Links for Tuesday, April 20, 2021

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Tech companies take over Shanghai Auto show
  Auto Shanghai 2021 opens / Auto Shanghai
  China’s tech giants came ready to compete at one of the Chinese car industry’s biggest marketing events, which runs until next week.
  • Baidu announced its aims to install its Apollo self-driving system into 1 million vehicles in the next 3-5 years.
  • Huawei, which plans to hire 5,000 engineers to work on self-driving technology, began selling its first self-driving car, teaming up with state-owned automaker BAIC.
  • Tesla got upstaged by a protestor who climbed atop a Model 3 with a T-shirt that read “Brakes fail” (刹车失败) alongside a Tesla logo. But Tesla’s momentum remains unbroken: The EV maker posted record sign-ups last month.
• Another internet company goes big into cars
  China’s Meituan amasses $10 billion war chest for drones and driverless cars / WSJ (paywall)
  “Company also unveils new generation of self-driving delivery cars it says are smarter, safer than previous versions.”
• China’s domestic smartphone market grows 35%
  Global smartphone shipments surge to 340 million units, up +24% YoY in Q1 2021 / Strategy Analytics
  Smartphone sales in China rose 35% this year, higher than the 24% around the globe. Native Chinese brands Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo grabbed three of the top five spots in the global rankings, selling a combined 124 million smartphones and displacing Huawei from the top five.
• Pandemic no problem for New Oriental
  New Oriental announces results for the third fiscal quarter ended February 28, 2021 / New Oriental filing
  Total net revenues increased by 29% year-over-year to $1.1 billion.
  The “key growth driver [was] K-12 all-subjects after-school tutoring” which grew about 37% year-on-year.
  Test preparation courses for admittance to overseas schools declined by about 12%, which the company blames on the pandemic.
• TV shrinks as short video booms — new govt. Report
  国家广播电视总局 公告公示 2020年全国广播电视行业统计公报 / National Radio and Television Administration
  The radio and television industry generated 921.46 billion yuan ($141.83 billion), a year-on-year increase of 13.66%. More than 96 billion yuan ($14.77 billion) of that was from government subsidies, which increased 20% from 2019.
  Revenues from radio and television programs and from TV shopping both fell, by 17.25% and 35.63% respectively.
  Online video and audio revenue from “user fees and program copyrights increased significantly,” reaching 83.08 billion yuan ($12.79 billion), a year-on-year increase of 36.36%.
  Revenue from short videos and ecommerce live broadcasts was 211.31 billion yuan ($32.52 billion), an increase of 87.18% year-on-year.
• How to tax crazy-growth internet companies?
  Zhou Xiaochuan on the challenges of taxing the digital economy / Caixin (paywall)
  In a lengthy interview, former governor of the People’s Bank of China Zhōu Xiǎochuān 周小川 points out the difficulty of the taxman assessing value when tech companies rapidly expand their “customer base by massive financing or subsidizing products to give away or sell at low prices, [and eventually realizing profitability] from the future value of customers and data accumulation.”
• Tencent aims to please the government
  Tencent pledges $7.7 billion to support China poverty, environment initiatives / Reuters
• Corruption at China Development Bank
  Yet another corrupt executive exposed at China’s biggest policy bank / Caixin (paywall)
  Zhāng Màolóng 章茂龙, the “former operating chief of the China Development Bank (CDB), the nation’s biggest policy lender, has been placed under investigation [in Chinese] by the Communist Party’s graft-buster on suspicion of taking bribes worth millions of yuan”
• Belt and Road risks
  Subsidies for booming China-EU rail link unsustainable, Maersk Exec tells Boao Forum / Caixin (paywall)
  China’s Belt and Road Initiative faces increased political risk in participating countries, report warns / SCMP (paywall)
  “National Development and Reform Commission also warns that domestic companies may face problems in funding projects.”
  China-built port city plan challenged in Sri Lanka’s top court / Bloomberg (paywall)
• Green industry competition
  Blinken warns U.S. is falling behind China in race to capitalize on climate opportunities / CNN
  China to require financial institutions to move towards green finance – c.bank gov / Reuters

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• China broadens vaccine passport requirements beyond Chinese vaccines
  China to recognize Pfizer, Moderna, J&J coronavirus vaccines in travel health code applications / Washington Post (paywall)
  “The Chinese Embassy in Washington said in an online notice late last week that Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccine records can be submitted as part of an application for a coronavirus QR ‘health code’ — China’s version of a vaccine passport and a requirement to enter the country…Previously, China said it would facilitate entry only for those who have received Chinese vaccines.”
  “Travel to China remains limited to those deemed to be making essential trips, such as to resume work or visit sick relatives.”
• Vaccine supply
  Chinese drug firm inks deal to produce Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine for export / Caixin (paywall)
  “Hualan Biological expects orders for 100 million doses of the Russian shot, enough to protect 50 million people against Covid-19.”
  Sinovac supplied 260 mln COVID-19 vaccine doses globally / Reuters

