Links for Monday, December 21, 2020

WORTH THINKING ABOUT

Pieces of news or analysis that caught our eye:

Jack Ma (马云 Mǎ Yún) was so desperate to prevent the suspension of Ant Group’s IPO that he “offered to hand over parts” of the fintech company to the Chinese government, the Wall Street Journal reports.

“You can take any of the platforms Ant has, as long as the country needs it,” Mr. Ma, China’s richest man, proposed at an unusual sit-down with regulators, the [people with knowledge of the matter] said.

The offer, not previously reported, appeared a mea culpa of sorts from Mr. Ma as he found himself face to face with officials from China’s central bank and agencies overseeing securities, banking and insurance. The Nov. 2 meeting took place a few days before Ant was supposed to go public, in what would have been the world’s biggest initial public offering.

Related, on The China Project: Ant Group IPO suspended after Jack Ma criticizes regulators; China fines three large internet companies for Anti-Monopoly Law violations.

MORE NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Online banking products get pulled
  Fintech giants follow Ant Group’s lead in halting bank deposit products / Caixin (paywall)
  “The financial services arms of tech giants Tencent Holdings Ltd., JD.com Inc., Baidu Inc., Didi Chuxing Technology Co. Ltd., Meituan, Xiaomi Corp., and Lufax Holding Ltd., which is backed by financial conglomerate Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd., have stopped offering products that allow consumers who use their online platforms to make deposits with brick-and-mortar lenders.”
  Last week, via Yicai: China’s Ant stops online bank deposits on alipay to conform with regulations.
• Electricity rationing connected to Australia import restrictions
  Citing coal shortages, China rations electricity for millions / NYT (porous paywall)
  ‘Politics come first’ as ban on Australian coal worsens China’s power cuts / FT (paywall)
  “In recent weeks, more than a dozen Chinese cities have imposed restrictions on electricity use as growing demand for energy owing to the country’s post-coronavirus economic recovery collides head on with a shortage of thermal coal.”
• Unspecified countermeasures threatened to U.S. tech sanctions
  China mulls retaliation after U.S. blacklists drone-maker DJI and others / Caixin (paywall)
  SMIC says US sanctions will hurt advanced-chip development / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
  Last week on The China Project: U.S. blacklists China’s top chipmaker and world’s biggest consumer drone company.
• Trump signs Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act
  Trump signs bill that could kick Chinese firms off U.S. stock exchanges / Reuters
  China criticizes US corporate auditing penalties / AP
  On The China Project earlier this month: Trump expected to sign bill that could end in delisting of Alibaba and others.
• Lifting foreign investment barriers for energy
  China to abolish access restrictions on foreign investment in energy sector – white paper / Reuters
  “China will fully lift access restrictions on foreign investment in coal, oil, gas, power generation, excluding nuclear, as well as the new energy businesses, according to a sector white paper released on Monday.”
• Energy development in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Shaanxi
  Energy China plans $3.6 billion investment on integrated energy project in Erdos / Reuters
  PetroChina strikes big gas find in China Xinjiang’s Junggar basin: state media / Reuters
  Japan to help build giant methane production plant in China / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
• Seeking food security through technology
  China signals GM, biotech push in key policy statement / Reuters
  “China will industrialize biotech breeding as part of a campaign to improve food security, top leaders said in a policy statement late on Friday, signaling Beijing could soon take a further step towards commercializing genetically modified (GM) crops.”
• Expensive Shenzhen housing
  Workers flocking to China’s Silicon Valley can’t afford to buy homes / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  The Shenzhen tech boom “has led to the highest property prices and lowest home ownership rates in China, a warning for the country’s other growing cities. The average two-bedroom unit now sells for about $900,000, in a city with per capita income of just $20,000.”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• COVID-19: Travel restrictions, vaccine news, WHO investigation
  Hong Kong bans flights from U.K. due to virus spike / Caixin
  China tightens COVID-19 testing rules for travelers from U.S. / Caixin
  China says will vaccinate ‘key groups’ over winter, spring / Reuters
  Coronavirus: China’s firms ‘set to export 400 million vaccine doses’ / SCMP
  Concern among Muslims over halal status of COVID-19 vaccine / AP
  “Pork-derived gelatin has been widely used as a stabilizer to ensure vaccines remain safe and effective during storage and transport.”
  WHO investigators heading to China in early January to probe virus / Reuters
• Carbon targets
  Senior economic advisor says next five-year plan should set carbon targets / Caixin
  “Liu Shijin, deputy director of economic affairs at the CPPCC, argues carbon intensity indicators should be regularly released.”

