Links for Friday, May 14, 2021

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

Ride-hailing companies are next target of Big Tech crackdown
Today, “departments including the Ministry of Transport, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation urged ride-hailing companies…to be more transparent about the commissions they collect from drivers and to improve safety measures,” reports Nikkei (paywall).
China orders Didi, Meituan to rectify ride-hailing abuses / Bloomberg (paywall)
Ride-hailing companies become new target of Chinese regulators / FT (paywall)

Ant posts $3.4 billion in profits after IPO halt
Profits for Ant, Alibaba’s giant fintech affiliate, rose to $3.4 billion in December, up 50% from the previous three months, per Bloomberg.

• The numbers underscore the market power of Ant even after Chinese regulators extinguished its IPO dreams last fall, and rolled out additional regulatory guidelines.
• Ant will still likely go public eventually, but it is expected to be worth much less: Fidelity Investments halved its valuation estimate for Ant to about $144 billion in February, compared with $295 billion in August.
• Ant is not alone in facing scrutiny. The government crackdown on fintech includes restrictions on the financial units of 13 companies, including Tencent, ByteDance, JD, Meituan, and Didi Chuxing.
• Alibaba, however, recorded its first operating loss as a public company after its $2.8 billion fine in April for anti-competitive business practices.

Bill that bans TikTok from U.S. federal devices moves forward
A U.S. bill that would ban federal employees from using TikTok is moving forward, according to the bill’s sponsor, Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri.

• Hawley has described the app as part of “Beijing’s covert data collection campaign.”
• The move is the latest blow to ByteDance, which has sought to assuage American policymakers’ fears over data security since it was targeted in the waning days of the Trump administration.

See also:

• TikTok owner drops Alibaba cloud outside China / Caixin (paywall)
• U.S. audit watchdog moves closer to enforcing law that could see Chinese firms delisted / Caixin
  Morgan Stanley cautions against Chinese ADRs as delisting looms / Reuters (paywall)
• U.S. trade chief: New legal tools needed to combat future China threats / Reuters (paywall)

Spicy snack maker to IPO in Hong Kong
Weilong Delicious Global Holdings, the company behind China’s spicy strip-shaped chips, filed for an IPO on Wednesday.

• The cheap chips are a popular snack, and have become a part of popular culture (like Cheetos in the U.S.), sometimes featuring in viral videos (in Chinese).
• Weilong claims an annual profit of 819 million yuan ($127 million) on 4.1 billion yuan ($640 million) in revenue in 2020.

Huawei develops mobile money service for Ethiopia
Ethiopia launches Chinese-developed mobile money service solution / Xinhua
The CEO of state-owned Ethio-Telecom said she expects to register 21 million users for the first-year service of Huawei-developed “Tele-Birr,” eventually rising to 33 million customers in a five-year period, and that “40 to 50 percent of Ethiopia’s economic activity” will be transacted on the platform “within five years.”

Sketchy COVID drug company?
Chinese firm’s COVID-19 drug claims draw skepticism / Reuters
“Chinese biotech firm Kintor Pharmaceutical Limited (9939.HK) saw its stock price jump by more than 20% the day after it announced on April 25 that it had ‘completed the first patient enrollment and dosing’ in a late-stage U.S. clinical trial of its experimental COVID-19 treatment [Proxalutamide]…But the company had not dosed any patients as of early May.”

More business and technology links:

• JD Logistics $3.5 billion IPO said to draw SoftBank, Temasek / Bloomberg (paywall)
• Tesla wannabe Xpeng reports shrinking losses as deliveries explode / Caixin
• Tesla in talks with China’s EVE for low-cost battery supply deal – sources / Reuters (paywall)
• Bilibili shares plummet as quarterly loss balloons on marketing binge / Caixin (paywall)
• Chinese online grocer Dingdong Maicai raises $330 million / Nikkei (paywall)

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND ENVIRONMENT:

