Editor’s note for Wednesday, November 18, 2020

My thoughts today:

Yesterday I mentioned the significant number of Chinese dissidents and activists who have become Trump supporters. In today’s New York Times, Ian Johnson looks at the same theme, in more detail: Why do Chinese liberals embrace American conservatives?

Today: Another sign of trouble for China’s courier companies. Five employees at YTO Express Group, “a major Chinese package delivery company leased their internal employee accounts to criminal groups, compromising more than 400,000 users’ personal information,” per Caixin.  

This news comes less than a month after couriers across the country stopped work in protest at poor conditions and withheld pay. It also just a week after China’s antitrust regulator issued draft rules (in Chinese) to stop anti-competitive practices in the internet sector, a move that will affect all the big ecommerce groups, which have deep ties to the delivery companies.  

Our word of the day is Whoever hung the bell on the tiger’s neck must untie it (解铃还须系铃人 jiě líng hái xū xì líng rén), meaning that those who have caused problems should be the ones to solve problems.

That was a message sent from China’s Foreign Ministry to Australia (see our top story today). The last time that phrase was used by a Chinese official, it was Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 back in 2014, telling American journalists that it was their own fault they were having visa difficulties in China.

Upcoming event: Tomorrow we’re hosting a free webinar with the CEO of Mitsubishi International Corporation, Jason Stevens, and the vice-chairman, Americas, of Standard Chartered, Jeremy Amias. A limited number of ACCESS members can also attend a closed-door networking session with either speaker later that day. Please email events@thechinaproject.com to receive the ACCESS promo code for the networking session and register for the free event here.

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief