Xinjiang camps: Chinese delegation hears testimony at the UN

Click HereDear Access member,

We have a story from journalist John Pomfret on Taiwanese pro-Beijing former gang leader “White Wolf” coming up for you on this weekend — we’ll keep the story paywalled for a few days before opening it up to the public.

Today, on The China Project we have a new installment of Chinese Corner, Jiayun Feng’s weekly roundup of popular non-fiction and long form writing on the Chinese internet. Our newsletter today has two stories at the top, with the weekly roundup and daily list of links below.

Finally, thank you to Sam Crane, as well as all Access members who signed in for a fascinating discussion of Shang Yang, legalism, confucianism, and Xi Jinping this Wednesday. Click here to view the transcripts of all Slack Chats that we have done so far.

You know how to reach me if you want to bend my ear or my inbox: jeremy@thechinaproject.com.

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief

1. UN anti-racism committee examines Xinjiang

Here is a list of 48 people who will not have a pleasant weekend: They are China’s delegates to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which meets this month to “consider periodic reports” received from several countries, including China.

STRONGLY WORDED CONDEMNATION

The session on China began this morning with “among the most strongly worded condemnations to date by an international body of the situation in Xinjiang,” according to Nathan VanderKlippe of the Globe and Mail. Reuters also has a story on today’s session titled U.N. says it has credible reports that China holds million Uighurs in secret camps. The Committee will continue examining China on Monday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Geneva time. A summary of today’s session:

• “We are deeply concerned at the many numerous and credible reports that we have received that in the name of combating religious extremism and maintaining social stability (China) has changed the Uyghur Autonomous Region into something that resembles a massive internship camp that is shrouded in secrecy, a sort of ‘no rights zone,’” Gay McDougall, vice-chair of CERD, told the session.

• Some Uyghurs “are being treated as enemies of the state based solely on their ethno-religious identity,” she added, noting that many detainees in Xinjiang “have had their due process rights violated,” most have never been charged with any offence, and some just disappear.

• Mistreatment of Tibetans was also raised during today’s session, “including inadequate use of the Tibetan language in the classroom and at court proceedings.”

THE CHINESE REPORT

The Chinese delegation will respond on Monday to the information presented so far, but its written report to CERD is already available, along with an annex showing official stats from 2000 and 2010 censuses of the ethnic breakdown of China’s population. The report touts the economic growth in Xinjiang and Tibet, and includes claims such as these:

• “For quite some time now, and especially since 2008, the Chinese Government has steadily pursued ethnic equality, ethnic unity, regional ethnic autonomy and the common prosperity of all ethnic groups as basic principles and policies.”

• “The Chinese Government respects and protects the freedom of religious beliefs as well as the customs of Muslims… The folkways and customs of ethnic minority Muslims with regard to diet, marriage, funerals and religious festivals are respected.”

CIVIL SOCIETY REPORTS

“Civil society organizations” also submitted reports to CERD, but a few of them such as the China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture and the China Ethnic Minorities’ Association for External Exchanges are actually Chinese state-controlled organizations. Well-known NGOs that submitted reports include Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the World Uyghur Congress. Here are direct download links to all of the other civil society reports: Asian Solidarity Council for Freedom and Democracy, China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture, China Ethnic Minorities’ Association for External Exchanges, China Tibetology, Research Center, Free Tibet, Group of Hong Kong Ethnic Minority students and youth, Happiness Realization Research Institute, Human Rights in China, International Campaign for Tibet, Japan Network to Monitor Violations of the Universal Human Rights, Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders, Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center, The China Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, The Rights Practice, The Tibet Bureau, Tibet Advocacy Coalition, Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.

China’s response on Monday is likely to be stony-faced denial of all alleged abuses. We’ll keep you posted.

RELATED REPORTS  

• Rahile Dawut “was known as an expert on Uighur shrines, folklore, music and crafts that had been neglected by previous generations of scholars.” She has disappeared into the Xinjiang camp system, according to the New York Times (porous paywall).

