News Briefing for Wednesday, July 13, 2022

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

Even Hong Kong’s biggest boosters have had enough of the city’s pandemic restrictions: investor Shàn Wěijiàn 单伟建 argues that “Hong Kong must ditch its damaging COVID-19 hotel quarantine policy to restore the economy.” This might actually happen by November, when a global banking conference is scheduled in the city.

Two Chinese defense attachés posing as journalists in Fiji were kicked out of a Pacific Islands Forum meeting by police after a Fijian journalist recognized one of them: He had prevented media from covering the visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wáng Yì 王毅 to Fiji last month.

Is there fraternal friction between “iron brothers” Pakistan and China? Abdul Basit says an “unusual delay in Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s visit to China points to strained bilateral relations,” after Islamabad balked at a request from Beijing to allow private Chinese companies to provide security to Chinese projects and nationals in Pakistan, following a suicide bombing in April that killed three Chinese citizens.

The number of Chinese consumer boycotts of foreign companies has increased drastically, according to a new survey by the Swedish National China Center.

• The survey identifies 90 boycotts between 2008 and 2021; 78 occurred after 2016.
• Most boycotts were connected to corporate statements about issues such as the Hong Kong protests or Uyghur human rights abuses.
• U.S. companies were the most frequent targets, “but European, Japanese and South Korean companies have also faced significant consumer backlash.”
• The most vulnerable companies seem to be those with strong Chinese competitors.
• Most companies have apologized for their alleged wrongdoing, but less frequently in the case of statements about Xinjiang.

Chinese people saving (not spending) more: According to Bank of China, household deposits increased by 10.33 trillion yuan ($1.53 trillion) in the first half of the year, a record high in recent years, at a daily average of 57.1 billion yuan ($8.48 billion).

Imports from Russia soar: China Customs reported today that China’s total exports in the first half of the year amounted to 11.14 trillion yuan ($1.65 trillion), an increase of 13.2% year-on-year, and imports to 8.66 trillion yuan ($1.28 trillion), an increase of 4.8% year-on-year. China’s exports to Russia increased by 2.1% year-on-year to $29.55 billion, and imports from Russia increased by 48.2% to $51.12 billion.

Batch of new games but still none for Tencent: Yesterday, the National Press and Publication Administration announced the approval of 67 new online games, the third batch since approvals were resumed in April. A total of 172 games have been approved since then, but as yet no foreign games or any produced by Tencent and NetEase, China’s two largest game developers.

Rebound for pickup trucks: According to the China Passenger Car Association, 52,000 pickup trucks were sold in June, a year-on-year increase of 19% and a month-on-month increase of 22.3%, with Great Wall Motors and JAC Motors reporting the highest sales. A total of 259,000 units were sold in the first half of the year, a decrease of 5.7% year-on-year.

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