Briefly - China and the Changing World Order no.4
Jake Sullivan China trip, Japanese airspace incursion, IBM China layoffs & more decoupling
Hello and welcome back to What China Wants.
In our latest edition of Adarga’s Briefly: China in the Changing World Order we look at three new stories.
China’s incursion into Japanese airspace. This is the first suffered by Japan for a while, and reflects an increase in Chinese assertive military activities (as with the South China Sea, vs The Philippines).
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan visits China. Although this is probably just the precursor to a Biden-Xi summit later in the year, Sullivan’s visit has been notably less fractious than previous meetings between the two sides. (As the BBC reported, the 2021 Alaska meeting saw Chinese officials accuse the US of inciting countries "to attack China", while the US said China had "arrived intent on grandstanding".) Discussions included potential collaboration on things like AI, and much-needed better connectivity between the militaries.
IBM cuts its Chinese research team. Whilst it is just one US company, it is reflective of the growing estrangement of the Chinese and American business communities (following the political trend). IBM themselves seemed to blame their inability to properly compete with Chinese firms enjoying significant state support, which is a major issue for the West (as with the Electric Vehicles mentioned last week). This announcement is almost certainly not the last by US and Western companies wanting to derisk their involvement with China.
You can read the full Briefly report here: https://lnkd.in/e_sXp3Ys
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I’ll be back next week with more Briefly. In the meantime, if you would like to suggest any longer form research or insights then please get in touch.
Best wishes
Sam