Yelling at Yellen

Dear reader:

“The world is big enough for both of our countries to thrive,” said U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen as she wrapped her four-day visit to China yesterday. She claimed that she and U.S. President Joe Biden “do not see the relationship between the U.S. and China through the frame of great power conflict.”

Yellen made her comments after 10 hours of meetings with senior officials.

There are always those unhappy with talking to the frenemy. A group of Chinese female economists who had a meal with Janet Yellen were called radical feminist traitors

by Chinese internet nationalists. In the U.S. some complained that Biden is showing weakness by sending three senior officials to Beijing — Yellen followed Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and will be followed by climate envoy John Kerry — while there have not been any reciprocal visits from Chinese officials to Washington.

But the mainstream view, from both Chinese and American sides, seems to be that although nothing substantial was achieved, jaw-jaw is always better than the alternatives: silence or war-war.

But we are still a long way from understanding what kind of world will be “big enough” for both the U.S. and China to coexist happily. Yellen’s phrasing recalls a statement Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 made a number of times after meeting with former U.S. President Obama: “The broad Pacific Ocean is vast enough to embrace both China and the United States.”

It sounds peaceful, but one can’t help feeling that Xi’s real meaning was not to suggest that the Pacific Ocean is big enough for the U.S. to stay on its own side, and get out of China’s neighborhood. Which is not something anyone with any power in Washington D.C. is even thinking about.

Nor is anyone with any power in D.C. thinking about softening their attitude to China. Yellen brought sweet words for her Chinese counterparts, but no relief from semiconductor curbs or sanctions. And as far as Beijing is concerned, there’s the rub.

The China Agenda is our top story today: It’s a draft version of a newsletter we may launch that would go out every Sunday evening and give you a preview of the most important political, business, and financial events of the coming week.

Please let me know what you think of the China Agenda idea, and its execution below, by replying to this email or writing to editors@thechinaproject.com to reach our whole editorial team.

Our Word of the Day is:

The broad Pacific Ocean is vast enough to embrace both China and the United States

宽广的太平洋两岸有足够空间容纳中美两个大国

guǎngkuò de tàipíngyáng zúgòu guǎngkuò, zúyǐ bāoróng zhōngguó hé měiguó

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief

CURRENT AFFAIRS

The China Agenda this week

This is what’s on the diplomatic, political, and business agenda for the week July 10 to 16.

This is the week coming up in U.S.-China relations, global diplomacy, and everything that matters if you follow China and its political and economic place in the world.

Upcoming diplomatic visits and overseas trips

The Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands is visiting China July 9–15.

NATO will meet in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11–12.

• The war in Ukraine and Ukraine’s potential membership will dominate discussions.
• China will also be a factor, not least given Vilnius’s increasingly pro-Taiwan stance in recent years.

India will host the third meeting of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors on July 14–18 in Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

• This is the highest-profile of four G20 meetings hosted in the state this month.

The 56th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting takes place in Jakarta July 11–14

Russian naval ships have been based in Shanghai since Wednesday, and will remain there until July 11.

• They are conducting joint exercises with the PLA. The Global Times says that this has “nothing to do with any ongoing geopolitical crisis.”

Important speeches, policy announcements, or other political events

In China, the National People’s Congress is soliciting public comment on four pieces of legislation, including the Patriotic Education Law and the Administrative Reconsideration Law.

In Washington, D.C., several sessions are being held in Congress this week, which have a bearing on the U.S.-China relationship:

• On Thursday, July 13, John Kerry, the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, will be questioned as a witness at a subcommittee hearing under the Committee on Foreign Affairs. This comes just before his trip to China, where he plans to meet his counterpart Xiè Xhènhuá 解振华.
• Also on Thursday, the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party will hold a meeting titled “Risky Business: Growing Peril for American Companies in China”
• Also on Thursday, the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee will hold a hearing on “Continuing U.S. Leadership in Commercial Space at Home and Abroad”
• Also on Thursday, the House Education and the Workforce Committee will hold a hearing on “Exposing the Dangers of the Influence of Foreign Adversaries on College Campuses”
• On Tuesday, July 11, the Select Subcommittee on the origins of the coronavirus will hold a hearing on “Investigating the proximal origins of a coverup”
• Also on Tuesday, the Committee of Homeland Security will hold a hearing on “Protecting the U.S. Homeland: Fighting the Flow of Fentanyl from the Southwest Border”

