Links for Wednesday, May 5, 2021

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Mainland money will keep Hong Kong markets awash with money
  China’s opening of Hong Kong bond market for mainlanders signals Beijing hastening efforts to open capital account / SCMP
  “China is expected to open up a southbound leg for its Bond Connect in the second half of the year, perhaps as early as July…Mainland investors would have easy access to foreign bonds in Hong Kong, allowing them to diversify their portfolios.”
• Futuristic helicopters — Geely partners with German air taxi company
  German air taxi firm Volocopter eyes China expansion with Geely venture / SCMP (paywall)
  The Volocopter, a two-seater electric air taxi, is a product from German “urban air mobility” developer Volocopter and Chinese auto giant Geely, which owns Volvo, among many other auto brands.
• JD Logistics posts profits, back on track for Hong Kong IPO
  JD Logistics gets its Hong Kong IPO back on schedule / Caixin (paywall)
  The logistics arm of ecommerce giant JD.com has filed an updated prospectus (in Chinese) posting its first-ever profits, two months after it released its first public filing for a Hong Kong IPO, which seemed stuck last month after other sector leaders such as S.F. Holding posted massive losses in the first quarter.
  Though JD Logistics has not specified an amount, a Bloomberg report in November said the company was expecting to raise about $5 billion, valuing it at about $40 billion. JD Logistics’ IPO would come after two affiliated IPOs: JD.com’s $4.5 billion secondary listing last June, and JD Health’s $3.5 billion IPO in December, all in Hong Kong.
• Battery company founder becomes Hong Kong’s richest man
  Real time billionaires / Forbes
  Robin Zeng (曾毓群 Zēng Yùqún), founder of the world’s largest battery maker, Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), has overtaken Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠 Lǐ Jiāchéng) as the wealthiest person in Hong Kong.
  A boom in EVs has helped Zeng’s net worth grow more than 2.5 times since March 2020 to $35.5 billion, just $200 million more than that of Li Ka-shing, who famously built his empire from a plastic flower factory into a global shipping-to-media conglomerate.
• The strings attached to doing business in China
  Chinese Overwatch teams threaten boycott of Korean player for statements On Taiwan and Hong Kong / Kotaku
  A South Korean gamer’s comments on Taiwan and Hong Kong are facing intense Chinese backlash. “If you want to earn Chinese money, you have to become a Chinese dog,” said the player.
  Western companies succumb to Stockholm Syndrome / FT (paywall)
  Companies reliant on the Chinese market feel no choice but to submit to the Party line.
• Silicon chip wars
  U.S. urges TSMC to prioritize supplies to American carmakers grappling with global chip shortage / Caixin
  “The U.S. commerce secretary is pressuring TSMC and other Taiwanese chip foundries to play a bigger role in helping American carmakers deal with a global shortage of automotive semiconductors.”
  U.S.-China tech war: Beijing’s secret chipmaking champions / Nikkei (paywall)
  “How Washington’s sanctions boosted China’s semiconductor sector.”
  See The China Project for more on semiconductors.
• EU to slow down Chinese investment
  China faces tougher rules on its European deals spree / WSJ (paywall)
  “If approved by the EU’s 27 governments and the European Parliament, the rules would grant the bloc’s muscular antitrust authorities new powers to block foreign companies from making acquisitions in Europe or receiving public contracts if they are deemed to have benefited from government subsidies.”
• The trials of “China’s Nasdaq”
  Ant’s halted IPO takes the shine off China’s STAR market / WSJ (paywall)
• More on China’s coming dominance of electric vehicles
  China is set to rule electric car production / NYT (paywall)
  On The China Project: All the electric car companies in China — a guide to the 27 top players in the Chinese EV industry.
• New report confirms Huawei phone sales down as rivals rise
  Vivo and Oppo claim top two spots in China smartphone market as Huawei falls / Caixin

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Hurdles for vaccine rollout for Chinese citizens abroad
  China’s global plan to vaccinate its citizens faces production problems / SCMP (paywall)
  China’s mission to vaccinate 200,000 of its overseas citizens residing in over 30 countries cannot meet production demands.
• Chinese banks finance ‘commodities implicated in tropical rainforest deforestation’
  Chinese banks accused of funding deforestation around world / FT (paywall)
  A new report by Forests & Finance is a blow to China’s goal of becoming a world leader in combating climate change.

