News Briefing for Tuesday, August 30, 2022

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

Another U.S. delegation has arrived in Taiwan: Doug Ducey, the governor of the U.S. state of Arizona, arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday for a visit to “woo suppliers” for the new $12 billion TSMC plant being built in his state, marking the fourth trip by American political leaders to Taiwan within two months. Eric Holcomb, the governor of Indiana, ended a similar visit just last week.

Earlier in August on The China Project: U.S. finally passes semiconductor subsidy bill, but it’s not going to help competition with China.

American firms are losing confidence in China, according to an annual survey (English, Chinese) from the U.S.-China Business Council. The poll of 117 member companies conducted in June 2022 — shortly after a period of widespread COVID-19 lockdowns in Shanghai and across the nation — reported a record 21% that said they were downbeat on business in China over the next five years.

• China’s COVID-19 policies are the top challenge, displacing U.S.-China relations, which ranked as the top concern for four consecutive years.
• The number of companies that have felt an impact from U.S.-China tensions is at a record high at 87%.

Even anonymous postings are getting self-censored on Facebook groups in Hong Kong, Rest of World reports, as citizens opt for caution rather than risk unwanted attention from the city’s national security authorities.

• In August, Hong Kong police arrested two administrators of the Facebook page Civil Servant Secrets on suspicion of sedition, without elaborating why.
• Shortly after the arrests, “many similar popular pages each with tens of thousands of followers shut down, as people feared becoming the next targets of Hong Kong’s crackdown on dissent.”

Police arrest 234 people in Henan banking crisis: Police in Henan Province have announced the arrest of 234 suspects in connection with a criminal group that took control of four village banks, resulting in a banking crisis and protest that erupted in April when depositors were unable to withdraw money from the banks. Also in today’s business briefs:

• Big ecommerce profits for Pinduoduo and Meituan.
• A big loss for Wanda Films after lockdowns destroyed the box office.

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