Links for Thursday, April 15, 2021

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• News for bulls: Eye-popping growth?
  Goldman expects Chinese firms to grow profit at ‘eye-popping’ pace / Bloomberg (paywall)
  “Chinese firms are set to report that net income surged by an ‘eye-popping’ rate of 55% in the first quarter thanks to the ongoing economic recovery, with cyclical firms leading gains, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.”
  China’s Q1 GDP growth seen hitting record 19% as domestic, global demand recovers / Reuters
  China’s economy is booming. Shoppers are skittish anyway. / NYT (paywall)
• News for bears: China’s largest debt manager faces bankruptcy, rattling markets
  China Huarong’s worsening bond rout stokes market contagion / Bloomberg (paywall)
  China Huarong Asset Management, the country’s largest manager of distressed debt with $264 billion in assets and $210 billion in liabilities as of June 2020, may soon file for bankruptcy.
  Sell-offs began in recent weeks after Huarong failed to publish earnings reports, which ended in the suspension of trading in Hong Kong on March 31.
  Last week, the S&P said it would review ratings for Huarong, which is administered by China’s finance ministry.
  Huarong’s troubles began in 2018, when its then chairman, Lài Xiǎomín 赖小民, was arrested and found guilty of accepting bribes and bigamy, and executed in January.
• Tencent’s not scared of a little volatility
  Tencent opens $4 billion bond sale amid China debt market turmoil / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
• Japan briefs U.S. on Tencent’s latest investment
  Ahead of Suga-Biden summit, Japan briefs U.S. on Tencent-Rakuten ties / Nikkei Asia
  Japanese and U.S. officials are discussing a recent investment by tech giant Tencent into Japan’s largest ecommerce company, Rakuten, per Nikkei Asia. People familiar with the matter said Japan will monitor Rakuten for national security implications ahead of the bilateral U.S.-Japan summit tomorrow.
  As Suga heads to U.S., Japanese stocks with ties to China take a beating / Reuters
• B2B animation provider raises $25 million
  「来画」完成1.66亿元B3轮融资，并推出AR视频演示来画Soom / 36kr
  Come Draw (来画), a video animation company that supplies animated effects for video conference platforms such as Zoom, Tencent Meeting, and Microsoft Teams, and for video apps like Douyin, YY, and Bilibili, completed a $25 million funding round recently.
  More than half of the short animated videos produced in China are made by Come Draw.
• Xpeng debuts new electric car
  Xpeng debuts new car as China’s NEV market heats up / Caixin Global
  Chinese electric vehicle startup Xpeng debuted its third car model, “the P5,” which will be displayed at the Shanghai Auto Show next week.
• Xinjiang cotton crisis hits Shanghai Half Marathon
  Shanghai Half Marathon ditches Adidas shirts ahead of Sunday’s race / Reuters
  “The Shanghai Half Marathon, scheduled for Sunday, has scrapped plans to provide runners with Adidas-branded T-shirts, according to messages sent to participants.”
  Context: Everyone is in a rush to escape the dumpster fire that is the Xinjiang cotton crisis.
• It’s not just tech: Government probes monopolistic behavior in pharma
  Giant pharma Yangtze River fined $117 million in antitrust crackdown / Caixin
• Didi self-driving cars in Beijing
  Didi given greenlight to test autonomous vehicles in Beijing pilot zone / Caixin
• Silicon chip wars go on as key player says they’re futile
  ASML CEO Peter Wennink says trying to control chip sales to China won’t work / Bloomberg (paywall)
  Republicans seek broader curbs on exports of chip tools to China / Bloomberg (paywall)
• Why are foreign employees of Chinese state media not labeled by Twitter?
  Why are Twitter ‘China state media’ labels only applied to Chinese employees? / SCMP (paywall)
• A sketchy coffee company cleans up?
  China’s Luckin Coffee nets $260 million private-equity investment / WSJ (paywall)
  “Investment from current shareholders Centurium Capital and Joy Capital will help facilitate a debt restructuring and pay an SEC settlement, Luckin says.”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Ambitious energy sector overhaul needed to reach climate goals
  China must halve power sector emissions by 2030 to meet climate goals – study / Reuters
  “To half emissions, the world’s biggest producer of climate-warming greenhouse gas must shut, retrofit or put into reserve capacity as much as 364 gigawatts (GW) of coal-fired power by 2030 — around a third of its current total, according to London-based climate data provider TransitionZero.”
  China’s coal industry needs radical overhaul to meet carbon neutrality goal, research says / Caixin (paywall)
  “A third of coal-fired power capacity should be shed over the next 10 years to slash emissions.”
  China ‘can save $1.6 trillion by scrapping coal’, report says / BBC
  China gives green light to five nuclear units to cut carbon and aim for climate goals, sources say / SCMP (paywall)
• Trilateral climate summit on April 16
  President Xi to attend trilateral climate summit with France, Germany / Caixin
• Vaccine development, diplomacy, and distribution
  How China passed up a vaccine opportunity and fell behind / Bloomberg via Yahoo
  “Now, with the success seen by Pfizer and Moderna, Chinese companies are jumping into the fray — but their efforts will take time to pay off. China may not have mRNA vaccines until the end of 2021, according to Feng Duojia, president of the China Association of Vaccines, China Global Television Network reported on April 11.”
  WHO expects decision on emergency listing for Chinese vaccines soon / Reuters
  Although quantities remain low, the pace of Chinese vaccine deliveries in Africa accelerates / China-Africa Project
  More than half a billion doses of Chinese vaccines will be manufactured overseas every year / China-Africa Project
  Hong Kong expands Covid vaccination programme to under 30s / HKFP
  Coronavirus vaccines: China’s CanSino distances itself from blood clot fears / SCMP (paywall)

