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China’s Anti-U.S. Propaganda Results in Chinese Discrimination Against Those Who Return from Living Abroad

Yitang Zhang, a Chinese-American mathematician and professor at University of California, Santa Barbara since 2015, has decided to return to the Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province as a full-time professor in 2025. His return to China has sparked wide discussion on the Internet, due to China’s long-term anti-U.S. propaganda that has fostered discrimination against overseas returnees.

People’s Daily summarized four common prejudices:

  1. “Picking the Fruit” Theory: Some believe returnees abandoned China during difficult times and are now coming back to enjoy the benefits, possibly past their prime.
  2. “Second-Tier Talent” Theory: Some see returnees as those who failed abroad and are now overvalued at home.
  3. “Studying Abroad is a Betrayal” Theory: Some view studying abroad as unpatriotic, regardless of whether one returns.
  4. “Local vs. Returnee” Theory: Some believe favoring returnees is unfair to domestic talents who have stayed in China and put in the hard work for so many years.

The article calls for more overseas talents to return and to contribute to China’s development.

Source: Beijing Daily, July 4, 2025
https://news.bjd.com.cn/2025/07/04/11221886.shtml

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Information/Technology

Beijing to Launch World’s First Embodied Intelligent Robot 4S (Sales, Service, Spare Parts, and Surveys) Store

Beijing Yizhuang, in Daxing District where Beijing’s Economic-Technological Development Area is located, has announced that the world’s first Embodied Intelligent Robot 4S Store will officially debut during the 2025 World Robot Conference hosted in Beijing in August. The “4S” dealership model in China refers to Sales, Service, Spare Parts, and Surveys (customer feedback). The new store will be located in the Beijing Robotics Industrial Park (Yizhuang).

This 4S store, centered on embodied intelligent robots, innovatively integrates Sales, Spare Parts, Service, and Survey into one platform.

The Robot 4S Store focuses on providing high-compatibility scenario demonstrations and immersive interaction spaces for the world’s top embodied intelligent robots. It also aims to establish a nationwide rapid response network for spare parts and a fast maintenance system supported by professional teams. Additionally, it will offer data-driven, full-cycle intelligent maintenance and demand feedback mechanisms to provide continuous market insights for enterprises. So far, over 100 upstream and downstream companies in the robotics industry have expressed interest in joining the 4S store, including 30 humanoid robot companies.

Beijing Yizhuang, as a key hub for Beijing’s robotics industry and the permanent venue for the World Robot Conference, has already gathered over 300 robotics and smart manufacturing ecosystem companies. The total scale of the local robotics industry has surpassed tens of billions of yuan, accounting for nearly half of Beijing’s entire robotics sector.

Source: People’s Daily, June 12, 2025
http://bj.people.com.cn/n2/2025/0612/c14540-41257266.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Information/Technology

Huanqiu Times: South Korean Employee Says “It’s So Difficult to Catch up with China”

CCP mouthpiece Huanqiu Times published a translation of South Korea’s Hankyoreh article on July 3, reporting that a South Korean employee at a manufacturing firm in China said “If South Korea can’t succeed in China, it can’t succeed globally.” The employee added that “catching up with China’s industrial strength” is becoming increasingly difficult.

He noted that Chinese consumers prefer local products not just out of patriotism but for better value. Seeing China’s self-driving cars outperform Tesla and humanoid robots actively engaging with people raises doubts about South Korea’s ability to keep up. If there were a Robot Soccer World Cup, he said, “China would win.”

Despite U.S. attempts to block advanced tech, China continues to make rapid breakthroughs. Huawei’s phones rival Apple and Samsung, DeepSeek competes with ChatGPT, and Chinese battery makers are overtaking South Korean firms with better, cheaper products.

By fostering local enterprises and creating a thriving domestic market, China has nurtured leading companies and propelled them into the global arena – making it increasingly difficult for other countries to compete. Though challenges remain, China has moved from follower to leader – thanks to its distinctive industrial policies.

Source: Huanqiu Times, July 4, 2025
https://m.huanqiu.com/article/4NMaM5cBsR2

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

JoongAng Ilbo: China’s Quiet Push in the Yellow Sea Poses New Territorial Threat to South Korea

South Korea’s largest media outlet, JoongAng Ilbo, reported on July 11 that the country is facing a major territorial threat from China. Unlike the direct conflict of the long-standing tension between North Korea and South Korea, China is quietly advancing a “Yellow Sea Project,” aiming to turn the Yellow Sea – the body of water between China and South Korea – into China’s own maritime territory. This could have serious consequences for South Korea, JoongAng Ilbo reported.

Due to overlapping Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), South Korea and China agreed in 2000 to jointly manage a Provisional Measure Zone (PMZ), allowing fishing by Chinese boats but banning facility construction and resource development. Since 2018, however, China has installed large steel structures in the PMZ, allegedly for the purpose of aquaculture but potentially usable for military purposes. Seoul’s protests against Beijing’s actions have gone unanswered. In February 2025, a South Korean research vessel was blocked and threatened by Chinese forces when approaching the area.

