Highlighted Links for Tuesday, August 30, 2022

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

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Why is Warren Buffett selling BYD shares as electric car boom yields huge profits?
  Buffett’s Berkshire sells 1.3 mln BYD H-shares for $47 mln – HKEX filing / Reuters
  “Berkshire Hathaway Inc, the investment firm owned by Warren Buffett, has sold 1.33 million Hong Kong-listed shares of BYD, the biggest Chinese electric vehicle maker, for around HK$370 million ($47.15 million), according to a filing.”
  BYD’s first-half net income triples to top end of forecast / Bloomberg (paywall)
  Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD reported on Monday that net income in the six months through June tripled from a year earlier to 3.6 billion yuan ($521 million).

• China loans out billions more to embattled real estate developers
  China to issue $29 billion of special loans to finish housing projects / Caixin (paywall)
  “China will issue 200 billion yuan ($29 billion) in special loans to help developers finish stalled housing projects, Caixin learned from several sources.”
  Chinese borrowers pile pressure on banks with early mortgage payments / FT (paywall)
  China’s biggest property developer Country Garden sees profits plunge 96% / Guardian
  “China’s biggest property developer Country Garden Holdings has reported a 96% drop in profits, blaming a ‘severe depression’ in the country’s crisis-hit property market in which ‘only the fittest can survive.’”

• Boeing wins billion-dollar airplane deal in Taiwan
  Taiwan’s China Airlines to buy 16 Boeing 787s in $4.6 billion deal / Reuters
  “Taiwan’s China Airlines said on Tuesday it would buy 16 Boeing 787 widebody planes to replace its aging fleet of Airbus A330s following a widely-watched contest held against the backdrop of regional tensions.”

• China shores up the yuan after beefing up stimmy
  China gets more aggressive in pushing back against weaker yuan / Bloomberg (paywall)
  “China took the most aggressive step yet in its latest battle to bolster the yuan, setting its reference rate for the currency with the second-strongest bias on record.”
  China policy steps this year exceed those of 2020 — state media cites premier / Reuters

• Pinduoduo and Baidu surprise with better-than-expected growth
  Pinduoduo reports 36% revenue growth and nearly tripled net income in Q2 / TechNode
  “Chinese ecommerce company Pinduoduo reported 31.44 billion yuan ($4.69 billion) in revenue in second-quarter earnings, a 36% growth from last year, and far exceeded the expected average of $4.1 billion.”
  China’s Pinduoduo surprises market with 36% revenue rise / WSJ (paywall)
  Baidu revenue contracts but beats estimates on cloud business growth / Reuters
  “China’s search engine giant Baidu beat quarterly revenue estimates on Tuesday, underpinned by growth in its cloud business, even as it reported its first year-on-year quarterly revenue contraction in two years.”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND ENVIRONMENT:

• COVID is creeping in everywhere around China
  China is battling its broadest COVID outbreak yet / Bloomberg (paywall)
  “All 31 mainland provinces recorded at least one local COVID case over the past 10 days, reflecting the broadest exposure to the virus since at least February 2021, when national health authorities began disclosing detailed records on where asymptomatic infections were occurring daily.”
  Millions in new COVID lockdown as China keeps strict policy / AP
  China’s big cities, from Dalian to Shenzhen, ramp up COVID curbs / Reuters

• Rainfall brings relief to scorching-hot China, as weather and power problems loom
  Rain eases China’s record heatwave but fresh energy crisis looms / Guardian
  “Rain across central China this week is expected to relieve the country’s worst heatwave on record, but weather agencies are now warning of potential floods, while analysts say the energy crisis exacerbated by the months-long drought is not over.”

POLITICS AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

• China’s advanced spy network has Europe on edge
  ‘On a par with the Russians’: rise in Chinese espionage alarms Europe / FT (paywall)
  “Western spy chiefs say sophistication of Beijing’s intelligence operations is now comparable to the Kremlin’s.”

• Malaysia leans toward China, while Guatemala backs Taiwan
  Taiwan says China still carrying out military activities around island / Reuters
  Guatemala support for Taiwan will not stop ‘reunification’ of China and Taiwan, says China / Reuters
  “Guatemalan support for Taiwan will not stop the ‘reunification’ of China and Taiwan, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman [Zhào Lìjiān 赵立坚] said on Tuesday.”
  Mahathir Mohamad urges Asean to move toward China after U.S.’s Taiwan ‘provocation’ / FT (paywall)
  “Malaysia’s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has blamed ‘U.S. provocation’ for the increased tensions over Taiwan and urged south-east Asian countries to move closer to China.”

• John Kerry urges cooperation with China, but will anyone listen?
  Climate envoy John Kerry seeks restart to U.S. emissions talks with China / FT (paywall)
  “U.S. climate envoy John Kerry praised China’s efforts at tackling global warming and urged Beijing to resume suspended talks on the issue, even as tensions flare with Washington over the status of Taiwan.”

• Hong Kong still looking for evidence to prosecute Jimmy Lai
  Hong Kong court upholds warrant on tycoon Jimmy Lai’s phones / Reuters
  “Hong Kong’s High Court on Tuesday upheld a new warrant obtained by the national security police to search the contents of media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s [黎智英 Lí Zhìyīng] phones.”

• After rejecting U.S. ships, Solomon Islands says no foreign navies allowed to dock pending new rules
  Solomon Islands to ban navy ships from ports until new process in place / Reuters
  “The Solomon Islands has suspended entry into its waters for foreign navy ships pending adoption of a new process for approval of port visits, the prime minister’s office said on Tuesday, in a bid to better police its exclusive economic zones.”
  Solomon Islands lurch toward despotism as China debt deepens / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
  In March 2022: Leaked documents detailing a new security pact between China and the Solomon Islands are a worry for Western allies.

• Indonesia joins China-led RCEP trade pact
  Indonesia parliament approves membership of China-backed regional trade deal / Reuters
  “Indonesia’s parliament on Tuesday passed a law cementing the country’s membership of the China-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), making it the latest Southeast Asian nation to join the world’s biggest trade bloc.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Depression and joblessness in the age of COVID zero
  ‘It felt like my insides were crying’: China COVID curbs hit youth mental health / Reuters
  COVID lockdowns are raising concerns for the mental health of teenagers and young adults, who are “more vulnerable because of their age and lack of control over their lives, and who have to contend with far greater education stresses and economic pressures than earlier generations.”
  Young and out of a job in China: How COVID-19 is creating an unemployment crisis / SCMP (paywall)

• Unearthing the life of a powerful ancient Chinese woman
  The real story of Wu Zetian’s right-hand woman / Sixth Tone
  Shàngguān Wǎn er 上官婉儿 “was an accomplished politician and poet. So why have later generations painted her as a promiscuous striver?”