Links for Tuesday, March 23, 2021

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• New e-cigarette rules destroy half of RLX’s value on NYSE
  China mulls bringing e-cigarette regulation in line with traditional tobacco products / Reuters
  Shares of RLX Technologies, one of the most successful Chinese vaping companies, fell by nearly 50% yesterday on the news, nearly halving the net worth of founder Kate Wang (汪莹 Wāng Yíng).
  • RLX raised $1.4 billion in a January IPO that valued the company at $35 billion.
  • But don’t count RLX out just yet: China’s hundreds of millions of tobacco smokers are still a huge market for e-cigarettes.
• Lots of cash for video despite gloomy markets — Bilibili lists in Hong Kong
  Bilibili priced Hong Kong listing at HK$808 a share as ‘China’s YouTube’ hit by tech valuations fears / SCMP (porous paywall)
  China’s answer to YouTube to raise $2.6 billion in Hong Kong listing / FT (paywall)
  Shanghai-based video-on-demand platform Bilibili, which listed on Nasdaq in 2018 and has backing from both Tencent and Alibaba, has raised $2.6 billion, “below its initial target of $2.8 billion” from a second listing in Hong Kong.
  Also today: Chinese short-video competitor Kuaishou released its fourth-quarter 2020 results: “total revenues increased by 52.7%…[from] the same period of 2019.”
• China secures long-term energy security with Saudi Arabia, Qatar deals
  中国石化与卡塔尔石油公司签署LNG长期购销协议 / Yicai
  China’s second-largest energy company, Sinopec, has signed its first long-term contract with Qatar’s state-owned petroleum giant, Qatar Petro, to purchase liquid natural gas (LNG) for the next 10 years — 2 million tons annually.
  Global petroleum and natural gas giant Saudi Aramco also promised yesterday that it will prioritize China’s energy security for the next 50 years.
• Investors not too impressed with Baidu’s Hong Kong listing
  Baidu’s shares close flat on lackluster Hong Kong debut / Yicai
  Search engine company Baidu is rebranding itself as an AI company with new products in the pipeline such as self-driving cars, and is raising cash to do it. However, investors don’t seem to be buying it.
• Rising U.S. yields and vaccination drive ‘eat into the appeal of Chinese bonds’
  BNY Mellon sees net outflows from Chinese government bonds / Reuters
• Elon Musk preens for the Chinese government after spy car warning from military
  Tesla boss Elon Musk’s China charm offensive rolls on with praise for climate plans / WSJ (paywall)
  Context:
  China bans Tesla cars in military complexes on concerns about cameras / Reuters
  Tesla will never use its cars to spy in China, Musk says / Yicai
• The campaign to handicap Big Tech and their fintech spawn
  Chinese tech faces new curbs on connecting banks and borrowers / WSJ (paywall)
• A gloomy view of the consumer market for MNCs?
  Reckitt Benckiser considers over $2 billion sale of Mead Johnson Greater China: sources / Reuters
  “Laxman Narasimhan, Reckitt Benckiser’s chief executive, said in February that challenges to the China business included Hong Kong’s longer-than-expected border closure during COVID-19, local competition, a changing regulatory environment and lower birth rates in the country.”
• New energy networks
  Bain Capital invests $200 million in Chinese tech startup / Reuters
  Chinese firm Newlink behind platform helping NEV drivers find charging points closes $200 million funding round / Caixin
• Music and gaming
  China’s Tencent faces concessions to win green light for giant videogaming merger: sources / Reuters
  Tencent Music and Warner Music launch joint venture and extend licensing deals / Caixin
  TikTok owner ByteDance takes on Tencent after acquiring major mobile gaming studio / CNBC
• Auto chip shortage
  中汽协副秘书长：受芯片影响，今年中国的汽车产销或前紧后松 / The Paper
• New foreign bank allowed in China
  银保监会：同意德国巴登-符腾堡州银行筹建上海分行_金改实验室_澎湃新闻 / The Paper
• Housing inflation control
  Shanghai tackles housing boom with focus on prices in areas with good schools / Caixin (paywall)
  “More restrictions on purchases and tougher listing rules are among strategies to limit speculation and rein in price inflation.”
• Currency swap deal
  China in $1.5 billion swap deal as Sri Lanka seeks to shun IMF / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “The Central Bank of Sri Lanka is entitled to a 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) swap facility from the People’s Bank of China.”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Dead pig mystery
  China collects 48 dead pigs discarded along the Yellow River / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  China is investigating heaps of dead pigs along the Yellow River / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  Dead pigs in the Yellow River embankment decontaminated, source in tracing / Global Times
• COVID-19 vaccine rollout in China
  China needs 80% vaccination rate for herd immunity, expert says / Caixin
  “Zhang Wenhong, director of the infectious disease department at Shanghai’s Huashan Hospital, says the country has to achieve a rate that is higher than the usually stated 70%.”
  Sinovac says its vaccine is safe for children as young as 3 / AP
• Vaccine diplomacy
  Pakistan to receive first purchase of over 1 million doses of Chinese vaccines – minister / Reuters
  “Pakistan will receive its first purchase of over 1 million doses of Chinese Sinopharm and CanSino COVID-19 vaccines by the end of March.”
• When will China begin to reduce methane emissions?
  China to reduce emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas / Sixth Tone
  The 14th Five-Year Plan “for the first time mentioned tightening control over methane, among other non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases,” but so far, there “were no specific reduction figures for methane.”

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Pushing back on China’s distant-water fishing fleets in South America
  U.S. considers coalition with South America against China’s illegal fishing / Axios
  “The U.S. should consider leading a multilateral coalition with South American nations to push back against China’s illegal fishing and trade practices,” according to a “sensitive but unclassified” February 5 recommendation by the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security.
  Last month on The China Project: China’s fishing in South American waters raises questions, fears.
• Diplomacy and insults in France
  France summons Chinese envoy over ‘unacceptable’ insults / Reuters
  China’s embassy in Paris attacks ‘mad dogs’ and defends Wolf Warriors in public row with French scholar / SCMP (porous paywall)
• South China Sea
  U.S. backs Philippines in standoff over South China Sea reef / AP
  Missiles, vaccines and China bring the Philippines and India closer / SCMP (porous paywall)
• Celebrations for the CCP’s centennial this summer
  China military to get loyalty lessons as party gears up for 100th birthday / Reuters
  China says there will be no military parade to mark Communist Party centenary / SCMP (porous paywall)
• China threat rhetoric in Washington
  Why China may be the last bipartisan issue left in Washington / NBC
  New Pentagon No. 2 warns China’s “aggressive” actions pose threat to global order / NBC
  China threat to invade Taiwan is ‘closer than most think,’ says US admiral / Guardian
  Fareed Zakaria on Twitter: “Welcome to the new age of bloated Pentagon budgets, all to be justified by the great Chinese threat.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Online female fan culture trends
  Advanced lesbianism / Luo Xiang detective club / Chaoyang Trap newsletter
  “In this episode, Ting looks at the curious subculture of nisu [泥塑 nísù], where female fans fantasize about male celebrities. Plot twist: they imagine these male idols to be female.”
• The monotonous life of many Chinese migrants in Africa
  Doing time, making money at a Chinese state firm in Angola / Made in China Journal
  The ethnographer Cheryl Mei-Ting Schmitz writes that “Chinese managers and workers at The Angola Company considered their existence in Angola to be a kind of non-life” because work was so overwhelming and leisure time so scarce.
• Anti-Chinese conspiracy theories in the U.S.
  QAnon shifts, spreading Chinese and Jewish conspiracy myths / LA Times (paywall)