Highlighted Links for Tuesday, September 6, 2022

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

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Harsh winter for China’s steel sector
  China’s steel industry at a crossroads as long winter looms / Caixin (paywall)
  “For China’s steel industry, the world’s largest, winter has arrived early and it is shaping up to be one of the harshest in years with a slowing economy and escalation of the property market crisis tanking demand and evaporating profits.”

• Another TikTok security breach?
  TikTok data breach claims put ByteDance’s short video app back in spotlight amid controversy over Chinese ownership / SCMP (paywall)
  “Cybersecurity analysts tweeted about the discovery of an insecure server on Monday, but claims of leaked personal data are inconclusive.”

• China to pour money into power infrastructure
  Chinese blackouts could power up grid stocks / WSJ (paywall)
  “Power shortages in Sichuan — and a continuing renewable power build-out — highlight need for huge investment in China’s grid.”

• China shores up the yuan to ease currency struggles
  China’s central bank moves to slow yuan depreciation / WSJ (paywall)
  “China’s central bank has cut the amount of foreign exchange banks must keep in reserve, an attempt to bolster the country’s rapidly weakening currency.”

• Weak consumption
  Chinese ecommerce companies suffer as economy sours / WSJ (paywall)
  “Chinese consumers are cutting back on discretionary purchases and becoming more thrifty as the country’s economic slowdown drags on, impeding the once-inexorable growth of the country’s e-commerce companies.”

• Japanese companies leave China in droves to avoid supply chain disruptions
  Need for stability is behind Japanese investment spree, says U.S. ambassador / FT (paywall)
  “The war in Ukraine, COVID-19 and the rise of China will force multinational companies to embrace a new version of globalization, where cutting costs comes second to a ‘predictability premium,’ the US ambassador to Japan has said.”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND ENVIRONMENT:

• China approves world’s first inhaled COVID vaccine for emergency use
  CanSino’s inhaled COVID-19 vaccine gets emergency use approval in China / Reuters
  “The company cautioned, however, that it will face fierce competition from other vaccines in China that have also obtained government approval or are in clinical trials.”
  In world’s first, CanSino’s inhalable Covid vaccine gets Beijing’s green light / Caixin (paywall)

POLITICS AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

• Is the Philippines pivoting away from China?
  Southeast Asia warily navigates rising US-China tensions over Taiwan / FT (paywall)
  Governments in the region seek to balance maintaining close relations with Washington and Beijing.

• The rise of “residential surveillance” under Xi
  China vastly expands use of house arrests under Xi, report finds / Washington Post (paywall)
  “Safeguard Defenders’ estimates suggest over a quarter of a million officially approved instances of house arrest take place each year, up from fewer than 10,000 in 2013.”

• Laos economic crisis intensifies amid massive Chinese debt
  Laos’ debt pressure raises specter of a China vassal state / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
  “Echoes of Sri Lanka on the Mekong as muzzled public seethes over economic woes.”

• Religious oppression in China
  Christian church that fled China seeks refugee status from United Nations / WSJ (paywall)
  “A congregation of Christians who left China to seek asylum in South Korea has now traveled to Thailand to ask the United Nations’ refugee agency for protection from religious persecution.”

• U.K.-China relations under Britain’s new prime minister
  Liz Truss to ramp up anti-China rhetoric as U.K.’s new PM / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
  “U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss won a ruling Conservative Party ballot to become the country’s next prime minister, likely leading to a ramping up of anti-China rhetoric that will solidify years of rising tensions.”
  UK relations with China unlikely to improve under new PM Liz Truss, analysts say / SCMP (paywall)

• India-Japan alliance
  Japan is recasting its national security vision in face of an aggressive China. India must inject strategic content into ties during 2+2 dialogue / The Indian Express
  “There is deep political resistance and bureaucratic inertia against any effort to recast defence policies in both capitals. There is much that Delhi and Tokyo could do together in meeting their common security challenges.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Mass DNA collection in Tibet
  China steps up Tibet DNA collection in ‘rights violation’: report / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
  “China is committing a ‘serious rights violation’ by expanding DNA collection efforts across Tibet, including taking blood samples from children as young as 5 years old, a Human Rights Watch report said Monday.”

• No end to lockdowns
  China extends COVID lockdowns for tens of millions in Chengdu and Shenzhen / FT (paywall)
  “Chinese authorities have extended Covid-19 lockdowns of Chengdu and Shenzhen, backtracking on promises of freedom for tens of millions of people in the southern megacities following mass testing campaigns.”
• Chinese women in plight
  Battling violence and censors, women in China become ‘invisible and absent’ / NYT (paywall)
  “The Chinese Communist Party has long promoted gender equality as a core tenet, but as cases of gender abuse make headlines, Beijing has tried to squelch dissent and control the narrative.”

• Talent flees from Hong Kong
  Brain drain hits Hong Kong’s education sector as teachers and students join exodus / Hong Kong Free Press
  “The latest government figures show more than 4,000 teachers left their jobs in the past school year, a five-year high and a 70 percent spike from the year before.”