Links for Monday, February 1, 2021

WORTH THINKING ABOUT

Pieces of news or analysis that caught our eye:

How much hukou reform will happen this year? Caixin reports that the government is preparing to introduce more reform to the household registration (户口 hùkǒu) system — the primary driver of urban/rural inequality — but that the largest cities will be exempt. 

The statement (link in Chinese), released by the State Council, China’s cabinet, and titled Action Plan for Building a High-Standard Market System, said without elaboration that pilot projects would be launched in metropolitan areas, or city clusters, to allow mutual recognition of accumulative residential durations.

Rather than having to meet different local requirements separately, individuals would have a unified residential record for permanent residential application after relocation…

However, more than a dozen megacities with a population of more than 5 million, such as Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing and Guangzhou, would not be included in the plan.

Details of the plan may be revealed next month, when the National People’s Congress (NPC) meets starting on March 5. 

MORE NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Slowest manufacturing growth in seven months
  China’s manufacturing recovery loses momentum, Caixin PMI shows / Caixin (paywall)
  “A number above 50 indicates an expansion in activity, while a reading below that signals a contraction. The January reading [of 51.5], while marking the ninth straight month of expansion, was the lowest in seven months and represented a further decline from November’s reading [of 54.9], which was the highest since late 2010.”

• Will the Biden administration roll back Trump actions against companies?
  In depth: Chinese firms take U.S. government to court to undo Trump-era bans / Caixin (paywall, or see Reuters summary)
  “Xiaomi joins Chinese peers including Huawei, WeChat and TikTok in filing lawsuits saying actions targeting them are illegal.”
  The China lobby: TikTok parent boosts K-street spending tenfold / Nikkei Asia (paywall)

• Silver rally led by global retail investors
  Buying into ‘poor man’s gold,’ Chinese investors jump on silver / Reuters
  “Chinese investors rushed into silver investments on Monday, pushing up Shanghai silver prices while boosting performances of related stocks and funds, matching calls by global retail investors to boost prices of the precious metal.”

• Building electric vehicle batteries in Germany
  Chinese battery producers plug into soaring German EV sales / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
  “Three manufacturers to invest $5.3bn in European factories.”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT: 

• The difficult task of reducing pollution
  China’s energy watchdog slammed for neglecting environment / Caixin (paywall, or see Sixth Tone summary)
  “Damning report from State Council inspectors accuse troubled agency of failing to prioritize low-carbon energy and being too lax on serious polluters.”
  Li Shuo on Twitter: “A SIGNIFICANT move that bears HUGE political implications for China’s envi governance, air pollution, & coal development. On Jan 29, the central environmental inspection group (CEIP) released findings on its inspection at the National Energy Administration (NEA). Thread.”
  New carbon trading rules take effect amid China’s efforts to go carbon-neutral / Xinhua
  China launches carbon emissions trading scheme / AFP via Channel NewsAsia

• Is BGI Group sharing genetic information with Chinese military?
  China gene firm providing worldwide COVID tests worked with Chinese military / Reuters
  “BGI Group, the world’s largest genomics company, has worked with China’s military on research that ranges from mass testing for respiratory pathogens to brain science, a Reuters review of research, patent filings and other documents has found.”
  China’s push to control Americans’ health care future / CBS

• WHO visit to Wuhan
  WHO team in Wuhan visits disease control centers / AP
  WHO team visits Wuhan market where first COVID infections detected / Reuters
  WHO team, on tightly controlled China mission, visits hospital / Reuters
  Stephen McDonell on Twitter: “The WHO investigation team is today visiting two centers for disease control in Wuhan. They’re currently at the provincial level facility. The second is city level. Both places have labs in them for studying viruses etc but they’re not the top level (most dangerous).”

• Over 2,000 COVID infections in January
  China sees most monthly infections since March / AP
  Life gradually returns to normal in Shijiazhuang as it reports no new COVID-19 cases / Xinhua

• Vaccine diplomacy
  Pakistan military airlifts first COVID-19 vaccine consignment from China / Reuters
  Chile welcomes second shipment of Sinovac vaccines / Xinhua
  Why Serbia embraced China’s COVID-19 vaccine / The Diplomat
  “The vaccines that should have arrived from (and with the support of) the EU did not arrive and there are no clear indications when they will be available to Serbian citizens. Meanwhile, vaccines produced by Chinese companies arrived in Serbia quickly and in large quantities.”

• Destination Mars — the Chinese space program in 2021
  The year ahead: Even bigger than last year / Taikonautica newsletter 

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Reaction to Myanmar coup
  China ‘notes’ Myanmar coup, hopes for stability / Reuters
  “China said on Monday it had ‘noted’ the military coup in Myanmar and hoped that all sides could properly manage their differences under the constitution and uphold stability.”
  Myanmar Coup: Military generals challenge Biden, bet on China / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “In a meeting last month with the 64-year-old general [Army chief Min Aung Hlaing], Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called the two countries ‘brothers’ while praising the military’s ‘national revitalization.’”
  Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s Regular Press Conference on February 1, 2021 (Chinese version here)
  “We have noted what happened in Myanmar, and we are learning more information on the situation. China is a friendly neighbor of Myanmar. We hope that all parties in Myanmar will properly handle their differences under the constitutional and legal framework and maintain political and social stability.”

