Links for Wednesday, January 27, 2021

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Dangerous times if you’re exporting food to China
  Frozen fish pile up in China / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “Virus testing is causing hundreds of containers with fish cargo to be held up in the port of Dalian in China as local authorities test the fish before allowing them to clear customs.”

• Is Silicon Valley cheering on tech decoupling?
  Former Google CEO and others call for U.S.-China tech “bifurcation” / Axios
  A new set of proposals by a group of influential D.C. insiders and tech industry practitioners calling for a degree of “bifurcation” in the U.S. and Chinese tech sectors is circulating in the Biden administration.

• Will Huawei sell its premium smartphone brands?
  China’s Huawei in talks to sell premium smartphone brands P and Mate – sources / Reuters
  华为手机分拆？官方否认 / 21st Century Business Herald
  Huawei has denied the Reuters story above.

• Leader of China’s biggest policy bank fired
  Executive at China’s biggest policy bank fired on suspicion of corruption / Caixin (paywall)

• Luxury demand strong in Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Hangzhou
  Global luxury brands like Omega, De Beers eye China’s retail boom as wealth expands in lower tier cities / SCMP (porous paywall) 

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT: 

• Lockdown in Hong Kong
  COVID-19: Hong Kong imposes sudden neighborhood lockdown in Yau Ma Tei / Hong Kong Free Press
  “Hong Kong authorities sealed off a residential block in Yau Ma Tei between Pitt Street and Tung On Street on Tuesday evening to conduct COVID-19 tests. It is the second time such measures were imposed within a week in the district, although no notice was given during Tuesday’s operation.”

• COVID vaccines
  China’s Sinopharm, Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines assessed by WHO for emergency use / SCMP (porous paywall)
  “WHO reviews two Chinese vaccines for ‘emergency use listing’ status, which could expedite their approval by countries’ regulators. It has received trial data from the companies and a decision could be made by March at the earliest.”

• Biden’s biggest clean-energy partner: China
  Biden’s biggest clean-energy partner: China / Politico
  “The U.S. path to clean energy goes straight through China.”

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Carrie Lam set to stay in Hong Kong
  Xi praises Lam, boosts Hong Kong’s morale to deal with challenge / Global Times
  State media has blasted out (in Chinese here) Xí Jìnpíng’s 习近平 support for Hong Kong’s unpopular chief executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥 Lín Zhèng Yuè’é) after hearing her “annual duty report.” 
  The support for Lam sends another message: Beijing will stick to its hardline strategy for Hong Kong. 

• When the government wants to evict the rich
  Residents protest as China demolishes some of Beijing’s wealthy suburbs / NPR 

• U.S. strategy on Chinese tech and telcos still not clear
  Commerce nominee pledges tough China stance, but mum on Huawei blacklist / WSJ (paywall)  

• Extremist American group Daily Stormer uses Chinese internet-hosting services
  Why are Moscow and Beijing happy to host the U.S. far-right online? / Foreign Policy  

• U.S. targeting Chinese scientists
  A scientist is arrested, and academics push back / NYT (porous paywall)
  See also Margaret K. Lewis on The China Project: Gang Chen’s case should be the end of the DOJ’s ‘China Initiative.’

• Up-and-coming Chinese officials
  Eye on 2022 (Part 1): Rising stars in the provinces / MacroPolo 

• Philippines province cancels plans for $10 billion Chinese-built airport 
  Philippines cancels $10 billion airport plan with Chinese-led group / Reuters 

• Foreign NGO activity in China decreased
  A look back at foreign NGOs in China in 2020 / ChinaFile
  “What remains unknown is how much of the dip in activity is attributable to the pandemic and how much to an increasingly rancorous international environment, or to tightening political controls within the PRC itself.”

• Out of jail but still locked up
  Non-Release Release turns freedom in China into an illusion / Safeguard Defenders
  A report by activist group Safeguard Defenders on “what has become known as Non-Release Release…in which prisoners, once freed from jail or a detention center, are arbitrarily detained by the police at their home, at a hotel or in a secret location for weeks, months or even years.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Class divisions in urban China
  A Beijing couple tackles the wedge of class / Gushi newsletter 

The night I found out she was interested I couldn’t sleep the entire night. I gave serious thought to the matter of whether we were a good match. I was interested in her too, but first, we had to tackle a major issue — the fact that we grew up in vastly different circumstances.

She comes from a middle-class family in Beijing, whereas I’m from a village in a county classified by the central government as falling below the poverty line. That entails a massive difference in lifestyle. For example, she probably doesn’t pay much attention to price when she shops. She’ll just pay if she thinks it’s a decent product. Meanwhile, I have to mull things over. Is it too expensive? How long will it last?

• Racism in Hong Kong
  Some in Hong Kong’s S. Asian community report rise in discrimination after health official’s COVID-19 comments / HKFP 
• Divorce and the “cooling-off period” controversy
  Translation: “The first woman to die by the divorce ‘cooling-off period’” / CDT
  Previously on The China Project: Shanghai lawyer proposes cooling-off period for marriage. Most people seem to love the idea.
• Old people in parks
  My workout with Beijing’s geriatric gym rats / Sixth Tone
  A photographer “shares his fascination with the capital’s al-fresco park gyms, where the biggest lifters are often in their 70s.”