Links for Thursday, September 2, 2021

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

Tech crackdowns: Ride-hailing, stock tips on social media
Chinese regulators summon 11 ride-hailing firms, including Didi, over ‘illegal behavior’ / CNBC
China orders ride-hailing firms Meituan, Didi to fix misconduct / Bloomberg (paywall)
China’s Weibo bans stock-tip accounts with millions of followers / Bloomberg (paywall)
Related: A ‘sissy idol’ crackdown: See Reuters or Politics section below for more links.

Tech crackdown commentary: Data centers
Nationalization is coming to China’s data centers / Bloomberg (paywall)
“Beijing is taking steps that will give the government not only access to, but purported ownership of, the vast amounts of information that companies collect.”

No more Airbnb in Beijing
Airbnb-style rental platforms ordered to remove Beijing listings, sources say / Caixin (paywall)
“Several government agencies…summoned nine short-term rental platforms for a meeting on August 20, ordering the platforms to remove ‘non-compliant properties’ within seven days. A majority of non-hotel listings have [already] been removed from Airbnb-style short-term rental platforms in Beijing.”

Alibaba’s “common prosperity” plans
Alibaba earmarks 100 billion yuan [$15.5 billion] towards China’s common prosperity goal, responding to call to narrow nation’s wealth gap / SCMP
“The allocation will be disbursed before 2025 [and] used to promote investments in technology, support small businesses, foster development in rural areas and help gig workers.”
China’s Alibaba to invest $15.5 billion towards “common prosperity” / Reuters

Huge Korean investment in EV batteries
SK Innovation to build $1 billion battery plant in China / Caixin (paywall)
“SK Innovation Co. Ltd. will invest 1.2 trillion won ($1.04 billion) to build a new battery plant in…Yancheng, Jiangsu Province…as part of the company’s strategy to increase its annual battery production capacity to 85 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in 2023.”

How Geely plans to go electric, and smart
How the Chinese tycoon driving Volvo plans to tackle Tesla / Reuters
“Geely is preparing Volvo for a listing on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange as a route towards the future of transportation: One where cars are part of an electrified network of mobility services, driving themselves, connecting to each other and — like cell phones — generating an array of data and new business opportunities.”

Pork business high on the hog no longer
China hog stocks shed $75 billion after swine fever recovery and ‘peak pork’ / FT (paywall)
“Consumers have switched to other proteins following price increases, say analysts.”

Pandemic blues at the casino
COVID-19 has China’s gambling hub Macau on a long losing streak / WSJ
“Business remains muted in the once-bustling casinos of Macau more than a year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic, while gambling operators wait for tourists to return en masse to the Chinese city.”

Copper from Congo
The Congo mine that could feed China’s vast hunger for copper / Caixin (paywall)

The first shipment of copper ore from the Kamoa-Kakula mine in the southern Democratic Republic of Congo is expected to arrive in China this month after traveling overland to the South African port of Durban.

The mine, operated by a Chinese-Canadian joint venture, is expected to produce 200,000 tons of ore a year in its first phase.

Related, on The China Project today: Why China can’t and won’t weaponize rare earths.

The Economist calls China’s two dodgiest famous companies “dodgy”
China’s dodgy-debt double act / Economist

The government insists it wants more market discipline and a transparent process for letting firms default without blowing up the financial system.

Now these claims are being tested by crises at Huarong, a state-run financial conglomerate, and Evergrande, the country’s largest property firm.

Property price control experiment
Guangzhou’s new pre-owned property reference system could cut prices in half / Caixin (paywall)
“Guangzhou in southern China has launched a price reference system for pre-owned properties that is aimed at preventing real estate agencies from inflating prices, a move that could cut property rates by as much as 50%.”
See also:
China’s bid to stabilize its property market is causing jitters / Economist (paywall)
“Can it be done without harming the wider economy?”

