Books

06.20.18

The Third Revolution

Elizabeth C. Economy
Oxford University Press: In The Third Revolution, eminent China scholar Elizabeth C. Economy provides an incisive look at the transformative changes underway in China today. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has unleashed a powerful set of political and economic reforms: the centralization of power under Xi, himself; the expansion of the Communist Party’s role in Chinese political, social, and economic life; and the construction of a virtual wall of regulations to control more closely the exchange of ideas and capital between China and the outside world. Beyond its borders, Beijing has recast itself as a great power, seeking to reclaim its past glory and to create a system of international norms that better serves its more ambitious geostrategic objectives. In so doing, the Chinese leadership is reversing the trends toward greater political and economic opening, as well as the low-profile foreign policy, that had been put in motion by Deng Xiaoping’s “Second Revolution” 30 years earlier.Through a wide-ranging exploration of Xi Jinping’s top political, economic, and foreign policy priorities—fighting corruption, managing the Internet, reforming the state-owned enterprise sector, improving the country’s innovation capacity, enhancing air quality, and elevating China’s presence on the global stage—Economy identifies the tensions, shortcomings, and successes of Xi’s reform efforts over the course of his first five years in office. She also assesses their implications for the rest of the world, and provides recommendations for how the United States and others should navigate their relationship with this vast nation in the coming years.{chop}

Trump Could Slap China with Tariffs as Soon as Friday

Adam Behsudi
Politico
President Donald Trump is expected to impose tariffs on Chinese goods as soon as Friday or next week, according to two sources briefed on internal deliberations, a move that is sure to further inflame tensions and spark almost immediate retaliation...

Chinese Companies May Invest in North Korea. American Not so Much

Daniel Shane
CNN
President Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on Tuesday at a historic summit that the United States hopes will lead to North Korean nuclear disarmament.

Viewpoint

05.30.18

Who’s Really Responsible for Digital Privacy in China?

Shazeda Ahmed & Bertram Lang
While the United States is reeling from the revelation that political consultancy Cambridge Analytica harvested data from over 87 million Facebook accounts, China’s biggest tech companies and regulators are confronting a wave of of their own...

In China’s Booming Tech Scene, Women Battle Sexism and Conservative Values

Cate Cadell, Adam Jourdan
Reuters
Ms Li has a day job in the marketing department of one of China’s biggest tech firms.

Chinese President Xi Jinping Calls Blockchain a ‘Breakthrough’ Technology

Evelyn Cheng
CNBC
Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a speech this week that blockchain — the technology underlying bitcoin — has “breakthrough” applications.

US-China Trade Battle: Catch Up Here

Alanna Petroff, Rishi Iyengar and...
CNN
The odds of a messy trade war between the United States and China are rising again.

U.S.and China Clash over 'Technology Transfer' at WTO

Tom Miles
Reuters
Chinese and U.S. envoys sparred over Trump’s claims that China steals American ideas.

Ivanka Trump Wins China Trademarks, Then Her Father Vows to Save ZTE

Sui-Lee Wee
New York Times
China awarded Ivanka Trump seven new trademarks in businesses including books and housewares.

China's Ant Financial Raises $10 Billion at $150 Billion Valuation: Sources

Kane Wu
Reuters
The capital-raising comes ahead of a widely expected initial public offering.

China’s ‘Digital City’ Showcases Xi’s Grand Ambition

Yizhen Jia and Gabriel Wildau
Financial Times
Transformation of rural backwater into the new Shenzhen is still some way off.

China Cuts Car Tariffs, in a Small Offering to U.S. on Trade

Keith Bradsher
New York Times
The small change is unlikely to motivate automakers to shift production.

Railroaded: The Chinese High-Speed Train Network No One Else Really Wants

Trefor Moss
Wall Street Journal
Terrain is easy, negotiations hard, as construction begins on politically fraught route through Southeast Asia.

China Drops Sanctions Probe into US Sorghum Imports

BBC
BBC
China says it is dropping an anti-dumping probe into sorghum imports from the US, as the two sides discuss ways of easing trade tensions.

