Links for Monday, February 8, 2021

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Tesla recalls
  Tesla recalls more than 36,000 U.S.-built cars in China over potential for touchscreen failures / Caixin
  Chinese regulators call in Tesla over customer complaints / Reuters

• Outperformance of Chinese hedge funds
  China hedge funds add $200 billion, trouncing Wall Street / Bloomberg via Caixin
  “The nearly 15,000 funds offered by Chinese managers returned 30% on average last year, dwarfing the 12% gain of their global peers.”

• TikTok finally set to adopt livestreaming ecommerce features from Douyin
  TikTok takes on Facebook with U.S. ecommerce push / FT (paywall, or see unpaywalled Caixin summary)
  “The app is also said to be rolling out ‘livestreamed’ shopping, a mobile phone version of television shopping channels, where users can buy goods with a few taps after seeing them showcased by TikTok stars.”

• Largest unfair competition fine yet
  Chinese authorities slap Vipshop with large fine as regulatory arsenal expanded / Reuters
  “Vipshop was punished for violations of a law prohibiting unfair competition, which allows for fines of up to 5 million yuan…By comparison, other firms that have been hit with penalties since late last year were fined under China’s 2008 anti-monopoly law, which allows for a much lower maximum fine of 500,000 yuan.”
  China issues new anti-monopoly rules targeting its tech giants / Reuters
  Related, on The China Project in December: China fines three large internet companies for Anti-Monopoly Law violations.

• Australian coal to be offloaded
  China set to unload some stranded Australian coal amid ban / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “The measure doesn’t mean China is loosening its ban on Australian coal imports and it’s uncertain if the deliveries will be cleared by customs.”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT: 

• Sinovac’s CoronaVac shot approved for formal rollout
  Second Chinese vaccine wins conditional-use approval from Beijing / Caixin (paywall — see also articles in Reuters, WSJ, and Sixth Tone)
  “Outside China, it has been given emergency-use authorization in Turkey, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay and Laos.”
  Exclusive: Indonesia approves China’s Sinovac vaccine for the elderly / Reuters
  Mexico gets China’s Sinovac vaccine paperwork for approval / AP
  Last month on The China Project: China ramps up COVID-19 vaccinations, approves Sinopharm shot.

• China’s third vaccine to report efficacy results
  China’s CanSino coronavirus vaccine shows 65.7% efficacy / Bloomberg (porous paywall)

• No new COVID transmissions
  China records no new domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases for the first time in two months / Caixin (paywall, or see Sixth Tone report)
  “All of the new cases detected Sunday occurred in people arriving from overseas. It’s the first time that has happened since Dec. 16.”

• Vaccine diplomacy
  China providing vaccine aid to 53 developing countries: FM spokesperson / Xinhua
  Laos receives 300,000 vaccine doses from China — reports / Reuters
  Cambodia gets first COVID-19 vaccine from key ally China / AP
  India seeks to rival China with broad shipments / Reuters
  Russia pulls ahead of China in Central Asia vaccine diplomacy / Nikkei Asia (paywall)

• Drought affecting “about three-quarters of Zhejiang”
  ‘The weather has changed’: Historic drought hits coastal China / Sixth Tone
  “Other areas along China’s southern coast — including Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi — have also seen limited rainfall and regional drought this winter, affecting several million people.”
  330,000 Chinese facing drinking water shortages as drought hits south / SCMP

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Chéng Lěi 成蕾 formally arrested six months after disappearance
  Cheng Lei, Australian journalist for CGTN, is arrested by China / NYT (porous paywall)
  China formally arrests Australian TV anchor Cheng Lei on spying allegations / Washington Post
  Australian journalist formally arrested in China on suspicion of leaking secrets / Reuters
  Australian journalist Cheng Lei formally arrested in China, says Marise Payne / Australian ABC on YouTube
  Last August, on The China Project: Australian citizen and TV host detained.

• U.S.-China distrust
  Antony Blinken blasts China in first phone call / FT (paywall)
  “Antony Blinken tells counterpart Washington will hold Beijing ‘accountable for its abuses.’”
  Biden: China should expect ‘extreme competition’ from U.S. / AP
  White House concerned about China’s absence from conversation about Myanmar coup / Reuters
  U.S. China hawks wage battle over commerce department post / FT (paywall)
  Chinese Ambassador: Will WHO experts be allowed to visit U.S. to trace coronavirus origins? / Global Times
  Full text: Chinese Ambassador to U.S. Cui Tiankai’s interview on CNN / CGTN

• Remembering Lǐ Wénliàng 李文亮
  Chinese whistleblower doctor honored on death anniversary / AP
  Li Wenliang remembered one year later: His life, death, and legacy on Chinese social media / What’s on Weibo

• Hong Kong
  Joshua Wong and 4 other Hong Kong democracy activists to plead guilty to unauthorized assembly at Tiananmen vigil / HKFP
  No jury for Hong Kong’s first national security trial – source / AFP via HKFP
  National security police arrest Hong Kong radio show host for ‘seditious intent’ / Radio Free Asia
  Hong Kong gov’t says it does not recognize dual nationality, UK warns / HKFP

• Xinjiang, Uyghurs, and the 2022 Olympics
  Uyghurs: ‘Credible case’ China carrying out genocide / BBC
  MPs urge British Olympians to boycott 2022 Beijing Winter Games / Guardian
  Hu Xijin 胡锡进 on Twitter: “Boycotting 2022 Beijing Winter Games, an unpopular idea, won’t receive wide support. IOC and athletes will both oppose it, and China will seriously sanction any country that follows such a call.”

• South China Sea
  Philippine Foreign Secretary: Manila won’t protest China coast guard law before UN / Radio Free Asia

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Impact of Spring Festival travel restrictions
  The human side to another lost Spring Festival / Sixth Tone
  Coronavirus in China: Beijing tells local governments to ease overly strict travel curbs for Lunar New Year / SCMP
• Recovered photos of China from 1985 to 2005
  China’s rapid capitalist transition documented in the found images of the Beijing Silvermine / Australian ABC