Why the Teamsters are courting Trump

GIVING MAGA WORKING CLASS COVER

The new populist right is far more amenable to workers and trade unions than the left wants to admit.

ZAID JILANI
18th July 2024

SPIKED


In 2018, I covered a state legislative race in West Virginia, where a Republican state senator felt pretty confident. Robert Karnes opposed a local teachers strike and told a local newspaper that he wasn’t worried about any kind of backlash from teachers. ‘I can’t say that it will have zero effect, but I don’t think it’ll have any significant effect because, more often than not, they probably weren’t voting on the Republican side of the aisle anyways’, he said of West Virginia’s teachers. But the local teachers unions called his bluff. Organised labour spent around $10,000 backing his opponent in the GOP primary, and he went down in flames. ‘I think that teachers showed their political power in the primary’, a local high-school teacher told me at the time.

I’m reminded of that story now when I think about the rousing speech that Sean O’Brien, president of the Teamsters union, gave at the Republican National Convention (RNC) this week. Unlike many of the other speakers at the event, O’Brien did not endorse Donald Trump or the Republican Party at large. His union hasn’t decided which candidate to endorse this year, if any. His remarks were fiery and independent. ‘We are not beholden to anyone or any party’, he thundered.

O’Brien insisted that his union will work with anyone in a bipartisan fashion in order to pursue the interests of its workers. He denounced the corporate elites who have power over both parties in Washington, and he singled out a pair of populist Republican senators – Missouri’s Josh Hawley and vice-presidential candidate JD Vance of Ohio – for praise for their work on workers’ issues.

In the annals of political history, the speech was remarkable. It was the first time a Teamsters president had addressed a Republican presidential convention, and it is almost unheard of for speakers at the event to promote organised labour or denounce big business.

In today’s Washington, unions are largely in the Democratic camp, and that’s exactly how the Chamber of Commerce and other GOP-aligned business groups like it. O’Brien’s speech served as a sort of fig leaf: he was announcing that his union was open to working alongside Republicans – as it has with Hawley in recent months – provided that they are open to working with his members. Although he didn’t endorse Trump, he did flatter his ego a bit – calling him a ‘tough SOB’ (son of a bitch), following the assassination attempt.

If you’re familiar with how politics works, nothing O’Brien did was particularly foolhardy. He’s trying to build his influence in the Republican Party. If the polling is correct, a Republican trifecta is well within reach this year, meaning that if the Teamsters were aligned only with Democrats, they would effectively be shut out of federal policymaking for years to come.

Courting both parties is no different than what any number of other interest groups do – from Wall Street to Big Pharma to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to realtors. But the reaction to O’Brien’s speech from the left has been positively acerbic. White House staff were reportedly ‘furious’ at O’Brien for daring to appear at the RNC, pointing to a pension bailout that Biden had secured for the Teamsters. Other unions denounced O’Brien for giving the Republicans the time of day.

‘It’s disappointing to see a national labour leader speak like that at the GOP convention’, said Matthew Biggs, who serves as the president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers. ‘Make no mistake about it, [Republicans’] intent is to crush federal unions and have mass firings of federal employees and turn the government into an at-will employer where people are hired and fired based on their political leanings.’

Left-wing accounts on social media were even less diplomatic towards O’Brien. Apparently, a rogue staffer even posted a message on the Teamsters’ account denouncing him for endorsing an op-ed Hawley wrote promoting pro-labour conservatism. ‘Unions gain nothing from endorsing the racist, misogynistic and anti-trans politics of the far right’, it thundered, before being quickly deleted.

This sentiment is emblematic of how many on the activist left now approach politics: you’re either with us on every single issue under the rainbow, or you’re not even worth working with on anything.

But if O’Brien endorsed the same philosophy, he would only be weakening his union. Hawley has proved increasingly useful to the union movement over the past year. Last year, he dropped his support for so-called right-to-work laws that make it harder to organise a union; he supported the United Auto Workers during their strike against the big three automakers; he was the only Republican to join Democrats to try to block a Senate vote that would nullify the National Labor Relations Board’s ‘joint-employer’ rule, which helps workers more easily bargain with companies that might use contractors or staffing agencies to dilute worker power.

Leftists will be quick to point out that Hawley still hasn’t co-sponsored the Protecting the Right to Organise (PRO) Act, which would enhance worker protections and weaken ‘right-to-work’ across the country. But if you were to raise this fact with O’Brien, he would probably remind you that Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither were brand new political alliances.

Political parties in the United States are built out of massive coalitions filled with competing interests. For decades, big business and its allies have called the shots in the GOP, and the Republican base views unions with deep suspicion.

But if O’Brien’s path to changing the party is a long one, it’s also well worth travelling. Being shut out of political power by half the spectrum is no way for labour to rebuild itself in the United States. Just take the advice of Randi Weingarten, the powerful teachers-union leader and Democratic partisan, who praised O’Brien for his speech. ‘Education used to be a bipartisan issue’, she lamented, alluding to the fact that teachers unions now have marginal influence over the GOP. O’Brien wants to make sure his members don’t suffer the same fate.

Zaid Jilani is a journalist and communications consultant based in Atlanta. Follow him on X: @ZaidJilani.

COLD WAR REDUX

Russia could deploy nuclear-tipped missiles in response to US decision to station weapons in Germany

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov says all options on table to counter threats

Elena Teslova |18.07.2024 -

Kapustin Yar training ground in Russia's southern Astrakhan region near the Caspian Sea

MOSCOW

Russia on Thursday refused to rule out the possibility of deploying nuclear-tipped missiles in response to a US decision to station long-range cruise missiles in Germany.

Speaking to journalists in Moscow about the US plan to deploy Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles to Germany starting in 2026, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Russia will respond to any steps taken by the US to enhance its nuclear missile capacity.

"We must be prepared for various scenarios, including negative ones," he said.

Asked if Russia might place nuclear-tipped missiles in some regions as a countermeasure, Ryabkov responded: "I do not rule out any option."

He emphasized Russia will decide "what, where, and when" to deploy based on the overall capacity of NATO countries.

"This is not a threat to anyone. It is important to find the most effective option, including in terms of cost, to respond to changing challenges," he explained.

Ryabkov also criticized Western countries for escalating tensions. "This is a sad situation, but it will not deter us from fulfilling our tasks to ensure our security along the entire perimeter of Russia's borders, including our air defense zone," he said.

A joint statement by the US and Germany on July 10 announced the deployment of Tomahawk cruise missiles and other long-range weapons to Germany, starting in 2026. The last deployment of such long-range weapons by the US to Germany was in the 1990s.

Russia had earlier warned that the move could lead to a Cold War-style “direct confrontation.”

Moscow Facing Growing Problems with Its Icebreaker Fleet, Allowing China and Other Countries to Gain Advantages on the Northern Sea Route

Russian Citizens Among Those Involved in Crocus City Hall Terrorist Attack, Chikhanchin Says

  Staunton, July 18 – As is its custom, the Kremlin has sought to place the blame for the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack in Moscow last spring on foreigners, but  now Yury Chikhanchin, the head of the Russian financial intelligence service says, it has become clear that Russian citizens were among those involved.

