Links for Monday, July 20, 2020

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Banks get skiddish about pro-democracy clients in Hong Kong
  Global banks scrutinize their Hong Kong clients for pro-democracy ties – sources / Reuters
  “Global wealth managers are examining whether their clients in Hong Kong have ties to the city’s pro-democracy movement, in an attempt to avoid getting caught in the crosshairs of China’s new national security law, according to six people with knowledge of the matter.”
• Japan’s “China exit”
  Japan reveals 87 projects eligible for ‘China exit’ subsidies / Caixin (paywall)
  “Eighty-seven companies or groups will receive a total of 70 billion yen ($653 million) to move production lines, in a bid to reduce Japan’s reliance on its large neighbor and build resilient supply chains… Thirty of these will shift production to Southeast Asia, including Hoya, which produces hard-drive parts and will move to Vietnam and Laos.”
  Japan to pay at least $536 million for companies to leave China / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  Apple supplier TSMC invited by Japan to build joint chip plant: report / Caixin (paywall)
• Alibaba without borders
  Vodacom partners with China’s Alipay to create ‘super app’ in South Africa / Reuters
  “Vodacom Group plans to create a ‘super app’ in partnership with digital payment provider Alipay, part of China’s Alibaba group, to allow consumers in South Africa to shop online, pay bills and send money to family from next year.”
  Starbucks expands Chinese order services to multiple Alibaba apps / Reuters
• Regulators toughen up on banking misconduct
  China banking watchdog to levy biggest banking fines in years / Caixin (paywall)
  “China Zheshang Bank Co. Ltd. and China Minsheng Banking Corp. Ltd. will each be fined more than 100 million yuan [~$14.3 million] and China Guangfa Bank Co. Ltd. will have to pay a 90 million yuan [$12.9 million] penalty… The size of the fines illustrates how China’s financial regulators are getting tougher on misconduct in the banking industry.”
• Unifying a fragmented bond market
  China moves to unify fragmented $15.4 trillion bond market / Caixin (paywall)
  “The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said in a joint statement (link in Chinese) on Sunday that qualified investors on the interbank market and on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges will be able to buy and sell bonds listed on both markets through a ‘connect’ mechanism.”
• A dual listing for Alibaba’s fintech giant, Ant
  Alibaba’s Ant marches toward dual listing / Caixin (paywall)
  “Ant Group, the financial affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., said Monday it has formally launched the process to make concurrent IPOs in Hong Kong and Shanghai, in what could become the world’s biggest new listing this year.”
  Jack Ma’s fintech giant Ant starts IPO process in Hong Kong and Shanghai / TechCrunch
• BlackRock shifts money from China to COVID-impacted economies
  BlackRock shifts money from China after break-neck stocks rally / Bloomberg via Caixin (paywall)
  “The world’s biggest money manager is joining a wave of global investors taking profits in Chinese equities after a historic rally, and plans to shift some of the funds to emerging markets that are in a more nascent stage of recovery.”
• AI chipmaker triples value on the Star market
  Chipmaker Cambricon follows SMIC with meteoric rise in trading debut / Caixin (paywall)
  “Shares of artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaker Cambricon Technologies Corp. more than tripled in their trading debut on Monday, days after leading contract chipmaker SMIC made a similarly strong debut, as investors bet on big state support for China’s homegrown chip sector.”
• COVID-19 deepens Hong Kong’s wealth gap
  Hong Kong wealth inequality further deepens amid pandemic / Bloomberg via Caixin
  “Hong Kong is emerging as a case study of how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting vulnerable members of society, as tens of thousands have been thrown out of work with little social safety net to support them in one of the world’s most unequal and expensive cities.”