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• New Zealand condemns Uyghurs abuses
  New Zealand parliament says Uyghur rights abuses taking place in China / Reuters
  “New Zealand’s parliament unanimously declared on Wednesday that severe human rights abuses were taking place against Uyghur people in China’s Xinjiang region, spurring the Chinese embassy to decry the move as interference in internal affairs…All parties discussed and supported a motion by New Zealand’s smaller ACT Party, but only after it was revised to drop the word ‘genocide’ from the text.”
  U.S. allies diverge over labeling China’s treatment of Uyghurs as genocide / WSJ (paywall)
  Yesterday: PM Jacinda Ardern says New Zealand is not dodging differences with China / AFP via HKFP
• EU’s China chill continues
  EU official stresses need to secure chip production / Taipei Times
  “Europe was naive to outsource so much of its semiconductor design and manufacturing in the past few decades, a top government official said, ahead of unveiling more details around plans to double the region’s chip production by 2030.”
  EU executive slows drive for China investment deal / Reuters
  Earlier this week on The China Project: EU sours on China, investment deal appears frozen over Beijing’s sweeping Xinjiang counter-sanctions.
• The neutering of Hong Kong’s media
  Hong Kong broadcaster fires reporter, deletes critical programs / Radio Free Asia
• Australia-China tensions
  Why are Australian officials hinting at war with China? / CNN
  Newly appointed Defense Minister Peter Dutton said a conflict with China over Taiwan shouldn’t “be discounted.”
  Australia draws a line on China / Foreign Policy
  “Canberra’s had enough of trade embargoes and Chinese grievances — and is ready to draw a line.”
• Biden’s China and Taiwan policies
  Opinion: Biden’s Taiwan policy is truly, deeply reckless / NYT (porous paywall)
  Peter Beinart writes: “Mr. Biden’s quiet, incremental moves to establish official relations with Taiwan [are] meaningfully increasing the risk of world war.”
  Opinion: U.S. is misleading in its assessment of China’s Taiwan threat / FT (paywall)
  Kathrin Hille says, “Defense officials warn that Beijing has sped up its military modernization goals when it has not.”
  Washington shies away from open declaration to defend Taiwan / FT (paywall)
  Video: The U.S.-China rivalry / WSJ
  China is America’s “biggest foreign policy challenge.”
  Blinken rejects claims of ‘cold war’ between U.S. and China / FT (paywall)
  Honeywell gets hit with $13M fine for defense export violations / Defense News
  “The U.S. State Department announced it reached a $13 million settlement with American defense firm Honeywell over allegations it exported technical drawings of parts for the F-35 fighters and other weapons platforms to China and other foreign countries.”
  Biden’s China policy blends Obama’s and Trump’s, top aide says / WSJ (paywall)
• Espionage
  China’s new flash point with U.S. allies like South Korea a hotspot for spying / Bloomberg (paywall)
  “Once a key location during the Korean War, an island just off the coast of the Hermit Kingdom is on China’s radar.”
• Too much wolf warrior?
  Grim image of India prompts debate over China’s swaggering propaganda / NYT (porous paywall)
  A meme from a government account contrasting China with India’s catastrophic COVID-19 crisis went viral last Saturday. Some say the nationalist imagery went too far in the face of an ongoing humanitarian emergency.
• Philippines
  Philippines rejects China fishing ban, wards off Chinese vessels / Bloomberg (paywall)
  The Philippines said China’s unilateral fishing ban in the South China Sea doesn’t apply to areas within the Southeast Asian nation, in yet another sign of tension between the two countries.
• Who controls the WTO?
  U.S. and Chinese trade experts among the WTO chief’s new deputies / Reuters
• Perception of human rights issues in African countries
  Why African countries back China against the West on human rights / BBC
• Canadian unease with China
  Activists, experts and policy makers speak out on Chinese state influence in Canada / CTV

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• NFT art
  How China’s art market embraced NFTs / Artsy
  “‘The Beeple sale has taken the Asian market by storm,’ said Jacky Ho, the vice president and head of evening sales for modern and contemporary art at Christie’s in Hong Kong.”
  Earlier on The China Project: NFTs in the P.R.C. — crypto art craze comes to China.
• Feminism and the backlash
  Feminism in China dates to Communist revolution but today activists feel squeezed by the state / SCMP (paywall)
• The burden of China’s school pupils, on TV
  The numbers that explain the success of a TV show about school / Sixth Tone
  “In an emotional scene from the Chinese TV show ‘A Love for Dilemma,’ which chronicles primary schoolers’ transition to middle school, a sixth grader tearfully reflects on how his mother pushes him to get good grades.”