Links for Wednesday, July 8, 2020

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Trump administration to target Chinese investment and Hong Kong peg?
  White House may target Hong Kong dollar peg as punitive response – report / HKFP
  “Bloomberg News said the idea from some officials to put a strain on the 37-year-old peg — possibly by limiting local banks’ access to U.S. dollars — was one of a number of measures flagged as Washington looks at ways to respond to the controversial law.”
  Patrick Chovanec on Twitter: “Precisely the outcome some of the loudest China hawks have put large sums of money on.”
  White House warns against Chinese investment, citing risk of further sanctions / NYT (porous paywall)
  “White House officials on Tuesday warned a federally administered retirement plan for railroad workers against investing in Chinese companies and said that additional sanctions could be on the way in return for China’s role in spreading the coronavirus.”
• Beijing begins digital currency trials on Didi
  China to test sovereign digital currency on ride hailing giant Didi / Reuters
  China’s ride-hailing giant Didi to test Beijing’s new digital currency / WSJ (porous paywall)
• State firms get a boost
  China unveils plan to boost prominence of state firms, despite complaints from trade partners / SCMP
  “President Xi Jinping has approved a three-year plan to enhance the role of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China’s economy as it faces fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and the threat of decoupling from the United States.”
• Hong Kong becomes a tech firm trading hub
  Chinese tech firms get trading boost from Hong Kong listings / WSJ (porous paywall)
  “Hong Kong is becoming an active center for trading stock in some of China’s largest technology groups, bolstering the case for more secondary listings of U.S.-listed Chinese companies.”
• Tesla dominates the Chinese EV market
  Tesla takes fifth of China EV market; market fall 40%: industry group / TechNode
  “Tesla’s dominance in the Chinese EV market has driven its share price to record highs, and it is leading a market recovery during the post-COVID period.”
• Credit Suisse’s China growth plan
  Credit Suisse aims for 100% of securities venture in China growth plan / Reuters
  “Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) wants to raise its China securities joint venture stake to 100% and increase its market share after getting the regulatory green light to take a majority holding, the head of its Asia business said.”
• Illicit business balloons China’s credit card debt
  Inside the illicit business running up China’s credit card debt / Caixin (paywall)
  “An illicit business that has become a lifeline to many of Alipay and WeChat Pay’s smaller peers has again caught the attention of regulators for contributing to China’s ballooning credit card debt, a problem that has only grown worse amid the economic strain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
• Storytelling app Kuaidian reels in investment
  Sequoia China leads nearly $100m round in storytelling app Kuaidian / Caixin (paywall)
  “Kuaidian, a Chinese storytelling mobile app that offers an immersive experience through dialogue-based, text-message reading format, has closed nearly $100 million in a Series C round of financing led by Sequoia Capital China.”
• Medical robot maker’s explosive STAR listing
  Medical robot maker finds elixir in STAR board’s market reforms / Caixin (paywall)
  “Newly listed shares of Tinavi Medical Technologies rose a massive 614% — representing a more than seven-fold increase — in their Tuesday trading debut on Shanghai’s year-old Nasdaq-style STAR Market. The gains continued, albeit at a more modest rate, on Wednesday, with the stock up another 5.8% midway through the trading day.”
• China’s WeWork sneaks onto the NASDAQ
  China’s WeWork equivalent achieves backdoor listing on the NASDAQ / Deal Street Asia via Caixin (paywall)
  “Ucommune, China’s biggest shared workspace provider, has been acquired by Orisun Acquisition Corp, a Nasdaq-listed U.S. blank check firm formed for the purpose of entering into a merger, asset acquisition, or similar business combination…”
• Chinese gay dating app zeroes in on Asia
  Chinese gay dating app BlueCity focused on Asia after IPO / Reuters
  “China’s biggest gay dating app’s owner BlueCity is focused on expanding in Asia, its founder said on Wednesday after it made its Nasdaq debut despite a U.S. securities regulator warning against investments in Chinese firms.”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Beijing eases quarantine restrictions
  Thousands quarantined over Xinfadi COVID-19 outbreak are released / Caixin (paywall)
  “A first batch of 5,000 people who worked at the Xinfadi wholesale food market, the epicenter of the latest COVID-19 flare-up in Beijing, are being gradually released from mandatory quarantine as the spread of the disease has been largely contained in the capital…”
• Hubei empowers medical technocrats
  China’s virus epicenter empowers technocrats in disease control reforms / Caixin (paywall)
  “Guidelines issued Tuesday by Central China’s Hubei Province aim to create new posts for senior public health experts and give more power to local centers for disease control and prevention (CDCs).”
• U.S. excludes China from COVID research
  U.S. increasingly excludes China from coronavirus research projects / SCMP
  “In a race to develop a safe and effective vaccine that requires all available brainpower and resources to come together, the U.S. government has increasingly excluded China from research projects internationally and domestically.”
  Scientists in China say U.S. government crackdown is harming collaborations / Nature
• Hunting for COVID’s origin
  Six months into coronavirus pandemic, scientists say exact source may never be identified / SCMP
  WHO researchers to investigate animal origin of COVID-19 in China / Sixth Tone
• The bubonic plague in Inner Mongolia
  Inner Mongolia reports three sites infected with bubonic plague after herdsman infected / SCMP

