolving hotspot issues, Liu said.
Moreover, China is willing to play a constructive role in de-escalating the tensions between Iran and Israel, as well as maintaining the hard-won peace and stability in Gulf region brought about by the resumption of diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Liu said.
Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday night, a move to retaliate for an Israeli strike on its Damascus consulate on April 1. Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said on Monday that Israel is considering its next steps but that the Iranian strike "will be met with a response," according to the Associated Press.
Apart from exchanging views with Arab countries, China is also talking with Israel about the current conflict. Zhai Jun, special envoy of the Chinese government on Middle East issues, met with Israeli Ambassador to China Irit Ben-Abba Vitale on Monday.
Zhai elaborated on China's principled position on the conflict in Gaza and said that China is deeply concerned about the current escalation of regional tensions, and conflicts and bloodshed serve the interests of no one. All parties concerned should exercise maximum calm and restraint.
"We were hoping for stronger condemnation and clear acknowledgment of Israel's right to defend itself," said Yuval Waks, deputy chief of the Israeli mission in China told a press briefing on Monday when asked what response the embassy had hoped for, according to the South China Morning Post.
"Unfortunately, we did not see that, which is why we were unhappy with the statement [from the Chinese foreign ministry]," Waks said.
The current escalating tension between Israel and Iran is due to Israel's bombing of the Iranian embassy. The merits of this issue itself are relatively clear. China's stance on this issue is not about taking sides, Zhu Yongbiao, executive director of the Research Center for the Belt and Road at Lanzhou University, told the Global Times.
Echoing Zhu, Liu said that Israel is gradually being isolated in international society due to its behavior in the Palestine-Israel crisis.
"If Israel's policy remains unchanged and continues to challenge Iran's bottom line, the conflict will continue to spread and affect regional security and stability. This does not mean that China's mediation alone is able to solve the problem," Liu said. He noted that China plays more of a role in persuading both sides to maintain rational restraint and return to the track of dialogue, rather than exerting pressure and condemning one party.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visits a Bosch factory for hydrogen drives in Chongqing, China April 14, 2024. REUTERS/Andreas Rinke
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on Sunday, commencing his three-day visit to China that will last until Tuesday. It marks Scholz's second visit to China as chancellor, and he is also accompanied by Germany's top corporate brass, a trip which observers and business representatives point out bears certain resemblances to the "Merkel era" - a positive signal that underscores that the European country is active to build on and expand pragmatic cooperation with China despite external noises.
During Scholz's visit to China, President Xi Jinping will meet with him, and Premier Li Qiang will have talks with him, exchanging their views on bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest.
Scholz is the first Western major country leader to visit China this year, so the ongoing visit itself demonstrates that Washington-instigated "de-risking" calls, which some EU hawks also push for, are set to be "sidelined" as cooperation prevails and European countries strive to maintain policy independency, observers said.
The visit comes amid recent complex changes in China-EU relations after Brussels cranked up trade tensions with Beijing over new energy industries. It is expected that Scholz's trip could help address those rifts and play down the risks of a "green trade war," offering a balance to anti-China voices within the EU bloc that would navigate China-EU relations to a healthier and more stable track.
Scholz is accompanied by three federal ministers of environment, agriculture and transport, and a high-profile corporate delegation composed of executives from German companies including Siemens, Mercedes and BMW, state broadcaster China Central Television reported.
During the three-day visit starting from Sunday, Scholz will head to Shanghai and Beijing after Chongqing, news portal France 24 reported. It is one of his longest bilateral visits since taking office in 2021.
"The schedule is richer than the previous visit in November 2022, which shows that the Scholz government looks to maintain and enrich pragmatic cooperation with China. There are discussions on certain similarities between Scholz's trip and the previous China visits paid by former German chancellor Angela Merkel, especially in terms of the level of engagement with Chinese localities," Cui Hongjian, a professor with the Academy of Regional and Global Governance with Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Cui said that this is a very positive signal since China-Germany relations reached a new height in the Merkel era, and it could indicate that Scholz is looking to stabilize and elevate bilateral relations to the previous course, despite a profound shift in the overall environment.