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Xi in speech at Boao Forum promises no “hegemony”-seeking or arms race
  Full Text: Keynote speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2021 / Xinhua (in Chinese here)
  A few key quotes:
  “We must not let the rules set by one or a few countries be imposed on others, or allow unilateralism pursued by certain countries to set the pace for the whole world. What we need in today’s world is justice, not hegemony. Big countries should behave in a manner befitting their status and with a greater sense of responsibility.”
  “In state-to-state relations, the principles of equality, mutual respect and mutual trust must be put front and center. Bossing others around or meddling in others’ internal affairs would not get one any support.”
  “However strong it may grow, China will never seek hegemony, expansion, or a sphere of influence. Nor will China ever engage in an arms race.”
  Xi warns against economic decoupling and calls for new world order / FT (paywall)
  “Xi did not name the U.S. in his 18-minute speech but he took aim at Washington’s efforts to decouple supply chains and bar critical American semiconductors and other high-tech goods from being sold to Chinese companies such as Huawei.”
  China’s Xi lays out vision for a world without a single dominant power / WSJ (paywall)
  “Mr. Xi’s multilateral vision includes two initiatives that he has spearheaded — the Belt and Road Initiative and a Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations — that place China at the center of its own multilateral grouping, ones that don’t include the U.S.”
  China’s Xi calls for fairer world order as rivalry with U.S. deepens / Reuters
• Philippines-China maritime disputes
  Duterte would send Philippine navy to South China Sea to claim resources / Reuters via Nikkei
  “‘I’m not so much interested now in fishing. I don’t think there’s enough fish to quarrel about. But when we start to mine, when we start to get whatever it is in the bowels of the China Sea, our oil, by that time I will send my grey ships there to stake a claim,’ Duterte said in a late night public address.”
  New details emerge of China’s maritime militia at Whitsun Reef / Foreign Policy (paywall)
  “Last week, the Philippine Coast Guard released images of Chinese fishing vessels moored at the Spratlys’ Whitsun Reef…What remains is a small number of Chinese fishing vessels, six of which are tied together in the lagoon…all six vessels are registered in Guangdong province…This is noteworthy because Guangdong militia members are not normally recognized, unlike those from Hainan or even Guangxi, as major actors in the South China Sea. That assumption needs to change.”
• Xinjiang and Uyghurs
  China sanctions Icelandic individual over Xinjiang / China Daily
  Icelandic pensioner blacklisted by Chinese government unfazed by China anger / Taiwan English News
  “‘Jónas Haraldsson, a pensioner who was blacklisted by the Chinese government on Thursday, says he is stunned that his writing has become entangled in a certain international dispute,’ reported Iceland’s daily newspaper, Morgunblaðið‘…The most likely explanation for him being blacklisted in China is his writing in Morgunblaði, Haraldsson told Iceland news outlet Vísir.”
  Decades of service to China’s government didn’t save my Uyghur dad from prison / Washington Post (paywall)
  Subi Mamat Yuksel writes that her father “was a member of the Chinese Communist Party,” had “no involvement with Uyghur separatists, always followed the law, and wanted Uyghurs and Han to coexist peacefully.” Yet after more than two years incommunicado in detention, he was charged with bribery and sentenced to life in prison.
• Hong Kong
  Beijing ban on Oscar-nominated documentary ‘has raised its profile’ / Guardian
  Hong Kong gov’t spent millions on failed lobbying bid to defeat Washington’s Human Rights and Democracy Act / HKFP
  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemns sentencing of Hong Kong activists / SCMP (paywall)
  House votes to condemn Chinese government over Hong Kong / The Hill
• Military equipment moves
  China deploys long-range rocket launcher ‘as deterrent to India’ / SCMP (paywall)
  China’s J-20 ‘Mighty Dragon’ fighters set to get purpose-built engines ‘within next two years’ / SCMP (paywall)
• Uncoordinated online outrage
  China’s keyboard warriors like to fight . . .  each other / FT (paywall)
  Yuan Yang writes that while Chinese nationalist online outrage has a notable international impact, “it is difficult to learn much from them about the underlying state of Chinese patriotic discourse. China’s grassroots nationalist bloggers seem less like that unified ‘main force’ than dispersed militias which argue with one another as much as they do with external enemies.”
• Hacking and cyberattacks
  Tokyo police suspect Chinese military behind cyberattacks / Nikkei (paywall)
  China-linked hackers used Pulse Secure flaw to target U.S. defense industry – researchers / Reuters

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Why was biopic of tennis star Li Na wiped from social media?
  David Paulk on Twitter: “To start, the timing is pretty remarkable. Just weeks ago, exclusive distribution rights for the film — titled “Playing Alone,” same as Li’s autobiography — sold for $92 million.”
• The online trials of Chinese feminists
  Chinese feminists are being silenced by nationalist trolls. Some are fighting back / CNN