China energy giant makes bank as gas and oil in demand again
Sinopec records 2021 interim net profit 4 billion yuan ($0.62 billion) better than pre-pandemic level / Hellenic Shipping News

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND ENVIRONMENT:

The climate change card
China warns U.S. climate cooperation at risk over political tension / Reuters
Chinese Foreign Minister Wáng Yì 王毅 told U.S. climate envoy John Kerry that “China-U.S. climate co-operation cannot be separated from the wider environment of China-U.S. relations.”
China tells Kerry strained ties could sink climate cooperation / NYT (paywall)

China is getting its shots
China administered total of 2.076 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines as of September 1 / Reuters
As of the latest official count, China’s population is around 1.4 billion.

New helicopter for future Mars missions
China develops prototype miniature helicopter for Mars missions / Reuters

Yunnan’s migrating elephants
Baby elephant rescued in China after becoming separated from herd / Reuters

POLITICS AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Details of spying charges against Canadians revealed by sketchy state-owned tabloid newspaper
Canadian Spavor took photos, videos of Chinese military equipment, sent them to Kovrig and outside China, source said / Global Times

Canadian citizen Michael Spavor, who was sentenced in August to 11 years in prison for espionage and illegal provision of China’s state secrets to foreign entities, was found to have taken photos and videos of Chinese military equipment on multiple occasions and illegally provided some of those photos to people outside China, a source close to the matter told the Global Times on Wednesday…

The photos and videos have been identified as second-tier state secrets. Spavor was a key informant of another Canadian defendant, Michael Kovrig, and provided him with information over a long period, the source said.

Canadian jailed in China accused of taking military photos / The Guardian
“The anonymous claims in the Global Times are some of the only details of the espionage accusations against the men, whose cases have been shrouded in secrecy, from their detention conditions through to the closed-door trials and lack of sentencing documents.”
China links Canadians Michael Spavor, Kovrig on espionage charges / Bloomberg (paywall)
China report links state-secrets allegations against two Canadians / WSJ (paywall)

Crackdown chronicles: TV regulator bans “sissy idols”
China cracks down on showbiz for ‘polluting’ society and youth / Reuters
“China ordered broadcasters on Thursday to shun artists with ‘incorrect political positions’ and ‘effeminate’ styles, and said a patriotic atmosphere needed to be cultivated.”
China calls for boycott on ‘overly entertaining’ entertainers and ‘sissy idols’ in continued purge of popular culture industry / SCMP (paywall)

China’s top media regulator has announced a boycott of what it called “sissy idols,” among other new guidelines, during an ongoing “clean up” of the entertainment industry. The authorities have been increasingly critical of the trend some refer to as “sissy men,” which include pop idols that wear make-up or who do not conform to “macho” male stereotypes prevalent in traditional Chinese culture.

国家广播电视总局 公告公示 国家广播电视总局办公厅关于进一步加强文艺节目及其人员管理的通知 / NRTA
Earlier this week: China’s ongoing struggle against ‘sissy’ young men / Sixth Tone
“Last week, Douyin deleted an account with thousands of followers after social media users reported its owner for being effeminate.”

Crackdown chronicles: NGO edition
民政部社会组织管理局局长柳拯：学习贯彻“七一”重要讲话精神 坚定不移走好中国特色社会组织发展之路
Scholar Holly Snape on Twitter:

Civil Affairs head of social orginzation management deptartment on studying and implementing [Xi’s 7.1 speech-spirit] as a must-do major political task.

This isn’t messing around.

“Pursue closer relations with Taiwan” — European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee
European lawmakers seek to upgrade ties with Taiwan / Bloomberg (paywall)
“A European Union panel called on the bloc to strengthen ties with Taiwan, the latest show of support from an expanding united front of democracies against an increasingly assertive China.”

South African security agency denies reports that Chinese-born MP is spy
SSA report finds ‘high likelihood’ ANC MP Xiaomei Havard is spying for China / News24 (paywall)
“South Africa’s State Security Agency, the country’s intelligence service, has concluded there is a ‘high likelihood’ that ANC MP Xiaomei Havard (张晓梅 Zhāng Xiǎoméi) may be passing on classified information to the Chinese Communist Party.”
State Security Agency distances itself from wild allegations leveled against Ms. Xiaomei Harvard / South African government website
The deputy minister responsible for state security in the presidency “disassociates itself from this malicious falsehood perpetuated through the media platform to advance the ulterior motives of discrediting and undermining the integrity of the Agency.”
Parties react to claims that ANC MP Xiaomei Havard is spying for China / SABIC via YouTube
A South African TV news clip featuring a range of views from people across the country’s political spectrum.

