Links for Monday, December 14, 2020

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• “China’s LVMH” on the rocks?
  Chinese fashion group that controls Lycra maker defaults on $153 million bond / FT (paywall)
  In August: ‘China’s LVMH’ Shandong Ruyi resists Lycra sale in favour of IPO amid debt crisis: sources / Reuters
• Worth more than Matel and Hasbro?
  Chinese toy maker Pop Mart surges nearly 80% in Hong Kong debut / Reuters
• Corruption at the credit raters
  China to prosecute rating agency manager over ‘massive’ bribes / FT (paywall)
  “The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced on Monday that Jīn Yǒngshòu 金永授, former general manager of Golden Credit Rating, would be prosecuted for allegedly taking bribes from issuers covered by the agency and helping numerous companies improve their credit ratings.”
• China Merchants Bank and JD Digits get banking license
  After four-year hiatus, China hands out another independent direct banking license / Caixin (paywall)
• U.S.-listed Xpeng, Nio, and Li Auto power ahead
  Chinese EV startups in fundraising frenzy on bullish sentiment / Caixin Global
  Busy year ahead for Chinese Tesla challengers Nio, Xpeng, as industry body forecasts 40 per cent rise in deliveries / SCMP
• Coal price control
  China attempts to cap soaring coal prices as imports tumble / Caixin (paywall)
  “NDRC directs top power utilities to put a 640 yuan [$98] per ton ceiling on prices as restrictions on Australian shipments and lagging Mongolian supply drive prices higher.”
• Delistings in the U.S.
  Nasdaq to remove four Chinese companies’ shares from indexes after U.S. order / Reuters
  “The securities, which are not traded on the Nasdaq exchange, will be removed from the indexes on December 21. They include China Communications Construction Co, China Railway Construction Corp, CRRC Corp and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, Nasdaq said in a statement.”
  China urges U.S. to stop abusing state power to crack down on foreign firms / Reuters
  Investors swap China holdings from Wall Street to Hong Kong as delisting threat brews / Reuters
  In November: Limited impact seen from Trump investment ban on military-linked Chinese firms / Reuters

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Vaccine approvals and distribution
  Bahrain approves China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  China’s Sinopharm COVID vaccine: How effective is it and where will it be rolled out? / Guardian
  “In Bahrain the vaccine is now available to frontline healthcare workers after 7,700 people participated in clinical trials, and Egypt received its first shipment of a Chinese coronavirus vaccine on Thursday. Morocco is also planning to rely on the Sinopharm jab to meet its ambitious aim to vaccinate 80% of its adults.”
  Fosun to import 7.2 million doses of BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine / Caixin (paywall)
  After U.S., when will Asia get COVID-19 vaccines? 5 things to know / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
  China’s vaccine gambit / Science
  Chinese CoronaVac vaccine in demand across Latin America / Sydney Morning Herald
  Hong Kong to receive COVID-19 vaccine from China’s Sinovac in January, Pfizer version to follow / HKFP
• A “big disease-control bureau” to be established
  China plans new disease control agency in COVID-19 aftermath / Caixin (paywall)
  “The new disease control agency may combine the departments of the National Health Commission (NHC) responsible for public health and emergency responses with the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), the country’s main protector of public health and safety.”
• COVID contact tracing in Hainan
  Chinese tourists quarantined after two visitors to Hainan found to be close contacts of COVID-19 carrier / SCMP
• Carbon intensity reduction goal set
  China, in nudge to U.S., makes a new promise to tackle global warming / NYT (porous paywall)
  “Speaking at an online summit on the fifth anniversary of the Paris climate agreement, Xi Jinping said that China would reduce its carbon intensity by over 65 percent by 2030.”

