Links for Friday, February 5, 2021

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Another billionaire in trouble
  Ex-England soccer club chief spent months in detention centers, relatives say / Caixin (paywall)
  “Family sources say last month’s formal arrest of former Aston Villa chairman Xià Jiàntǒng 夏建统 amounts to an economic dispute with Yuancheng Cable over loans he took out when running firm.”

• Luckin files for bankruptcy, but China operations continue
  China’s Luckin Coffee files for bankruptcy in U.S. / FT (paywall, or see AP summary)
  The once high-flying Luckin Coffee, which marketed itself as a Starbucks juiced up on technology, filed for bankruptcy in New York today. The company remains in business in China, where Luckin said it would keep all existing stores open.   
  China’s Luckin Coffee seeks US Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection / Nikkei Asia (paywall)

• Financial sector opening up
  Allianz to acquire full ownership of China life insurance venture / Reuters
  What this means: The financial sector is one of the few spaces in business (and in politics) where China is pushing the door open rather than shut.  

• Biotech: Another gene tech startup
  Tencent gives boost to gene technology startup Vision Medicals with new funding round / Caixin
  Gene technology is one of several biotech spaces where China is aggressively moving ahead with R&D funded by huge waves of investment. Vision Medicals has raised 200 million yuan ($31 million) in a series C funding round led by internet giant Tencent to develop “genetic diagnostic technologies and precision medicines for infectious diseases.” 

• Narrowing the gap in quantum computing
  China’s Origin Quantum has raised funds to catch up with IBM / 36Kr via Nikkei Asia 

• SMIC sanctions impact
  SMIC shares fall on weaker results as U.S. sanctions limit growth / Caixin (paywall)
  China’s SMIC says it’s missing out on the chip boom due to U.S. restrictions / WSJ (paywall)

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT: 

• China allows foreign junk in again
  China opens its doors to foreign junk / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  In 2019, China banned the import of foreign waste materials for recycling. But in late January, for the first time since the ban and without any official announcement of a change in the rules, Chinese customs cleared 3,000 tons of Japanese scrap metal.
  “Foreign mining companies should be worried,” says Adam Minter, one of the world’s leading experts on the global scrap trade. 

• Vaccine diplomacy
  China donates 200,000 COVID vaccines to Zimbabwe, president says / Bloomberg via Caixin
  Brazil to buy 20 million more doses of China’s CoronaVac, governor says / Reuters
  Coronavirus vaccines could cement Africa′s relationship with China / Deutsche Welle
  China to donate 100,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to Congo Republic / Reuters
  The China Africa Project on Twitter: “Thursday was a good day for the Republic of Congo: not only did China announce that it will donate 100,000 C19 vaccines but it’ll also forgive all Congolese debt that came due before the end of 2020 (around $13 million).”
  Brazil says first AstraZeneca vaccine supplies arrive from China on Saturday / Reuters
  Turkey Uyghurs fear sellout to China in exchange for vaccine / AP
  “Opposition legislators in Turkey are accusing Ankara’s leaders of secretly selling out Uighurs to China in exchange for coronavirus vaccines. Tens of millions of vials of promised Chinese vaccines have not yet been delivered. Meanwhile, in recent months, Turkish police have raided and detained around 50 Uyghurs in deportation centers, lawyers say — a sharp uptick from last year.”

• Trust in Chinese vaccines
  Opinion: It’s time to trust China’s and Russia’s vaccines / NYT (porous paywall)
  Macron calls on China to be more transparent on COVID shots / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  Russia’s Sputnik vaccine team and China’s CanSino discuss combination trial / Bloomberg (porous paywall)

• Mars mission
  Mars ready for its close-up: China releases space probe’s first image / Reuters

• Politically correct and cautious climate change education
  China teaches kids its own version of the climate change story / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “Students are encouraged to shrink their carbon footprint, not question how the country should decrease its environmental impact.”

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• COVID-19 and governance 
  How China beat COVID-19 and revived its economy / NYT (porous paywall) 

• Revocation of CGTN’s British broadcasting license
  China accuses UK of ‘political manipulation’ over broadcaster ban / FT (paywall, or see Reuters summary)
  China takes aim again at BBC as dispute with Britain intensifies / Reuters
  David Rennie on Twitter: “Thread from BBC rebutting coordinated Chinese attacks on their reporting. Worth reading in full”
  Yesterday on The China Project: U.K. revokes broadcast license of CGTN after finding it is ‘ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party’.

