22 Business Spotlight 6/2019 GLOBAL BUSINESS
Fotos: Natalie Neomi Isser/Süddeutsche Zeitung Photo; lucky-photographer/iStock.comaccount for: ... ~ ...
[E(kaUnt fO:]
, auf ... entfällt/entfallen ...
bond [bQnd] , Anleihe
cerium [(sIEriEm]
, Cerium
praseodymium
[)preIziEU(dImiEm]
, Praseodym
purchase [(p§:tSEs]
, Kauf
rare earth metal
[reEr )§:T (met&l]
, Seltenerdmetall
soybean [(sOIbi:n]
, Sojabohne
stuck between a rock and
a hard place: be ~
[)stVk bi)twi:n E )rQk
End E (hA:d pleIs] ifml.
, sich in einer Zwickmühle
befinden
trump card [(trVmp kA:d]
, Trumpf(karte)
yttrium [(itriEm]
, YttriumYou cannot eat bonds, of course, but you can
eat beans, soybeans. As part of the trade war,
China’s purchases of soybeans from the US
fell significantly, which is very bad news for US
farmers. And this, in turn, is bad news for Pres-
ident Trump, who gets much of his support
from rural voters. But, again, China is stuck be-
tween a rock and a hard place. With nearly 100
million metric tons of annual soybean imports
on the table, Beijing’s soybean appetite reflects
the worrying reality of the country’s food secu-
rity dilemma.Kai Strittmatter: Life in China’s Surveillance State
Kai Strittmatter is a German
journalist who worked in China
for many years. His book We Have
Been Harmonised: Life in China’s
Surveillance State is a thought-
provoking account of how the
Chinese Communist Party is
evolving from what the inter-
net freedom advocate Rebecca
MacKinnon calls “networked
authoritarianism” to networked
totalitarianism.
Digital technology is their
preferred way of enabling thistransition, and the book offers
some disturbing insights into
technology’s potential for the
party’s plans. The recent protests
in Hong Kong about a proposed
extradition law have led some
people to wonder whether Xi Jin-
ping will reverse China’s moves
to create the ultimate surveil-
lance state, but Tyler Cowen, an
American economist who writes
for Bloomberg, doesn’t think so.
“Democracy Is Not Coming
to China Anytime Soon” was thetitle of a recent column by Cow-
en, who noted: “In fact, if you had
to name the one large institution
in the entire world that has had
the most success since 1980, it
would be hard to come up with
a better answer than the Chinese
Communist Party.” The West
must react to the party’s surveil-
lance state strategy, argues Kai
Strittmatter, because China is
now selling its “Operating Sys-
tem for Dictators” in Asia, Africa,
Russia and the Middle East.Different ideologies
Trump’s trade war caught China by surprise
because it remains dependent on the US for
so many essential technologies, but China is
moving from defence to attack and has its own
trump card, it believes. At the end of May, Bei-
jing presented its own list of “unreliable” for-
eign companies and threatened to stop exports
of rare earth metals, which are essential for the
high-tech industry. China accounts for over 95
per cent of the world’s production of such rare
earths as cerium, praseodymium and yttrium.account [E(kaUnt]
, hier: Bericht
advocate [(ÄdvEkEt]
, Verfechter(in)
evolve (from sth. to
sth.) [i(vQlv]
, sich (aus etw. zu
etw.) entwickeln, sich
(von etw. zu etw.)
wandeln
extradition law
[)ekstrE(dIS&n lO:]
, Auslieferungsrecht
insight [(InsaIt]
, Einblick
reverse sth. [ri(v§:s]
, etw. umkehren;
hier: eine Kehrtwende
bei etw. einläuten
surveillance
[sE(veIlEns]
, Überwachung
thought-provoking
[(TO:t prE)vEUkIN]
, zum Nachdenken
anregend
transition
[trÄn(zIS&n]
, Übergang, WandelCritical
observer of
China: Kai
Strittmatter