Trump Cedes Trade Leverage to China in His Quest for Kim Summit

Saleha Mohsin and Nick Wadhams
Bloomberg
North Korea may turn out to be Chinese President Xi Jinping’s greatest ally in negotiating a trade deal with President Donald Trump.

Railroaded: The Chinese High-Speed Train Network No One Else Really Wants

Trefor Moss
Wall Street Journal
Li Guanghe has built some of the most technically complex railroads in China.

Chinese Bank Offered Clients Chance to Dine With Trump for $150,000

Bloomberg News
Bloomberg
China’s second-largest state-owned bank offered wealthy clients the opportunity to have dinner with the American president for $150,000 a ticket, spurring a complaint from Donald Trump’s re-election campaign to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Conversation

05.18.18

Does China Have a Jobs Problem?

Geoffrey Crothall, Ivan Franceschini & more
In a surprise Sunday tweet, U.S. President Donald Trump said he supported helping the phone-maker ZTE, a Chinese tech giant which has been one of the hardest hit from U.S.-China trade tensions. “Too many jobs in China lost,” he wrote. Though Trump...

Killing Spurs Didi, China’s Ride-Hailing Giant, to Revamp Its Service

Elsie Chen and Mengxue Ou
New York Times
Didi Chuxing, China’s wildly popular ride-sharing service, said on Wednesday that it would overhaul its app and its safety and security practices, after reports that a passenger had been raped and killed by her driver.

China Has Decided Russia Is Too Risky an Investment

Maximilian Hess
Foreign Policy
On May 4, the planned investment by the Chinese company CEFC China Energy into Russian state oil giant Rosneft fell apart, eight months after it was first announced.

In Silicon Valley, Chinese ‘Accelerators’ Aim to Bring Startups Home

Koh Gui Qing, Salvador Rodriguez
Reuters
Beijing’s unslakeable thirst for the latest technology has spurred a proliferation of “accelerators” in Silicon Valley that aim to identify promising startups and bring them to China.

US Team Divided as Trade Talks with China Begin

Shawn Donnan and Tom Mitchell
Financial Times
China and the US are set to begin a second round of high-level talks aimed at averting a trade war, amid signs of the Trump administration’s internal divide over how to deal with Beijing.

OneSpace Launches China’s First Private Rocket

Michelle Toh and Serenitie Wang
CNN
OneSpace, a startup based in Beijing, on Thursday became the country’s first private company to launch its own rocket.

Caixin Media

05.16.18

China Must Continue to Open up within World Economy

In the future, China must do more than simply open up the manufacturing sector and lift restrictions on foreign shareholders and the scope of business foreigners can conduct. China will also need to accelerate the opening-up of the service...

Trump, China, ZTE and the Art of the Deal

Stephen Collinson
CNN
ZTE case offers insight into Trump’s way of doing business.

Gap Apologizes for Selling T-Shirt with 'Incorrect Map' of China

Reuters Staff
Reuters
Disputed territories including south Tibet, Taiwan and the South China Sea were omitted.

China’s South-East Asia Push Threatened by New Malaysia Regime

Ben Bland
Financial Times
Status as Belt and Road posterchild at risk as Mahathir vows to review Chinese projects.

China Welcomes Trump’s Help on ZTE as Trade Talks Loom

Keith Bradsher
New York Times
Both sides are using the Chinese telecom company as a pawn in a geopolitical game.

Conversation

05.11.18

Do American Companies Need to Take a Stance on Taiwan?

J. Michael Cole, Frances Kitt & more
China’s airline regulator recently sent a letter to 36 international air carriers requiring them to remove from their websites references implying that Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau are not part of China. In a surprisingly direct May 5 statement, the...

China Draws Up a Shopping List of American Goods to Avoid Trade War

Lingling Wei and Bob Davis
Wall Street Journal
China likely will offer to import more U.S. goods during negotiations in Washington next week as the two sides see one of the best ways to avert an all-out trade war is for Beijing to buy American.

