Links for Friday, June 5, 2020

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• U.S.-China air travel update
  U.S. will allow Chinese passenger carriers two flights per week / Reuters
• JD.com prepares for $4.1 billion Hong Kong listing
  Chinese online mall JD.com files for Hong Kong second listing / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  China’s JD.com prepares for year’s largest public offering / FT (paywall)
• U.S.-China phase one trade deal still working?  
  China putting U.S. tensions over Hong Kong aside to subtly, quietly implement phase one trade deal / SCMP
  “Beijing has also transferred responsibility for the purchases to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, suggesting they are no longer a political task.”
  Morgan Stanley says the U.S. ‘will not want to break the phase one deal’ with China / CNBC
  “[T]he risk of a renewed U.S.-China tariff war hitting the global economy ‘is not likely to be happening in our forecast’ for now, he [Chetan Ahya, Morgan Stanley’s chief economist] added.”
  Lighthizer says feels ‘very good’ about phase one China trade deal / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  In a video interview, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer tells Bloomberg he “feels ‘very good’ about the progress of the phase one trade agreement with China, which he said is honoring the pact amid the coronavirus pandemic.”
  Scott Kennedy on Twitter: “USTR Lighthizer entirely undermines his 1st 3 yrs of work attacking Chinese industrial policy: ‘We need a policy, be it subsidies, or tariffs, or whatever it takes. We have to have an industrial policy so we never find ourselves in this position again.’”
• India eyes China’s manufacturing industry
  Modi sees China decoupling as India’s gain / Bloomberg (porous paywall)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a mission these days. As the pandemic ravages the globe, the leader of Asia’s third-largest economy is quietly drawing up plans [porous paywall] to take advantage of a possible shift in international supply chains.

For starters, his government is focusing on investors looking to add  manufacturing outside China after the coronavirus outbreak disrupted supplies at the start of the year. The plan is to woo global mobile handset makers, consumer durable companies and others willing to put out more than half a billion dollars. On offer: tax incentives, easy access to land and other infrastructure.

• India’s $6.6 billion incentive program challenges China in manufacturing, insiders say / Caixin
• Elite British boarding school plans China expansion
  U.K. schools pushing abroad in COVID era staying with China / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “Harrow, the 450-year-old boarding school that produced seven prime British ministers including Winston Churchill, is poised to open five schools in China, undeterred by COVID-19. Other prestigious English schools will likely follow, staking their post-pandemic futures on East Asia.”
• Toyota scores new fuel cells partnerships
  Toyota teams up with five China companies to develop fuel cells / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “Toyota Motor Corp. is teaming up with five Chinese companies including Beijing Automobile Group Co. and China FAW Corp. to develop fuel cells for commercial vehicles, seeking to push deeper into China and the market for the alternate energy source.”
• Tesla rival’s registered capital hits $540 million…  
  Nio boosts its registered capital to RMB 3.85 billion / TechNode
• …As Jaguar borrows $711 million  
  Jaguar Land Rover borrows £560 million from Chinese banks to secure cashflow / Guardian
• Ecommerce platforms are launching domestic brands
  First the trade war, then the pandemic. Now Chinese manufacturers are turning inward. / MIT Technology Review
  “As China’s access to international markets has grown more unreliable, ecommerce platforms are partnering with manufacturers to launch their own domestic brands.”
• Nanjing’s inflated house prices
  Home prices near best schools skyrocket / Caixin

Nanjing city officials inspected 30 real estate developers and agencies recently in an attempt to control steeply rising house prices in certain school districts. Agencies were asked to take down listings that violated market regulations by stating excessive value, fabricated availability, or exaggerating proximity to a school to bump up prices.

• Tencent-backed news aggregator reports strong revenue despite fraud allegations
  News aggregator Qutoutiao reports strong revenue despite short seller attack / Caixin
  “U.S. short seller Wolfpack Research’s allegations of financial fraud against Qutoutiao at the end of 2019 have not stopped the Chinese news aggregator from achieving top-line growth in the first quarter of 2020.”
• Tutoring startup seeks $600 million in funding round
  Chinese online tutor Zuoyebang seeks $600-$800 million at $6.5 billion valuation: sources / Reuters
  “Online tutoring start-up Zuoyebang is in talks to raise $600-800 million in a new funding round as the coronavirus pandemic encourages investor interest in education technology, two sources with direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters.”
• Online grocery platform raises big in U.S. IPO
  China’s Dada Nexus raises $320 million in U.S. IPO / Reuters
  Chinese online grocery firm Dada Nexus Ltd on Friday raised $320 million in an upsized initial public offering, amid increased scrutiny of Chinese companies pursuing U.S. listings.
• Tencent company backs down in dispute with writers
  Tencent-backed China Literature appeases authors with new contracts / Caixin

Tencent-backed online fiction platform China Literature Ltd. has issued new contracts to its millions of authors, after they voiced concerns over copyright, profit distribution and the company’s move toward a free-reading model in an early May meeting.

