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Wednesday, November 14, 2018


Introducing the Ta for Ta Podcast


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GIF by Jia Guo. View pronunciation video from Jia.

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Dear reader,

Two things:

We’ve opened a shop!

SupChina’s team is dedicated to helping you understand China through our daily analysis of news, plus via events, podcasts, on-the-ground reporting, and interviews with luminaries from business, journalism, politics, academia, and culture.

We also like to buy stuff! So we’ve opened a shop where you can find a curated assortment of our favorite books and posters, and goods from China or influenced by Chinese culture. Please check out our selection, and let us know what you think.

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We want your help! Do you have any photos of China that you’d like to show the world? If so, please send them to jia@supchina.com, along with captions, a short bio, and a photo of the photographer! We’ll publish the best ones regularly in our daily newsletter.

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief

1. Trade war, day 132: Xi feted in Papua New Guinea, as U.S. panel warns of Chinese tech dominance

General Secretary and President Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 arrived early in Papua New Guinea (PNG) before Asia-Pacific leaders gather for the APEC summit this week.

  • “Hundreds of fluttering red flags, buses emblazoned with ‘China Aid’ logos and even a purpose-built pagoda: driving around Port Moresby, you could be forgiven for thinking that Xi Jinping is hosting this week's APEC summit of Asia-Pacific leaders,” reports AFP.
  • Xi published a bylined article in two newspapers in PNG ahead of his visit. You can read the full text here if you need a soporific.
  • Trump will not attend the APEC summit, and will send Vice President Mike Pence in his place. This is yet another signal from the president that “has left Washington scrambling to convince allies that it has not conceded the battle for influence in the Pacific.”
  • Meanwhile, in Singapore, on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit, senior officials from the “Quad” — the U.S., Japan, Australia, and India — will meet in what Bloomberg describes as “potentially the most important meeting in Asia this week.” It is the informal group’s third meeting since it was revived last year, with the goal of serving as “a counterweight to China’s growing economic and military might.”
  • Also on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit, the 16 leaders of the nations participating in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) met. RCEP “is often viewed as a China-backed rival to the TPP,” but progress seems to have stalled. The meeting will conclude with “a joint communique stating that they have made ‘significant progress’ on the agreement,” whereas earlier expectations were that a deal would be signed.

American fears about Chinese technology are not subsiding. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission has released its annual report, which warns that China’s growing technological prowess is a major threat to the U.S. The Wall Street Journal reports:

  • “Chinese dominance of networking-equipment manufacturing threatens the security of U.S. fifth-generation, or 5G, wireless infrastructure,” according to the report.
  • Huawei and ZTE, the Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers that American regulators love to hate, are cited as key examples.
  • The internet of things (IoT) is a particular vulnerability, according to the report, because “China’s position as the world’s largest manufacturer of internet-connected household devices creates ‘numerous points of vulnerability for intelligence collection, cyberattacks, industrial control, or censorship.’”
  • The commission also recommends that various government bodies:
    • Ensure that all government agencies “address supply-chain vulnerabilities stemming from China, including potential cyber, operations, physical, information and data-security issues.”
    • “Rapidly and securely” deploy 5G networking technology in the U.S., “with a particular focus on the threat posed by equipment and services designed or manufactured in China.”
    • Reassess “whether U.S. export control policy for dual-use technology should continue to consider Hong Kong — where controls are more relaxed — and mainland China as separate customs areas, given Beijing’s continued erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy.”
    • The Justice Department should “look into utilizing the little-known U.S. ‘Conspiracy Against Rights’ law to prosecute Chinese Communist Party affiliates who ‘threaten, coerce, or otherwise intimidate U.S. residents.’”

RELATED NEWS:

—Sky Canaves and Jeremy Goldkorn

2. Eric X. Li falls victim to new censorship campaign

The National Internet Information Office of China, the country’s top cyber authority, has launched yet another crackdown against online expression, with “self-media,” blogs, and microblogs squarely in the crosshairs.