Earnings reports, IPOs, other market events

Listings:

• Printed circuit board, semiconductor packaging, and touchscreen company SkyChem Technology/SkyChem Chemical lists on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX), as well as on the Shanghai board today, July 10.
• Wise Living Technology, a heating company, lists on the HKEX main board today.
• Sichuan Kelun Botai Biopharmaceutical Co. lists on the HKEX main board on Tuesday, July 11.
• Keep Inc. a popular fitness app, lists on the HKEX main board on Wednesday, July 12.
• SP Legend, a retail company, lists on the HKEX main board on Thursday, July 13.

Earning reports:

• Senmiao Technology, a Nasdaq-listed, Chengdu-based investment holding company is expected to report its quarterly earnings on Friday, July 14.

Court rulings, civic society, academic, miscellaneous

Academic and think-tank events this week include:

USCBC: Chinese Law and US-China Relations: A Conversation with Professor Jerome Cohen July 10, 20:30 (ET).

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: What Today’s Crises Will Mean Tomorrow: A Conversation With Adam Tooze July 11, 11:45 (ET).

USCBC: The Effects of Geopolitics and Data Regulations on MNCs’ China Outlook July 12, 08:30 (ET).

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: The NATO Vilnius Summit: A Conversation with Ukrainian Ambassador Markarova and French Ambassador Bili July 12, 10:30 (ET).

CSIS: Competing for the Future of Cloud Computing July 12, 13:30 (ET).

Asia Society: ChinaFile Presents: The Future of Dissent Inside and Outside of China July 12, 18:30 (ET).

Brookings: Tracking development finance in Southeast Asia: A new tool from the Lowy Institute July 13, 10:00 (ET).

The week in history

July 9, 1971: Henry Kissinger flew to Beijing for 48 hours of secret talks, in preparation for U.S. President Richard Nixon’s historic visit the following year.

July 11, 1405: Ming dynasty explorer Zhèng Hé 鄭和 embarked on his first ocean voyage

July 13, 2001: Beijing won its bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games.

July 14, 1976: The TAZARA Railway was officially opened, linking Tanzania and Zambia, and built with Chinese assistance. It was the largest single foreign-aid project run by China at the time.

July 14, 2015: The Iran nuclear deal framework was announced in Vienna, by representatives from Iran, the UN Security Council (which includes China), and the EU.

—Arran Hope

NEWS BRIEFING

Deflation coming

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

China is on the brink of deflation, according to data released (in Chinese) by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) today. In June, the consumer price index was flat year-on-year, the weakest rate since February 2021, and declined 0.2% compared with the previous month. Factory gate prices fell even further at 5.4% year-on-year and down 0.8% compared with the month prior.

The data is another signal that, while China’s economy is still growing, its recovery is slowing down. It adds to growing concerns about deflation that will likely spur more speculation about a potential stimulus from the Chinese government, as it seeks to hit its official economic growth target of 5% for the year.

A knife attack on a kindergarten killed six people, including three children in China’s southern Guangdong Province this morning. The other three victims are a teacher and two parents, according to news reports.

The attack occurred on Monday at 7:40 a.m. local time while parents were dropping their children off for summer classes. The Lianjiang Public Security Bureau said that local police arrested a 25-year-old man, surnamed Wu, at 8 a.m.

Footage of the attack sparked shock and outrage across Chinese social media, becoming one of the top trending topics on Weibo with more than 250 million views as of noon on Monday. While firearms are banned in China, knife attacks have grown in recent years: The BBC reported that at least 17 knife attacks have occurred in schools, colleges, and universities since 2010 — 10 of which have happened between 2018 and 2023.

