China Insight Digest

Ahead of the early-March ‘Two Sessions’, Beijing is signaling tighter political and economic control: the Politburo is calling for more proactive, coordinated policies while shifting cadre evaluations away from pure GDP growth. At the same time, China’s legislature has abruptly dismissed 19 deputies, including nine senior military officers, as part of Xi Jinping’s widening anti-corruption purge, unsettling markets and prompting investors to wait for clearer policy signals. Parallel law-and-order campaigns, such as harsher sentences for telecom fraud linked to northern Myanmar, underscore a broader push to reinforce regime discipline, social stability, and central authority across the system.

This cluster tracks how China wields military, economic, and informational tools to shape its strategic environment amid rising friction with the US and its allies. In Asia, Beijing is reacting to US-Japan-Philippines drills, patrolling the South China Sea, watching US military movements, weighing in on potential support for Iran, and escalating trade and regulatory pressure on Japan as political ties sour. At the same time, China is building long-term influence through trade policy in Africa, deepening alignment with Russia in Central Asia, and embedding itself in Latin America, all within an emerging Sino-centric multilateral order. Reports of targeted influence operations against elections and public opinion in Japan, South Korea, and beyond highlight that China’s foreign policy now blends hard security moves with subtler efforts to reshape narratives and institutions globally.

This cluster tracks China’s accelerating push into advanced technology—from robotics nearing U.S. levels and AI-powered metro stations with robot dogs and drones, to state-backed innovation parks and Hong Kong startup initiatives. At the same time, global responses are diverging: Europe is excluding China from flagship research, while Huawei joins U.S. giants in AI standards efforts and South Korea’s top think tank urges cooperation over rivalry. UN delegations are studying China’s urban AI practices, even as controversies emerge over Chinese startups allegedly mining Western AI models like Claude. Together, these developments highlight how China’s tech ascent is forcing governments and firms worldwide to rethink industrial policy, security, and collaboration in the AI era.

This cluster tracks China’s transition from an investment- and property-led growth model toward services, digital industries, and stronger domestic consumption, even as growth slows. Posts highlight headwinds such as a lingering property bust, cautious macro policy, youth unemployment, and IMF calls for more forceful reforms and stimulus. At the same time, developments like a stronger yuan, a pullback from state-backed digital cash, and evolving outbound investment reshape China’s financial footprint abroad and expose Europe and other economies to new forms of dependence and risk.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s first visit to China, including stops at AI and tech hubs, signals Berlin’s push to reset relations, secure new business deals, and rebalance trade after a recent ‘China shock.’ Parallel media and think-tank pieces probe whether China is an indispensable economic powerhouse or a risky partner, highlighting Merz’s praise for strong ties even as concerns grow about dependence and security. In the UK, discussions of Green, Reform and Labour (Starmer) foreign policies reveal wider European unease and division over how tough or accommodating to be toward Beijing, a debate that will shape future trade, tech, and geopolitical strategy across the continent.

These posts track how Trump-era policies transformed the US–China relationship from cautious engagement to overt strategic and economic rivalry. They cover Beijing’s mixed signals of willingness to cooperate on trade, US tariffs and a Supreme Court ruling that undercuts them, and controversies over Trump’s stance on Taiwan arms sales. The content also examines how a potential Trump 2.0 administration could further harden or redirect China policy, raising questions about American global dominance and the stability of the Indo-Pacific order. Together, they highlight the high stakes for global markets, security, and long-term great-power competition.

This cluster tracks how Chinese culture is moving from something people observe to something they actively adopt and perform. Stories range from foreigners immersing in Spring Festival and Lingnan heritage to global internet trends like ‘Chinamaxxing’, where young Westerners copy Chinese study, diet and lifestyle habits. At the same time, domestic social shifts—such as Chinese singles renting fake partners for Lunar New Year to dodge family pressure—reveal tensions between tradition and modern expectations. Together, these pieces show China’s growing soft power online and the complex realities behind the culture being exported and emulated.