Links for Wednesday, December 9, 2020

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• A vaccine and drug deal gone wrong  
  Deal or no deal, aborted sale wipes $2 billion from drug company’s market value / Caixin (paywall)

A profitable Chinese drug company that made a baffling decision to sell its controlling stake in a promising vaccine-maker for a steal — then aborted the plan after investor pressure — has seen its share price plunge by one-fifth this week, wiping off more than 14.1 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) in value…

The decision to abort the sale came after a heated investor call Saturday, a recording of which has been obtained by Caixin, in which furious investors asked whether company chiefs had sought to “tunnel” (transfer) its assets for personal gain…

The saga started to unfold on Friday when Walvax Biotechnology Co. Ltd. announced it was going to sell more than half of its stake in Shanghai Zerun Biotechnology Co. Ltd., the vaccine-maker whose HPV vaccine was expected to soon be approved by the Chinese medical regulator, which accepted it for review mid-year.

• China, “an aerospace minor leaguer”  
  China’s stalled aircraft dreams / CSIS
  “China may be on a path to becoming a high-tech superpower in many sectors, but commercial aircraft is not one of them.”
• Deflation and household debt
  China reports first consumer deflation in 11 years / Caixin (paywall)
  “The main reason for November’s deflation (link in Chinese) was the 2% year-on-year drop in food prices, a reversal from October’s 2.2% growth… China’s economy is not experiencing real deflation, as a high comparison base of pork prices last year makes the latest CPI decline less meaningful.”
  China’s factory prices fall more slowly in November, food weighs on consumer prices / Reuters
  Chinese household debt surges through the pandemic / WSJ (paywall)
  “The continued rise of real-estate investment left China with the largest increase in global household debt in the first half of the year.”
• Artificial meat
  Nestle launches plant-based Harvest Gourmet brand in China / Reuters
• A lot of money in pigs
  Flush with cash, Chinese hog producer builds world’s largest pig farm / Reuters
  Thailand’s wealthiest family to make play for Chinese pork with Shanghai IPO / Caixin
• U.S. agricultural products still in demand
  Soy-hungry China gets early start buying America’s 2021 crop / Caixin
  China-U.S. farm ties are stronger than ever despite trade war / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• Under-the-radar China-owned company
  Robinhood is losing thousands of day traders to China-owned Webull / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• A frenzy of fundraising
  EV Maker XPeng to charge up cash pile with $2.2 billion fundraising / Caixin
  Chinese financial information service provider Snowball nets $120 million from Orchid Asia / Caixin
  Chinese state-backed AI unicorn CloudWalk files for $573M STAR market IPO / Caixin
• State media promotes South African wine as Australian exports suffer tariffs
  S. Africa wine industry to increase market share in China / CGTN
• Blocked acquisition in Germany 
  Germany blocks Chinese takeover of satellite firm over national security concerns / SCMP 

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Digital generation gap and COVID-19
  China’s digital response to COVID-19 hits a glitch — seniors don’t understand it / WSJ (paywall)
  Earlier on The China Project: China launches initiative to tackle senior tech gap as everything moves digital.
• China to continue manipulating the weather
  China to forge ahead with weather modification service / Gov.cn
  “The State Council issued a circular [in Chinese] laying out measures for the quality development of weather modification,” calling for China to have “a developed weather modification system by 2025,” including large-scale manipulation of rain, snow, and hail.
• COVID vaccines
  China’s COVID vaccine from Sinopharm is 86% effective, UAE says / CNBC
• COVID health app data leaks
  Police begin investigation in wake of COVID-19 patient privacy leak / Xinhua
• Antibiotics overuse on farms
  Antibiotics created superbug at poultry farms in China, study finds / SCMP (porous paywall)
  “Almost every strain of common bacteria E coli found by scientists had become resistant to multiple drugs.”