Chinese authorities slapped a 7.12 billion yuan ($984 million) fine on Ant Group, the fintech firm founded by billionaire Jack Ma (马云 Mǎ Yún), ending a years-long regulatory overhaul of the company that in 2020 had kicked off Beijing’s broader crackdown on China’s internet sector.

Ant Group was fined for breaking a number of rules related to consumer protection and corporate governance, as well as “business activities in banking and insurance, payments, anti-money laundering, and funds sales,” according to a joint statement (in Chinese) released on Friday by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), and the National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA). “Most of the outstanding problems in the financial business of platform enterprises have been rectified,” the statement said.

“We will comply with the terms of the penalty in all earnestness and sincerity and continue to further enhance our compliance governance,” Ant Group said in a statement on Friday. The company has since launched a $6 billion share buyback plan — nearly 70% less than its proposed initial public offering (IPO) price in 2020 of more than $34 billion, which would have become the biggest share sale in history at the time.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrapped up her trip to China yesterday, where she held a total of 10 hours of talks over two days that “served as a step forward in our effort to put the U.S.-China relationship on surer footing,” according to the official readout from Washington.

“My purpose is to make sure that we don’t engage in a series of unintended escalatory actions that will be harmful to our overall economic relationship with one another,” Yellen said in an interview with CBS News yesterday. Her visit marks the second trip to Beijing by a Biden administration cabinet member in less than a month, following Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Yellen also had lunch with six Chinese female economists in Beijing on July 8, in an effort to call attention to gender diversity following meetings with China’s mostly male government officials. Those economists were criticized on Chinese social media by some users who accused them of being “traitors” for meeting Yellen and being “radical feminists.”

Chinese state media: Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 “met with visiting Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko in Beijing.” That is the entire report on the meeting on the English-language website of Xinhua News Agency so far. The Chinese-language report is a little longer and notes that the “development of Sino-Russian relations is a strategic choice made by the two countries based on the fundamental interests of their respective countries and peoples,” etc.

Xinhua also notes Xi’s meeting with the visiting Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands Manasseh Sogavare in Beijing (in English, Chinese).

The print edition of the Party paper, the People’s Daily, today highlights General Secretary Xi’s valuable thoughts on the future of China as expressed during a recent inspection trip in the city of Suzhou.

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS

Of course Netanyahu must go to China

Later this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 in Beijing. The past decade has seen China emerge as the largest trade partner for most countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), but an Israeli leader has not met face-to-face with Xi since Netanyahu’s last visit to Beijing in 2017.

• In December 2022 alone, Xi mingled with some 14 MENA leaders at the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum and China-Gulf Cooperation Forum held in Saudi Arabia. China’s recently brokered rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran was hailed as a diplomatic victory for Beijing.
• The global geopolitical landscape has changed dramatically in the six years since Netanyahu’s last encounter with Xi, and the potential impact of Chinese diplomatic and economic initiatives in the Middle East alone is reason enough for Israel to mobilize a high-level delegation.

Israel also stands to gain from expanded cooperation with China in multiple realms, such as health-tech, agri-tech, food-tech, water-tech, and other civilian technologies.

• As one diplomatic source told the media: “China has stepped up its involvement in the Middle East of late, and the prime minister needs to be there in order to represent Israel’s interests.”
• If Jerusalem plays its cards well, Netanyahu’s visit will demonstrate that Israel is not some leaf caught between two winds, unable to find its own course, but a confident middle power that can secure its interests and preserve its strategic autonomy.

Dale Aluf, the research and strategy director at SIGNAL (Sino-Israel Global Network & Academic Leadership), makes the case for Israel’s engagement with China.

CHINA AND THE TOWN

Inconvenient India — America’s new best friend in the Indo-Pacific

Days after U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken returned from Beijing, President Joe Biden hosted Prime Minister Modi with a glossy state visit at the end of June. Protesters showed their support and disapproval of the controversial Indian leader on the streets of Washington, D.C., and New York City.

