Links for Monday, March 15, 2021

WORTH THINKING ABOUT

Pieces of news or analysis that caught our eye:

If punditry from prominent Republicans is any indication, a full U.S. boycott of the Beijing 2022 Olympics seems unlikely.

• Ted Cruz — who would probably be one of the first in line to criticize the Biden administration if it had ruled out a boycott of the Beijing Olympics — writes in a Fox News op-ed that by not ruling out a boycott, the Biden administration is imitating the “terrible policy” of Jimmy Carter.
• Mitt Romney, one of the few prominent Republicans that still might fit the description of “moderate,” agrees in a New York Times op-ed that the 1980 Carter boycott was a failure. “No one seriously believes it improved Soviet behavior,” he writes. However, he advocates instead an “economic and diplomatic boycott”:
  

  American spectators — other than families of our athletes and coaches — should stay at home, preventing us from contributing to the enormous revenues the Chinese Communist Party will raise from hotels, meals and tickets. American corporations that routinely send large groups of their customers and associates to the Games should send them to U.S. venues instead.

  Rather than send the traditional delegation of diplomats and White House officials to Beijing, the president should invite Chinese dissidents, religious leaders and ethnic minorities to represent us.

See also: IOC is no ‘super world government’ to solve China issues, says Bach / Reuters

