News Briefing for Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Here’s what else you need to know about China today:

Did Tomorrow Group’s tycoon stand trial in China? Xiào Jiànhuá 肖建华, a Chinese-born Canadian tycoon, allegedly stood trial at a Chinese court on Monday after his disappearance from Hong Kong in 2017. But the Chinese government did not allow Canadian diplomats in attendance, nor did it confirm the charges, trial location, or whether the proceeding took place.

• Xiao is the founder of Tomorrow Group — an investment company linked to a slew of anti-corruption prosecutions. He was investigated by anti-graft authorities during the year of his disappearance.

Typhoon sinks a Chinese ship: On Saturday, Typhoon Chaba sank the Fujing001, a Chinese floating crane. The vessel, which fractured in two and sank 300 kilometers (186 miles) off the coast of Hong Kong, had held 30 crew members; of the 30, rescue teams have saved four and recovered the bodies of 12. While the search continues for the remaining 14, the chances of survival remain “very very slim.”

The biggest cybersecurity breach in history? Unidentified hackers claimed to have stolen the personal data of up to a billion Chinese citizens through a breach in the Shanghai police database. According to an anonymous post on a cybercrime forum, the hackers hold 23 terabytes of data, including the names, addresses, national IDs, and phone numbers of citizens, and have asked for $200,000 in exchange for the information. China’s Cyberspace Administration has so far declined to comment on the situation.

Record sales for BYD: Electric vehicle and battery manufacturer BYD has reported record-high sales of 134,036 new energy vehicles in June, a year-on-year increase of 314.9%, and cumulative sales so far this year of 641,350 units.

Life expectancy up to almost 78: Earlier today, the National Health Commission announced that life expectancy in China has increased to 77.93 years (from 77.3 in 2021), and the proportion of people who regularly participate in physical exercise reached 37.2%, an increase of 3.3 percentage points from 2014.

Tainted milk: On Sunday, the State Administration for Market Regulation announced that an investigation has been launched into Maiquer Group, a Xinjiang-based food company, after propylene glycol (a food additive not permitted in milk) was found in two batches of the company’s products, which Maiquer ascribed to dirty tanks.

Want more business and technology news from The China Project in your inbox? Click here to sign up for our free daily newsletter that goes out at the end of every business day in China (coffee time in New York).