Highlighted Links for Thursday, August 25, 2022

Below are links to other noteworthy reports published in the last 24 hours from and about China.

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Smartphone maker Wingtech wants to supply Apple and Samsung
  China’s Wingtech aims to shake up Apple’s supply chain / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
  Wingtech “has quietly built up its manufacturing capabilities supplying domestic brands and is now looking to delve deeper into the supply chains of global giants like Apple and Samsung.”
  Related: Apple’s iPhone sales make up half of China’s high-end smartphone market in second quarter, solidifying U.S. firm’s lead / SCMP (paywall)

• Chinese sportswear brands are gunning for Nike
  Sneaker maker taking on Nike leads growth of top Chinese brands / Bloomberg (paywall)
  “Athletic apparel maker Li Ning Co. had its brand value jump 66% to $3.4 billion, the quickest pace in the annual list compiled by Kantar BrandZ.”
  Last week on The China Project: Nike and Adidas are blaming COVID for low China sales, but the numbers don’t add up.

• China’s largest life insurer reports profit slump
  China Life says profit falls amid market decline, lockdowns / Bloomberg (paywall)
  “China Life Insurance Co., the nation’s largest life insurer, said profit fell 38% in the first half as declines in the stock market eroded investment returns and pandemic-induced lockdowns hampered policy sales.”

• Extended power curbs continue to squeeze factories
  China’s Chongqing extends power curbs as drought drags on / Reuters
  “Industrial firms were originally ordered to restrict output from August 17 until August 24, but formal curbs have been extended until August 25, according to a notice issued by Chongqing authorities on Wednesday.”
  China auto hub Chongqing extends factory power cuts indefinitely / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
  Honda says China plant remains shut as power cuts are extended / Bloomberg (paywall)

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND ENVIRONMENT:

• Chinese cities are cutting out carbon
  China’s cities leading the way on carbon reduction – study / University of Birmingham
  “Thirty-eight Chinese cities have reduced their emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide despite growing economies and populations for at least five years — defined as proactively peaked cities, a new study reveals.”

• A really big fish
  ‘Monster’ fish eludes capture as Chinese city drains lake, millions watch / Washington Post (paywall)
  “A furtive ‘monster’ fish caught national attention in China this week as millions of people tuned in to a multiday effort to capture it.”

• Government to control soaring solar power hardware prices
  China cracks down on rising solar prices amid disruptions / Bloomberg (paywall)
  “China stepped up efforts to crack down on surging prices of solar materials as high costs threaten to slow installations as the country accelerates its clean power build-out.”

POLITICS AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

• Solomon Islands hits out at journalists amid China whispers
  Solomon Islands threatens to ban journalists after China reports / Bloomberg (paywall)
  “The Solomon Islands government threatened to ban ‘disrespectful and demeaning’ journalists from entering in response to an Australian documentary that alleged widespread Beijing influence in the Pacific country.”
  Distribution of Chinese funds by Solomon Islands PM raises questions / Reuters
  “The Solomon Islands Prime Minister’s office distributed Chinese government money to 39 out of 50 members of parliament twice last year, a budget committee was told, prompting criticism the payments were politically motivated.”

• Fraying ties between China and South Korea, but presidents exchange letters
  China and South Korea drift apart 30 years after normalization / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
  “Beijing urges Seoul to become independent of U.S. alliance.”
  Xi, S. Korean president exchange congratulations on 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties / Xinhua
  “It is because the two countries respect and trust each other, accommodate each other’s core interests and major concerns, and enhance understanding and trust through sincere communication, Xi said.”

• Beijing pledges to protect U.S.-blacklisted Chinese firms
  China to take steps needed to protect Chinese firms following U.S. export control list / Reuters
  “China’s commerce ministry said on Thursday it will take the measures needed to protect the legitimate rights of Chinese companies after the U.S. added seven Chinese entities, mostly related to aerospace, to its export control list.”

• Two women convicted of bigamy in a step back for China’s #MeToo
  Abuse victims’ convictions for bigamy highlight hurdles to divorce in China / Caixin (paywall)
  “A court in Southwest China’s Guizhou province has convicted two women who were abused by their husbands of bigamy, after they lived with other men for decades without formally ending their previous marriages.”

• China investigates match fixing in youth football
  China probes defeat by Evergrande youth football team / FT (paywall)
  “Chinese authorities have ordered tighter supervision of local football leagues and an investigation into alleged match-fixing following a defeat suffered by an under-15s team from the youth academy of distressed property developer Evergrande.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Crime: Scam callers
  The China scam calls just won’t die / Politico
  Hong Kong journalist Nicolle Liu writes about how she was nearly sucked into “one of the many plots used by phone scammers targeting the Chinese-speaking population in the U.S. and overseas.”

• Spicy hotpot in stifling heat
  Eating spicy in China’s WWII shelters / AP
  In the city of Chongqing, “the inland metropolis on the Yangtze River has the perfect escape to enjoy hotpot, even in what has been a summer of unusually stifling heat: World War II-era air raid shelters, converted into restaurants, where the temperature is naturally cooler.”
  ‘Disaster entertainment’: Online jokes likening China’s record heatwave to ‘red chili oil hotpot’ trigger furious rebuke / SCMP (paywall)
  “Chinese state media have attacked people making online jokes about the country’s ongoing heatwave which has gripped much of the country in a serious drought and caused forest fires and power outages.”

• The dreams of Chinese women studying overseas
  For China’s new ‘new women,’ a dream of flight / Sixth Tone
  “Scholar Fran Martin on why young Chinese women are so keen to study abroad — and how that experience changes their lives after they graduate.”

• Squatters’ rights in a property crisis
  ‘We own it’: The Chinese homeowners squatting in unfinished buildings / Sixth Tone
  “Across China, failing developers are halting construction on new housing complexes. Desperate buyers are moving in anyway.”

• Are China’s youth gaming curbs working?
  China’s gaming limit on minors sees 40 million fewer players / Sixth Tone
  “A new report claims the government’s three-hour play time limit has worked, though loopholes to work around the restrictions still exist.”