• Sayragul Sauytbay is the ethnic Kazakh Chinese national whose testimony in a Kazakhstan court about being forced to work in a Xinjiang internment camp was recently uploaded to Youtube. Emily Rauhala of the Washington Post has a report on what she calls the “first-of-its-kind courtroom testimony,” combined with details from other Kazakh sources.

• “A seething and repressed Xinjiang can’t become a hub for trade,” argues Mihir Sharma on Bloomberg (porous paywall).

• “An official Chinese Communist Party recording… characterizes Uyghurs who have been sent for political ‘re-education’ as ‘infected by an ideological illness’—not unlike a disease that must be treated at a hospital,” reports RFA.  

• “Hundreds of ethnic Hui Muslims are staging a sit-in protest in China’s western region of Ningxia against government plans to demolish a huge new mosque,” according to a Reuters update of a story we noted yesterday.

Finally, a tweet from Chris Buckley, co-author of the New York Times piece above: “Learning about the Uighur scholar Rahile Dawut and speaking to Rachel Harris led me to Sound of Islam, a marvelous collection of music and images from Xinjiang and elsewhere. Cheer yourself up and watch and hear their wonderful recordings.”

—Jeremy Goldkorn

2. Trade war, day 36: People’s Daily blames conflict on American ‘hegemony-dominated mindset’

A little over a month into the U.S.-China trade war, Beijing appears to have concluded that compromise, at least for now, is useless.

A People’s Daily editorial today asked (in Chinese), “What is the essence of the U.S.-provoked trade war?” Among many other things, the editorial in the Chinese Communist Party’s house newspaper asserted:

“It can be said that the hegemony-dominated mindset at the base of the White House’s international relations has led it to misjudge the order of the 21st century, and also misjudge China’s peaceful rise.”

The editorial also tries to dispel what it calls “a few specious viewpoints spread online”:

• One is “to place the blame on China’s… overconfidence and bombast,” implying that the trade war was a natural response to rising Chinese nationalism. This appears to be a denial in response to recent reports from Reuters and others that Chinese leadership has been rethinking its nationalist rhetoric.

• Another is “if only China admitted defeat, the U.S. would show mercy, and the trade war would cease.”

Other quotes from the editorial, highlighted by the South China Morning Post, CNBC, and Trivium, include:

• “Whichever country is the second strongest global power,…[will be] the most important opponent of the United States, and the United States will want to contain that country…It doesn’t matter if it’s the Soviet Union, Japan, or China – there are no exceptions.”

• China has become an “unprecedented opponent” for the U.S., and “Such a large size, such a heavy thing, can’t be hidden by ‘being low key,’ just like an elephant can’t hide behind a small tree.”

• “No matter what China does, in the eyes of the United States, China’s development has already ‘damaged the supremacy of the United States.’”

Other than the People’s Daily editorial, there was little hard news in the past day hinting at the future of the trade war. Here’s a roundup of other trade war-related articles:

• American auto companies left out of import boom
  Auto imports quadruple as tariff cut takes effect / Caixin
  “China imported a record 165,000 foreign vehicles in July, up from 45,000 the previous month, according to data (link in Chinese) that the General Administration of Customs released on Wednesday.”
  “The uptick is largely due to a 10-percentage-point tariff cut on most imported vehicles. In late May, China announced that it will reduce duties on 135 types of imported vehicles from 25% to 15% starting in July.”
  US car makers left in the dust as China’s tariff cuts boost Europe, Japan / WSJ (paywall)
  “Auto makers exported a record $7.4 billion worth of vehicles to China last month, as European and Japanese companies took advantage of a tariff cut that excludes their U.S. counterparts.”

