Links for Tuesday, June 1, 2021

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

The man behind Binance, China’s largest crypto exchange
Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, and worth more than $100 billion. It was founded in China by CEO Zhào Chángpéng 赵长鹏, also known as CZ Binance.
Yesterday, CZ sat down for an interview with tech blog LatePost (in Chinese). Zhao would not discuss recent Chinese government moves that spooked the bitcoin market, but he has certainly remained confident in crypto:

• In 2014, he sold a house in Shanghai to buy bitcoin. About 99% of his assets are now in cryptocurrencies, and he says he’ll never buy another fixed asset again because it’s “too illiquid.”
• Zhao is extremely bullish on bitcoin. “Only about 1% to 2% of the world’s population has digital currency,” he said. “There should be room for 50x to 100x growth.”
• Zhao is in favor of bitcoin regulation. He noted that local governments were supporting bitcoin, realizing that it doesn’t make money “more out of control, but more finely controlled.”

After-school tutoring services slapped with $5 million fine
Yesterday, Beijing’s antitrust watchdog fined 13 tutoring agencies a total of $5 million for price fraud and misleading marketing practices in a continuation of the crackdown on private education companies, per The People’s Daily (in Chinese).

• The fines follow last month’s penalties of digital tutor companies Zuoyebang and Yuanfudao, and earlier penalties against TAL Education and New Oriental Education.
• Specific accusations included fabricating teacher qualifications and fabricating user reviews. SoftBank-backed Zhangmen, which is about to IPO, was a new victim.
• Last week, GSX Techedu, another edtech giant, said it would lay off 30% of its staff amid the regulatory turbulence, reports 36Kr (in Chinese).

New robots for Shenzhen
Rokae, a Chinese robot manufacturing startup, said on social media Monday that it had raised 200 million yuan ($30 million) in its series C+ funding round, per Caixin Global.

• Rokae makes industrial robots that help automate manufacturing processes.
• The funding round was led by Shenzhen Capital Group, a venture capital firm affiliated with the Shenzhen government in the city, a manufacturing powerhouse that has run out of cheap labor.

Tencent sued for violence in games
A state-affiliated “youth organization” filed a lawsuit against Tencent today for infringement of the rights of minors in the mobile game Honor of Kings operated by Tencent, per Sina Finance (in Chinese).

• Tencent has lowered the recommended age successively since it was billed as “18 or above” in 2016. In 2017, the age requirement was lowered to “16+” and then to “12+” in 2021.

Electric cars
China’s Xpeng Motors’ EV deliveries accelerate and Nio declines in May / CNBC
Citi upgrades Nio, says EV demand in China can lift stock 50% / CNBC (paywall)

Chinese drones in limbo in U.S. market
Gov’t use of Chinese drones in limbo as Congress weighs ban / AP

Dealing with bad debt
China mulls new holding company for Huarong, bad-debt firms / Bloomberg (paywall)

More business and technology links:

• Chinese factories delay new orders as costs rise, risking global supply shortages / WSJ (paywall)
• Money-losing Chinese electronics reseller files for U.S. listing / Caixin (paywall)

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND ENVIRONMENT:

“Delta” COVID variant sends Guangzhou into lockdown
China locks down part of Guangzhou amid outbreak of Indian COVID variant / Guardian
“Guangdong Province had been reporting daily single figures of local cases, including asymptomatic cases, for more than a week, until the case load suddenly jumped to 23 on Monday, including three asymptomatic cases, and 11 on Tuesday…all cases were found to be the strain commonly known as the Indian variant of the virus, now renamed by the WHO as the ‘Delta’ variant.”
Guangzhou halts vaccination, ramps up testing amid virus outbreak / Sixth Tone
China tightens security along border with Vietnam amid COVID-19 outbreak / SCMP (paywall)

Second Chinese vaccine approved by WHO
WHO approves Sinovac COVID shot in second Chinese milestone / Reuters
Brazil’s experiment to vaccinate town with Chinese CoronaVac reduced COVID-19 deaths by 95% / WSJ (paywall)
“The Butantan Institute, the São Paulo-based public-research center that organized the study with Chinese firm Sinovac, said Monday that cases and deaths from the disease had plunged in Serrana, even as neighboring regions struggled with rising infections.”
Last month on The China Project: WHO approves China’s Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use.

