Links for Tuesday, June 2, 2020

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• TikTok apologizes over U.S. protests video bug
  TikTok apologizes for bug that gave zero views to U.S. protest videos / Quartz
  “TikTok’s new CEO Kevin Mayer faced a major test on his very first day on the job — assuring Americans the platform isn’t suppressing the visibility of videos linked to the police brutality protests across the U.S.”
• Hong Kong finance employees organize security law strike…  
  Hong Kong finance workers call for strike against security law / Bloomberg (porous paywall)

The Hong Kong Financial Industry Employees General Union [in Chinese] is seeking to garner support from 100,000 finance employees — nearly one third of the industry’s workforce — by June 12 to start a strike, Chairman Kwok Ka-wing 郭嘉榮 [Guō Jiāróng] said at a press briefing on Monday, without providing a date for planned action.

• …As investor warns Hong Kong faces a brain drain  
  Hong Kong investor David Webb says city is facing ‘brain drain’ / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• U.S. lawmakers call for investment in R&D
  The U.S. gets serious about catching up to China in R&D / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “If enacted, the Endless Frontier Act would help revitalize the U.S. economy at the national and regional levels and preserve institutions of higher education. But it has one more important goal: keeping the U.S. ahead of its new rival China in the emerging technology race.”
• Apple cuts iPhone prices
  Apple cuts iPhone prices in China to keep momentum going as economy continues to reopen / CNBC
• Hong Kong’s newest billionaire
  Kangtai founder Du Weimin shifts U.S.$3.2 billion of shares to ex-wife Yuan Liping, creating China’s latest billionaire in record divorce / SCMP

A new female billionaire has emerged from one of Asia’s most-expensive break-ups.

Dù Wěimín 杜伟民, the chairman of Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products, transferred 161.3 million shares of the vaccine maker to his ex-wife, Yuán Lìpíng 袁莉萍, according to a May 29 filing, immediately catapulting her into the ranks of the world’s richest. The stock was worth U.S.$3.2 billion as of Monday’s close.

• Vehicle sales rose 12% in May — China Association of Automobile Manufacturers
  China vehicle sales likely rose for a second month, group says / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• Hong Kong lender begins sales discussions
  Elliott closes in on victory in Bank of East Asia control battle / FT (paywall)
  “Elliott Management is closing in on victory in its long-running battle with Hong Kong’s Bank of East Asia, as the city’s last large family-owned lender starts discussions about a sale of its banking operations.”
• How good are China’s factories at flexible manufacturing?
  The “flexible” transformation of “straight-guy” manufacturing / ChinAI Newsletter
  In the wake of COVID-19, many Chinese factories were forced to begin producing personal protective equipment and other medical devices. ChinAI takes a look at how successful Chinese factories are when it comes to “flexible manufacturing.”
• U.S.-China trade and the fate of the phase one deal
  ‘Lemon’ or not, Trump is stuck with Phase 1 China trade deal / Reuters

“He’s stuck with a lemon. He gets an empty agreement if he sticks with it, and he gets more actions that create an economic drag and more volatility if he abandons it,” said one person briefed on the administration’s trade deliberations…

The Peterson Institute of International Economics estimates here that during the first quarter, China made only about 40% of the purchases it needed to stay on target for a first-year increase of $77 billion over 2017 levels, implying an extremely steep climb in the second half.

• American exporters sell soy to China despite rising tensions / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “American soybean exporters sold several cargoes to Chinese state-run buyers, according to people familiar with the matter, showing that some transactions are still going through even after officials in Beijing ordered a pause [porous paywall] in some purchases.”
  Phase 1 trade deal pretty much dead: EU Chamber of Commerce in China / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  Call for China and US to make efforts to avoid ‘total breakdown’ in relations / SCMP
  “Prominent foreign policy expert Wang Jisi writes in state tabloid that Beijing should fulfil trade promise to buy more US agricultural products.”
• Legal gaps leave gig workers vulnerable
  Under a COVID-19 cloud, China’s gig economy comes of age / Jamestown

The coronavirus epidemic of early 2020 has cast a brighter spotlight on gig workers, particularly couriers and food delivery people…Though increased recognition from the government and the public are steps in the right direction, without substantive changes to China’s labor laws and broader employment landscape, gig work will become both more expected and more dehumanizing.