The publisher, which replaced its founding management with a team of senior Tencent executives shortly before the meeting, has substituted the unified contract it previously asked all its millions of authors to sign, with a three-tiered contract system in which authors can choose what kind of permissions they want to give the platform.

• Context on The China Project: Internet writers protest what they call unfair contracts with Tencent company.

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Environmental groups protest Belt and Road
  China’s Belt and Road urged to take green route / FT (paywall)

In April, 260 environmental organisations sent an unusual request to China’s finance minister: do not bail out 60 Chinese-backed overseas projects suffering from COVID-19’s economic fallout…

Calls for China’s BRI to shift away from funding polluting infrastructure is fast becoming one of the greatest obstacles to President Xí Jìnpíng’s 习近平 signature foreign policy programme.

• The politics of a COVID-19 vaccine
  In race for COVID-19 vaccine, China tries for a coup / WSJ (paywall)
  “But China is giving the U.S. a run for its money in the race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 — a feat that would instantly change the dynamics of the fight against the deadly virus, and the geopolitical competition between the U.S. and China.”
• Authorities move to protect endangered species
  China steps up legal protections for pangolins / SCMP
  “The National Forestry and Grassland Administration announced on Friday that pangolins are now a grade one protected animal, the highest possible level.”
  Can Shanghai’s new law save the endangered Chinese sturgeon? / Sixth Tone
  “Shanghai is enacting a law (in Chinese) to protect the critically endangered Chinese sturgeon, marking the first time a provincial-level region has passed legislation to safeguard a single species.”

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Updates on the Sino-Indian border dispute
  Hustling in the Himalayas: The Sino-Indian border confrontation / Carnegie Endowment
  “…This time, there is one important difference: unlike the discrete and geographically localized confrontations of the past, the latest encounters are occurring at multiple locations along the LAC in Ladakh in the eastern section of Jammu and Kashmir, which suggests a high degree of Chinese premeditation and approval for its military’s activities from the very top.”
  Ladakh standoff: India, China agree to handle ‘differences’ through talks / Times of India
  “Amid the Ladakh border standoff, joint secretary (East Asia) in the MEA Naveen Srivastava on Friday held a meeting with Wú Jiānghào 吴江浩Wu Jianghao, director general in Chinese ministry of foreign affairs during which both the sides agreed to handle their ‘differences’ through peaceful discussions.”
  India has ‘lots of options’ to strengthen its international position to counter China’s influence, analyst says / CNBC
  “‘Nonetheless, India has lots of options,’ [public policy professor James Crabtree] said. ‘That’s the nice thing about this new, slightly chaotic international environment – that lots of other countries want to be friends with India.’”
  India and Australia sign pacts to strengthen military ties as tensions simmer in South China Sea / CNN
  Context on The China Project: New India-China border standoff: Is it ‘stable and under control’?
• Australia won’t match the U.K., but it will lend a hand
  Australia will ‘continue to welcome’ Hong Kong residents as calls mount to match UK’s offer of safe haven / Guardian
  “The Australian government has declared it will ‘continue to welcome’ Hong Kong residents, but it won’t be drawn on calls for it to match the UK’s offer of safe haven for people fearing China’s planned security laws.”
• Tiananmen Square’s legacy looms over U.S. protests
  Tiananmen can happen here / Foreign Policy (porous paywall)
  “As I see Americans marching, singing, dancing, and asking the nigh impossible from their leaders, I think back to young people in a square doing the same many decades ago.”
  White House says China’s Tiananmen Square ‘slaughter’ of protesters not forgotten / HKFP
• Cambodian naval bases are open to all, not just China
  Cambodian leader denies China’s navy granted basing rights / Washington Post (paywall)
  “Cambodia’s leader declared Monday that China has not been given exclusive rights to use a naval base on the country’s southern coast, and that warships from all nations, including the United States, are welcome to dock there.”
• Chinese hackers target Biden campaign
  Chinese hackers target email accounts of Biden campaign staff, Google says / NYT (paywall)
  “Chinese hackers are targeting the personal email accounts of campaign staff members working for former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Google said on Thursday, while confirming previous reports that Iran has targeted President Trump’s campaign.”
  Google says Iranian, Chinese hackers targeted Trump, Biden campaigns / TechCrunch
• Hong Kong’s protest movement is low on cash
  Hong Kong’s protest movement is running out of cash / Bloomberg (porous paywall)