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Rare optimism on Chinese politics and U.S.-China relations
  Video: Cheah Cheng Hye of Value Partners Group on the Chinese economy and U.S.-China relations / Bloomberg
  A long interview with one of Hong Kong’s most successful asset managers.
  It’s true that democracy in China is in retreat, but don’t give up on it now / ChinaFile

Li Fan, the Founder and Director of the World and China Institute and the Editor in Chief of the journal World and China Affairs, writes, “Even now, civil society is quietly growing. I continue to see people criticizing the government and promoting ideas of democracy, rule of law, and freedom on websites and social media.”

• Hong Kong updates
  Hong Kong’s top cop overshadows embattled leader Lam as China cracks down / Reuters
  Hong Kong pupils banned from political activity / BBC
  “Some 1,600 were arrested for joining the sometimes violent demonstrations… The order comes on the same day that a new national Chinese security office opened in the city.”
  China converts Hong Kong hotel into new national security office / Reuters
  China’s home security chief attends Hong Kong national security office opening / SCMP
  Hong Kong bans protest song and other political expression at schools / NYT (porous paywall)
  Hong Kong on the road to becoming a new Tibet, says leader of Tibetan government-in-exile / HKFP
  Activist and ex-lawmaker Nathan Law drops out of election race after fleeing Hong Kong / HKFP
  Nathan Law on the future of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement / Axios
  China’s leash on Hong Kong tightens, choking a broadcaster / NYT (porous paywall)
  Court acquits Hong Kong man accused of pushing policeman during protests / SCMP
• Disengagement on the Line of Actual Control…
  LAC disengagement: India keeps close watch on Chinese troops / Times of India
  Satellite images show Chinese troop withdrawal from front line with India / SCMP
• …As Modi tries to reconcile anti-China mood with economic growth
  Clash with China presents political challenge to India’s leader / WSJ (paywall)
  “A deadly clash with China high in the Himalayas has posed a tricky domestic challenge for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has cultivated an image as a strong nationalist leader and struggled to deliver on promises to transform India’s economy.”
• Washington restricts international students
  Trump’s limits on international visas unnerve Chinese students in U.S. / SCMP
  “A new measure announced by the US government on Monday — potentially expelling international students if their schools, which are trying to restart in the middle of a pandemic, shift to online classes — shows how vulnerable they are.”
  Colleges brace for sharp drop in foreign students, especially from China / WSJ (porous paywall)
  Olivia Qi Zhang on Twitter: “@StateDept stressing intl students are still welcome in the U.S.” 
  Context on The China Project yesterday: Trump administration move puts 370,000 Chinese student visas at risk.
• Trading visa curbs over Tibet
  China, U.S. trade tit-for-tat visa curbs over Tibet / Reuters
  State Department bars Chinese officials who restrict access to Tibet / NYT (porous paywall)
• U.S. calls for Xu Zhangrun’s release
  U.S. says ‘deeply concerned’ by Beijing’s detention of Chinese law professor / Reuters
  “Xu, 57, a professor at the prestigious Tsinghua University, came to prominence in July 2018 for denouncing the removal of the two-term limit for China’s leader, which allows Xi to remain in office beyond his current second term.”
  China 21: Interpreting the Xi Dynasty – Geremie Barmé & Susan Shirk by GPS / Soundcloud
  “Geremie Barmé is an esteemed historian, journalist, translator and film-maker. He spoke at UC San Diego in January on resistance movements in two Chinese cities – the case of Tsinghua Prof. Xu Zhangrun’s dissent, and the protests in Hong Kong.”
  Context on The China Project: Beijing detains one of Xi Jinping’s most prominent critics.
• Chinese embassy in Australia sees no need for a travel warning
  Chinese embassy says upgraded travel warning for Australians in China ‘completely ridiculous’ / ABC
• Chinese scholars, public lose faith in America
  Chinese academics claim U.S. has started cold war as tensions simmer over South China Sea, Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong / SCMP
  Pandemic sees increase in Chinese support for regime, decrease in views towards the U.S. / China Data Lab
  Maura Cunningham, digital media manager at Association for Asian Studies, on Twitter: “I don’t find this especially surprising, but it’s helpful to see the numbers supporting many recent anecdotes”
• COVID whistleblower suppression didn’t end in January
  China is crushing coronavirus whistleblowers again / Foreign Policy (porous paywall)
  Tracy Wen Liu writes of her time as a reporter and charity organizer for China’s COVID-19 outbreak, “While I helped dozens of doctors, nurses, and patients in recent months, I also tried to use my limited power to reveal the truth — and found myself repeatedly shut down by the authorities.”
• China-Japan territorial dispute
  Chinese ships sail in Japanese territorial waters near Senkakus for 39 hours — longest since 2012 / The Japan Times
• New Zealand becomes more cautious on China
  Under Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand pivots in relations with China / The Washington Post (porous paywall)

