China Watch Thread

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wjfox
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China's plans to go to the Moon, Mars and beyond

2 days ago

Three Chinese astronauts have begun a six-month mission, to work on the country's new space station.

It is China's latest step towards making itself a leading space power for the decades ahead.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-61511546


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New Hong Kong textbooks ‘will claim city never was a British colony’
Wed 15 Jun 2022

New Hong Kong textbooks will teach students that the city was never a British colony, after an overhaul of a school subject that authorities have blamed for driving the pro-democracy protests.

According to local reports, the new texts will teach students that the Chinese government didn’t recognise the treaties that ceded the city to Britain after the opium wars. They ended in 1997 when Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese control, and therefore the texts claim Hong Kong was never a British colony.

The new books also adopt Beijing’s narrative that the 2019 protest movement was driven by “external forces”, South China Morning Post reported.

Students attend a flag raising ceremony during the National Security Education Day at a secondary school, in Hong Kong, Thursday, April 15, 2021. Beijing’s top official in Hong Kong on Thursday warned foreign forces not to interfere with the “bottom line” of national security in Hong Kong, threatening retaliation even amid ongoing tensions between China and Western powers. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The four sets of textbooks for Hong Kong’s liberal studies subject were released online last week, for schools to choose materials for the new academic year in September. They are set to be used by fourth form students in “citizenship and social development” classes, which replaced the liberal studies course designed in 2009 to teach students critical thinking. In 2020 the liberal studies course was attacked by pro-Beijing authorities who blamed it for driving youth towards protests and pledged rectification.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... e&s=cl

I see China is rewriting Hong Kong's history in new textbook.
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We were too lenient on pro-democracy politicians, says senior Hong Kong legislator Regina Ip
Fri 1 Jul 2022

Speaking to the Guardian from her quarantine hotel room ahead of a ceremony with Chinese president Xi Jinping to mark 25 years since the British handover and the start of new chief executive John Lee’s term, Regina Ip was asked how she felt knowing some former Legislative Council (LegCo) colleagues would be sitting in a jail cell instead of attending the event.

Hong Kong's new chief executive, John Lee (left), with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, after a swearing-in ceremony in Hong Kong.

“They have themselves to blame for going too far,” said Ip, who has served as a pro-Beijing legislator in Hong Kong’s government since 1996. “It was in the LegCo they have caused a lot of damage with their obstruction and filibustering. So nothing was done, we were locked in battle every day, sometime in fistfights,” she said.

“If the government is to bear any blame it’s that we have been too lenient over the years allowing them to cause havoc.”

In November 2020, several pro-democracy legislators were arrested over a melee in May that saw scuffles and some legislators dragged out by security. That same month, four legislators were disqualified under a new measure banning “unpatriotic” people from serving. In protest, the entire pro-democracy caucus resigned. Some have since fled overseas.

In January 2021 dozens of politicians, campaigners and activists were arrested by national security police for holding unofficial primary polls which Beijing later declared illegal. Of the group, 47 are still awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy to commit subversion, many of them denied bail.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... -regina-ip
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Xi Jinping hails China’s rule over Hong Kong on 25th anniversary of handover
Fri 1 Jul 2022

Xi Jinping has hailed China’s rule over Hong Kong as he led 25th anniversary celebrations of the city’s handover from Britain, insisting that democracy was flourishing despite a political crackdown that has silenced dissent.

After swearing in a new hardline chief executive, John Lee, in a solemn ceremony on Friday morning, the Chinese president laid out his vision for the city and its administrators.

On his first trip outside mainland China since the pandemic began, he vowed that “one country, two systems” – a governance model under which Hong Kong was promised it would retain some autonomy and freedoms for 50 years – would endure.

“For this kind of good system, there is no reason to change it, it must be upheld for the long term,” Xi said, as critics questioned whether the city’s high level of autonomy was still intact.

“After much turmoil, people have learnt a painful lesson that Hong Kong cannot be disorderly, it cannot afford to be,” he said. “Hong Kong is in a new phase from disorder to stability, from stability to prosperity”.

The past three years have seen an unprecedented unpicking of freedoms in Hong Kong as a result of the Beijing-imposed national security law. Scores of pro-democracy activists, journalists and opposition politicians have been jailed.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... d-freedoms
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Volkswagon Planning “Big Moves” and Hiring Spree in China
by Jaclyn Trop
July, 2022

Introduction:
(TechCrunch) Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess said the company is planning “big moves” in China.

The world’s second-largest automaker is beefing up operations in its largest market to keep pace with fast-growing Chinese automakers and fast-changing customer preferences.

“We will do some major investments in China,” Diess said in an interview posted Tuesday on LinkedIn. “In a few years, we will have several thousand software people in China.”

During the interview with Chang Qing, the CEO of CARIAD China, Volkswagen’s in-house automotive software arm, Diess highlighted Volkswagen’s need to keep up with the Chinese market and invest in its local operations.

Growing its presence in China will help Volkswagen respond quickly to changes in the local market, especially in two crucial areas: autonomous driving technology and the in-car user experience, “which in China is really different and sophisticated,” Diess said.
Read more here: https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/06/volk ... in-china/
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Supply Chains Catch a Breath As China Lifts Zero-COVID
by Qingjiang Kong and Weihuan Zhou
July 10, 2022

Introduction:
(Eurasia Review) China’s zero-COVID-19 policy has had profound impacts on global supply chains due to the large-scale lockdown of major cities that would have been unimaginable before the pandemic. COVID-19-related restrictions have caused a severe decline in China’s manufacturing capacity, logistics and human mobility, as well as business and consumer confidence.