  • More than 9,800 blogging accounts have been erased from the internet since the campaign started on October 20, according to a statement (in Chinese) from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC).
  • Reasons include spreading “politically harmful information” (政治有害信息 zhèngzhì yǒuhài xìnxī), creating rumors that disrupt the normal social order, and circulating vulgar content that has a negative impact on teenagers. “The chaotic nature of these self-media accounts seriously trampled on the dignity of laws and regulations, harmed the interests of the people, shaped online public opinion in a negative way, and caused strong backlash from the society,” the statement reads.
  • The move comes after a series of commentary articles published by the People’s Daily in October, which criticized bloggers, also known as self-media practitioners, for writing clickbait, spreading rumors to mislead the public, and being driven solely by profit. The Party's house newspaper also urged authorities to introduce more laws and regulations to restore order in the space of online information. (All links in Chinese).
  • In August 2017, China initiated investigations into top social media sites, including WeChat and Weibo, claiming that they failed to comply with cyber laws. One month later, the cyberspace authorities moved to monitor conversations on WeChat more closely, which prompted many users to impose self-censorship by deleting chat groups.
  • This round of censorship seems to be focused on social media accounts about current affairs, and many of the victims were critical or discussed “sensitive” issues.
  • However, the purge surprised many by eradicating the official WeChat account of Guancha.cn 观察者网, a pro-government news site associated with Eric X. Li (李世默 Lǐ Shìmò), the silver-tongued venture capitalist who writes op-eds in American newspapers defending China's leadership.
  • The No. 1 Sentry (一号哨位 yīhào shàowèi), a veteran-initiated military blog that was once praised (in Chinese) by the People’s Liberation Army Daily for its unique perspective and excellent writing, was also shut down for unknown reasons.

—Chauncey Jung

3. Richard Liu alleged rape — an impossible situation for the University of Minnesota?

Richard Liu (刘强东 Liú Qiángdōng), CEO of ecommerce giant JD.com, was arrested on suspicion of rape in Minneapolis in September, after a party with associates from a University of Minnesota executive education program. Liu was released without being charged. He returned to China, while the Minneapolis police conducted an initial investigation into the rape accusation. They passed their findings to the Hennepin County attorney’s office, “which says it has no deadline for deciding whether to press charges,” according to the New York Times (porous paywall).

  • Liu has continued to deny allegations that he raped a student while in Minneapolis.
  • The case “puts the university administration in an impossible situation” as it tries to simultaneously protect its students and its reputation, said Kristen Houlton Shaw, the executive director of the nonprofit Sexual Violence Center in Minneapolis, to the New York Times.
  • “The program he’s participating in is a major moneymaker — it brings in these highfliers and heavy hitters from around the world,” said Shaw, adding, “Their prospective students are watching.”
  • $10 million is how much the Times says the program has earned the university in tuition fees since it began last year.
  • See also: Sexual misconduct and the problem with Chinese internet companies, earlier on SupChina.

4. State media today — meeting notes and mockery

Central state media today continued to focus on celebrations of 40 years of economic reform: Xi presides over 5th meeting of Central Committee for Deepening Overall Reform is the Xinhua story (in Chinese here).

The Global Times follows Xinhua’s lead, but also prominently features an opinion piece (in Chinese) criticizing the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s report on the dangers of Chinese tech (see trade war section above for details), and an article (in Chinese) mocking U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s most recent speech on China.

The Global Times English website is sunnier: The lead story is Ice-breaking signs show up for China-US trade dispute.

—Jeremy Goldkorn

VIDEO ON SUPCHINA

Viral on Weibo: China’s Hachikō

This dog’s owner was killed in a car accident about two months ago in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. Since then, the puppy has waited each day at the site of the accident.

FEATURED ON SUPCHINA

We’ve opened a shop!

Click through to check out the goods — and let us know what you think!