• Currency and market trends
  On devaluation anniversary, China logs a win in yuan campaign / Bloomberg (paywall)
  “Three years after China’s shock currency devaluation forced the nation into a months-long campaign to prevent a disorderly collapse, officials appear to be handling an even sharper depreciation much more smoothly.”
  China edges up while most Asian markets trade lower; dollar holds onto gains / CNBC

• Trends in U.S. market
  California sees China impact, soft job growth but no sign of recession, say economists / CNBC
  Chinese mobile game-makers made more than $600 million in the US market in the first half of 2018 / TechNode

• Historical analysis
  Opinion: What a previous trade war with China might teach us / Washington Post
  John Pomfret recalls the Opium War, and points out, “The main lesson from Stephen R. Platt’s wonderful new book on the conflict, ‘Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China’s Last Golden Age,’ is that little, if anything, is fated.”
  Opinion: The unintended consequences of a trade war with China / War on the Rocks
  Wilson Vorndick writes, “The U.S. embargo [in 1940] directly threatened Japanese leadership and became a pretext for confrontation and conflict,” and asks, “Might the same be true with China today?”

—Lucas Niewenhuis

—–

Our whole team really appreciates your support as Access members. Please chat with us on our Slack channel or contact me anytime at jeremy@thechinaproject.com.

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief

Here are the stories that caught our eye this week:

• August 8 marked the tenth anniversary of the Beijing Olympic Games, which officially began at 8:08 p.m. on the eighth day of the eighth month of 2008 — a surfeit of eights to delight superstitious feudalist and communist cadre alike.

• A male manager at Mobike, one of China’s bike-sharing giants, has been suspended after an anonymous female software engineer accused him of sexual harassment and abuse of power.

• A second tranche of tariffs on $16 billion in Chinese imports will be activated by the U.S. on August 23, the U.S. Trade Representative announced on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Chinese state media became less restrained in its criticism of the U.S. and President Trump this week, going so far as to threaten Apple with “anger and nationalist sentiment” — basically, a boycott — should tensions continue.

• The American Federal Drug Administration (FDA) issued a recall of batches of blood pressure treatment Valsartan that contained a carcinogen in ingredients from three Chinese factories.

• Protests against China’s peer-to-peer lending industry are spreading across the country.

• Chinese millennials made some headlines this week. In Chinese media, they are blamed for the country’s declining birth rates and its debt crisis.

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Space farming
  China’s first seed bank for space cultivation lands in Shaanxi province / TechNode
  “China’s first space cultivation seed research center and laboratory opened in Shaanxi province. The center is reported to be a resource base for space breeding and seed selection. Its first task will be sending and cultivating 20 varieties of trees to find new methods to breed tree and flower seeds.”

• Porn stars and patriotism
  Japanese porn star Sora Aoi wears Young Pioneers’ red scarf at charity event sparking anger in China / SCMP

• Qingfeng Steamed Dumpling Store
  Xi Jinping’s favourite baozi shop gets a financial lifeline from Fosun, eyes a stock market listing / SCMP
  “A Chinese state-owned dumpling store chain made famous after receiving Chinese President Xi Jinping’s surprise visit in 2013, announced that it has raised investment from a key subsidiary of Chinese conglomerate Fosun International, the Chinese owner of Club Med, and two other investment parties, paving the way for a listing.”

• Tech company news
  Weibo revenue surges from ad sales / TechNode
  “Chinese microblogging platform Weibo has reported a 68% year-on-year increase in net revenue to reach $426.6 million, driven mostly by ad sales.”
  NetEase’s stock tumble after second quarter earnings / TechNode
  “Chinese leading internet and online game services provider NetEase reported an unaudited profit of RMB 2.1 billion for the second quarter ended June 30, a 30% decrease compared with the same period last year.”
  Jinri Toutiao rival said to file for US IPO in September / TechNode
  “Tencent-backed news aggregation app Qu Toutiao (趣头条), or ‘Fun Headlines,’ is said to list in September in the US, according to sources quoted by Tencent Tech.”

