Czech businessman detained by Beijing faces espionage charges and could be part of swap with Chinese spy Chinese authorities have been holding the Czech businessman for a month but have kept secret what they wanted to charge the man with.

Czech businessman detained by Beijing faces espionage charges and could be part of swap with Chinese spy

A trip to discuss post-warranty servicing of Czech-made airport radars has spiralled into an espionage case. A Czech businessman detained in China could be traded for a Chinese agent held in Prague.

euobserver.com

An industry in crisis: VW confirmed 100,000 job cuts on July 24, Audi lowered revenue guide 8% July 27, Porsche extended its program to roughly 9,000 positions by 2035, BMW launched 8,000-place voluntary redundancy scheme July 29, Mercedes posted 22% EBIT rise on falling revenue

Federation of German Industries CEO: "We are experiencing a China shock 2.0" "It is not just affecting individual sectors, but massively impacting industry as a whole:.."

"MOFCOM is correct, China is competitive. But what foreign firms compete against isn't just supple, hard-driving Chinese firms but a whole-of-state approach to industry. Foreign firms stand little chance against a Leninist developmental state of China’s size, wealth & modernity"

How likely is Beijing to walk the talk on boosting consumption? As long as external demand holds up, policymakers appear relatively untroubled by weakening domestic demand, despite rhetoric to the contrary Good read @wangxiangweihk

Opinion | How likely is Beijing to walk the talk on boosting consumption?

As long as external demand holds up, policymakers appear relatively untroubled by weakening domestic demand, despite rhetoric to the contrary.

scmp.com

My reporting was picked up by Guancha - thanks to the excellent Cross Purposes newsletter for translating the 5 most popular comments "They asked for a beating and got one. Let these 14 companies export military supplies or equipment to Russia." 😵‍💫

Finbarr Bermingham@fbermingham.bsky.social · 5d ago

NEW: Beijing turns the screws as Brussels tests limits of restraint China's escalation dominance, Europe's reticence, and what it means for their brewing trade war A deep dive from me with plenty of exclusive details

. Noah Barkin explains German econ minister Reiche's open defiance of Merz Promised to keep her Brussels meet with Wang Wentao - on eve of EU-China talks - under wraps, then put out a press release. Hid French non-paper on imbalances for 6 months from other govt depts

Ceuta... how depressingly divided Europe is. Zero solidarity. Despite big-character posters draped on the side of EU buildings, zero unity. Does Brussels still believe a "solidarity fund" can convince capitals to band together to take on China in a trade war in the Autumn?

Scoop: Top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas expected to visit Beijing in autumn amid deepest strains in years

Exclusive | Top EU diplomat Kallas expected to visit Beijing amid deepest strains in years

It will be Kaja Kallas’ first face-to-face meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi since a bruising encounter in Brussels last summer.

scmp.com

Just in: EU Commission has accused Chinese company Temu of obstructing a raid on its Dublin offices late last year under the foreign subsidies regulation Says Temu failed to provide info on management of its EU activities, IT tools & systems, books & records on its EU ops

NEW: Beijing turns the screws as Brussels tests limits of restraint China's escalation dominance, Europe's reticence, and what it means for their brewing trade war A deep dive from me with plenty of exclusive details

EU-China trade: Beijing turns the screws as Brussels tests limits of restraint

Latest sanctions suggest Chinese effort to ramp up pressure on Europe and strike fear into member states before crunch time in October.

scmp.com

German economy minister Reiche's answer to Chinese EV competition is to weaken vehicle emissions rules. What decade does she live in? Reiche: "It is important that Brussels now delivers on making fleet regulation flexible enough to ensure that no fines are imposed"

Chinese & German carmakers have stepped up cooperation on autonomous driving despite wider trade tensions BYD, Geely, SAIC, Xpeng, Xiaomi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, VW, Porsche met in Beijing to discuss common standards for smart cars, automated parking, cross-border data

UEFA says FIFA sell-off plan is "an act of coercion" - they should ask the Commission if they can borrow the ACI, not sure they're using it at the moment

Statement on behalf of UEFA and its 55 national associations | UEFA.com

UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions.

uefa.com

European nations agree to boycott World Cup if FIFA goes ahead with sell-off plan news.sky.com/story/europe...