            He says that it would have been impossible for the terrorists to achieve their goals without such support, but his acknowledgement made during a presentation to Russia’s Federation Council undercuts the Kremlin’s messages (tass.ru/proisshestviya/21371177 and newizv.ru/news/2024-07-16/glava-finrazvedki-rf-k-teraktu-v-krokuse-prichastny-ochen-mnogie-rossiyane-431925).

            More than that, Chikhchancin’s conclusion means that within the Russian leadership, there is a growing awareness that Moscow is threatened not just by foreigners but by Russian citizens, a recognition that may lead to even harsher repression against the population of that country.

Moscow Facing Growing Problems with Its Icebreaker Fleet, Allowing China and Other Countries to Gain Advantages on the Northern Sea Route

            Staunton, July 18 – Russia is keeping its icebreakers in service long after they were slated to be retired because it has been forced to delay or cancel programs for building new ones as a result of the West’s sanctions regime; and those trends are sparking fears of disaster on the one hand and allowing China and other countries to gain on Russia in this sector.

            Russia’s problems are longstanding and intensifying, experts say, and call into question Putin’s plans for the development of the Northern Sea Route (ridl.io/ru/arkticheskaya-ekonomika-rossii-na-fone-vojny/ and ispionline.it/en/publication/moscows-arctic-projects-amidst-the-war-sanctions-lng-projects-icebreakers-and-the-northern-sea-route-178452).

            Moreover, while Russia retains a large lead over other countries in terms of the number of icebreakers, a lead that Russian experts believe will allow Moscow to continue to dominate the icebreaker balance (rosbalt.ru/news/2024-07-15/zapad-pugayut-boevye-ledokoly-stroyaschiesya-v-peterburge-5139174), other countries are actively developing their fleets.

            Among those doing so now are Canada, Finland, the US and China (trtrussian.com/novosti/kanada-vstupaet-v-borbu-za-arktiku-18183924, thebarentsobserver.com/en/2024/07/finland-canada-us-and-build-icebreakers-arctic and thebarentsobserver.com/en/arctic/2024/07/china-commissions-new-icebreaker).

            Building such ships takes from three to eight years, although China has been on an accelerated schedule; and thus the real crisis for Russia lies ahead, although the problems in its shipyards and with its aging fleet are such that there is almost no chance that Moscow will lose its dominance in this area which is critical for control of Arctic seaways.

Organized Crime has Risen in Russia Dramatically Since Start of Putin’s War in Ukraine and will Increase Still More with Return of Veterans, Statistics and Experts Say

            Staunton, July 18 – The number of crimes committed by organized criminal groups in Russia during the first five months of 2024 was 76 percent higher (to a total of 16,900 cases) than during the same period a year earlier, the interior ministry reports, with experts saying this is the result of Putin’s war in Ukraine and will increase still further as veterans return home.

            These figures and the predictions of Russian experts continue a trend which began when the war started, according to the We Can Explain telegram channel which also notes that ever more of these crimes are being committed by people with guns, another trend linked with the war and making combatting such crimes harder (t.me/mozhemobyasnit/18408).

            According to one retired interior ministry expert, the illegal trafficking in guns has risen astronomically, with guns of various kinds now being freely traded in some regions of the country, typically among veterans of the war in Ukraine who have become accustomed to using guns to settle all things.

            If Moscow doesn’t address this problem and work on the rehabilitation of veterans, Vladimir Zherebenkov, a Moscow lawyer says, then there will be a continuing rise in the number of organized criminal groups and armed criminals just as there were after all earlier Russian military actions.

Profile: Xi Jinping the reformer

Published: 18 Jul 2024 -  THE PENINSULA


Xi Jinping meets with representatives from American business, strategic and academic communities at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 27, 2024.

LONG READ

Xinhua

Beijing: China's leader Xi Jinping is rolling out a set of new reforms that will determine the growth trajectory of the world's second-largest economy, as the Communist Party of China (CPC) leadership started a four-day policy meeting in Beijing on Monday morning.

At the opening of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, Xi, as the general secretary of the Committee, delivered a work report on behalf of the Political Bureau and expounded on a draft decision on further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese modernization.

The ongoing session is considered on par with other reform-themed "third plenums," including the one in 1978 when Deng Xiaoping kick-started China's reform and opening-up drive.

In the run-up to the current plenum, Xi has been busy promoting reform, urging efforts to "emancipate the mind, liberate and develop social productive forces, and unleash and enhance social vitality," so as to "provide strong impetus and institutional guarantees for Chinese modernization."

This has raised expectations for a new round of profound reforms, dispelling concerns about whether China's reform is "stagnating," or whether the Chinese economy is "losing steam."

Since Xi assumed the top office more than a decade ago, China has entered a "new era." The country's economic strength has grown, and its international prestige has continued to rise. Reform is the hallmark of this era.

Nevertheless, faced with a myriad of old and new challenges, China is now in a critical period for accelerating its reform pace.

Reform will not stop, opening-up will not cease

Xi is regarded as another outstanding reformer in the country after Deng Xiaoping.

The two leaders faced the same mission -- to modernize China, but against strikingly different backdrops.

When Deng launched reform and opening-up in the late 1970s, China's per-capita GDP was less than 200 U.S. dollars. His cause of reform and opening-up started almost from scratch.

In 2012, when Xi was elected general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, China had become the world's second-largest economy, with a per-capita GDP of over 6,000 dollars. But growth was shifting gears and many advantages, including low labor costs, had started to diminish.

Instead of resting on the laurels of his predecessors, Xi was committed to carrying on reform, though he knew how hard it would be.

"The easy part of the job has been done to the satisfaction of all. What is left are tough bones that are hard to chew," he said.

Over the past decade, more than 2,000 reform measures have been rolled out, enabling the country to eliminate extreme poverty, promote integrated urban-rural development, fight corruption, support businesses, boost innovation, and push forward a "green revolution."

Owing to these reform measures, the Chinese economy has not only sustained robust growth but also more than doubled since 2012, cementing the country's global status as a major growth contributor.

Yet extra effort is required as China now faces people's ever-growing needs for a better life, and is confronted with major challenges such as downward economic pressure following the COVID-19 pandemic and risks associated with the real estate sector, local government debts, and some small and medium-sized financial institutions.

Seeking a better future for the country and its people, Xi highlighted reform and opening-up as "an important means" to realize Chinese modernization and extend the country's development miracle.

He reiterated the significance of reform at a group study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in January. Weeks later, at the annual sessions of the nation's top legislature and political advisory body, he stressed the need to deepen reform in various sectors.

Xi Jinping communicates with representatives from businesses and academia attending a symposium in Jinan, east China's Shandong Province, May 23, 2024. Xi chaired the symposium and delivered an important speech on May 23, 2024.

"Reform is the driving force for development," Xi said in May when he inspected east China's Shandong Province. During that trip, he also convened a symposium to seek opinions from business leaders and scholars on how to further deepen reform.

"It's quite clear that reform holds a significant weight in Xi's mind, and I think he has a good understanding of all reform-related issues," said Huang Hanquan, head of the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research who attended the symposium as a guest speaker.

Earlier, Xi had told members of the U.S. business, strategic and academic communities who visited Beijing this spring that China was planning and implementing "a series of major steps to comprehensively deepen reform." China will steadily foster a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment, Xi said, adding that this will create broader development space for U.S. and other foreign businesses.

