The Evenstar Institute's Weekly Chinese Influence Bulletin
Google's warning, China warns Czechia, infrastructure in The Philippines, UK's semiconductor chain
Hello and welcome back to What China Wants.
Below we publish the weekly newsletter of the Evenstar Institute, the parent of What China Wants and a think tank dedicated to measuring and understanding national influence in the 21st century.
ABOUT THE EVENSTAR BULLETIN
The Evenstar Institute's weekly bulletin comprises updates on changing global influence, macro supply chain events, and other China-related news. We will also highlight books, articles, events, and episodes of our podcast, What China Wants.
If you have any questions about the contents of the bulletin or the Institute's research, get in touch via our website.
INFLUENCE UPDATES
Chinese construction firm proposes major infrastructure project in the Philippines
Finance, Trade, and Investment Transport and Logistics
The China Communications Construction Co. (CCCC) proposed the construction of a 270 km highway project between Rosario City and Laoag City during a call with officials on 30 January, local media reported. The CCCC is a state-owned construction firm which is involved in private projects in Metro Manila, including the Pasay Harbor City Reclamation Project and Manila Waterfront City Development Project
The proposal follows a state visit by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr to China earlier in January. President Marcos Jr said that the government has changed public-private partnership (PPP) regulations to facilitate private investment.
Google threat group highlights pro-Chinese influence network
Digital Infrastructure, Civil Society and Cultural and Demographic Reach
The Google Threat Analysis Group (TAG) reported that a China-linked influence network, identified as Dragonbridge, was pushing pro-China views across multiple platforms, including YouTube. The report noted that it disrupted more than 50,000 instances of Dragonbridge activity in 2022. The TAG said that they had terminated more than 100,000 accounts linked to the group since its identification in 2019 and noted that it had received practically no engagement from real viewers.
Identified narratives included criticising the US for worsening the Ukrainian conflict, urging the Taiwanese leadership to surrender, and portraying the US CHIPS act as unfair to China. Content from the network also claimed that the US was responsible for instigating anti-coronavirus lockdown protests in China.
China warns new Czech president after Taiwan call
Defence and Security Government and Administration
Beijing delivered a warning to the Czech Republic’s new president-elect, Petr Pavel, after a phone call with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, on 31 January. Pavel, who won the election on Sunday, vowed to meet Tsai “in person in the future”. An in-person meeting between the heads of state of an EU member country and Taiwan would be unprecedented.
According to the AFP news agency, a spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry criticised the statement saying “China deplores and strongly opposes this, and we have made solemn démarche to the Czech side". The spokeswoman added that Pavel had “trampled on China’s red line” and “has hurt the feelings of the Chinese people”.
China owns vast network of UK real estate, offshore records reveal
Finance, Trade, and Investment
Disclosures made as part of a new government register of property owned via offshore entities show that China’s Investment division, China Investment Corporation (CIC) has spent at least GBP 580 million on more than 250 properties across Britain via dozens of offshore companies registered in jurisdictions such as Luxembourg and the Isle of Man.
While the CIC was known to be an investor in the UK property, the scale and detail of its purchases had previously been hidden due to its use of offshore companies. The register has also revealed that the CIC has specifically focused its investments on distribution depots, retail parks and trading estates.
Hainan Mining to buy majority stake in firm operating Mali lithium mine
Finance, Trade, and Investment Energy and Mineral Resources
A subsidiary of the Chinese firm Fosun International Limited, Hainan Mining, is planning to increase its stake in the UK-listed Kodal Minerals, which operates the Bougouni lithium project in Mali, officials from Kodal said. Hainan, will spend USD 112 million to increase its stake in Kodal Mining UK to 51%.
Hainan Mining, which has numerous iron and hydrocarbons projects, is developing a further business line in new energy business signing battery and lithium processing agreements in recent years.
OTHER NEWS
New research spotlight | Securing the UK’s Semiconductor Supply Chain
At the Evenstar Institute we were pleased to get early access to new research conducted by Andrew Yeh and Leo Shaw of the China Strategic Risks Institute, in collaboration with Dr. Chun-Yi Lee, Director of the Taiwan Studies Programme at the University of Nottingham. In this new paper, the authors explore how the UK can work with like-minded partners to strengthen the resilience of global semiconductor supply chains.
With heightened tensions across the Taiwan Straits over the course of the past year, there is now increased awareness of both the critical role played by semiconductors and the major potential risk to global supply chains posed by China’s goal of forcibly reunifying with Taiwan. This paper specifically addresses the exposure of the UK to potential supply chain disruption and outlines three key priority areas on which a UK semiconductor strategy could focus:
playing to its strengths
cooperating with allies
safeguarding Taiwan’s security
The full report will be published in March, and shared through this bulletin again then.
THE PODCAST
A reminder that in this week’s What China Wants podcast (published every Thursday), Sam and Stewart spoke with Dr Rebecca Ray about China’a overseas development finance, which has recently fallen off a cliff.
You can also listen to the podcast on Apple, Amazon, or Spotify.
ABOUT THE EVENSTAR INSTITUTE
The Evenstar Institute is a non-partisan, not-for-profit think tank focused on measuring and understanding the evolving nature of national influence in the twenty first century.
If you would like to support us, please visit the donate page on our website.