Links for Wednesday, February 10, 2021

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• The TikTok sale to Walmart and Oracle is dead
  TikTok sale to Oracle, Walmart is shelved as Biden reviews security / WSJ (paywall)
  The sale of TikTok Sale to Oracle and Walmart that the Grump administration had tried to force has been “shelved” as “President Biden undertakes a broad review of his predecessor’s efforts to address potential security risks from Chinese tech companies.” 

• South African winemakers are loving China’s feud with Australia
  Africa’s miners and winemakers toast China’s row with Australia / Reuters
  China’s effective boycott of Australian wines has been a boon for South African winemakers, whose exports to China jumped 50% over the past three months.  

• Expect a difficult spring in China
  COVID keeps workers in factories, distorting China spending / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  Quarantines, travel curbs and possible anal swabs to prevent a resurgence of COVID-19 in China “will distort what is traditionally an annual catalyst for spending, a setback for a government trying to boost the role of consumption in the economy.”
  Video: IATA CEO Alexandre De Juniac: The next 6 months difficult for travel sector in China / Bloomberg

• Out of Steam in China?
  Too little too late? Gaming platform Steam launches in China / Caixin
  “Steam, a popular online video game platform owned by Valve, has finally launched its long-awaited China-specific version, but with a limited number of titles possibly as a result of the country’s strict licensing rules.”  

• China-Japan trade on the upswing
  Decoupling denied: Japan Inc. lays its bets on China / Nikkei Asia (paywall)

• U.S.-China tech rivalry
  From lightbulbs to 5G, China battles West for control of vital technology standards / WSJ (paywall)
  Forget 5G, the U.S. and China are already fighting for 6G dominance / Bloomberg (porous paywall)

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT: 

• China ramps up anti-pollution efforts
  China to launch public platform to track, crack down on polluters / Reuters
  “China will set up a new information platform to allow the public to track the emissions of polluting enterprises and help authorities prosecute those that break the rules or try to “evade supervision”, the environment ministry said.” 

• Local officials face jail sentence for failing to control COVID outbreak
  Shandong prison officials jailed over COVID-19 cluster / Sixth Tone

• No new cases after string of overnight lockdowns in Hong Kong
  Hong Kong’s Carrie Lam promises no lockdowns over Lunar New Year as latest lockdowns yield no cases / HKFP

• Not-so-ancient history: Archaeologists set the record straight on ancient Chinese teeth
  Retesting of ancient teeth found in China shows they are 16,000 years old — not 120,000 / Phys.org

• Global warming: Always an uphill battle
  Countries must ramp up climate pledges by 80 percent to hit key Paris target, study finds / Washington Post 

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Xi sums up Party achievements of 2020
  中共中央国务院举行春节团拜会 习近平发表讲话 / Xinhua
  Xi extends Spring Festival greetings to all Chinese / Xinhua
  Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 “summarized the nation’s major achievements in 2020 under the Party’s leadership”: COVID-19 control, positive economic growth, “making historic progress in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and accomplishing the poverty eradication tasks on time.”

• Beijing rejects call for cross-strait dialogue with Taiwan as analysts warn of Chinese aggression
  Taiwan wishes China happy new year, but says won’t yield to pressure / Reuters
  China’s unmanned vehicles a growing regional threat: analysts / Focus Taiwan

• Hong Kong crackdown on dissenters
  Hong Kong opposition activists detained in mass national security law arrests have bail extended / SCMP (porous paywall)
  “Fifty-two opposition activists…who were arrested last month on suspicion of subversion in the biggest crackdown under Hong Kong’s national security law had their bail extended on Wednesday.”
  Hong Kong pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai denied bail under security law / BBC
  Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam confirms no consular protection for dual nationals / HK Free Press

• If Hongkongers flee
  Up to a million people fleeing Hong Kong might suit China just fine / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  For Hong Kongers, Canada is beaten path out of China’s grip / Reuters 

• India and China disengage at disputed border
  China and India start to pull troops back from Pangong Lake border hotspot / SCMP
  “China and India began to disengage their troops from a key hotspot on their disputed border on Wednesday.” 

• New social media chill for Chinese journalists
  How China’s pandemic propaganda muzzles citizen journalists / Deutsche Welle
  New press accreditations based on social media history spell trouble for Chinese journalists 

• Caribbean citizenships for sale
  Rasheed J. Griffith on Twitter: “Chinese citizens are the largest buyers of Caribbean citizenships (in each country that has a citizenship by investment program). This is a very under-discussed aspect of China-Caribbean relations.” 

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Video games and art
  A low-poly world / NeoCha
  Houston-based Chinese artist Gao Hang proudly exhibits his low-poly art on the walls of galleries, an homage to 1990s video-game graphics. 

• The international club scene in old Shanghai
  The Cercle Sportif Français: Elite cosmopolitanism in Shanghai’s former French concession / Visualizing China