Xi's commitment to reform has been consistent all along.

In 1969, when he was not even 16, Xi was sent to Liangjiahe village in northwest China's Shaanxi Province to do farm labor. There, he experienced hunger. The young man's aspiration at that time was to ensure that all fellow villagers could have enough to eat.

Xi's strong advocacy for reform also stems from the people's aspirations for a better life. The reform measures he introduced as the Party chief of Liangjiahe, which included the use of biogas and the opening of a blacksmith shop and a grocery store, all aimed at improving the villagers' lives.

Xi's commitment to reform was influenced by his father, Xi Zhongxun, an old revolutionary as well as a champion of reform and opening-up. In 1978, the senior Xi was appointed as a major official of south China's Guangdong Province. He helped build up the country's first special economic zones including Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shantou.

Also in 1978, Xi Zhongxun entrusted the junior Xi, who was then studying at the prestigious Tsinghua University, to conduct a field study on the household contract responsibility system initiated in east China's Anhui Province. The younger Xi took a lot of notes that filled an entire notebook, and he has kept that notebook to this day.

Xi's reputation as a reformer was reinforced as his political career advanced.

In the early 1980s, he initiated reform experiments in the impoverished county of Zhengding, Hebei Province, commencing with the rural land contract system trial -- the first of its kind throughout the northern province.

An article published in the China Youth magazine in 1985 described the county's transformation in detail. It cited a county Party secretary from a neighboring province who paid a visit to Zhengding as saying: "Here, you don't hear people chanting 'reform,' but reform is happening everywhere."

"Looking back at those years, one of the things we achieved was liberating our thinking," said Xi while reflecting on the reforms he led in Zhengding.

After Zhengding, Xi was assigned to work in Xiamen, a special economic zone in Fujian Province, where he spearheaded the establishment of China's first joint-venture bank -- Xiamen International Bank. After ascending to the position of governor of Fujian, Xi led reforms in collective forest tenure, which were later introduced to other parts of the country. This initiative has been reputed as another revolutionary step in China's rural reforms after the household contract responsibility system.

During his tenure as the Party chief of east China's Zhejiang Province, Xi proposed an initiative to promote development through industrial upgrading. He actively supported private businesses, and encouraged businesspeople to "come directly" to his office to seek help. He also brought reforms in Zhejiang far beyond the economic and political spheres, to cover the cultural, social and ecological aspects.

Xi's name as a reformer appealed to some prominent international figures. In September 2006, Henry Paulson, then U.S. treasury secretary, visited China and chose Hangzhou, capital city of Zhejiang, as his first stop. He regarded Xi as the "perfect choice" for his initial meeting in China, describing the latter as "the kind of guy who knows how to get things over the goal line."

Paulson later recounted that during another meeting with Xi in 2014, the Chinese leader stated, "My concern is mainly reform and related issues."

In 2007, as Shanghai's Party chief, Xi foresaw the need for reforms to transition the city's economy to innovation-driven development, enhance its competitiveness as an international financial center, and reinforce its role as a leader in the country's reform and opening-up.

Xi Jinping lays a flower basket in front of the bronze statue of Deng Xiaoping in Lianhuashan Park in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Dec. 8, 2012.

After assuming the Party's top post in 2012, Xi's first domestic inspection took him to Shenzhen, following in his father's footsteps. There, he laid a flower basket at the bronze statue of Deng Xiaoping in Lianhuashan Park, declaring a firm commitment to reform: "Reform will not stop, and opening-up will not cease!"

The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, convened in 2013 under Xi's leadership, is heralded as a milestone, much like the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee in 1978 that ushered in the era of reform. The 2013 event marked the dawn of a new era of reform.

During this session, Xi listed a series of challenges for China's further development, including corruption, unsustainable development and environmental issues. He stressed that "the key to addressing these problems lies in deepening reform."

The session approved a decision on "some major issues concerning comprehensively deepening the reform." A Spanish newspaper commented that Xi had initiated the most profound economic, social and administrative reforms in China in over 30 years.

More than a month later, China announced the decision to establish the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reform, which Xi personally headed. This marked the first time in the Party's history that a leadership body exclusively dedicated to reform was established at the central level. Later, this group evolved into the Central Commission for Comprehensively Deepening Reform, still with Xi as its director.

"On difficult and important reforms, Xi made the final decisions," said a person close to the decision-making process. The official also disclosed that Xi meticulously reviewed each draft of major reform plans, making edits word by word.

Venturing into the mountain despite knowing there are tigers

The reforms led by Xi have been based on thoughtful considerations derived from his many years of practice, with a whole set of top-level designs.

He has invoked the ancient Chinese idiom of "discarding the outdated in favor of the new" to call for action, believing that reform and innovation are inherent cultural genes of the Chinese nation.

Xi has been clear-headed regarding the direction of reform. He has cautioned against copying the political systems of other countries, once saying that reform denying socialist orientation would only lead to a "dead end."

"What cannot be changed must be resolutely kept unchanged," he stated, stressing the necessity to uphold the Party's overall leadership in advancing reforms.

For what needs to be changed, Xi has demanded firm actions, urging the creation of conditions for reform even when they do not yet exist. The must-do tasks included eliminating all drawbacks that restrict the vitality of business entities and hinder the full play of the market.

With unprecedented scope, scale and intensity, Xi's reforms have covered the fields of economy, politics, culture, society, ecology, Party building, national defense and the military, among others.

He has developed a methodology for reform in the new era, which stresses properly handling the relationships between emancipating the mind and seeking truth from facts, between advancing as a whole and making breakthroughs in key areas, between top-level design and "crossing the river by feeling the stones," between being bold and maintaining a steady pace, as well as balancing reform, development and stability.

Xi Jinping views the city from Lianhuashan Park in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Oct. 14, 2020. Xi attended a grand gathering held to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and delivered an important speech on Oct. 14, 2020.

He has stressed pursuing reform in a systematic, holistic and coordinated way and respecting the pioneering spirit of the people. Officials have also been told to "establish the new before abolishing the old" and ensure proper timing and intensity of reform to good effect.

"He corrected the mentality of measuring the success of development simply by GDP growth and enabled the reform to truly touch the vested interests of some people," said an official from Shaanxi.

He recalled that Xi demanded multiple inquiries to stop illegal villa construction by developers in collusion with local officials in the nature reserves of the Qinling Mountains. This also reflected the local resistance encountered by the reform in the ecological field back then.

Xi has been pushing through reform in adversity and had to break the blockades of vested interests. "We need the courage to 'venture into the mountain despite knowing full well there are tigers' and continuously move the reform forward," he said.

Less than 20 days after assuming the top office, Xi oversaw the formulation of the "eight-point decision" on improving Party and government officials' work conduct, to address chronic issues in the bureaucracy such as official privileges, extravagant banquets and other forms of waste of taxpayers' money. This move was later hailed as a "game changer" for China's governance.

On that basis, Xi initiated an unprecedented anti-corruption "storm." The fight against corruption is beneficial for purifying the "political ecosystem" as well as the "economic ecosystem," and is conducive to straightening out the market order and restoring the market to what it should be, he said.

The "zero-tolerance" anti-corruption campaign continues to roar. Over the past year, it has made waves across sectors, including finance, grain supply, healthcare, semiconductor development and manufacturing, and sports.