In tweaking New Zealand’s position, however, Ardern is seeking to be less confrontational than the Trump administration and Australia’s government — which is viewed here as “deputy sheriff” to the United States — even while often making the same points.

• Bolstered Chinese-Russian economic ties
  Russia’s Putin, China’s Xi agree to boost economic cooperation / Reuters
• U.S. shifts troops to the Pacific
  Thousands of US troops will shift to Asia-Pacific to guard against China / Nikkei Asian Review (porous paywall)
  “Several thousand of the troops currently posted in Germany are expected to redeploy to American bases in Guam, Hawaii, Alaska, Japan and Australia.”
• University fraud crackdown
  China to crack down on fraudulent graduate employment data / Sixth Tone
• The Communist Party’s account of Meng Hongwei’s “decadence”
  China’s anti-corruption watchdog sets out details of ‘decadent’ and ‘corrupt’ lifestyle of fallen Interpol chief Meng Hongwei / SCMP
  “The Chinese Communist Party’s top anti-corruption body has published details of the ‘decadent’ and ‘extravagant’ lifestyle that it says former Interpol chief Mèng Hóngwěi 孟宏伟 led before his downfall.”
  Context in the Access archive: A knife in the back for a veteran police official
• Serbian military buys up Chinese arms
  Serbian military gets reconnaissance drones and missiles from China / SCMP
• Pushing back against Uyghur oppression
  Lacoste and Adidas pledge to cut forced Uighur labor from supply chain / Glossy
  The left’s deafening silence on China’s ethnic cleansing / The New Republic
  Darren Byler on Twitter: “Anti-imperialist leftists can’t afford to cede this issue to centrist Democrats and the Trumpist right.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• China’s first sexual harassment lawsuit
  Plaintiff wins China’s first sexual harassment lawsuit / Sixth Tone
  “At the time, ‘sexual harassment’ had not been defined or protected by law, so Xiang and her lawyer could only sue Liu for infringing her personality rights. After the Supreme Court’s 2018 decision, however, she and her lawyer were able to change their case’s cause of action to sexual harassment.”
• Despite flooding, the gaokao must go on
  China floods: Students cling to tractors to get to gaokao college entrance exam / Washington Post (paywall)
• Busted cheating ring in Shanghai
  English exam cheating ring busted in Shanghai / Sixth Tone
• Nude painting in the early 20th century
  Whores of Yore on Twitter: “This is the work of Chinese artist, Pan Yuliang (潘玉良, 1895 – 1977). Pan became famous for being the first woman to paint in xiyanghua, (Western style), but her work on nudes was also highly controversial & drew considerable criticism. Thread”
• Should primary school students study internet celebrities?
  Should internet celebrities be part of the school curriculum? / Caixin (paywall)
  “Chinese vlogger Lǐ Zǐqī 李子柒 became an internet sensation thanks to her videos of idyllic rural life. Recently, a story about her appeared in a reading comprehension exam at a primary school in Zhejiang, triggering concerned parents to question her suitability in a school curriculum.”