Links for Monday, August 3, 2020

WHAT WE’RE READING:

More important China news and analysis from around the web:

‘Clean up this mess’: The Chinese thinkers behind Xi’s hard line / NYT (porous paywall)
“Chinese academics have been honing the Communist Party’s authoritarian response in Hong Kong, rejecting the liberal ideas of their youth.”

A newsroom at the edge of autocracy / Atlantic (porous paywall)
“The South China Morning Post is arguably the world’s most important newspaper—for what it tells us about media freedoms as China’s power grows.”

IN OTHER NEWS:

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Rapid resumption of new orders for China’s factories
  Caixin China manufacturing PMI hits over nine-year high / Caixin (paywall)
• Another enormous IPO for Alibaba affiliate
  Ant Group aims to raise $30 billion in record-shattering IPO / Caixin
• New chip factory in Beijing
  Chinese chipmaker SMIC to establish joint venture for wafer production / Caixin Global
• Welcome mat still there for foreign companies
  China plans to give foreign investors more market access  / Caixin
  China tells U.S. businesses they’re still welcome in country / SCMP
• Zoom to suspend services, sales, and updates for China-based users
  Zoom will be local version-only for Chinese users / TechNode
• No new China-U.S. flights
  Washington rejects request for chinese airlines to run more flights to U.S.  / Caixin
• Moving supply chains to India
  Samsung crafts India comeback as anti-China wave surges / Reuters
  Samsung Electronics to halt production at its last computer factory in China / Reuters
  India says iPhone-makers among 21 firms pledging $1.5 billion investment / Caixin
• Export controls in Germany
  German laser tech company says gov’t blocks exports to China / AP
• Shanghai firm says Siri infringes on its patents
  Chinese artificial intelligence company files $1.4 billion lawsuit against Apple / Reuters
• Elon Musk, Chinese nationalist
  Elon Musk says ‘China rocks’ while the U.S. is full of ‘complacency and entitlement’ / CNBC
• Mustard, cabbage, and morning glory: Mystery seeds appear innocuous
  Some mystery seeds illegally sent from China identified / CBS News
• Apps and games — censorship and controls
  China’s real name verification system for games to launch nationwide by September / SCMP
  Thousands of games removed from Apple’s China app store / Sixth Tone
• No jackpot for Macau’s casinos
  Macau’s July gambling revenue falls by 94.5 per cent as visa ban amid COVID-19 pandemic thwarts growth in world’s ‘sin capital’ / SCMP
• A cautionary tale
  How Chinese officials hijacked my company / WSJ (paywall)
• The first China-made blockbuster to hit the big screen this year?
  Delayed Chinese war drama ‘The Eight Hundred’ cleared for release / Sixth Tone

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• COVID-19 in China
  China reports 43 new coronavirus cases in mainland vs 49 a day earlier / Reuters
  COVID-19: Hong Kong daily infections fall below 100 but death toll rises to 37, as gov’t refutes concerns over mainland testing team / Hong Kong Free Press
  China’s coronavirus vaccines are leaping ahead — but face challenges as virus wanes / Nature
  What are coronavirus risks from riding trains? A new Chinese study analyses passenger data / SCMP
• Food security fears
  China corn video stokes public food security fears amid coronavirus, flooding and drought / SCMP

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Hong Kong’s disappearing freedoms
  Police order journalists from five media platforms to leave press conference / HKFP
  Current lawmakers banned from Hong Kong’s 2021 election may not be allowed to stay on, says delegate / HKFP
  Wanted by Beijing, activist in-exile Wayne Chan says he won’t stop fighting for Hong Kong independence / HKFP
  Books pulled from the library shelves, songs banned…it’s the new normal in Hong Kong / Guardian
  Why did Hong Kong delay its election — by a year? / NYT (porous paywall
• Suspending extradition treaties with Hong Kong
  China embassy criticises Germany’s suspension of extradition treaty with Hong Kong / Reuters
  Beijing suspends Hong Kong extradition treaty with New Zealand / AFP via HKFP
• Uyghur internment camps and cultural erasure
  Gene Bunin of Xinjiang Victim Database and Uyghur Pulse, on the Xinjiang genocide / Asia Art Tours
• U.S.-China tensions
  China claims harassment as U.S. refuses bail to scientist Tang Juan / AP via SCMP
• Larry King stars in Chinese influence campaign
  The Disinfomercial: How Larry King Got Duped Into Starring in Chinese Propaganda / ProPublica
• Serbia continues to embraces China
  Serbian purchase of missile defence system shows ties deepening with China / Reuters
• Censorship in Australia
  UNSW faces backlash after deleting Twitter post critical of China’s crackdown in Hong Kong / Guardian
  Australian university in censorship row over China’s Hong Kong policy / FT (paywall)
• CGTN lobbies London
  Former Ofcom board member rejoins Chinese state broadcaster / FT (paywall)
• Legal activist jailed
  Court in China’s Shandong jails rights activist Yu Xinyong / Radio Free Asia
• BBC video investigation on COVID-19
  China’s coronavirus cover-up / YouTube
• Controversial rural resettlement programs
  China’s Communist Party wants to demolish homes, rebuild rural countryside / NPR
  See also on The China Project: A Chinese province razes the countryside. Why? 
• India-China border dispute
  India-China military talks continue, Pangong Tso remains point of contention / Economic Times of India
  ‘Can China help?’ In Kashmir, anti-India militancy and calls for self-rule continue / SCMP
• Australia vs. China in India
  Australian High Commissioner criticizes Chinese Ambassador to India for objecting to comments on South China Sea / The Hindu
• Paycheck Protection Program loans went to China-backed businesses
  U.S. small business bailout money flowed to Chinese-owned companies / NYT (porous paywall)
• China defends actions in Hong Kong and Xinjiang in New Zealand newspaper ads
  Critics deplore China’s NZ ads defending policies / NZ News

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Did China clean up its toilets?  
  Revolutionary potties: China’s ‘toilet revolution,’ five years on / Sixth Tone
• Wuhan residents seek accountability, in vain
  For Wuhan’s COVID mourners, little has been laid to rest / ChinaFile
• Qingdao beer festival to go ahead, with masks and social distancing
  China’s biggest beer festival goes ahead as coronavirus cancels out Oktoberfest / SCMP
• Taiwanese writer Sān Máo 三毛, in words and photos
  Sahara stories / Neocha
  Read also on The China Project: The making of an icon: Sanmao’s ‘Stories of the Sahara’
• Racism in Hong Kong
  What it’s like to be black and African in Hong Kong: ‘there is racism in every corner’ / SCMP
• Soccer scandal
  Chinese soccer commentators fired for thanking COVID-19 for infecting rival Super League player / SCMP