Chinese Space Station progress
Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft docks with China’s space station module / Reuters
China to send 3 male astronauts to its space station in June / AP

More science, health, and environment links:

• China reports human case of H10N3 bird flu, a possible first / AP
  “A man in eastern China has contracted what might be the world’s first human case of the H10N3 strain of bird flu, but the risk of large-scale spread is low…The 41-year-old man in Jiangsu Province, northwest of Shanghai, was hospitalized April 28 and is in stable condition.”
• Pakistan develops homemade anti-COVID-19 vaccine ‘PakVac’ with help of China / Times of India

POLITICS AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

The start of a New Zealand-China breakup?
A week after New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta warned that it was only a “matter of time” before a “storm” of anger was directed at her country from Beijing, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern released a joint statement on May 31 with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

• The statement emphasizes shared values and consistent approaches to foreign policy, including on national security and China-related issues, such as the South China Sea, Hong Kong, and Xinjiang.
• Australian scholar Richard McGregor “said the statement on China was frank and it was hard to see anything that had been left out in deference to Beijing,” per the FT.
• Beijing reacted predictably, saying that New Zealand and Australia had both “grossly interfered in China’s internal affairs.”

New Yorker writer Peter Hessler denied visa, set to return to U.S.
U.S. writer Hessler to leave China teaching job after contract not renewed / Reuters
Last week, writer and journalist Peter Hessler of the New Yorker confirmed he will be leaving China after his university in Sichuan chose not to renew his contract. No reasons were cited.

Yáng Héngjūn 杨恒均 alleges torture
Australian writer says ‘tortured’ in Chinese prison / AFP via Al Jazeera
China rejects Australian writer’s torture claim in trial / AP
Last month on The China Project: Closed-door trial for Australian-Chinese writer Yang Hengjun on vague espionage charges.

South China Sea — Malaysia, feel the heavy breathing
Malaysia to summon Chinese envoy over ‘suspicious’ air force activity / Reuters
“The foreign ministry of Malaysia on Tuesday said it would summon China’s envoy to explain an ‘intrusion’ by 16 air force planes into its airspace, after the Southeast Asian country’s military detected ‘suspicious’ activity over the South China Sea.”
Philippines protests China’s ‘illegal’ South China Sea presence / Reuters

India-China border standoff and sensitivities continue
China jails blogger who ‘slandered’ dead in India border clash / Guardian
China-India clashes: No change a year after Ladakh stand-off / BBC

Diplomacy with European countries as Huawei-related trial proceeds in Poland
China calls for Europe to put aside ‘misgivings’ after Lithuania defects / Caixin
“From Saturday to Monday, Wang met with the foreign ministers of Poland, Serbia, Ireland and Hungary in the southwestern Chinese city of Guiyang, where they ‘reached wide-ranging consensus,’ according to a statement released Tuesday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
Lithuania quit 17+1 because access to Chinese market did not improve, its envoy says / SCMP (Paywall)
“Diana Mickeviciene, the Lithuanian ambassador to China, said the Chinese side had been told in February of the decision to pull out of the Beijing-led China and Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries cooperation mechanism, often referred to as 17+1.”
Polish trial begins in Huawei-linked China espionage case / Reuters
“An espionage trial involving a former Polish secret services agent and an ex-employee of Huawei begins in a Warsaw court on Tuesday as some European states consider whether to exclude the Chinese group’s equipment from their 5G telecom networks.”

Taipei-Beijing spat over vaccines continues
China, Taiwan spar again over vaccines, accuse each other of politicking / Reuters
“Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said China’s comment last week that Taiwan would not succeed in using vaccines to seek its independence showed China was the ‘black hand behind the scenes’ preventing Taiwan from getting access to vaccines internationally.”
Last week on The China Project: Taiwan accuses China of blocking Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine supply.

