Highlighted Links for Wednesday, July 6, 2022

Below are links to other noteworthy reports published in the last 24 hours from and about China. Click through to our China NewsBase to see all the other stories we collected today.

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• EVs: China is buying Teslas again, Geely launches satellites, and Aito sells big
  Geely is launching satellites in a bid to bring driverless cars to China / Bloomberg (paywall)
  Huawei-backed Aito sees 10,000 pre-orders in 2 hours for the new M7 model / TechNode
  Tesla sold 78,000 China-made vehicles in June, up 142% vs May -CPCA estimates / Reuters

• Chinese mobile phone companies’ India problems
  Vivo says it’s cooperating with Indian authorities after raids / Caixin (paywall)
  Indian financial crime agency raids Chinese-owned Vivo / Reuters

• Huawei is coming to South African mines
  Chinese tech and mining companies team up to build first 5G connected mine in Southern Africa / China Global South Project (paywall)
  “The South African subsidiary of Chinese mining giant Zijin will build southern Africa’s first-ever 5G connected mine using Huawei technology.”

• Xiaomi launches new phone, starts production in Vietnam
  Xiaomi starts phone production in Vietnam / Nikkei via TechNode
  “Xiaomi has begun phone production in Vietnam, according to a Nikkei report on Tuesday. The firm is using the country as a base to strengthen its presence in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries, like Malaysia and Thailand.”
  Xiaomi launches 12S series premium phones with Leica lenses / TechNode

• Republican senators urge FTC to investigate TikTok’s U.S. data access
  Two senators call for FTC probe into TikTok over U.S. data access / Reuters
  “The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee chair and top Republican have called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate social media app TikTok and Chinese parent ByteDance due to ‘repeated misrepresentations’ over its handling of U.S. data.”
  TikTok’s US data admission stokes fresh concerns with Republican FCC member / Bloomberg (paywall)
  TikTok tells Republican senators how it plans to keep American data away from China. / NYT (paywall)
  On cross-border data access: a Chinese summary / Pekingnology

• Lithium raises $1.7 billion in Hong Kong listing as other metals drop
  Tianqi Lithium raises $1.7 billion in year’s biggest Hong Kong listing / Bloomberg (paywall)
  “Tianqi Lithium Corp. raised about HK$13.5 billion ($1.7 billion) after pricing its Hong Kong second listing at the top of a marketed range, according to people familiar with the matter, in the Asian financial hub’s largest share sale this year.”
  Lithium stays sky-high as other EV battery metals come down to earth / Nikkei Asia (paywall)

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND ENVIRONMENT:

• The new space race heats up
  China slams NASA chief Nelson as race to the moon gets heated / Bloomberg (paywall)
  “The competition between the US and China to explore outer space turned prickly after Chinese diplomats blasted the head of NASA and encouraged neighboring countries to support Beijing’s plan for exploring the moon.”

• Extreme temperatures in northern China
  Imminent heatwaves to scorch northern China / Reuters
  “Heatwaves are predicted to sweep through northern China in the next two weeks, with more than 250 million people expected to grapple with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in some regions.”

POLITICS AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

• British government delays U.K. chip maker sale to Chinese-owned firm
  Decision on sale of UK’s biggest chip maker to Chinese-owned firm delayed / Guardian
  “The British government has delayed the decision on whether the UK’s largest producer of semiconductors can be bought by a Chinese-owned manufacturer by another month and a half.”

• The Catholic church still and China
  Pope hopes China deal on bishops will be renewed soon / Reuters
  “Pope Francis said that while the Vatican’s secret and contested agreement with China on the appointment of Roman Catholic bishops is not ideal, he hopes it can be renewed in October because the Church takes the long view.”

• Xi’s leadership reshuffle
  The next wolf warriors: China readies new generation of tough diplomats / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
  “China’s top two diplomats, Yáng Jiéchí 杨洁篪 and Wáng Yì 王毅, are set to leave their positions within the year…Their likely departure…gives Xi the chance to promote a new generation of foreign policy leaders. The choices he makes will underline his global priorities and give up-and-coming diplomats a template for the type of work that wins professional reward.”