MORE NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Wanda is nearly out of the U.S. movie theater business
  China’s Wanda cuts AMC stake to under 10% after cinema chain has record loss / Yicai
  Wanda has relinquished control of AMC and reduced its stake from more than 50% to under 10%.
  Related The China Project reporting, from February: Is Wanda selling its AMC memestocks?
• Xiaomi wins lawsuit against Trump ban
  Xiaomi wins court ruling blocking U.S. restrictions on it / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  美国法院暂时禁止国防部将小米列入“涉军企业” / Caixin (paywall)
  The Trump administration and the Defense Department had placed Xiaomi on a blacklist of companies deemed to be linked to the Chinese military, which could have resulted in Xiaomi being delisted from U.S. stock exchanges. A judge in Washington, D.C., put a temporary halt to the ban, and said Xiaomi will likely win a full reversal of the ban.
• Alibaba forced to give up media assets
  Beijing asks Alibaba to shed its media assets / WSJ (paywall)
  “China’s government has asked Alibaba to dispose of its media assets, as officials grow more concerned about the technology giant’s sway over public opinion in the country, according to people familiar with the matter.”
• U.S.-blacklisted facial-recognition firm Megvii to IPO
  Megvii says STAR market listing on track as IPO review begins / Caixin (paywall)
  “Facial recognition specialist is taking another shot at going public in China after failing in Hong Kong a year ago in the face of a coronavirus sales slowdown and headwinds from ending up on a U.S. trade blacklist.”
  Alibaba-backed China AI company Megvii counts losses ahead of IPO / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
  “Startup seeks almost $1 billion on Shanghai’s STAR Market after ending Hong Kong plan.”
• Car sales website misses target in Hong Kong listing
  Autohome shares debut higher, caution around Chinese tech stocks caps gains / Reuters via Yahoo
  Autohome, a car-sales website traded on the New York Stock Exchange, raised $688 million through its secondary listing in Hong Kong on Monday, around one-third short from the $983 million it had aimed to raise. The company’s shares rose 2% above the company’s issue price.
  Related: The China Project’s report earlier this month on Autohome filing in Hong Kong; a WSJ report on Baidu also seeking to raise $3 billion through a Hong Kong secondary listing.
• New U.S. telecom blacklist
  Huawei, Hikvision land on new blacklist from U.S. telecoms regulator / Caixin (paywall)
  Five Chinese companies pose threat to U.S. national security: FCC / Reuters
  华为海康威视等5中企遭美列为“国安威胁” 受限设备需拆除 / Caixin (paywall)
  Huawei pivots to fish farms, mining after U.S. blocks its phones / Bloomberg via Caixin
• China struggles to recover
  China’s soaring economic activity masks uneven recovery / Bloomberg via Yahoo
  China’s young people struggle to find jobs as unemployment rate holds at 13.1% / CNBC
• Drama between China’s two largest social media firms
  The clash of China’s social media titans / Caixin (paywall)
  “Tencent and ByteDance fight an all-out war for internet user traffic with hundreds of lawsuits and strategic incursions into each other’s turf.”
• Shadow banking scandal
  Sichuan Trust fined $5.4 million over shadow banking scandal, 12 other violations / Caixin (paywall)
  “Regulator finds company illegally raised funds for property firms and promoted ‘trust of trust’ products.”
• More Tesla for Chinese consumers
  Tesla adjusts production processes to meet China capacity growth / Bloomberg via Caixin
  “The changes focus on spare-part production in Tesla’s Shanghai factory, including plans to improve the power system, chassis and electric motor, the company said in a statement on a Shanghai government website.”
• More cash for chips
  Baidu’s AI chip unit Kunlun completes new funding, at $2 billion valuation: source / Reuters
• Yuan internationalizing
  China tries more flexibility for multinational currency exchange / Caixin via Nikkei Asia
  “Pilot program for converting yuan funds more freely includes Royal Dutch Shell.”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Vaccine passport diplomacy
  China eases visa rules for foreigners who get Chinese vaccines / Caixin
  “After receiving a made-in-China vaccine, foreigners arriving from Hong Kong will be able to skip the requirement for a COVID-19 test and submitting a travel declaration form.”
  China says China-made vaccines will help get you into China / NYT (porous paywall)
  “Hong Kong’s borders have been closed to nonresidents for nearly a year. So the new policy will not help many foreigners in other countries who want to return to mainland China for work or family reasons.”
  China’s plans for ‘vaccine passport’ may be hampered by lack of data, diplomats say / SCMP (porous paywall)
  “‘To start the mutual recognition of vaccines, we need to really understand what the Chinese vaccine is,’ Israel’s ambassador to China says.”
  More Chinese embassies streamline procedure for visa applicants inoculated with Chinese vaccines / Global Times
  China eases visa rules in Philippines for recipients of its vaccines / Rappler
• Vaccine rollout in China
  Analysis: China’s ambitious COVID-19 vaccination plan to test its production capability / Reuters
  China has administered 65 million COVID-19 vaccine doses as of Sunday / Reuters
  China aims to vaccinate 70-80% of population by mid-2022 / AP
  5.5 million people now eligible for COVID-19 jabs as Hong Kong lowers age threshold to 30, includes domestic helpers and some students / SCMP (porous paywall)
  China finds first cases of new coronavirus variant in Guangdong Province / SCMP (porous paywall)
  Producers study vaccine efficacy on mutation with additional third-dose injection / Global Times
  “The Global Times learned that Sinopharm and Sinovac are doing research on whether a third dose would enhance antibody levels and overall efficacy of the vaccines against the coronavirus, and how effective the vaccines are on mutated sequences.”
• Vaccine diplomacy
  Mexico gets shipment of million vaccine doses from China’s Sinovac / Reuters
  IOC head defends plan to buy Chinese vaccines for Olympics / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• Pollution in Hebei
  China’s steel city Tangshan vows to crack down on pollution after weeks of heavy smog / SCMP (porous paywall)
• COVID origins investigation
  WHO-China team suggests continuing to search early COVID-19 cases around the globe / Xinhua
  “The COVID-19 virus is ‘the most likely’ to be introduced through an intermediary host species, ‘likely’ to be introduced through direct transmission or cold-chain food, and ‘extremely unlikely’ to be introduced through a laboratory incident, according to the joint study.”
  Chinese scientists try using radiation to kill coronavirus on food packaging / SCMP (porous paywall)
  China research team finds 24 new bat coronaviruses within 2km radius / SCMP (porous paywall)
  China briefs European envoys on WHO coronavirus origin quest / SCMP (porous paywall)