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Sketchy goings-on in Hong Kong and Macao
  Hong Kong businessman and former Birmingham City Football Club chief Carson Yeung injured in hotel attack / SCMP (porous paywall)
  “Police are searching for two men who attacked Hong Kong businessman and former Birmingham City Football Club boss Carson Yeung [楊家誠 Yáng Jiāchéng Joeng4 Gaa1 Sing4] in a Hong Kong hotel after an argument pertaining to investment matters.”
  WSJ reporter Kate O’Keeffe on Twitter: “Today, on International Anti-Corruption Day, the U.S. sanctioned legendary Macau casino figure ‘Broken Tooth’ for his role in promoting China’s Belt and Road Initiative, another Xi Jinping signature project. Life comes at you fast!”
  Macao luxury hotel’s investors fold as bold bet goes sour / Nikkei (porous paywall)

[Stephen Hung 洪永時 Hóng Yǒngshí Hung4 Wing5 Si4] the flamboyant former investment banker persuaded a Canadian teachers’ pension fund and other investors to back a bold $1.4 billion vision for Macao: the world’s most luxurious hotel.

Hung pitched the Louis XIII as a vision of ostentatious French royal splendor where free-spending Chinese tycoons would wager and spend millions without a care, just down the road from Macao’s sprawling gaming resorts.

But on Friday, remaining investors will gather in Hong Kong to debate rival exit plans from what has turned into a spectacularly bad bet. The hotel, now just known as The 13, opened two years late and without a casino.

• Switzerland let Chinese State Security agents run loose — report  
  Details revealed of secret deal that gave Chinese spies free rein in Switzerland / Guardian
  “Agents traveled from China at Swiss taxpayers’ expense to interview deportation targets.”
  Lies and spies — Switzerland’s secret deal with Chinese police / Safeguard Defenders  
• Will Trump sign Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act?
  Threat to remove Chinese firms from Wall Street is now on Trump’s desk / CNN
  No new info on Trump’s intentions.
  Context on The China Project: Trump expected to sign bill that could end in delisting of Alibaba and others.
• Pompeo’s latest China speech
  Pompeo says many U.S. colleges are ‘bought by Beijing’ funding / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “Secretary of State Michael Pompeo accused U.S. universities of letting China steal American science and technology and stifle criticism in return for funding from Beijing.”
  Eric Fish on Twitter: “In his Georgia speech, Secretary of State Pompeo falsely suggests the CCP ‘sends 400,000 students a year to the United States.’ The vast majority of those students send themselves with no government backing or funding.”
• The two detained Canadian Michaels
  Kovrig, Spavor are ‘inspiring’ in Chinese prison, says Canada’s envoy / CP24
• Tensions are not subsiding between India, Pakistan, and China
  China says working with India for further easing of border tensions / The Tribune India
  Post-Doklam, China developing military camps in depth areas along LAC / Times of India
  China and Pakistan ink military MOU to counter U.S.-India pact / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
• Australia’s ongoing China troubles
  Australia accuses China of breaching free trade deal by restricting imports / Guardian
• Singapore and Beijing signal stability
  Singapore and China ink landmark number of agreements as countries mark 30 years of diplomatic ties / CNA
• Hong Kong freedoms and the UN
  UN rights chief warns Hong Kong national security law having ‘chilling effect’ on basic freedoms / SCMP

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Sport and the nanny state
  Women’s soccer team disqualified from match over dyed hair / Sixth Tone  
  A football game was abandoned in China because players broke rules forbidding dyed hair / CNN
• Transgender life in China
  China’s transgender people too scared to come out like Elliot Page – ‘You become a freak’ / SCMP (porous paywall)

• Many applauded Page’s courage after the Canadian actor came out as trans in December, but for China’s transgenders the reaction is usually much more hostile.
• Many suffer domestic violence, bullying, job discrimination and ‘conversion therapy,’ but NGOs and activists are pushing back one small step at a time.

• Pandas to say bye-bye to Washington in 2023
  National Zoo’s giant pandas will head to China in three years / Washington Post
• Police are badly trained to respond to emergency calls 
  After Anhui girl’s drowning, calls for police to try harder / Sixth Tone