Links for Thursday, December 10, 2020

MORE NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Apple and labor laws
  Apple turned blind eye to supplier breaches of Chinese labor laws / The Information 
  “In 2014, Apple executives became alarmed when China enacted a new labor law meant to protect workers’ rights. The law required that no more than 10% of a factory’s workforce be temporary workers. Typically these employees have fewer benefits and legal protections than permanent ones, but Apple’s suppliers increasingly relied on them in China’s tightening labor market.”
• Macro bulls
  China to overtake U.S. economy by 2028-29 in COVID’s wake: JCER / Nikkei Asia (porous paywall)  
  Fitch upgrades its China growth forecast for 2021 / CNBC
• “Fraud tech company”?
  China video giant Joyy dives after Muddy Waters calls it a fraud / Bloomberg via Caixin
• Chinese government won’t bail out big firms
  A $2.5 billion default shows China’s lack of mercy for firms / Bloomberg
  “China will almost certainly let a high-flying chipmaker default on $2.5 billion worth of dollar debt, the strongest signal yet that foreign investors shouldn’t count on Beijing to bail them out.”  
• U.S. agriculture in demand
  China’s soybean deal signals early jump into 2021 U.S. market / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• Shipping container shortage
  China’s exports pinched by global run on shipping containers / Reuters
• Bad sign for EU-China deal
  Scrapped China talks cast shadow over planned EU investment deal / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “Europe’s top business association [BusinessEurope] pulled out of a meeting with a Beijing think tank [affiliated with the National Development and Reform Commission] after the Chinese side opposed the participation of two perceived China critics.”
  China-Europe trade forum canceled after China sought to bar critics / WSJ (paywall)

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Paris be damned
  China’s foreign coal push risks global climate goals / AFP via CNA 
  Mike Forsythe on Twitter: “This is insanity. China’s existing coal-fired plants run well below capacity. And they’re building more, including this monster.”
  China to sell 80 million internal combustion engines a year in next five years / Reuters 

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• No French boycott of Olympics?
  Take-aways from Xi-Macron phone call / Pekingnology
  “Beijing’s readout from the Wednesday phone call between Presidents Xi and Macron is unusually detailed; the two sides reached a consensus on increasing exchanges via Olympics, so no boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 from Paris.”
• China retaliates against U.S. sanctions on government officials
  China revokes visa exemptions for U.S. diplomat passport holders visiting Hong Kong, Macau / Reuters
  China strikes back at U.S. diplomats after fresh national security law sanctions / SCMP (porous paywall)
• Biden nominates trade rep with China experience
  China’s task ‘may be complicated’ if Katherine Tai lands top US trade job / SCMP
  Biden picks longtime China critic Katherine Tai as top U.S. trade official / CNBC
• Forced Uyghur labor
  China denies the use of forced labor in this industrial park, but won’t let reporters visit. The Globe went anyway / Globe and Mail
  “Shrouded in secrecy, the prison-like Lop County Hair Product Industrial Park complex is using the region’s Muslim minority as an industrial work force and allegedly committing human-rights abuses.”
  China is doubling down in Xinjiang / Economist (porous paywall)
  “Our columnist visits factories accused of using forced labor.”
• Trains to Tibet and Xinjiang
  New railway links cities in Qinghai and Xinjiang
  “The 1,206 km Golmud-Korla railway, linking the city of Golmud in Qinghai and the city of Korla in Xinjiang… The network will link Xinjiang, Qinghai and…Tibet.”
• Xi’s the boss of the private sector
  China’s Xi ramps up control of private sector. ‘We have no choice but to follow the Party.’ / WSJ (paywall)
  “Xí Jìnpíng 习近平, long distrustful of the private sector, is moving assertively to bring it to heel… The government is installing more Communist Party officials inside private firms, starving some of credit and demanding executives tailor their businesses to achieve state goals.”
• Tightening media controls
  David Paulk on Twitter: “A sign of the times: In new recruits, the parent company of China Central Television, China National Radio, and China Radio International is looking for ideological correctness and adherence to socialist core values over anything actually related to journalism.”  
• Will Australia can Belt and Road deal?
  China’s Belt and Road plan faces fresh challenge from new Australian laws / SCMP (porous paywall)

“The cooperation between China and Victoria under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative is conducive to enhancing the well-being of the people on both sides,” [Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhào Lìjiān 赵立坚 said yesterday].

• No human rights for Human Rights Day today
  Chinese human rights lawyers grounded ahead of Human Rights Day / HKFP
• Propaganda, featuring a variety of worthies from Western media organizations
  Chinese and European media carry out multilateral cooperation to achieve win-win results / CGTN on YouTube

A statement on strengthening media cooperation was issued by China Media Group (CMG) and its European media partners, calling on the Chinese and European media to fulfill their responsibilities as public information disseminators and jointly help the international community to gather a strong force to overcome the pandemic.

• How can China get the youth to have babies?
  Editorial: China must raise youngsters’ receptiveness to having kids / YicaiChina
  “China recorded 14.65 million births last year in a 580,000 decrease from 2018.”
  See also on The China Project:
  • Anger flares anew as China moves closer to raising retirement age
  • Editor’s note for Monday, November 23, 2020: “The core of China’s aging problem is not the increase in the number of elderly people, but the absolute decrease in the number of the working-age population.”
• U.K. sanctions officials from Russia, Venezuela, Gambia, and Pakistan, but not China
  Chinese officials linked to Hong Kong arrests escape UK sanctions / Guardian

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Booming nightlife  
  The pandemic has changed China’s nightclubs / Economist (porous paywall)
  “The pandemic has…given local DJs a chance to shine [with foreign acts unable to get into the country]. A second effect of the pandemic has been to help speed up the spread of China’s club culture beyond its traditional bases in Beijing, Shanghai and the southwestern city of Chengdu.”
• Architecture and the Chinese government
  Is the new Chinese embassy Chipperfield’s most controversial job? / Architect’s Journal

David Chipperfield is risking his reputation by working directly for China’s ‘authoritarian’ regime on a new embassy in London, say critics

After all, perceptions of China have changed a lot in the past few years.

• Adult diapers for flight crew?
  China flight attendants advised to wear diapers for COVID protection / CNN
  In November, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) released guidelines (in Chinese) on “epidemic prevention and control for airlines.” One hygiene practice suggested is for crew to wear disposable diapers (一次性尿不湿 yícìxìng niàobùshī) so they don’t need to use the bathroom, which has “raised some eyebrows.”