The U.S. is cozying up to India partly in response to tensions with China. But no one in Washington, D.C., is quite sure how the new friendliness with Dehli will work out and what values will have to be tossed aside to make the relationship work.

Laurel Schwartz reports from Washington, D.C., in the latest installment of China and The Town.

MORE FROM THE CHINA PROJECT

• In this week’s China Book Chat, Chris Marquis talks to Joshua Kurlantzick about his book Beijing’s Global Media Offensive: China’s Uneven Campaign to Influence Asia and the World, which looks at the ambitious, worldwide opinion management efforts of the Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 government.

FROM THE NEWSBASE

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

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

Electric vehicles
What’s behind China’s failed ‘truce’ in EV price war? / Reuters
“The group representing China’s auto manufacturers has retracted a pledge to avoid ‘abnormal pricing’ that it had brokered between 16 automakers, including Tesla, breaking off a truce in a brutal price war over electric vehicles.”
China’s auto group retracts pledge to avoid ‘abnormal pricing’ / Reuters
“The China Association of Auto Manufacturers, citing antitrust law, on Saturday retracted a pledge to avoid ‘abnormal pricing’ made two days earlier by 16 automakers, including Tesla.”

Private funds
New rules for China’s $3 trillion private fund industry have more teeth, experts say / Caixin (paywall)
“China is adding more teeth to regulations governing private funds, as the government aims to encourage healthy development of the 21 trillion yuan ($3 trillion) industry operating in a murkier part of the financial system than its publicly traded peers.”

China’s economic recovery
China needs process, time to heal economic scars left by coronavirus, ex-finance minister Lou Jiwei says / SCMP (paywall)
“Beijing should not bail out its indebted local governments, and instead an increase in its fiscal deficit is needed to speed up China’s economic recovery, according to former finance minister Lóu Jìwěi 楼继伟, who said a ‘process’ is needed to heal the ‘scars’ left by the coronavirus pandemic.”
China on brink of consumer deflation / FT (paywall)
“China’s economy teetered on the brink of deflation in June, adding to calls for Beijing to launch a stronger stimulus package to sustain the country’s sputtering post-Covid recovery.”
Zero inflation shows demand remains weak in China’s economy, analysts say / Caixin (paywall)
“China’s consumer prices were flat year-on-year in June as producer prices fell more sharply, indicating the economy was suffering from weak demand and rising deflationary pressure, analysts said.”
Deflation looms in China as rebound loses steam / WSJ (paywall)

AI
Chinese AI-powered robot developer CloudMinds raises $138m / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
“Chinese artificial intelligence-powered robot developer CloudMinds has raised over 1 billion yuan ($138.1 million) in a Series C round of financing, as the firm is said to be weighing an initial public offering in Hong Kong.”
Tech giants race to incorporate AI in China’s offices / Sixth Tone
“AI integration is fueling fierce competition among tech giants like Kingsoft Office, Baidu, and Alibaba, who are developing their own ChatGPT-like models.”

Foreign businesses in China
U.S. exporters snub de-risking to give China another shot – but they’re finding a new obstacle / SCMP (paywall)
“The trade war, Washington’s curbs on technology transfers, coronavirus lockdowns and calls for decoupling supply chains have all disrupted U.S.-China relations.”

U.S.-China tech war

One reason the U.S. can’t quit China? Chips. / NYT (paywall)
“Chipmakers are finding it increasingly hard to operate in China but say doing business in the country is still key to their survival.”
There’s no substitute for Chinese drones (and that’s a problem) / Foreign Policy (paywall)

Development and real estate
Hong Kong’s easing of mortgage rules boosts home visitors, but not deals / Reuters
“Hong Kong’s move to raise the maximum mortgages available to some homebuyers, its first relaxation in curbs on home purchases adopted in 2009, boosted shopping interest over the weekend but did little for transaction volumes, property agents said.”
China property developer Kaisa faces Hong Kong lawsuit seeking to wind it up / Reuters
“Chinese property developer Kaisa Group said on Monday a winding-up petition has been filed against it in a Hong Kong court in relation to 170 million yuan ($23.50 million) non-payments on onshore bonds.”

