Links for Thursday, May 6, 2021

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

Tencent-backed health insurance tech firm raises $360 million in U.S. IPO
Waterdrop is a Tencent-backed Chinese health insurance technology startup. It is planning to raise $360 million in a New York IPO, according to its prospectus (or see Caixin report).

• Founded in 2016, the Beijing-based company runs an online platform that connects insurance companies with customers.
• Waterdrop also hosts a crowdfunding platform aimed at helping patients with severe illnesses raise money to pay for their medical bills.
• In 2019, China had an estimated $723 billion in unmet medical protection demand.

Express parcels on May 1 holiday near 2.6 billion
Over the Chinese Labor Day holiday (May 1-5), the State Post Office released data showing that the total volume of express parcels delivered and received reached close to 2.6 billion, per the Security Times (in Chinese).

• Delivery volume increased 22% relative to last May. It increased 91% compared with the same period in 2019.
• As delivery volumes reach new heights, some companies are cashing in: JD Logistics announced its first-ever profits this year.

May Day box office boom
China box office tops pre-pandemic levels during Labor Day holiday / Caixin (paywall)
China box office sets new May Day holiday record; 2021 tops $3.4 billion / Deadline

Lots of travel at thin margins for tourism operators
China’s Golden Week spending falls short of pre-COVID level / Nikkei (paywall)
“More trips recorded than in 2019, but lower prices crimp revenue.”

Premium beer market in China is growing rapidly
Fizzy beer stocks are due for a bar fight in China / WSJ (paywall)
It is easy to see why every brewer wants to crack into the higher-end segment: China’s beer market by value expanded 21% from 2016 to 2019 even though sales by volume only grew 0.6%, according to Euromonitor International. Chinese consumers may not have drunk more beers, but they are definitely becoming pickier.

China calls out 33 apps for violating user privacy
On Saturday, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) released (in Chinese) a list of apps caught abusing user data. They include Alibaba-backed Gaode Map, Baidu Map, and Tencent Map.

• The cyberspace watchdog said that they were violating data rules by collecting personal information that’s not necessary for their services, or by using the data without consent.
• The move comes as part of a broad crackdown on China’s big tech companies.
• China is not known for respecting privacy when it involves national security, but the government has been surprisingly protective of privacy when it involves tech companies.

iPhone exploit targeting Uyghurs
How China turned a prize-winning iPhone hack against the Uyghurs / MIT Technology Review
“An attack that targeted Apple devices was used to spy on China’s Muslim minority — and U.S. officials claim it was developed at the country’s top hacking competition.”

Xinjiang cotton fallout
Adidas, Nike web sales plunge in China amid Xinjiang boycott / Bloomberg

Food and nutrition labeling
China’s updated labeling rule gives food-makers more to chew on / Caixin (paywall)
“What goes into an actual nutritional label in China is still very much a work in progress.”

Financial activism against Chinese companies
Carson Block calls for delisting of many Chinese firms in U.S. / WSJ (paywall)

More business and technology links:

• 小米集团副总裁曾学忠：一季度欧洲智能手机市场份额小米超过苹果 / 36Kr
  Xiaomi surpassed Apple in smartphone market share in Europe in the first quarter.
• 支付宝：“五一”期间全国景区交易额同比上涨200% / 36Kr
  Alipay transactions on Labor Day rose 200% compared with the same time last year.
• Copper and iron ore surge as Chinese investors unleash demand / Bloomberg (paywall)
• Chinese manufacturers sidestep trade barriers by buying factories overseas / WSJ (paywall)

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

China’s carbon emissions soared in 2019
China’s greenhouse gas emissions exceed U.S., developed world: Report / CNBC
“China is now responsible for more than 27% of total global emissions. The U.S., which is the world’s second highest emitter, accounts for 11% of the global total. India is responsible for 6.6% of global emissions, edging out the 27 nations in the E.U., which account for 6.4%,” the report from Rhodium Group said.

