The hard-hat revolution?

Dear Access member,

Maria Repnikova will join us for a Slack Q&A next Friday, August 2, at 10 a.m. EST (10 p.m. in Beijing). Mark your calendars for an interactive discussion exploring the topics of her book, Media Politics in China: Improvising Power Under Authoritarianism, as well as her recent research in Ethiopia exploring Chinese engagement there. 

• Watch a short video about her experience in Addis Ababa on MacroPolo. 

• Listen to her interview on the Sinica Podcast last year: ‘Critical’ journalism in China, explained by Maria Repnikova.

—Jeremy Goldkorn and team

1. Hong Kong: The hard-hat revolution?

Protests continue in Hong Kong, and there are bound to be more demonstrations over the weekend after this newsletter is sent. 

The South China Morning Post reports that protesters have taken to the airport, crowding the arrivals hall:

Aviation workers were among an estimated 15,000 protesters who staged a sit-in at Hong Kong International Airport on Friday in a bid to win international support for the movement against the now-suspended extradition bill.

The Hong Kong Free Press has more: In Pictures: ‘Welcome to Hong Kong, stay safe’: 100s deliver anti-extradition law message to travelers at airport.

The Guardian describes another, rare form of protest in Hong Kong:

More than 400 public servants from 44 departments have signed a letter threatening “concrete industrial actions” if the government continues to ignore public demands. The public servants posted images of their government staff identity cards, as proof of their positions, with notes on them calling for an investigation into the police.

Adding fuel to the controversy around the thug attacks in Yuen Long at the beginning of this week, Reuters reports that Chinese officials had specifically encouraged the residents of that neighborhood to resist protesters prior to the violence:

Lǐ Jìyí 李蓟贻, the director of the Central Government Liaison’s local district office made the appeal at a community banquet for hundreds of villagers in Hong Kong’s rural New Territories.

In a previously unreported recording from the July 11 event obtained by Reuters…Li chastises the protesters, appealing to the assembled residents to protect their towns in Yuen Long district and to chase anti-government activists away.

“We won’t allow them to come to Yuen Long to cause trouble,” he said, to a burst of applause.

“Even though there are a group of protesters trained to throw bricks and iron bars, we still have a group of Yuen Long residents with the persistence and courage to maintain social peace and protect our home.”

However, the Hong Kong government appears to be making efforts to tone down this controversy, per the HKFP:

Hong Kong’s number two official Matthew Cheung [張建宗 Zhāng Jiànzōng] has apologized for the way the government handled the Yuen Long attacks on Sunday, and for the first time described its perpetrators as “thugs.”

THE HARD HAT REVOLUTION?

Now that organizing for mass protests has been taking place for most of the past two months, it’s somewhat surprising that a nickname for the protests hasn’t taken hold yet. A contender emerged this week, as Mary Hui writes in Quartz, “Hardhats are the new symbol of Hong Kong’s protests”:

If the commonplace umbrella was the defining image of Hong Kong’s massive protest movement in 2014 — hence the aptly named the Umbrella Movement — then the sturdy hardhat is fast becoming the symbol of the ongoing wave of protests… 

While helmets and hardhats were also used during the Umbrella Movement, they have taken on a much more central role this time around. Just like umbrellas, the hardhats serve both functional and symbolic purposes: they protect protesters’ heads in potentially violent situations, but also send a message of steely resolve as protesters buckle in for the long haul.

Noting Mary Hui’s earlier thread on Twitter about the symbolism of the hard hat, Antony Dapiran tweeted on July 23 that “perhaps we should call these protests the ‘Hardhat Revolution.’”

Another Hong Kong–based journalist, Stuart Heaver, today also dubbed the protests the “hard hat revolution” in a piece for The Independent: Hong Kong’s quiet and determined ‘hard hat revolution’ is braced for a lurch towards civil war. He comments: “The young Hongkongers I talk to are not stereotypical hard-bitten agitators but they are determined, idealistic and desperate…No one knows what will happen next. It feels like a revolution but it also feels like a pending catastrophe. No one is predicting a happy ending.” 

THE LATEST NEWS FROM HONG KONG

Other reports to keep track of, from and about Hong Kong:

The threat of PLA force

• US State Department worried by Beijing’s hints it could use troops to put down Hong Kong protests / SCMP

“We note with concern the Chinese government’s statements,” a state department spokeswoman told the South China Morning Post on Thursday… 

The state department said it “categorically reject[ed] the false charge of foreign forces as the black hand behind the protests,” referring to an allegory often employed by Beijing to refer to external interference.