“I personally am worried about how long the fund could go on,” said Cyd Ho [何秀兰 Hé Xiùlán], a former legislator and a trustee of the 612 Fund who was among 15 prominent pro-democracy supporters arrested in April. “The economic downturn and the U.S.-China trade war is going to threaten a lot of people’s livelihood, hence their ability to support us.”

• International alliance to “counter China”
  Lawmakers in eight countries form new alliance to counter China / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “A group of senior lawmakers from eight democracies including the U.S. have launched a new cross-parliamentary alliance to help counter what they say is the threat China’s growing influence poses to global trade, security and human rights.”
  What are Irwin Cotler, Marco Rubio and Garnett Genuis doing in a new alliance? Aiming to take on China’s influence / The Star
  “A new alliance of legislators from around the globe is seeking both to unite international efforts against the Chinese Communist Party’s (CPP) attempts to ‘reshape’ the world order, and to pressure their own governments to adopt new policies on China.”
• Sweden’s ex-ambassador on trial
  Sweden’s ex-ambassador to China is tried over secret meetings on detainee / NYT (paywall)
  “The diplomat, Anna Lindstedt, is accused of overstepping her role in arranging meetings between the daughter of a detained Hong Kong bookseller and two businessmen who said they could help free him.”
• U.S. patrols Taiwan Strait  
  US warship sails through Taiwan Strait on Tiananmen Square anniversary / SCMP
  A U.S. Navy vessel sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Thursday, the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, the U.S. and Taiwanese militaries have said.
• China Standards 2035
  China Standards 2035 and the plan for world domination — don’t believe China’s hype / CFR
  “U.S. officials have been concerned about China’s increased participation in technical standards development work and the government’s forthcoming plan, China Standards 2035…it is important to distinguish Chinese posturing and proclamations from real risks.”
• Hackers target U.K. research labs amid vaccine race
  Hackers targeting UK research labs amid vaccine race – GCHQ chief / The Guardian
  “Britain’s intelligence agencies are working urgently to prevent hackers from hostile states, including China, trying to steal the secrets of a potential coronavirus vaccine.”
• Hong Kong’s free media is in dangerous waters
  Hong Kong’s free media fears being silenced by China’s national security law / Reuters
  “Some staff demanded to know why the satirical and current affairs television show “Headliner” — which had drawn official complaints after poking fun at the Hong Kong police in an episode in February — was being canceled, and whether the move was prompted by pressure from authorities.”
• Seeking debt relief, Angola cuts oil shipments
  Angola cuts oil shipments to China as it seeks debt relief / Reuters
  “Angola has cut the number of oil cargoes that it will ship to Chinese state firms to pay down debt to Beijing as it seeks to renegotiate repayment terms to deal with the crippling impact of the coronavirus.”
• Separatists are the CCP’s boogeymen
  On secession / China Law Blog
  “One of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) most persistent bugbears are separatist threats — real or imagined — on the fringes of its empire.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Investigation into school stabbing begins
  Officials investigate stabbing that left 40 wounded at Guangxi primary school / Caixin
  “Chinese education and public security ministries have sent a joint team to investigate a stabbing that left 40 young students and staff wounded, three critically, at an elementary school in Southwest China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.”
• Chinese “self-isolation” in Africa is a myth
  Chinese migrant workers in Africa and myths of self-segregation / Quartz
  “The accusations of Chinese self-isolation in Africa does not mesh with the reality: their lives are varied and cannot be reduced to a single category.”
• Another celebrity drug bust
  With drug charge, Chinese comedian’s career could go up in smoke / Sixth Tone
  “A popular television personality is at risk of being banned from China’s entertainment industry over a pending drug charge.”