• The decline of rule of law in Hong Kong
  Companies consider writing Hong Kong out of legal contracts / FT (paywall)
  “Senior lawyers at 10 large law firms in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore told the Financial Times they had seen a surge in queries from clients, mostly headquartered in the U.S. and Japan, about whether to write Hong Kong out of governing law and arbitration clauses when conducting business in the financial hub or entering into joint ventures with Chinese and other Asian counterparties.”
  Jerome Cohen on Twitter: “Here is a new and important legal development…I certainly would not do so now.”
  Govt seeks end to anonymous mobile phone use / RTHK
  “The government has announced plans to require people to register their identity when buying pay-as-you-go mobile phone SIM cards, saying the move is needed to help tackle a range of serious crimes, from phone scams to bombings.”
  Hong Kong: The permanent colony / The Atlantic
  William Yang on Twitter: “A fascinating deep-dive…on the case of Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and politician Tam Tak-chi’s case and how his trajectory resembles the fate of Hong Kong. A must-read for those following the developments in the city.”
  Hong Kong’s top court reviews decision to grant bail to pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai / HKFP

• Rough times ahead for U.S.-China relations?
  U.S. must be prepared to impose costs on China — Biden security adviser / Reuters
  “President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Friday the United States must be prepared to impose costs on China for its actions against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, its crackdown in Hong Kong and threats towards Taiwan.”
  Simon Rabinovitch on Twitter: “Calls to mind a meeting I had with a senior academic in Beijing just before Biden’s election: China was open to compromise on all big issues in its relationship with the U.S., he said, so long as the U.S. didn’t make a fuss about Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan….”
  Opinion | Biden’s nightmare may be China / NYT (porous paywall)
  Nicholas Kristoff writes, “The coming years represent the greatest risks since I began covering U.S.-China relations in the 1980s, partly because Xi is an overconfident, risk-taking bully who believes that the United States is in decline.”
  White House shifts from Middle East quagmires to a showdown with China / Politico
  “National security adviser Jake Sullivan has restructured the National Security staff in the Middle East and Asia directorates — downsizing the team devoted to the Middle East and bulking up the unit that coordinates U.S. policy toward the vast region of the world stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific.”
  Biden shows his hawkish side on China / FT (paywall)
  “After months of Republican concern that Joe Biden would be soft on Beijing, the new U.S. president received unexpected praise from a leading China hawk [former National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien] after less than two weeks in the White House.”

• India-China border standoff
  China spurs a hike in India’s defense spending, and India’s decoupling push gathers pace / The India China Newsletter

• Canada travel restrictions amid diplomatic disputes
  China temporarily bars entry of foreigners traveling from Canada / Reuters
  “China has temporarily banned entry of foreign nationals traveling from Canada, even if they hold valid Chinese residence permits for work, the Chinese consulate in Toronto said.”
  Austin Ramzy on Twitter: “China’s Foreign Ministry says it has lodged a solemn representation with the Canadian Embassy over reports staff ordered t-shirts last year with ‘Wuhan’ and a ‘bat symbol.’ Per blogger Zhou Xiaoping, this is the image. Any hip-hop fan can tell you though that’s a W for the Wu.”
  Judge refuses to remove Meng Wanzhou’s security guards, who are tasked with preventing her escape / SCMP

• Taiwan
  Taiwan says Chinese fighters, U.S. aircraft both entered defense zone / Reuters

• South China Sea
  U.S. military slams Chinese flights over South China Sea but says they posed no threat / Reuters
  Chinese survey ships straying into other nations’ EEZs, data shows / Nikkei Asia (paywall)

• U.S. review of Trump’s trade deal
  White House says U.S.-China trade deal among issues in broad review / Reuters
  Trump’s trade war on China was a failure in every possible way / Axios
  “The Biden administration plans to review the phase one U.S.-China trade deal, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday. Based on publicly available data, it’s hard to imagine they’ll find anything other than a debacle.”

• Xinjiang and Uyghurs
  China blasts Pompeo over accusation of genocide in Xinjiang / AP
  Exiled Uyghurs fear China’s reach will erode Turkish haven / WSJ (paywall)

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Review of Te-Ping Chen’s “Land of Big Numbers”
  Review: Journalist’s first collection of fiction excels / AP
  See also Te-Ping Chen’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal: Chinese culture doesn’t belong to the Chinese government.

• Mourning the death of an unpopular blogger
  Messages of sympathy flooding Weibo after death of young Bilibili blogger ‘Mo Cha Official’ / What’s on Weibo
  “Thousands of netizens started empathizing with this young anonymous blogger after background information about his unhappy and difficult life surfaced online…Chinese news outlet The Paper reports that the blogger and his family slipped into poverty after his grandmother became ill and the family had to pay for high medical bills.”