China News - 15 September 2021
International
Chinese ambassador Zheng Zeguang banned from parliament. Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons, and Lord McFall of Alcluith, the Lord Speaker took the joint decision to bar the Chinese embassy after five sanctioned MPs, including Tom Tugendhat and Neil O’Brien, wrote to the Speaker expressing concerns over a reception to be held in parliament. The Chinese embassy accused parliamentarians of “despicable and cowardly action”. This morning, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said, 'I can see why parliament represented by the Speaker and the Lord Speaker might have made this decision.' The Telegraph, BBC, Daily Mail, 15 September
Keynote Speech and Q&A by HE Ambassador Zheng Zeguang at the Online Icebreaker Lecture. The transcript of Ambassador Zheng’s keynote speech on 13 September at an event with the China-Britain Business Council and 48 Group is here.
Hong Kong: Activists jailed for joining banned Tiananmen vigil. Nine Hong Kong pro-democracy activists have been sentenced to between six and 10 months in prison for taking part in a banned vigil last year commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. BBC, 15 September
Top general Mark Milley secretly dialled China’s top military leader. Milley established a back channel to his counterpart in China to calm nerves about the possibility of an attack after the Capitol riot on January 6, a new book says. The Times, 14 September
China urges US to unfreeze assets in Afghanistan and remove ‘obstacles to peaceful reconstruction’. SCMP, 15 September
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi dismisses US move for South Korea to join ‘outdated’ Five Eyes alliance. Nikkei, 15 September
Abolish Trump-era ‘China Initiative’, academics urge, amid racial profiling criticism. The Guardian, 15 September
Taiwan fighter jets practise road landings in drill simulating response to China attack. The Guardian, 15 September
China focus
China’s green future and red past: the message in Xi Jinping’s trip to Shaanxi. Xi’s inspection trip included a clean-coal enterprise, a soil erosion project and a revolutionary site. SCMP, 14 September
#MeToo: China court dismisses landmark sex harassment case. It ruled that there was insufficient evidence to support the case against Zhu Jun. Chinese courts rarely grant hearings to such cases, and the country only very recently passed legislation that clearly defined sexual harassment. BBC, 15 September
New regulation signals China to add fewer skyscrapers. Pekingnology, 15 September
Economy & tech
China slowdown worsens as Covid outbreak exposes consumer weakness. Retail sales rose just 2.5 per cent in August year-on-year, far below economists’ forecasts of a 7 per cent rise. Industrial production also missed targets to add 5.3 per cent, official data showed on Wednesday. FT, 15 September
TikTok faces GDPR probe over children’s data and China transfers. The Irish data commissioner has launched investigations into TikTok over its handling of children’s data and alleged transfer of user information to China. FT, 15 September
Investors bet China’s cosmetic surgery industry is next on regulators’ hit list. FT, 15 September
China ‘tracks users of foreign sites’ through anti-fraud app. At least two people in China told the Financial Times that they had been called in by police after accessing foreign financial news services. The Times, 14 September
Longer reads & opinion
China’s New Direction: Challenges and Opportunities for US Policy. The Task Force on U.S.-China Policy is a group of China specialists from around the U.S., convened by Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations. UCSD, 14 September