Hundreds of high-ranking government officials, bank executives and hospital directors, even figures like the president of the Chinese Football Association and former head coach of the national men's football team, were investigated or indicted.

Xi advocated the necessity of reforming the Party, calling for "the most thorough self-revolution."

Under his leadership, a full and rigorous Party self-governance system was built, and a sound system of Party regulations has taken shape. He improved the inspection system and established the national supervision system, to "confine power to an institutional cage."

He also initiated an unprecedented reform of the Party and state institutions.

This reform has been the most eye-catching part of the country's overall reform process, commented Li Junru, former vice president of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee. "Xi uses reform to address unique challenges facing the Party and to build a stronger and more powerful Marxist political party," Li added.

Such reform further dismantled vested interests. Xi has called for the resolve to "offend a few thousand instead of failing the 1.4 billion Chinese people."

He propelled the Party's self-revolution to guide social changes. The Party has taken the initiative to eliminate institutional deficiencies in social development to unlock productive forces, as explained by Liu Bingxiang, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

In this regard, Xi has advocated fully advancing law-based governance, striving to solve the long-standing problems of power outweighing the law and personal relationships trumping legal principles.

He once lashed out at the phenomenon where "money can buy exemption from punishment and even buy life." On another occasion, he said: "The socialist market economy is an economy based on credit and the rule of law."

He has instructed the formulation and revision of a series of laws, including the Anti-Monopoly Law, which provides the legal basis for the fair competition review system.

The legal system for intellectual property rights was also improved. In a typical case, U.S. basketball legend Michael Jordan won a lawsuit in 2020 in Shanghai, with a Chinese company ordered to cease using "Qiao Dan," the Chinese translation of "Jordan," in its name and product trademarks.

Xi's reforms have not only led to economic transformation. He has asserted that the essence of modernization lies in the modernization of the people. Fostering "cultural confidence and national pride" among the Chinese people has become a key objective of the reform.

In 2012, Xi incorporated "cultural confidence" into a keynote report to the 18th CPC National Congress. He later integrated this concept into the "Four Confidences" of socialism with Chinese characteristics, describing cultural confidence as a "more fundamental, deeper and more enduring force."

Xi's reforms also signify a reworking of Marxism to adapt to the new era, integrating its basic tenets with China's specific realities and fine traditional culture. As a result, China's reforms have assumed fresh philosophical significance.

In his 2017 New Year Message, Xi stated that "the main framework of reform, resembling the 'four beams and eight pillars' of a house, has been essentially established in various fields." For those acquainted with traditional Chinese architecture, this signifies that the house has taken shape and can be further perfected.

Xi has directed reforms toward an overarching goal: upholding and improving the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and modernizing China's system and capacity for governance.

This, undoubtedly, takes a long and challenging process to fulfill.

Only reformers can advance, only innovators can thrive

In the year when Xi assumed the top office, China's annual economic growth rate dropped below 8 percent for the first time since 1999.

The debt crisis in Europe severely hurt China's foreign trade, and real estate regulation dragged down domestic demand. A foreign bank analyst claimed that "China's economy is facing its most critical moment in nearly 30 years."

Undeterred, Xi identified where reform should head. He was convinced that development still holds the key to solving all problems, and made boosting development a top priority in his reform agenda.

Xi pointed out that China's economy had entered a new development stage and proposed a new development philosophy featuring innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared growth. He initiated the supply-side structural reform, pushed the economy toward high-quality development and moved to construct a new development pattern.

Addressing officials on the significance of the reform to optimize supply structure, Xi cited the example of Chinese tourists buying smart toilet seats and rice cookers abroad, as they couldn't find such innovative or high-quality products on the home market. Meanwhile, some domestic producers were struggling to find customers.

After years of supply-side structural reform under Xi's watch, a new generation of China-made products is enjoying rising popularity at home and abroad. These include energy-saving home appliances, smart electronics, sports gear made from new materials, and large passenger planes.

Overcapacity in certain sectors was effectively tackled. For instance, by the end of 2022, the steel industry had eliminated outdated and excess capacity totaling around 300 million tonnes, exceeding twice the size of the entire crude steel production of India that year.

To push forward the supply-side structural reform, Xi led by example with great foresight. A decade ago, most cars on China's roads were gasoline vehicles. In 2014, during an inspection tour of SAIC Motor, a major Chinese carmaker, Xi emphasized the significance of developing products that cater to diverse needs and highlighted the importance of new energy vehicles in strengthening China's position in the automotive sector.

Xi Jinping learns about the development of new energy vehicles during an inspection of SAIC Motor in Shanghai, east China, May 24, 2014.

In the following decade, Xi became a big fan of electric cars, visiting automotive companies, touring laboratories, and showing great interest in trying new home-developed models. He encouraged carmakers to focus on product quality and cultivate market competitiveness.

The new energy industry is, in fact, part of Xi's vision of "new quality productive forces." This new phrase first mentioned by Xi during last year's local inspections has quickly become a buzzword for the Chinese economy, but Xi had started relevant practice since a much earlier date.

Back in the 1970s in the Liangjiahe village of Shaanxi, Xi became the first person across the province to introduce the use of biogas-generating facilities, which could be categorized as "new quality productive forces" at that time, to give fellow villagers a clean replacement of firewood and kerosene used for cooking and lighting.

A firm believer in Marxism, Xi regards the notion of productive forces as "the ultimate cause of all social and political changes."

Developing new quality productive forces, which feature innovation and high quality, is a call to action by China's policymakers to ride the new wave of tech revolution unfolding in such areas as artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, nanotechnology, and quantum information through reform. It also aligns with the innovation-driven development strategy proposed by Xi.

He likened China's lack of strong innovation capability to the Achilles' heel of an economic giant. "Only reformers can advance, only innovators can thrive, and only those who reform and innovate will prevail," he said.

Under his guidance, reform in the science and technology realm was advanced with unprecedented intensity. Spurred by a slew of pro-innovation measures, a new system for mobilizing resources nationwide was leveraged to facilitate key technological breakthroughs, the country's first group of national laboratories set up, and enterprises' principal role in innovation reinforced.

The effects are evident, with China's ranking in the Global Innovation Index, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization, jumping from 34th in 2012 to 12th last year.

Data issued in 2023 showed that China in 2022 overtook the United States for the first time as the No. 1 ranked country for contributions to research articles published in the Nature Index group of high-quality natural science journals.

Despite years of U.S. suppression and chip sanctions, Chinese telecom giant Huawei managed to launch its new high-end smartphones in 2023. Many saw it as proof that the attempted containment of China's tech sector by some Western countries would hardly work.

Yet, there is still much work to be done. Xi has cautioned: "Basic research is the source of sci-tech innovation. Although China has made significant progress in basic research, the distance between us and the international advanced level remains evident."

He has called for further institutional reforms to strengthen basic research, as well as support for original innovation and faster development of strategic, cutting-edge and disruptive technologies.

Unleashing the power of the market

When Xi assumed Party leadership, two decades had passed since the concept of building a socialist market economy was established.

However, doing business remained a challenging endeavor. In 2014, a lawmaker attending local "two sessions" revealed that a single investment project, from acquiring land to completing all administrative approval procedures, required more than 30 government approvals and over a hundred stamps. The entire process took a minimum of 272 working days.