European nations agree to boycott World Cup if FIFA goes ahead with sell-off plan

The agreement at an emergency UEFA meeting comes two days after Sky News revealed there was a plan to withdraw from FIFA's showpiece tournaments in protest.

news.sky.com

The EU launches €30bn plan to establish 7 AI gigafactories, to "accelerate Europe's tech sovereignty & ambition of becoming the AI Continent" There will be "up to €10 billion in EU and national funding" + "expected to unlock at least €20 billion in private investment"

Belgian chemical company Solvay plans to invest an additional €15 to €20 million to "strengthen the capacity" of its French plant in La Rochelle, which it describes as "one of the largest rare earth separation facilities outside of China"

Terres rares : le chimiste Solvay va investir 15 à 20 millions d’euros supplémentaires à La Rochelle

Le chimiste belge Solvay prévoit 15 à 20 millions d'euros d'investissements supplémentaires pour «renforcer les capacités» de son usine française...

lefigaro.fr

Chinese battery manufacturer CATL has signed a strategic agreement with Bulgarian solar and energy storage company Solarpro to supply 2 GWh of sodium-ion battery energy storage systems (BESS) for projects in Central and Eastern Europe.

CATL signs 2 GWh sodium-ion battery supply deal in Europe - Energy Storage

CATL has agreed to supply 2 GWh of sodium-ion battery storage systems to Bulgaria’s Solarpro for projects in Central and Eastern Europe.

ess-news.com

VW CEO Oliver Blume has called on EU to quickly impose tariffs on Chinese plug-in hybrid vehicles "We have no time to lose... regulations on BEVs are working. There we are competitive on pricing. Where it's not working is PHEV"

Adam Tooze on the difference between the China shock 1 & 2 "Talking of shocks perhaps we should borrow terminology from seismology, in which case China Shock 1.0 was a foreshock and what we are facing in the 2020s is the main event" open.substack.com/pub/adamtooz... …

Chartbook 462: China shocked - beyond 1.0 and 2.0 to the "Big One".

China’s trade data tell a dramatic story.

open.substack.com

Perfect Brussels response: EU warns FIFA World Cup sell-off could breach competition law

EU warns FIFA World Cup sell-off could breach competition law | Euractiv

The reported scheme to effectively auction off the World Cup could breach EU rules, commissioner warns

euractiv.com

Greek aluminium producer ⁠METLEN Energy & Metals will cover 100% of EU gallium needs when it starts producing in 2028 - also signed a long-term agreement to supply a ​US technology company with gallium, absorbing 25% of its annual production www.ekathimerini.com...

Interesting: WTO panel found Türkiye's additional duties on Chinese EVs were inconsistent with global trade rules Different to EU case though. EU imposed duties following an anti-subsidy investigation, Türkiye measures were unilateral additional tariffs on environmental grounds

Even with stonking exports, Chinese automotive manufacturing profits dropped 19.5% year-on-year to 195.35 billion yuan ($27.1 billion) in the first half of 2026 despite overall industry revenue rising 1.8%

EU has slapped anti-dumping duties ranging from 60%-67.5% on Chinese-made polyamide yarns eur-lex.europa.eu/le...

German officials are working behind the scenes to identify Chinese economic vulnerabilities that they could exploit if the EU finds itself in a trade war with Beijing Berlin is informally mapping China’s weaknesses by analysing trade flows, supply chains and company-level data

China’s Ministry of Commerce has released a document rebutting claims of Chinese overcapacity, arguing that its industrial output is not a result of subsidies and insufficient domestic demand, but is instead driven by innovation and reform.

China pushes back against Western overcapacity claims in new document

Beijing says it ‘never deliberately pursued a trade surplus’ and that its strong exports are driven by innovation, not subsidies or overcapacity.

scmp.com

China Starts Mass-Producing Homegrown DUV Chipmaking Tools, An Advance for Local Chip Industry Clock ticking for one of Europe's chokepoints? www.theinformation.c...

The German government is expected to impose conditions on the US takeover of a Frankfurt-area magnet manufacturer, threatening to strain relations between DC and Berlin and complicate US efforts to break supply-chain reliance on China. www.bloomberg.com/ne...

The EU has chickened out of two safeguard probes in the chemicals sector because it doesn't want to jeopardise talks with China, Joanna Sopinska (again!) reports Looks like these probes will be on hold until after October now, despite the industrial emergency