Links for Wednesday, April 14, 2021

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Indebted founder of Le.com, Faraday Future, fined $36 million, barred from trading
  CSRC fines Jia Yueting, Leshi $73.5 million for 10 years of financial fraud / Yicai
  China’s regulators fined Jiǎ Yuètíng 贾跃亭, former CEO of Le.com, one of the largest video companies in China, $36 million for major financial fraud. Jia will also be barred, along with the CFO, from trading on China’s stock exchange for life.
  Leshi was delisted from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange last July for making false statements in its initial public offering in 2010. Jia fled China in 2017 to escape his mounting debts. In California, he established an electric vehicle company called Faraday Future, which is expected to go public on Nasdaq next month.
• Tesla says China data stays in China
  Tesla says any data it collects in China is stored in the nation / Bloomberg (paywall)
  The pledge seems to be an attempt to assuage Beijing after Tesla cars were banned from Chinese military complexes and housing compounds last month due to concerns over information collected on cameras inside Tesla vehicles.
• ByteDance takes action on vulgar content
  Douyin takes action to prevent youth addiction to app / Caixin (paywall)
  ByteDance’s Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, said that it had banned more than 200,000 malicious accounts targeting minors and taken down more than 2 million illegal videos last year.
  Beijing fined Douyin an unspecified amount for spreading “obscene, pornographic and vulgar information” online after more than 900 reports (in Chinese) last year to the government about objectionable content.
• Home appliance giant hops into EVs
  又一新势力！家电巨头宣布“造车”！ / NELinked on WeChat
  Skyworth, a home appliance giant famous for making televisions, has entered the crowded electric vehicle tarmac. It seems the company already had an EV subsidiary called Tianmei Automobile, but kept its relationship to the EV brand ambiguous — until now.
• The rectification of Ant Group
  Ant to be financial holding firm in overhaul forced by China / Bloomberg (paywall)
• Autonomous cars
  WeRide joins caravan of Chinese firms allowed to road test driverless cars in California / Caixin (paywall)
  “Startup is the third company to receive permission to trial the vehicles in the U.S. state as it looks to build up its profile outside China.”
• Xinjiang cotton crisis
  Japan retailer Muji downplays concerns over Xinjiang cotton / Nikkei (paywall)
  “Muji brand owner Ryohin Keikaku on Wednesday detailed its steps to address concerns over its use of cotton produced in Xinjiang, as it looks to avoid being caught up in allegations over the use of forced labor in the western Chinese region…The Japanese retailer acknowledged receiving many inquiries about products from Xinjiang, where Beijing is accused of subjecting Uyghurs to forced labor.”
  Earlier on The China Project: Everyone is in a rush to escape the dumpster fire that is the Xinjiang cotton crisis.
  Xinjiang cotton issue divides China’s biggest sportswear group / Nikkei (paywall)
  “Anta Sports at odds with international unit as consumers wield growing power.”
• Another pile of money to help China’s quest for domestic chips
  Chinese semiconductor startup raises $100m in Pre-A round / Nikkei (paywall)

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• British drug approved in China can significantly reduce lung cancer risk
  AstraZeneca’s drug Tagrisso gets China nod for early lung cancer / Reuters
  “The drug is now approved to treat early-stage lung cancer in more than a dozen countries, including, most recently, in the United States…The drugmaker said the Chinese approval was based on positive results from a late-stage trial that showed Tagrisso cut the risk of disease recurrence or death by 83%.”
• Experts call Sinovac shot a “very worthwhile vaccine,” but want more data
  Are China’s COVID vaccines less effective? Experts size up Sinovac / Bloomberg (paywall)
  “The good news is the vaccines work extremely well in combating severe COVID infections, according to Fiona Russell from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne and Paul Griffin, a professor from the University of Queensland in Brisbane. We asked them key questions about the merits of the Sinovac shot.”
  Previously on The China Project: China CDC director worries about ‘not high’ vaccine efficacy, but says his remarks were taken out of context.
• Copper mine in Serbia
  Serbia halts China-owned mine over environmental breaches / Reuters

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan partially motivated by increased China focus
  With Afghan decision, Biden seeks to focus U.S. on new challenges / NYT (paywall)
  “President Biden’s decision to pull all American troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 was rooted in his belief that there is no room for continuing 20 years of failed efforts to remake that country, especially at a moment when he wants the United States focused on a transformational economic and social agenda at home and other fast-evolving threats from abroad.”
  China and Russia are the X-factors in Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal / WSJ (paywall)
  “In its early days, the Biden administration has taken aim at China and Russia on issues such as trade, human rights, cybersecurity and the international rules-based order. It asserts the U.S. should avoid the proactive counterterrorism and interventionist policies of the past two decades.”
• Philippines protests 240 Chinese boats near disputed territory
  Philippines files new diplomatic protests over Chinese boats in disputed waters / Reuters
  “A Philippine government taskforce said the vessels, which are about 60 meters (197 feet) in length, can catch a tonne of fish a day. It said 240 were in various areas in Philippine waters as of Sunday, including nine at Whitsun Reef.”
• Xinjiang, Uyghurs, and Islam in China
  Commons to vote on declaration of genocide in Xinjiang province / Guardian
  “The House of Commons is to be given a chance [on April 22] to vote to declare that a genocide is under way in Xinjiang province in China, in a move likely to damage Sino-British relations.”
  U.S. senators match House bill to assist Uyghur refugees / Reuters
  In Shadian, China, massacre memories shadow new crackdown on Islam / Foreign Policy (paywall)
  Matthew Chitwood reports, “Muslims in Shadian, a small town that’s now a suburb of Gejiu city in Yunnan, are in the eye of an increasingly paranoid and Islamophobic state — especially because of the city’s history as a flash point between Communist Party power and Islamic faith.”
  China smears former Xinjiang residents who testified about abuses in the region / RFA
  U.S.-China ties: Washington funded terrorists in Xinjiang, Beijing says / SCMP (paywall)
  “Foreign ministry spokesman uses video of interview with sacked FBI contract translator Sibel Edmonds to support claim.”
  Risk of China-Turkey tension as Beijing protests against refusal to extradite Xinjiang accused / SCMP (paywall)
• Bringing Hong Kong’s government in line with Beijing
  Hong Kong mulls sending civil servants to work on mainland / Caixin
  “If the plans go ahead, it would be the first time that the region’s government workers are assigned to the mainland.”
  Hong Kong launches ‘national security education’ campaign in schools / RFA

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• When Chinese people work at Western media
  Tales of the “news assistants” / Chinese Storytellers
• Representation of women on the screen
  Chinese actor wants more roles for women, by women / Sixth Tone
• Career consulting
  Chinese students pay agents $12,000 for shot at Wall Street / SCMP (paywall)