Xi strongly opposes cumbersome government approvals. While working in the city of Fuzhou, Fujian, he pioneered a mechanism that enabled all procedures for investment project approval to be completed in a single building.

As the country's top leader, he advocated that "the market plays the decisive role in resource allocation and the government plays its role better."

Over the years, the State Council, or the Chinese cabinet, has canceled or delegated to lower-level authorities the power of administrative approval for over 1,000 items, and slashed the number of investment items subject to central government approval by over 90 percent.

"Let the vitality that creates wealth burst forth, and let the power of the market be fully unleashed," said Xi.

The results of the reforms are remarkable, as China was ranked by the World Bank as one of the top 10 economies with the most notable improvement in business environment for two years in a row.

In 2019, construction started for Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory in January, and by December the automaker already started delivering the first batch of China-made Model 3 electric cars built at the factory. Such fast development won praise from Tesla CEO Elon Musk. In May this year, the U.S. company's first overseas Megapack factory broke ground in Shanghai, once again standing as a strong testament to the "China speed."

Well-acquainted with the challenging situation faced by private enterprises, Xi has instructed the establishment of a private economy development bureau under the country's top economic planner to provide assistance to private enterprises facing difficulties.

Xi also emphasized the need to promote financial reforms to facilitate financing for private enterprises. He stressed the importance of encouraging private capital to enter industries and sectors where entry is not explicitly prohibited by laws and regulations.

Under Xi's instruction, the system of a negative list for market access was comprehensively implemented, allowing entry into areas not explicitly prohibited by the list. By the end of 2023, the number of registered business entities nationwide reached 184 million, more than three times the figure in 2012.

From 2012 to 2023, the number of private enterprises in China more than quadrupled, and the proportion of private enterprises in the total number of enterprises increased from less than 80 percent to over 92 percent.

During that period, privately-owned banks received approval for establishment, a high-speed rail controlled by private capital began operation, private investment was permitted to enter the oil and gas exploration and production sector, and a private rocket company achieved success in launching a rocket from the sea.

Xi also initiated market-oriented reforms for state-owned enterprises (SOEs). In 2017, China Unicom, as the first centrally-administered SOE in the telecommunications industry to open up to private capital, introduced 14 strategic investors, including Internet titans Tencent, Baidu, JD.com and Alibaba, in the "mixed-ownership reform."

A three-year action plan for SOE reform further converted SOEs into limited liability companies or companies limited by shares. Some 38,000 SOEs established boards of directors.

International media have noticed that China's reform has been advancing in step with changes in the situation. A trade war waged by the United States, the global pandemic, and increased geopolitical tensions have tested the resilience of China's economy. The country is also transforming its economic development model.

Xi has led China to accelerate building the new development pattern, which takes the domestic market as the mainstay while allowing domestic and international markets to reinforce each other.

A key support for this strategy is the establishment of a unified national market. To achieve this, a series of reforms are being implemented to eliminate local protectionism and dismantle regional barriers.

Li Junru, the veteran Party theorist, said Xi drew new "dots," "circles" and "belts" on China's map as he advanced inter-regional coordination and boosted the development of the Xiong'an New Area, the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, among others.

Xi has doubled down on opening-up efforts to push forward reform and made "institutional opening-up" a priority. In one such move, China has lifted foreign ownership limits for securities companies, management companies of securities investment funds, futures companies and life insurance companies.

China is pushing for accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, as the government strives to meet the high standards set by the agreement and commits to practices that go beyond existing market access policies.

Xi Jinping communicates with staff members at an international duty-free shopping mall in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, April 11, 2022.

In 2013, Xi set up the country's first pilot free trade zone in Shanghai. Currently, the number of such zones has reached 22, with the entire tropical island province of Hainan becoming a free trade port.

Another significant reform step taken by Xi is the establishment of the China International Import Expo, the world's first national-level exhibition with a focus on expanding imports.

He has also initiated a fair to facilitate trade in services and an expo featuring the display of global consumer products, showcasing his vision for trade liberalization and economic globalization.

China is now the main trading partner of more than 140 countries and regions, and has maintained its position as the world's second-largest foreign direct investment destination.

Meanwhile, Xi is cautious about disorderly capital expansion, market manipulation and the pursuit of exorbitant profits in certain areas, guarding against risks similar to the U.S. subprime crisis.

He proposed setting "traffic lights" for capital flows, ensuring that "financial magnates" do not act unscrupulously while still allowing capital to function properly as a production factor.

This indicates that China's reform is no longer solely focused on growth, but considers a more balanced approach.

Coordinating development and security stands out in Xi's campaign to deepen reform in all aspects. China remains the world's only major economy free from any financial crisis over the past four decades.

Making people's priorities his own

Xi emphasizes that the ultimate goal of China's reform is to improve the people's well-being. He has pledged to make people's priorities his own and act on their wishes, a stark difference from the "capital first" approach often seen in a capitalist economy.

In 2017, Xi pointed out that after nearly 40 years of reform and opening-up, the principal contradiction facing Chinese society had undergone significant changes. "What we now face is the contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people's ever-growing needs for a better life," he explained.

In response to this change, he advocates for coordinated and shared development, and commits himself to achieving Deng Xiaoping's vision of "common prosperity."

When Xi took over the helm in 2012, significant disparities existed between China's eastern and western regions, and wealth inequality was severe.

He has transformed the poverty relief strategy, implementing a new approach called "targeted poverty elimination."

The individuals and villages confirmed as poor were registered and a file was created in the national poverty alleviation information system. Meanwhile, the impoverished were relocated from inhospitable areas. Governments promoted industries in line with local conditions and organized training classes for the underprivileged to help raise their income. Over 3 million officials were dispatched to be stationed in designated villages to ensure poverty relief measures were fully and well enforced.

Under Xi's leadership, China eradicated absolute poverty in its rural areas, a problem that had persisted for several thousand years.

Xi Jinping visits the family of Tang Rongbin in Luotuowan Village of Longquanguan Township, Fuping County, north China's Hebei Province, Dec. 30, 2012.

China's reforms started in the rural areas in the late 1970s, and Xi's reform initiatives regarding agriculture, rural areas and farmers encompass a broader range of changes.

He has established a sound mechanism for stable grain production to ensure that "China's food supply remains firmly in its own hands," improved the village business environment, and promoted rural revitalization across the board.

In the early 2000s, Xi proposed in an academic paper bold reforms to the household registration system to eliminate various social and economic disparities, as well as the division of the urban and rural labor markets caused by the system. At that time, there was much controversy about whether or not the household registration restrictions should be abolished.

In 2016 the central government rolled out a plan to grant urban residency to some 100 million people from rural areas and other permanent residents without local household registration, and this goal was fulfilled ahead of schedule.

During an inspection trip to Shanghai in 2023, Xi visited the apartments where migrant workers lived. He was happy to learn that migrants were settling down in the metropolis.

"Great! Stay, settle down, and strive for a better life," he said.

Under Xi's leadership, China scrapped the reeducation-through-labor system, which had been in operation for over half a century, raised the threshold for personal income tax exemption from 3,500 yuan to 5,000 yuan per month, and laid down a people-centered principle for the real estate sector's development -- "Housing is for living in, not for market speculation."

