The Economist

32 China The EconomistJuly 21 st 2018

2 to increase in the next five years. Jean-

Claude Juncker president of the European

Commission the EU’s executive arm not-

ed in Beijing that European direct invest-

ment into China had hit a low of € 6 bn

($ 7 bn) in 2017  compared with € 30 bn in-

vested by China in the EU. The green light

given to BMW proves that China “knows

how to open up” when it wants to Mr

Junckeradded waspishly.

Chinese interest in the EU hit a peak in

2003  at a moment when it looked as if the

union was getting a constitution a foreign

ministerand a full-time president and was

defying America over the invasion of Iraq.

That honeymoon ended a few years later

as Europe proved unwilling to challenge

American hegemony. At a policy confer-

ence in Sweden in 2009 a Chinese partici-

pant captured the mood when he called

America a strong man and China a teen-

ager but Europe a decadent “rich old guy”.

China spent years pressing the EUto lift

an arms embargo imposed after the crush-

ing of the Tiananmen Square protests in

1989  to keep quiet about Chinese garrison-

buildingin the South China Sea and to sup-

port China’s claim to “market-economy

status” at the WTO which would make it

harder for Europe to accuse China of

dumping. Chinese envoys unblushingly

told EU diplomats to grant these conces-

sions because “we should be given this.”

Disputes over the South China Sea trade

and market-economy status meant that

EU-China summits in 2016 and 2017 ended

testilywithout joint statements.

Yet at this year’s summit China did not

mention the market-economy topic. The

once-burning issue of the arms embargo

has also been largelyshelved. In the words

of François Godemont of the European

Council on Foreign Relations a think-tank

China’s urgent concern is propping up a

profitable status quo in the global trading

system: “What they have they want to

keep. That’s the ‘bigask’.”

Keeping the status quo China now

sees involves defending the rules-based

order. Still differences lurk. China may

now accept that the WTO needs fixing but

its motives are not Europe’s. In talks this

week between Liu He Mr Xi’s economic

adviser and Jyrki Katainen a vice-presi-

dent of the European Commission Mr Liu

appeared to view stronger trade rules as

mainly a way to restrain America. The EU

wants to shore up the global trading sys-

tem to bear China’s fast-growingweight.

WangYiwei ofRenmin University who

worked at China’s mission to the EU in

Brussels pinpoints perhaps the most im-

portant point of difference. China sees Mr

Trump asa herald ofAmerica’sfuture as an

angry deindustrialised power he says. But

Europeans hope that Mr Trump is an aber-

ration: “They are waiting for the mid-

terms or anotherpresident.”

That leaves China quietly testing West-

ern unity where it can. Days before the EU

summit Mr Li the prime minister was in

Bulgaria fora meetingofthe “ 16 + 1 ” group of

formercommunistcountries from eastand

central Europe. Eleven of its members be-

long to the EU. Founded at China’s urging

in 2012  the group saves China the bother

ofcourtingsome ofEurope’s smaller coun-

tries separatelyand offers those tiddlers an

annual meetingwith China’s prime minis-

ter. The group increasingly frustrates its

larger members notably Poland which

onlysenta deputyprime ministerto the re-

cent meeting. Officials in Brussels and Ber-

lin view “ 16 + 1 ” as a bid to divide Europe

and thus the West. That is not impossible.

For now though a united Europe has its

uses. China is impatient for great-power

status. Rules-free conflict with the West

will not help it get there. 7

Cinema

Mark-up madness

“I

CAN’Tbelieve the censors let this

one slide” remarks an online com-

mentator on Zhihu a question-and-

answerforum. He was referringto “Dy-

ingto Survive” a darkcomedy released

on July 5 th which is on trackto become

one ofChina’s highest-grossingproduc-

tions ofall time. The film which raked in

a record $ 200 m in its openingweekend

on a budget ofjust $ 1 5m isbased on the

true story of Lu Yong. Mr Luwas arrested

in 2013 for peddlingknock-off cancer

drugs imported illegallyfrom India (the

actor playinghim is pictured wearing

sunglasses alongwith two others in

roles as smugglers-cum-patients).

This month will also be noted in

Chinese cinematic history for a different

reason. On July 15 th “Asura” the most

expensive film ever made in China at

$ 113 m was pulled from cinemas just three

days afterits launch owingto dismal

box-office takings. The fantasy film had

collected a humiliating$ 7 m.

The contrastingpopularity ofthe two

films should worryChina’s cultural

commissars. “Dyingto Survive” has been

a huge success despite beinga radical

departure from China’s film policy

which is to encourage the production of

upliftingfare that presents the govern-

ment in a good light. Chinese-made films

hardly ever touch on sensitive social

issues. “Dyingto Survive” however

confronts the problem ofunaffordable

drugprices head-on. Astudy in 2012

found that a fifth ofcommonlyused

Western medicines were more expensive

in China than anywhere else.

The film has clearlytouched a raw

nerve amongviewers. Perhaps to stave

off criticism the medical-insurance

administration announced last weekthat

it had invited ten foreign and eight do-

mesticdrugcompanies for “negotia-

tions” in a bid to drive down prices. On

July 10 th the food and drugauthoritysaid

it would speed up approval offoreign

drugs. Bruce LiuofFudanin a health-care

consultancyin Shanghai predicts that

cinema-goers’ spirited reaction will

prompt the government to include more

drugs on its public-reimbursement

scheme. Government censors mayhave

come to regret givingthe film the green

light. Theyhave reportedlyasked pro-

moters to tone down the marketing.

The spectacularflop of “Asura” which

glorifies Tibetan mythology suggests that

tryingto engineera Hollywood-scale

blockbusterbyadding special effects to a

politically correct script is unlikely to

work. China for all its grand ambitions

has yet to find a winningformula. If the

past month is any guide it is the more

freewheelingfilms that are likelier to be

box-office hits. For the government that

is not good news.

Ablockbusterfilm prompts the government to cut drug prices