Links for Tuesday, September 1, 2020

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Record-high pork prices lead to profits and land disputes
  Pork producer reaps fat profits as high prices linger from swine fever outbreak / Caixin (paywall)
  Chinese hog breeder cooperates with authorities over land probe / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• American Express sets up shop in Hangzhou
  AmEx becomes first foreign firm to do bank card clearing in China / Caixin
• The balance of public and private financial technology
  China’s U-turn on fintech firms hasn’t slowed them down / The Wire China (paywall)
• Investors love electric vehicle companies
  NIO boosts size of share sale amid electric-car stock frenzy / Caixin
• Troubles at China Minsheng Investment Group
  Embattled investment firm CMIG replaces top brass as it cleans house / Caixin (paywall)
• STAR market listings
  Geely Auto seeks $3 billion Shanghai STAR market listing / Reuters
  Chinese software developer Foxit eyes $418 million in STAR market IPO / Caixin
• U.S. IPOs
  ChinData readying U.S. IPO of up to $400 million, say sources / Reuters
• Huawei chip crackdown
  U.S. crackdowns on Huawei prompt chip stockpiling, proposed aid not enough: VLSI Research / Reuters
• Midea vs. Gree
  Gree loses air conditioner market crown to rival / Caixin 

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Mass testing in Hong Kong
  Hong Kong begins China-led mass coronavirus testing, critics urge boycott / Reuters
• The race for a vaccine
  Taiwan-U.S. COVID-19 vaccine may soon enter human trials / Focus Taiwan
• “Predict” program to be rebooted as “Stop Spillover” in October
  U.S. will revive global virus-hunting effort ended last year / NYT (porous paywall)

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• India-China border standoff
  India says troops hold Himalayan hilltops after face-off with Chinese forces / Reuters
  India and China face off again at border as troops move in / NYT (porous paywall)
  China provoked India in latest clash, U.S. believes / U.S. News
  With new China face-off, India’s nightmare of a two-front war may be coming true / The Wire India
• Australian journalist who was detained, and other punishments for Canberra from Beijing
  Canberra says not told why Australian journalist detained in China / Reuters
  China suspends barley imports from Australia’s largest grain exporter / Reuters
  Australian Cheng Lei said to be ‘doing as well as expected’ in detention in China / Australian ABC
  Yesterday on The China Project: Australian citizen and TV host detained.
• U.S. military displays in China’s backyard 
  Pentagon’s latest salvo against China’s growing might — Cold War bombers / Reuters

Since late January, American B-1B and B-52 bombers, usually operating in pairs, have flown about 20 missions over key waterways, including the South China Sea, the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan…

These missions, military analysts say, are designed to send a crystal-clear signal: The United States can threaten China’s fleet and Chinese land targets at any time, from distant bases, without having to move America’s aircraft carriers and other expensive surface warships within range of Beijing’s massive arsenal of missiles.

• Is Trump’s “tough on China” attitude winning him domestic support?
  Forty percent of Americans back Trump executive order on TikTok: Reuters/Ipsos poll / Reuters
  Trump job approval 42%; below 50% on seven key issues / Gallup
  Shawn Donnan on Twitter: “The consensus among politics-focused folks assumes that being ‘tough on China’ is a political winner for Trump. Is it? This Gallup poll seems to indicate maybe not…”
• Corruption case at People’s Daily–affiliated paper
  Former journal editor sentenced to 10 years for bribery / Sixth Tone
  Graft buster reveals details of Communist Party publication editor’s fall from grace / Caixin
• U.S. support for Taiwan
  U.S. moves bolstering Taiwan are meant to ‘restore balance,’ U.S. diplomat David Stilwell says / SCMP
  China tells U.S. to stop building relationship with Taiwan after economic dialogue announcement / SCMP
  U.S. increases support for Taiwan, says to counter rising China pressure / Reuters
• Hong Kong’s harsh new reality
  Germany urges withdrawal of Hong Kong national security law, seeks access to Uyghurs in Xinjiang / SCMP
  Video: Pregnant woman ‘pepper-sprayed and pushed to ground’ by Hong Kong police during Mong Kok demo / HKFP
  No separation of powers in Hong Kong says Chief Executive Carrie Lam, despite previous comments from top judges / HKFP
• A Pacific NATO?
  U.S. seeks formal alliance similar to NATO with India, Japan and Australia, State Department official says / SCMP
  Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun: “The Indo-Pacific region is actually lacking in strong multilateral structures…They don‘t have anything of the fortitude of NATO or the European Union. The strongest institutions in Asia oftentimes are not, I think, not inclusive enough and so…there is certainly an invitation there at some point to formalize a structure like this.”
• American companies and Xinjiang surveillance tech
  Why are U.S. companies buying tech from Chinese firms that spy on Muslims? / Guardian
  An op-ed by Darren Byler.
• Stopping tomb looting and the theft of antiquities
  China launches 1-year campaign against theft of cultural relics / Sixth Tone
  A nationwide campaign “will focus on preventing theft from temples, tombs, cultural sites, and pagodas, as well as other related crimes.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• 14-year-old Nanjing boy reports father to police for violating privacy
  Home surveillance raises questions about Chinese parenting habits / Sixth Tone
• The plight of migrant workers
  China’s migrant workers determined to stay in cities as most see ‘no hope’ in rural hometowns / SCMP
• Chinese Americans and Black Lives Matter
  This year could be a reckoning for New York’s Chinese community / Foreign Policy (porous paywall)
• Dealing with employment discrimination against LGBT+ people
  Bringing diversity to China’s workplaces, one voice at a time / Sixth Tone