Take a Look around Huawei’s Headquarters in China

Uptin Saiidi
CNBC
It’s several minutes before noon on a Thursday afternoon at Huawei’s headquarters.

ZTE Is Now Center Stage in the US-China Trade Fight

Sherisse Pham
CNN
The smartphone and telecom equipment maker announced Wednesday that it has halted its main operations after the US government last month banned American companies from selling it vital components.

With Jail Sentences and Corporate Flameouts, China Is Tackling its Debt

Alexandra Stevenson
New York Times
A Shanghai court imprisoned a tycoon who used a mountain of debt to buy the Waldorf Astoria hotel.

For Better or Worse, Africa’s Digital Future is Tied to China

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
Chinese tech companies are now the most important players in Africa’s rapid emergence as one of the world’s fastest growing digital markets. People’s Republic of China companies, private and state-owned, are working with local telecom operators...

U.S.-China Trade Talks End with Strong Demands, but Few Signs of a Deal

Keith Bradsher
New York Times
The Beijing talks were unlikely to result in a comprehensive deal, but experts said they could still be a first step toward reaching some sort of accord.

U.S.-China Trade Talks End with Strong Demands, but Few Signs of a Deal

Keith Bradsher
New York Times
The Beijing talks were unlikely to result in a comprehensive deal, but experts said they could still be a first step toward reaching some sort of accord.

Books

05.03.18

High-Speed Empire

Will Doig
Columbia Global Reports: The story of the world’s most audacious infrastructure project.Less than a decade ago, China did not have a single high-speed train in service. Today, it owns a network of 14,000 miles of high-speed rail, far more than the rest of the world combined. Now, China is pushing its tracks into Southeast Asia, reviving a century-old colonial fantasy of an imperial railroad stretching to Singapore, and kicking off a key piece of the One Belt One Road initiative, which has a price tag of U.S.$1 trillion and reaches inside the borders of more than 60 countries.The Pan-Asia Railway portion of One Belt One Road could transform Southeast Asia, bringing shiny Chinese cities, entire economies, and waves of migrants where none existed before. But if it doesn’t succeed, that would be a cautionary tale about whether a new superpower, with levels of global authority unimaginable just a decade ago, can pull entire regions into its orbit simply with tracks, sweat, and lots of money. Journalist Will Doig traveled to Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore to chronicle the dramatic transformations taking place—and to find out whether ordinary people have a voice in this moment of economic, political, and cultural collision.{chop}

US Trade Team Arrives in Beijing for Talks, and China Media Are Cautious

CNBC
State media said China will stand up to U.S. bullying if need be, but it was better to work things out at the negotiating table.

China Tells International Airlines to Toe the Line on Taiwan

Daniel Shane
CNN
China is turning up the heat on some of the world's top airlines over how they describe Taiwan on their websites.

Apple CEO Tim Cook Takes a Victory Lap as China Revenue Rockets on Strength of iPhone X

Anita Balakrishnan and Sara Salinas
CNBC
Apple posted some of its strongest growth during the March quarter in one of its toughest geographic regions.

Lights, Cameras but Little Action for China’s New Film Capital

Wayne Ma and Erich Schwartzel
Wall Street Journal
Wanda Studios Qingdao is the centerpiece of billionaire Wang Jianlin’s plan to court Hollywood, but it hasn’t attracted many big-budget productions.

U.S. Considers Tightening Grip on China Ties to Corporate America

Koh Gui Qing
Reuters
Any broad effort to sever relationships between Chinese and American tech companies - even temporarily - could have dramatic effects across the industry.

China Tells Donald Trump: We Can Help Make America’s Infrastructure Great Again

Catherine Wong
South China Morning Post
China has offered to take part in US President Donald Trump’s US$1.5 trillion plan to repair and upgrade America’s infrastructure, saying it would complement Beijing’s own Belt and Road Initiative.