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Big data vs. bribery: The CIA vs. China’s MSS
  China used stolen data to expose CIA operatives in Africa and Europe / Foreign Policy (paywall)

Around 2013, U.S. intelligence began noticing an alarming pattern: Undercover CIA personnel, flying into countries in Africa and Europe for sensitive work, were being rapidly and successfully identified by Chinese intelligence, according to three former U.S. officials…

Over the course of their investigation into the CIA’s China-based agent network, Chinese officials learned that the agency was secretly paying the “promotion fees” — in other words, the bribes — regularly required to rise up within the Chinese bureaucracy…

• Beijing wants to “solve” the “social foundation” in Xinjiang
  China signals shift but no let-up in Xinjiang / AP
  An interview with the deputy director-general of the Xinjiang Communist Party publicity department.
  On The China Project in September: China’s Xinjiang policy is ‘completely correct,’ Xi Jinping says.
• Hong Kong news
  Hong Kong-based activists mostly silent after US Senator Ted Cruz blocks bill giving special refugee status to dissidents, citing spy threat from Beijing / SCMP
  “Despite its recent unanimous passage in the House of Representatives, Cruz sought to portray the bill as part of Democrats’ ‘partisan political agenda’ to ‘embrace open borders’ and make all immigration legal.”
  Hong Kong activist Nathan Law applies for asylum in Britain / Guardian
  Hong Kong’s highest court upholds ban on masks at protests / Washington Post
  “Hong Kong’s highest court ruled in favor of the government on Monday, upholding its use of a colonial-era law to unilaterally ban masks at the height of protests last year, reversing a lower court’s ruling.”
  A family’s wrenching decision to emigrate / Reuters
  Hongkongers in self-imposed exile announce plans for ‘shadow parliament’ / HKFP
  Hong Kong court rejects journalist association’s legal challenge against police ‘ill-treatment’ of press at protests / HKFP
• Reaction to Trump’s blame-shifting on Russian hack
  China criticizes Trump suggestion it is behind cyber spying / AP
  “Trump on Saturday scoffed at assertions by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other officials that the Kremlin was behind attempts to spy on federal agencies. Trump, without offering evidence, said ‘it may’ be China.”
• Where might Biden and Xi cooperate?
  Biden space advisers urge cooperation with China / Politico
  “Top advisers to Joe Biden have argued…that despite China’s pattern of stealing American technology and diverting it for military purposes, a limited space partnership between Washington and Beijing could reduce tensions and the likelihood of a destabilizing space race.”
  China sees 3 areas of cooperation with Biden: foreign minister / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
  “Wang Yi calls for joint action on COVID, economic recovery and climate change.”
• Maritime activity to China’s south and east
  China says aircraft carrier group on way to South China Sea for drills / Reuters
  China says it tailed U.S. warship in Taiwan Strait / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
  “America sending ‘flirtatious glances’ to supporters of Taiwan independence, Beijing claims.”
  Japan Cabinet OKs more defense funds amid potential threats / AP
• Detained Australian refuses to confess to espionage
  Yang Hengjun: Australian writer’s espionage trial in China delayed by three months / Reuters via the Guardian
  On The China Project in August 2019: Australian citizen charged with espionage in China.
• India-China tensions
  Dozens of Indians stranded in Chinese waters for months: Ministry / Al Jazeera
  An “expert said the workers could be stranded as part of Beijing’s ‘mild’ retaliation amid continuing tensions between the two Asian giants.”
  Take an objective view on Chinese-Pakistan air force drills, China tells India / Times of India
  Nepal falls into political turmoil. China and India are watching. / NYT (porous paywall)
  “The prime minister dissolved the lower house of Parliament, throwing into doubt the political fortunes of the Himalayan country, which has long swung between Beijing and New Delhi.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Mental health during COVID
  China long avoided talking about mental health. Then COVID hit. / NYT (porous paywall)
  “At the height of China’s outbreak, more than a third of people around the country experienced symptoms of depression, anxiety, insomnia or acute stress, according to a nationwide survey by a Shanghai university. An expert in Beijing recently warned that the effects could linger for 10 to 20 years.”
  Related, on The China Project: China’s mental health care is improving, but stigma and politics still get in the way.