• Will China send in the troops to stamp out protests in Hong Kong? / SCMP
  “The costs and complexities of doing so mean Beijing is highly unlikely to give the orders, observers say.”

• Beijing says People’s Liberation Army is a ‘pillar of stability’ for Hong Kong / SCMP

• China’s garrison in Hong Kong is not symbolic / FT (paywall)
  CY Leung, former chief executive of Hong Kong, writes to the FT’s editors:

The arrangement for the Chinese garrison in Hong Kong is found not only in the Hong Kong Garrison Law as you reported. It is stipulated also in Article 14 of the Hong Kong Basic Law in exactly the same words, ie “The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region may, when necessary, ask the Central People’s Government for assistance from the garrison in the maintenance of public order and in disaster relief.”

Other articles

• In Hong Kong protests, faces become weapons / NYT (porous paywall)
  “A quest to identify protesters and police officers has people in both groups desperate to protect their anonymity. Some fear a turn toward China-style surveillance.” 

• Hong Kong headliner makes headlines / China Heritage
  “Following the release of ‘We Connect’, Episode 17 in its Spring-Summer 2019 season on Friday the 19th of July, Headliner 頭條新聞, a topical and popular Hong Kong TV show that specialises in political commentary and pointed spoofs, went into summer recess. After the dramatic events of the evening of the 21st of July, however, the show’s holiday plans were shelved.”

Earlier this week in and related to Hong Kong:

• In Hong Kong, organized groups of thugs attacked protestors and bystanders at Yuen Long on July 21, injuring 45 people in the most violent day since the start of demonstrations a month and a half ago. At the same time, Beijing began a coordinated propaganda offensive that called for the “rule of law,” and decried the protestors as anarchist Hong Kong elements (乱港分子 luàn gǎng fēnzǐ). Donald Trump said that Xi Jinping has “acted responsibly” in Hong Kong, but Beijing did not return the friendly words, and instead blamed the protests on U.S.-directed “black hands.” 

• Beijing made clear that military force is an option in Hong Kong, because the “behavior of some radical protesters challenges the central government’s authority” and “absolutely cannot be tolerated.” In another sign of the severity of the situation, Junius Ho [何君堯 Hé Jūnyáo], a pro-Beijing lawmaker, made a death threat against an opposition lawmaker. 

• Police banned a protest planned in Yuen Long for July 27, after 11 universities had issued warnings urging students to heed safety concerns, though students signaled they would still show up. 

• In Australia, a protest featuring pro-Hong Kong and pro-Beijing students at the University of Queensland turned ugly, as some in the latter group ripped up signs supporting Hong Kong. The Chinese consulate-general in Brisbane, Australia, praised the disrupters for their “counter-protest against separatists.” 

The South China Morning Post today reports that the University of Queensland had “named Xu Jie, the Chinese consul-general in Brisbane, as a visiting professor of language and culture in a July 15 ceremony at the university,” raising further questions about the Chinese consulate’s involvement in the protests at the university. 

—Lucas Niewenhuis

2. A quick update on the techno-trade war 

Is Trump being advised against continuing the trade war? One source told Politico, “The good news is, there aren’t that many people left with much influence telling him that trade wars are good and helpful.” But Larry Kudlow, the president’s chief economic adviser, told CNBC: “That doesn’t apply to easing up on China.” Kudlow separately added to CNBC that he “wouldn’t expect any grand deal” with China. 

Trump tweets negative on Apple and Google: “Apple will not be given Tariff waiver, or relief, for Mac Pro parts that are made in China. Make them in the USA, no Tariffs!,” one Trump tweet stated. Another insinuated, “There may or may not be National Security concerns with regard to Google and their relationship with China. If there is a problem, we will find out about it. I sincerely hope there is not!!!” (Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had two days prior said, “We’re not aware of any areas where Google working with the Chinese government in a way that in any way raises concerns.”) 

Farmers just want it all to end: Bloomberg reports this reaction to the $16 billion in subsidies:

“America’s farmers ultimately want trade more than aid,” said Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, the nation’s largest general farm organization. “It is critically important to restore agricultural markets and mutually beneficial relationships with our trading partners around the world.”

