Links for Friday, March 19, 2021

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• China bans Teslas from military complexes over camera concerns
  Tesla cars banned by China’s military on camera concerns / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  The Chinese military has banned Tesla drivers from parking their cars inside Chinese military complexes and residential compounds due to concerns about sensitive information collected by its multi-direction cameras and ultrasonic sensors. The order came after Elon Musk said earlier this month that Tesla’s FSD (full-self-driving) feature collects data via the cars’ driver-facing in-built cameras.
• Smartphone maker Xiaomi confirms it will make cars
  小米造车有望4月立项，王川负责，正摸底汽车业 / Sina
  Xiaomi, which often markets itself as a Chinese Apple, is pushing ahead with its car project.
  • Xiaomi co-founder Wáng Chuān 王川, who oversaw the company’s successful Xiaomi TV product line, is reportedly leading the car-making project.
  • Xiaomi’s stock rallied after news broke a month ago that the company was considering building its own electric cars.
• Food delivery apps rapped for dodgy restaurants
  美团、饿了么在合肥被立案调查 部分外卖商家不具备食品经营资质 / Sina
  Meituan and Ele.me, the two largest food delivery platforms in China, were investigated by the city government of Hefei, Anhui Province, for delivering food from restaurants without dining service licenses. Both companies had failed to verify documentation and the physical locations of the restaurants.
  Related The China Project reporting: Delivery-only ‘ghost’ restaurants spring up across China, prompting concerns about dirty kitchens.
• Didi wants to go public earlier
  Didi is said to accelerate IPO plans as business rebounds / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• Bilibili’s Hong Kong secondary listing
  Bilibili begins public offering in Hong Kong / Xinhua
  “Video-streaming platform Bilibili Inc. started its public offering in Hong Kong Thursday as another U.S.-traded mainland company seeking a secondary listing here.…Its shares will begin trading on March 29.”
• China’s carbon-neutrality bonds
  State grid unit sells China’s first carbon-neutral ABS to fund green projects / Yicai
  Interbank regulator says proceeds from carbon-neutrality bonds must be spent on green projects / Caixin (paywall)
  “The rule is stricter than that for the exchange bond market, which allows issuers to use a portion of the cash raised to replenish their liquidity.”
• Government to target hidden debt
  Premier Li’s pledge to cut government leverage may target hidden debt, analysts say / Caixin (paywall)
  “Efforts will likely focus on off-balance-sheet liabilities because China’s 2021 budget doesn’t limit the amount of explicit government borrowing enough to reduce the leverage ratio on its own.”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Wuhan antibodies study
  Study finds 7% of Wuhan residents developed coronavirus antibodies during outbreak / Caixin (paywall)
  “Some 82% of the people with antibodies were asymptomatic, suggesting that ‘symptoms in many infected individuals might be too mild for them to need medical attention,’ according to a new paper published in The Lancet.”
• Organic farming and agricultural diversity
  Protecting China’s agricultural heritage, one seed at a time / Sixth Tone
  “Urbanization and modern farming techniques have accelerated species loss, while the increasingly industrialized and commercialized nature of Chinese agriculture has curtailed local farmers’ ability to experiment. New seed varieties now quickly penetrate and dominate the marketplace, while older varieties — and all the innumerable secrets they contain — stand on increasingly shaky ground.”
• Recycling and reusing China’s “massive bicycle graveyards”
  How shared bikes are being reused in the PRC / That’s Mag
  “In addition to recycling, one bike-share company has managed to turn the overhead into a philanthropic opportunity…Partnering with local townships and design firms, Meituan has used thousands of old share bike tires to build pathways and sports grounds for exercise.”

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Michael Spavor trial in Dandong — no verdict
  Canadian tried in China on spy charges, no verdict announced / AP
  Trudeau condemns Canadian’s trial held behind closed doors in China / Reuters
  Family of detained Canadian Spavor calls on China to release him / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  China court hearing for detained Canadian Michael Spavor over in under 3 hours, diplomat says / AFP via HKFP
• Chinese Foreign Ministry scolds BBC again
  外交部向BBC提严正交涉：未采取措施改正错误，近期还变本加厉 / Guancha.cn
• Xi Jinping as supreme leader
  Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era / China Media Project
  Will “Xí Jìnpíng Thought” (习近平思想) become a thing, elevated to the status of Mao Zedong Thought?
• Hong Kong
  Hong Kong says latest round of U.S. sanctions are ‘hostile acts of hegemony’ / HKFP
  Video: Election overhaul ‘will have no impact on the so-called democrats’ who are patriots, says Lam in new promo vid / HKFP
  Premier Hong Kong protest coalition comes under fire from pro-Beijing and state media, leader vows to continue / HKFP
  China’s crackdown on Jack Ma’s Alibaba reaches Hong Kong’s SCMP / Quartz
  “Current and former SCMP employees Quartz talked to described feeling blindsided by news of a potential change in ownership, one that comes as Beijing has effectively seized direct control of the city.”
• Xinjiang and Uyghurs
  China has detained my young children. I don’t know if I’ll ever see them again / Guardian
  By Mihriban Kader.
  Xinjiang’s leaders must ‘optimize’ governance of region, Communist Party’s No 4 says / SCMP (porous paywall)
  Uyghur exiles urge Blinken to demand China close Xinjiang camps / Reuters
  Biden’s solar dreams collide with scorn for China ‘genocide’ / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “Factories in Xinjiang, a western region of China that’s home to the oppressed Uyghur minority, produce half the global supply of polysilicon, a metal critical for the panels that turn sunlight into electricity.”
• U.K. spooks warn on Huawei et al.
  U.K. spy agencies push for curbs on Chinese ‘smart cities’ technology / FT (paywall)
• Human rights criticism from Switzerland
  Swiss rebuke China over human rights but stop short of curbing investment / Reuters
  “Neutral Switzerland accused China on Friday of ‘increasingly authoritarian tendencies’ and suppressing dissidents and minorities, though it stopped short of announcing curbs on Chinese investment despite protectionist pressure at home.”
• America’s new top spook has China in his crosshairs
  Senate approves Burns to lead C.I.A. / NYT (porous paywall)
  “William J. Burns, a veteran diplomat, has vowed to rebuild morale at the C.I.A. after it deteriorated during the Trump administration and to intensify its spying on China.”
• Internet controls
  With rising confidence, Xi Jinping wields the internet as a tool of empowerment and control, speeches reveal / SCMP
  The great firewall: China and internet regulation / SCMP

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• U.S. grapples with anti-Asian violence and bias
  After Georgia attacks, Asian-Americans demand serious action on bias / NYT (porous paywall)
  Racist anti-Asian hashtags spiked after Trump first tweeted ‘Chinese virus,’ study finds / Washington Post (porous paywall)
  Atlanta shooting victim was a mother, business owner / USA Today
  “On her 50th birthday, Xiaojie Tan would have gathered with her only child for a slice of strawberry fresh cream cake, her favorite.”
• Assault case in San Francisco goes viral in China
  ‘Kick ass’ Chinese granny wins fame in China after turning tables on racist attacker in U.S. / SCMP (porous paywall)
  “Xie Xiaozhen, originally from Guangdong, was waiting to cross the road on Wednesday when a white man in his 30s yelled ‘Chinese’ and punched her in the face. She fought back using a wooden stick she saw nearby, leaving the man injured, according to media reports.”
• Sex doll hotel shut down in Shenzhen
  Shenzhen shutters sex doll hotels frequented by migrant workers / Sixth Tone
  Authorities shut down first sex doll ‘brothel’ — exploiting a legal loophole or fulfilling a human need? / Caixin