Today’s news elsewhere on the web:

BUSINESS AND TECH:

  • Oil and the ‘coming recession’
    China’s coming recession has pushed oil below $60 / MarketWatch
    “In 2017, China overtook the U.S. as the largest importer of oil, so economic developments in China should be closely monitored by oil traders, as the Chinese economy is likely headed into a massive recession, and not due to the present trade frictions with the Trump administration.”
  • Overseas infrastructure projects
    Nighttime satellite images shed light on China's building spree in developing nations / NPR
    “New research suggests that China's infrastructure projects may be better at reducing inequality in developing countries than many Western programs.”
  • A fight about new flights to China
    The brewing airline battle over China flights is truly absurd / The Motley Fool
    American Airlines, United, and Delta Continental “will be competing for some of the few remaining route authorities that permit U.S. airline service to Beijing and Shanghai. The bizarre thing in this case is that none of the three airlines is interested in adding new flights to China until June 2020.”
  • Tencent investors smile again
    Tencent beats profit expectations despite China’s gaming clampdown / WSJ (paywall)
    “The Shenzhen-based tech giant said that profit climbed to 23.3 billion yuan ($3.39 billion) in the three months ended September 30, up 30 percent from the year-earlier 18 billion yuan. Revenue was up 24 percent.”
  • The business of the surveillance state
    This U.S. firm wants to help build China's surveillance state / Wired
    Remark Holdings is “a small public company with Hollywood producer Brett Ratner on its board and financial ties to TV’s Dr. Mehmet Oz.” Although it is currently an “unprofitable, debt-loaded website operator,” the owners want to turn its fortunes around by selling AI technology in Asia, particularly China.
    “One subsidiary built technology for use by police in China’s fifth largest city, Hangzhou, that analyzes surveillance video to identify motorcycles driving on streets where they are banned.”
    A new Venezuelan ID, created with China's ZTE, tracks citizen behavior / Reuters
    Journalist Angus Berwick, who wrote the story, tweeted: “Today Reuters published my investigation into how Chinese telecoms giant ZTE is helping Venezuela build a system that monitors citizen behavior through a new ID card, known as the “fatherland card.” Here’s a thread on how the story developed.”
  • Regulating genetic research
    China’s crackdown on genetics breaches could deter data sharing / Nature
    “China’s enormous population is a genetics goldmine. But the government, wary that this data could be exploited for profit, has been cracking down on researchers and companies that violate rules on sharing its citizens’ genetic material and information. Some scientists fear that this closer attention is creating hurdles for international collaborations.”
  • Internet graveyard
    The forgotten 'Facebook of China' is sold for $20M / TechCrunch
    “Renren, which was once heralded as the ‘Facebook of China’ and later became China’s answer to MySpace after falling out of fashion among its core young users, is selling its social networking business.”
  • Nuclear power
    China’s ‘artificial sun’ marks breakthrough for nuclear fusion / Sixth Tone
    “Scientists in eastern China on Monday announced the creation of a temporary ‘artificial sun’ over six times hotter than the core of the real sun, marking an important step toward building the world’s first nuclear fusion power plant.”
  • Cathay Pacific hack
    Cathay Pacific under fire from 15 countries on data breach / SCMP
    “Cathay Pacific Airways on Wednesday said it was facing one of the worst crises in its history as the airline revealed it was being questioned by 27 regulators from 15 jurisdictions over a data breach that has affected 9.4 million passengers.”
  • The super-rich
    Foxconn head regains richest man's status in Taiwan / Focus Taiwan
    “Terry Gou (郭台铭 Guō Táimíng), founder and chairman of Foxconn Technology Group, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer and a major supplier to Apple, became Taiwan's richest man again in 2018, despite a noticeable contraction of his wealth.”

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

PHOTO FROM MICHAEL YAMASHITA

Golden teeth

A woman from the Yao ethnic minority in Yunnan Province smiles, displaying her gold-sheathed teeth.

Jia Guo

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