Links for Tuesday, October 13, 2020

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Ant Group IPO delayed?
  Exclusive: Chinese regulatory probe delays approval for Ant’s IPO, sources say / Reuters
  “The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) is looking into the role of Alipay, Ant’s flagship payment platform, as the only third-party channel through which retail investors could buy into five Chinese mutual funds investing in the IPO.”
  Ant Group under scrutiny over exclusive sale of shares in IPO / FT (paywall)
  The FT earlier reported that there was “growing scrutiny” of Ant’s plan to offer “retail investors access to its $30bn share sale through an exclusive arrangement on its own mobile payments app.”
  Related, on The China Project: Will Jack Ma’s Ant Group have the biggest IPO ever?
• SOEs “encouraged” to sell 5% of equity to strategic outside investors through 2022
  Beijing speeds up efforts to shake up state-owned enterprises / Caixin (paywall)
• Philippines dismisses telecom risk
  Philippine military says no risk from China-backed towers / AP
  Related, on The China Project: Could new Philippines telco Dito be a Chinese Trojan horse?
• Huawei’s future after U.S. sanctions
  Huawei’s base station teardown shows dependence on U.S.-made parts / Nikkei Asia
  “American products account for nearly 30% of the Chinese group’s baseband unit.”
  Huawei value declined 8% to $160 billion on U.S. sanctions: report / TechNode
  Last month, on The China Project: Huawei is now cut off from advanced semiconductors. What happens next?
• Medical robot developer Jointech (Jianjia Robots) raises $14.72 million
  Chinese surgical robot startup raises funds / 36Kr via Nikkei Asia
• Sinopec’s new investments
  Sinopec looks beyond oil for growth with hydrogen investment / Caixin (paywall)
  China’s Sinopec starts ethylene production at new Zhanjiang refinery / Reuters
• News from one of the world’s most indebted companies
  Evergrande seeks investors for $1.1bn share sale to repay debt / Nikkei (porous paywall)
• The ride-share company you may not have heard of to list in Hong Kong
  Lesser known car services specialist Dida outraces leader Didi to market / Caixin
  “Even as many eagerly await an IPO from leading Chinese shared car specialist Didi Chuxing, its smaller and similarly named rival Dida Inc. has just filed for a Hong Kong IPO.”
• Another Tencent investment into education technology
  Chinese edtech firm Huohua Siwei bags $100m series E2 led by Tencent / Caixin

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• 180 countries now in COVAX global alliance
  WHO says 180-plus countries including China committed to vaccine effort / Reuters
  “That figure, which WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan updated during a media call, is an increase from the 170 countries including China that were announced on Friday by the GAVI vaccine alliance.”
  Related on The China Project: China joins global coronavirus vaccine distribution initiative that Trump shunned.
• COVID-19 vaccine updates
  COVID-19 vaccine ready for Chinese public: report / Sixth Tone
  “An insider said people in Wuhan and Beijing will be among the first eligible to schedule appointments with coronavirus vaccine developer Sinopharm…Sinopharm has not responded to the reports, and Sixth Tone’s attempts to contact the company Tuesday were unsuccessful.”
  China looking at giving students vaccines still being tested / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• World Meteorological Organization calls on U.S. to share “common reason” on climate
  US should follow EU and China in setting carbon-neutral target: UN’s WMO / Reuters
• More misinformation by Li-Meng Yan (Yán Lìmèng 闫丽梦)
  Another ‘unfounded’ study on origins of virus spreads online / NYT (porous paywall)
  Related, last month in the Daily Beast: Steve Bannon is behind bogus study that China created COVID.

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Taiwan arms sales
  U.S. advances three arms sales packages to Taiwan / Defense News
  “The Trump administration plans to sell three advanced weapons systems to Taiwan after notifying Congress of the deals on Friday,” October 16.
  China threatens retaliation over U.S. deals to supply Taiwan with arms / SCMP
• UN Human Rights Council diplomacy
  China, Russia and Saudi Arabia set to join UN human rights council / Guardian
  Rights groups oppose China, Russia, Saudis on UN rights body / AP
• India-China border standoff
  India, China military officials hold ‘positive’ talks on troop pullback / Reuters
• China pressures French museum over Mongolian exhibit
  French Genghis Khan exhibit put off over interference claims / AP
  Antoine Bondaz on Twitter: “A planned exhibition on Gengis Khan and the Mongol Empire in Nantes (🇫🇷) canceled due to Beijing pressure to impose the new CCP narrative on minorities, going as far as to strictly control everything written in the exhibition and remove key words such as « mongols »…CRAZY”
  Related The China Project article, Ethnic Mongols protest Beijing’s push for Mandarin-only classes, and Sinica Podcast, The fight over Inner Mongolia’s “bilingual education” policy.
• Uzbekistan partners with Chinese government on poverty reduction
  Uzbekistan teams up with China on poverty reduction / Diplomat (porous paywall)
  “The joint research project promises to find solutions to the existing problems of poverty, gender inequality, and boosting employment in tourism in Uzbekistan.”
• Will China lower the criminal age of responsibility?
  China’s lawmakers consider allowing 12-year-olds to be charged with murder / Caixin (paywall)
• Southeast Asia diplomacy
  ‘Indo-Pacific Nato’: China’s Wáng Yì 王毅 slams U.S.-led ‘Quad’ as underlying security risk at Malaysia meeting / SCMP
• The U.S. Department of Justice’s “China Initiative” and more  
  Trump administration demands U.S. think tanks disclose foreign funding / SCMP
  Scientist accused of hiding Chinese funds sues Harvard, saying it abandoned him / NYT (porous paywall)
• Suppression of dissent in Hong Kong
  Hong Kong arrests nine over protesters’ escape by speedboat / NYT (porous paywall)
  In pictures: University of Hong Kong tears down pro-democracy message board as campuses become free speech battleground / HKFP
  Photo exhibition featuring Hong Kong protest images shut down in Macau / Guardian
• Huawei in Africa
  Côte d’Ivoire reaches deal with Huawei to boost the ICT sector / Ecofinagency
• Taiwan
  Taiwan dismisses China report of mass spy arrests as ‘stunt’ / Bloomberg
  Tsai touts strong Taiwan-Czech friendship, emphasizes shared values / Focus Taiwan
  Audrey Tang, Double Ten Day and The Transcultural Republic of Citizens / China Heritage

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Postponed weddings converged on Golden Week
  ‘Golden week’: Wedding season boom in China with 600,000 couples tying knot / Guardian
  “The wedding services platform Hunliji said it had registered more than 600,000 couples getting married over the eight-day public holiday that ended on Wednesday, 11% more than the site recorded in the same period last year.”
• Chinese college students want classes on dating
  Chinese students favor college course on romance, relationships / Sixth Tone
  “According to a China Youth Daily survey published Monday, 90% of 1,028 respondents from several universities across the country were in favor of courses on romance and relationships.”
• Gaolou rice strings: A 150-year-old southeast Chinese art style
  This artist sculpts animals and flowers from grains of rice / Atlas Obscura