Links for Friday, November 6, 2020

WORTH THINKING ABOUT

Pieces of news or analysis that caught our eye:

A Xinjiang-related separatist group is no longer on the State Department terrorist list. The Wall Street Journal reports:

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ordered the delisting of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a group that once advocated for an independent state in China’s Xinjiang region, on Oct. 20, according to the latest issue of the Federal Register, published Thursday [November 5]…

The U.S. listed ETIM as a terrorist organization in 2002 as Washington was seeking Beijing’s cooperation with its global War on Terror in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. While Chinese officials blamed a number of terrorist attacks on the group and has used its existence to justify a harsh crackdown on the Muslim population in Xinjiang, U.S. policy makers and scholars have long cast doubt on the group’s significance and reach.

See also a Twitter thread by the historian James Millward, and a review in the Financial Times of The War on the Uyghurs: China’s Campaign Against Xinjiang’s Muslims by Sean Roberts. That review notes:

Perhaps Roberts’s greatest contribution to the debate over Xinjiang is his attempt to dismantle China’s assertions about a “terrorist threat” by sketching a picture of the isolated groups it deems international terrorist organizations. Through interviews in Uyghur communities, he concludes that the groups have for the past two decades mostly hovered on the edge of extinction as a poorly resourced, loosely organized bunch with aspirations, but no capacity, to launch militant operations.

Belt and Road countries aren’t buying U.S.-promoted lines about “debt-trap diplomacy,” according to a new book by Pradumna B. Rana and Xianbai Ji. They write in The Diplomat:

For our recent book, “China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Impacts on Asia and Policy Agenda,” we conducted an online perception survey of opinion leaders (defined as policymakers, academics and representatives of businesses and media) from a wide range of stakeholder countries including 26 Southeast, Central and South Asian countries that have signed a BRI MOU with China…

First, after having considered both the benefits and costs of the BRI, on balance, 41.6 percent of the respondents believed that the BRI represented a net benefit for their countries, while only 17.8 percent said that it was a net cost…

Second, on the [debt-trap diplomacy] thesis itself, more than 42 percent of the respondents to our stakeholder survey rejected the alarmist narrative, although it is important to bear in mind that 30.6 percent felt otherwise…

See also on The China Project: The ‘debt-trap diplomacy’ debate: Are China’s loans predatory?

MORE NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Ant Group IPO suspension updates
  Way out emerges for investors trapped in Ant Group funds / Caixin (paywall)
  Fund managers “said they would apply to the CSRC [China Securities Regulatory Commission] and the stock exchange to allow the shares in their funds to be traded on the secondary market. Once the applications are approved, investors will be able to sell their shares free from the 18-month lockup limit.”
  Regulator squashes rumors banks can’t work with Ant Group on joint lending / Caixin (paywall)
  China’s central bank says Ant’s IPO suspension is to safeguard consumer, investor interests / Reuters
  Why China changed the rules on Jack Ma’s Ant Group / Bloomberg
  In halting Ant’s I.P.O., China sends a warning to business / NYT (porous paywall)
• Yuan volatility
  Chinese yuan hits 28-month high due to hopes of Biden and better trade / Quartz
  China’s yuan has its worst fall in years before recovering on U.S. election swings / CNN
• NBA has “largest exhibition in the expo’s new sports and outdoor leisure section”
  Once blocked, NBA tries to bounce back at Shanghai Expo / Sixth tone
• Bona Film Group to list in Shenzhen
  ‘China’s Miramax’ gets green light for homecoming listing / Caixin (paywall)
• Sudanese seaport to be completed by year-end
  Shipping camels to China is goal of Sudan’s $140 million port / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• Launch of the Bloomberg Barclays Liquid China Credit Index (LCC Index)
  Bloomberg launches index for Chinese bonds that foreign investors usually avoid / Caixin (paywall)
• Xiaomi aims to hire 5,000 developers
  Xiaomi ramps up R&D hiring to push tech-driven expansion / Caixin (paywall)
• Alibaba joins $1.1 billion partnership in luxury
  Richemont bets big on China, partnering Alibaba to invest in Farfetch / Reuters
• Japanese automakers optimistic on China sales
  Toyota, Honda double profit outlook as China rebounds from pandemic / Reuters
  Toyota, Honda rely on resurgent China for growth / WSJ (paywall)
• American automakers see more sales of sport-utility vehicles
  GM thinks bigger in China with plan to import full-size SUVs / Reuters
  Ford’s Chinese ventures October sales jump as SUVs, vans lead demand recovery / Reuters
• Guō Wénguì 郭文贵 sues over margin loan call
  Fugitive Chinese tycoon Guo Wengui sues UBS for US$500 million over deal gone awry / Bloomberg via SCMP
  Guo “claims the bank pressured him into borrowing money tied to the purchase of shares in brokerage Haitong Securities.”
• Trump administration continues to argue for Chinese app bans
  TikTok shutdown argued before federal judge / WSJ (paywall)
  Inside the legal battle to defeat Trump’s WeChat ban / Caixin (paywall)
  U.S. will ‘vigorously defend’ TikTok executive order despite ruling / Reuters

