Week in review for Friday, August 28, 2020

Here are the stories that caught our eye this week:

• About a month into a new purge of China’s police and judiciary, the police got a new flag, conferred by Xí Jìnpíng’s 习近平. On August 19, the campaign — ostensibly to wipe out corruption but more importantly to root out disloyalty to the Party and Xi — took down its biggest target to date: Shanghai’s police chief (who was also vice-mayor of the city).
• TikTok’s brand-new CEO, poached from Disney, quit as Walmart and Microsoft teamed up to buy it. There’s another contender: Oracle. Call it the revenge of the deeply uncool middle-aged companies.
• Amazingly, the U.S.-China trade relationship remains stable. U.S. and Chinese trade officials — Chinese Vice Premier Liú Hè 刘鹤, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — had a phone call, and “reaffirmed their commitment to a Phase 1 trade deal.”  
• Will Jack Ma’s Ant Group have the biggest IPO ever? Ant will be the largest company to ever go public in Hong Kong.
• A WeChat user jumped to his death after protesting Tencent’s “arbitrary” suspension of his account. Many internet users commented on the news with complaints that they too objected to the high-handed censorship and user suspension practices of the internet giant.
• The “clean plate campaign” — intended to eliminate food waste — is another government campaign spearheaded by Xí Jìnpíng 习近平. The campaign has restaurant owners encouraging their customers to order less food, and internet companies censoring popular videos of people binge eating. Beijing assures the public that China has enough food, but people fear the reasons behind ‘clean plate’ campaign.
• How should China adapt to a turbulent world? The answer: “Dual circulation” (双循环 shuāng xúnhuán), a concept that was introduced by a Politburo Standing Committee meeting on May 14, and reemphasized by Xí Jìnpíng 习近平. The message seems to be that China must develop domestic market and tech to withstand external shocks.
• While Chinese women appear to be gradually bridging the gender gap in fields such as education and health, lack of female representation is still a significant problem in several areas, according to a new report.
• China has been vaccinating essential workers since July 22, under an emergency use authorization, a top health official revealed. He did not gove details or say how many people had received the vaccine.
• Massive cuts to medicine prices were announced by China’s national drugs procurement program.