newsletter

Beijing decries bullying; slavery in Serbia, cowardice in London

Hello, and welcome to China Influence Monitor, a weekly newsletter published by CEPA and Coda Story and edited by me, Edward Lucas. We track the westward footprint of China’s influence operations, and point you towards this week's best (and worst) coverage. 

In this issue: Huawei advances in Germany and France, HSBC under fire, Czech-mate in Strasbourg

US efforts to shepherd democracies into cooperation against Chinese sharp power are moving ahead. Three encouraging pointers:

• Japan took part in an EU foreign ministers’ meeting this week to share worries and promote European involvement in Indo-Pacific security; Germany’s sending a warship.
• Scores of international lawmakers published an open letter urging G7 leaders to take action against Chinese Communist Party’s breaches of international standards.
• Opposition in Europe is growing to the EU-China investment deal (another open letter). 

Xi Jinping seems to have noticed the headwind. The Chinese leader complained at (a virtual) Davos that the strong shouldn’t bully the weak: “Decisions should not be made by simply showing off strong muscles or waving a big fist.”