The World According to China - Politics and the Plague - PDF

# The World According to China ## Politics and the Plague - Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping made the most of the moment. - He offered US$2 billion over two years to assist the international response to the COVID-19 pandemic. - He declared that when...

# The World According to China ## Politics and the Plague - Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping made the most of the moment. - He offered US$2 billion over two years to assist the international response to the COVID-19 pandemic. - He declared that when China was ready with a vaccine, the country would make it "a global public good". - He declared support for a "comprehensive review of the global response to COVID-19". - Xi's ambitions are to reorder the world order. - Xi's goal is the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" - Xi aims for China to reclaim a central position on the global stage, ensuring that other countries have security, economic, and political interests aligned with China's. - Xi's strategy reflects a highly decentralized, Party-state system. - The CCP penetrates societies and economies abroad, shaping international actors' choices. - Xi leverages China's vast market to coerce others to adopt his policy preferences. - Xi's model is underpinned by the hard power capability of a formidable Chinese military. - China is reclaiming contested territory, assumed a position of preeminence in the Asia Pacific, ensured that other countries have aligned their interests with its own, and is providing the world's technological infrastructure for the 21st century and embedded its norms, values, and standards in international laws and institutions. ## A Pandemic High - China was the first to tame the coronavirus, the first to resume work, and the first to attain positive growth, according to Xi. - He attributes this success to "self-confidence in our path, self-confidence in our theories, self-confidence in our system, self confidence in our culture". - Xi is aiming for China to regain a central position on the global stage, having regained centrality on the global stage. ## The COVID-19 Test - In late December 2019, hospitals in Hubei reported cases of "pneumonia of unknown etiology". - Dr. Ai Fen, the director of Emergency Room at Wuhan Central Hospital, was the first to connect the cases to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. - Dr. Li Wenliang, a 34-year-old ophthalmologist, sent a message to his medical school classmates: '“A new coronavirus infection has been confirmed and its type is being identified. Inform all family and relatives to be on guard.” - Wuhan’s public security officials moved quickly to silence Li, calling him in for questioning on January 1, 2020. They issued a formal reprimand for "making untrue comments" and "severely disturbing social order," and detained 7 others for "spreading rumors." - Li continued to warn people; then contracted the virus. - Ai received a reprimand for spreading false rumors. - China's leaders moved to control the spread of the virus, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the country's political model. - The high degree of political centralization and control over information prevented medical officials from alerting citizens about the virus, and millions left Wuhan to travel during the Lunar New Year celebration. - The same centralization also enabled The government to lockdown Wuhan, preventing 11 million people from leaving the city, with 50 million under strict quarantine. - The government mobilized 7,500 workers to construct two makeshift hospitals and commandeered enterprises across the country to manufacture masks, gowns, and gloves. - The CCP's surveillance technology enabled the government to track the spread of the virus and contain it efficiently. ## The Pandemic Goes Global - On December 31, 2019, Drs. Ai and Li shared their concerns. - The WHO requested information from Chinese authorities who acknowledged the existence of a cluster of cases. - China shut down the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. - The coronavirus' complete genetic information was successfully mapped, then released to the world. - China reported its first death on January 11, 2020. - Beijing mobilized its resources on the global stage. - The CCP's United Front Work Department (UFWD) encouraged overseas Chinese to assist China. - Local Chinese civic groups abroad and governments mobilized to send Personal Protective Equipment to China. - Li Lu, a former student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, sought to secure PPE to send to China, noting his experience with the 1976 Tangshan earthquake. - He saw confusion in the Chinese government's efforts to manage the PPE supply and helped to secure more than $1,500,000 in PPE and financial assistance where it was needed. - Organizations in the United States provided 18 tons of masks, gowns, respirators, gauze, and other materials. - The international community had provided China with items worth $1.2 billion by the end of February. - Beijing also directed its ambassadors to promote China's response.  - China was behaving in a transparent manner and sharing information with the international community. - They claimed that China's sacrifice was not only for the Chinese people but also for the rest of the world.  - They requested other countries not to publicize assistance to China or to stoke fear by banning travel or closing borders. - By mid-March, the Chinese government had arrested the spread and pivoted to sell a new message: China was the world leader in the pandemic response. - China was already the world’s largest manufacturer of PPE.   - With PPE to spare and a demonstrable record of success, the government brought the same actors back on duty, but with a different mission. - Chinese Ambassadors promoted Beijing's "Knowledge Center for China's Experiences in response to COVID-19," featuring QR codes that provided access to scientific papers, short policy briefs, and videos with Chinese doctors that touted Xi Jinping's leadership and the country's impressive COVID-19 response. - The government also encouraged Chinese companies such as Alibaba and Huawei to become brand ambassadors for Beijing, providing PPE and other assistance to countries struggling with shortages. - Overseas Chinese doctors from Wuhan and Shanghai who had been at the forefront of fighting the pandemic followed suit. ## A Period of Strategic Opportunity - The second stage of the pandemic represented a period of strategic opportunity.  - It bolstered China's Health Silk Road (HSR), an offshooot of the 2013 global infrastructure plan "One Belt, One Road."  - China was sending doctors, medical devices, and technology to 30 countries. - Xi Jinping stated, "Italy and China are the cornerstones of the new Silk Road of Health."  - China sent 300 doctors to Italy in a show of partnership.  - The Chinese government highlighted China's traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), describing it as "the treasure of ancient Chinese science and the key to the archive of Chinese civilization". - Xi had long supported TCM. - He established TCM centers, programs, and workshops in several African and other countries. - He worked with Margaret Chan to develop a 10-year strategy to integrate TCM into the world's healthcare systems. - In 2019, the WHO agreed to include TCM in its International Classification of Diseases. - Xi instructed Chinese hospitals to prescribe TCM as part of their COVID-19 treatment protocol.  - He pushed the distribution of TCM and TCM medical specialists through the HSR.  - He advertised its usefulness in pandemic treatment on Chinese embassy websites.  - Professional associations lobbied the United Nations to formally recognize the value of TCM. ## Wolves at the Door - China's diplomats who had requested that other countries not advertise their assistance to China now trumpeted their own provision of PPE to these same countries. - Italy complied; other countries stressed the two-way nature of the pandemic assistance.  - Officials weaponized China's control over PPE and access to China's market to coerce countries.  - China reportedly told France that ample PPE would be forthcoming if the latter bought Huawei 5G equipment.  - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's call for an investigation into the origins of the virus triggered suggestions from the Chinese Ambassador to the country that it would pay an economic price.   - Shortly afterward, China banned Australian beef imports and placed tariffs on Australian barley, followed by bans on Australian coal and wine, as well as recommendations not to travel to Australia. - Chinese foreign affairs officials and the media also tried to deflect attention by spreading disinformation about other countries' management of the pandemic. - The Chinese government erased from the public record any signs of early missteps or public dissent. - The Chinese people had returned to their pre-pandemic lives.  - China emerged as the world’s only large economy to post a positive growth rate. - The government contained the virus and its critics. - The CCP's model succeeded by enabling the mobilization of resources, penetration of society and the economy, and control over information. - China's pandemic diplomacy resulted in a far different outcome on the international front. ## The COVID-19 Test - China’s robust response to the pandemic highlighted its position on the global stage. - At his very first press conference as a CCP General Secretary in November 2012, Xi had called for the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation"—a China that would stand more firmly and powerfully among all nations around the world and make a greater contribution to mankind. - The Chinese leadership all invoked the theme of rejuvenation to remind Chinese people of the country’s past glories and future destiny. ## Power, Power, Power - On October 4, 2019, Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey tweeted, “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong.” - Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta stepped in to limit the damage, explaining that Morey did “NOT speak for the Houston Rockets" and that the Rockets were "NOT a political organization." - Joe Tsai, the owner of the Brooklyn Nets and co-founder of Alibaba, published an open letter on Facebook stating "certain topics that are third-rail issues in certain countries, societies, and communities. Supporting a separatist movement in a Chinese territory is one of those third-rail issues, not only for the Chinese government, but also for all citizens in China." - Within 48 hours, Morey tried to step back from his post, but the Chinese government ignored these statements. - Yao Ming, head of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) and a former longtime Rockets player, announced that the CBA was suspending cooperation with the team. - CCTV and Tencent Holdings, which owned the rights to livestream NBA games, announced that they would not feature any games with the Rockets. - CCTV canceled plans to broadcast two highly anticipated exhibition games in Shanghai and Shenzhen between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets. - Several other events and a press conference around these games were abandoned. - Chinese companies pulled all sponsorship of the Rockets and Rockets merchandise from their stores. - Estimates were that the Rockets had lost roughly $20 million in revenue from canceled sponsorship agreements. - Individual basketball players and the NBA leadership rushed in try to salvage the situation. - Rockets team star James Harden begged China’s forgiveness, stating, “We apologize. We love China.”  - NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called Morey's tweet “regrettable,” and stated, "Values of equality, respect, and freedom of expression have long defined the NBA—and will continue to do so. As an American-based basketball league operating globally, among our greatest contributions are these values of the game. In fact, one of the enduring strengths of the NBA is our diversity of views, backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, and religions—with that diversity comes the belief that whatever our differences, we respect and value each other."               - The Chinese government had asked Silver to fire Morey.  - The NBA had lost as much as $400 million in revenues.  - The NBA reinforced its decision not to fire Morey or otherwise change its policy, stating: “We accept the consequences of our system and our values. It’s not a position any business wants to be in, but those are the results.” ## A Friend in Need Is a Friend Indeed - The WHO emerged as a critical ally for Beijing. - WHO head, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, whose candidacy Beijing had championed, consistently downplayed the virus and any Chinese responsibility for its spread.  - The WHO formally declared the COVID-19 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, but Tedros stated that the designation “was not issued because of what is happening in China, but what is happening in other countries.” - He reiterated his opposition to limiting either trade or travel to China.  - Tedros lauded Chinese actions, stating, "We "appreciate the seriousness with which China is taking this outbreak, especially the commitment from top leadership, and the transparency they have demonstrated, including sharing data and [the] genetic sequence of the virus."  - The WHO acknowledged privately that China did not like the name SARS-CoV-2, selected by the official study group of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses likely  because it reminded the world of China’s role in the 2003 SARS outbreak. - The WHO respected Beijing's wishes by refusing to allow Taiwan to participate in WHA briefings unless it adopted Beijing's preferred name: Chinese Taipei. - China's influence in the  WHO is not the result of a substantial financial contribution. - It holds a seat on the governing board, a second is in charge of overseeing the organization’s work on communicable and non-communicable diseases. - China is viewed as a very important partner in developing public health programs for the Global South. ## The Siren Call of Sovereignty - China was unwilling to put its sovereignty conflict with Taiwan aside in 2020, as other countries were preoccupied with the pandemic.  - It implemented a politically repressive National Security Law in Hong Kong, continued the detention of Uyghur Muslims, and deployed its naval and other military forces across the South and East China Seas, threatening Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. - It also sunk a Vietnamese fishing boat and named more than 80 features in the South China Sea, 55 of which were underwater. - Criticism of China’s coercive political and aggressive military behavior mounted in Europe, North America, and parts of Asia. - India banned a wide array of popular Chinese apps, Europe, the UK, the US, and Canada levied sanctions, and many countries revised their decisions to allow Huawei components or software in their 5G networks. - Global public opinion polls indicated that distrust in Xi Jinping’s motivations and ambitions was rising precipitously. ## The Recovery - China mounted a renewed effort to assume a leadership position in responding to the pandemic in fall 2020. - It joined COVAX and had already vaccinated one million people domestically and in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Peru, and Argentina. - The international scientific community was concerned about China's lack of transparency. - China had not provided information concerning the vaccine trial results, leaving the international community questioning the efficacy and safety of the vaccines. - The WHO experts finally gained access to China for their long-promised investigation. - Several delegation members raised concerns over the Chinese government’s failure to provide access to critical data. - China’s international credibility had suffered a blow. ## Mapping China’s Ambition, Influence, and Impact - China has mobilized and deployed domestic resources across multiple domains to achieve its strategic ambitions. - It used its resources to promote the adoption of TCM internationally. - It used the penetration of the CCP in other countries’ societies to collect PPE and to spread disinformation. - It leveraged the Chinese market to coerce countries into thanking China for PPE. ## The Dragon Meets the Double-Tailed Lion - In 2015, Miloš Zeman was the only leader of a European Union country to attend Beijing’s massive military parade marking the 70th  anniversary of the end of World War II.  - The visit represented the latest sign of a growing closeness between China and the Czech Republic.  - CEFC China Energy had established its European headquarters in Prague and was in the midst of a shopping spree.  - Ye Jianming, the founder of CEFC, was a personal advisor to President Zeman, - Former Czech officials, including two former prime ministers and a defense minister, also served as advisors for CEFC  - Several billion dollars in promised investment never materialized.  - Ye was detained in Beijing on charges of bribery. - The leading Czech firm Home Credit became an important conduit. - Beijing granted Home Credit the first foreign license to offer loans within China.  - It provided financial backing for a think tank, and PR firm with a pro-Beijing perspective.  - China invested $0.7 to $1.1 billion in the Czech Republic. - The Chinese Embassy in Prague played a particularly important role in trying to influence Czech scholarship on China.  - It funded a course on the BRI, awarded students who wrote the best essays an all-paid trip to China. - The Czech National Cyber and Information Security Agency (NÚKIB) indicated that Huawei and ZTE posed a national security threat, triggering a government decision to bar central government employees.  - The BIS also warned of a potential link between espionage activities and Huawei and ZTE products. - The Chinese Ambassador weighed in to criticize the government’s decision, claiming he received assurances that the ban was a mistake.  - The Prime Minister responded that he did not know what the ambassador was talking about. - The Chinese Embassy sent a letter to President Zeman threatening retaliation against Czech companies, such as Skoda Auto, Home Credit, and Klaviry Petrof. - The Czech Prime Minister called for China to replace its ambassador.  - In 2019 and 2020, the BIS annual reports warned starkly of Chinese efforts to target the tech, media, education, security, infrastructure, healthcare, economic, and environmental protection sectors.  - Beijing’s efforts have yielded several wins.  - The Czech government has adopted an increasingly hard line against Chinese influence efforts.  - In October 2020, CETIN - covering 99.6 of the population, rejected Chinese firms in its 5G rollout, selecting Ericsson. - Beijing continues to seek ways to influence the Czech Republic's China debate. ## Catch More Flies with Honey - A group of Silicon Valley tech leaders discussed the US, China, and technology. - One participant raised concern about TikTok, created by the Chinese company ByteDance, which was seen as a "true breakthrough in the US-China competition over culture and technology.“            - TikTok's algorithm was seen as an impressive new form of communication and its downloads surpassed 2 billion. - Trouble was brewing, with India banning the app in 2020. - The US government raised similar concerns about access to users' personal data. ## You Belong to Me - Chinese citizens are often linked to a larger enterprise - the United Front Work Department (UFWD), which the CCP utilizes to engage Chinese at home and abroad to spread its message and shape international public opinion. - The UFWD reports to the Central Committee. - Mao Zedong described the United Front work as one of the "magic weapons” - Xi Jinping has emphasized the importance of UFWD work, stating the United Front is an important magic weapon for strengthening the party’s ruling position and for realizing the China Dream of the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation. - The UFWD has more than 40,000 workers and is included in 18 different central-level Party and government organizations. - It enlists overseas Chinese citizens - businesspeople, students and scholars, and civic organizations - to protest against the Dalai Lama, Taiwan’s political autonomy, Hong Kong democracy, and the religious organization Falun Gong.   - It seeks to influence local politicians. - It has also been linked to a significant number of recent candidates for office in Australia.   - The UFWD extends deep into government bureaucracies, business communities, and civil societies. ## The Do the Right Thing - The Uyghur Autonomous Region is bordered by six Central and South Asian countries, as well as by Mongolia and Russia. - Its population of 21 million is roughly half descended from Turkic Muslims and half from Han Chinese, many of whom have been sent there by Beijing over decades to dilute the majority Uyghur Muslims. - The proportion of Han Chinese in Xinjiang has increased from 7 to 40 percent. - Violence between the Uyghurs and Han erupted on several occasions, including: riots in 2009, a Uyghur-initiated knife attack in 2014, and suicide car bombers in 2014. - A small minority of Uyghurs also supported a separatist effort, calling for the establishment of an independent state of East Turkestan. - China's government responded to these events in May 2014 by launching the “Strike Hard Campaign against Violent Terrorism.” - It was a sweeping campaign designed to target all religious expression, criminalizing religion, compelling Uyghurs to break the Muslim prohibition on alcohol, and put in place a massive surveillance apparatus. - The Chinese government also established a network of "labor and reeducation" centers. - They house over 1 million Uyghurs and are described as training centers, but a pattern of secret abductions and forced detentions, the overwhelming security around the camps, and stories of torture and forced sterilization from Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities who have spent time in these training centers suggest otherwise.  - There is little to no Han opposition. - News about the camps first began to leak out. - One official in the United States stated "We have no guidance on this issue. I don’t know what to tell you.” - One scholar shared that his son had married an Uyghur woman and that his granddaughter was rescued from the repressive political environment and brought to study in coastal China. - Some local officials appear conflicted, including one who was jailed for releasing inmates from a camp.  - Wang Yang, the Politburo Standing Committee member in charge of Xinjiang policy, has hinted at concern over dissatisfaction of officials in the region, stating “traditional ethnic culture should be protected and the normal religious customs of believers should be ensured.”  ## What Is Mine Is Yours - China wants to prevent other countries from criticizing it for its human rights. - It is party to six of the nine UN international human rights treaties, including those that cover discrimination against women, racial discrimination, torture, rights of children, economic, social, and cultural rights, and rights of persons with disabilities. - China also signed on to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), but did not ratify it. - China has held a seat on the UNHRC since its establishment in 2006. - It has the ability to shape the council’s agenda and debates. - China also engaged in a much larger project to transform the definition of human rights. - It sought to legitimize China's notion of state-determined rights as opposed to inalienable and innate rights of the individual. - It also sought to legitimize China's notion of economic and social rights as opposed to civil and political rights. - The Chinese government has a number of wins, such as, in 2019, successfully advanced a resolution that called UN actors to submit examples of how "development contributes to the enjoyment of all human rights by all.” - But China’s human rights initiatives do not always succeed. ## Claiming Space in the Cyber World - Cybersecurity is no different than sovereignty over airspace or the maritime domain. - Chinese military and security analysts have long argued it. - Beijing has pursued a broad strategy of advancing internet sovereignty as an international principle. - It has established domestic policies around online freedom, privacy, and data localization that are at odds with those of liberal democracies. - China has sought to advance its norms around cyber-sovereignty. - It uses the BRI to provide training sessions and assistance in drafting laws for government officials. - It developed domestic laws to reflect strong state control. - Beijing also enforces its internet governance preferences. - It held its first World Internet Conference in 2014, which China described as "uniting government and private industry representatives from around the world" to advance ideas around "internet sovereignty." - Beijing also promoted the country’s 2010 white paper on the internet, which defined the limit of freedom of speech as “not being allowed to infringe upon state, social and collective interests or the legitimate freedom and rights of other citizens.” - China worked hard to get buy-in for its principles:  they sought to persuade conference actors to sign a declaration calling for countries to "respect Internet sovereignty—each country’s rights to the development, use, and governance of the Internet.” - A declaration was slipped under a door with a request that it be signed by 8 am. - The head of China's Cyber Commission, Lu Wei, attempted to laugh off the matter. - Beijing deliberately misrepresented Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales' address to the conference members on its official website.  - Beijing's efforts to shape norms around internet freedom continued. - The Chinese government pressed forward with its internet sovereignty norms through its 2017 Cybersecurity Law. - The law mandates that companies store data inside China and not transfer it to international servers. - It also requires that multinationals allow Chinese officials to test firms’ equipment and software. - The law allows Beijing to demand encryption keys from companies.  - In July 2020, Apple censored PopVote.  - Beijing warned the company that it contravened the new Hong Kong National Security Law. - Beijing has also pursued a decade-long strategy in partnership with the SCO to advance its cyber-sovereignty norms. - The SCO first adopted a cooperative agreement on information security in 2009, and, beginning in 2015, the member countries  conducted anti-cyberterrorism exercises that are designed to locate terrorist organization propaganda on the web.  - The SCO submitted a Code of Conduct for Information Security before the UN General Assembly in 2011 and 2015. - In 2018, Russia, with the support of China, advanced a resolution within the UN General Assembly to collect countries’ views on cybercrime. - The UN General Assembly approved a Russian resolution in December 2019 that would establish a committee of international experts to draft a ***“comprehensive international convention on countering the use of information and communications technologies for criminal purposes."*** - China has resisted any effort to apply existing international law to cyberspace. ## Let’s Get Technical - In early March 2020, the Chinese government released the basic parameters of its China Standards 2035 strategy.  - It is designed to set domestic standards for products and technologies, such as 5G, virtual reality, and the cloud, that Beijing can then internationalize, ensuring interoperability between China’s technology backbone and that of the rest of the world. - One Chinese official laid out the rationale, stating that "Industry, technology, and innovation are developing rapidly. Global technical standards are still being formed. This grants China’s industry and standards the opportunity to surpass the world’s." - The China Standards 2035 program targets many of the same technologies included in Made in China 2025, such as new energy and autonomous vehicles, environmental technologies, medical equipment, new materials, high-end equipment and manufacturing, and others; and its ambitions extend through the entire supply chain for these technologies. - The strategy also seeks to advance the proliferation of standards around Chinese platforms such as the social credit system, as well as e-commerce, finance, and logistics. - China has articulated a dedicated strategy to become a leader in setting technology standards. - It has established a number of objectives: participating in at least half of all standard setting efforts; increasing the number of Chinese officials; and establishing China as a "standards power." - The Chinese government has also placed its officials in leadership positions such as those who head The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).  ## Filling the Development Gap - The second BARF in April 2019, UN Secretary General António Guterres lauded China’s leadership in climate change. - He declared that the BRI could play an important role in meeting the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as ending extreme poverty, and called for closely linking the SDGs with Belt and Road. - The Chinese government pledged an additional $1 billion in support of international organizations. - More than 25 studies, agreements, memorandums of understanding, and letters of intent were signed by representatives of different agencies of the United Nations and Chinese officials. - China's success in integrating the BRI mission and projects into a wide range of UN organizations is the result of years of stewardship. ## The Dragon’s Bite - The economy of Greece was in shambles, plagued by ballooning debt, unemployment exceeding 25 percent, and widespread street protests.  - The newly elected leftist government of Alexis Tsipras was desperate.  - The country's European creditors had been pushing Greece to privatize the country's state assets in order to dig the country out of debt. - In 2015, China came calling. - COSCO, the world’s third largest in number of container ships and container volume, was the particular suitor. - It was the object of COSCO's desire: the Port of Piraeus. - The port had an early distinguished history. - The port was critical in defending Greece from the Persian invaders in the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC.  - It became the permanent navy base.  - It was destroyed with the absorption of Greece into the Roman Empire, then recovered in the early 1830s, until the port was bombed. - In 2009, at the outset of Greece's financial crisis, COSCO made its first foray into the port picking up a 35-year right.  - The investment paid off. The port's ranking jumped from 93rd to 44th in 2016.   - COSCO’s continued interest was not surprising. - In February 2020, Evangelos Kalpadakis, director of the Diplomatic Office in the Tsipras government, revealed that even before Tsipras was elected, the Chinese had sent officials to meet with him.  - The official wanted more from China, but China’s bid ran into difficulty.    - Tsipras pledged to halt the sale of state, and upon assuming office, he announced there would be no further privatization of Piraeus. - Yanis Varoufakis, Greek finance minister, was working to keep Chinese interest alive.   - From a strategic perspective, he saw it as daft to antagonize Beijing at a time when the battle lines against Berlin, Frankfurt, and Brussels were being drawn. - He supported COSCO’s involvement in Piraeus and the sale of Greece's railway system, writing "our ports and railways were nineteenth-century museum pieces demanding massive investment that the Greek economy couldn't (and French and German companies wouldn't) provide." - China was “the obvious solution.” - In a meeting with Ambassador Zou Xiaoli in February 2015, Varoufakis proposed that China invest in both the three main shipyards and the railway.    - Zou was surprised by the suggestion. - The Greek government initially set out a number of conditions, including the purchase of $1.8 billion in Greek treasury bonds. - The EU commissioner refused to allow Greek banks to purchase the debt as part of a debt rollover effort. - The German government intervened, telling the Chinese not to purchase the Greek T-bills. - One year later, when Tsipras traveled to China, talks focused on Piraeus and the terms of privatization.   - COSCO purchased a 51 percent stake in the port authority, with the ability to acquire a second stake. - The results have been dramatic. - The port’s global standing has continued to rise.  - It is the fourth biggest container port — and by 2020, it had surpassed Spain's Valencia as the leading European port in the Mediterranean. - Beijing is pleased with its investment.  ## The China Reset - Xi Jinping announced that China would lower its carbon intensity (the amount of CO2 emissions per unit of GDP) by over 65 percent by 2030, and increase the share of non-fossil fuels in its energy consumption to around 25 percent. - The news followed a September commitment that China would achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. - The response from the international community was more muted. - International experts and the media noted that China's current energy practices made it more climate sinner than savior.  - China contributes 28 percent of the world’s emissions of the greenhouse gas CO2, more than the next three emitters. - It remains the largest investor in clean energy.  - China was on track to invest approximately $50 billion in 240 coal projects globally. - The UN Secretary General Guterres implicitly criticized Beijing, noting in a July 2020 speech, “There is no such thing as clean coal, and coal should have no place in any rational recovery plan." - In December 2020, coal was also in the news as several Chinese cities were suffering from the worst air pollution.