UK orders sale of Chinese microchip factory over national security concerns

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

Britain has ordered Nexperia, a Chinese-owned technology company, to sell at least 86% of Newport Wafer Fab, the country’s biggest microchip factory, based in Wales, after a review of the takeover found it a risk to national security.

• MI5 director-general Ken McCallum yesterday warned that China is playing the “long game” and that “the activities of the Chinese Communist Party pose the most game-changing strategic challenge to the U.K.”
• Meanwhile, Finland’s prime minister, Sanna Marin, said today that Europe is too reliant on China for critical technologies: “Let’s be honest, we have vulnerabilities already. We see it when we look at chips or semiconductors, we are too dependent.”

Chinese President Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met today for their first in-person meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bangkok, Thailand, as Xi continues a week of intense diplomacy aimed at easing tensions with Western allies.

• Xi is also expected to meet New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on the sidelines.

A U.S. federal judge has handed down a 20-year prison sentence to a Chinese national who was convicted of attempting to steal trade secrets from Western aviation and aerospace companies, after extraditing him from Belgium in 2018.

Anger at COVID-zero curbs has again erupted over the death of a four-month-old girl under quarantine at a hotel in Zhengzhou, after it reportedly took her father 11 hours to get emergency help before she finally was sent to a hospital 100 kilometers (60 miles) away.

• The incident occurred despite promises from authorities this month that those in need of emergency assistance would not be blocked, following public outcry over the death of a three-year-old boy earlier this month under similar circumstances.
• Earlier this week, protesters in Guangzhou tore down quarantine barricades and clashed with police over lockdowns.

Blizzard and NetEase break up: Popular video games like World of Warcraft and Overwatch will be pulled from China in the next few months, after NetEase, a Hangzhou-based publishing giant, and a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard failed to extend their licensing deal, ending a 14-year-long collaboration. Shares of NetEase sank by as much as 15% in Hong Kong.

Poor results for Tencent and Alibaba: Tech giant Tencent has reported revenue for the third quarter of 140.09 billion yuan ($19.87 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 2%. Alibaba has also announced its financial results for the quarter that ended September 30, reporting revenue of 207.17 billion yuan ($29.12 billion), an increase of 3% year-over-year, but a net loss of 22.46 billion yuan ($3.15 billion). See today’s Business briefs from the Chinese media, with more links and info on:

• The largest-ever nuclear heating project.
• EV battery production at an all-time high.

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