China News - 5 April 2023
International
UK Foreign Affairs Committee publishes report on state hostage-taking and arbitrary detention. FAC comments on the status of Hong Kong activist and media mogul Jimmy Lai who is currently detained in China. UK Parliament. 4 April
Saudi and Iranian diplomats to meet in China this week. The meeting between Prince Faisal bin Farhan al Saud and Hossein Amirabdollahian will be the first formal meeting between diplomats in more than seven years, as China helps to broker peace deal. Reuters. 5 April
China’s Premier Li Qiang calls for “practical cooperation” with Russia. Li Qiang held a phone conversation with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin following Xi Jinping’s recent trip to Russia. Amber Wang. South China Morning Post. 4 April
Mexico seeks help from China to tackle Fentanyl crisis. President López Obrador has written to Xi Jinping urging him to help control exports of the opioid to Mexican cartels. The Guardian. 4 April
Italy reviews options to limit Chinese influence over tire maker Pirelli. Sinochem is Pirelli’s largest shareholder, with a 37% stake. Italian officials are reportedly discussing several options during talks with Pirelli investors over the company’s ownership structure. Bloomberg. Reuters. 4 April
India rejects China’s attempt to rename places along disputed Himalayan border. China continues to stake its claim on Arunachal Pradesh, calling it “South Tibet”. BBC. 4 April
Economy & tech
TikTok fined £12.7 million by UK privacy watchdog. TikTok was found to have illegally processed the data of up to 1.4 million children under 13 who were using platform without parental consent. Alex Hern and Aletha Adu. The Guardian. 4 April
China’s crackdown on the banking sector picks up pace. China’s anti-graft body has launched an investigation into the former chairman and party chief of state-owned China Everbright Group Li Xiaopeng. Bloomberg. 5 April
AstraZeneca teams up with Hong Kong Science Park to drive biotech and medical research. The leading pharmaceutical company will collaborate with HKSTP to support overseas and mainland Chinese start-up companies under the park’s incubation programme. Peggy Sito. South China Morning Post. 5 April
Several Chinese and Hong Kong AI experts call for pause in development of ChatGPT technologies. Signatories to an open letter by the Future of Life Institute have stressed the need for independent regulators to ensure ChatGPT technologies are developed “safely, reasonably and ethically”. Ben Jiang. South China Morning Post. 5 April
Opinion & long reads
Taiwan’s deepening political divide over the US and China. As President Tsai Ing-wen takes a hardline stance on China, the KMT has begun reengaging with the CCP. Kathrin Hille. Financial Times. 5 April
Foreign business community in China beware. Former fraud investigator mulls the recent raid against American due diligence firm Mintz in Beijing. Peter Humphrey. Politico. 5 April
The false choice of confronting Russia or China. A rationale for US support of Ukraine. Janan Ganesh. Financial Times. 4 April
What China’s global security initiative tells us about its strategic engagement with Latin America. An analysis of the Global Security Initiative Concept Paper, published in February. R. Evan Ellis. The Diplomat. 4 April
China’s panda diplomacy is not breeding conservation. Should more countries follow Finland’s example and consider returning their pandas? Charlotte Bull. The Diplomat. 5 April
Podcast: The Most Amazing - and Dangerous - Technology in the World. Historian and author of ‘Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology’ Chris Miller features on the Ezra Klein Show. The New York Times. 4 April