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• National Security Education Day in Hong Kong
  Hong Kong schools devote a day to China’s national security / Bloomberg (paywall)
  “Schools across the city were mandated to hold events including singing the Chinese national anthem and raising flags. In addition, giant billboards promoting the event have been plastered across the city, while the police held an open day where they displayed professional drills, anti-terrorism exercises and displayed armored vehicles.”
  China’s crackdown reaches Hong Kong classrooms: ‘It feels like there is a noose over my head’ / FT (paywall)
  “One American expatriate with two teenage children said the provisions were ‘really ominous’, though she thought the national security law was necessary to ‘bring peace back to Hong Kong’. But, she added the changes made her grateful her kids had foreign passports. ‘As scary as it is, when the shit hits the fan, we can go.’”
  Hong Kong prison officers quell mock riot in demonstration for National Security Education Day / HKFP
  Hong Kong’s police debut the goose step as city marches to Beijing’s tune / WSJ (pawall)
  Beijing official in Hong Kong warns against foreign meddling / AP
  Fion Li on Twitter: “all papers got national security education day ad on front pages except Apple Daily.”
• More Hong Kong–related developments
  China reveals foreigner jailed for 11 years, mainland students arrested over Hong Kong protests / SCMP (paywall)
  “Beijing has revealed details of four national security cases involving mainland Chinese students, two of whom were arrested after joining anti-extradition protests in Hong Kong.”
  EU mulls end to extradition treaties with China over Hong Kong electoral reform, but not every member state agrees / SCMP (paywall)
  “The measures would require the support of Hungary, typically a sticking point on any action on China due to its staunchly pro-Beijing stance, the sources said.”
  Declare yourself a Hongkonger, not simply Chinese, Canadian census campaign urges / SCMP (paywall)
• Japan-China-U.S. relations
  China summons Japan ambassador over plans to release contaminated Fukushima water into sea / Reuters
  China to Japanese official: If treated radioactive water from Fukushima is safe, ‘please drink it’ / Washington Post (paywall)
  Biden, Suga to send signal to assertive China at U.S.-Japan summit / Reuters
  Biden’s China rhetoric makes Japan uneasy / WSJ (paywall)
  “This Friday, Mr. Suga will become the first foreign leader to meet Mr. Biden in person, a distinction Japan has trumpeted. Yet political and business leaders in Tokyo are uneasy at being enlisted in public confrontation with China, holding out hope for a modus operandi that would restrain Beijing’s military but keep lucrative trade more or less untouched.”
• India-China tensions
  China-India border tensions remain high despite some force pullbacks: US intelligence report / The Tribune India
  China tried to wage ‘undeclared war’ against India through cyberattacks, New Delhi’s military chief says / SCMP
  India’s China policy needs new thinking, say experts / The Hindu
  Who will be the next Dalai Lama? U.S., India, China try to control process / Bloomberg (paywall)
  France, India and Australia step up Quad-style cooperation, with China on the horizon / SCMP (paywall)

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Botany and gastronomy
  Searching for China’s rarest fruits / World of Chinese
• Cracking down on grave robbers
  China’s tomb raiders are growing more professional / Economist (paywall)
  “China is redoubling efforts to catch grave robbers. Last year authorities arrested 2,400 such thieves and retrieved over 31,000 lost or stolen items, almost three times the number reclaimed during the previous year.”
• Stereotypes of migrant workers
  The not-so-dysfunctional lives of China’s ‘left-behind’ children / Sixth Tone
  “Contrary to popular portrayals of broken families, kids in migrant households want to make their parents’ sacrifices pay off. They just face bigger barriers to doing so.”
• Exploiting parental ambition
  The fake writing competition that conned Beijing parents for years / Caixin