Hong Kong’s new political reality
Hong Kong plans law to tie mobile phone numbers to user’s identity / WSJ (paywall)
“City’s government moves to make people provide identities when buying SIM cards, a change critics say will infringe freedoms and privacy.”
Court case of 47 Hong Kong democracy activists to resume on July 8 / Reuters
Hong Kong court denies bail to 7 democrats facing national security trial / HKFP
Some four in 10 Hong Kong teachers say they should be able to express opinions freely, but only a fifth of principals agree, survey finds / SCMP (paywall)
Hong Kong’s ‘Grandma Wong’ arrested for solo Tiananmen protest / Guardian
AP photos: Tiananmen crackdown exhibit opens in Hong Kong / AP

Is Xi attempting to tame the wolf warriors he let loose?
Xi seeks ‘lovable’ image for China in sign of diplomatic rethink / Bloomberg (paywall)

President Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 urged Chinese officials to create a “trustworthy, lovable and respectable” image for the country, in a sign that Beijing may be looking to smooth its hard-edged diplomatic approach.

Xi told senior Communist Party leaders Monday that the country must “make friends extensively, unite the majority and continuously expand its circle of friends with those who understand and are friendly to China,” according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Beijing needed “a grip on tone” in its communication with the world, and should “be open and confident, but also modest and humble.”

The writer Eric Fish commented, “When Zhào Lìjiān 赵立坚 gets quietly transferred away from being MoFA spokesperson, then I’ll believe there’s some real weight behind this supposed rethink.”

“In the sinister Disneyland of Xinjiang”
China’s ongoing oppression of the Uyghurs / Der Spiegel
“Western countries have accused China of genocide for its treatment of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Beijing claims that everything is just fine in the homeland of the Muslim minority. We went there to take a look for ourselves.”

More politics and foreign affairs links:

• China calls U.S. ‘world’s top hacking empire’ after Denmark spying claim / SCMP (paywall)
• China looks to Disney to help improve ties with the U.S. / SCMP (paywall)
  “Vice foreign minister Xie Feng’s message to Shanghai Disney Resort president Joe Schott last week is the latest in Beijing’s appeals to the business community to help improve relations between the two countries.”
• Senior U.S. diplomat Wendy Sherman expresses concern about China’s military presence during Cambodia visit / SCMP (paywall)
• U.S., Japan reaffirm alliance amid China territorial claims / AP
• Detained Chinese historian is not a spy, says son in latest call for his release / Kyodo via SCMP (paywall)
  “Yuan Keqin, 65, worked in Japan but disappeared while visiting China in 2019 for a family funeral, then the following year was revealed to be detained.”
• G-7 set to back green rival to China’s Belt and Road program / Bloomberg (paywall)

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

The push for more urban parks
China adds more parks to its cities to raise quality of life / NYT (paywall)
“Since 2001, China has nearly quintupled the acreage of public green space in its cities, according to data from the country’s Ministry of Housing, Urban and Rural Development…Park construction has taken on greater urgency during the pandemic. Many people have been cautious about going to restaurants, cinemas and other indoor locations.”

Calls for an animation rating system
Chinese netizens call for boycott of cartoon over ‘adult’ content / Global Times
“Netizens have called for a boycott of a 3D cartoon series over ‘adult’ elements, and have said China needs an animation rating system…The cartoon, named Yeloli, tells a story of some primary school students and fairies who fight against an evil queen to help save the earth…The characters in the animation are well dressed, and their personalities are approaching adulthood, especially after the girls gained magic power from the fairies and transformed themselves in a mature way, with long waists and legs, small faces, high noses and sexy dresses.”

Tintin’s education in racial stereotypes
How China made Tintin less racist / Sixth Tone
“An unlikely friendship with Chinese artist Zhāng Chōngrén 張充仁 helped the creator of the Belgian comic strip defy stereotypes — in 1934.”

More society and culture links:

• China stresses zero tolerance for school bullying, sexual harassment / Sixth Tone
• Seven wounded in personal ‘revenge’ attack in eastern China / SCMP (paywall)
• Chinese university professor complains ‘lower IQ’ daughter is ‘mediocre student’ due to poor primary school results in viral video / SCMP (paywall)
• China’s ultramarathon disaster: Who were the 21 runners who died in a sudden storm on a mountainside? / SCMP (paywall)
• Tom Lin makes his debut with ‘The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu’ / NYT (paywall)