Links for Tuesday, November 17, 2020

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Baidu expands into livestreaming
  Baidu revenue beats estimates; to buy JOYY’s China live-streaming unit / Reuters
  Baidu hopes $3.6 billion livestreaming deal will boost its stagnant revenue / Caixin (paywall)
• Chipmaking challenges
  China’s Tsinghua Unigroup defaults on $198 million bond: sources / Reuters
  Major Chinese chip company defaults on debt / WSJ (paywall)
• $3 billion blockchain listing for China Construction Bank is postponed
  Chinese bank’s blockchain bond listing suspended days after it was announced / Caixin (paywall)
• Education and healthcare IPOs
  Shunwei Capital-backed 17 Education eyes $100 million U.S. IPO / Caixin
  JD Health passes Hong Kong Stock Exchange hearing en route to IPO / Caixin
• U.S. moves to exclude Chinese companies from the markets
  Limited impact seen from Trump investment ban on military-linked Chinese firms / Reuters
  “President Donald Trump’s directive barring U.S. investments in Chinese companies linked by Washington to China’s military is unlikely to deal the firms a serious blow, experts said, due to its limited scope, uncertainty about the stance of the incoming Biden administration and already-scant holdings by U.S. funds.”
  SEC pushes urgent plan that could delist Chinese companies / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• Electric vehicles and batteries
  Chinese battery maker plans $2.4 billion factory in Germany / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• JD gets into air freight
  JD Logistics aviation unit taxis toward takeoff / Caixin (paywall)
  “Logistics arm of e-commerce giant JD.com goes on hiring spree for its new air freight unit, which will operate from a hub in the eastern city of Nantong.”
• Ant IPO and tech crackdown
  When will Ant Group’s IPO be rescheduled? Regulator says it ‘depends’ / Caixin (paywall)
  “CSRC Vice Chair Fang won’t name a date for the fintech giant’s delayed listing.”
  What we know about China’s Big Tech crackdown / Bloomberg (porous paywall)

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• The scramble for vaccines
  Coronavirus vaccine unproven? No problem in China / NYT (porous paywall)
  “The overwhelming demand has inspired a cottage industry of scalpers — called ‘yellow cows’ in China, the people who usually score the newest iPhones or hot railway tickets — charging as much as $1,500 for an appointment.”
  West China hospital’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate enters mid-stage human trial / Reuters
  Brazil to receive first doses of China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, says Butantan Institute / Reuters
• Scrutiny of meat packaging: COVID caution or trade restriction?
  China’s irritated trade partners push back on coronavirus food tests / Reuters
  ‘Share the results’: China faces backlash for unproven COVID-19 tests on food imports / ABC (Australia)
• Lunar exploration
  China gets rocket ready to launch ambitious mission to the moon / SCMP (porous paywall)

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Continued production and export of fentanyl, despite crackdown
  Inside China’s online fentanyl chemical networks helping fuel the opioid crisis / NPR
  “Despite the drop in fentanyl shipments from China, nimble Chinese vendors have developed new distribution strategies by producing and selling the precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl.”
• No one actually watches Chinese state TV in Africa
  It’s long been suspected that few people in Africa actually consume Chinese media, now there’s research to prove it / China-Africa Project (paywall)
• Zambia debt default
  Africa’s first pandemic default tests new effort to ease debt from China / WSJ (paywall)
  “The government hasn’t said how much exactly it owes to Chinese lenders as a whole. Johns Hopkins University’s China-Africa Research Initiative estimates that the country has signed some $9.7 billion in loans from China, although not all of that money has been drawn.”
  Bondholders demand information on Zambia’s Chinese debt following default / Bloomberg via Caixin
• The grim grind in Hong Kong after the national security law
  Senior Chinese official says authorities working on more Hong Kong reforms, including judiciary / Reuters
  Chinese official signals further targeting of Hong Kong ‘dissidents’ / Nikkei Asia (porous paywall)
  Hong Kong pro-gov’t groups say over 2 million signed petition supporting ousting of pro-democracy lawmakers / HKFP
  Senior Beijing official says only patriots should rule Hong Kong, ‘dissidents’ must be ousted / HKFP
  Hong Kong mogul Jimmy Lai: ‘At least we fought, we showed our dignity’ / FT (paywall)
• Biden talks trade
  Biden says U.S., allies need to set global trade rules to counter China’s influence / Reuters
  “U.S. President-elect Joe Biden said on Monday the United States needed to negotiate with allies to set global trading rules to counter China’s growing influence but declined to say whether he would join a new China-backed Asian trade pact signed on Sunday.”
• Trump administration plans more China moves
  The State Department to release Kennan-style paper on China / Axios
  Trump supporter hired for Commerce Department post, to push hardline China policies until January: sources / Reuters
• Flexing in the East and South China seas
  U.S. bombers enter Chinese air defense zone as Beijing’s navy mounts massive exercises / SCMP (porous paywall)
• Deurbanization
  China urges new era of mass migration — back to the countryside / WSJ (paywall)
  “In antipoverty push, President Xi wants to repopulate rural towns with entrepreneurs and consumers.”
• Censorship of TV show for depiction of war being “a departure from historical reality”
  Chinese war drama taken offline over fancy home, fancy hairstyles / Sixth Tone
• Taiwan-directed propaganda
  Beijing prepares blacklist to target ‘diehard Taiwan separatists’ / SCMP (porous paywall)

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• The video art of Miáo Jīng 苗晶 and Liú Chàng 刘唱
  Hibanana Studio / Neocha
• Enforcement of sex work prohibition in Hunan
  Soliciting sex in Hunan? Police might tell everyone you know / Sixth Tone
• Backlash to Yunnan county’s dog-walking ban
  Chinese county reconsiders threat to ban dog walking after backlash / Guardian
• Shanghai Fashion Week
  Meet the designer whose upcycled garments dazzled Shanghai Fashion Week / Radii China