A 'productive' visit
Economists and German company representatives anticipate the trip will be "productive," as both sides have shown clear interest in deepening economic ties with each other.
Commenting on the visit, Maximilian Butek, executive director at the German Chamber of Commerce in China, told the Global Times that the most important outcome will be to establish a solid basis for cooperation and exchange. "We hope that by personal exchanges across a range of different topics, a mutual understanding of key issues can be achieved."
The Chinese city of Chongqing, which serves as a pivotal hub for China-Europe freight trains, is Scholz's first stop in China. Observers said that visit thus paves the way for future bilateral cooperation in the basic infrastructure sector.
"Chongqing is also home to a number of major German investments, so the visit could also be in response to calls from German business society which is looking to strengthen economic links with China," Sun Yanhong, a senior research fellow at the Institute of European Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday.
As Germany faces challenges with its green energy push, it is expected that German automakers will take advantage of the visit to deepen collaboration with their Chinese peers, which have become leading global players in new energy vehicles, Sun predicted, expecting green and digital cooperation to be one of the visit's outcomes.
In terms of global governance, the two countries could also discuss working together on common goals such as grain security, sustainable development and ecological agriculture, analysts said.
The German business community also reads the visit as Scholz striking a "balanced approach" between different voices in his three-party government and fostering deepened relations with China through open exchange and discussion. The visit, they said, aligns with their strong objection to certain European politicians' "de-risking" push and underscores the overall cooperation mainstream between China and the EU bloc.
"Healthy competition is necessary, but a decoupling/de-risking push does not make sense because you need to work together. For example, on the environment side, no single country can solve the problem, and you need to keep cooperating with each other to work closely on these topics," Rainer Kern, vice general manager and Chief Financial Officer of Kärcher China, told the Global Times.
Last year, Germany's direct investment in China reached a record level of 11.9 billion euros ($12.7 billion), up 4.3 percent year-on-year, according to a report by the IW institute. China is also the largest trading partner of Germany for eight consecutive years.
In July, the German government released a toughly worded China strategy that shifted the focus to de-risking, diversification, and a reduction of dependencies on China. Despite internal pressure, the current German government remains pragmatic and is putting its own economic interests at the top of its priorities.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of Germany-based political and economic think tank the Schiller Institute, told the Global Times over the weekend that for an export economy like Germany, it would be "suicidal" to follow these calls for "de-risking."
"Germany is presently experiencing a dramatic economic downfall. Meanwhile, the US has been luring German enterprises to invest in the US instead of Germany with incentives provided by the Inflation Reduction Act. In this adverse environment, the expansion of economic cooperation with China represents an anchor of stability for Germany," she said.
Stabilizing relations with China is also consequential for Germany to cope with rising external demand, such as Russia-Ukraine tensions and the upcoming US Presidential election, analysts said.
Playing down trade tensions
One of the most important items on the agenda is how the two countries discuss and deal with the "overcapacity" hype by US and EU politicians on Chinese new energy products.
On Tuesday, an EU official announced the bloc will investigate Chinese wind turbine suppliers over "subsidy" allegations, which follow the EU's investigation over imported Chinese EVs, together with the launch of a special European customs registration process for Chinese-made EVs in March for the purpose of levying retroactive tariffs.
The mounting trade rifts have fueled concerns that they could morph into a "green trade war" that wracks havoc on the global supply chain and delay the global climate change agenda.
"The stakes are high. How China and Germany keep close communication on these disputes and find a common way to play down those disputes will have an immediate impact on China-Europe relations, which have become more complicated and unpredictable due to shifting geopolitical dynamics," Cui said.
According to Reuters, Scholz is scheduled to visit German auto supplier Bosch's hydrogen fuel cell plants in Chongqing on Sunday. Observers expect the inspection to help him develop a deeper and throughout understanding on China's competitive advantage in the new energy sector.
Cui added that as a healthy and stabilizing China-Germany relationship, which offers a clear manifestation of shared and intertwined economic interests between China and Europe, also sets the stage for the fundamentals of the relations between Beijing and Brussels, especially on the economic front.