Youth unemployment
China’s youth left behind as jobs crisis mounts / FT (paywall)
“Crackdown on tech and slow post-COVID growth have left a generation of graduates with fewer options.”

Baidu
China’s state planner holds meeting with private firms, including Baidu / Reuters
“China’s state planner said on Monday it held a meeting with private firms including Baidu and LONGi Green Energy Technology.”

Local debt
Why China has a giant pile of debt / NYT (paywall)
“A major lender abroad, China is facing a debt bomb at home: trillions of dollars owed by local governments, their financial affiliates, and real estate developers.”

China’s tech crackdown
Alibaba and Tencent buoyed by hope of end to tech crackdown / Reuters
“Alibaba Group and Tencent shares rose in Hong Kong on Monday as China’s $984 million fine for Ant Group was viewed as signaling the end of a regulatory crackdown on the country’s technology sector.”

Alibaba
What’s next for Ant after its nearly $1 bln fine? / Reuters
“​​The announcement of a nearly $1 billion fine by Chinese regulators on Ant Group has drawn a line under the fintech giant’s woes and given hope to investors that a regulatory crackdown on China’s broader technology sector is over.”
What people are saying about Ant Group’s $984 mln fine and share buyback / Reuters
“China’s Ant Group has announced a surprise share buyback that values the fintech giant at $78.5 billion, well below the $315 billion touted in an abandoned IPO in 2020, in a move that may let some investors exit.”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND ENVIRONMENT:

Renewable energy
Salt + light + tech = record-setting Chinese solar power station / SCMP (paywall)
“The world’s biggest combined solar power station and salt farm has been plugged into the grid in China, with a capacity to meet the electricity needs of 1½ million households, according to its operator.”

Natural disasters
Deadly landslide hits central China / Caixin (paywall)
“A landslide struck a highway construction site in Yichang, Hubei province on Saturday, trapping 14 people.”

Extreme weather
Chinese cities open air raid shelters for heat relief as extreme temperatures lead to deaths / AP
“Cities across China opened their air raid shelters to offer residents relief from the heat Friday as unusually high temperatures across parts of the country started claiming lives.”
Tokyo, Beijing battle dangerous early summer heat waves / Nikkei Asia (paywall)

POLITICS AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

The Communist Party, elite politics, and government
China’s foreign relations law signals new red lines, but doesn’t say what crosses them / SCMP (paywall)
“With the declaration of sweeping legislation to govern external relations, China appears determined to ramp up a legal struggle to counter sanctions and what it views as other foreign provocations, while seeking to extend the reach of domestic law beyond its borders, according to observers.”

China central bankers lose status in party as Xi loyalist gains power / Nikkei Asia (paywall)

“The status of the leaders of the People’s Bank of China is declining within the Communist Party, with neither current Gov. Yì Gāng 易纲 nor Pān Gōngshèng 潘功勝, the newly appointed party chief at the central bank, included among the 376 high-ranking members or alternates of the party’s Central Committee.”

Former provincial finance chief falls under graft probe / Caixin (paywall)

Chén Jìxìng 陈继兴, “once the finance chief of China’s richest province of Guangdong, is being investigated by the country’s top graft buster amid an ongoing crackdown to root out corruption in the $60 trillion financial system.”

China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank under fire for CCP influence

China-led infrastructure bank finds no evidence of Communist Party influence / WSJ (paywall)
“The Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank found no evidence of undue influence by China’s Communist Party in its decision-making, according to an internal review released Friday.”
‘What’s the name of the plane? The People’s Republic of China’ / Foreign Policy (paywall)
“The first high-profile departure from China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank says it is dominated by CCP operatives and Beijing’s foreign-policy objectives.”

