News roundup: Beijing reacts to Trump

Business & Technology

Top China news for December 5, 2016. Get this daily digest delivered to your inbox by signing up at supchina.com/subscribe.


TODAY’S TOP STORIES

Chinaโ€™s reaction to Trumpโ€™s tweets and phone call

President-elect Donald Trumpโ€™s phone call with Taiwanโ€™s president, Tsai Ing-wen, and his subsequent tweets about China have dominated English-language news coverage of China over the past few days, while Chinese state media have highlighted Beijingโ€™s reactions. Many of the Trump stories are summarized below, but if youโ€™re pressed for time, spend some moments on the following two articles:

The first, โ€œDrop the One China fiction โ€” just not this way,โ€ is an opinion piece by The China Projectโ€™s own Kaiser Kuo, who elaborates on potential consequences from Trumpโ€™s cowboy treatment of diplomatic relations between the U.S., Taiwan and China.

The second, โ€œChina amplifies warning on Taiwan, and Trump takes a tougher line,โ€ is a New York Times article that notes the Chinese Communist Partyโ€™s official mouthpiece โ€œdenounced Mr. Trump for speaking Friday withโ€ฆTsai Ing-wen, warning that โ€˜creating troubles for the China-U.S. relationship is creating troubles for the U.S. itself.โ€™โ€ The article calls the rebuke โ€œmuch tougher than the Chinese foreign ministryโ€™s initial response to the phone call.โ€ You can find the Chinese language article in question here.

Drop in value of yuan

The Wall Street Journal reported at around noon Beijing time today that โ€œChina and Taiwanโ€™s currencies both slipped against the U.S. dollar amid a broad rally for the greenback in Asian trading Monday, as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump again criticized Chinese currency and trade policy.โ€ About 12 hours later, the value of the yuan dropped precipitously according to XE.com and X-rates.com: At noon New York time, one dollar bought 6.8 yuan, but as of 5 p.m. New York time, the rate was 7.48 on some foreign exchange monitoring websites. Shortly afterward, the yuan recovered, returning to its former value at 6.8. Some indices never showed the dip.
Update: The Financial Times reports that the fluctuation was “an apparent glitch.”

Iran and China

Trumpโ€™s pick for secretary of defense, retired Marine Corps general James โ€œMad Dogโ€ Mattis, has โ€œspent years warning publicly and privately about the threat posed by Iran,”ย which according to Vox, โ€œmay be the most important thing to understand about the incoming defense secretary.โ€ Meanwhile, Xinhua News Agency states that Zhang Gaoli, the Chinese vice premier, met with Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Beijing on Monday, โ€œpledging to cement substantial cooperation and strategic partnership with Iran.โ€ The meeting follows Xi Jinping’s state visit to Iran in January.

The end of boozy state banquets

An item of news not yet picked up in the English-language press comes from Xinhuaโ€™s Chinese service, which reports that the powerful anti-corruption watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, announced that it intends to strictly enforce a ban on drinking alcohol at official events. Until recently, heavy liquor consumption was a regular feature of government banquets.

More China news worth your time is summarized and linked below.

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

    • Taiwan city planning a makeover says a Trump agent showed interest / NYT
      A September meeting between a woman who claimed to represent Trumpโ€™s business interests and backers of the largest development project in Taiwanโ€™s history may create the appearance of a potential conflict of interest.
    • Yuan, Taiwan dollar slip after Trump tweets criticism of China / WSJ
      โ€œNeither decline was as sharp as those for other currencies against the dollar, as markets grappled with a range of dramatic political developments over the weekend,โ€ ranging from Italy to New Zealand.
    • Silicon Valleyโ€™s culture, not its companies, dominates in China / NYT
      โ€œChinaโ€™s tech world has copied the valleyโ€™s innovator-meet-investor network of incubators, accelerators and venture capitalists. Startup employees and leaders actively seek to question authority and think outside the box โ€” two attributes widely discouraged in corporate China.โ€
    • China chases Silicon Valley talent who are worried about Trump presidency / NBC News
      โ€œChina is trying to capitalize on President-elect Donald Trumpโ€™s hardline immigration stance and vow to clamp down on a foreign worker visa program that has been used to recruit thousands from overseas to Silicon Valley.โ€
    • Aixtron sees slim path to save China sale after Obama order / Bloomberg
      The German semiconductor supplier could sell off its American unit or change its legal structure to get around a U.S. block of its sale to Chinaโ€™s Grand Chip Investment.
    • China appeals to U.S. to stop disrupting acquisitions / ABC News
      โ€œWe hope that the United States will cease making groundless accusations about Chinese companies and will provide a fair environment and favorable conditions for investment by them,” said a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson. “I think this matter will in the long run be in the interests of all the parties concerned.โ€
    • Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect gets off to quiet start / Caixin
      โ€œMoney flowing from Hong Kong to the Shenzhen stock market totaled 2.7 billion yuan ($392 million) โ€” or just 21% of the total allowed. Money flowing the other way totaled HK$902 million ($116 million), or an even-smaller 8% of the maximum allowable daily volume.โ€
    • Chinaโ€™s clean energy push runs into headwinds / WSJ
      โ€œChina isnโ€™t any less committed to cleaner air. But the breakneck construction of solar panels and wind farms havenโ€™t been matched by upgrades of an electricity grid more suited to coal. That has led to huge waste: Roughly one-fifth of wind power currently goes undistributed; in some parts of China, it is closer to half.โ€
    • No price like home: Big spenders reappear in China / Reuters
      โ€œChina’s wealthiest shoppers are spending at home again, roused from a three-year slumber by a weaker yuan, lower prices and a crackdown on overseas sales agents โ€” a welcome boost for the worldโ€™s luxury brands.โ€
    • How a monster-sized marketing campaign was built for Chinaโ€™s โ€˜Great Wallโ€™ / Variety
      โ€œThe range of resources that Wanda can bring to bear โ€” Chinaโ€™s largest cinema chain, distribution, and two marketing companies โ€” elevate the filmโ€™s launch into a national event.โ€

