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By STUART LAU
with PHELIM KINE
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GOOD MORNING, China Watchers. This is Stuart Lau reporting from Brussels. Phelim Kine will write China Watcher’s Thursday edition from Washington.
CONGRATS, FAKE WINNER: While Western countries were busy mocking or condemning the fake Russian presidential “election,” Chinese President Xi Jinping wasted no time in congratulating the “winner” Vladimir Putin.
“Russia will surely make greater achievement in national development and construction under Putin’s leadership,” Xi said, according to state media Xinhua. “China stands ready to maintain close communications with Russia to promote the sustained, sound, stable and in-depth development of China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership.”
XI TO VISIT EUROPE, AT LAST
BIENVENUE: France will be receiving Xi in just a few weeks, when the Chinese leader is expected to visit Paris in early May, several European officials told Clea Caulcutt and Stuart. It’s Xi’s first trip to Europe since the pandemic.
Xi’s agenda: The Chinese leader’s visit coincides with the 60th anniversary of Paris-Beijing diplomatic relations and fits ongoing effort by Beijing to rebuild bruised relations with Europe over Xi’s "no limit partnership" with Putin. China is also expected to use the opportunity to show that it’s open for business, in an attempt to push back on the EU’s de-risking agenda.
What a difference a decade makes: The mood in France has shifted since the 50th anniversary of bilateral relations between the two countries ten years ago, said a person familiar with preparations for the trip. "It will be less festive and more studious given the current economic and geopolitical stakes," said the person, who was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.
"We demand reciprocity in relations with China, in particular in the key area of ecological transition," they said. Here’s the full story.
Getting the band back together? Here’s one key question animating the preparations: Will Macron invite German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to join him in Paris for the meeting with Xi?
That quartet of roles was the format Macron chose in 2019. It allowed him to show a united European front against Xi. But the context in Europe has also changed, and Scholz is already planning a big visit to China in April joined by business executives.
NOW, READ THIS: Chatham House’s Ben Bland argues that it’s time for Europe to have an endgame on its China policy. Here’s his piece on POLITICO.
END OF A SHORT ERA
ON THE WAY OUT: China’s Ambassador to the EU Fu Cong is understood to be leaving Brussels for a new posting as the top envoy to the United Nations in New York, two diplomats told China Watcher.
Just a passer-by: Fu had been a U.N. expert before taking the EU job just 15 months ago. That makes him one of the shortest-serving ambassador to the bloc (plus an unofficial role overseeing NATO as well).
Fu’s new role is no surprise. The Chinese Ambassador to the U.N. Zhang Jun has been in the post for five years now and Fu has loads of experience working on U.N. files, including as the Deputy Permanent Representative to the organization’s office in Geneva.
Short stop, Brussels. Fu’s short stint in Brussels, which was first reported by Bloomberg, stands in contrast from his country’s long ambassadorships in Paris and Berlin. Lu Shaye and Wu Ken have been ambassadors to France and Germany respectively since 2019. Former top envoy to London Liu Xiaoming stayed in the job for more than a decade.
TIKTOK IN EUROPE
HOW THE RIGHT FELL FOR TIKTOK: Europe's far-right political movement has taken TikTok by storm. Its online stars, most notably French far-right leader Jordan Bardella, appeal to a younger generation of voters.
The trick: Far-right politicians performing well on TikTok focus on dramatic, polarizing content. They take on personas of meme-friendly influencers and sometimes even shun outspoken political content, Clothilde Goujard, Elisa Braun and Mark Scott report in a detailed investigative report.
Playing the long game: Bardella rarely mentions his political party's name and almost never calls on his followers to vote for him during June's election.
“We're not into petty politics … Educating young people in particular is a priority for us,” said Philippe Olivier, a European lawmaker and key adviser to National Rally, Bardella’s party.
POLITICO data review: My colleagues Clothilde Goujard and Hanne Cokelaere reviewed all 705 members of the European Parliament’s presence on TikTok between February 15 and March 8. They found 186 active accounts.
Champions on the Chinese-owned app: While the Left group is also among the highest percentages of lawmakers on the platform, the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) outperforms any other groupwhen it comes to activity, follower counts and liked posts.
Read our data analysis to drill down deeper into the numbers.
EUROPE’S TIKTOK BAN IS ALSO CRAMPING THE CENTER’S STYLE. Many within the EU institutions have stopped using TikTok after restrictions were issued in 2023, including by the European Parliament itself. That’s now getting in the way of online campaigning, some said.