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• ‘Grave concerns’ over Hong Kong electoral changes
  U.K. declares China in breach of 1984 Hong Kong declaration / FT (paywall, or see AP report)
  G-7 expresses ‘grave concerns’ over Hong Kong electoral changes / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
  “Australia and New Zealand urge China to protect the role of Legco.”
  China firmly opposes interference in HK affairs from several countries: FM spokesperson / Xinhua (in Chinese here)
• Beijing vs. activists and NGOs in Hong Kong
  HK Civil Human Rights Front is disbanding amid probe into sources of funding / Global Times
  Activists overseas launch new ‘Hong Kong Charter’ aimed at keeping up pressure on Beijing / SCMP (porous paywall)
• The uncertain future of Hong Kong
  Hong Kong brain drain threat as nearly quarter of university-educated under-35s say they plan to quit city for work overseas / SCMP (porous paywall)
  China targets Hong Kong wealth gap, housing woes after political purge / WSJ (paywall)
  “Senior officials [in Beijing] are discussing ways to broaden the city’s tax structure and increase land supply in an effort to mitigate inequality and high living costs in one of the world’s most expensive cities.”
  Last week on The China Project: Beijing passes resolution to ensure only ‘patriots’ loyal to the Communist Party rule Hong Kong.
• Media asymmetry in the U.K. and Europe
  The disinformation tactics used by China / BBC
  “The Chinese embassy in London has criticized the BBC following a documentary about Chinese disinformation campaigns.”
  EU deal cements China’s advantage in media war / Politico
  “While European leaders often insist that the deal should achieve ‘reciprocity’ with China, the European Commission conspicuously failed to introduce this logic in the all-important news and information sector. The texts of the accord struck in December show that European investors are boxed out of Chinese media while Chinese investors are largely free to buy up news services, broadcasters, cinemas and film-making ventures in the EU.”
• Australian parliament cautious on Xinjiang
  Australian parliament refuses to label China’s Xinjiang actions as genocide / SCMP (porous paywall)
  “The motion died in the Australian Senate on Monday after the governing Liberal Party-led Coalition and main opposition Labor Party united to block a formal vote on the proposal…The Senate voted 33-12 against the proposed resolution, which would have probably placed further strain on the already fraught relations between Canberra and Beijing.”
• U.S. trying to ‘rebuild alliances’ in Asia
  2 key U.S. Cabinet members visit Japan for China-focused talks / AP
  Biden goals converge in Asia: Rebuilding alliances and countering China / NYT (porous paywall)
  “To make it work, the United States is banking on backup from allies like Japan and South Korea. Both countries have tried to walk a fine line on China: Their prosperity depends on trade with Beijing, but they break with China on matters of security, democracy and human rights.”
• Maritime moves from the U.S. and China
  U.S. deploys Coast Guard far from home to counter China / WSJ (paywall)
  “In the past few months, [the U.S. Coast Guard] based two of its most advanced new cutters in the U.S. territory of Guam, nearly 4,000 miles closer to Shanghai than it is to San Francisco. One more is due to arrive in the coming months. For the first time, the Coast Guard has an attaché to the U.S. Embassy in Canberra, Australia, and another attaché will move to Singapore next year.”
  China holds naval drills in three maritime areas amid U.S. military threats / Global Times
• U.S. even more dominant in arms sales
  China’s arms sales drop as ‘other nations buy American’ / SCMP (porous paywall)
  “U.S. leads weapons exports with 37 percent of market share for 2016-20 while China accounted for 5.2 percent of sales, says Stockholm research institute.”
  U.S. is world’s top weapons supplier, Saudi Arabia top importer, SIPRI report says / SCMP (porous paywall)
• Retirement age reform
  China’s plan to raise retirement age will be gradual process, government researcher insists / SCMP (porous paywall)
  China to raise retirement age in stages, state researcher says / Bloomberg (porous paywall)

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Obituary: Photographer Wáng Fúchūn 王福春
  The long, winding journey of China’s train-riding photographer / Sixth Tone
  China’s famous train photographer Wang Fuchun, whose work attracted international acclaim, has died in Beijing aged 79 / SCMP (porous paywall)
• Anti-Asian racism
  COVID-19 fueling anti-Asian racism and xenophobia worldwide / Human Rights Watch
• Push for paid maternity leave
  Denied benefits, Chinese single moms press for change / AP
  Related, on The China Project: Unfair division of housework, postpartum depression, domestic violence, and other women’s issues in the spotlight at Two Sessions 2021.