• China’s incentives for child-rearing exclude single parents
  China offers women perks for having babies. Single moms don’t qualify. / NYT (paywall)
  “Officials have been doling out tax and housing credits, educational benefits and cash to encourage women to have more children. But a marriage prerequisite is increasingly unappealing to those who prefer to parent alone.”

• China sets up $75 billion infrastructure fund to spur spending
  China plans $75 billion infrastructure fund to revive economy / Reuters
  “China will set up a state infrastructure investment fund worth 500 billion yuan ($74.69 billion) to spur infrastructure spending and revive a flagging economy, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.”

• Australia’s Wong and America’s Blinken both to put pressure on China at G20
  Penny Wong says she is open to meeting with Chinese counterpart at G20 / Guardian
  “Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, has signaled she is open to meeting her Chinese counterpart at a looming meeting of G20 foreign ministers, but she has warned any diplomatic thaw will require the removal of Beijing’s ‘coercive’ trade sanctions against a variety of exports.”
  Blinken sets G-20 meeting with Chinese FM; silent on Russia / AP
  Blinken to meet China’s Wang, shun Russia’s Lavrov at G20 talks / Al Jazeera
  Blinken to seek G20 pressure on Russia to open sea lanes, warn China on Ukraine / Reuters
  “U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will call on G20 nations this week to put pressure on Russia to support U.N. efforts to reopen sea lanes blocked by the Ukraine conflict and repeat warnings to China not to support Moscow’s war effort.”

• Russia reaps $24 billion from energy sales to China and India
  China and India funnel $24 billion to Putin in energy spree / Bloomberg (paywall)
  “Russia has pocketed $24 billion from selling energy to China and India in just three months following its invasion of Ukraine, showing how higher global prices are limiting efforts by the US and Europe to punish President Vladimir Putin.”

• Why have China’s development efforts in Africa succeeded?
  In Africa, “The key to China’s success is, paradoxically, the lack of a defined model” / Pekingnology
  “A key question [regarding the China-Africa economic tie] is whether Chinese engagements provide an alternative paradigm to existing mainstream models…for developing countries..Guided by the pursuit for sustainable growth rather than by specific models, Chinese actors are able to experiment diverse methods to foster structural transformation in Africa.”

• China follows through with $37.4 million in aid to Afghanistan
  China delivers $37 million in aid to Afghanistan, fulfilling promise to Taliban / SCMP (paywall)
  “Beijing has donated 250 million yuan ($37.4 million) of aid to Afghanistan, fulfilling a promise it made to the new Taliban government last year, according to the Chinese embassy in Kabul.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Expensive ice cream is making Chinese customers lose their cool
  ‘Ice cream assassins’ are killing summer vibes, consumers say / Sixth Tone
  China accounts for one of the largest ice cream markets in the world. However, some of the newer brands are jacking up prices nearly four times higher than trusted brands. These consumers feel victim to “ice cream assassins,” as they are surprised by expensive ice creams by lesser-known brands.

• Modernizing the works of China’s “Shakespeare”
  Sanitizing a Chinese Shakespeare / Sixth Tone
  “The webseries ‘A Dream of Splendor’ is a hit, but its female characters come off as trite cutouts relative to the show’s 700-year-old source material.”

• Another sporting event gets canceled in China
  LPGA Shanghai tournament canceled for third straight year / Reuters
  “The World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions event and the LPGA tournament in Shanghai, both scheduled for October, have been cancelled for a third consecutive year because of COVID-19 restrictions in China, officials said on Wednesday.”

• Shanghai’s coffee culture and architecture
  Shanghai’s newest tool for preserving its history: Coffee shops / Sixth Tone
  “Few passersby give Laners Cafe a glance as they stroll along Yongjia Road in Shanghai’s leafy former French Concession. In a city of a million coffee shops, the small hole in the wall often blends into the background. But that, according to the cafe’s owner, Wang Xi, is precisely the point. She wants the business to feel just like the rest of the local area: ordinary.”

• A heroic rescue from China’s torrential floodwaters
  Firefighter stages daring rescue of woman trapped in submerged car in China floods / Reuters
  “In China’s rain-lashed province of Henan, a firefighter inched along a taut rope fixed over a swollen river, his life jacket grazing the fast-moving currents below, to reach a woman in a car that had plunged headlong into the raging, brown torrents.”