• Makeup for men
  China’s male online cosmetics stars and a booming new industry / SCMP

• Overwork culture
  Deaths of two entrepreneurs reveal China’s intense work culture / TechNode
  “Gan Lai, the founder and CEO of Falan Gaming, ended his life on August 8 by jumping from the 22nd floor after his third startup went bankrupt earlier this year. Meanwhile, Li Hua, founder of GooAnn and Aqniu, passed away on the same day. The sudden deaths of two entrepreneurs have sparked heated discussions about China’s work culture.”

• Corruption
  Chinese corruption inquiry finds US$39 million in cash at homes of ex-boss of Huarong Asset Management / SCMP

• Blockchain
  Shenzhen becomes pilot city for blockchain-powered WeChat invoices / TechNode

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• The P2P protests on August 6
  As Chinese investors panic over dubious products, authorities quash protests / NYT (paywall)
  An extended reported account of the protests that we covered on Monday’s Access newsletter.

• China and the ‘U.S. Space Force’
  America’s top nuclear commander: Russia and China can’t be our friends if they’re developing weapons we can’t deter / CNBC
  Space Force: Pentagon blames Russia, China for militarizing space / CNBC

• U.S.-China relations
  Chinese researcher? Good luck scoring a US visa / Inkstone
  One postdoctoral researcher reported that during her visa interview last year, “When they realized my degree was in telecommunications, the interview suddenly ended and the staff said my application needed additional checks.”
  China warns off US reconnaissance plane over the South China Sea / CNN
  “During the flight the crew received six separate warnings from the Chinese military, telling them they were inside Chinese territory and urging them to leave.”

• Soft power in Fiji
  Ark Peace treats 6000 Fijians in three days / Fiji Sun
  “Close to 6000 Fijians have already made use of free medical have service provided by specialists on board the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy Hospital Ship Ark Peace in the first three days of its visit to Suva.”
  Author Richard McGregor on Twitter: “The voyage of this Chinese naval hospital ship seems to have been phenomenal, treating thousands of people through the Pacific. Not a great believer in Chinese soft power but this is something.”

• As-many-as-you-want child policy coming?
  China state researcher predicts end to child birth restrictions / Bloomberg
  “‘We need to lift restrictions on births completely,’ Zhang Juwei, director of the state-run Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of Population and Labor Economics, said in an interview published Friday in China Newsweek magazine. ‘It has become an irresistible trend to allow people to make their own decisions on fertility, which will be the direction for the adjustment of population policy in the future.’”

• Cult of Xi(s)
  Xi Jinping’s father elevated to China’s pantheon of communist greats / FT (paywall)
  But at least some of the new commemoration of Xi Zhongsun may just be “the result of lower-level officials attempting to curry favour with the president.”

• Party control of universities
  How Xi Jinping is shaping China’s universities / Diplomat (porous paywall)
  “The Chinese Communist Party’s intellectual colonization of universities may prove to be a costly endeavor.”

• Secret Party leadership meetings
  Chinese media, in shift, drop hints of Beidaihe conclave / Nikkei Asian Review
  “In a shift from custom, China’s official Xinhua News Agency has reported on the activities of senior party officials in the beachside resort of Beidaihe in Hebei Province, providing a strong indication that the annual summer gathering of the party leadership and elders is underway.”

• Belt and Road
  ‘Belt and Road’ drives Into Argentina with $2 billion contract / Caixin (paywall)
  “China State Construction Engineering Corp. (CSCEC) said it has won a $2.13 billion contract to build a major highway in Argentina, answering Beijing’s call for infrastructure specialists to export their skills to other developing markets.”
  Opinion: China’s Belt and Road is conduit for polluting investments / FT (paywall)
  Kelly Sims Gallagher writes, “Some 80 per cent of China’s overseas energy investments are in fossil fuels compared with only 3 per cent in solar and wind and 17 per cent in hydro.”
  Risky Business: A case study of PRC investment in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan / Jamestown Foundation
  The hole at the heart of China’s Silk Road / Bloomberg (paywall)

