Links for Wednesday, June 10, 2020

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• U.K. and European firms dissatisfied with status quo
  Need a better dialogue between U.K. and China: BritCham China / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  China needs deeper reform after coronavirus, European firms say / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “China needs to reform more and remove barriers for foreign firms if it is going to attract and keep the overseas investment it needs after the coronavirus pandemic, according to the European Chamber of Commerce.”
• The challenges of managing cross-border companies
  Arm wrestles for control of Chinese joint venture / FT (paywall)
  “In a series of statements on Wednesday, the UK group said Arm China’s [a jointly owned chipmaker] board of directors had voted on June 4 to replace Allen Wu as chairman and chief executive, and appointed a pair of co-CEOs on an interim basis.”
  5 questions about China that boards should be asking right now / Harvard Business Review
  SoftBank’s arm says China CEO fired for ‘serious irregularities’ / Bloomberg (porous paywall)

The conflict erupted after the British firm told Bloomberg News the board of Arm China — jointly owned by Arm and investors including China’s sovereign wealth fund — voted to oust Chief Executive Officer Allen Wu. Hours later, Arm China posted a statement to its official WeChat account asserting he was still in charge, a stance repeated across domestic social media. The U.K. firm then fired back to say Wu had been dismissed after an investigation uncovered undisclosed conflicts of interest and violations of employee rules.

• Procedures for inbound flights
  Beijing-bound flights could first stop in Wuhan / Caixin
  “The changes, effective June 8, mean travelers headed to Beijing will first be diverted to one of 16 cities, including China’s original outbreak ground zero of Wuhan, as well as Chengdu, Changsha, Hefei, and Lanzhou, to undergo Covid-19 tests. Under previous rules, they were being diverted to 12 cities, including Shanghai, which has now been removed from the list.”
• Global demand drop hurts Chinese firms
  China producer prices fall as pandemic hits global demand / FT (paywall)
  “Producer prices fell by 3.7 percent in May compared with the same month last year, according to official statistics. The data, which were worse than economists had forecast, mean that China’s factory gate deflation has accelerated every month since February.”
• Betting on Hong Kong’s currency peg collapse
  Kyle Bass makes audacious bet on Hong Kong’s currency peg collapsing / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “The Dallas-based founder of Hayman Capital Management is starting a new fund that will make all-or-nothing wagers on a collapse in Hong Kong’s currency peg, people with knowledge of the matter said.”
• Weibo punished
  China punishes microblog platform Weibo for interfering with communication / Reuters
  “Top internet watchdog, the Cyberspace Administration of China, said in a post on its verified WeChat Account it had reprimanded Weibo for ‘interfering with online communication order, disseminating illegal information and other problems.’”
• Tesla loses its top China hand
  Tesla loses China executive Ren just as competition heats up / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “Tesla Inc. lost an executive who helped spearhead its expansion in China over the past few years, the latest in a string of management changes at the U.S. electric-car maker.”
• Tencent invests in anime
  Tencent targets Japan anime, manga to jump-start global growth / Bloomberg via Caixin
  “Tencent Holdings Ltd., spurned in years past by Japan’s guarded entertainment industry, is rekindling its courtship of the country’s fabled anime and manga houses.”
• LG strikes a deal with a Chinese firm
  LG Chem in $1.1 billion deal with China’s Shanshan to sell LCD polarizer business / Reuters
  “South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd (051910.KS) said on Wednesday it has signed a conditional contract with China’s Ningbo Shanshan Co Ltd (600884.SS) to sell most of its liquid crystal display (LCD) polarizer business for $1.1 billion.”
• Influencers push Alibaba products
  Alibaba taps international influencers to sell more globally / TechCrunch
  “There are efforts from short video apps like Douyin — TikTok’s Chinese sister — that match merchants with content creators for promotion.”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Mass testing in northeast is completed
  ‘Epidemic stopped’: results in from second Chinese city to do mass coronavirus tests / SCMP
  “A Chinese health expert helping oversee coronavirus control efforts in a northeastern Chinese city at the center of an outbreak has declared the emergency over after mass testing revealed a handful of asymptomatic cases.”
  Context on The China Project: China’s mass COVID-19 testing moves from Wuhan to the northeast
• New ultra-strong fiber
  Chinese scientists say they’ve made a fiber that could be strong enough to build a moon base / SCMP
  “A research team in western China says it has developed a material from artificial lunar dust that might be strong enough to build a base on the moon, and could potentially be made using volcanic rock on site.”

