Links for Monday, November 23, 2020

WORTH THINKING ABOUT

Pieces of news or analysis that caught our eye:

How complicated would CPTPP accession be for China? Caixin gathered a few comments from Chinese experts, who agreed that the challenges would be significant — accession to the trade bloc formerly known as TPP would have to be by unanimous agreement among signatory members, including Japan, Canada, and Australia — but not insurmountable:

Tu Xinquan, a professor of international trade at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing…said that the CPTPP maintains a high-level of market liberalization. For instance, more than 95% of trade in goods among the CPTPP member countries are free of tariffs, which could create major pressure on Beijing to lower tariffs on agricultural and automobile products.

He also said China’s service sector is less open compared to the current CPTPP member countries. But overall, China would face lesser difficulties in market access negotiations, he said.

However, CPTPP standards on state-owned enterprises and labour unions could be the most difficult for Beijing to negotiate. CPTPP forbids government agencies to intervene in a companies’ decision-making process, and also protects workers’ abilities to organize in unions for the purpose of collective bargaining.

But Zhang Chunlin, former director at the World Bank’s finance, competitiveness and innovation department, said in a commentary published by Caixin (link in Chinese) that as China’s state-owned companies were able to meet the relevant standards of the World Trade Organization (WTO) when the country joined 20 years ago, there’s no reason to believe that today’s SOEs could not deal with the challenges of meeting CPTPP criteria.

Potential vetoes from American allies could be the largest obstacle, Caixin writes: “Some trade experts believe that if bilateral relations between China and the U.S. do not improve, Washington could press its allies in the CPTPP to block China’s accession.”

Related The China Project coverage: China is ‘actively considering’ joining CPTPP, the trade deal that Trump rejected.

MORE NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Baidu fined for using NavInfo maps without permission; criticized for censorship
  Roads to nowhere cost Baidu $10 million in mapping dispute / Caixin (paywall)
  Baidu blocking Caixin’s criticism of search engines goes viral / Caixin
  Caixin’s article “described how some Chinese internet companies provide services that allow offshore Chinese gambling companies to launder money and transfer illegal assets,” and “sparked debate online when it was initially published, but only really went viral when it was removed from Baidu search results, and bloggers pointed out the search engine’s censorship of it.”
• Evergrande hopes property unit IPO can raise up to $2 billion
  Crisis-Struck Evergrande Looks to Unit’s Hong Kong IPO to Get Back on Its Feet / Caixin (paywall)
• Oil refining boom in China as U.S. shuts down plants
  China to take oil-refining crown held by U.S. since 19th century / Bloomberg via Caixin
  “China will dethrone the U.S. as early as next year, according to the International Energy Agency.”
  China issues final batch of refined fuel export quotas for 2020: sources / Reuters
• Moon mission to launch November 24
  China sets launch window for mission to moon / Reuters
  China to launch moon probe, seeking first lunar rock retrieval since 1970s / Reuters
• Regulation of booming livestreaming ecommerce
  China bans spending by teens in new curbs on livestreaming /  Nikkei (porous paywall)
• U.S. companies and Big Brother in China 
  Intel and Nvidia chips power a Chinese surveillance system / NYT (porous paywall)
• Is the government finally allowing state-owned companies to go bankrupt?
  How SOE default wave shows state bailouts are over / Caixin (paywall)
  “After Brilliance Auto and Yongcheng Coal defaults, bondholders find they can no longer count on an implied government debt guarantee.”
• The risks of a business model dependent on cheap Chinese stuff
  Wish IPO prospectus reveals heavy risks tied to etailer’s reliance on China / CNBC
  Most of the discount goods for sale on Wish, an online marketplace, come from China.  

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Mass testing after more COVID cases appear
  China tests millions after coronavirus flareups in 3 cities / AP
  “As temperatures drop, widescale measures are being enacted in Tianjin, Shanghai and Manzhouli.”
  China confirms two new COVID-19 cases linked to freight workers in Shanghai / Caixin (paywall)
  Panic grips Shanghai airport after employees are sealed in for coronavirus testing / Washington Post
  Shanghai COVID outbreak ‘traced to cargo from North America’ / Guardian
• Vaccine diplomacy: Indonesia eyes same Sinovac Biotech-made vaccine as Brazil
  Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccine may be available in Indonesia by January / Caixin (paywall)
• Hungary “in touch with all three Chinese companies working on a vaccine”
  Hungary could receive up to one million doses of Chinese coronavirus vaccine: foreign minister / Reuters
• Dozens of COVID cases in Hong Kong pop Singapore travel bubble
  Hong Kong, Singapore delay planned travel bubble as new cases surge / Bloomberg via Caixin
  “Hong Kong added 43 new coronavirus cases Saturday, the highest daily toll in three months, after the city imposed new social restrictions as it braced for an expected new wave.”
• Yangtze River fishing bans to be extended to tributaries from January 1
  China to extend fishing ban to Yangtze estuary in 2021 / Reuters