• Tech firms up presence in Singapore
  Chinese tech groups boost Singapore presence in Southeast Asia push / FT (paywall)
  “Chinese technology groups such as ByteDance and Alibaba are boosting their presence in Singapore as they vie with U.S. rivals for dominance in Southeast Asia.”
• Manufacturers invest big in Africa
  China finds manufacturing opportunities in low-wage Africa / SCMP
  “Industrial estates are springing up [from Uganda to Ethiopia, Egypt to South Africa, Algeria to Zambia] funded by Chinese investors attracted by cheap labour and an abundance of raw materials.”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Wuhan doctor dies from COVID-19
  Fifth doctor from Wuhan hospital dies from COVID-19 after long battle / SCMP
  “A fifth doctor [Hú Wèifēng 胡卫锋, a 42-year-old urologist] from Wuhan Central Hospital, where late COVID-19 whistle-blower doctor Lǐ Wénliàng 李文亮 worked, has died from the disease.”
  See also on The China Project: ‘Online wailing wall’: How Chinese netizens continue to honor Li Wenliang, COVID-19 whistleblower.
• COVID-19 could be the result of recombined pangolin and bat coronaviruses — study
  Bat and pangolin coronaviruses swapped RNA to create COVID-19, study suggests / Sixth Tone

According to a study published Friday in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances, the team found that the part of the SARS-CoV-2 gene coding for the critical viral structure used to invade human cells was highly similar to that of a pangolin coronavirus.

The rest of SARS-CoV-2, however, was significantly more similar to a bat coronavirus. To the researchers, this suggested that coronaviruses in bats and pangolins might have exchanged their genetic materials at some point via a process called recombination, giving rise to SARS-CoV-2.

• Hong Kong extends social distancing measures
  Hong Kong extends social distancing restrictions after cluster of infections / Hong Kong Free Press
• Wuhan completes mass testing
  Wuhan wraps up coronavirus tests on 10 million people / SCMP
  “Health workers screened about 10 million people in Wuhan between May 15 and Monday, identifying 300 asymptomatic cases but no symptomatic case, the Hubei government said.”
• Birds hold up dam construction
  Green peacocks hold up Chinese dam construction in landmark case / Bloomberg (porous paywall)

A colony of fewer than 300 birds is standing in the way of one of China’s key hydropower dams in a battle between environmentalists and a construction company that has become a spotlight for China’s pledge to conserve its ecology.

A high court in Yunnan Province is to decide on a case that has held up construction of the 270 MW Jiasa River dam in limbo for almost three years on concerns from environmental groups that the reservoir could destroy a key habitat of the endangered Green Peafowl, China’s native version of the dazzlingly plumed birds.

• Rush to complete renewable projects ahead of subsidy cuts
  Despite coronavirus, China aims for renewables grid parity / Chinadialogue
  “China is sticking to its timetable for removing renewable energy subsidies. Faced with delays caused by COVID-19, developers are under pressure to not only restore production and get supply chains up and running again, but to get extra capacity installed and connected to the grid before subsidies end.”
• China’s nuclear ambitions
  China to dominate nuclear as Beijing bets on homegrown reactors / Bloomberg (porous paywall)

In an energy mix that’ll still heavily feature coal and other fossil fuels, government researchers [in Chinese] have said that nuclear capacity could more than double to 130 gigawatts by 2030. While that would be only about 10% of national power generation, such is China’s heft in energy markets it would still save the amount of carbon that Germany emits annually from burning coal, oil and gas.

• People living at high altitudes report lower rates of COVID-19 — study
  From the Andes to Tibet, the coronavirus seems to be sparing populations at high altitudes / Washington Post (porous paywall)
  “The researchers hypothesize that populations living at high altitudes might be benefiting from a combination of an ability to cope with hypoxia (low levels of oxygen in the blood) and a natural environment hostile to the virus…”

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Philippines backtracks on shredding U.S. military agreement
  Philippines backs off threat to terminate military pact with U.S. / NYT (porous paywall)
  Teddy Locsin on Twitter: “I issued this diplomatic note to the US ambassador. It has been received by Washington and well at that. The Note is self-explanatory and does not require comment except from me. The abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement has been suspended upon the President’s instruction.
  Context on The China Project: Duterte wants to end U.S.-Philippines military engagement.
• Uyghur Human Rights Act goes for Trump’s signature
  Nancy Pelosi on Twitter: “With my signature, the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, which imposes sanction on foreign individuals and entities responsible for human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region, goes to the White House.”
• Washington is “considering” allowing Hongkongers to immigrate
  US may open doors to Hongkongers in response to China’s push for national security law, Mike Pompeo says / Reuters via SCMP

Asked if Washington was considering welcoming Hong Kong people “to come here and bring their entrepreneurial creativity,” Pompeo replied: “We are considering it. I don’t know precisely how it will play out… 

In his Senate address, McConnell said the United States had “a rich heritage of standing as a beacon of light” to refugees from war and communism.

“We should exercise it again for the people of Hong Kong,” he said.

• Britain lobbies Five Eyes allies to ‘share burden’ of possible Hong Kong exodus / SCMP
  “Britain has been discussing ‘burden sharing’ with the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand to handle an exodus of Hongkongers in the wake of Beijing’s national security law, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Parliament on Tuesday.”
• Commentary on Hong Kong’s present and future
  Hong Kong’s own leaders have sacrificed its autonomy / Guardian
  Antony Dapiran writes, “The sad reality is that Hong Kong government leaders have already been doing this themselves, all too willingly stepping into their role as proxies for Beijing…”
  ‘It is much worse’: Veterans of Hong Kong’s 2003 protests fear new law / Guardian
  “We thought it was a people’s victory. That maybe we did have democracy and we did have freedom, and that if we stood up against pressure then we would succeed.”
  What’s in store for Hong Kong? Look at Tibet. / Washington Post
  Allen Carlson writes, “Grasping how Chinese leaders have repeatedly offered Tibetan autonomy, only to rescind it, reveals what the future might hold for Hong Kong.”
• Hong Kong perceptions of U.S. protests
  Wilfred Chan on Twitter: “Disturbing: the idea of ‘Hongkonger’ as determined by support for the movement (itself already problematic) is now being extended to one’s support for the US GOP. In last week have been attacked by many who see criticism of US right wing as ‘betraying HK’ or supporting the CCP”
• Trump-Xi battle hurts Sino-Japanese ties
  Landmark year for China-Japan ties turns sour as Beijing and Washington clash / Bloomberg via SCMP

What was meant to be a landmark year for Japan-China relations has turned sour, as the US stand-off with Beijing leaves Prime Minister Shinzo Abe caught in a fight between his country’s biggest trading partner and its sole military ally…

A staunch supporter of Donald Trump, Abe has stood by the US president in recent weeks. And that could pose risks for Japan’s exposure in China…

…a flare up in a territorial dispute between the two Asian powers and Beijing’s move last week to impose new security legislation that could stifle dissent in Hong Kong has helped stoke a resurgence of Japan’s own wariness toward China.

