China News - 13 June 2022
International
Universities facing new China cash crackdown. The Times splashes on today’s reading of the Higher Education Bill and the Government’s move to pass legislation which would require universities to report any partnerships over £75,000 signed with individuals or organisations overseas. Countries in the academic technology approval scheme, which certifies foreign students for entry into the UK to study or conduct research in sensitive technology-related fields, will be exempt. These include Nato and European Union allies, Japan and Australia. A UK government stance on the future of Confucius Institutes is also expected. The Times, Daily Mail, 13 June
Chinese donor in fraud inquiry made a fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge. Cambridge University accepted a donation worth hundreds of thousands of pounds from an investor considered to be one of China’s most wanted men, The Times revealed. Jesus College made Jianxiang Shi, who is awaiting trial in the US for separate charges of visa fraud, one of its St Radegund Fellows, an elite group of benefactors, in 2015. The Times, 11 June
China alarms US with new private warnings to avoid Taiwan Strait. Chinese military officials in recent months have repeatedly asserted that the Taiwan Strait isn’t international waters during meetings with US counterparts, according to a person familiar with the situation, generating concern within the Biden administration. Speaking at this weekend’s IISS Shangri-La Dialogue security conference, Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe accused the US of "hijacking" countries around the Indo Pacific region and said that China wouldn’t flinch from the cost of defending its claims to the island. Bloomberg, CNN, FT, 12 June
More than 540,000 Hongkongers issued BN(O) passports since 2019. A Freedom of Information request has revealed that more than half a million Hong Kong residents have received British National (Overseas) passports since 2019, with about 60 per cent of the travel documents approved for issue in 2020, when the UK announced a new pathway to citizenship scheme for Hong Kongers. SCMP, 11 June
Procurement Bill: amendment tabled in the House of Lords. Baroness Stroud has tabled an amendment to the Procurement Bill, which would seek to reduce the “dependency of public bodies upon goods and services which originate in whole or in part in a country considered by the United Kingdom as either a systemic competitor or a threat.” Beijing to Britain, 12 June
Hong Kong foreign language teachers forced to take allegiance oath. Hong Kong’s education bureau said on Saturday that native-speaking English teachers (NETs) and advisers working in government-run schools must sign a declaration of allegiance to the city and its Basic Law by 21 June in order to continue working. The Guardian, 12 June
China surpasses US in eyes of young Africans, survey shows. Bloomberg, 13 June
Fanfare as first major road bridge connecting Russia and China opens. The Guardian, 11 June
China starts Solomon Islands police training after security pact. Bloomberg, 12 June
Economy & tech
TikTok workers burn out trying to match Chinese. Employees in international offices on both sides of the Atlantic have complained about the unrealistic expectations of their bosses in China. Insiders attribute the issue to a clash between Western and Chinese corporate norms, coupled with a burnout culture common to many fast-growing tech firms. The Times, 11 June
China ride-hailing giant Didi to start trading on OTC market after NYSE delisting. Beijing-based Didi, whose shareholders recently voted to delist the company from the New York Stock Exchange, is expected to soon be cleared by Chinese regulators from a cybersecurity review and resume normal operations. SCMP, 12 June
Inside the secretive world of shipping Russia's tainted oil. Chinese companies have been exploring bargain-price purchases, although the country’s oil importers haven’t visibly gone on a spending spree as of yet. The Sunday Telegraph, 12 June
China focus
Footage of women attacked in restaurant sparks outrage. Nine people have been arrested in China after a video went viral of a brutal attack by a group of men on women in the city of Tangshan. It has led to an outcry on social media and re-ignited debate about gender violence in China. BBC, 12 June
China’s new plans to stimulate rural consumption. The central and local governments want to unleash China’s rural consumers with several new campaigns to send building materials, appliances, and electric cars to the countryside. SupChina, 10 June
Beijing tests millions and isolates thousands over Covid outbreak linked to bar. Almost 200 infections have been linked to the bar. The Guardian, 13 June
Long reads & opinion
How Xi Jinping is reshaping China’s capital markets. The rising influence of China’s government guidance and a halt on overseas IPOs reflects technological competition with the west and the heavy influence of the state. Hudson Lockett. FT, 12 June
China is becoming a hermit kingdom. The county’s zero-Covid nightmare is far from over. Rana Mitter. The Spectator, 11 June
The human and economic cost of China’s zero-Covid strategy is mounting. Beijing’s techno-authoritarian approach to containing the virus is just another iteration of digital dystopia. James Kynge. FT, 10 June
Podcast: World Questions - what next for the future of Taiwan? BBC, 11 June