Links for Monday, November 30, 2020

WORTH THINKING ABOUT

Pieces of news or analysis that caught our eye:

More muddying on COVID origins: In addition to two top Chinese scientists recently casting doubt that COVID-19 originated in China, and the People’s Daily posting on Facebook, more emphatically, that the virus “did not start in central China’s Wuhan,” the Guardian reports:

Chinese scientists have even submitted a paper for publication to the Lancet — although it has not yet been peer-reviewed — that claims “Wuhan is not the place where human-to-human Sars-CoV-2 transmission first happened,” suggesting instead that the first case may have been in the “Indian subcontinent.”

“Origin tracing is an ongoing process that may involve multiple countries and areas,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Huà Chūnyíng 华春莹 said today (English, Chinese), adding, “As I also stressed, for many times we’ve read and heard news worldwide on the dates and locations of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. It shows the virus broke out at multiple locations worldwide” (病毒是在全球范围内多点、多地暴发 bìngdú shì zài quánqiú fànwéi nèi duō diǎn, duō dì bàofā).

Fact check: The reports do not show that.

• “I think it’s highly speculative for us to say that the disease did not emerge in China,” Michael Ryan, WHO Executive Director of Health Emergencies, said last week.
• “Yuen Kwok-yung, chair of infectious disease at the Department of Microbiology of the University of Hong Kong, told a forum on November 20 that without sufficient evidence, research suggesting that the COVID-19 pandemic originated in Italy was inconclusive,” Caixin reports.

MORE NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Alarm raised over property market risks
  China banking regulator says property market is biggest ‘grey rhino’ / Reuters
  “China’s property market is the biggest ‘grey rhino’ — a very obvious yet ignored threat — in terms of financial risks, given it is so deeply intertwined with the financial industry, the head of the country’s banking regulator said.”
  In 2017, Chinese officials used the term “grey rhino” to describe companies that had gone on ostentatious and often wasteful overseas acquisition sprees, like Wanda, Anbang, Fosun International, and HNA.
• Big tech crackdown: Tencent told to “rectify” data privacy violations
  Regulator singles out Tencent in diatribe on tech sector’s data privacy failings / Caixin (paywall)
  “Lǔ Chūncóng 鲁春丛, deputy director of the MIIT’s Information and Communication Administration…singled out Tencent for criticism, saying, ‘Tencent’s vice president is here today. I hope you will intensify your efforts to rectify the situation, and that it will not be repeated and will finally be resolved. I hope (Tencent) will take this as an opportunity to have an internal discussion.’”
• Outbound investment trial programs to expand to Hainan and Chongqing
  China is about to expand pilot programs for outbound investment / Caixin (paywall)
  “China will ‘in the near future’ expand the scale of two pilot programs that allow domestic investors to buy assets overseas — the Qualified Domestic Limited Partner (QDLP) and the Qualified Domestic Investment Enterprise (QDIE) programs — an official at the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said Sunday.”
• Manufacturing soars in November
  China’s factory activity expands at fastest pace in over three years / Reuters
• Steel industry consolidation and modernization
  China steelmaker Jiangsu Shagang plans $2.25 billion Henan Province consolidation drive / Reuters
• Britain sets September 2021 deadline for Huawei purchase ban
  UK to ban new Huawei gear installations after Sept / AP
• Chipmaking challenges
  Beijing-backed Tsinghua Unigroup’s chip projects hit by delays / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
• Royole Corp. chooses Shanghai STAR over Nasdaq
  China display maker ditches U.S. to seek $1.8 billion local IPO / Bloomberg (porous paywall)

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Waste reduction goals, and the obstacles to meeting them
  China to make foreign garbage ban total / Sixth Tone
  China to force firms to report use of plastic in new recycling push / Reuters
  Beijing’s biodegradable plastic push hit by high costs, capacity crunch / Caixin (paywall)
  “The country’s standards for biodegradables have not been updated in 15 years and include materials that are not widely used or no longer meet internationally accepted definitions… Additionally, China has no comprehensive system for recycling biodegradable plastics and lacks personnel who can distinguish them from traditional ones.”
• Homegrown nuclear reactor begins operations
  China’s first Hualong One nuclear reactor starts operations / Reuters
  China’s homegrown third-generation nuclear reactor is now online / Sixth Tone
• Hong Kong COVID wave
  Hong Kong closes schools for December as COVID-19 surges / Caixin (paywall)
  “City recorded 115 new cases on Sunday, 109 of which were locally transmitted, the highest one-day increase on record.”
  Hong Kong tightens COVID-19 rules — group gatherings limited to 2, eateries to close 10 p.m., new hotline for rule-breakers / HKFP
• COVID scare in Chongqing
  Southwest China city goes on high alert after Korean tests positive for COVID-19 / Caixin (paywall)
  “Chongqing has been taking emergency measures since a South Korean engineer who had been working in the city tested positive for COVID-19 upon his return home… The company where the engineer worked has been closed and sealed off, and all staff have been subject to isolation measures and given nucleic acid tests. A local hotel where the engineer stayed has also been closed.”

