Links for Monday, August 17, 2020

WHAT WE’RE READING:

More important China news and analysis from around the web:

In the Wall Street Journal (paywall), Jeremy Page and Lingling Wei write: “Local leaders in Wuhan, consumed with domestic politics, did an end run around the Western-educated virologist whose agency was supposed to contain new contagious diseases.”

See also:

• Former China CDC official proposes big data-powered disease warning system / Caixin (paywall)
• A March report in the NYT: China created a fail-safe system to track contagions. It failed.

IN OTHER NEWS:

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• “An estimated 250,000 foreign executives can’t get back to China, hurting business operations”
  U.S. executives who left China amid pandemic are stuck abroad — and may never return / WSJ (paywall)
• How much of TikTok might Microsoft buy?
  Microsoft weighs buying TikTok’s U.K. services too, reports / Bloomberg via Caixin
  See also, in the FT on August 6: Microsoft expands TikTok takeover ambitions to entire global business.
  Trump may act against other Chinese companies such as Alibaba / FT (paywall)
  Tearing up TikTok / The Wire China
  Who really owns ByteDance?  / The Wire China
  The last sunny corner of the internet / TikTok

With rumors and misinformation about TikTok proliferating in Washington and in the media, let us set the record straight. TikTok is not available in China. Its U.S. user data is stored in Virginia with a back-up in Singapore and strict controls on employee access. TikTok has never provided any U.S. user data to the Chinese government, nor would it do so if asked. Any insinuation to the contrary is unfounded and blatantly false.

• TikTok competitor moves servers to Singapore
  As U.S. targets China tech, TikTok rival Bigo shifts servers from Hong Kong / Reuters
• University of Illinois insurance stopped covering pandemic damage
  U.S. university insured Chinese student tuition against virus. Then COVID-19 hit / Reuters
• Rise of the Chinese investment banks in Hong Kong
  Chinese banks’ Hong Kong ranks on track to outnumber global rivals / FT (paywall)
  See also a Twitter thread by FT correspondent Hudson Lockett with “all the juicy details (and charts!).”
  Related, on The China Project: The Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s half-trillion-dollar opportunity.
• U.S. gives China more time to increase purchases before trade deal review
  U.S.-China trade deal review postponed as China ramps up farm, energy purchases / Reuters
  China ramps up U.S. oil purchases ahead of trade deal review / Reuters
  China buys corn and soybeans ‘to keep me happy,’ says Trump / Successful Farming
• Can Changxin compete in DRAM chips with Samsung, Hynix, and Micron?
  China creates new memory chip champ, but will customers come? / Caixin (paywall)
• Yuan now used in 4.3% of forex payments
  China wants to make the yuan easier to use in cross-border trade, investment / Caixin (paywall)
  China’s bank regulator warns dollar dominance is seed of crisis / Bloomberg via Yahoo News
  Related, on The China Project: Beijing pushes digital currency amid fears of a dollar planet.
• India’s incentives “seem to be working”
  China’s loss may become India’s gain in shifting supply chains / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• DJI cuts sales and marketing
  Chinese dronemaker DJI makes sweeping cuts in ‘Long March’ reforms / Reuters
• Geely reports 43% drop in half-year profi
  China’s Geely Automobile trims full-year sales outlook after profit plunge / Reuters
• There’s gold in them thar genes
  China DNA firm unit considers $1 billion Shanghai IPO / Bloomberg (porous paywall)

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• The race for a vaccine
  China grants country’s first COVID-19 vaccine patent to CanSino: state media / Reuters
  Chinese inactivated vaccine candidate produces immune response, study shows / SCMP
  Chinese regulator says vaccines must have 50 percent efficacy, give 6 months’ immunity / SCMP
  Chinese scientists plan joint trials with Russia despite doubts over ‘world-beating’ breakthrough / SCMP
• Shaanxi court releases environmental complainant after 600 days in prison
  Court overturns verdict against woman who reported rural pollution / Caixin (paywall)
• More COVID-19 testing on food imports
  China’s Shenzhen adds more virus tests for frozen food imports / Reuters
  Chicken wings test positive for COVID-19 in China, but there’s no evidence of food transmission, experts say / CNN
• Updates on COVID-19 in China
  China reports 22 new coronavirus infections for Aug. 16, no new Xinjiang cases / Reuters
  Alibaba’s Freshippo says will test all Shenzhen employees for COVID-19 / Reuters
  83,000 people tested, 21 Hema stores closed after Shenzhen staff found infected with coronavirus / SCMP
  Cluster at key Hong Kong cargo terminal grows as 34 workers test positive / HKFP

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Cài Xiá 蔡霞 disciplined after calling for Xi to be replaced
  Chinese academic disciplined after criticizing Xi and Communist Party / Reuters
  Read on China Digital Times: Translation: Former Party professor calls CCP a “political zombie.” 
• Continued flooding across multiple regions
  China on alert for Yangtze River flooding as storms close in / SCMP
  China’s summer of floods is a preview of climate disasters to come / InsideClimate News
• A Russia-China banking and finance “alliance”?
  China and Russia ditch dollar in move toward ‘financial alliance’ / FT (paywall)
• Russia and China opposition to U.S. unilateralism on Iran
  China welcomes Putin’s proposed summit on Iran / Reuters
• India-China tensions
  China-India spat shows no sign of slowing as Beijing extends anti-dumping tariff on Indian fiber-optic product / SCMP
  Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visits Tibet to ‘send message to India’ over border dispute / SCMP
• Taiwan: Rising signs of China skepticism
  Taiwan to step up efforts to prevent Chinese spies settling / Reuters
  Taiwan’s China-friendly opposition routed in mayoral by-election / Reuters
• U.S. support for Taiwan, and its limits
  U.S. formalizes F-16 jet sale to Taiwan with China tensions high / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  U.S. tries to bolster Taiwan’s status, short of recognizing sovereignty / NYT (porous paywall)
  Taiwan excluded from RIMPAC war games as US avoids crossing Beijing’s red line / SCMP
• Rim of the Pacific exercises with a Philippines that says “We should not involve ourselves”
  U.S.’s tougher stance on South China Sea undermined by Philippines / FT (paywall)
• Somaliland smiles at Taiwan
  Taiwan’s flag now flying again in Africa / China-Africa Project
  How Taiwan found a new African friend in Somaliland / SCMP
• Lack of state media coverage of Belarus protests
  In China, only positive news for Lukashenko / China Media Project
  “How have Chinese state media reported the story of the two rallies? Not surprisingly, readers are told only about one rally — that in support of Lukashenko.”
• Harassment of dissidents in Britain
  China continues to harass exiles on British soil, claim victims / Telegraph (paywall)
• Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and COVID-19: Nothing to see here, folks
  Document of the week: China’s see-no-evil PR blitz / Foreign Policy (porous paywall)

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• It’s now illegal to livestream gluttony
  Minitrue: No gluttonous livestreams during ‘clean plate’ campaign / China Digital Times
  Related: China’s anti-food-waste campaign is off to an aggressively strong start, China restaurant apologizes for weighing customers.
• Is animal sex pornographic?
  Chinese author addresses graphic animal sex in children’s book / Sixth Tone
• Obsession with the number 8
  Lucky phone number in China fetches $325,000 / NYT (porous paywall)