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Uyghurs, forced labor, Xinjiang, Islam in China
  Apple lobbies against Uyghur forced labor bill / Washington Post
  Uyghur scholar arrested in Saudi Arabia at risk of deportation to China / Middle East Eye
  Opinion: China disappeared my professor. It can’t silence his poetry. / NYT (porous paywall)
  Aksu internment camp was former hospital, raising fears Uyghur detainees are used in organ trade / Radio Free Asia
  China targets muslim scholars and writers with increasingly harsh restrictions / NPR
  China’s new campaign to make Muslims devoted to the state rather than Islam / LA Times
• Hong Kong after the national security law
  Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow jailed in Hong Kong / NYT (porous paywall)
  “Joshua Wong [黃之鋒 Huáng Zhīfēng Wong4 Zi1 Fung1], the Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner, pleaded guilty along with two other activists on Monday to unauthorized assembly charges over a 2019 protest, capping a month of arrests of activists, journalists and politicians in the city…They did not say why they had pleaded guilty rather than fight the charges.”
  Joshua Wong faces up to three years in jail over Hong Kong protest / FT (paywall)
  Families of detained Hong Kong dozen protest on island near Chinese prison / Reuters
  Hong Kong protester ‘Grandma Wong’ to be nominated for Nobel Peace Prize after Friday arrest / HKFP
  3 Hong Kong activists incl. Joshua Wong remanded in custody over 2019 demo, sentencing next Wed / HKFP
• Australia-China relations after Beijing’s list of 14 grievances
  Background on The China Project last week: The 14 sins of Australia: Beijing expands list of grievances and digs in for extended diplomatic dispute.
  Australian PM says misinterpretation of interests behind China tension / Reuters
  PM Scott Morrison tells business sector no compromise for ‘what we stand for’ / SCMP
  Ex-Australia foreign minister says Canberra must drop adversarial approach to fix ‘frozen’ relationship / SCMP
  Australia spends $500,000 to strengthen tech ties with Quad allies amid China tension / Guardian
  How 9News got the dossier at the heart of the latest diplomatic scuffle between Canberra and Beijing / 9News
• Xi proposes QR code health checks for international travel
  China’s Xi Jinping is pushing for a global Covid QR code. He may struggle to convince the world / CNN
  Full Text: Remarks by Chinese President Xi Jinping at 15th G20 Leaders’ Summit / Xinhua
  “China has proposed a global mechanism on the mutual recognition of health certificates based on nucleic acid test results in the form of internationally accepted QR codes. We hope more countries will join this mechanism.”
• Global debt relief
  Dissecting the Zambian debt crisis and what role China, private creditors played / China-Africa Project
  China claims it’s done more to relieve developing world debt than any other G20 member / China-Africa Project
  China suspends $2.1 billion in debt service for poor nations / SCMP
• Philippines balancing between U.S. and China
  U.S. provides missiles, renews pledge to defend Philippines / AP
  A COVID-battered Philippines might turn to China, rather than Biden’s U.S. / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• The Party will remain in control of the media
  Red convergence / China Media Project
  One of the key messages in Xu’s address to the conference was that the government “must resolutely prevent the weakening of the Party’s leadership in the name of [media] convergence…and must resolutely prevent the risk of capital controlling public opinion.”  

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Film: Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan
  Romantic comedy, veteran actress win big at Chinese-language ‘Oscars’ / Reuters
  Two Hong Kong political films win at Taiwan Golden Horse Awards / HKFP
• A “woman-focused” hotpot restaurant attracts controversy in Chengdu
  Should restaurants be free to pick and choose their customers? The strange case of ‘reverse sexism’ / Caixin
  Hot pot restaurant in hot water for refusing to serve male customers / Sixth Tone
• Baby panda in Washington, D.C.
  Baby panda at National Zoo is named Xiao Qi Ji / Washington Post
• American philanthropist and collector Stephan Loewentheil looks for Chinese host of photography archive
  Biggest photo archive of 19th century China needs a new custodian, says U.S. collector who amassed the 20,000-plus images / SCMP