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Kashgar COVID-19 outbreak control continues
  Xinjiang city must brave ‘wartime conditions’ to stop COVID-19 / SCMP
• More information on bacterial infection in Lanzhou
  Over 6,000 people in China’s Lanzhou test positive for brucellosis: state media / Reuters
  Bacteria leak has thousands more victims than previously thought, authorities reveal / Caixin
  In September on Caixin: Northwest China’s Lanzhou finally recognizes extent of last year’s brucellosis outbreak.
• COVID-19 vigilance
  China will improve contingency plans for COVID-19 clusters in winter: cabinet / Reuters
• Vaccine trials
  AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine to begin clinical trials in China: executive / Reuters
• Pooled purchasing for medical supplies
  To lower medical costs, China bets big on buying in bulk / Sixth Tone
  “A new centralized procurement scheme could cut $1.7 billion from the country’s health care bill.”

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Italy, Russia, Nigeria, and other countries added to travel bans
  China extends travel bans to Italy, Russia, Belgium and India as COVID-19 cases soar / Caixin (paywall)
  Coronavirus: China extends ban on foreign visitors to eight more countries, including India, France and Russia / SCMP
  On The China Project yesterday, we noted that Chinese embassies in at least six countries — Belgium, France, the U.K., India, Bangladesh, and the Philippines — had said that non-Chinese citizens are temporarily banned from coming to China.
• Australia-China tensions
  Australia on edge as China’s trade deadline arrives / Bloomberg via Caixin
  “Australian exporters are on high alert on Friday as the deadline arrives for traders in China, its biggest market, to stop buying at least seven categories of the country’s commodities.”
  Australia says China trade disruptions ‘deeply troubling’ / Reuters
  Australia quiet on first foreign-meddling arrest, but target is clear / NYT (porous paywall)
  China says has never interfered in other countries’ affairs / Reuters
  China-Australia relations: looming ban on Australian goods clouds Shanghai import expo / SCMP
  China’s silent trade row / China Media Project
  Australian exporters urge Morrison government to take China to world trade umpire / Guardian
  Australia tells exporters to find other markets after rise in China tensions / FT
• India-China border standoff and political tensions
  India’s top general says face-off with China could spark bigger conflict / Reuters
  With an eye on China, India gifts submarine to Myanmar / FT (paywall)
• Three prison officials held accountable for COVID-19 outbreak in February
  Shandong prison officials charged with negligence over COVID-19 cluster / Sixth Tone
• Hong Kong after the national security law
  Lam says next U.S. president should not interfere in Hong Kong / AP
  Hong Kong informers’ hotline receives 2,500 tip-offs within hours / Guardian
• Sanitized COVID-19 response narrative turned into TV scripts
  As China’s propaganda push continues, Wuhan emerges as a star / NYT (porous paywall)
  “New television shows have paid tribute to the city where the coronavirus emerged, focusing on residents’ heroism and glossing over official mistakes.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• No spectators allowed at Chongqing figure skating competition
  Chinese figure skater Jīn Bóyáng 金博洋 first in men’s short program at Cup of China / AP via ESPN
• The stereotype-confronting work of Joyce Teng
  ConfrontAsian / Neocha
• Bovine brawls in Yunnan
  In China’s villages, bullfighting enjoys a bloody renaissance / Sixth Tone