• Entertainers dispute authenticity of petition on Hong Kong law
  Artists deny signing petition backing Hong Kong national security law / HKFP
  “Several entertainers have denied signing a petition backing Beijing’s plan to implement national security legislation in Hong Kong.”
• Global Times calls for Africa to abandon democracy
  Global Times just comes out and says it: Africa should abandon democracy and follow China’s development model instead / China-Africa Project
  “…Instead, he recommended, African leaders should follow the Chinese Communist Party’s example to re-build governance norms ‘underpinned by ideologies and development-oriented policies.’”
• Ex-Chinese official extradited for fraud and money laundering
  Ex-Chinese official Qiao Jianjun extradited to US from Sweden on money-laundering and fraud charges / SCMP
  “US authorities said on Monday that they had extradited a former Chinese official from Sweden to Los Angeles to face charges of money laundering and immigration fraud.”
• Australia keeps a close watch on U.S.-China purchases
  Australia ‘carefully and closely’ watching US-China phase one purchases for signs of trade diversion / SCMP
  “While ‘the full nature or implications of this arrangement may not be clear for some time’, Australia is on the lookout for trade diversion that could hit its own exports to China.”
• U.S. joins AI pact to counter China
  U.S. will join G-7 AI pact, citing threat from China / SCMP
  “The U.S. plans to join an international organization that will advise companies and governments on the responsible development of artificial intelligence, becoming the last of the Group of Seven countries to sign on.”
• China aims to turn Hainan into a free trade hub
  China unveils plan to make Hainan a free trade hub like Hong Kong, Singapore as risks of US decoupling loom / SCMP
  “China has unveiled a package of special policies for Hainan, including scrapping import duties, in an effort to turn the tropical island into the mainland’s answer to Hong Kong or Singapore and dampen the risk of decoupling with the United States.”
• Xinjiang deputy chairwoman under investigation
  Xinjiang propaganda official Ren Hua under corruption cloud in China / SCMP
  “Rèn Huá 任华, 56, deputy chairwoman of the government of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, [is] under investigation for ‘suspected serious violations of discipline and law’ — a euphemism for corruption.”
• China downplays India border dispute
  China plays it cool despite ‘alarm over India border stand-off’ / SCMP
  “China may be playing down its border tensions with India but Beijing is alarmed by a stand-off in the Himalayas because of its proximity to Xinjiang and Tibet, analysts said on Tuesday.”
  Context on The China Project: New India-China border standoff: Is it ‘stable and under control’?
• Op-ed from India: PLA are ‘sissies’
  Chinese army is full of wimps, sissies & little emperors. We are not saying this. This is what China thinks / TFI Post
  “Chinese superiority, militarily so, is a myth. China often worries about the lack of a battle-hardened army of soldiers that can put up a tough fight.”
• The Australian student at the center of free speech row
  How Drew Pavlou’s University of Queensland protest enraged China and started a free speech battle / The Australian (paywall)
  “His protest against the Chinese government sparked violence, death threats and a dispute with his own university. Who is Drew Pavlou?”
  Context: Student activist in Australia is suspended after China protests.

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Chinese hip-hop artists voice support for U.S. protests
  Chinese hip-hop musicians react to Black Lives Matter protests in the US / Radii
  “As is being excellently documented on Twitter by Chinese hip hop news account, RISING! CHINESE HIP HOP (@rapofchina), a number of musicians have shown their support for the movement.”
  Context on The China Project: Anti-black racism, Hong Kong riots, and America’s decline: Chinese conversations about the George Floyd protests
• Anti-Chinese racism in the U.S.
  A rise in anti-Chinese rhetoric during the coronavirus pandemic / New Yorker (porous paywall)
  “…both sides count on the fact that China’s government ignores whatever American politicians say about it during campaign season.”
• Black Americans in China face COVID-related racism
  ‘We need help’: Coronavirus fuels racism against black Americans in China / NYT (porous paywall)
  From a Guangzhou WeChat group: “African people are a high-risk group, and Guangzhou people are all not renting to them. But in our neighborhood, some people see money and get wide-eyed.”
• Gender equality’s slow march in Hong Kong and Macau
  Hong Kong and Macau’s paternity rights are the weak link in gender equality / HKFP
  “The amendment to the Labour Relations Law voted by mid-May also introduces five days of paternity leave; existing provisions grant new fathers two days of leave with no pay, unless agreed otherwise with the employer.”
• Protecting child rights amid rising juvenile delinquency
  Are kids in China better off today than a decade ago? / Sixth Tone
  “For the country’s many child rights advocates, the past decade has seen hard-won progress. Issues such as school bullying and child sex abuse have received wide attention, and in a few cases have been followed by groundbreaking laws and policies.”
  China seeing rise in juvenile delinquency, report says / Sixth Tone
  “China is experiencing a rebound in crimes committed by minors, including more underage perpetrators and victims of sexual abuse.”
• Snail noodle school opens its doors
  The Guangxi school turning snail rice noodles into escar-gold / Sixth Tone
  “The Liuzhou Vocational and Technical College in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has become the first school in China to offer a course aimed at raising the standards and profile of the southern region’s signature dish.”
• Looking back on the Bund
  The Last Kings of Shanghai by Jonathan Kaufman — masters of the Bund / FT (paywall)
  “Before the second world war, Shanghai was a byword for money, adventure and glamour.”
• Revival of the Chinese same-sex marriage debate
  Chinese dancer’s wedding photos revive same-sex marriage debate / SCMP
  “A dancer has reignited a debate about same-sex marriage after posting pictures of her wedding ceremony online in a rare move for a public figure in China.”