Media
China issues notice to strengthen management of ‘self media’ / Reuters
“China’s cyberspace regulator on Monday mulled new rules to strengthen the management of ‘self media,’ which refers to accounts that publish news and information but are not government-run or state-approved.”

Hong Kong
Hong Kong talent drive: more than 100,000 applications received so far and over 60 percent approved / SCMP (paywall)
“Hong Kong has received more than 100,000 applications to various talent schemes so far this year and approved over 60 per cent of them, nearly double the number targeted, authorities have revealed.”

U.S.-China competition and tensions
Top U.S.-China exchanges since Biden took office / Reuters
“U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Sunday she believes China and the U.S. have made some progress and can have a healthy relationship, following 10 hours of bilateral meetings with senior Chinese officials in Beijing.”
Biden and Trump both exaggerate pain from trade with China / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
A shared understanding of ‘competition’ and ‘cooperation’ will better serve China-U.S. relations / Caixin (paywall)
China and the U.S., still adversaries, are talking. That’s a start. / NYT (paywall)

Yellen’s visit to China
Yellen’s China trip yields long meetings, ‘cordial’ tone, but no consensus / Reuters
“U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen went to Beijing with no expectations that meetings with China’s new top economic officials would immediately ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies.”
China urges ‘practical’ U.S. action on sanctions after Yellen talks / Reuters
“China on Monday called on the U.S. to take ‘practical action’ in response to its ‘major concerns’ about sanctions on Chinese firms, after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrapped up more than 10 hours of meetings with senior officials in Beijing.”
Yellen swaps stories of being ‘the only woman in the room’ / Reuters
“U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, a trailblazer in the field of economics, met with six female economists in Beijing on Saturday, an effort to spotlight gender diversity following meetings with China’s largely male government leaders.”
Chinese women economists called ‘traitors’ online for meeting with Yellen / Reuters
Yellen urges U.S.-China cooperation on economy, climate / Reuters
“U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Saturday urged closer communication between China and the United States to improve economic decision-making, and challenged China to join global initiatives to help poorer nations address climate change.”
Yellen urges China to fight climate change / Reuters
U.S. Treasury chief Yellen appeals to China for cooperation on climate and other global challenges / AP
Yellen says Washington might ‘respond to unintended consequences’ for China due to tech export curbs / AP
After Yellen’s China trip saw these demands made and missteps avoided, Beijing calls to ‘beef up’ U.S. cooperation / SCMP (paywall)
U.S. controls on investment will not harm China, Yellen tells Beijing / FT (paywall)
In talks with Yellen, China demands removal of U.S. economic sanctions / Caixin (paywall)
Yellen says the U.S. and China will aim for more communication / NYT (paywall)
3 Takeaways From Janet Yellen’s Trip to Beijing / NYT (paywall)
Yellen trip aids fragile effort by U.S., China to keep talking / WSJ (paywall)
Janet Yellen ​hails progress in stabilizing rocky U.S.-China ties / WSJ (paywall)
Yellen presses China for better communication to avoid economic risks / WSJ (paywall)

Solomon Islands
China, Solomon Islands sign policing pact in upgrade of ties / Reuters
“China and the Solomon Islands on Monday signed a deal on police cooperation as part of upgrading their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership, four years after the Pacific nation switched ties from Taiwan to China.”
China, Solomon Islands set up comprehensive strategic partnership / Nikkei Asia (paywall)

Russia
Russian federation council speaker to visit China, Xinhua reports / R​​euters
“Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko will lead a delegation to China from Sunday through Wednesday, state-run Xinhua news agency said on Sunday.”

Saudi Arabia
China Looks to Saudi Arabia Amid Shifting Sands in U.S. Economic Ties / Caixin (paywall)
“As tensions between China and the U.S. show no signs of abating, ensnaring businesses from both countries in a seemingly endless spiral of restrictions and trade curbs, Beijing is looking elsewhere to find opportunities to bolster economic growth and expand its influence in key regions with geopolitical significance.”

