Links for Wednesday, August 26, 2020

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Economic support
  Banks let loose with loans to manufacturers amid China’s self-sufficiency drive / Caixin (paywall)
  “Banks issued $232 billion in new manufacturing loans over the first seven months of this year, already more than the whole of 2019.”
  China will release funds to local governments more quickly to boost economy / Reuters
• Rare earth exports down 69.1% in July from a year earlier
  China’s rare earth exports fall to over five-year low as pandemic devastates demand / Caixin
• Gay dating app buys LESDO
  BlueCity, owner of China’s biggest gay dating app, buys lesbian platform / Reuters
• Iron ore reserves in Western Africa
  Stalled Guinea project highlights China’s struggle to reforge iron ore supply chain / Caixin
• $73.5 million in single-day movie tickets
  Power of love pushes China cinemas to post-COVID-19 high / Caixin
  “The figure was actually about 10% below last year’s box office for the Qixi Festival [aka Chinese Valentine’s Day], which also fell on a weekday.”
• Private space industry
  ISpace goes where no other Chinese space startup has gone before with $174 million fundraising / Caixin
• Continued reliance on foreign semiconductors
  China to import $300 billion of chips for third straight year: industry group / Reuters
  Related on The China Project yesterday: Xi says China must develop domestic market and tech to withstand external shocks.
• China’s search for soybeans
  China calls for ‘soybean industry alliance’ with strategic partner Russia / SCMP
  China is hungry for imported farm goods amid demand recovery / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• Brii to list in Hong Kong?
  Jack Ma-backed biotech firm considers Hong Kong IPO / Caixin

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• CanSino vaccine trials in Canada get canned
  CanSino blames Chinese officials for abandonment of joint vaccine program with Canada / The Globe and Mail
• Zero COVID-19 patients in Beijing
  Beijing all clear of COVID-19 after last cases leave hospital / Caixin
• Shanxi targets foreign shrimp
  Chinese province bans Ecuadorean shrimp in coronavirus clamp-down / Reuters

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Hong Kong arrests and Yuen Long revisionism accusations
  With new arrests, Hong Kong’s police try to change the narrative / NYT (porous paywall)
  Yuen Long attack: Hong Kong police accused of ‘re-writing history’ / BBC
  Hong Kong police accused of ‘altering history and erasing facts’ in account of last year’s Yuen Long mob attack / HKFP
• Australia-China tensions
  China warns of ‘shadow’ over ties with Australia, tells it to stop whining / Reuters
  Top Chinese diplomat says Australia’s call for coronavirus inquiry was ‘shocking’ / Guardian
• Military tensions
  China protests U.S. spy plane watching drills / Reuters
  US spy plane enters no-fly zone during Chinese live-fire naval drill / SCMP
  Chinese military fires ‘aircraft-carrier killer’ missile into South China Sea in ‘warning to the United States’ / SCMP
  ‘Polishing the gun’: China, U.S. tensions raise Taiwan conflict fears / Reuters
• Canada-China tensions
  Canada presses China counterpart over detainees, Hong Kong: Ottawa / Reuters
  Canada has effectively moved to block China’s Huawei from 5G, but can’t say so / Reuters
  Canada court rejects Meng Wanzhou’s bid to see documents about arrest that officials fear could damage ties with China / SCMP
• Chinese military scholars in the U.S.
  Chinese diplomats helped military scholars visiting the U.S. evade FBI scrutiny, U.S. says / WSJ (paywall)
• Pompeo and Trump’s China election strategy
  Pompeo previews Trump’s China election strategy in RNC speech / CNN
  Pompeo uses controversial platform at Republican convention to praise Trump’s hard line on China / SCMP
• A new book on Tibet
  Eat the Buddha by Barbara Demick — a Tibetan struggle / FT (paywall)
  Geoff Dyer writes that Demick’s “intrepid reporting on one town delivers a piercing portrait of a culture being destroyed by a paranoid and heavy-handed Beijing.”
• Increasing support for U.S. industrial policy
  Republicans support industrial policy to challenge China / Washington Post
• The influence of the Inter-American Development Bank
  Trump’s pick for Latin bank wants to counter China influence / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• Liaoning Province leases out islands
  China puts hundreds of uninhabited islands up for rent / CNN

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Anti-food-waste campaign
  Lost scholarships and gender discrimination — when food waste schemes leave a bad taste / Caixin
• Live music is back
  Chinese metal bands turn up the volume as live venues reopen / Reuters
• Lewd comments from CEO dampen enthusiasm for indie game
  Gamers reconsider anticipated title Black Myth: Wukong following sexually explicit comments from Game Science CEO / SCMP
  Last week, on TechNode: Black Myth Wu Kong could be China’s first premium game to make it big.
• Views of the floods
  Photos: China’s summer of floods / The Atlantic
• Body positivity on the Chinese internet
  Chinese social media users stand up against body shaming / What’s on Weibo
• Feminist interpretations of the Qixi story
  Chinese Valentine’s Day folktale sparks discussion on abuse / Sixth Tone
  Related, on The China Project yesterday: Qixi: The story, past and present, of Chinese Valentine’s Day.