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Hong Kong braces for national security law
  Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK needs to ‘embrace’ security law, nurture national identity – adviser / HKFP
  “Chan said the public broadcaster should discuss the national security legislation ‘positively’ and let citizens form a ‘correct understanding’ of the draft law. He denied the board had ‘exerted pressure’ on RTHK, saying no instructions on programme production have been given from the advisers to the station.”
  Punish Hong Kong students who chant slogans, sing political songs or form human chains, education chief tells principals / HKFP
  “In a letter to all primary and secondary schools on Wednesday, Yeung cited the looming national security law and safety concerns, warning that teachers and teachers must also avoid partaking in political class boycotts.”
  Hong Kong police fire pepper balls and arrest more than 50 as protesters mark a year since mass march / HKFP
  “Hong Kong police fired pepper ball rounds and pepper spray in Central on Tuesday night as hundreds of demonstrators marked the one year anniversary of a huge march that kicked off months of pro-democracy unrest. More than 50 were arrested in the process.”
  Hong Kong police unit dedicated to enforcing new national security law already in the works, minister reveals to Post / SCMP
  “Hong Kong police are setting up a dedicated unit to enforce the coming national security law, one that will be ready to function on the ‘very first day’ the controversial legislation comes into effect, the city’s security minister has revealed.”
  Hong Kong protests: United States, Taiwan interference played role in anti-government movement, says city’s security chief / SCMP
  Jerome Taylor on Twitter: “Once again, no concrete evidence provided for these claims beyond ‘look at how well organised they were’ which takes away any agency from the huge chunk of Hong Kongers who were/are furious at their unelected leaders.”
• Japan advocates for Hong Kong statement
  Japan to draft G7 statement on China’s plans for Hong Kong national security law / SCMP
  “China lodged a protest with Japan after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he wanted to set the course for a Group of Seven nations statement on Hong Kong over national security legislation that’s raised worries about the city’s future autonomy.”
  China protests Japan’s plan for a G-7 statement on Hong Kong / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• Washington targets China’s U.K. influence
  Mike Pompeo calls on U.K. to choose sides on China / FT (paywall)
  Secretary Mike Pompeo on Twitter: “The United States stands with the United Kingdom against the Chinese Communist Party’s coercive bullying tactics. We stand ready to help our British friends build critical infrastructure.”
• Harvard funding scandal
  U.S. grand jury indicts Harvard professor Charles Lieber for lying about China funding / SCMP
  “A grand jury has indicted one of the United States’ foremost chemists, Charles Lieber, on charges of lying to government officials.”
  Harvard professor indicted for allegedly making false statements about secret work in Wuhan / CNBC
• Harvard lawyers demand Uyghur’s release
  Harvard-educated lawyers join Uyghur alumna calling for her brother’s release / CNN
  “More than 80 Harvard-trained lawyers petitioned the US and Chinese governments for the release of Ekpar Asat, a Uyghur entrepreneur who disappeared upon returning to China from a State Department program in the US. His sister Rayhan Asat attended Harvard.”
• Australian universities hit back
  Universities hit back at China’s ‘unjustified’ warning to students that Australia is unsafe / Guardian
  “The Group of Eight universities chief executive, Vicki Thomson, labelled the warning about Australia ‘disappointing’ and ‘demonstrably untrue’ — while the multicultural affairs minister, Alan Tudge, has suggested the ethnicity of participants on hit reality TV show Masterchef proves Australia is a harmonious society.”
  Chinese international students defend Australia as a ‘safe place’ to study / Australian ABC
• EU accuses China of disinformation
  E.U. says China behind ‘huge wave’ of Covid-19 disinformation / Guardian
  “China has been accused by Brussels of running disinformation campaigns inside the European Union, as the bloc set out a plan to tackle a ‘huge wave’ of false facts about the coronavirus pandemic.”
• Philippines SCS posturing
  Philippine officials visit disputed South China Sea island / Reuters
  “The Philippines’ defense minister and military officials have made a trip to a disputed South China Sea island just a few miles from a base built by China, a visit that could draw criticism from Beijing.”
• Guangxi flood
  9 dead, 120,000 relocated as floods ravage southern China / Sixth Tone

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Chinese in the U.S. and BLM
  How Chinese in the U.S. are talking about Black Lives Matter / Sixth Tone
  “An open letter penned by Eileen Huang went viral on Chinese social media. In it, the Yale undergraduate criticized fellow Chinese Americans for a perceived lack of solidarity with both the protestors and victims of racism more broadly.”
• Eliminating rural poverty
  The transformation of rural China / Institute of Current World Affairs
  “Five years ago, China’s Communist Party set a goal to completely eliminate the country’s deep and widespread rural poverty by 2020. How could such a staggering accomplishment even be possible?”
  China’s rural campaigns made a difference / Axios
  “In her deeply researched new book, ‘Mobilizing for Development,’ Kristen Looney, an assistant professor of Asian studies and government at Georgetown University, argues that [rural modernization] campaigns have played a significant role in rural development, not just in China, but also in South Korea and Taiwan.”
• Identity theft
  A lost ID card, an identity thief, and a marriage delayed / Sixth Tone
  “Every year, millions of government-issued identity cards — which are required for purchasing train tickets, buying property, and registering marriages — are lost or stolen in the country… Problems then arise when authorities are reluctant or unable to clear illegitimate activities from citizens’ official records.”
• Chongqing’s “horizontal skyscraper”
  Glass-bottom deck opens atop China’s ‘horizontal skyscraper’ / CNN
  “Designed by Moshe Safdie, the mastermind behind Singapore’s awe-inspiring Changi Jewel, the 250-meter-tall sky bridge is the highest of its kind.”