Links for Friday, August 14, 2020

WHAT WE’RE READING:

More important China news and analysis from around the web:

No quantitative easing: The People’s Bank of China is probably not secretly buying up debt. In reaction to reports from Bloomberg, among others, that contain this speculation, Trivium writes today in its China Markets Dispatch:

In July, holdings of Chinese sovereign bonds by “other special clearing members” shot up by about 200 billion yuan [$29 billion] — the largest increase on record…

The fact that the PBoC is on this list has the market speculating that the central bank is engaging in quantitative easing (QE) — by directly buying government bonds to help fund fiscal spending…

The biggest reason to think this wasn’t the PBoC is that a sudden shift toward QE does not fit with a single statement any PBoC or other financial official has made over the past two months — they are focused on monetary exit, not aggressive new support.

How the Jimmy Lai arrest backfired: Jiayang Fan writes for the New Yorker:

Inexplicably, Chinese officials chose to arrest Lai in a manner that created a powerful visual for the world to see. First, two hundred police officers arrived in Apple Daily’s headquarters. As stunned employees looked on and broadcast the scene on Facebook Live, officers searched through desks and seized more than thirty crates of files. Instead of projecting government strength, the brazen attempt at intimidation reinforced the notion that Beijing must resort to bare-knuckle coercion…

The Australian scholar of Chinese history Geremie Barmé told me that the arrest of Lai marked the growth of “Legalistic-Fascist-Stalinism,” a term coined by the former Tsinghua University law professor Xu Zhangrun, whose candid criticisms of the Communist Party have long rankled the state. Barmé called the use of the new security law to stifle press freedom an autocrat’s tactic of repression. “Jimmy Lai and the Apple Daily may just be the beginning,” Barmé told me. “The law here is a weapon of the regime, designed to legitimize the ruler rather than protect the citizenry.”

Fan says that Lai told her in an interview last year, “What China wants in Hong Kong is a capitalistic city without the concept of politics; what China wants in its citizens is a body that responds reflexively to fear.” He added, “Contrary to what they might think, I don’t hate the Party. I just don’t fear them.”

IN OTHER NEWS:

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Bureau of Indian Standards gets tough on Chinese companies
  Chinese firms hit by new import hurdles in India, sources say / Reuters
• Google says it won’t give user data to Hong Kong authorities
  Google ends direct cooperation with Hong Kong authorities on data requests / Washington Post (porous paywall)
• Trump to declare trade deal success?
  Trump administration ‘satisfied’ with China purchase progress in phase one trade deal, says White House adviser Larry Kudlow / SCMP
• Rental income is declining
  For China’s landlords, rent-to-riches dreams fade in red flag for fragile economy / Reuters
• Competition in artificial intelligence
  White House plans to boost AI, quantum funding by 30% / WSJ (paywall)
• $115 billion in P2P debt
  China’s P2P lending platforms owe over 800 billion yuan to investors: regulator / Reuters
• iQiyi scrutiny
  Baidu-backed video streamer iQiyi probed by U.S. regulator after short seller’s report / Caixin
  Chinese Netflix-style service iQiyi tanks by 18% after U.S. regulators investigate fraud allegations / CNBC
• Upcoming listings on Hong Kong, ChiNext, and STAR markets
  AI unicorn SenseTime is said to mull Hong Kong, China IPO / Bloomberg via Caixin
  Companies line up to list on ChiNext on Aug 24 under new IPO rules / Reuters
  Ant Group makes pre-listing filing in China for blockbuster IPO / Reuters
  Evergrande sells property management unit stake for $3 billion ahead of possible IPO / Reuters
• Stevia powder processed using prison labor?
  U.S. fines food company over forced labor imports from China / Reuters
  Company fined for importing sweetener U.S. says was made with Chinese prison labor / WSJ (paywall)
• Meituan vs. Ele.me legal battles
  Merchants and netizens forced to pick sides in fight between delivery firms / Caixin
• Xinfadi market to reopen August 15
  Beijing to reopen market at the center of city’s biggest COVID-19 outbreak / Caixin (paywall)
• China’s “Little Foxconn”
  Luxshare grows into China’s iPhone champion with help from Apple / Caixin (paywall)
• Record diesel demand in response to stimulus
  Trucks, excavators to help push China’s diesel demand to record / Reuters
• “Socially responsible” bonds
  Korea overtakes China as top Asia sustainable-debt seller / Bloomberg (porous paywall)

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Argentinians object to China “outsourcing the risk” of diseases from pig farming
  China’s billion dollar pig plan met with loathing by Argentinians / Guardian
• COVID-19 in Shenzhen
  Shenzhen mall in lockdown after coronavirus case / Reuters
• Less air pollution this year, but still too much
  China air pollution falls 10.8% because of coronavirus slowdown / Reuters
• Vaccine trials results
  China Sinopharm’s potential COVID-19 vaccine triggers antibodies in clinical trials: journal / Reuters
• Sinopharm, and possibly other companies, to conduct vaccine trials in Pakistan
  China to supply coronavirus vaccine to Pakistan / WSJ (paywall)
• Three-way railway reform plan behind schedule
  China’s plan to boost railway freight falls behind target, knocking air pollution battle off track / SCMP

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Continued rain and flooding in Sichuan
  Torrential rain kills seven in southwest China / Caixin (paywall)
• World Uyghur Congress calls for Olympics venue change
  Uyghur group urges IOC to reconsider 2022 Beijing Winter Games venue / Reuters
  “The Chinese foreign ministry, in a response to Reuters, accused the World Uyghur Congress of having ‘multiple ties with terrorist organizations.’ It said the group’s ‘ridiculous assertions are not worth rebutting’ and added that preparations for the Winter Olympics are progressing smoothly.”
• Foreign Ministry response to U.S. swipe at Confucius Institutes
  Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian’s regular press conference on August 14, 2020 / Chinese Foreign Ministry
  “I want to stress that the U.S. move is demonizing and stigmatizing the normal operation of a cooperation project between China and the U.S. We deplore and firmly oppose that.”
  On The China Project yesterday: U.S. designates Confucius Institutes as P.R.C. foreign missions.
• Pompeo continues his anti-Huawei crusade
  Pompeo presses his campaign against Chinese telecom companies during trip to Eastern Europe / Washington Post (porous paywall)
  China accuses U.S. of bullying Eastern Europe over 5G / SCMP
• Hong Kong updates
  Jimmy Lai says his arrest under Hong Kong’s national security law is a ‘symbolic exercise’ / CNN
  Opinion: China transformed Hong Kong into a typical mainland city, almost overnight / by Keith Richburg in the Washington Post
  YouGov pollster rejects Hong Kong security law survey questions / HKFP
  New advisory board members appointed to Hong Kong broadcaster RTHK amid gov’t scrutiny / HKFP
• The “two mountains theory”
  The anniversary that never was / China Media Project
  David Bandurski writes that the state media phrase “two mountains theory” (两山论 or liǎng shān lùn) is “not really about sustainable development — or not primarily. It is, like so much in the ‘new era,’ about elevating the power and personality of Xí Jìnpíng 习近平. And that requires mythmaking, and a very creative view of history.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• IUD-inspired art by Zhōu Wénjìng 周雯靜
  The artist confronting China’s one-child past / Sixth Tone
• Why is it so difficult to get Chinese employers to embrace diversity?
  The shifting challenges faced by LGBT Chinese in the workplace / Sixth Tone