In response to demographic changes, China has adjusted its population and family planning policies. Reforms have been carried out to ensure better and more equitable education. Additionally, Xi has spearheaded the establishment of the world's largest social security system and initiated reforms in basic elderly care services. Today, the numbers of people covered by basic old-age insurance and basic medical insurance in China have exceeded 1 billion and 1.3 billion, respectively.

With the belief that "people's health is the primary indicator of modernization," Xi called for studying and promoting the practice in the city of Sanming in Fujian to push forward the healthcare reform.

Xi advocated for the comprehensive elimination of markups on drugs and medical consumables that had been in place for over 60 years, reducing patients' costs. Government departments acted on his call and formed a work team to negotiate drug and consumable prices with pharmaceutical companies.

In a widely circulated online video of such price negotiations in 2021, representatives from the National Healthcare Security Administration insisted that "no minority group of patients should be abandoned," and managed to cut the price of a life-saving drug for a rare disease from about 700,000 yuan per shot to 33,000 yuan per shot through eight rounds of intense negotiations.

This drug was then included in China's medical insurance catalog, igniting hope for over 30,000 patients nationwide. Similar price cuts for hundreds of drugs have in several years cumulatively saved the public some 500 billion yuan in medical expenses.

Xi has advanced reforms in the rural healthcare system to ensure that people in the vast countryside have access to affordable medical treatment. The campaigns have significantly reduced cases of illness-induced poverty. Almost all low-income people and individuals just lifted out of poverty in the rural areas now have medical insurance.

Xi's reform in the cultural sector emphasizes enriching the "spiritual world" of the people as an essential requirement for Chinese modernization. This involves refining cultural industry planning and policies, and nurturing new cultural business forms and cultural consumption patterns.

As a result, the film industry has seen fast development in recent years. The number of cinema screens in China increased from about 13,000 in 2012 to over 86,000 at the end of 2023, the highest in the world. The New York Times reported earlier this year that China's film industry is producing more high-quality movies that resonate with domestic audiences.

Xi also revamped the educational system, which directly relates to the expansion of the talent pool and the sci-tech advancement.

He moved to promote the balanced development of compulsory education, reduce the heavy workload of students to ensure their well-rounded development, and build a modern vocational education system and a modern university system.

The proportion of national fiscal expenditure allocated to education has remained above 4 percent of GDP for consecutive years, making it the largest share of China's general public budget spending.

Xi Jinping visits the Saihanba forest farm in north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 23, 2021.

Another ground-breaking reform led by Xi occurred in the ecological domain.

When Xi became the Party's general secretary in 2012, environmental pollution was one of the most common complaints among the public. At the start of that year, cadmium pollution affected a river in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, endangering the drinking water safety of over a million people. Several high-profile "not-in-my-backyard" incidents triggered by industrial pollution concerns occurred across the country during the year.

Xi, known for bold and resolute environmental initiatives in Xiamen to clean up the Yundang Lake and in Hangzhou to protect the West Lake, established the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, set ecological and environmental protection as an inviolable "red line," introduced inspections on ecological and environmental protection by central authorities, and asked local officials to be responsible for the protection of rivers, lakes and forests as their "management chiefs."

Under Xi's leadership, China became the country with the fastest improvement in air quality, the largest increase in forest resources, and the largest area of afforestation globally. The country has also held a steady position as the world leader in installed capacities for hydro, wind, solar and biomass power generation.

China has also developed the world's largest carbon market and vowed to achieve carbon neutrality after carbon peaking in a much shorter time span compared with developed countries. "Green and low-carbon development is the order of the day, and those who follow it will prosper," Xi said.

Xi believes that correcting unsustainable growth methods is essential for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation and for protecting Mother Earth -- "our one and only home."

Forging ahead with courage

"No other country around the world can comprehensively advance reform in the same way as present-day China does, with a commitment to its promises and a sense of urgency," said a report by the Singaporean newspaper Lianhe Zaobao.

According to the 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer, a survey conducted by consulting firm Edelman, China's overall trust level was 83, ranking first among all surveyed countries.

China was the only country among those surveyed that expressed optimism about economic prospects, according to the survey.

Observers believe that with Xi as the helmsman of reform in the new era, the socialist market economy heralded by Deng Xiaoping will undoubtedly continue and thrive. Xi has ignited the engine propelling China on an irreversible journey toward modernization.

Deng's reforms and his proclamation that "development is the absolute principle" liberated and developed China's social productive forces, catapulting the country into the position of a global economic powerhouse.

Xi has held that high-quality development is the unyielding principle of the new era, and initiated a comprehensive and systematic transformation in China, which has greatly contributed to the re-balancing of the world economy.

Last year, China's economy grew by 5.2 percent, contributing one-third of global growth. The country remains a strong global growth engine.

In meetings with foreign government and business leaders this year, Xi's message has been consistent: China is committed to furthering reform, which will bring opportunities to the world.

Visiting France in May, Xi told businesses there that China's reform would provide a broader market space for all countries. In Serbia, he visited the Smederevo steel plant, which he helped resuscitate with Chinese investment about eight years ago, saving jobs for over 5,000 local workers.

The plant is a flagship project of Xi's signature Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Inspired by the ancient Silk Road, Xi proposed the initiative in 2013 to reform and enhance global development cooperation. He designed the BRI as a modern network linking countries through enhanced trade, infrastructure development, and people-to-people exchanges.

In a decade, the BRI has garnered participation by three-quarters of the world's countries, helping create 420,000 jobs and lift tens of millions of people out of poverty in those countries.

Since last year, the anticipation for the third plenum of the 20th CPC Central Committee has kept building up. People in China and the world at large are closely watching what major reform measures are to be unveiled, and gauging the potential impact of such measures.

Before the plenum, Xi had promised a series of "strategic, innovative and leading reforms," in order to "achieve new breakthroughs in important areas and key sectors."

There are reasons to be optimistic. Such optimism is based not only on China's enormous economic and market size but also on the unified leadership of the Party with Xi at the core. The CPC has the guts for self-reform and is capable of turning blueprints into concrete actions.

As some people overseas have doubts or even fears about China's reform, development and their implications, Xi has often said that China has no intention of changing or challenging the existing world order. It is just taking a more active part in global governance, and pushing for a more just and equitable world order.

"China's modernization has offered a new choice and has far-reaching implications for developing countries," said Jose Ricardo dos Santos Luz Junior, the CEO of a Sao Paulo-based company that connects Chinese and Brazilian entrepreneurs.

In the early days of Deng's reform era, the late Chinese leader stated that the goal of China's reform and opening-up was to "catch up with the times."

Today, reflecting on nearly half a century of progress, Xi pointed out that China's reform and opening-up has not only advanced its own development but also made significant contributions to global peace and progress.

Carrying on Deng's legacy and with a strong sense of responsibility, Xi is leading China on a path of modernization that not only creates economic miracles and development opportunities, but also explores a new form of human civilization.

"Our modernization is both the most challenging and the greatest," said Xi. "This is an unprecedented path, but we will continue to explore it and forge ahead with courage."