• Yum China sponsors the Beijing Olympics
  Yum China named as sponsor for Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics / Reuters
  “Yum China’s brands, including KFC and Pizza Hut, will be on site at the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing.”
• London bank expands in China’s new tech hub
  Standard chartered to add 1,600 staff at new bank center in China / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “Standard Chartered Plc plans to add more than 1,600 staff over the next three years at a new center in southern China as the nation aims to transform the coastal region near Hong Kong into a high-tech hub to rival California’s Silicon Valley.”
• The Chinese state absorbs a tycoon’s empire
  China is dismantling the empire of a vanished tycoon / NYT (porous paywall)
  “Xiāo Jiànhuá 肖建华 was once a trusted financier to China’s ruling elite who came to represent an era of unbridled capitalism… Now, the empire he built is being dismantled by the authorities in Beijing, as China sends a strong message that its era of debt-fueled excess is over.”
• Delays for Vietnam’s first metro line
  Vietnam’s China-built metro line falls 2 years behind schedule / Nikkei Asian Review
• EV startup rakes in $500 million funding round
  China’s EV startup Xpeng pulls in $500 million Series C+ / TechCrunch
  “Xpeng, an electric vehicle startup run by former Alibaba executive Hé Xiǎopéng 何小鹏, said Monday it has raised around $500 million in a Series C+ round to further develop models tailored to China’s tech-savvy middle-class consumers.”
• Will Australia take action against TikTok?
  Australia scrutinizes Chinese-owned TikTok over foreign interference, data privacy / Reuters via SCMP
  “Offices of both the Home Affairs and Attorney-General are discussing TikTok’s operations.”
• A new international ecommerce court
  China’s first international e-commerce court is now in session / Sixth Tone
• Canada purchases Chinese security equipment
  Chinese government-owned firm wins $6.8M contract to supply security equipment to Canada’s embassies / National Post
  “The contract for conveyor-style X-ray machines was awarded to Beijing-based Nuctech Company, a company owned by the Chinese government and founded by the son of former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Hú Jǐntāo 胡锦涛.”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Xinjiang enters “wartime” lockdown and testing campaign
  In ‘wartime’ lockdown, Xinjiang’s capital to test 3.5 million residents for COVID-19 / Caixin (paywall)
  “Nucleic acid testing for Covid-19 began last Friday in Urumqi communities which have reported cases, and for those who had close contact with confirmed cases or show symptoms of the disease, local health commission chief Zhang Wei told a press conference Saturday (link in Chinese). He said the testing will eventually reach the entire population.”
  Medical teams sent to fight outbreak in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi / SCMP
  Urumqi on high alert amid rising coronavirus infections / Sixth Tone
  COVID-19 outbreak in Xinjiang spreads to second Chinese city / Guardian
• Was Hong Kong’s latest outbreak a policy failure?
  Experts blame Hong Kong’s COVID-19 resurgence on testing loophole / Caixin (paywall)
  “The latest COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong may be a consequence of loopholes in the testing and quarantine exemptions for crew members of aircraft and vessels who returned from overseas…”
  State media blames Hong Kong democrat primaries for COVID-19 surge as medics question gov’t’s growing ‘quarantine exemption’ list / HKFP
• Blowing up dams to ease flooding
  China blows up dam on Yangtze tributary to ease flood risk / AFP via SCMP
• Wildlife poachers jailed in Malawi
  Wildlife crime syndicate members jailed for total of 56.5 years – kingpin due up later / EIA
  “Among them was Mrs Quinhua Zhang, who was convicted of possession of rhino horn and an illegal firearm following her arrest as part of a series of coordinated raids in May last year.”
• Vaccine trials in Bangladesh
  Bangladesh to host late-stage trial of China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine / Reuters