• Hong Kong censorship
  Journalists Assoc. expresses ‘extreme regret’ over RTHK’s ban on live-streaming pro-independence activist’s talk / Hong Kong Free Press
  Immigration officers detain Japanese politician Kenichiro Wada at Hong Kong airport for two hours before denying him entry to city after pro-democracy stance upsets Beijing / SCMP

• North Korea’s protection by China
  China helps Russia thwart US bid to freeze bank’s assets over ‘North Korea sanctions dodge’ / SCMP

• Labor activism
  Chinese Maoists join students in fight for workers’ rights at Jasic Technology / SCMP
  “A high-profile intervention of leftist Chinese university students in a labour rights dispute in southern China gained momentum this week when old guards from the country’s leading ultra-left group joined them. The students have been campaigning for workers of stock market-listed Jasic Technology, who are fighting for union rights, through street rallies, demonstrations, fundraising and open letters…”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Crazy Rich Asians
  Crazy Rich Asians made me nervous. But the movie exceeded expectations. / Vox
  Stephanie Foo writes, “As a radio journalist, I’ve crafted hundreds of intimate narratives for Snap Judgment and This American Life. I understood the power of story and of representation in media. But I couldn’t have predicted how impactful seeing my story on screen would be. And yes, despite the whole gobs-of-money thing, it did still feel like my story, because Crazy Rich Asians is not so much about money as it is entitlement — especially the entitlement to unapologetically be yourself.”

• Stifling heat in Shanghai and elsewhere
  Shanghai residents sleep in the street amid the heat – in pictures / Guardian

• Schoolboy hijinks
  Bored Chinese schoolboys convince Didi driver to take them on 1,400km journey with less than US$30 in cash to pay him / SCMP
  “Two teenage boys managed to fool an unwitting taxi driver into driving them 1,400km (870 miles) with only 200 yuan (US$29) cash in hand, promising the driver that they would pay him at the end of the journey, according to media reports.”

• Pet control
  Police in eastern China use QR codes on dog collars to bring pet owners to heel / SCMP
  “Dog owners who let their pets roam the streets, fail to clean up after their animals or allow other misdemeanours can now be fined by police with the swipe of a QR code in eastern China.”

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Click Here

Viral on Weibo: This is how pampered rhesus macaques in China spend their summer!

Nature reserve staff in Jiyuan combine tomatoes, watermelon, and ice as a cool treat for the monkeys in hot Henan weather.

Also, this week, we published our first 360-degree video along with the following videos:

• Tamil-speaking Chinese girl goes viral in India

• How is Chinese media reacting to the trade war?

ON SUPCHINA

Click Here

STORIES

Chinese Corner: ‘Rocket Girls,’ heart-shaped faces, and the mystery of Chinese agriculture

Jiayun Feng’s review of new writing on the Chinese internet. This week, she takes a closer look at Rocket Girls 火箭少女, the manufactured girl group spun off from the wildly popular show reality TV show Produce 101 创造101, the complicated legacy of the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and the lucrative business of heart-shaped faces.

China’s sports industry 10 years after the Beijing Olympics: Global leader or pretender?

With the Beijing Summer Olympics kicking off 10 years ago this week, much has already been written on how China has changed in the ensuing decade. One of the biggest developments since 2008 came in October 2014, when the government released a policy document called “Number 46” that outlined China’s plan to create the biggest sports industry in the world, with the target of 5 trillion yuan ($729 billion) in annual revenue by 2025. With another Beijing Olympics coming up in 2022, is the country anywhere close to achieving its goal?

Film Friday: Liminality in Edward Yang’s ‘Taipei Story’

When people ask me why I moved to Beijing, there’s the typical huayi answer of discovering my roots, of wanting to finally be in a place where having a Chinese face is the norm. But my real reason for leaving New York is because, one weekday night, I saw, in Brooklyn’s BAMcinématek, the newly restored version of Edward Yang’s Taipei Story. The film is magnificent, especially when viewed in the right headspace.