Falling rocket to crash “between 8 May and 10 May,” exact destination unpredictable
Falling Chinese rocket to crash to Earth on weekend as U.S. calls for ‘responsible space behaviors’ / Guardian
“The White House has called for ‘responsible space behaviours’ as a Chinese rocket, thought to be out of control, looks set to crash back to Earth on Saturday, U.S. time…The U.S. Space Command is tracking debris from the Long March 5B, which last week launched the main module of China’s first permanent space station into orbit.”
Debris from China space rocket likely to fall in international waters – Global Times / Reuters

Why did Duterte take unapproved Sinopharm vaccine when other shots were already approved?
Philippines’ Duterte apologizes for taking unapproved China jab / BBC
“Currently, the only approved vaccines available in the country are AstraZeneca and Sinovac and both are being administered to frontline workers and vulnerable groups…According to local outlet Rappler, it is not clear why Mr Duterte might not have taken any of the vaccines that were approved for emergency use.”

Was Turkey’s Sinovac supply ‘damaged’ by Uyghur issue?
COVID-19 vaccine: Turkey suggests Uyghur issue damaged procurement from China / Middle East Eye
“Turkey’s health minister, Fahrettin Koca, has said that Turkish opposition efforts to condemn China over its treatment of the Uyghurs might have ‘damaged’ Ankara’s attempts to procure doses of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine…The Turkish opposition condemned Koca’s remarks, which they believe downplay Beijing’s treatment of its Uyghur population as a small issue that can be brushed to one side.”

More science, health, and environment links:

• I got the vaccine. Why are so many Chinese still hesitating? / Sixth Tone
  Wu Haiyun, a chief editor of Sixth Tone, writes, “Ironically enough, the country may be the victim of its own success against the pandemic…many Chinese, absent the pressure of ongoing community transmission, are in no rush to go get vaccinated, even if it puts them at risk later.”
• U.S. backs plan to suspend Covid vaccine patents during pandemic / FT (paywall)

POLITICS AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

G7 statement addresses Taiwan, Xinjiang, Hong Kong issues
The Group of Seven (G7) nations — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States — released a long communiqué today with several points sharply criticizing China:

We support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in World Health Organisation forums and the World Health Assembly. The international community should be able to benefit from the experience of all partners, including Taiwan’s successful contribution to the tackling of the COVID-19 pandemic…We underscore the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and encourage the peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues. We reiterate our strong opposition to any unilateral actions that could escalate tensions and undermine regional stability and the international rules-based order and express serious concerns about reports of militarisation, coercion, and intimidation in the region…

We continue to be deeply concerned about human rights violations and abuses in Xinjiang and in Tibet…We strongly support independent and unfettered access to Xinjiang to investigate the situation on the ground. We continue to call therefore for such access for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights…

We recall our statement of 12 March and remain gravely concerned by China’s decision fundamentally to erode democratic elements of the electoral system in Hong Kong.

Taiwan thanked the G7 for its support, and Beijing condemned the statement as a “gross interference in China’s international affairs.”

Declining attendance at mosque in Kashgar
Ramadan in China: Faithful dwindle under limits on religion / AP
“A decade ago, 4,000 to 5,000 people attended Friday prayers at the Id Kah Mosque in the historic Silk Road city of Kashgar. Now only 800 to 900 do, said the mosque’s imam, Mamat Juma. He attributed the drop to a natural shift in values, not government policy, saying the younger generation wants to spend more time working than praying.”

Xi more confident than ever in China’s political system, according to January speech
Xi Jinping says China is ‘invincible,’ regardless of challenges ahead / SCMP (paywall)
“‘As long as we can stand on our own…we will be invincible no matter how the storm changes internationally,’ Communist Party cadres told in January speech…‘Judging from how this pandemic is being handled by different leaderships and [political] systems…[we can] clearly see who has done better,’ he says.”

U.S.-China trade talks expected to happen soon
Top U.S. trade envoy signals intention to meet Chinese counterpart soon / FT (paywall)
“Katherine Tai, U.S. trade representative, said she expected to meet her Chinese counterpart soon…Asked if the U.S. might remove some of the tariffs that Trump imposed on imports from China as part of the trade war, Tai said it ‘hinged on the conversations that we have with China’ and the assessment of the phase 1 deal.”
U.S.-China relations: Biden’s trade team set for first talks to discuss phase one deal / SCMP
“Top trade negotiators from China and the Biden administration may hold their first conversation soon to review the phase one trade deal, two sources familiar with the discussion said.”

