Links for Tuesday, October 20, 2020

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Sweden bans Chinese telecoms
  Sweden bans Huawei, ZTE from new 5G infrastructure / Bloomberg via Caixin
  “Authorities also said equipment from the two Chinese technology giants must be removed from existing infrastructure by 2025.”
• Shanghai’s business district is back to normal
  The post-COVID trading floor is here — with buffet lunches, no masks / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• Real estate regulation
  Central bank proposes fleshed-out rules to keep dirty cash out of real estate / Caixin (paywall)
• Facial recognition and data protection
  Lawmakers say China’s proposed rules on facial recognition are too vague / Caixin (paywall)
  Scammers busted using face GIFs to steal from WeChat accounts / Sixth Tone
• Jack Ma returns to top of Rich List
  Jack Ma tops Hurun China Rich List with $58.8 billion fortune / Caixin
  Huawei sanctions shrink founder Ren Zhengfei’s wealth while Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun’s net worth doubles / SCMP
• SDIC Power becomes third SOE to IPO in London this year
  As currency controls limit access to foreign cash, another state firm lists in London / Caixin (paywall)
• How Mercado Pago has imitated Ant Group
  Latin American payment giant rises amid pandemic, with an eye on China’s Ant / Reuters
• Meatless meat in Hong Kong and Singapore
  Impossible Foods launches in Asian grocery stores as it aims to move into China / Reuters
• U.S. and China battle over Brazil’s market
  U.S. and Brazil must reduce dependence on China imports: Pompeo / Reuters
  U.S. concerned about China’s move to expand influence in Brazil: Lighthizer / Reuters
  China accuses U.S. politicians of ‘smearing’ economic and trade cooperation / Reuters
• Thailand’s reopening to tourists
  Chinese scramble for Thailand’s new special tourist visa / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
• China’s box office neck-and-neck with North America
  China’s box office hits $2 billion, set to overtake North America / Variety
  “The 2020 China aggregate stands at $1.99 billion, according to consultancy Artisan Gateway, compared with $1.94 billion for the North American market. While these figures would see China overtake North America, Comscore has an aggregate of $2.1 billion for North America, which puts the gross still slightly behind.”
• Tesla’s Shanghai factory now mass-producing vehicles
  Tesla to export China-made Model 3 vehicles to Europe / Reuters

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Vaccine trial results and distribution outside clinical trials
  China’s Sinovac vaccine is safe, Brazil institute says / Reuters
  60,000 volunteers receive Chinese COVID-19 vaccines in phase-3 trials / Xinhua
  China defends giving experimental COVID vaccines to thousands / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• Vaccine production and formal distribution
  Sinopharm says may be able to make over one billion coronavirus vaccine doses in 2021 / Reuters
  China promises to sell COVID-19 vaccines at ‘fair and reasonable’ price around the world / SCMP
• Don’t mess with the elephants
  Death follows as people push into elephant enclave / Caixin (paywall)
  In Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, “the level of threats has increased for both humans and elephants. Expansion of rubber tree planting and farmland as well as conservation-driven changes to the rainforests have dramatically reduced food sources for elephants. At the same time, the size of the elephant herd in Yunnan has almost doubled to 300 from 180 in the 1980s. This has forced many of the giant animals out of nature reserves and into close encounters with villages and villagers.”
• Hong Kong gradually eases COVID-19 controls
  Hong Kong to allow 30-person local tourism groups, but four-person gathering limit remains / HKFP

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• The Quad does military exercises
  U.S., Japan, Australia conducted naval exercises in South China Sea Monday: U.S. Navy / Reuters
  Strengthening Quad: Eye on China, India invites Australia to join Malabar drill / Times of India
  Australia to rejoin ‘quad’ naval exercises in move certain to infuriate Beijing / Australian ABC
  Related The China Project coverage: Can the U.S. convince Japan, India, and Australia to team up against China?
• India considers Taiwan trade talks
  India considers trade talks with Taiwan as both spar with China / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• Beijing bashes Trump’s environmental record
  China delivers a barrage of criticism at U.S. climate policies / Washington Post
  “The barrage from Beijing resembled the tit-for-tat criticism that China and the United States have traded on subjects such as human rights, trade and the expulsion of reporters and diplomats, but climate policies have been largely the exception. Not anymore.”
• Aftermath of Fiji diplomatic dustup
  Taiwan says it won’t be intimidated by China’s ‘hooligan’ diplomats / Reuters
• Australia spy agency on high alert
  Chinese espionage in Australia at higher levels than Cold War, spy chief warns / AFP via HKFP
  Asio chief says foreign spies trying to ‘deceptively cultivate’ Australian politicians at every level / Guardian
• Profile of Yang Bin, the lawyer who sheltered Xu Zhiyong
  In China, formidable prosecutor Yang Bin is now a rights defender / NYT (porous paywall)
• Hypersonic missiles
  Video reveals Chinese H-6N bomber carrying suspected hypersonic weapon / Defense News
  China boosts its attack range with launch of mysterious new hypersonic cruise missile, insiders say / SCMP
• U.S. special coordinator on Tibet head of government-in-exile
  China says U.S. should stop meddling after exiled Tibetan leader visits State Department / Reuters
• The strange sonic incidents in Guangzhou in 2018
  U.S. diplomats and spies battle Trump administration over suspected attacks / NYT (porous paywall)
  “American officials in China, Cuba and Russia say U.S. agencies are concealing the true extent of the episodes, leaving colleagues vulnerable to hostile actions abroad…Some senior Russia analysts in the C.I.A., officials at the State Department and outside scientists, as well as several of the victims, see Russia as the most likely culprit given its history with weapons that cause brain injuries and its interest in fracturing Washington’s relations with Beijing and Havana.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Public perception of medical professionals
  It’ll take more than hero-worship to heal doctor reputations / Sixth Tone