What year are we in? — Editor’s note for Friday, August 26, 2022
A note for Weekly newsletter readers from Jeremy Goldkorn.
Dear reader,
Today’s big news: The U.S. and China seem to have reached a deal on auditing that will allow some 200 Chinese companies like Alibaba to stay on American stock exchanges. The agreement may bring to an end a dispute that has gone on for years between American and Chinese regulators.
The clash has pitted the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) — a Washington, D.C.–based nonprofit corporation created in 2002 to oversee the audits of public companies to protect investors — against the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). The PCAOB has long demanded to see the books of Chinese companies that are listed in the U.S., but the CSRC and other Chinese government organizations have resisted, citing national security concerns.
But the two sides have apparently reached a deal. Call me a cynic, but I don’t think this is by any means the end of the problem. As U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler said, per Reuters: “Make no mistake, though: The proof will be in the pudding…This agreement will be meaningful only if the PCAOB actually can inspect and investigate completely audit firms in China.”
Another thing that feeds my cynical side is the idea that there is any meaningful opposition within the Chinese Communist Party to the rule of Xí Jìnpíng 习近平. Rumors, tweets, and even reports in serious newspapers are suggesting that Premier Lǐ Kèqiáng 李克强 is challenging Xi and may even put an end to the Chairman of Everything’s plans to rule for a third term.
So I am in hearty agreement with veteran China business journalist Dexter Tiff Roberts, who says, in a new piece for The China Project, “Forget about it.”
Finally, news of a lawsuit in New York that is another sign of the times: ”A New York-based vice president at China International Capital Corp. Ltd. claims she faces discrimination at the Beijing-based investment bank because she’s not Chinese and not a member of the Chinese Communist Party,” reports Bloomberg.
Our phrase of the week is: What year are we in? (今夕是何年 jīn xī shì hé nián).
Announcements:
- On September 1, we’re changing our name from The China Project to The China Project.
- If you’re in London from September 19 to 21, I’ll be speaking at SOAS at a conference: China and the media — who decides the stories?