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Hong Kong updates
  Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece accuses Taiwan’s ruling party of meddling in Hong Kong affairs / SCMP
  Taipei threatens permit payback after Taiwan officials forced to leave Hong Kong over one-China principle / SCMP
  Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong seeks legislature seat / DW
  “Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong announced on Monday that he would run for a seat in the upcoming Legislative Council elections in Hong Kong, where a new national security law that restricts civil liberties could prevent opposition candidates from taking seats.”
  Hong Kong teachers fired and afraid as China targets liberal thinkers / WSJ (porous paywall)
  “Teachers who backed antigovernment protests in the city — by taking to the streets or supporting the demonstrators on social media — are being reprimanded and, in some cases, fired as China’s Communist Party increasingly moves to stamp out dissent.”
  Falun Gong: Can a religious group that wants to bring down China’s Communist Party survive in Hong Kong? / CNN
• China and America ramp up their inflammatory rhetoric
  China’s ambassador to the U.S. says America must make a ‘fundamental choice’ / CNN
  “China’s Ambassador to the United States, Cuī Tiānkǎi 崔天凯, said America must make a ‘fundamental choice’ about whether it can live peacefully with a ‘modernized, strong, prosperous’ China.”
  Beijing envoy says Washington must decide if it is ready to accept rise of China / SCMP
  U.S. has ‘lost its mind,’ China’s foreign minister tells Russian counterpart / SCMP
  State Department releases cable that launched claims that coronavirus escaped from Chinese lab / Washington Post
  “The full cable does not strengthen the claim that an accident at the lab caused the virus to escape, nor does it exclude the possibility.”
• India’s geopolitical conundrum
  Modi’s bid to sway China’s Xi with personal outreach was a big error. India’s paying for it / The Print
  “For the Modi government, misplaced ideology and irrational fear of global trade continued to drive India’s larger strategic interest.”
  Battle in the Himalayas / NYT (porous paywall)
• South China Sea rift
  ‘Ugly face’: U.S. and China trade barbs in Myanmar as South China Sea rift deepens / Reuters
  “China’s embassy in Myanmar on Sunday accused the United States of ‘outrageously smearing’ the country and driving a wedge with its Southeast Asian neighbors over the contested South China Sea and Hong Kong, as tensions mount between the superpowers.”
  ‘We are a battleground now’: In Southeast Asia, U.S.-China tensions flare on social media / Reuters
• Cultural assimilation and coerced labor for Uyghurs
  Rian Thum on Twitter: “Very important new study by @GroseTimothy revealing that Chinese authorities are forcing Uyghurs to change their furniture and house layouts to fit Han Chinese ideas of ‘civilization’ as part of China’s campaign [to] extinguish Uyghur culture.”
  China is using Uighur labor to produce face masks / NYT (porous paywall)
• Flood bailouts
  China to offer more financial support for flood-hit areas / Reuters
  “The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) said in a statement that financial institutions in the flood-hit areas cannot blindly withdraw, delay or cut credit lines to the companies who have good development prospects but whose operations were suspended by the floods.”
  Global warming and illegal land reclamation add to severe floods in China / SCMP
• Fentanyl sanctions
  U.S. sanctions four China-based individuals, firm over fentanyl / Reuters
  “The United States on Friday announced sanctions against four China-based individuals and one company run by alleged Chinese drug kingpin Zhèng Fújǐng 郑福景 for links to trafficking in fentanyl.”
• China’s version of a marine corps
  China expands amphibious forces in challenge to U.S. beyond Asia / Reuters
  “China’s shipyards have launched the PLA Navy’s first two Type 075 amphibious assault ships, which will form the spearhead of an expeditionary force to play a role similar to that of the U.S. Marine Corps.”
• Is China trying to delegitimize the U.S. election?
  Biden begins receiving intel briefs, warns of Russian meddling / Bloomberg (porous paywall)

“China and others are engaged as well in activities designed for us to lose confidence in the outcome” of the November election, Biden added.

• In a “Statement on Foreign Interference in U.S. Elections” that Biden later posted on Medium, however, he made no mention of China.
• Xi reasserts his own primacy
  In Xi’s little red article, the monotony is the point / Foreign Policy (porous paywall)
• Suppressing climate strikers
  China’s first climate striker warned: Give it up or you can’t go back to school / Guardian
• Public health whistleblower protections
  Shenzhen mulls protections for public health whistleblowers / Sixth Tone

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• An artist protests COVID-19 whistleblower suppression
  Chinese artist holds his tongue in protest of pandemic censorship / Reuters
  “To protest censorship during the COVID-19 outbreak, a Chinese artist known as Brother Nut kept his mouth shut for 30 days, using metal clasps, gloves, duct tape and other items.”
• In defense of hanfu enthusiasts
  Why I love ‘hanfu,’ even when others don’t / Sixth Tone
  “There are significant cracks and fissures within the broader community of hànfú 汉服 enthusiasts, many founded in radically different approaches and theories of what actually constitutes hanfu.”