China News - 19 April 2022
Today’s newsletter will be slightly longer to cover all of the major stories during Easter recess. It will resume in its regular format tomorrow.
CRG summer internship. Today is the application deadline for our summer internship. We are looking for one or two paid summer interns to contribute to policy research and assist with all aspects of our work. Find further details and apply here.
International
Shanghai reports first official Covid deaths in weeks-long lockdown. Shanghai reported three Covid-19 deaths Monday, the first officially announced fatalities from an Omicron outbreak that has resulted in a government-enforced city-wide lockdown. As of 5 April, more than 92 million Chinese people over 65 were not fully vaccinated. President Xi Jinping has maintained that China must not relax Covid control prevention measures, although Shanghai has reportedly set a target to stop the spread of the virus outside of quarantined areas by Wednesday, which would allow the city to ease its lockdown as public frustrations grow. BBC, Reuters, 18 April
‘Voting with their feet’: China’s wealthy look to leave after Shanghai lockdown. FT, 18 April
Analysis: Will China’s zero-Covid policy bring the world’s factory grinding to a halt? Vincent Ni. The Guardian, 15 April
Department of Health bans Hikvision cameras. Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, has ordered officials to stop buying security cameras made by the Chinese state-backed technology company Hikvision amid allegations it has been used to spy on the country’s Uyghur minority. It is believed to be the first Whitehall department to block purchases of Hikvision products, more than one million of which are installed across Britain. The company has been blacklisted by the US government and last year the Foreign Affairs Committee recommended that it be banned in the UK. The Telegraph, 16 April
China ‘infiltrates’ groups welcoming Hongkongers to Britain. The Times revealed that two groups - the Chinese Community Centre - Birmingham (CCC-B) and the Chinese Association of Southampton (CAS) - that receive government funding to welcome people moving from Hong Kong to Britain have been accused of links to the Chinese Communist Party. Simon Cheng, a Hong Kong dissident who was granted asylum in Britain in 2019, believes the CCP is monitoring him after receiving a notification that an attempt was being made in China to access his phone. The Times, 18 April
China-Russia relations
China’s trade with Russia up by 12% in March from a year earlier. Shipments to and from Russia increased 12.76% in March to $11.67bn, Chinese customs data showed on Wednesday, slowing from 25.7% growth in February, when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. Russia is a major source of oil, gas, coal and agricultural commodities for China: western countries fear China could offset some of its neighbour’s pain by buying more from it. The Guardian, 13 April
China's oil champion prepares Western retreat over sanctions fear. China's top offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC Ltd. is preparing to exit its operations in Britain, Canada and the United States, because of concerns in Beijing the assets could become subject to Western sanctions, industry sources said. Reuters, 13 April
Interview: China views Russian invasion as a ‘strategic utility’, says ex-Australia PM Rudd. FT, 17 April
Event today: How the Chinese Public Views Russia's War in Ukraine. CSIS
Washington and Tokyo deny Japan invited to join AUKUS security pact. The Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun had reported last week that each AUKUS member had informally asked Japan about the possibility of it joining the partnership. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that there is no ‘JAUKUS’ plan. The Japan Times, 14 April
US senators defy China’s threats with unannounced visit to Taiwan. A delegation of United States lawmakers led by vocal China critics Bob Menendez and Lindsey Graham met Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen last week as Beijing threatened “strong measures” in response. Al Jazeera, 14 April
Senior US officials to visit the Solomon Islands amid China security concerns. Reuters, 18 April
Crisis-hit Sri Lanka looks to China for help. SCMP, 14 April
New Zealand will allow extraditions to China. SupChina, 13 April
Economy & tech
China GDP growth beats forecasts but lockdowns weigh on economic outlook. China recorded a 4.8 per cent annual gross domestic product growth rate in the first quarter, beating expectations of 4.4 per cent growth. However, the first signs of a slowdown were evident in Chinese retail sales, which fell 3.5 per cent in March compared with the previous year, as sweeping Covid-19 lockdowns cloud the country’s growth outlook. China’s central bank yesterday unveiled 23 new measures to support the economy. FT, WSJ, 18 April
Xi Jinping’s bold plan for China’s next phase of innovation. A shift towards homegrown tech is altering the geographical layout of China’s manufacturing machine. New investment and migration are being rerouted from rich coastal hubs to inland cities and there is an unprecedented rise in the number of new tech companies as the government nurtures thousands of groups in the fields of data science, network security and robotics. The Economist, 16 April
China seeks microchip supremacy by any means possible. Taiwan is grappling with a new challenge from China: a campaign to steal the brains behind the microchips that power the global economy. The Sunday Times, 17 April
Global investors flee China fearing that risks eclipse rewards. Bloomberg, 17 Apri
Chinese social media to display user locations based on IP address. SCMP, 17 April
Didi sets shareholder meeting to vote on US delisting plans. Reuters, 16 April
Opinion & editorial
The way Chinese think about Covid-19 is changing. But the government shows little sign of changing its zero-covid policy. The Economist, 16 April
How a Welsh microchip factory became a national security nightmare. Ministers are still deciding whether to block the sale of Newport Wafer Fab to a company part-owned by the Chinese government. James Titcomb. The Telegraph, 15 April
China will be deglobalisation’s big loser. Minxin Pei. Project Syndicate, 14 April
Focus on interests, not ideology, to strengthen Taiwan’s standing. Ryan Hass. Brookings, 18 April
Long reads
Rights protection: How the UK should respond to the PRC’s overseas influence. Andrew Chubb. King’s College London, 13 April
Europe’s China Policy has taken a sharp turn. Where will it go next? ChinaFile, 14 April
The dangers of China’s decline. As China’s economic miracle fades, its leaders may become more inclined to take risks. Hal Brands. Foreign Policy, 14 April
Baby bust: Pandemic accelerates fall in China’s birth rate. Eleanor Olcott and Federica Cocco. FT, 19 April