Links for Wednesday, September 16, 2020

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Beijing calls for “high consistency” with Party from business leaders
  China’s Communist Party demands private sector’s loyalty as external risks rise / Reuters
• TikTok saga
  Op-ed: Will Oracle solve Trump’s TikTok problem? / NYT (porous paywall)
  Kara Swisher writes, “Several tech leaders told me that this half-baked solution came about because, as usual, our hair-trigger president was over his skis in making his TikTok declarations this summer. It eventually began to sink in with the Trump administration that forcing an American acquisition and the unspooling of a complex global company are not as easy as yelling about the ‘China menace.’”
  Beijing unlikely to block ByteDance deal with Oracle, say experts / FT (paywall)
• Wall Street and Silicon Valley ignore decoupling push
  U.S. banks underwrite ChemChina bonds despite Pentagon watchlist / Nikkei Asian Review (paywall)
  What decoupling? U.S. tech executives line up to speak at China expo / Nikkei Asian Review (paywall)
• Fosun Travel relaunches British travel brand
  Chinese owners resurrect venerable U.K. travel brand Thomas Cook / Caixin (paywall)
• Soaring shipping costs
  China tightens rules on shipping routes with U.S. to get runaway costs under control / Caixin (paywall)
• $6 billion Indonesia high-speed rail project two years behind schedule
  Construction of China-funded railway in Indonesia seen completed in 2023 amid delays / Reuters
• HNA’s Chén Fēng 陈峰 blacklisted for unpaid debts
  HNA Group chairman barred from flying, vacationing on firm’s failure to pay court-ordered $5,300 / Reuters
  A Chinese billionaire is barred from spending over unpaid debts / NYT (porous paywall)
• Will China’s economy actually grow this year?
  China’s economy is set to grow this year, Li Keqiang tells World Economic Forum / Caixin (paywall)
  OECD lifts economic outlook on stronger-than-expected US, Chinese recoveries / Reuters
  China is only G20 country expected to see positive economic output this year, OECD says / SCMP
• New Alibaba investments
  Alibaba Group opens China factory as part of new manufacturing initiative / Reuters
  Exclusive: Alibaba, China Mobile weigh $443 million investment in blacklisted Dahua – sources / Reuters

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Confirmed: 3,245 Lanzhou residents infected with brucellosis in 2019
  Northwest China’s Lanzhou finally recognizes extent of last year’s brucellosis outbreak / Caixin (paywall)
  “The disclosure came a day after a Caixin report on Monday exposed the local government’s lack of both disclosure and formal diagnosis caused thousands of patients to miss the window for receiving the most effective treatment for the disease.”
• The race for a vaccine
  Turkey begins Phase III trials of Chinese coronavirus vaccine: media / Reuters
  China says has seen positive results in China-UAE phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trials / Reuters
  Why Indonesia became a testing ground for a Chinese COVID-19 vaccine / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• Satellite launches
  China launches 9 satellites into space from ocean platform / Space

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Taiwan arms sales
  U.S. pushes arms sales surge to Taiwan, needling China – sources / Reuters
  “The United States plans to sell as many as seven major weapons systems, including mines, cruise missiles and drones to Taiwan.”
• A third Chinese aircraft carrier
  China’s third aircraft carrier takes shape, with ambitions to challenge U.S. naval dominance / Washington Post (porous paywall)
• How many warning shots did India and China fire at each other?
  Indian, China troops exchanged gunshots twice last week as tensions rose / Reuters
  India, China fired 100-200 warning shots at Pangong in early September / NDTV
  More than warning, ‘intense’ firing between India & China led to 100-200 shots before Moscow pact / News18
  PLA raised combat readiness after exchange of gunfire, sources say / SCMP
  Three firing incidents between India-China in last 20 days in Eastern Ladakh / Times of India
  India’s defense minister says China border tensions serious / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  China isn’t hiding the border tensions with India from its public anymore / Diplomat (porous paywall)
  Devjyot Ghoshal on Twitter: “Thread. Since tensions escalated with China this summer, India has moved thousands of additional troops to Ladakh. That’s been backed up by a massive military logistics operation. Yesterday, we got a glimpse into how it works.”
  Can China and India ease tensions? / Washington Post (porous paywall)
  Context on The China Project: Shots fired on India-China border.
• Sanctions on Chinese developer in Cambodia
  U.S. imposes sanctions on Chinese firm over Cambodia project / Reuters
  “Union Development Group Co. Ltd is building the Dara Sakor complex in a national park on the Cambodian coast, with a runway capable of taking some of the world’s biggest planes…The company and the Cambodian government have repeatedly denied Western media reports that the project has military aims.”
  Cambodia, China, challenge US over sanctions on Chinese firm / AP
• Crackdown in Inner Mongolia
  Parents keep children home as China limits Mongolian language in the classroom / NPR
  Context on The China Project: Ethnic Mongols protest Beijing’s push for Mandarin-only classes.
• Australia-China tensions
  Australian police accessed Chinese diplomats’ emails and messages as part of foreign political interference investigation / Australian ABC
  Fears for Australians in China after Chinese consul named in AFP warrant over political interference investigation / Australian ABC
  China-Australia relations: infiltration allegations against Chinese consul ‘vicious slander’ / SCMP
  Australia eyes trade with India to cut China reliance amid mounting tensions / Bloomberg via SCMP
  Australia criticizes China over treatment of Uyghurs and for eroding freedoms in Hong Kong / Guardian
• 75th anniversary of the UN
  Pandemic sharpens ‘battle for the soul’ of United Nations between U.S. and China / Reuters
  As U.N. turns 75, the celebration is muted by calamity and conflict / NYT (porous paywall)

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Video of domestic violence case goes viral
  Her husband abused her. But getting a divorce was an ordeal. / NYT (porous paywall)
• “Come, crown me a slut”: The unfiltered poetry of Yú Xiùhuá 余秀华
  China’s most famous disabled poet gives raw interview on love, lust / Sixth Tone
• Body theft and cremation cases in Shandong
  Empty graves, fake records, graft: The dead tell tales in rural China / Sixth Tone