The JoongAng Ilbo article suggests that South Korea consider building similar structures, citing Vietnam’s example in the South China Sea. The article criticizes the Korean government’s weak stance and urges stronger resolve to protect the country’s maritime sovereignty.

Source: Epoch Times, July 11, 2025
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/25/7/10/n14549090.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

French Security Agency Shut Down at least 9 Covert, CCP-Operated “Police Stations” on French Soil

France’s internal security agency (DGSI) recently confirmed the presence of at least nine covert Chinese “police stations” operating on French soil. These facilities, run by the CCP for the purpose of monitoring, intimidating, or repatriate Chinese nationals, highlight Beijing’s overseas interference tactics. These stations have now been shut down.

A 2022 report by Spanish non-government organization Safeguard Defenders identified over 100 such stations worldwide, initially listing only four in France. French intelligence grew concerned upon discovering the Chinese embassy’s involvement behind the scenes.

Though not officially recognized as police outposts, these stations were run by unregistered “liaison officers” acting on behalf of China, offering services similar to state functions and engaging in unauthorized activities like intelligence gathering, transnational repression, and talent recruitment.

DGSI summoned Chinese representatives in late 2023, demanding closures. The stations were dismantled, but the agents involved were not expelled. France requested three individuals be recalled, but Beijing reportedly declined.

While the physical sites are gone, French authorities warn that covert Chinese operations – such as surveillance and pressure on dissidents – likely continue through plainclothes agents. Source: Radio France International, July 9, 2025
https://www.rfi.fr/cn/法国/20250709-法国情报局-关闭9座中国警察站-特务仍潜伏监视异见人士-法方或拒绝-地下警察局-认定

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China Tries to Control Cutthroat Price Wars Across Key Industries

In recent years, China’s auto, photovoltaic, lithium battery, cement, and other industries have faced intense “involution-style” competition, with companies blindly cutting prices and overbuilding to seize limited market share both domestically and overseas. This has severely eroded profits, damaged supply chains, and endangered entire sectors.

Now Beijing tries to control the cutthroat price competition in China.

In 2025, China’s auto industry saw a fierce price war, with some models slashed by over 50,000 yuan (a car may only sell for 150,000 yuan). Over 100 models cut prices by May, trapping the industry in a cycle of sales growth without profits. In Q1 2025, the industry’s profit margin fell to 3.9 percent, and major automakers extended payments to their suppliers for dangerously long periods. Now the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers and 17 automakers have jointly called for an end to destructive price wars and promised to pay suppliers within 60 days.

In the photovoltaic sector, top glass manufacturers will cut production by 30 percent from July to ease competition. The lithium battery industry is also reducing output to rebalance supply and demand. The civil aviation sector plans to tighten pricing rules to prevent under-cost competition.

On July 1, the China Cement Association urged the industry to cut overcapacity, with provinces like Shandong and Sichuan starting staggered production. Steel, coal, and other industries are also moving to limit overproduction and fight harmful price competition.

Source: Sina Finance, July 4, 2025
https://finance.sina.com.cn/jjxw/2025-07-04/doc-infefssx2994474.shtml

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Chinese Scholar: EU Increasingly Views China as Rival Rather than Partner Amid Geopolitical Tensions

On July 4, Xin Hua, Director of the European Union (EU) Research Center at Shanghai International Studies University, stated at the forum “The New Dynamics of U.S.-EU Relations in the Trump 2.0 Era” that the EU is increasingly viewing China as a competitor and, to some extent, as part of an opposing camp.

Xin noted that since Trump’s return to office earlier this year, U.S.-EU conflicts have intensified, and the previously established mechanisms for mutual coordination and communication have largely disappeared. He said EU decision-makers and political elites are experiencing “triple anxieties” in the economic and technological spheres: anxiety over lagging competitiveness in research and tech companies, anxiety over resilience amid global instability, and anxiety over access to critical minerals and data.

How does this affect China-EU relations? Xin explained that in its 2019 strategic outlook, the EU labeled China as a “partner, competitor, and systemic rival.” But due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and U.S.-China tensions, the EU’s view of China has fundamentally shifted – competition now dominates the China-EU relationship. “The EU now sees China as part of a confrontational bloc to some extent,” he said.

Although Trump’s policies have made Europeans feel “pain and humiliation,” Europe has not moved closer to China or attempted to align with China to counterbalance the U.S. On the contrary, the EU hopes to leverage U.S.-China conflict to pressure China into making policy concessions beneficial to Europe.

In this context, Europe perceives China as a challenge or even a threat, showing little will to improve bilateral ties. Instead, it is advancing supply chain restructuring to reduce strategic dependence on China, and tightening scrutiny on Chinese investments to prevent China’s acquisition of Europe’s strategic assets. In trade and investment involving general industries, China-EU cooperation is also expected to face increasing obstacles.

Unlike the U.S., whose concerns about China are rooted in strategic security and military defense, Europe lacks such considerations. Thus, even if Europe clashes with China, it is unlikely to lead to prolonged or intense confrontation. Source: Lianhe Zaobao, July 6, 2025
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/news/china/story20250706-7084196

Briefings | | |   @CS Geo-Strategic Trend