China News 22 June 2020
CRG event tomorrow
“China, India and the disputed border – will recent events push India closer to the West?” Speakers: Ambassador Ashok Kantha, India’s former Ambassador to China, and Dr Rudra Chaudhuri, Director of Carnegie India. Online event, Tuesday 23 June, 10.30am-11.30am UK time. Email tom.tugendhat.mp@parliament.uk to reserve a place.
International
China’s state media chief deletes tweet after saying Huawei’s Meng “ten times” more valuable than Canada’s Kovrig and Spavor. Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were detained in China in December 2018 but were only charged on Friday. Their arrests came just days after Meng Wanzhou - CFO of Huawei and the daughter of its founder - was detained in Vancouver. China has always officially denied he arrests were in retaliation for Ms Meng's detention. However, Chen Weihua, the EU Bureau Chief of China Daily, tweeted that, “People often fail to note that Meng is worth 10 Kovrig and Spavor, if not more”. He later deleted the tweet. Globe and Mail, 22 June & Twitter, 20 June
Human rights lawyer accuses China of extracting confession by torture. Chinese lawyer Wang Quanzhang, who was jailed for subversion as part of a nationwide crackdown on legal rights activists, has said he was beaten and kicked during interrogations and forced to plead guilty by authorities.After being slapped in the face for hours, he was compelled to accept an affidavit stating that he tried to subvert the government by receiving funds from abroad. Wang was also commanded to stand for 15 hours with his hands up in the air, and when he dropped them, he was yelled at as a "traitor." Kyodo News, 19 June
Journalist charged over Covid-19 reporting. Citizen journalist Zhang Zhan who was arrested in May after posting a video criticizing the government’s epidemic response measures, was charged on Friday with “picking fights and causing trouble”. China Media Project, 22 June
EU-China summit starts - Commission strikes more sceptical tone. EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen listed disinformation and cyberattacks on hospitals as challenges to the EU-China relationship. She said there had to be limits on industrial subsidies. She repeated the EU description of China as a “systemic rival”. EU Council, Von Der Leyen remarks, EU statement text, 22 June
EU-China meeting touched by frost as economic barriers grow. FT, SCMP 22 June
Trump says he held off on Xinjiang sanctions for China trade deal. Asked by Axios why he had not pursued sanctions the president said: "Well, we were in the middle of a major trade deal." Axios also reports that he said regarding Magnitsky style sactions, "If somebody asked me, I would take a look at it. But nobody's asked me. I have not been spoken to about the Magnitsky Act.” Axios, 21 June & Guardian, 22 June
Bolton dismisses Trump's tough talk on China: 'No telling' what deal he'd take if reelected. ABC, 22 June
China’s migrant workers spurn urban ‘hukou’. Many Chinese Migrant workers are abandoning hukou - a permit allowing migrant workers access to social benefits ranging from pensions to subsidised health insurance - threatening Beijing's plans to drive urban consumption and economic growth. Switching location means giving up farming rights in the countryside but may not lead to access to city public services. FT, 22 June
Xi plays tough, but can China afford to make an enemy of India? The Guardian, 21 June
Hong Kong:
China to set up powerful security agency in Hong Kong. FT, SCMP, 21 June
Hong Kong fund chief dismisses ‘brain drain’ fears. FT, 20 June
Economy/tech
UK tightens takeover rules, partly in response to China concerns. The UK is to introduce tougher powers to intervene when businesses face being taken over by companies based in countries that are deemed unfriendly to the national interest. The FT reports: “There is a particular concern among Tory MPs about the role of China, which has aggressively pursued businesses seen to be crucial to the UK’s strategic interests.” FT, 22 June
Engineers Found Guilty of Stealing Micron Secrets for China. A Taiwanese court ruled Friday that current and former engineers from United Microelectronics Corp. stole trade secrets from U.S. chipmaker Micron Technology Inc. and shared them with a government-backed mainland Chinese company. Bloomberg, 12 June
Barr Says U.S. Businesses ‘Part of Problem’ in Battling China. US Attorney General William Barr said some U.S. businesses are helping China in the race for economic and technological dominance by putting their own earnings above the national interest. Bloomberg, 21 June
Tokyo seeks to lure financial groups from crisis-hit Hong Kong. FT, 21 June
Foreign purchases of Chinese bonds double to $19.4 billion in May as ‘hot money’ flows in. Inflows likely a result of global monetary easing amid the coronavirus outbreak. SCMP, 21 June
China’s Offshore Defaults Top $4 Billion as Oil Firm Joins List. Bloomberg, 22 June
More on Arm problems in China. “Arm’s China boss has been accused of covertly setting up a Cayman Islands private equity fund to raise millions of pounds from Chinese investors, without its parent company’s consent.” Telegraph, 21 June
“Huawei chip unit short-circuited Trump’s sanctions. Then it got burned”. Washington Post, 13 June
Lighthizer: US will “strongly enforce” U.S. laws banning goods made by Uighur slave labor. Reuters, 17 June
China close to completing own independent GPS system, Beidou. CNBC, 21 June
Longer reads & opinion
India picks a side in the new cold war - Gideon Rachman, FT, 22 June
“Bulls in a China shop.” Clive Hamilton and Mareike Ohlberg chart the Chinese Communist Party's wooing of giants of finance in Wall Street and Europe. SMH, 13 June
The US and China are entering a new cold war - Timothy Garton Ash, Guardian, 20 June
The EU is a more powerful partner on China than the US might think. Atlantic Council, 17 June
China launches new Go West development drive to counter post-coronavirus geopolitical risks. SCMP, 22 June
Alexander Gabuev: Huawei’s courtship of Moscow leaves west in the cold. FT, 21 June
Why this Japan-China island dispute could be Asia's next military flashpoint. CNN, 20 June
Michael Schuman: China’s Embrace Is Driving Hong Kong Away. Bloomberg, 21 June
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