China still holding out hope for EU investment deal
China says it will communicate with EU to ensure investment deal comes into force / Reuters
The EU-China CAI investment breakdown: What EU manufacturing sectors could be hit? / China Briefing
Earlier this week on The China Project: EU sours on China, investment deal appears frozen over Beijing’s sweeping Xinjiang counter-sanctions.

Bloomberg New Economy Forum leaves Beijing
Beijing loses U.S.-China conference to Singapore / FT (paywall)
“Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and owner of the eponymous financial information group, told the Financial Times that ‘logistics’, including Singapore’s COVID-19 safety record and the ‘very concerning’ conditions in China for journalists, had persuaded the group to hold the New Economy Forum in the city-state in November.”

Xinjiang and Uyghurs
China slams New Zealand parliament’s motion on Uyghur abuses / Al Jazeera
Europe torn over calling China out over Xinjiang ‘genocide’ / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
Kenyan state media features a full-throated denunciation of Western genocide claims against China’s treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang / China-Africa Project (paywall)
Uyghur school director, brother of RFA reporter jailed for 14 years after stint in Xinjiang camp / RFA
The Uyghur genocide hits California / LA Times

Hong Kong’s new reality
Opinion: Western companies in China succumb to Stockholm syndrome / FT (paywall)
Jamil Anderlini writes, “I was recently invited by a group of Hong Kong-based international business executives to discuss Beijing’s moves to crush the last vestiges of democracy and free speech in the territory. Several of these executives from democratic societies said they viewed the free press as their greatest enemy. To them the problem was not the erosion of rights and freedoms in what was one of the world’s most dynamic financial centres. The problem was pesky journalists who dared to report on these developments, thereby convincing head office to stop investing in the city.”
Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong jailed for 10 months over June 4 assembly / Reuters
Hong Kong court jails three on riot charges despite no evidence of rioting / Guardian
Security law: Hong Kong police cordon off pro-democracy clothing store two days after opening / HKFP
Top producer at embattled documentary series Hong Kong Connection quits RTHK – source / HKFP
European Union again drops plans for measures related to China’s Hong Kong actions / SCMP (paywall)

More politics and foreign affairs links:

• What should China do about its aging population? / ChinaFile
  An expert conversation with contributions by Wang Feng of UC Irvine, Karen Thornber of Harvard, Ye Liu of King’s College London, and Carl Minzner of Fordham University.
• Can China create a new world order? / Foreign Policy (paywall)
  Harvard professor Stephen M. Walt writes, “Washington shouldn’t assume its values are more attractive to others than Beijing’s.”
• Hotlines ‘ring out’: China’s military crisis strategy needs rethink, says Biden Asia chief / Guardian
• China wants the world to know that resistance to its rise is futile / The Economist (paywall)
• How a fringe Japanese religion built a pro-Trump social media empire / Rest of World
• Chinese overwatch teams threaten boycott of Korean player for statements on Taiwan and Hong Kong / Kotaku
• RTHK’s Yuen Long doc and BBC’s Xinjiang reporting win Human Rights Press Awards / HKFP

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

Cross-cultural identity in an age of fraught and restricted borders
‘As borders closed, I became trapped in my Americanness’: China, the U.S. and me / The Guardian
Angela Qian writes, “I’ve long nursed vague plans of moving back to China for a few years, to solidify my place there. But with each year that passes in the U.S., such a move gets harder and harder to make.”

Gossip about Bill Gates’s divorce
China can’t stop talking about the Bill and Melinda Gates divorce / CNN
“The ‘Bill Gates’ divorce’ hashtag had generated more than 830 million views and 66,000 discussion posts on China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo by Wednesday — far surpassing the 91 million views accumulated when Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott divorced in 2019.”

More society and culture links:

• Why so many young Chinese seek plastic surgery / The Economist (paywall)
• China embarrassed by badly behaving tourists at Xian and Buddhist Shaolin Temple during May Day holiday period / SCMP (paywall)
• All-female panel show sparks viral beauty standards debate / Radii China
• What it’s like to grow up female and disabled in China / World of Chinese