• Hong Kong patriotic education and national security law
  Hong Kong cartoon aims to teach children about national security / NYT (porous paywall)
  Hong Kong Education Bureau publishes national security video for primary children / HKFP on YouTube
  Eliot Chen on Twitter: “Wow… Here’s the new teaching video issued to Hong Kong primary schools, where children from age six (6) will be required to memorize and name the offenses under the national security law and its state enforcement bodies.”
  Chan Ho-him on Twitter: “In the long-awaited guidelines on National Security Law, schools are advised to call police when there are ‘grave and emergency’ incidents in which pupils display items advocating HK independence, chant slogans, form human chains or wear items with political messages”

• Xinjiang and Uyghurs
  ‘Our souls are dead’: How I survived a Chinese ‘re-education’ camp for Uyghurs – podcast / Guardian
  The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics could provide opportunity to confront China on genocide accusations / Washington Post
  The Ghulja massacre of 1997 and the face of Uyghur genocide today / The Diplomat (porous paywall)
  Yuan Yang on Twitter: “Beijing’s foreign ministry is now saying its Xinjiang camps are ‘no different from the Desistance and Disengagement Programme (DDP) of the UK, or the deradicalization centers in France’. Shows how China weaponizes the language — and mistakes — of global anti-terrorism”

• John Kerry welcomes return of his old Chinese negotiating counterpart
  U.S. climate envoy Kerry calls new Chinese counterpart ‘leader’ and ‘believer’ / Reuters
  “U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said on Thursday he expected to speak to his new Chinese counterpart Xiè Zhènhuá 解振华 soon and called him a ‘leader’ and a ‘capable advocate’ for his country on the issue of global warming…Xie led the Chinese delegation in global climate negotiations from 2007 to 2018.”

• Biden administration emphasizes tough-on-China stance
  Biden vows to counter ‘aggressive, coercive’ China while signaling hope for cooperation / Caixin (paywall)
  “In his first foreign policy address, U.S. president describes China as country’s ‘most serious competitor’ as relationship languishes at lowest point in decades.”
  Secretary Antony J. Blinken introductory remarks for President Biden / U.S. Department of State
  Remarks by President Biden on America’s place in the world / The White House
  Five mentions of China in the speech:

American leadership must meet this new moment of advancing authoritarianism, including the growing ambitions of China to rival the United States and the determination of Russia to damage and disrupt our democracy…

…And we’ll also take on directly the challenges posed by our prosperity, security, and democratic values by our most serious competitor, China.  

We’ll confront China’s economic abuses; counter its aggressive, coercive action; to push back on China’s attack on human rights, intellectual property, and global governance.
But we are ready to work with Beijing when it’s in America’s interest to do so. We will compete from a position of strength by building back better at home, working with our allies and partners, renewing our role in international institutions, and reclaiming our credibility and moral authority, much of which has been lost…

If we invest in ourselves and our people, if we fight to ensure that American businesses are positioned to compete and win on the global stage, if the rules of international trade aren’t stacked against us, if our workers and intellectual property are protected, then there’s no country on Earth — not China or any other country on Earth — that can match us.

• Australia speech and racism controversies
  Some witnesses too afraid of Chinese authorities to give evidence at Australian inquiry / Guardian
  China-Australia relations: Beijing warns overseas students in Australia, saying ‘vicious incidents’ threaten their safety / SCMP

• South China Sea tensions
  Indonesia flags unease over Beijing’s South China Sea actions in comments from maritime security chief, army staff college / SCMP
  China calls for nations to ‘objectively and correctly view’ new coastguard law / SCMP
  U.S. warship sails near Chinese-controlled S. China Sea islands / Reuters
  “A U.S. warship sailed near the Chinese-controlled Paracel Islands in the disputed South China Sea on Friday in a freedom of navigation operation, the U.S. Navy said, the first such mission under President Joe Biden’s new administration.”

• Guyana changes its mind about Taiwan representative office
  Taiwan blames Chinese ‘bullying’ for Guyana revoking rep office / Reuters

• Taiwan
  China’s latest weapon against Taiwan: the sand dredger / Reuters
  China says U.S. ‘creating tensions’ after warship sails near Taiwan / Reuters

• Myanmar coup
  In geopolitical struggle over Myanmar, China has an edge / NYT (porous paywall)
  U.S., Australia discuss China and Myanmar in first leaders call, White House says / Reuters
  Myanmar coup: China blocks UN condemnation as protest grows / BBC

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• How the importance of Hollywood has declined in China
  Shanghai cinemas tell of a power reversal for China and U.S. / LA Times

• Well-rated show about the Wuzhen Theatre Festival
  The small-time reality TV hit reviving Chinese theater’s big dreams / Sixth Tone

• Viral WeChat game is “like a mix of 2048 and Tetris”
  Nearly 80 million people are playing a mobile game about watermelons right now / Radii China

• Plastic surgery gone wrong
  Chinese star Gao Liu shares photos of ‘nightmare’ nose surgery / BBC