China news - 11 April 2023
International
China and Australia strike a deal over barley tariffs as the Albanese administration pursues constructive dialogue. The Australian government has agreed to temporarily suspend WTO dispute process while China conducts an expedited review of the tariffs. Daniel Hurst. The Guardian. 11 April
China sanctions two US organisations for hosting Taiwan’s president. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the Hudson Institute and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library would be banned from any cooperation, exchange or transaction with Chinese institutions or individuals. CNN. 7 April
PLA declares end to three-day military drills. Taiwan’s defence ministry has said it will continue to monitor the PLA’s activities. Helen Davidson. The Guardian. 10 April
Tracking China’s April 2023 military exercises around Taiwan. The China Power team at CSIS analyse China’s military exercises and other major activities after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with Speaker McCarthy. China Power. 10 April
US and Philippines launch biggest joint drills yet across the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. The Balikatan drills will run up to the 28th April and involve more than 17,600 military personnel. The Guardian. 11 April
China jails two human rights lawyers after closed-door trial. Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi have received jail terms of 14 years and 12 years respectively for state subversion. Ding’s wife, who lives in the US, has been pursuing the case with the US State Department. The Guardian. 10 April
Uyghurs living overseas report transnational repression by China. Research by the Uyghur Human Rights Project indicates that four-fifths of Uyghur respondents in Turkey had been threatened by Chinese police or security officials. Yuan Yang and Ayla Jean Yackley. The Financial Times. 11 April
British Embassy in Beijing calls for the release of Ekpar Asat and all those unjustly detained in Xinjiang. The British Embassy shared a post on twitter to mark the 7th anniversary of Asat’s detention for “inciting ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination”. Twitter. 9 April
US shares intelligence with India in China border clash. Real-time intelligence provided by the US considered a signal of strengthening security cooperation among Quad members. Khushboo Razdan. South China Morning Post. 11 April
South Korean biotech companies diversify in anticipation of US export restrictions. South Korea working to reduce reliance on raw material imports from China after the Biden administration identified biotechnology and bio-manufacturing as strategic industries. Song Jung-a and Jamie Smyth. Financial Times. 7 April
EU Chips Act likely to get green light this month. EU lawmakers will meet at the European Parliament’s monthly session on 18 April. The proposed legislation aims to double the bloc’s share of global semiconductor output over the next decade. Reuters, South China Morning Post. 6 April
Economy & tech
Tesla to build Megapacks battery plant in Shanghai. The facility will produce large-scale utility batteries used to stabilise energy grids. The Shanghai project will match the capacity of Tesla’s existing Megapack factory in California. Business Insider, Technode. 9 April
US House Committee chair has responded to reports of a new Megapack factory in Shanghai with concern. Mike Gallagher, the Republican chair of the House of Representatives’ select committee on China’s Communist Party, has asked how Tesla CEO will balance US government support with its operations in China. South China Morning Post. 11 April
Shanghai offering cash awards of up to CNY 100 million to attract high-tech manufacturing projects. Shanghai to embark on a series of favourable policy initiatives to restore investor confidence after Covid lockdowns brought the city to a standstill. South China Morning Post. 6 April
Hong Kong’s richest families hit by property slide. Hong Kong’s four biggest family-owned developers see share prices fall as Covid-19 restrictions and interest rates hit the property market. Financial Times. 10 April
Alibaba rolls out ChatGPT alternative. The service is currently only available to corporate clients and a limited number of media outlets. Technode. 10 April
Volkswagen to build EV academy in Hainan. The German carmaker will work with local authorities to train local talent in China’s southern-most island. Iris Ouyang. South China Morning Post. 10 April
Tencent and Douyin sign partnership deal on video content distribution after years of contentious copyright disputes. Users of Bytedance-owned Douyin, Xigua Video and Jinri Toutiao will now be able to produce derivative works based on Tencent-owned videos. Iris Deng. South China Morning Post. 7 April
Opinion & long reads
Grasping shadows: The politics of China’s deleveraging campaign. Analysis of the economic and political consequences of China’s deleveraging campaign. Logan Wright. CSIS. 10 April
Beijing chooses targets carefully as it goes on offensive in US chip wars. Industry experts believe any further retaliation will be limited, given China’s reliance on Nvidia, Intel and Qualcom. Eleanor Olcott and Richard Waters. Financial Times. 10 April
Why defrosting the EU-China investment deal will be difficult. Von der Leyen stresses the need to reassess the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment with China, a trade deal that has been stalled since 2021. Henry Foy. Financial Times. 6 April
The age of energy insecurity: How the fight for resources is upending geopolitics. Jason Bordoff and Meghan L. O’Sullivan. Foreign Policy. 10 April
How China’s economic slowdown could hurt the world: Slower Chinese growth threatens the fight against climate change. Daniel H. Rosen and Sophie Lu. Foreign Policy. 10 April
Xi Jinping wanted China to be a global soccer power. What went wrong? Andrew McNicol and Andrew Raine. CNN. 7 April