China allowed more tariff-free purchases of American agricultural products, this time 50,000 tons of cotton, along with unspecified amounts of corn, sorghum, and pork, according to Bloomberg.

Huawei and U.S.-based contract manufacturer Flex broke up, and not just because of the Commerce Department entity list, though that was a factor. Caixin reports (paywall):

“During quarter one, there was well publicized action by the U.S. government and significant geopolitical under certainty that impacted our customer Huawei,” said Advaithi.

“These actions, which were beyond our control, lead to a reduction in demand for products we assemble for them in China. And as a result of this, we’re scaling down our Huawei-dedicated operations in China,” he said, adding that the change was “unfortunate” given the two companies’ “longstanding and successful partnership.”

But Caixin can reveal the relationship between the two companies has been patchy of late. Huawei is currently taking legal action against Flex, alleging the U.S. company refused to return production material held in one of its China factories.

A source told Caixin separately, “As early as May, Flextronics had already halted production” at its Changsha factory. 

3. Juul-style e-cigarettes are coming to China

It will be interesting — or mildly horrifying, depending on your view of the product — to see how popular the slick Juul style of miniature e-cigarette becomes in China. Bloomberg reports that “The woman who helped invent Juul e-cigarettes is targeting China” (porous paywall):

One of the top scientists behind electronic cigarette leader Juul Labs Inc. is striking out on her own to launch a new e-cigarette brand in China.

Chenyue Xing’s company, Myst Labs, has developed a slick silver device called the Myst P Series that will debut at the Global Mobile Internet Conference in Guangzhou on Saturday. Resembling a USB flash drive, the 399 RMB ($58) e-cigarette was designed to solve some of the challenges facing Juul… Xing, Myst’s chief scientist and co-founder, says the P Series has lower nicotine levels than Juul products and was formulated to appeal to current smokers — avoiding the fruity flavors that might lure in teenage newbies…

Myst faces intense competition in China, where dozens of e-cigarette startups have collectively raised tens of millions of dollars in an attempt to profit from the world’s largest tobacco market. The e-cigarette craze has hit as overall funding for tech startups has slowed in China, with venture deals dropping 77% in the second quarter from a year earlier, according to market research firm Preqin.

“This initial land grab is so important,” said veteran angel investor Rui Ma. “For tobacco and other hedonistic products, most people are loyal to one brand.”

—Lucas Niewenhuis

Here are the stories that caught our eye this week:

• Beijing took a page from apartheid South Africa’s book and published a white paper that rejects any notion that Uyghurs may have an identity or a culture that is separate or different from “Chinese civilization.” Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan objected to Chinese state media’s characterization of him describing “happy lives” in Xinjiang. 

• The next round of techno-trade-war talks will take place in Shanghai on July 30–31, the Chinese Commerce Ministry confirmed. While expectations are extremely low for this round, Beijing did give five companies tariff exemptions to buy 3 million tons of American soybeans as a goodwill gesture. Trump is also moving forward on his promise of a limited reprieve for Huawei, and on July 22 said there would be “timely licensing decisions” for some American companies to sell to Huawei. Meanwhile, hawks in Washington are now taking aim at companies like TikTok for its control of personal data, and industries like Chinese bus and train infrastructure over concerns about surveillance. 

• Beijing’s biggest security worry is separatists, according to a white paper titled “China’s National Defense in the New Era.” The strategy document is the first to be publicly released since 2015. Separately, the rapid expansion of China’s defense industry was shown in a ranking of the top 100 biggest defense companies in the world by Defense News, where six out of the top 15 are now Chinese. 

• Lǐ Péng 李鹏, the former premier widely known as the “Butcher of Beijing” for his order of martial law that brought a bloody end to the 1989 Tiananmen protests, died at 90 in Beijing.

• China’s first private satellite launch to orbit was completed by i-Space, a three-year-old Beijing-based startup, on July 25. It is a major milestone for the private space industry in China, which is only five years old. 

• STAR, the new Nasdaq-style stock market, launched in Shanghai on July 22, and got off to a booming start in its opening hours. But that did not last long, as many of the first batch of companies saw steep declines after listing. 

• More American university administrators are speaking out against racial profiling of ethnically Chinese scientists, as this week the University of Pittsburgh, California Institute of Technology, and Johns Hopkins University issued statements. Also, Peter Mattis and Matt Schrader wrote an essay calling for an informed approach to U.S. national security worries about China: America can’t beat Beijing’s tech theft with racial profiling.

