Links for Tuesday, November 10, 2020

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Pork prices down for first time in 20 months
  Declining pork prices push China inflation to 11-year low / Caixin (paywall)
  “The substantial slowdown in CPI inflation was due primarily to a combination of declining pork prices and a high base from October of last year.”
• Huawei wins court case in Sweden
  Sweden suspends 5G auction after Huawei wins court appeal against exclusion / Caixin (paywall)
  “Regulator cutting off Chinese company from network bidding ‘affects Huawei’s rights,’ Stockholm court rules.”
• Huawei to sell budget-brand smartphone unit Honor
  Huawei to sell smartphone unit for $15 billion to Shenzhen government, Digital China, others / Reuters
• Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group invested in Pfizer collaborator BioNTech
  Investors applaud Fosun role in promising Pfizer COVID vaccine / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
  Asian stocks rise for 2nd day on coronavirus vaccine hopes / AP
• Wanda in even deeper hole after COVID-19 hit
  Struggling Wanda Film raises $440 million in private placement / Caixin (paywall)
  “In the first three quarters, Wanda Film booked a net loss of about 2 billion yuan [$302 million], down from an 829 million yuan [$125 million] profit in the same period last year.”
• Full Truck Alliance is estimated to be worth $10 billion
  China’s ‘Uber for trucks’ raising $1.7 billion ahead of IPO next year / WSJ (paywall)

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Sinovac vaccine testing and production in Brazil
  China’s Sinovac vaccine trial halted in Brazil / BBC
  Brazil halts trial of Chinese vaccine. But was science or politics to blame? / NYT (porous paywall)
  “The Brazilian health regulator provided little information on its decision, including whether the reaction was related to the vaccine, called CoronaVac and produced by the Chinese company Sinovac, or coincidental.”
  Sao Paulo starts building production plant for China’s Sinovac vaccine: governor / Reuters
  Brazil faces political backlash after trial of China-developed COVID vaccine is halted / FT (paywall)
  Jair Bolsonaro claims ‘victory’ after suspension of Chinese vaccine trial / Guardian
• 15,000 prosecutions for wildlife crimes in first nine months of 2020
  China wildlife crime prosecutions up sharply after COVID-19 outbreak / Reuters
• Glaciers melting on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau
  Scientists watch as China remote glaciers melt at ‘shocking’ pace / Reuters
• Officials confident in COVID-19 control for winter
  China ‘very likely’ to avoid winter coronavirus outbreak, CDC official says / Caixin (paywall)

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Trump tantrums score propaganda points for Beijing, but also raise risks
  Trump’s fury feeds Moscow and Beijing accounts of U.S. chaos / NYT (porous paywall)
  Beijing worries that Esper’s exit raises risk of military action and accidents / SCMP
• Taiwan blocked from WHO participation, again
  Blocking Taiwan at WHO will increase hostility to China, premier says / Reuters
  Taiwan says not invited to WHO meeting after China’s ‘obstruction’ / Reuters
• Canada-China tensions, and the new Biden factor
  Biden, Canada’s Trudeau discuss coronavirus, climate change / Reuters
  Canada’s Trudeau says hopeful Joe Biden will keep up pressure on China / AFP via HKFP
  CSIS warns China’s Operation Fox Hunt is targeting Canada’s Chinese community / Globe and Mail
• Uyghurs and forced labor in Xinjiang
  UN investigator: Rights of minorities to worship undermined / AP
  UK to big brands: Do more to avoid forced labor in China’s Xinjiang / Reuters
  ICC Uyghur genocide complaint backed by parliamentarians around world / Guardian
• Hong Kong after the national security law
  Hong Kong protest icon mysteriously vanished. Then she returned, unbowed. / NYT (porous paywall)
  Hong Kong producer who probed police misconduct defends journalists’ right to access public info as case adjourned / HKFP
• Military missile power
  How are China’s land-based conventional missile forces evolving? / ChinaPower Project
  This may be our first glimpse of China’s new air-launched anti-radiation missile / The Drive

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• False modesty on the Chinese internet
  China’s influencer generation has discovered the humblebrag / Sixth Tone
  “…the phrase fán’ěrsài wénxué [凡尔赛 文学], or ‘Versailles literature,’ [is China’s] equivalent to humblebragging. On microblogging platform Weibo, the buzzword has become a trending topic, with over 440 million views by Tuesday evening… It stems from the Japanese manga series ‘The Rose of Versailles,’ about the lavish lifestyle of Marie Antoinette, and now refers to anyone with a haughty, ‘let them eat cake’ air about them.”
• Fatal bullying case leads to discussion on criminal age of liability
  Boy, 15, fatally beaten and buried by group of minors in Shaanxi / What’s on Weibo