China seeks to become third nation to land Mars rover, second to successfully operate on Martian surface
China Mars rover to land between Saturday and Wednesday / AP
“The China National Space Administration said in a brief notice that the Tianwen-1 probe has collected a large amount of scientific data since entering Mars orbit on February 10 and the window for setting down on an icy area of the planet known as Utopia Planitia was determined by ‘current flying conditions.’”
China is about to try a high-stakes landing on Mars / National Geographic
China will attempt to land rover on Mars in coming days / WSJ (paywall)
“Landing on Mars carries considerable difficulties, and several nations have tried and failed. The only space agency that has successfully landed and operated on Mars is the U.S.’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The U.S. has successfully operated five rovers on Mars, including Perseverance, which landed in February…The Soviet Union’s Mars 3 lander touched down on the planet in 1971 but failed shortly after.”
China’s ambitious plans in space: The Moon, Mars and beyond / NYT (paywall)

COVID-19 cases in Anhui
East China’s Anhui Province reports three COVID cases / Caixin (paywall)
“Trio of locally transmitted infections are the first such cases found on the mainland in over three weeks.”

Prominent virologists say accidental lab leak is “viable” pandemic origins theory
Scientists call for deeper investigation into COVID-19 origin / WSJ (paywall)
Scientists demand fresh investigation into coronavirus lab-leak theory / FT (paywall)
Zeynep Tufekci on Twitter: “Huge deal. Some very eminent virologists, including Dr. Baric who worked with the lab in Wuhan, have published a statement that both zoonotic origin and lab accident are ‘viable’ as origin. (Social media claims aren’t scientific consensus, part zillion).”

More science, health, and environment links:

• NDRC pushes provinces to boost energy efficiency / Caixin Global (paywall)
  “State planner tells seven provinces to work harder to meet power consumption goals after missing key targets.”
• China to tax dirty oil flows from next month citing pollution / Bloomberg (paywall)
  “China will start taxing imports of dirty fuels used to make lucrative but lower quality products from next month, citing pollution concerns and the need to promote fairness in the refining sector.”
• U.S. diplomats: Send vaccine overseas now or China, Russia will win out / Politico

POLITICS AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

Report on coerced “labor transfer” at multiple points of Xinjiang’s solar supply chain
In broad daylight: Uyghur forced labor in the solar supply chain / Sheffield Hallam University
Xinjiang: Supply chain of solar panels key to Biden’s energy plan may rely on Uyghur forced labor from China, report claims / CNN
“Allegations have been raised before that forced labor in Xinjiang has been used to produce polysilicon, a key component for making solar panels. But this latest research indicates that the practice is also used in the mining and processing of quartz, the raw material at the very start of the solar panel supply chain.”
Rian Thum on Twitter: “The economic and political ramifications of this report are going to be discussed widely. But its introductory section also offers the most succinct and compelling demonstration yet that, when applied to Xinjiang, ‘labor transfer’ means forced labor.”
Yesterday on The China Project: U.S. dials up criticism of China over Xinjiang amid more evidence of cultural and reproductive repression.

China says it is victim of American, Australian coercion
China accuses U.S. of ‘coercive diplomacy’ after trade remarks / AP
“China on Friday accused the United States of ‘coercive diplomacy’ following comments by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to his Australian counterpart that the U.S. ‘will not leave Australia alone on the field — or maybe I should say “alone on the pitch” — in the face of economic coercion by China.’”
U.S. will not leave Australia alone to face China coercion – Blinken / Reuters
Australia will be ‘patient’ in relations with China, says deputy PM / CNBC
Context on The China Project: ‘Australia is responsible for all this’: China suspends economic dialogue with Canberra, blames ‘Cold War mentality.’

More journalist expulsions coming?
China vows retaliation against journalists unless U.S. relents / Bloomberg (paywall)

“If the U.S. continues to deliberately make things hard for our journalists, then we will have no choice but to take countermeasures, although we haven’t done so thus far,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Huà Chūnyíng 华春莹 said at a regular briefing Friday in Beijing. “What will happen next will be completely up to the U.S.”