• Chinese companies have nearly reached parity with the U.S. on the 2019 Fortune Global 500, which featured 119 corporations from China (not including 10 from Taiwan), while 121 companies from the U.S. were on the list. 

• The Financial Times is being sued by Want Want China Times Media Group for defamation, after a report in the newspaper claimed that China Times and CTiTV — owned by food and beverage giant Want Want’s media subsidiary — took editorial directions from the Taiwan Affairs Office, the body in Chinese government that handles Taiwan issues. 

• In Pakistan, housing is being built for half a million Chinese professionals who are expected to relocate to Gwadar, the southern port that has received massive Chinese investment. 

• China vowed to take a hard line on child sexual abuse, as the Supreme People’s Court of China on July 24 released information about its handling of four “typical” cases that involve sex crimes against children. 

• In 30 African countries, StarTimes now beams Chinese TV shows into the homes of 10 million subscribers, raising concerns over the prevalence and control of Chinese state media, CNN reported.

• Exiled real estate tycoon Guō Wénguì 郭文贵 was accused of being a spy by Washington-area research firm Strategic Vision US LLC in a federal court filing. 

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Macroeconomy
  Macro outlook: Stabilizing growth without stimulus / MacroPolo
  The key takeaways for China’s economy in Q3 2019, according to Houze Song:

—Despite the latest data showing weak growth, we expect China’s growth to stabilize in 3Q2019.

—The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is poised to cut interest rates by as much as 30 basis points in the second half, while fiscal spending will also be ramped up.

—Beijing will also focus efforts on rescuing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from financial hardship, which will divert resources from stimulating headline growth overall.

—To effectively balance stabilizing growth and deleveraging while leaving policy room for contingency measures means that Beijing is unlikely to announce any major stimulus.

• The stars of STAR
  Three billionaires created on day one of China’s new tech board / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  Shanghai’s new Science and Technology Innovation Board, also known as the “STAR Market,” did not have a perfect start, but it did create three billionaires: Chen Wenyuan of HYC Technology; Cao Ji of Hangke Technology; and Deng Hui of Arcsoft Corp. 

• The shrinking dreams of Wanda Sports
  China’s Wanda Sports raises $190.4 million in downsized IPO / Reuters
  Wanda Sports Group [is] a “sport events owner whose interests include the distribution of media rights in Asia for the FIFA World Cup.” Two days ago, it had “already cut the size of its IPO to up to $308 million from a previous size of up to $500 million.”

• Poultry and pork prices are converging
  China’s duck farmers are cashing in as African swine fever outbreak puts Chinese consumers off the nation’s favorite meat / SCMP

Higher pork prices – up about 35 percent in a year – have already fueled a surge in poultry meat demand. Chicken breast is about 20 percent more expensive than a year ago, while duck breast has nearly trebled in price to 14,600 yuan (US$2,125) a tonne, according to Shenghe.

This is still only about half the cost of pork, but such prices are unheard of in China, where breast is typically the cheapest part of the bird.

• Crackdown on fraud
  China vows to lengthen prison terms, fines for capital market cheaters / Reuters
  “China’s stock market watchdog vowed on Friday to change the law to increase prison terms and fines for cheaters in capital markets, following a series of high-profile corporate scandals that burnt investors.”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT: 

• The effects of climate change, and how to cover them
  Global warming reshapes almanac for tea growers in China’s Yunnan / Reuters

But pickings this year [of pu’er tea] have been slim at Nannuoshan, one of six major pu’er mountains in Yunnan, where the hottest weather and lowest rainfall in decades have lowered output… 

Provincial officials blame climate change for the greater frequency of drought in recent years, warning that rising temperatures threaten losses in crop production.

• How can China’s climate journalists better engage the public? / Chinadialogue
  “Chinadialogue looks at 2018’s best climate journalism in China and talks shop with the people who wrote it.”

• Multiple sclerosis and other rare diseases
  Shedding light on China’s patients with rare diseases / Sixth Tone
  “The country has expanded its list of recognized rare conditions. But the struggle for proper care remains untreated…In China, however, most people — even doctors — have never heard of MS, despite its recent inclusion on a government list of rare diseases.”

