A jamming device might have sabotaged the Chinese space mission. Add to that, there are delays in the launch of China’s third aircraft carrier. Meanwhile, its neighbour, Moscow, is frustrated with Beijing’s missing support. And Chinese jets buzzed too close to Australian and Canadian aircraft this week. Chinascope brings you the macro and micro news trends from behind the Great Wall—and the world.
China over the week
China’s Tiangong space station, or what people like to call the ‘‘palace in the sky’’, constantly captures the public imagination of the country. Now, the latest mission to the space station, launched on Sunday, is the talk of the town. But there is more to the story.
The Shenzhou 14 spaceflight mission was launched with the Long March-2F carrier rocket from the Jinquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia. But almost a week before the launch, the radio surveillance team at the Launch Center picked up an anomaly in their data showing a jamming device hidden in a car, the Beijing Daily reported. The bond-esque world of intrigue in the 21st century has many layers. A sabotage of a Chinese space mission would highlight the impact of geopolitics on every aspect of modern life.
Although the state media article did not clarify if the device was an attempt to sabotage the mission, it still does raise some suspicion.
But this didn’t stop the story of the launch from being widely discussed across Chinese social media.
The hashtag “space journey” was the number one trend on Weibo, and was viewed 280 million times. All the top three search trends on Baidu were related to the launch of Shenzhou 14. The astronauts aboard the flight are Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe, who will stay in orbit for six months.
Also Read: PLA published an article on Indian Navy. China’s eyes are on INS Vikrant
On the space and aviation front, China might yet have some good news. According to satellite imagery, China is nearing the completion of its 3rd aircraft carrier, Type 003. Initially, it was announced that the aircraft carrier was to be launched on the Dragon Boat Festival Day on 3 June. But we have learned that the launch was delayed. Although the reason wasn’t disclosed, news outlets speculated that it might’ve been due to ‘technical problems’.
However, the launch of the Type 003 carrier doesn’t mean it will be ready for active service duty or a combat scenario anytime soon.
For China, though, there are bigger things to worry about on the ground, right in its neighbourhood.
As the Russia-Ukraine war surpassed the 100-day mark, Beijing’s support for Moscow has lost the promise that many commentators had underscored at the beginning of the conflict.
Russian officials have grown frustrated by Beijing failing to live up to the agreed “no-limit partnership”, according to Chinese and US officials quoted by Washington Post. “China has made clear its position on the situation in Ukraine and on the illegal sanctions against Russia,” said a Chinese official with knowledge of the matter.
“We understand [Moscow’s] predicament. But we cannot ignore our situation in this dialogue. China will always act in the best interest of the Chinese people,” added the unnamed official.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has now tasked his closest advisers to help Russia financially without violating the sanctions, the Washington Post reported citing sources. But the complex maze of sanctions that Moscow finds itself in won’t be easy for Beijing to bypass.
A Russian news outlet, RBK, has reported that China has banned Russian airlines from flying with foreign planes. Russian airlines are embattled with the sanctions imposed following the conflict in Ukraine.
RBK added, citing sources, that the Aviation Administration of China had asked foreign carriers to update ownership information last month. The request may respond to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to re-register aircraft ownership in Russia to avoid seizure under sanctions imposed by the United States, Europe and other countries.
If Beijing wants to help Moscow, it will have to find ways to buy Russian goods, but even that looks difficult as Chinese companies have slowly exited Moscow to avoid getting caught in the whirlwind of sanctions. The buck may once again stop on Russian oil and gas.
Also Read: Xi missing from front pages of CCP’s People’s Daily, experts reading between the lines
There also might be a big development on the US-China front. Chinese defence minister, Wei Fenghe, is set to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore from 10 to 12 June, the Chinese national defence ministry has announced.
The US is in discussions with the Chinese side to finalise the first face-to-face meeting between top defence officials. If the meeting goes ahead, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin is likely to speak with Wei Fenghe in person for the first time.
Meanwhile, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s action-packed 10-day trip to the Pacific nations came to an end in East Timor. In the East Timorese capital, Dili, Wang Yi and the foreign minister Adaljiza Magno signed agreements spanning from agriculture and media partnerships to economic and technical cooperation. No military or security pacts were signed in East Timor, and China’s proposed collective security agreement with Pacific nations failed to progress.
On the way back from the Pacific, Wang Yi stopped over in Malaysia, where he spoke to foreign minister Saifuddin Abdullah over the phone and discussed safeguarding the “ASEAN-centered regional cooperation framework”.
Also Read: Restricting citizens’ entry-exit to targeting academia, China grows more authoritarian
China in world news
China’s business activity is the subject of occasional intrigue in Indian newspapers. Unlike in the US and Europe, Indians get very little insight into the practices followed by Chinese businesses in India.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has now said individuals from countries with which India shares a land border will need a security clearance for appointment as company directors. The notification is targeted at Chinese nationals appointed as directors to Indian companies or subsidiaries of foreign companies.
ThePrint also recently reported a series of investigations into Chinese companies registered in Maharashtra with questionable business practices. These companies used fake documents to demonstrate the presence of Indian offices that didn’t exist. Companies under investigation used an Indian company director with a Chinese stakeholder to fraudulently set up entities.
China’s scrutiny in the world hasn’t been, however, limited to business dealings. On the military front, a P-8 surveillance aircraft belonging to Australian defence forces were intercepted by PLA’s J-16 fighter jet during a routine maritime surveillance activity in the South China Sea, the Australian Defense Forces said.
The interception isn’t an isolated incident. Senior Canadian officials have grown concerned about aggressive Chinese fighter pilots. According to Canada’s Global News, the Chinese fighter jets flew 20 to 100 feet close to the Canadian surveillance plane as part of a United Nations mission. The Chinese jets flew so close to the Canadian plane that the pilots could make eye contact with both aircraft.
Must read this week
Why China Threads the Needle on Ukraine – Andrew Nathan
A 17th-century mushroom cloud – James Carter
Blood Brothers: The Scarred History of China’s Ethnic Russians – Li Yijuan and Fan Yiying
Also Read: In China, a growing pressure to find a scapegoat for disastrous Covid handling in Shanghai
India in China
On 3 June, India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar spoke at the GLOBSEC 2022 Bratislava Forum. Jaishankar’s remarks in response to the moderator’s question on India’s position vis-à-vis the US-China strategic competition were widely shared on social media in both India and China.
The hashtag “Indian foreign minister says China doesn’t need precedent to determine Sino-Indian relations” trended on Weibo. The hashtag was viewed 1.46 million times.
Experts this week
“Judging from the situation in India, although the population of India is comparable to that of China, there are several factors that restrict the manufacturing in India: First, India has too much infrastructural debt, and it was not until 2012 that India built its first expressway in the country. So far, the mileage of Indian highways is minimal. Moreover, the efficiency of road and rail transportation in India is very low, and the power security required for transportation needs to be improved. In addition, India’s system of separation of powers has also made India’s infrastructure improvement particularly inefficient. Second, in terms of the business environment, local governments are often distrustful of foreign investment,” said Zhang Jianping, deputy director of the Academic Committee of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce and director of the Regional Economic Cooperation Center, during an interview.
The author is a columnist and a freelance journalist, currently pursuing an MSc in international politics with a focus on China from School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He was previously a China media journalist at the BBC World Service. He tweets @aadilbrar. Views are personal.
This is a weekly round-up that Aadil Brar writes about what’s buzzing in China. This will soon be available as a subscribers’-only product.
(Edited by Srinjoy Dey)