Highlighted Links for Tuesday, October 11, 2022

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

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Booming market for virtual avatars
  Avatar company Huiye Technology raises tens of millions of RMB / TechNode
  “Chinese Avatar company Huiye Technology secured tens of millions of RMB in the Pre-A+ round of financing led by GL Ventures, an early-stage investment arm of Hillhouse Capital.”

• CATL uses big battery profits to buy more cobalt
  CATL’s Q3 profits exceed $1.22 billion, setting new record / Pandaily
  “A financial report for Chinese battery giant CATL released on October 10 showed that its net profits for the third quarter of this year are expected to total between 8.8 billion and 9.8 billion yuan ($1.22 billion – $1.36 billion), up 169% to 199% year-on-year.”
  Chinese battery giant CATL bets on the future of cobalt by buying a big chunk of CMOC / China-Global South Project (paywall)
  “Strong demand for electric vehicles around the world helped to triple profits at Chinese battery giant CATL, the world’s largest battery maker…CATL is going to use some of that money to buy a large stake in Chinese cobalt mining giant CMOC Group (aka China Molybdenum).”

• HSBC expands private banking in China
  HSBC extends Chinese private banking network to lure new digital millionaires / Reuters
  “HSBC Global Private Banking has launched its business in the large Chinese cities of Chengdu and Hangzhou, it said on Tuesday, to try to capture a bigger share of the local market as uncertainties cloud potential for China’s wealth growth.”

• Tech job woes
  China’s tech firms are slashing staff. Creators are first in line. / Sixth Tone
  “When China’s tech companies torpedoed the traditional media industry, thousands of journalists and other creators jumped ship. Now, the startups that hired them are sinking, too.”

• Alibaba’s shipping and delivery service adds head count for Singles Day shopping spree
  Logistics service Cainiao adds 100,000 temporary staff ahead of Singles Day 2022 / TechNode
  “Alibaba’s logistics arm Cainiao is adding 100,000 temporary workers ahead of an anticipated delivery rush for Singles Day 2022, China’s biggest online shopping festival.”

• No end to auto slump
  China auto sales growth slows in Sept as signs of softening demand emerge / Reuters
  “Auto sales in the world’s biggest car market increased to 2.61 million vehicles last month, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) showed on Tuesday.”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND ENVIRONMENT:

• Shanghai rivers are too salty
  Unseasonal salt tides in Shanghai threaten its water supply / Sixth Tone
  “The phenomenon that turns river water salty is not unusual in Shanghai, but the record-breaking drought has exacerbated it this year.”
  Facing water shortage, Shanghai scrambles to stop saltwater flowing into reservoirs / Caixin (paywall)

POLITICS AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

• Who will be excluded from CPTPP trading bloc — China or Taiwan?
  Australia sees ‘no prospect’ of China being accepted into CPTPP / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
  “Australia’s trade minister remains concerned about China’s application to join one of the world’s biggest multilateral free trade agreements due to festering disputes between the two countries, though he said Canberra is open to bilateral talks with Beijing toward resolving their issues.”
  Visiting Canadian lawmaker backs Taiwan’s CPTPP bid / Focus Taiwan

• China steps up military patrols around Taiwan
  More frequent Chinese patrols put ‘heavy burden’ on aging Taiwan frigates / Reuters
  “The stepped up intensity of Chinese naval patrols near Taiwan since August is putting a “heavy burden” on the island’s aging frigate fleet, which is struggling to maintain combat readiness, the Taiwanese defense ministry said on Tuesday.”
  ‘If this is not provocation, what is it?’: Taiwan says mainland China sends 4-6 warships every day / SCMP (paywall)

• Taiwan condemns Russia’s “war crimes” in Ukraine
  Taiwan condemns Russia over latest missile strikes on Ukraine / Focus Taiwan
  “The Republic of China (Taiwan) government on Tuesday condemned Russia’s latest missile strikes across Ukraine that killed civilians and destroyed targets with no apparent military purpose, saying that the act of aggression can be classified as war crimes.”

• Will China replace an isolated Russia as the world’s budget arms supplier?
  The coming Chinese weapons boom / Foreign Affairs
  “While Washington dominates the global market in high-end, high-tech weapons, Russia has carved out a place for itself as the world’s leading supplier of the capable and cost-effective but lower-tech weapons that are sometimes described as ‘value arms’…Since American firms typically do not compete in the value arms market, Russia’s difficulties have created a vacuum. And the country poised to fill it is China.”

• Party prep
  Security, red banners and COVID curbs: Beijing readies for 20th Congress / Reuters
  “Beijing has stepped up security and COVID curbs and decorated the capital Beijing with red political banners as it gears up for a Communist Party congress where President Xi Jinping is poised to become China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.”

• Xi and his decade ruling China
  One nation under Xi: How China’s leader is remaking its identity / NYT (paywall)
  Xi Jinping’s third term is a tipping point beyond China / Time
  China wants to change, or break, a world order set by others / Economist (paywall)
  For Western democracies, the price of avoiding a clash with China is rising / Economist (paywall)

• What’s behind China’s diplomatic slogans?
  Slogan politics: Understanding Chinese foreign policy concepts (book excerpt) / Pekingnology
  Pekingnology offers an exclusive excerpt from the book Slogan Politics: Understanding Chinese Foreign Policy Concepts by Professor Jinghan Zeng 曾敬涵 of Lancaster University.

• Populating the South China Sea
  More than 5,000 Chinese military staff live on islands in the South China Sea / Radio Free Asia
  “New reports by China’s state-sanctioned media have revealed the extent of the population in Chinese reclaimed and controlled islands in the South China Sea.”

• China eyes Zimbabwe steelmaking
  Chinese-built plant to turn Zimbabwe into Africa’s biggest steel producer / China-Global South Project (paywall)
  “A new Chinese-led plant could turn Zimbabwe into Africa’s largest producer of iron and steel.”

• Former Tiananmen vigil leader appeals in Hong Kong
  Tiananmen vigil activist Chow Hang-tung appeals conviction, 15-month sentence over banned 2021 commemoration / HKFP
  “A former leader of the group that organized Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen candlelight vigils has appealed against her conviction and sentence over last year’s banned commemoration.”

• China blacklists Philippines as tourist spot over illegal gambling
  China sticks Philippines on tourist blacklist due to offshore gambling operators known as Pogos / SCMP (paywall)
  “China has added the Philippines to its blacklist of tourist destinations due to illegal activities linked to the offshore gambling industry, a Senator said, citing Beijing’s envoy to Manila [Huáng Xīlián 黄溪连].”

• Clever ways around China’s round-the-clock internet censors
  How Chinese citizens use puns to get past internet censors / Rest of World
  “Chinese social media companies and users are locked in a never-ending battle between free speech and censorship.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• People with mental illness shunned in workforce
  For China’s mentally ill, finding work often isn’t worth the trouble / Sixth Tone
  “The millions of Chinese living with serious mental illnesses face more than just employer discrimination.”

• More guide dogs needed in China
  ‘Graduation day’ for guide dogs highlights their rarity in China / Sixth Tone
  “Hobbled by training and financial hurdles, the number of trained canines has long fallen short of meeting the tremendous demand in the country.”

• COVID phone pop-up draws ire and fear
  Getting ‘pop-upped’: The most hated pop-up notification in China right now / What’s on Weibo
  “But feared much more than these scam ad pop-ups now are the Health Code pop-ups, which notify people that they are considered a contagion risk and have possibly come across someone who tested positive for COVID-19. The pop-up windows especially became a topic of discussion on Chinese social media in light of the recent new COVID cases in Beijing.”