Analysts stressed that a healthy China-EU relationship entails both fair competition and collaboration, rather than targeting Chinese companies with unjustified measures.
China's solid business relationship with Germany, given the latter's economic weight, can be a corrective to the often protectionist policies of the EU Commission and its geopolitical views of the rise of China, according to Zepp-LaRouche.
Mao Ning, a spokesperson from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said on Friday that China and Germany have benefited from each other's development which has contributed to the welfare of both peoples. The two countries have steered China-EU relations on a steady and sustained course and injected more stability to the world.
A contentious legal battle has unfolded in the city of Qingyuan, South China's Guangdong Province, revolving around the inheritance rights of frozen embryos following the demise of the doner. The court ruled against inheritance right of the baby born from the frozen embryo.
After a man surnamed Wen lost his life in a traffic accident in January 2021, Ling, his extramarital lover, underwent embryo transfer at a private clinic three months later and gave birth to a baby boy on December 16, 2021.
Ling claimed that the embryo was cultivated and frozen before Wen passed away, though crucial legal documents supporting this assertion, including an agreement on embryo transplant or statement consenting a transplant if Wen is dead, were absent.
Ling, on behalf of the baby, filed a legal case in August 2023, demanding Wen's wife and son to compensate Wen's share of the estate in terms of death insurance premiums, real estate, and company equity in accordance with the Civil Code.
The local people's court ruled against Ling's claim for inheritance, citing the absence of conclusive evidence affirming Wen's consent for embryo transfer and the lack of legal agreements between Wen, Ling, and the medical institutions involved. The baby could not prove himself to be a lawful heir of Wen's inheritance. Ling's actions also contravened established legal and moral norms.
According to China's Civil Code, a fetus enjoys the same right to inheritance, but there lacks explicit legal provisions regarding the inheritance rights of frozen embryos, Zhao Nühuan, a lawyer based in Guangzhou, told reporters. With the uncertainties surrounding the status of frozen embryos and related medical restraints, granting frozen embryos the right to inherit could trigger ethical problems.
The Baiyun District People's Court in Guangzhou handled a similar case in the past where disputes over frozen embryo inheritance surfaced following the demise of a man. The man's wife wanted to preserve the inheritance rights for two embryos which were opposed by her parents in law. The case was settled through mediation.
The judge of the case told interested parties that embryos and fetuses have different legal status.
The legal status of embryos, particularly in the realm of inheritance law, has sparked heated debate in China, as the legal framework for reproductive technologies like in vitro fertilization and embryo freezing remains underdeveloped.
In China, the first domestic case involving an inheritance dispute over the disposal rights of frozen embryos, adjudicated by the Yixing People's Court in Jiangsu Province in May 2014. Shen and Liu were a couple seeking assistance from the Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital reproductive center due to infertility issues. The couple chose to freeze their four embryos, but unfortunately died in a traffic accident before the transfer. Their parents wished to inherit the frozen embryos. Considering the possibility of donation, sale and purchase of embryos, the court ruled that since the couple in this case had both died and the original transplant cannot be carried out, their embryos could not be inherited, and ultimately ruled that the parents could not be granted the right to dispose of the frozen embryos.
The court's verdict triggered debate within the legal fraternity. While some scholars, like Zhang Yanling, a law school associate professor at Nanjing University, endorsed the ruling, arguing that embryos' potential for life warrants special protection, others, such as Meng Qiang, an associate professor at Beijing Institute of Technology, contended that embryos should be recognized as assets with inheritance rights, particularly when both parents are deceased.
According to Hu Chun, a judge from Suyu District People's Court in Suqian, Jiangsu Province, the lack of legislative clarity on the status of frozen embryos has left room for interpretation, with differing views on whether embryos should be considered as objects or possess rights akin to those of natural persons.
Despite the ethical complexities inherent in reproductive technologies, scholars advocate for a balanced approach to safeguard both the legal rights of individuals and the ethical considerations surrounding human life.