China is a major supplier of a variety of commodity goods, intermediate goods for manufacturing and consumer goods. The loss of its manufacturing and logistics capacity has contributed to an ongoing shortage of supply in interdependent global markets, intensifying worldwide inflation.

The wave of Omicron infections led to a 70-day-long lockdown of Shanghai, the country’s economic powerhouse, and caused unprecedented supply chain disruptions. Shanghai is not only an industrial hub but also lies at the centre of the Yangtze Delta Region. Most of the cities and towns in the region make up an interwoven supply chain network that funnels out overseas via Shanghai’s world-class seaports and airports.

Faced with intensified economic, political and social challenges, China has recently signalled a policy shift by modestly and incrementally easing its lockdowns. While this shift does not mean that China has completely abandoned the zero-COVID-19 policy, it does suggest that the policy will be gradually relaxed and implemented in a more balanced way.

There are multiple reasons to believe that China is adjusting its zero-COVID-19 policy.
Read more here: https://www.eurasiareview.com/1007202 ... o-covid/
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BAI Capital Targets China's Globalizing Startups With Fresh $700 Million Fund
by Rita Liao
July 24, 2022

Introduction:
(TechCrunch) BAI Capital, the storied China-focused venture investment firm that was formerly known as Bertelsmann Asia Investments, has raised $700 million to back Chinese companies that are part of the country’s structural reform as well as those expanding overseas.

The announcement follows on the heels of the closing of several other big-ticket funds, quelling speculation that foreign capital for Chinese tech is drying up amid a slowing economy. Sequoia Capital China recently snagged $7 billion to bet on Chinese tech companies at all stages. Qiming Ventures raised $3.2 billion. And IDG Capital banked $900 million.

BAI Capital was founded in 2008 as an investment arm of German media mogul Bertelsmann and has surged to become one of the top venture players in China with a portfolio of over 200 tech companies. Its notable investments include electric vehicle upstart Nio, Southeast Asia’s popular livestreaming app Bigo, and China’s shared bike pioneer Mobike, which was acquired by Meituan.

The latest close marks the first time that BAI Capital has brought in external limited partners, including sovereign wealth funds, large insurance companies, internet giants, funds of funds, on top of capital from its parent Bertelsmann.

The new fund, according to BAI’s announcement, focuses on helping Chinese companies from retail, fintech, content, media, as well as the red-hot areas of web3 and metaverse that are expanding globally. BAI is setting up new offices in Singapore and Berlin.
Read more here: https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/24/ber ... on-fund/
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China Cuts Benchmark Lending Rate Amid Economic Downturn Fears
August 22, 2022

Introduction:
(Kyodo News) Beijing - China's central bank cut its benchmark lending rate Monday for the first time in seven months to shore up the country's slowing economy amid restrictions under its radical "zero-COVID" policy to stem the novel coronavirus outbreak and a property market slump.

The People's Bank of China said it had lowered the one-year loan prime rate by 0.05 percentage point to 3.65 percent. The central bank also said it had reduced the five-year loan prime rate -- the benchmark mortgage interest rate -- by 0.15 point to 4.30 percent, the first cut since May.

The move came as the world's second-largest economy has been facing serious downward pressure, with the Communist Party's all-encompassing COVID-19 restrictions taking a heavy toll on private spending and industrial production as well as disrupting supply chains.

The country's real estate sector has become sluggish amid fears of the possible bankruptcy of major property developer China Evergrande Group.
The monetary easing is in sharp contrast with the United States and European countries that are moving to tackle inflation stemming from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Read more here: https://english.kyodonews.net/news/202 ... ears.html
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China's Worst Heat Wave on Record is Crippling Power Supplies. How It Reacts Will Impact Us All
by Nectar Gan
August 28, 2022

Introduction:
Hong Kong (CNN) For weeks now, a power crunch caused by a record heat wave and accompanying drought has wreaked havoc across Sichuan, a province home to 80 million people in southwestern China.

It's dimmed skyscrapers, shut factories, darkened subways, and plunged homes and offices into rolling blackouts, forcing air conditioning to be unplugged -- and killed thousands of poultry and fish at farms hit by electricity cuts.

The impact has been felt far and wide, from the neighboring mega city of Chongqing and the eastern provinces along the Yangtze River to the financial hub of Shanghai -- where the iconic skyline went dark this week to save energy.

In a country that prides itself on economic growth and stability, the acute power shortage has come as a shock to residents who in recent decades have grown used to improved living conditions and infrastructure.

Read more here: https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/26/china/c ... ndex.html

From a different article:

Hong Kong (CNN Business) China is mining and importing more coal as its worst heatwave and drought in six decades hits hydroelectricity, the nation's second biggest source of power.

The country's crucial Yangtze River has dried up in parts because of extreme heat and scant rainfall. The drought has impacted six provinces along the river, affecting the water supply for tens of thousands of people and forcing the closure of factories in some provinces to preserve electricity supplies.

Sichuan, which is famous for its rich water resources and accounts for 21% of China's hydropower, has seen its hydroelectricity capacity plunge by 50% this month, according to the state grid. The unrelenting heatwave has also resulted in unprecedented power demand, pushing the region's electricity grid to the brink.

To ease the power crunch, China has been boosting coal output and imports to generate electricity.

Nationwide, power plants burnt 8.16 million tonnes of thermal coal daily for the first two weeks of August, up 15% from a year ago, according to most recent data from the National Development and Reform Commission. On August 3, daily thermal coal consumption hit a record high of 8.5 million tonnes.

Read more here: https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/23/economy ... index.html
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