China News - 12 October 2021
International
Xi Jinping plans call with EU’s Charles Michel, as Brussels looks to steady ship on China. Following a meeting of the European Union‘s 27 leaders last week, at which they discussed a need to “rebalance” ties with China, the call between Xi and Michel would mark the first time that the two have spoken directly since the end of last year. SCMP, Politico, 11 October
Foreign Secretary to back Baltic countries to challenge the threat posed by Russia, Belarus, and China. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss met the foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to agree on a joint approach to building stronger economic, security, and technology partnerships to counter malign actors. GOV.UK, 11 October
Britain reaffirms Asia 'tilt' as new warship makes Singapore stop. New Minister for Asia Amanda Milling paid a visit as part of a trip including stops in Manila and Singapore. Reuters, 11 October
China says it carried out beach landing, assault drills in province opposite Taiwan. China’s military said on Monday it had carried out beach landing and assault drills in the province directly across the sea from Taiwan, though it did not link the exercises to current tensions with Taipei. Reuters, SCMP, The Japan Times, 11 October
India, China army talks to defuse border tensions fail. Talks between Indian and Chinese army commanders to disengage troops from key friction areas along their border have ended in a stalemate and failed to ease a 17-month standoff that has sometimes led to deadly clashes, the two sides say. Chinese state media reported that the PLA ran tank drills near the Indian border. Al Jazeera, WSJ, Independent, The Japan Times, SCMP
IMF board backs Georgieva to continue as managing director. France, Germany, Italy and the UK had aligned alongside China and Russia to advocate on Georgieva’s behalf. FT, 12 October
Huawei rejected by three in four Canadians on eve of 5G decision. More than 75% of Canadians say that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government should ban China’s Huawei from taking part in the build-out of 5G networks, a new poll shows. Bloomberg, 11 October
China denies WHO access to hundreds of bat caves and wildlife breeding farms as part of Covid-19 outbreak investigation. Daily Mail, 11 October
Shrinking schools add to Hong Kong’s exodus. NYT, 11 October
Reading: hot spot for Hongkongers. The Standard, 12 October
Economy & tech
China floods: Coal price hits fresh high as mines shut. Nearly 2 million have been displaced and the price of coal used in China's power plants has surged to a new record high. Heavy rains hit Shanxi in recent days, the country's biggest coal producing province, after record floods struck the mining region of Henan in July. BBC, The Guardian, RTHK, SCMP, 12 October
Chinese tech giants led by Alibaba and Tencent have announced donations amounting to over 300 million yuan towards flood relief efforts in Shanxi. SCMP, 11 October
Xi Jinping scrutinizes Chinese financial institutions’ ties with private firms. The WSJ reports that Xi is launching a sweeping round of inspections of financial institutions, led by China’s top anticorruption agency. It is most extensive of a sector Mr. Xi has been suspicious of since coming to power nearly a decade ago. WSJ, 11 October
China’s probe into Didi is aimed at addressing national security risks arising from New York listing, Xinhua says. SCMP, 11 October
Evergrande faces fresh debt deadline as property market woes widen. Expectations are slim that the troubled Chinese developer will make $148m worth of payments due on Monday, as it wrestles with more than $300bn in liabilities. The Guardian, 11 October
China's bond markets slump again as new Evergrande deadline passes. Reuters, 11 October
Gogoro bets on China’s electric scooter market ahead of Spac deal. Taiwan battery group lured by the potential of 300m riders despite decoupling, ahead of a Nasdaq listing that will value the electric scooter and battery swapping tech group at $2.35bn. FT, TechCrunch, 11 October
Lithium deal shows China’s accelerating race for battery metals. Bloomberg, 11 October
Meituan founder Wang Xing locks down social media posts as China’s food delivery giant puts antitrust investigation behind it. SCMP, 11 October
China focus
COP15: China’s Xi Jinping pledges US$232m for new fund to protect world biodiversity. In his address to COP15, Xi also pledged to accelerate the development of solar power in China. SCMP, Xinhua, 12 October
China to outlaw all news outlets not funded by Communist Party. Beijing published a draft law stating that privately funded organisations "shall not engage in news-gathering, editing, and broadcasting". The Telegraph, 11 October
Hong Kong’s Democratic Party shuns ‘patriot only’ election. Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy party will not contest upcoming “patriot only” legislature elections after none of its members met the party’s own application deadline on Monday. HKFP, 11 October
China bans British beef again over mad cow disease. BBC, Reuters, 11 October
Foreign athletes arrive in Beijing for Olympics test events. SupChina, 11 October
Longer reads & opinion
FT Swamp Notes: Weaponised supply chains. Katherine Tai’s speech was a key turning point in the development of a post-neoliberal narrative. Rana Foroohar. FT, 11 October
The moment of truth over Taiwan is getting closer. Gideon Rachman. FT, 11 October
‘Starting a fire’: U.S. and China enter dangerous territory over Taiwan. Chris Buckley and Steven Lee Myers. The Japan Times, 11 October
A Tale of 2 Navies: India and China’s Carrier Airwing Development. Rick Joe. The Diplomat, 11 October
COP26, G20 prospects dimmer without China’s Xi Jinping in the room. Finbarr Bermingham and Mark Magnier. SCMP, 11 October
Inside the industry: how does China have more EV firms than it can count? Jim Holder. Autocar, 11 October
Washington is getting China wrong. Michael Schuman. The Atlantic, 11 October
The divided, distracted and deluded West is allowing China to take over. Sherelle Jacobs. The Telegraph, 11 October
Is China’s soccer boom going bust? Tariq Panja. NYT, 11 October