China News - 19 November 2021

International

UK government declines Hikvision, Dahua ban. The government has declined to support a Foreign Affairs Committee June 2021 recommendation that the Chinese surveillance equipment providers be banned over their Xinjiang operations but instead will provide future guidance on excluding suppliers with "sufficient evidence of human rights violations”. Fraser Sampson, the UK's Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner, reacted to this development stating he doesn't see this "changing the obvious human rights issues that remain for Hikvision". IPVM, 18 November

Peng Shuai: Calls for UK to intervene amid concerns over email from ‘missing’ Chinese tennis player. Stephen Kinnock, shadow minister for Asia and Pacific, said he has asked Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, about what steps she has taken to find out what has happened to Ms Peng, the Chinese tennis star who has not been seen publicly after making sexual assault allegations against a former government official. iNews, 18 November

WTA prepared to pull out of China over tennis star’s disappearance. Chief Executive of the Women’s Tennis Association Steve Simon said that Peng’s wellbeing was “bigger than business” and that the WTA, which has ten events scheduled in China for 2022 worth tens of millions of dollars, was willing to pull them. The Guardian, Reuters, Independent, 19 November

Disappearance of Chinese female tennis star galvanises sporting elite. FT, 19 November

Monkey-brain study with link to China's military roils top European university. A professor at the University of Copenhagen, who is also employed by Shenzhen-based genomics giant BGI Group, conducted genetic research with the Chinese military without disclosing the connection, the university told Reuters. The research was designed to help soldiers operate at high altitudes and raises concerns about Beijing exploiting links with Western academia for military purposes. Reuters, The Telegraph, 18 November

Marriott refused to host Uyghur conference, citing "political neutrality". The Marriott hotel in Prague declined to host about 200 delegates from 25 countries and activists and leaders from China's Uyghur diaspora for the World Uyghur Conference this month, according to a report by Axios. Axios, 18 November

China uses maritime militia to assert claim on South China Sea. There may be as many as 300 vessels from China’s maritime militia patrolling the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea at any one time as Beijing continues to stake its controversial claim on the disputed waters, according to new research from CSIS. Al Jazeera, 19 November

UKHSA reminds travellers to China about the risk of avian flu from wet markets. Gov.uk, 18 November

Covid 'patient zero' was Wuhan market vendor, claims new study. The Telegraph, 19 November

Beijing condemns opening of Taiwan office in Lithuania as ‘egregious act’. The Guardian, 19 November

Disappeared Interpol chief’s wife, Grace Meng, berates Beijing for arbitrary detentions. The Times, 19 November

Economy & tech

Report shows China's growing clout at World Bank, global institutions. With over $66 billion in total capital, China has passed Japan to become the second-largest contributor to the system of development banks that provide some $200 billion in subsidised loans to poor countries each year, a new Center for Global Development report has revealed. Reuters, 18 November

China’s semiconductor talent shortage poses biggest obstacle to Beijing’s chip self-sufficiency ambitions, SMIC founder says. Richard Chang Rugin, the founder of chip maker SMIC, sees no easy fix for the low supply of semiconductor talent in the world’s second-largest economy, adding that “capital and policy support is not the problem.” SCMP, 18 November

Alibaba warns of slowdown in Chinese consumer spending. Alibaba’s US-listed shares fell more than 10 per cent after the e-commerce group cut its sales forecasts sharply. The company’s shares have lost more than a third of their value this year because of concern over the company’s prospects amid a slowdown in consumption, growing competition and an industry-wide regulatory crackdown in China. FT, The Times, BBC, 18 November

IMF urges China to tackle financial risks in 'clear and coordinated' fashion. Reuters, 19 November

Huawei doubles down on cloud services in Asia as smartphone business takes battering from US sanctions. SCMP, 18 November

Weibo files for Hong Kong secondary listing, joins march by Chinese stocks to list nearer home. SCMP, 19 November

China focus

China's politburo reviews national security strategy for 2021-2025. The decision-making body of the Chinese Communist Party highlighted the need to take a holistic approach to national security and called for speeding up the construction of new national security architecture, focusing on ensuring food security and energy security and enhancing internet and data security. Xinhua, Reuters, 18 November

China to release its first essential medicines list for children. Experts say the new catalogue will ensure supply and help prevent frequent shortages of children’s drugs. SixthTone, 18 November

Chinese tutoring companies struggling to reinvent themselves. Nikkei Asia, 19 November

China to reopen border with Hong Kong in early December. Bloomberg, 19 November

To prevent floods, China is building “sponge cities”. The Economist, 19 November

Opinion & editorial

The Times view on the plight of Peng Shuai: We Too. The Times, 18 November

Tennis must keep making noise about Peng Shuai to put pressure on China. Tumaini Carayol. The Guardian, 18 November

Expat exodus is bad for China, bad for the US and bad for the world. Stringent pandemic policies and tax law changes are driving expatriates away, eroding business and diplomatic pillars. Ker Gibbs. SCMP, 19 November

Biden met with Xi. But is his China policy right? Peter Beinart. NYT, 18 November

Long reads

Outcomes of the Biden-Xi virtual summit. Charles Parton. Council on Geostrategy, 18 November

China’s hypersonic missile test does not change the nuclear calculus. Ananmay Agarwal and Ryan J A Harden. RUSI, 18 November

War of nerves for US as China displays growing military might. Stunning technological advances in weaponry have generals in the Pentagon wondering how Beijing will use its increasingly threatening armed forces. Michael Evans. The Times, 18 November

The Sixth Plenum and the rise of traditional Chinese culture in socialist ideology. Zhuoran Li. The Diplomat, 19 November