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POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

    • Trump attacks China in Twitter outburst / BBC News
      The U.S. president-elect posted a series of tweets directly criticizing Chinaโ€™s currency policy and its actions in the South China Sea.
    • Opinion: The real risk behind Trumpโ€™s Taiwan call / The New Yorker
      โ€œIf you work in foreign affairs, you learn that a highly unexpected event is often the result of intent or incompetence. (You also learn that what looks, at first, like intent often turns out to be incompetence.) In the Donald Trump era, we may need a third category โ€” exploitation โ€” which has elements of both.โ€
    • How China could react to Trumpโ€™s taunts, from the best to the worst-case scenario / Quartz
      Options include doing nothing, using military threats, retaliating against American and Taiwanese companies, and severing relations with the U.S.
    • Opinion: Dispensing with tiptoeing, Trump puts Taiwan in play / WSJ
      โ€œHaving barged into the most sensitive area of U.S.-China relations, Mr. Trump must now expect Beijing to test his resolve,โ€ writes Andrew Browne. โ€œHow would he respond as president to a provocation, perhaps a military one, aimed at Taiwan? If he backs down, he will have damaged his credibility with both sides, along with friends and allies in the region.โ€
    • On substance and style, Trump may be headache for China / Washington Post
      โ€œTrump has repeatedly indicated that he views the relationship with China as much more of a zero-sum game, and one he believes the United States is losing.โ€
    • Trump expands search for his secretary of state / NYT
      Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the former Utah governor and ambassador to China under President Obama, is on the new list of candidates.
    • Trump may pick longest-serving U.S. governor as China ambassador / Bloomberg
      Sources say that โ€œIowa governor Terry Branstad, a longtime friend of Chinese president Xi Jinping, is the frontrunner for the crucial post of U.S. ambassador to China.โ€
    • Opinion: Chinaโ€™s civilizational diplomacy / Project Syndicate
      Nations of the global South, such as Egypt, โ€œidentify with Chinaโ€™s history of anti-imperialist struggle, and even with Chinese peopleโ€™s physical appearance,โ€ writes Zaynab El Bernoussi, a professor of international relations at Al Akhawayn University. โ€œIf you are an emerging superpower, there is a distinct advantage to having the majority of the worldโ€™s population hold such sentiments.โ€
    • China warns U.S. over breaking Iran nuclear deal / Deutsche Welle
      At a press conference in Beijing with his Iranian counterpart, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said the international agreement โ€œshould not be affected by any changes in the domestic situations of the countries concerned,โ€ an apparent reference to the United States.
    • Opinion: Through climate change denial, weโ€™re ceding global leadership to China / LA Times
      China โ€œhas been quick to size up the environmental implications of a Trump victory, and officials in Beijing are contriving to cast China in a fresh role, to project the country as a โ€” perhaps the โ€” global leader on climate change,โ€ writes Daniel K. Gardner, a professor of Chinese history at Smith College and the author of a forthcoming book on pollution in China.

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SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

    • China sets 2020 target for clean air in big cities / Reuters
      โ€œChina aims to provide clean air in its largest cities for 80 percent of each year, or more than 9 1/2 months, by 2020, up from a figure of 76.7 percent last year, the countryโ€™s cabinet said on Monday.โ€
    • Chinaโ€™s Spring Festival travel frenzy to see 3 billion trips / Reuters
      The transportation ministry expects that 2.98 billion trips will be made over the 40-day period beginning on January 13, which would represent a 2.2 percent increase over 2016.
    • Chinese artists redraw boundaries in โ€˜Tales of Our Timeโ€™ / NYT
      The exhibition, with a diversity of works by seven artists and collectives from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, commissioned by the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, โ€œimplicitly rebukes its own reason for being,โ€ writes Jason Farago.
    • Cheeky Chinese artist critiques society with nudity / SCMP
      Ou Zhihang, who takes images of himself performing exercises at controversial sites in China and overseas, says, โ€œMy aim isnโ€™t to get people to look at my press-ups, but to use a method to get society to think.โ€
    • Peng Chang-kuei, chef behind General Tsoโ€™s chicken, dies at 98 / NYT
      โ€œMr. Peng, an official chef for the Nationalist government, which fled to Taiwan after the 1949 revolution in China, said he created the dish during a four-day visit by Adm. Arthur W. Radford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during the Taiwan Strait crisis of 1955.โ€

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