China said after a March meeting of the nations’ top diplomats in Alaska that the two sides had agreed to hold talks on the dispute over reporters. There’s been no improvement in the situation since then, and earlier this week Hua announced a journalist from the official Xinhua News Agency was recently forced to leave the U.S. because a visa wasn’t extended.

Beijing has said the U.S. has expelled more than 60 Chinese media personnel, denied visas to more than 20 others and shortened the validity of visas for the remaining journalists. On Friday, Hua compared those actions to the situation of U.S. journalists in China, who she said hadn’t been inconvenienced.

See also:

• MOFA briefings highlight tense media relations / China Media Project
• Objective falsehoods / China Media Project
  “For the Chinese leadership, journalistic objectivity hinges on the capacity of media to reflect the strength and legitimacy of the system as led by the Communist Party. All else is wanton bias.”

Pressure continues on Jimmy Lai and his businesses
Hong Kong freezes listed shares of media tycoon Lai under security law / Reuters
Taiwan Apple Daily to end print edition next week / AP
Last month on The China Project: Jimmy Lai gets a year in prison for pro-democracy protests.

China threat rhetoric in Washington
Mitt Romney: We can’t look away from China’s existential threat / Washington Post (paywall)
Senator Romney warns that “China will replace America,” asserting in broad terms and without citing evidence that China seeks “economic hegemony” and has a “hegemonic agenda.”

Israel-Palestine conflict
China accuses U.S. of being ‘indifferent to the suffering’ of Palestinians / SCMP (paywall)
China says U.S. ‘ignoring’ plight of Muslims by blocking UN meeting on Gaza / Times of Israel

Loans to Nigeria
China loan at risk as Nigeria faces new claim over power deal / Bloomberg (paywall)
“A Nigerian company that lost out on a contract to build a multibillion-dollar hydropower plant has filed a $400 million arbitration claim against the nation’s government, further hampering its plans to access Chinese financing for the project.”

More politics and foreign affairs links:

• U.S. says condemns political use of vaccines after China-Taiwan tussle / Reuters
  “The United States stands with Honduras and condemns the ‘cynical use’ of COVID-19 vaccines for political purposes, the State Department said, after Taiwan blasted China for seeking to use vaccines to make diplomatic inroads with one of Taipei’s allies.”
• U.S. denies Chinese student a visa because father is a police officer / SCMP (paywall)
  “‘How can a child of a grass-roots police officer pose a threat to U.S. national security?’ asks agency applying for the student, who has U.S. university offers.”
• Philippines’ Duterte says won’t withdraw ships from contested waters / Reuters
• Ahead of its centennial, the Chinese Communist Party frets over unsanctioned takes on its history / ChinaFile

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

Stable government jobs seen as more desirable than tech, again
Why more young Chinese want to be civil servants / Economist (paywall)
“Five years ago, top graduates vied to join home-grown technology giants like Alibaba, Tencent or Huawei…But they also face vocal criticism in Chinese media for domineering business practices and the ‘996’ work schedules…Chinese refer to securing an official position as shang an [上岸 shàng’àn], or ‘landing ashore,’ reflecting the security such jobs offer…[some] civil servants accept a low salary because of the heavily subsidized housing, health insurance and pension that go with it.”

Burned-out Chinese youth
China’s “involuted” generation / New Yorker (paywall)
“A new word [内卷 nèijuǎn] has entered the popular lexicon to describe feelings of burnout, ennui, and despair.”
Previously on What’s on Weibo: The concept of ‘involution’ (nèijuǎn) on Chinese social media.

More society and culture links:

• The history of China’s largest international market / World of Chinese
  “How the small eastern Chinese town of Yiwu became the largest commodities market in the world.”
• Miracle Chinese pig Zhu Jianqiang that survived 36 days trapped under debris after 2008 Sichuan earthquake dying, says owner / SCMP (paywall)