Highlighted links for Monday, October 24, 2022

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

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

Profits have peaked for COVID vaccine makers
‘Best days are over’ for China’s pandemic stock winners as zero-COVID policy fails to halt losing run for vaccine makers / SCMP (paywall)
“Chinese vaccine makers have seen their best days in the stock market, even as Beijing hardens its zero-COVID policy.”
Last week on The China Project: No more easy money from mass testing despite COVID zero.

Bright spots for China’s economy?
China’s local credit market is rare bright spot for new leaders / Bloomberg (paywall)
“China’s new leadership lineup faces a challenging economic outlook and dwindling investor confidence across markets, but there’s one asset class where things are much smoother — local corporate bonds near their strongest-ever levels.”
Why the yuan is suddenly gaining international traction / Caixin (paywall)
“China’s 13-year push for greater international use of its currency is suddenly gaining traction. The yuan now accounts for nearly half of China’s domestic and foreign currency cross-border settlements, and foreign governments and businesses are coming increasingly to consider it as an alternative to the U.S. dollar.”

Gloomy job market for fresh grads
China’s fall recruitment signals fewer jobs for upcoming grads / Sixth Tone
“More than 40% of the majority of the 5,670 companies that have kicked off their annual fall employment scheme since August have slashed their headcounts for those graduating in 2023, job platform Liepin said in a report last week, citing an undisclosed national survey. However, 28% of them were likely to increase the uptake in the third quarter of the year.”

Home prices fall as property crisis roils on
As China’s home prices fall for 13th month, analysts call for more measures to support developers, revive sales / SCMP (paywall)
“With home prices showing no signs of hitting bottom, analysts say the government has to implement stronger measures to revive market sentiment.”

Tesla slashes price for EV model to cash in on Beijing’s subsidies
Tesla cuts prices for China-made Model Y and Model 3 / TechNode
“Tesla on Monday cut the prices of its Model Y crossover in a standard range rear-wheel-drive (RWD) configuration by 28,000 yuan ($3,925) to 288,900 yuan [$39,777], making it eligible for China’s EV purchase subsidies which are set to expire at the end of the year.”
China’s EV war: Tesla slashes prices of Shanghai-made electric cars to keep its lead over rivals after record deliveries / SCMP (paywall)

Gaming woes
Chinese gaming companies’ sales fell both in China and overseas markets in Q3 / TechNode
“Chinese gaming sales fell 19.13% yearly to RMB 59.7 billion ($8.23 billion) in the third quarter of 2022, according to an Oct. 21 report from Chinese data firm CNG.”

Goldman Sachs grabs a chunk of Chinese infrastructure
Goldman Sachs launches Chinese infrastructure real estate joint venture / Reuters
“Goldman Sachs (GS.N) has launched a joint venture in China with local logistics company Sunjade in a bid to boost investment in Chinese logistics and infrastructure real estate assets, the U.S. bank said on Monday.”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND ENVIRONMENT:

World’s cheapest epilepsy medicine
Chinese drugmaker launches epilepsy medicine after government approval / Sixth Tone
“A month after China’s drug regulator approved a crucial medicine to treat epilepsy in children, its domestic manufacturer officially launched the drug Friday, which it claims to be the lowest priced globally.”

Low birth rate threatens Xi’s ambitions for China
Xi Jinping’s vision for China faces challenge from low birth rate / WSJ (paywall)
“China’s low birth rate didn’t seem to be a concern for [Xí Jìnpíng 习近平] during the party congress, yet it could turn out to be one of the biggest obstacles to the Chinese leader’s pledge to achieve the ‘great rejuvenation’ of the country.”

Guangzhou goes into partial lockdown
China imposes COVID curbs in center of factory hub Guangzhou / Bloomberg (paywall)
“China suspended in-person schooling and dining-in at restaurants in a district at the center of Guangzhou, stoking concerns about the potential for disruption in the southern Chinese manufacturing hub that’s home to about 19 million people.”

POLITICS AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

Ripples from the protest banner in Beijing
A lonely protest in Beijing inspires young Chinese to find their voice / NYT (paywall)

A protester unfurled two banners on a highway overpass in central Beijing on October 13, denouncing Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 as a “despotic traitor.” China’s censors went to great lengths to scrub the internet of any reference to the act of dissent…The slogans didn’t go away. Instead, they caught on inside and outside China, online and offline.

‘We don’t want; we want’ is now a loaded phrase in China / WSJ (paywall)
Beijing protester’s battle cry sends ripples worldwide / WSJ (paywall)

Chip wars
China’s YMTC asks core U.S. staff to leave due to chip export controls / FT (paywall)
TSMC: the Taiwanese chipmaker caught up in the tech cold war / FT (paywall)
Taiwan needs to diversify trade amid U.S.-China row: Finance chief / Bloomberg (paywall)
China’s Communist Party looks to science cadres to push back at U.S. tech squeeze / SCMP (paywall)
“U.S. officials are considering new export restrictions on China in the fields of quantum computing and AI software, Bloomberg reported last week, citing people familiar with the matter.”

China’s energy and Russia trade boom, while exports to U.S. and EU slump
China’s diesel fuel exports more than doubled in September / Reuters
China’s crude imports and refining surge as maintenance ends / Bloomberg (paywall)
China’s exports to major markets slump, Russian trade strong / Bloomberg (paywall)

Migrant workers face eviction threats over COVID outbreak
China’s Shanghai migrant worker villages blamed for COVID face demolition / Bloomberg (paywall)
“Tens of thousands of migrant workers in Shanghai, who have long been living on the margins in one of China’s wealthiest cities, are facing renewed threats of eviction after their ramshackle villages were blamed for causing the COVID-19 outbreak that led to a monthslong lockdown.”

Taiwan ramps up defenses in the face of a more assertive China
CPC amends its constitution to adopt a more aggressive Chinese policy towards Taiwan / Radio Free Asia
“The Taiwanese government has condemned Beijing’s ‘old mindset’ after the Communist Party of China (CPC) passed a constitutional amendment vowing its goal of ‘fully, faithfully, and resolutely implementing the policy of One Country, Two Systems.’”
Taiwan to boost energy inventories amid China threat / Reuters

Germany still ❤️China?
Olaf Scholz won’t dump China. Will Europe ever learn? / Politico Europe
“As [Xí Jìnpíng 习近平] embarks on another five-year term, fears grow that Germany is repeating the mistake it made by getting too close to Russia.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

Psychiatric facilities for China’s internet-addicted adolescents
Inside China’s brutal internet addiction clinics / Sixth Tone
“Since 2002, thousands of Chinese teenagers have been labeled ‘internet addicts’ and thrown into psychiatric facilities, where they’re subjected to forced medication, military training, and in some cases even electroshock therapy. A new film offers a terrifying glimpse inside the system.”

Women bring home the bacon in China’s patriarchal society
What happens when women are the breadwinners? / Sixth Tone
“Better educated and professionally successful, rising numbers of middle-class women are flipping the script on traditional gender and marital norms.”