"We cannot use it with our phones or computers when they are connected with the parliaments' network, so we are on the network with computers and phones outside of the parliament," said Pedro Lopez de Pablo, head of press for the center-right European People's Party, the European Parliament’s largest grouping.
The Greens party has a similar dilemma. "We, as Greens, have been very, very critical towards TikTok, like all the EU institutions [but] if you want to reach young voters as a progressive candidate, we also have to be on TikTok," said German member Anna Cavazzini, who created her TikTok account in February and is running for a second mandate.
IN LONDON: The British government is also coming under increasing pressure to toughen its approach to TikTok in line with U.S. moves against the Chinese-owned app, Vincent Manancourt reports.
Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said: "We should follow America. We should have done it ourselves. I've called for a ban before."
A TikTok spokesperson said the company is investing £10 billion in industry-leading data safeguards for its U.K. and European users, including independent oversight of its data security from U.K. cybersecurity firm NCC Group and new data centers in Europe.
But but but: Duncan Smith, a renowned China hawk, said government policy to ban TikTok on official phones showed that it already considered the app a security threat. "So the question is, why do you mess around? Just do it properly," he said, referring to an outright ban.
TRANSLATING WASHINGTON
SENATE MAY SLOW-WALK TIKTOK BILL: Good news for TikTok's army of lobbyists in Washington: The U.S. Senate is in no hurry to take up the bill the U.S. House passed last week that would force its Chinese parent firm ByteDance to sell the app or face a ban on U.S. app stores.
Take it slow: Several U.S. senators have signaled that debate and possible passage of the bill will be more complicated and time-consuming than the eight days it took for it to clear the House, Reuters reported Friday. That delay hinges on concerns that the bill isn't expansive enough as well as a desire among some lawmakers to subject the bill to a full amendment process, which will lengthen the time it takes to pass the Senate.
BURNS: BEIJING'S TIKTOK LAW IRE 'IRONIC': U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns took issue on Friday with Beijing's online spleen-venting using U.S. social media apps over U.S. House legislation targeting TikTok. "I find it 'supremely ironic' because Beijing officials are using the X platform to criticize the U.S., while X is not available to the people of China." Beijing has blocked X, then called Twitter, from Chinese users since 2009.
Chinese authorities don't see a double standard. "China's policies of treating foreign social media are a far cry from the U.S.'s treatment of TikTok… the U.S. harnesses state power to ban and even force TikTok to divest with every means in an attempt to suppress its development," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Friday.
TAIWAN TOUTS US MILITARY TRAINERS' TIPS: U.S. military trainers deployed to Taiwan provide valuable assistance to its armed forces, the island's defense minister said Friday. Those U.S. units help Taiwan's military find "blind spots and flaws" and enable the island's forces "to learn from the strengths of others," Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng told reporters, per the Taipei Times. The Pentagon plans to boost the number of U.S. military trainers deployed to the island from dozens to upward of 200, the Wall Street Journal reported last year.
CHINA'S GOTION SUES MICHIGAN TOWNSHIP: The Chinese EV battery producer Gotion is suing Green Township in Michigan for trying to block construction of a production facility. The Green Township board rescinded approval for a water line to the plant in December, effectively derailing the project. That move was a response to public concerns about its potential environmental impact and suspicion about Chinese government ties to the project.
Gotion has asked a federal court to prevent local authorities from "unraveling an endeavor already years and millions of dollars in the making," the Detroit News reported Friday. Neither Gotion nor the Green Township community group leading opposition to the project responded to requests for comment.
ROMNEY RIDICULES BIDEN'S CHINA STRATEGY: Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) is throwing shade on the Biden administration's China strategy. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a speech in 2022 that the administration's China strategy "can be summed up in three words: 'invest, align, compete.'"
That's not enough for Romney. "Three words does not make a strategy. It's a wonderful headline … but we need a comprehensive strategy," Romney told assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Thursday.
China "has a game plan and it’s succeeding —we don’t have a game plan I recognize and whether we do or not, we’re not succeeding," Romney said. Romney declined to comment on what he'd want a U.S. government China strategy to include.
IN HEADLINES
FINANCIAL TIMES: Brazil launches China anti-dumping probes after imports soar.
NEW YORK TIMES: Why Taiwan is building a satellite network without Elon Musk.
WALL STREET JOURNAL: China’s economy has a new problem: its job market.
BBC: How Temu is shaking up the world of online shopping.
MANY THANKS: To editor Laurens Cerulus, reporters Clea Caulcutt, Giorgio Leali, Clothilde Goujard, Elisa Braun, Mark Scott, Hanne Cokelaere, Vincent Manancourt, Antoaneta Roussi and producer Lola Boom.
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