Links for Tuesday, May 4, 2021

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Distressed debt manager Huarong promises to pay its debts
  China Huarong seeks to reassure investors that it can repay debt / Bloomberg via Caixin
  After a flurry of rating downgrades following uncertainty over its financial health, the embattled asset manager Huarong defended itself, claiming that it is ready to make its bond payments.
  Huarong is China’s largest manager of distressed debt, holding over $100 billion in assets.
  Vice president Xú Yǒnglì 徐勇力 said in an interview (in Chinese) that there are no signs of change in the company’s shareholder structure or support from the government.
• Video platform Bilibili to buy stake in mobile-game maker
  Video platform Bilibili to buy stake in mobile-game maker CMGE to boost content / Caixin
  For $80 million, Bilibili will buy a 7.2% stake in CMGE Technology, a Shenzhen-based mobile-game developer (filing). Last month, Bilibili invested $123 million for a 5% stake in Shanghai-based mobile-game developer XD Inc.
• Bye-bye, COVID: Movie theaters are back in business
  “五一”档总票房破13亿 / 36Kr
  Movies in theaters brought in $200 million over the weekend. Theaters were closed because of the pandemic for the May 1 holiday weekend in 2020; in 2019, the same weekend’s box office takings were $180 million.
  Schlocky youth romance My Love was on top, earning $65.1 million from Friday to Sunday. Cliff Walkers, from China’s most famous director, Zhāng Yìmóu 张艺谋, was second with $38.8 million.
• The kingdom of electric vehicles
  China is set to rule electric car production / NYT (paywall)
  “Fueled with money from Wall Street and local officials, automakers plan to build eight million electric cars a year there, more than Europe and North America combined.”
  For a granular look, see our comprehensive guide to China’s EV industry.
• Unsteady recovery for small companies
  For China’s small businesses, life is still far from normal / WSJ (paywall)
  “While businesses have benefited from China’s strong rebound this year, many [smaller companies] are still trying to overcome weak consumer demand, rising operating costs and tight credit from banks.”
• The department of all talk, no walk
  West and allies relaunch push for own version of China’s Belt and Road / FT (paywall)
• No Chinese 5G for India
  India grants approval for 5G trials, avoids Chinese firms / TechCrunch
  “New Delhi has granted approval to over a dozen firms [for 5G trials] spanning multiple nationalities — excluding China.”
• Dodgy doings at BP
  Illegal fuel trade probe detains six employees of BP’s South China venture / Caixin (paywall)
• Drone fears
  Japanese companies ditch Chinese drones over security concerns / Nikkei (paywall)
  “NTT and Kyushu Electric weigh homegrown alternatives to protect sensitive data.”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Shandong Province attempts to gamify vaccines with a digital fashion item
  Chinese province launches gold ‘health code’ for vaccine recipients / Sixth Tone
  “Those who have completed their course of shots will have a golden border placed around their green code, as well as a small icon showing a needle and shield in the upper left corner.”
• Cargo nearly fully unloaded from damaged oil tanker near Qingdao
  Work to remove oil from stricken tanker off China nearly finished / Reuters
• Will WHO approve Chinese vaccines?
  Fuller picture of Chinese vaccine data but WHO group finds figures lacking for over 60s / SCMP (paywall)

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Philippine foreign minister says sorry (kind of) for telling China to “F*** OFF”
  China calls for ‘basic etiquette’ after Philippine outburst / Reuters
  Locsin apologizes to China over expletives after Duterte says only he can curse / Rappler
  Philippine diplomat says sorry for Twitter rant against China, is told ‘only Duterte can use curse words’ / SCMP (paywall)
  “Move comes amid call for good manners from both the Philippine president and Chinese foreign ministry. But a follow-up tweet has some wondering if he is as repentant as he claims.”
  Yesterday on The China Project: Philippines foreign minister tweets profane insults at China over maritime dispute.
• Hong Kong’s diminishing freedoms, a reading list from today
  Hong Kong leader flags ‘fake news’ laws as worries over media freedom grow / Reuters
  Hong Kong’s press freedom index sinks to all-time low amid security law / HKFP
  Interview: Hong Kong’s ‘fragile’ freedoms had never taken root, says journalist Bao Choy following conviction over documentary / HKFP
  Interview: Hong Kong is ‘a city lost to an enemy of the free world,’ says exiled Chinese dissident Wu’er Kaixi / HKFP
  Broadcaster RTHK axes contract of reporter known for grilling Hong Kong officials / HKFP
  Two Hong Kong democrats with national security law charges resign from party posts / HKFP
  Legal experts launch advice website for Hongkongers amid growing number of arrests and charges / HKFP
  Hong Kong leader insists move to mass test domestic helpers for COVID-19 was not discriminatory / HKFP
  New data show Hong Kong’s national security arrests follow a pattern / ChinaFile
• World Press Freedom Day, May 3, goes uncelebrated in China
  When “press freedom” is unpublishable / China Media Project
  “World Press Freedom Day is a no-go area in China, and near silence has attended the day since its inception [in 1998]…‘Press freedom’ is rarely ever used in the Chinese media, where less ideologically charged phrases like ‘freedom of expression’ (言论自由 yánlùn zìyóu) are preferable if references are necessary. Under Xí Jìnpíng 习近平, the term ‘press freedom’ has slipped from sensitive territory into the formally taboo zone.”
• New Zealand’s struggle to talk about China
  New Zealand draws back from calling Chinese abuses of Uyghurs genocide / Guardian
  PM Jacinda Ardern says New Zealand is not dodging differences with China / AFP via HKFP
• Australia’s noisy debate about China
  Leak of Australian commander’s China comments fuels further talk of war / SCMP (paywall)
  “Major General Adam Findlay told special forces troops in a private briefing last April to prepare for possibility of conflict with China,” the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
  Opinion: Stoking fears of war could serve China’s goals. Australian policy needs rethinking / Guardian
  By Natasha Kassam and Mark Harrison.
• Xinjiang and Uyghurs
  Defying Chinese surveillance, young Uyghurs abroad speak up online / Reuters via Yahoo
  China’s Xinjiang policies ‘poorly explained and ruthlessly executed’ / SCMP (paywall)
  “Chinese experts say the country’s leaders share some of the blame for the war of words with the West over treatment of Uyghur minorities.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Changing attitudes about marriage
  China’s rural men want to get married. Women, not so much. / Sixth Tone
  Number of unhappy wives in China more than doubled since 2012 / SCMP (paywall)
  “One in five women in China said last year that they regret getting married…Concerns about domestic violence, household responsibilities and unequal public policies fuel their doubts about marriage.”
• Outrage over illegal mail-order pets
  Chinese netizens infuriated by “live animal mystery box” industry / What’s on Weibo
  “The cruel business of living pets being transported through regular courier services as ‘surprise boxes’ has caused outrage on Chinese social media…Although China currently has no law against animal cruelty, the live animal blind box industry is still officially illegal since it is not in accordance with Article 33 of the Postal Law in China, which prohibits the posting and delivery in postal materials of various species of live animals.”
• Slice-of-life photography from Changchun in the early ’90s
  Snapshots of campus life in ’90s China / Sixth Tone
  “Frame by frame, Zhào Gāng 赵钢 meticulously documented his university years in vivid detail. His photos capture the innocence, uncertainty, and fragility of students from across China in the 1990s.”