(By Xinhua writers Zhou Xiaozheng, Zhang Zhengfu, Wu Jihai, Cheng Yunjie, Xu Lingui, Wang Xiuqiong, Zhang Zhongkai, Shi Hao, Wang Yaguang, Zhang Bowen and Fu Min)

Taiwan stands up to Donald Trump's comments on defense

Wesley Rahn

Remarks by US presidential candidate Donald Trump calling US support for Taiwan into question have prompted Taiwanese officials to highlight the island's record defense spending and military modernization efforts.

Remarks earlier this week by US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that Taiwanshould "pay" the US for protection from China have sown doubt on the self-ruled island about Washington's commitment to defense should Trump win the presidency.

Trump's remarks have sparked heated debates and blanket media coverage in Taiwan, with headlines warning of "Trump security fees."

The US is Taiwan's most important security benefactor as it faces a persistent threat from China, which considers the democratic island to be a breakaway province that one day will be "reunited" with the mainland, by force if necessary.

In the interview published Tuesday, Trump said that he didn't think US protection for Taiwan was "any different from an insurance policy."

"Why are we doing this? … I think Taiwan should pay us for defense," he said.

Taiwan's record-high defense spending

On Wednesday, Taiwan's premier, Cho Jung-tai, addressed Trump's remarks at a press briefing and underlined Tapei's increased defense spending in recent budgets and the extension of military conscription to one year.

"It's our shared responsibility and goal to maintain the peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region," Cho said, while lauding recent US-Taiwan ties as "solid."

He added that Taiwan would be "willing" to take on more responsibility and emphasized that the island's defense is in its own hands.

On Thursday, Kuoyu Chiao, deputy head of the North America department at Taiwan's Foreign Ministry, told reporters that Taiwan's defense spending is at a historic high of 2.5% of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP). He added that Taiwan's government is prioritizing the modernization of its military.

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller also said in a press briefing on Wednesday that Taipei has been "paying for its own defense" by purchasing military equipment from Washington "to the tune of billions of dollars."

Trump's transactional view of the world

Trump's remarks on Taiwan were only a small part of a sweeping interview with the monthly business magazine Bloomberg Businessweek recorded in late June that gauged the former president's take on business, the US economy and foreign policy.

However, with the US presidential election less than four months away and Trump currently inching ahead in polls against incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden, the statements were taken as a potential harbinger of a radical shift in foreign policy for the next presidential administration.

Fang-Yu Chen, an assistant professor of Political Science at Soochow University in Taiwan, told DW that Trump has remained consistent in asking US' allies to "pay for protection."

Trump has often made similar remarks in the past, he said, reflecting the former president's transactional view of foreign policy and diplomacy.

The comments about Taiwan echo those made during a February campaign rally warning "delinquent" NATO allies to "pay their bills" or be cut off from US support, he added.

Chen also pointed out that it was more concerning that Trump implied Taiwan is "too far away" from the US for military defense. In the interview, Trump was quoted as emphasizing that "Taiwan is 9,500 miles [14.5 kilometers, editor's note] away” from the US but only "68 miles away from China."

If Trump is eventually elected as president, Chen said, it would "directly add a lot of fuel to the narratives in Taiwan of 'America skepticism'" — the growing sentiment in Taiwan that the US was not a trustworthy country.

"Business is business, defense is defense. These two things shouldn't be mixed up," a woman in her 50s also told DW on the streets of Taipei.

"No matter who wins the [US] election, I believe we as Taiwanese have to defend ourselves," another woman told DW.

Although Washington does not formally recognize Taiwan, it has supported the self-ruled democracy with arms sales for decades. These sales markedly increased under Trump's presidency, with purchases of over $18 billion (€16.5 billion) worth of weapons like fighter jets and missile systems.

The Biden administration last month approved the sale of $360 million worth of weapons to Taiwan, including drone technology.

Chips on the table

Trump also brought up semiconductor production in Taiwan, alleging "they took all our [US] business … they're immensely wealthy."

Taiwan produces over 90% of the world's most advanced chips, mostly through the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). After Trump's comments, the company's stock dipped by several percentage points.

Trump has repeatedly accused Taiwan of taking away the US' semiconductor business. Last year, in a Fox News interview, he implied that Washington should erect trade barriers against Taiwan with higher tariffs.

TSMC is building new factories overseas, including in the US, but says it will keep the most state-of-the-art production on the island —what the Taiwanese government views as a way to increase the economic costs of any military attacks by China.

Yuchen Li in Taipei contributed to this article.

Edited by: Ole Tangen Jr.

Trump's Taiwan warning rocks TSMC, but profits soar 

REUTERS

Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC posted a 36% jump in second-quarter net profit, but still saw its shares sink following Donald Trump's remarks citing Taiwan to pay the US for its defense.

Google accused of misleading consumers to grab more data for ads

Natasha Lomas

  • July 18, 2024

Image Credits: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg / Getty Images

Italy’s competition and consumer watchdog has announced an investigation into how Google gets users’ consent in order to link their activity across different services for ad profiling, saying it suspects the adtech giant of “unfair commercial practices.”

At issue here is how Google obtains consent from users in the European Union to link their activity across its apps and services — like Google Search, YouTube, Chrome and Maps. Linking user activity lets it profile them for ad targeting, the company’s main source of revenue.

In response to the Italian AGCM’s investigation, a Google spokesperson told TechCrunch, “We will analyze the details of this case and will work cooperatively with the Authority.”

Since early March, Google has been subject to the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), an ex-ante competition regime that applies across the European Union, including in Italy. The company is one of several designated internet “gatekeepers” that own and operate a number of major platforms (aka “core platform services”), as are Meta, X, Amazon, ByteDance and Microsoft.

The pan-EU regulation is relevant to Italy’s investigation of Google, since the DMA has made it mandatory for these gatekeepers to obtain consent before they can process users’ personal data for advertising, or to combine their data harvested from across their services. The AGCM’s probe appears to be focused on the latter area.

“[T]he request for consent that Google submits to its users to the linking of the services offered may constitute a misleading and aggressive commercial practice,” the AGCM wrote in a press release.

“Indeed, it appears to be accompanied by inadequate, incomplete and misleading information and it could influence the choice of whether and to what extent consent should be given.”

The regulator’s action is interesting, since it is typically the European Commission that leads enforcement against these gatekeepers. However, the EC’s ongoing investigation of Google under the DMA, announced back in March, does not focus on whether it gets consent for linking user data. The EC has said its DMA probe concerns self-preferencing in Google search; and anti-steering in Google Play.

The Italian authority looks to be taking the opportunity to act on concerns the Commission has yet to get around to.

Competition enforcement in the EU and across member states generally aims to avoid duplicating effort, but in this case, it may be that the Italian regulator is picking up the slack.

Google’s consent flow under the lens

In its press release, the AGCM said it is concerned that Google’s request to users seeking their consent does not provide them with the information necessary to make a free and informed choice. And when it does, Google provides information “inadequately and imprecisely,” the AGCM said. Specifically, the regulator suspects Google is not being transparent about “the real effect” on users when they consent to their accounts being linked.

Additionally, the regulator suspects Google isn’t being open about the full picture. It is worried about the level of information Google provides “with respect to the variety and number of Google’s services for which ‘combination’ and ‘cross-use’ of personal data may occur, and with respect to the possibility of modulating (and thus limiting) consent to only some services.”

The DMA states that consent for linking accounts for advertising purposes must comply with standards set out in another pan-EU law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which stipulates that consent must be “freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous.”