Kuora: The fascinating appeal of Mexican food in China

Kaiser Kuo writes, “Over the years I’ve fed Mexican food — not absolutely 100 percent ‘authentic,’ but pretty close — to dozens of Chinese friends while living in Beijing. They’ve eaten enchiladas, adobo, arroz, frijoles, carnitas, machaca, various tacos, tortilla soup, and much more. And every single one of my Chinese friends has not only loved it, but heaped on seconds and eaten to nearly the point of discomfort.”

‘Not allowed to receive African guests’

Last month, several hotels in Guangzhou posted notices that said African guests were no longer welcome. Among those turned away at the door was a Ugandan magistrate. The hotels say they were told to post these notices by the police, but the local security bureau denies any involvement.

Budget caps for period dramas

A few days ago, news broke that media regulators had issued new directives capping the production budget of online period dramas at 8 million RMB ($1.2 million) per episode and contemporary dramas at 6 million RMB ($878,000). Also, news on the tax evasion crackdown on Chinese film stars.  

Demba Ba enraged by alleged racism  

Chinese football authorities are investigating claims of racial abuse directed at former Newcastle and Chelsea star Demba Ba in a Chinese Super League game on August 4 between Ba’s Shanghai Shenhua and Changchun Yatai FC.  

Team China debuts at Gay Games  

On August 4, 87 Chinese participants, including Chinese residing abroad, joined a parade of athletes and supporters at the Stade Jean-Bouin in Paris to mark the opening of the 10th international Gay Games, a one-week sporting event modeled after the Olympics and dedicated to raising awareness of gay and transgender rights.

Profane roadside rant against Beijingers incites mob

Last week Friday, a driver in Beijing — who was not from the city — cursed out a local biker and then threw in a few general insults about Beijingers was hounded by an online human search engine and an old fashioned, bloodthirsty mob demanding revenge.

Jinri Toutiao resurrects dirty jokes app  

Chinese news aggregator Jingri Toutiao 今日头条 has recently rolled out a new app called Pipixia 皮皮虾, meant for sharing humorous videos, jokes, and memes. It looks suspiciously like Neihan Duanzi 内涵段子, an app that Toutiao shuttered four months ago after China’s internet regulators complained of “vulgarity.”

PODCASTS

Sinica Podcast: Introducing the NüVoices Podcast

A crossover show with a new podcast in the Sinica network: NüVoices. This episode, hosted by Beijing-based translator Alice Xin Liu and Hong Kong-Canadian journalist Joanna Chiu, features FT correspondent Yuan Yang on China’s #MeToo movement.

• Subscribe to the Sinica Podcast via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, or Stitcher, or plug the RSS feed into your favorite podcast app.

NüVoices Podcast: China’s #MeToo momentum

Alice Xin Liu and Joanna Chiu interview Yuan Yang, the Beijing-based technology correspondent for the Financial Times, on how #MeToo has gained momentum in mainland China despite online censorship and university officials reportedly putting pressure on students to stay silent.

• Subscribe to the NüVoices Podcast on iTunes, find it on Overcast and Stitcher, or plug the RSS feed directly into your favorite podcast app!

TechBuzz China: Pinduoduo: From Zero to $23B in Three Years

Rui Ma and Ying-Ying Lu trace the story of ecommerce company Pinduoduo, the fastest-growing app in the history of the Chinese internet, from its founding in 2015 and growth to 344 million active users to its recent Nasdaq listing.

Subscribe to TechBuzz China on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, or Stitcher, or click here for the RSS feed.

The Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, episode 59

This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Hong Kong Stock Exchange cracks down on “backdoor listing,” Starbucks eyes China’s booming food-delivery sector, Google’s rumored return to China, and more.

• Subscribe to the Business Brief on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, or Stitcher.

PHOTO FROM MICHAEL YAMASHITA

Making yak butter

In this photo from 2011, a son watches his father demonstrate the art of making yak butter (酥油 sūyóu) in Yunnan Province.

—Jia Guo