China News - 21 November 2022

International

Climate costs deal struck but no fossil fuel progress. Nearly 200 nations at COP27 reached a hard-fought, last-minute deal to set up a “loss and damage” fund for climate impact in developing countries. But nations and groups including the UK, EU, and New Zealand left Egypt unhappy with compromises on fossil fuels. This came as top Chinese climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua said China and the United States have renewed “constructive” talks on climate change and that exchanges will continue. BBC, SCMP, 20 November

China’s first Covid death in months as cases rise in Beijing. An 87-year-old man died in Beijing as the weekend saw a return of heightened restrictions on schools, restaurants and shops in the capital. Meanwhile, reports that a baby died in China because her medical care had been delayed by Covid restrictions have prompted a huge outcry online and Hong Kong’s chief executive John Lee has tested positive for Covid-19 just days after interacting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Sky News, AP, 20 November

‘Dangerous’ Chinese CCTV cameras to be phased out in Scotland. Scottish ministers are phasing out devices made by Hikvision, a Chinese state-owned company blacklisted in the US, after authorities ruled it poses threats to national security. The Scottish government said it “has a number of legacy items manufactured by Hikvision which are being phased out as part of an on-going security improvement programme”. The Times, 21 November

Asia must not become arena for ‘big power contest’, says China’s Xi. The Asia-Pacific is no one’s back yard and should not become an arena of big power rivalry, Xi Jinping said at Friday’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bangkok. Fumio Kishida and Xi agreed to try to improve relations between their nations, even as Japan’s prime minister expressed “grave concerns” about China’s military activities in the region. The Guardian, 18 November

Newport Wafer Fab: Anger in Beijing as UK forces Chinese tech firm to sell controlling stake. “The UK has overstretched the concept of national security and abused state power to directly interfere in a Chinese company’s normal investment cooperation in Britain,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters, after Business Secretary Grant Shapps ruled that Chinese-owned Nexperia must sell at least 86% of its stake in British semiconductor manufacturer Newport Wafer Fab. Sky News, 18 November

TikTok draws bipartisan fire in US on China surveillance concerns. Two US senators called TikTok a Chinese surveillance tool, issuing a bipartisan warning as the Biden administration weighs a deal that could let the video-sharing app keep operating in the US. The White House is looking at strategic investments to identify how to make domestic systems more resilient and counter information operations, according to Kemba Walden, Principal Deputy National Cyber Director. Bloomberg, 20 November

China’s birth rate fell to another record low in 2021, government confirms. Despite the introduction of a nationwide three-child policy, China’s birth rate plunged to its lowest level in decades last year, according to newly released official data. Sixth Tone, 18 November

Mike Bloomberg forced to apologise after Boris Johnson speech criticising China. The Guardian, 18 November

Top US House Republican McCarthy plans special committee on China. Reuters, 20 November

Economy & tech

Chinese owner of British Steel breaks investment promise. Jingye, the Chinese owners of British Steel, have injected only a fraction of the £1.2bn they promised to invest, according to the Telegraph. The company has invested just £156m since acquiring the business in a Government-supported takeover in March 2020 and is threatening to close one of the plant’s two blast furnaces unless the Business Secretary agrees to provide state aid totalling hundreds of millions of pounds. The Telegraph, 20 November

MSCI investors at risk of exposure to Xinjiang allegations, report says. The world’s biggest asset management, state pension and sovereign wealth funds are passively invested in companies which have allegedly been involved in the repression of Uyghur Muslims in north-west China’s Xinjiang region, according to a new report by Hong Kong Watch and the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice. FT, 21 November

China’s Sinopec signs long-term LNG supply deal with Qatar. Bloomberg, 21 November

Blizzard will pull ‘World of Warcraft’ from China as NetEase deal ends. CNN, 17 November

China focus

Xi stacks government with science and tech experts amid rivalry with US. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has packed the top ranks of the Communist Party with a new generation of leaders who have experience in aerospace, artificial intelligence and other strategically important areas, as Beijing seeks to become a science and technology superpower that rivals the US. WSJ, 18 November

Chinese students abroad take on their government over Covid. During the past month, some Chinese students on Western campuses have been been meeting in chat groups on Telegram and organising protests against their government over pandemic restrictions, although such activism remains rare. The Economist, 17 November

Opinion & editorial

If the UK is to understand Beijing, it will have to speak to it. The lack of China competence in Britain poses a bigger threat than Confucius Institutes do. Yuan Yang. FT, 18 November

Blocking China from microchips is easy. But what comes next? Oliver Shah. The Times, 20 November

Climate Consensus. Democrats and Republicans are realising that climate change and China pose a single interconnected challenge. Eyck Freeman. The Wire, 20 November

Xi’s vision for China after the 20th Congress. Steve Tsang. SOAS, 16 November

Long reads

‘Here to stay’: Colchester’s Hongkongers on making new lives in the UK. The Observer, 20 November

The US-EU Trade and Technology Council: assessments and recommendations. Emily Benson and William Alan Reinsch. CSIS, 16 November

Report by the MIT China Strategy Group. A potential model for universities and think tanks in their interactions with China. Global MIT, 19 November