The GDPR also sets conditions on how consent can be sought through written statements in an online interface. It requires such requests to be “presented in a manner which is clearly distinguishable from the other matters, in an intelligible and easily accessible form, using clear and plain language.”

While data protection authorities usually lead on enforcement of the GDPR, the DMA’s incorporation of the former’s consent standards by reference leads to what we see here: Italy’s competition and consumer watchdog scrutinizing Google’s consent flow.

South Korea's Supreme Court upholds same-sex ruling in historic LGBTQ victory

top court  affirmed that same-sex couples are entitled to the same spousal health insurance benefits as heterosexual couples

A South Korean Supreme Court ruling Thursday upheld a landmark ruling that found same-sex couples were entitled to the same spousal health insurance benefits as heterosexual couples. So Seong-wook and Kim Yong-min initially filed the lawsuit that led to the decision in 2021. 

File Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI


SEOUL, July 18 (UPI) -- South Korea's top court on Thursday affirmed that same-sex couples are entitled to the same spousal health insurance benefits as heterosexual couples, a ruling that advocates are hailing as a historic victory for LGBTQ rights in the country.

The decision upheld a landmark 2023 ruling by the Seoul High Court, which found the country's National Health Insurance Service was required to offer spousal benefits to a gay couple that had filed a lawsuit.

The Supreme Court ruled that denying the couple benefits "discriminates against people in a de facto marriage relationship without any rational reason and is illegal as it violates the principle of equality under the Constitution."

"Even though there is no explicit provision in the National Health Insurance Act to exclude same-sex partners from being dependents, excluding them just because they are of the same sex is discrimination based on sexual orientation," Thursday's decision said. "It is a violation of human dignity and value, the right to pursue happiness, freedom of privacy and the right to equality before the law."

Related

Thai Senate passes bill legalizing same-sex marriage
Gay South Korean couple lose equal coverage lawsuit against health insurer
Suspended South Korean pastor challenges church's position on LGBTQ issues

Same-sex marriages and civil unions are not recognized in South Korea, but the verdict means that common-law spouses will now be able to register as dependents on their partners' health insurance.

The decision traces back to 2020, when So Seong-wook successfully added his partner Kim Yong-min as a dependent under his state health insurance coverage. Several months later, however, the NHIS canceled Kim's benefits, calling the registration a "mistake."

So filed a lawsuit against the NHIS, which was initially dismissed by an administrative court but then upheld on appeal in February 2023.

The NHIS, South Korea's public insurance scheme that covers almost the entire population, appealed that outcome to the Supreme Court, leading to Thursday's final decision.

The verdict was greeted as a giant step forward for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community in South Korea, which remains a deeply conservative country on a number of social issues.

"Today's ruling is a historic victory for equality and human rights in South Korea," Amnesty International East Asia researcher Boram Jang said in a statement. "The Court has taken a significant step towards dismantling systemic discrimination and ensuring inclusivity for all."

Advocates continue to call for further progress, however, including the passage of an anti-discrimination law that has languished in parliament for years and the decriminalization of consensual sex between men in the military.

"While this decision is a major milestone, the case itself is a sobering reminder of the lengthy judicial processes that same-sex couples must endure to secure basic rights that should be universally guaranteed," Jang said. "It is disheartening that in 2024, same-sex couples still face such significant barriers to equality."

Same-sex marriage is now legal in 37 countries and territories around the world. South Korean activists have looked to progress being made in Asian countries such as Japan, where hundreds of municipalities have recognized same-sex partnerships, and particularly Taiwan, which legalized same-sex marriage in a landmark ruling in May 2019.

Last month, Thailand's Senate passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage.

Top South Korea court hands gay couple 'historic' win on spouse rights

Agence France-Presse
July 18, 2024

Seoul's Pride Parade, one of the largest in Asia, is expected to draw 150,000 this year (ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP)

Seoul (AFP) – South Korea's Supreme Court recognised new rights for same-sex couples Thursday, saying the state must provide health insurance for a gay man's partner in a landmark ruling that left activists weeping for joy.

The country's highest court ruled it was "discrimination" for state health insurers to treat same-sex couples differently from their heterosexual counterparts, in a verdict that activists said could pave the way for the eventual legalisation of same-sex unions in the South.

"National Health Insurance should recognise spousal insurance coverage for same-sex couples," the court ruled, with activists breaking into cheers as the verdict was read out.


The verdict, which cannot be appealed, means common-law spouses of the same sex can now register as dependents on their partners' state health insurance -- something long permitted for heterosexual common-law partners.

The case was brought by a gay couple, So Seong-wook and Kim Yong-min, who live together and held a wedding ceremony in 2019.

It had no legal validity, however, as South Korea does not recognise same-sex marriage.

In 2021, So sued the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) because it terminated benefits for his partner -- whom he had registered as a dependent -- after discovering they were a gay couple.

In a landmark ruling last year, a Seoul High Court found in favour of the couple, mandating that the NHIS reinstate the dependent benefits.

But the health service appealed the decision, escalating the case to the Supreme Court.


"Today, love won again," said So after the verdict.

His husband Kim struggled to hold back tears outside the courtroom, telling reporters that he had "always called (So) my husband, but he was never seen as my husband in Korea".

But today, "the court called So my same-sex partner and I am so happy for that to be recognised in court".

The Supreme Court ruled that it was "discrimination based on sexual orientation to exclude the couple just because they are same-sex".

The court ruled that the health service "decision to not recognize same-sex partners who have formed an economic community of life similar to a married couple as dependents... is unlawful".

The couple's lawyer Chang Suh-yeon said that the ruling "gives hope" to same-sex couples in South Korea, but said it did not go far enough.


"Guaranteeing simple rights is not considered complete equality and we will keep on fighting for same-sex marriage to be institutionalised," Chang told AFP.
'Historic victory'

The Supreme Court ruling is a pivotal moment for the country's LGBTQI community, and people holding rainbow umbrellas walked out of the court, wiping away tears of joy.


Ryu Min-hee, a lawyer and an LGBTQI activist, told AFP that "the ruling goes beyond just specific rights and benefits."

"It ultimately paves the way for the legalisation of same-sex marriage in South Korea, following the lead of other Asian countries like Taiwan and Thailand," Ryu told AFP.

While South Korea does not recognise same-sex marriages, gay relationships are not criminalised. LGBTQ people tend to live largely under the radar.

Activists have long emphasised the need for legislation against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

A much-discussed anti-discrimination law has languished in the South Korean parliament for years, due to a lack of consensus among MPs.

Outside the court ahead of the verdict, anti-LGBTQI Christian organisations staged a protest, holding up banners saying "let us repent to the Lord".

When the couple initially attempted to hold a press conference after the verdict, Christian activists disrupted it by speaking in tongues and shouting: "homosexuality is a sin!"

Amnesty International said the ruling was "a historic victory for equality and human rights in South Korea".

"The Court has taken a significant step towards dismantling systemic discrimination and ensuring inclusivity for all," the rights group said in a statement.

"While this decision is a major milestone, the case itself is a sobering reminder of the lengthy judicial processes that same-sex couples must endure to secure basic rights that should be universally guaranteed.

"It is disheartening that in 2024, same-sex couples still face such significant barriers to equality."