East Asia
China’s ‘anxiety’ seen driving efforts to improve ties with South Korea, Japan / SCMP (paywall)
“China is expected to focus on economic cooperation to improve strained ties with South Korea and Japan, but it is unlikely to stop its two neighbors from tilting further towards the United States, observers say.”

South Korea
China, South Korea push for deep-sea mining as global talks begin / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
“China and South Korea are among the countries pushing for deep-sea mining as a United Nations body convenes a meeting in Jamaica on Monday to discuss setting guidelines for such activities, while critics warn of environmental risks.”

Vietnam
Blackpink, Barbie and Beijing’s South China Sea claims collide in Vietnam / SCMP (paywall)
“First it was a scribbled map in the Warner Bros’ Barbie film, now Blackpink are facing the ire of Vietnamese nationalists calling for a boycott of the K-pop supergroup’s coming tour dates in Hanoi, as pop culture increasingly takes collateral damage from geopolitics.”

Southeast Asia
China and Thailand launch air combat drills as Beijing shores up military ties in Southeast Asia / SCMP (paywall)
“An annual joint air combat exercise between China and Thailand started on Sunday to ‘strengthen military cooperation between the two countries and maintain regional peace and stability,’ state news agency Xinhua reported.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

Kindergarten attack
China kindergarten attack kills six, sparks safety worries / Reuters
“A 25-year-old man was suspected of attacking a kindergarten in China’s Guangdong province on Monday, killing six people and injuring one, triggering an outpouring of concern about violence against children at school.”
6 dead in attack at kindergarten in China’s Guangdong province / SCMP (paywall)
Six killed in south China kindergarten attack / Caixin (paywall)
Six dead after stabbing at a preschool in China / NYT (paywall)
Six killed in knife attack at China kindergarten / WSJ (paywall)
6 killed in Guangdong kindergarten attack, including 3 children / Sixth Tone

Housing
For Hong Kong’s youth, government-backed hostels offer a smidgen of housing hope / Reuters
“The hostel programme, ramped up last year under pressure from Chinese President Xí Jìnpíng 习近平, is aimed at tackling youth frustration with housing — a factor Beijing believes contributed to the anti-government pro-democracy protests that rocked the city in 2019.”

Marriage
Why China’s young people are not getting married / NYT (paywall)
“Marriages in China are at a record low. Recent political and economic turmoil have added another reason to postpone tying the knot.”
The ‘old dough sticks’: Life among Beijing’s least eligible bachelors / Sixth Tone
“They’re greasy, over thirty, and looking for love in all the wrong places.”

Population
Shenzhen, China’s ‘city of young migrants,’ at point of inflection / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
“China’s city of Shenzhen, home to the country’s first special economic zone, may have begun to lose its luster. Its population decreased for the first time in 2022, in part because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also as a result of changes in local government policies.”

Migrant workers
China’s most desperate migrant workers jostle for temporary jobs – losing means they sleep outside and stop eating / SCMP (paywall)
“Faced with dwindling opportunities, from rural hometowns to major cities, some migrant workers roll the dice on where China’s sluggish economic recovery will create the most jobs.”

Movies
Can China’s indie film-makers find a way around the censors? / FT (paywall)
“A censorship process has been in place in Chinese film since the 1930s, under the Nationalist government. With film creation in the hands of a few studios, it was easy for the government to monitor output, until the commercial boom of the 1980s and 1990s made recording equipment more affordable to aspiring directors.”

Translator of top Chinese leaders dies
In memory of the beloved translator of China’s top leaders / Caixin (paywall)
“Yán Míngfù 阎明复, who began his career as the official Russian translator for Chinese leaders including Máo Zédōng 毛泽东, and later senior party and government officials in the 1980s and 1990s , died Monday in Beijing at the age of 92.”

Mental health
Death of Coco Lee triggers public discussion on depression in China / Sixth Tone
“Legendary Chinese American singer Coco Lee’s (李玟 Lǐ Wén) death on Wednesday has sparked widespread discussions about depression and mental health among Chinese netizens.”