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Beijing retaliates against U.S. sanctions over Hong Kong
  Beijing sanctions U.S. NGO personnel over ‘egregious interference’ in Hong Kong / Caixin (paywall)
  “The four individuals from the U.S. side include John Knaus, senior Asia director at the National Endowment for Democracy, Manpreet Anand, regional director for Asian-Pacific programs at the National Democratic Institute (NDI), and two officials at the NDI’s Hong Kong office.”
• Beijing says that Party members are harassed in U.S.
  China slams U.S. harassment of CPC members / Xinhua
  Foreign Ministry “Spokesperson Huà Chūnyíng 华春莹 told a press briefing that for some time, U.S. law enforcement officers have repeatedly conducted spot checks targeting the personnel of Chinese shipping companies, enquired about and checked the crew members of Chinese flights to the United States, and screened CPC members.”
• Xi to visit South Korea
  South Korea, China agree on early Xi visit, North Korea talks / Reuters
• India-China (and Bhutan) border tensions
  Beijing takes its South China Sea strategy to the Himalayas / NYT (porous paywall)
  “China built a village in territory also claimed by the kingdom of Bhutan, echoing its aggressive tactics at the border with India and in places much farther away.”
  Tibet hydropower plans will boost international cooperation, says Chinese state company boss despite risk of Indian backlash / SCMP
  China to build major dam on Brahmaputra that could impact India: Report / NDTV
  China’s defense chief pledges military support for Nepal amid border disputes with India / SCMP
• Venezuela-China trade continues despite U.S. sanctions
  Venezuela resumes direct oil shipments to China despite U.S. sanctions / Reuters
  “Venezuela has resumed direct shipments of oil to China after U.S. sanctions sent the trade underground for more than a year, according to Refinitiv Eikon vessel-tracking data and internal documents from state company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).”
  U.S. blacklists Chinese defense firm for sales to Venezuela / WSJ (paywall)
• Hong Kong in a new era
  Hong Kong’s courts, still independent, face new threats from China / NYT (porous paywall)
  AP Interview: HK lawmaker says democracy fight needs rethink / AP
  ‘Piles of cash at home’: Hong Kong leader says U.S. sanctions mean she has no bank account / Guardian

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Kvetching over kimchi
  Kimchi ferments cultural feud between South Korea and China / BBC
  “South Korea has rebuffed China after false reports that it had won global certification for its production of kimchi — a hallowed dish for Koreans. Last week global industry standards body ISO posted new regulations for the making of pào cài 泡菜, a type of Chinese salted fermented vegetables. Some Chinese media crowed that it affected kimchi, prompting a clarification from South Korea.”
• Thanksgiving controversy at the Harbin Institute of Technology
  Should Chinese school employees be punished for celebrating Thanksgiving? / Caixin
  “A student at Harbin Institute of Technology objected to a dorm manager distributing chocolates on Thanksgiving, saying that the school does not allow the celebration of Western holidays and threatening to report her to the school officials.”
  Uproar over Thanksgiving candies as Chinese university says it does not promote ‘Western holidays with religious connotations’ / CNN
• From the NBA to China to the cannabis industry
  Wilson Chandler left the NBA for inner peace in China / New York Daily News
  “Wilson Chandler…who spent last season with the Nets, signed with the Zhejiang Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association this offseason.” He says he went to China because he “needed a change,” and “being here makes you appreciate things.” What’s next? He says, “Probably my biggest thing outside of basketball: cannabis, so it’s probably going to be something with that.”
• James Wu obituary
  Hong Kong restaurant legend James Wu dies at 98 / Caixin (paywall)
  James Wu (伍沾德 Wǔ Zhāndé) “and his brother set up the Maxim’s empire with a French bistro in 1956, borne of frustration at discrimination they encountered at Western-owned establishments.”