No concert for Hong Kong pop star Denise Ho under National Security Law
Hong Kong pop star gets canceled amid fears of national-security chill / WSJ (paywall)
“A major nonprofit arts center barred the pro-democracy Hong Kong pop star Denise Ho [何韻詩Hé Yùnshī] from performing just days before a scheduled series of concerts, as concerns grow that a continuing crackdown led by Beijing could stifle artistic expression in the city.”

Hong Kong protester jailed over rioting
Hong Kong protests: student who admitted rioting during 2019 PolyU siege jailed for 2½ years / SCMP (paywall)
“An 18-year-old student who admitted rioting in a violent demonstration linked to a university clash during the 2019 Hong Kong protests has been jailed for 2½ years.”

China sets out its conditions for good relations with U.S.
China’s new U.S. ambassador goes full wolf in first major speech / Politico
China’s new man in Washington, D.C., Qín Gāng 秦刚, on Tuesday gave “a speech that excoriated US.S. ‘wrong beliefs’ and cautioned against violating Beijing’s ‘red line’ of core interests in areas including the South China Sea, Taiwan and Xinjiang.”
China’s bottom lines and demands for working with Washington / Caixin (paywall)

Foreign Minister Wáng Yì 王毅 explained the three bottom lines for keeping China-U.S. relations from going off the rails during his meeting with Wendy Sherman in Tianjin on July 26…

• The United States must not challenge, slander, or attempt to subvert the path and system of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
• The United States must not attempt to obstruct or interrupt China’s development process.
• The United States must not infringe upon China’s state sovereignty, or damage China’s territorial integrity. [Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are mentioned.]

  China’s vice foreign minister, Xiè Fēng 谢锋, also put forward two lists during his meeting with Sherman in July [which included demands to:]

  • Revoke visa restrictions on Communist Party of China members and their families, revoke sanctions on Chinese leaders, officials and government agencies, and remove visa restrictions on Chinese students.
  • Stop suppressing Chinese enterprises, stop harassing Chinese students, stop suppressing Confucius Institutes, revoke the registration of Chinese media outlets as “foreign agents” or “foreign missions,” and revoke the extradition request for Mèng Wǎnzhōu 孟晚舟.
  • [Address]: Chinese students’ visa applications being rejected, Chinese citizens receiving unfair treatment in the United States, Chinese diplomatic and consular missions being harassed and rammed into by perpetrators in the United States, growing anti-Asian and anti-China sentiment, and Chinese citizens suffering violent attacks while abroad.

Taiwan launches government-backed news website, and it’s awful
Cautious welcome for Taiwan’s gov’t-backed English news platform / HKFP
“Taiwan+, launched on Monday, aims to tell the island’s story on its own terms to an international audience, pushing back against Beijing’s narrative propagated through its own English-language overseas stations.”
The China Project take: Taiwan+ is pretty bad!

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

Simpatico men on demand
China’s hottest new rental service: Men who actually listen / Sixth Tone
“Chinese women are fed up with dating self-absorbed men. Now, ‘butler cafés’ are offering them more attentive male company — for a fee.”

A dozen arrested over a HK$62 million property scam
Barrister, solicitors among 12 arrested over HK$62 million property scam in Hong Kong / SCMP (paywall)
“A barrister, his wife, two solicitors and a legal executive have been arrested along with seven others on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud in connection with a HK$62 million ($6.68 million) property scam in Hong Kong.”

Teaching about feminism and LGBT+ culture in China
What I learned from 10 years teaching Chinese students about gender / Sixth Tone
“The author, a teacher at a college in East China, reflects on the successes and challenges of her ‘Gender and Media’ class.”