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Updates on newest media crackdown
  China confirms detention of Bloomberg news assistant / AP
  China warns of interference over Bloomberg journalist arrest / BBC
  EU calls on China to allow Bloomberg news staffer legal access / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai denied bail as Pompeo tweets support / AP
  Previously on The China Project: Bloomberg News staffer detained, Jimmy Lai charged on vague national security grounds as Beijing stifles news media.
• Australia-China relations crisis
  China’s The Global Times appears to confirm a ban on Australian coal imports amid perilous trade tensions / Australian ABC
  “Nationalistic state-owned tabloid The Global Times reports that China’s top economic planner has approved power plants to import coal without clearance restrictions from several countries ‘except for Australia’… Australia’s Trade Minister Simon Birmingham has called on Chinese authorities to ‘rule out’ the Global Times report.”
  China formalizes cut to Australian coal imports, state media reports / Guardian
  Note: The original Global Times report, titled “China extends full open gesture to imported coal except for Australia,” appears to be offline. A web archive of the page can be viewed here.
• Confidence in the CCP
  China’s combative nationalists see a world turning their way / NYT (porous paywall)
  “China’s authoritarian system, proponents say, is not just different from the West’s democracies, it is also proving itself superior. It is a long-running theme, but China’s success against the pandemic has given it a sharp boost.”
• Can Biden be more persuasive than Trump in Latin America?
  In Latin America, a Biden White House faces a rising China / Reuters
  “Donald Trump was clear with Latin America during his four-year administration: don’t do business with China. The message failed to hit home.”
  Read more on The China Project: Amid U.S.-China conflict, can Latin America find its way?
• Defense bill drama in Washington
  Trump raises China concerns as reason to veto defense bill / AP
  “‘The biggest winner of our new defense bill is China! I will veto!’ Trump said in a new tweet. The White House did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on Trump’s specific concerns about China.”
• Marking the Nanjing massacre anniversary
  China looks forward on anniversary of 1937 Nanjing massacre / AP
  China and Russia make a show of unity on Nanjing anniversary / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
• Nuclear arms
  Report estimates Chinese nuclear stockpile at 350 warheads / Defense News
• Uyghurs and Xinjiang
  Australian Uyghur man reunited with wife and son who had been under house arrest in China since 2017 / Guardian
  How the CCP took over the most sacred of Uyghur rituals / ChinaFile
  ICC asks for more evidence on Uyghur genocide claims / Guardian
• Partial CCP membership list leaked
  Chinese Communist Party database leak reveals infiltration into Western companies / News.com.au
  “The Australian newspaper has obtained the leaked database of almost two million CCP members – including their party position, birthdate, national ID number and ethnicity – and 79,000 branches, many of them inside companies, universities and even government agencies.
  Among the companies identified as having CCP members in their employ are manufacturers like Boeing and Volkswagen, drug giants Pfizer and AstraZeneca, and financial institutions including ANZ and HSBC, according to the reports.”
• Hong Kong
  UK government ‘has underestimated takeup for Hong Kong resettlement scheme’ / Guardian
  Donations to Hong Kong police welfare fund soar 26-fold to almost HK$180m during year of protest & unrest / HKFP
  If HK civil servants don’t follow this rule, they will be dismissed or ordered to retire early / Global Times
• CCP international influence ops
  How China’s Communist Party trains foreign politicians / Economist (porous paywall)
  Summarized by Economist correspondent Gady Epstein on Twitter: “Exporting Xi Jinping thought: I wrote about the little-understood International Department of the CCP, which cultivates relationships with high-ranking and up-and-coming stars in political parties around the world.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Employer discrimination against pregnant women
  Pregnancy discrimination trial sparks online furor / Sixth Tone
  “In a rare move, a woman has taken local authorities to court, claiming she was denied a job offer because she was pregnant.”
• Wuhan back to something close to normal
  Winter no barrier to Wuhan’s river swimmers after coronavirus lockdown / SCMP
  Wuhan: From lockdown to the new normal — in pictures / Guardian
• The urban camouflage photography of Beijing-based artist Liú Bólín 刘勃麟
  Vanishing act / Neocha
• China’s board game boom
  All work, more play: Why young Chinese are embracing tabletop games / Sixth Tone
  Liu Tingting, a professor at Jinan University in Guangzhou, writes, “I’ve also come to believe that Chinese yuppies’ newfound infatuation for board gaming is inseparable from their possibly hopeless desire to escape their tedious and oppressive professional lives.”