• The difficulties of pollution regulation
  China’s steel minnows sidestep pollution rules to boost output / Reuters
  “Uneven enforcement has allowed industry minnows to outcompete larger rivals and raise production, say industry and environment ministry officials.”

• Spicy food and health
  Uproar in China after study suggests eating chilli is linked to dementia / SCMP

Those who ate more than 50 grams of chilli a day had more than double the risk of poor memory, and a 56 per cent higher risk of suffering memory loss, the study found… 

The study generated huge interest among chilli lovers on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, when it was posted on Wednesday by Chinese website Pear Video. The topic received more than 300 million views, with some chilli lovers standing firm and others expressing disbelief.

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Cambodia continues to deny military base report
  ‘We can’t hide anything’ say Cambodians at alleged China base / Reuters
  “Trying to rebut a report of a secret deal to give China access to a naval base, Cambodia’s defense ministry took reporters to see the torpid jetty and outbuildings on Friday.”
  See WSJ: Deal for naval outpost in Cambodia furthers China’s quest for military network.

• Deforestation in Siberia
  As the Chinese cut down Siberia’s forests, tensions with Russians rise / NYT (porous paywall)
  “Feeding China’s colossal appetite for wood has brought jobs and cash to the region, but has also helped to make Russia the global leader in forest depletion, fueling fears that Siberian logging towns will eventually be left without a livelihood.”

• Iranian oil
  China’s still taking Iran oil weeks after U.S. toughens sanction / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “Official customs data on Friday showed China imported 855,638 tons in June, the equivalent of about 209,000 barrels a day. While that’s less than in May and the lowest since mid-2010, the data adds to speculation that Beijing may risk running afoul of American sanctions to secure crude supplies from the Islamic Republic.”

• South China Sea
  South China Sea: Vietnam extends operation of oil rig on Vanguard Bank as stand-off with Beijing continues / SCMP
  “Vietnam said it has extended the work schedule of an oil rig on Vanguard Bank, showing no sign of backing down from a confrontation with Beijing over drilling operations in the South China Sea. The Vietnamese foreign ministry said it would protect its sovereign rights as the stand-off between Hanoi and Beijing entered its fourth week.”
  Zachary Haver on Twitter: “Yesterday was the seventh anniversary of the establishment of Sansha City (三沙市). In July 2012, China founded Sansha to govern the entirety of its claims in the South China Sea. What is Sansha? How has it developed over the last 7 years? Why does it matter? A thread: (1/)”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• More details on Liu Jingyao rape account
  JD.com founder’s rape accuser ‘furious’ over coverage of case’s newly released details / Caixin (paywall)

John Elder, a spokesperson for the Minneapolis Police Department, told Caixin that police waited until now to release the materials because of the need to redact and legally review it all before granting access to the public.

Some details in the released materials have gone viral since Wednesday. Some people posted sexual details contained in the materials on social media, while some commenters speculated that extortion was the motive behind Jingyao Liu’s accusations.

Jingyao Liu acknowledged the authenticity of the released material, but she was also “furious” with certain domestic media reports for describing the sexual details in exaggerated ways, she told Caixin on Thursday. Richard Liu’s attorney, Jill Brisbois, said in a statement that the released materials further proved his innocence.

• Food delivery jobs: Freeing or exploitative?
  The fast and frustrating lives of China’s food delivery drivers / Sixth Tone

• Death of Yao Li
  Yao Li, ‘silver voice’ of Shanghai, dies at 96 / NYT (porous paywall)
  “Yáo Lì 姚莉, a celebrated singer in Shanghai in the midst of war in the 1930s and ’40s, whose music remained popular after she moved to Hong Kong when China turned communist, died on July 19.”

• New RYB kindergarten abuse case
  Scandal-hit Chinese kindergarten operator says teacher arrested / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “RYB Education Inc. said a foreign teacher [from Colombia] was arrested for alleged misconduct against a child at one of its kindergartens in eastern China [Qingdao], sparking a wave of backlash against the New York-listed company on social media.”

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This photo from Xicheng, Beijing, in 2017 is part of BE京jing, a 30-part photo essay project by Gregorio Soravito. It’s about everyday life on the streets of the Chinese capital, a kind of narration about the people who live in this unpredictable city and are constantly growing, changing, and upgrading. BE京jing is a collection of moments that tries to transmit, through a gesture or a facial expression, an identity both individual and collective. It focuses its attention not on places but on people: the human resources that make this gigantic city feel natural and alive.