China News - 18 November 2021

International

New report exposes forced labour connections in global retail brands’ supply chains. More than 100 global retail brands could still be at risk of using cotton that is produced by Uyghur forced labour, according to new research by Sheffield Hallam University’s Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice. You can read the report here.

China’s Xinjiang cotton is banned in the US, but still making it to store shelves, report says. Washington Post, 17 November

EU’s forced labour ban will be bundled up in a law requiring companies’ due diligence on sustainability, according to POLITICO. POLITICO, 17 November

MPs pile pressure on Boris Johnson to boycott Beijing Winter Olympics. Boris Johnson faces growing pressure to stage a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics, following reports the Biden administration will swerve the Games. Tom Tugendhat, Chair of the China Research Group, signed a letter on Wednesday urging the Prime Minister to ban any official UK diplomatic representation. The Telegraph, 17 November

UK fourth highest user of US-blacklisted surveillance cameras, according to new data. An updated report has revealed that the UK has 277,986 surveillance camera networks provided by Hikvision and Dahua, Chinese companies that have been found to create technology used to racially profile Uyghurs. Both companies have also been accused of posing significant privacy and security risks due to their links with the Chinese Communist Party. Top10VPN, 16 November

Germany may have been naive on China at first, Merkel says. Germany may at first have been naive in some areas of cooperation with China, but should not sever all connections in reaction to growing tensions, outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel has told Reuters. Reuters, SCMP, 17 November

New report: China’s subnational diplomacy in Europe. MERICS has released a fascinating report on how China has expanded its ties in Europe at a subnational level, bypassing EU institutions and national governments to increase influence and advance its strategic interests. Read here. 18 November

Taiwan opens office in Lithuania, brushing aside China opposition. Taiwan opened a de facto embassy in Lithuania on Thursday in a diplomatic breakthrough for the island, brushing aside Beijing's strong opposition to the move. Reuters, 18 November

China must realise Taiwan isn’t Hong Kong, Tony Blair says. Bloomberg, 18 November

US, EU, Japan trade ministers agree to renew three-way partnership. Bloomberg, 17 November

Chinese vessels use water cannon to block Philippines vessels from disputed shoal. The Guardian, Independent, 18 November

Peng Shuai: Doubt cast on email from missing Chinese tennis star claiming ‘everything is fine’. BBC, The Guardian, FT, 17 November

Economy & tech

China steps up opening up, supply chain security charm offensive in wake of Biden-Xi summit. Chinese Vice-President Wang Qishan and Premier Li Keqiang spoke about China opening up further and said that China wanted to work with all countries to keep industry and supply chains stable and enhance coordination of macroeconomic policies. SCMP, 17 November

US-China tech war clouds SK Hynix's plans for a key chip factory. Plans by South Korea's SK Hynix to overhaul a huge facility in China to make memory chips more efficiently are in jeopardy, sources told Reuters, because US officials do not want advanced equipment used in the process to enter into China. Reuters, 18 November

Boss’s fire sale to keep Evergrande alive. The founder of China Evergrande Group has raised about £815 million by selling his personal assets, including a villa in Hong Kong and private jets, in an attempt to keep the hugely indebted property company afloat. The Times, 18 November

Huawei, Alibaba sponsorship overshadows European cloud Gaia-X’s summit. POLITICO, 18 November

US should restrict investment in China due to security concerns, panel says. WSJ, 17 November

Top steel firm China Baowu unveils global alliance to cut emissions. Reuters, 18 November

China focus

China lays final tracks in loop around Taklamakan Desert. Workers successfully laid the final tracks of the 510-mile Heruo railway linking the city of Hotan to Ruoqiang county in the province of Xinjiang in September, in an attempt to connect remote communities in the west of the country. The Times, 17 November

China making example of jailed Wuhan Covid journalist, says lawyer. The detention of Zhang Zhan, the Chinese journalist jailed after reporting on the Covid pandemic in Wuhan, is intended as a “warning to others”, her former lawyer has said. The Guardian, 18 November

Hong Kong says it could criminalise spreading of ’fake news’. Independent, 17 November

China’s State Council approves plan to digitalise government services. Xinhua, 17 November

Opinion & editorial

US-China nuclear talks unlikely to produce cuts in warheads. Michael Evans. The Times, 17 November

Russia’s energy deals with China may backfire on the Kremlin. Moscow has much leverage over Europe as a gas supplier, but an over-reliance on Beijing carries long-term strategic risks. Alexander Gabuev. FT, 18 November

Xi's need to overtake Deng poses big risk for Taiwan. Katsuji Nakazawa. Nikkei Asia, 18 November

Beware the Chinese ransomware attack with no ransom. A different hacking tactic could be a way to distract victims from the perpetrator’s true motive. Tim Culpan. Bloomberg, 17 November

Long reads

Briefing: is the world giving Beijing a pass over Xinjiang? Reid Standish. China in Eurasia, 17 November

Xi-Biden summit produces few breakthroughs. The White House still lacks a coherent China strategy. James Palmer. Foreign Policy, 17 November

How the West tried to shift China on climate. A year of relentless diplomacy brought significant wins, but not the hoped-for breakthrough. Karl Mathieson and Zack Colman. POLITICO, 17 November