Exclusive: Chip Wars - China Closing in on Second $19 Billion Semiconductor Fund: Sources

Kane Wu, Julie Zhu, Cate Cadell
Reuters
China’s state-backed semiconductor fund is near to closing a 120 billion yuan ($18.98 billion) investment round for a second fund to support the domestic chip sector and help cut reliance on imports amid a bruising trade standoff with the United...

China-Based Online Education Companies Just Launched an Aggressive Hiring Spree in Search of U.S. Teachers

Connie Loizos
TechCrunch
Teachers have long supplemented their incomes by tutoring. And there’s perhaps never been a better, or easier, time to do it than right now. The reason: China-based online education companies are in an apparent race with each other to hire U.S...

For China’s Buddhist Monks, an IPO Too Far

Adam Minter
Bloomberg
In China, religion is big business.

US-China Trade War: Not about Trade, Not about Trump. Here’s What It Is About

Tom Holland
South China Morning Post
Perhaps we should stop talking about US President Donald Trump’s US-China trade war.

Trade Wars Don’t Faze This U.S.-China Investor

Matthew A. Winkler
Bloomberg
The best-performing worldwide mutual fund relies on Chinese and American companies. That's not about to change.

Analyst: China’s Huawei To Exit U.S. Market

Jean Baptiste Su
Forbes
By the end of Huawei's annual analyst summit held this week in its hometown of Shenzhen, China, the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker left no doubt that the U.S. market is no longer part...

China Wages War on Apps Offering News and Jokes

The Economist
Economist
At the end of last year Bytedance, one of China’s most talked-about technology firms, seemed to have the world at its feet.

Exclusive: China Looks to Speed up Chip Plans as U.S. Trade Tensions Boil - Sources

Elias Glenn, Cate Cadell
Reuters
China is looking to accelerate plans to develop its domestic semiconductor market amid a fierce trade stand-off with the United States and a U.S. ban on sales to Chinese phone maker ZTE that has underscored the country’s reliance on imported chips.

Tesla Isn’t Ready to Thrive in China's Embrace

Anjani Trivedi
Bloomberg
The structure of the electric-car market means that it needs a local partner.

Conversation

04.18.18

A Ban on Gay Content, Stopped in Its Tracks

Siodhbhra Parkin, Steven Jiang & more
On April 13, China’s major microblogging platform Sina Weibo announced that, in order to create “a sunny and harmonious” environment, it would remove videos and comics “with pornographic implications, promoting bloody violence, or related to...

Angola: China’s Risky Gamble in Africa

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
China has loaned Angola an estimated U.S.$60 billion dollars since the two countries established diplomatic relations back in 1983, making it one of the top destinations for Chinese financing in Africa. Angola is especially attractive for the...

U.S. Considered Blacklisting Two Chinese Banks over North Korea Ties

Christian Berthelsen
Bloomberg
U.S. officials alarmed by public displays of Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile technology last summer considered taking the provocative step of blacklisting two of China’s biggest banks from the U.S. financial system for doing business with North...

China Delays Deal Reviews as U.S. Trade Frictions Build

Lingling Wei, Yoko Kubota, Takashi...
Wall Street Journal
Amid escalating trade tensions, China is holding up deal reviews that could clear the way for U.S. companies Qualcomm Inc. and Bain Capital to make multibillion-dollar acquisitions of semiconductor companies, people familiar with the matter say.

Books

04.12.18

China’s Great Wall of Debt

Dinny McMahon
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Over the course of a decade spent reporting on the ground in China as a financial journalist, Dinny McMahon gradually came to the conclusion that the widely held belief in China’s inevitable economic ascent is dangerously wrong.In this unprecedented deep dive, McMahon shows how, lurking behind the illusion of prosperity, China’s economic growth has been built on a staggering mountain of debt. While stories of newly built but empty cities, white elephant state projects, and a byzantine shadow banking system have all become a regular fixture in the press in recent years, McMahon goes beyond the headlines to explain how such waste has been allowed to flourish, and why one of the most powerful governments in the world has been at a loss to stop it.Through the stories of ordinary Chinese citizens, McMahon tries to make sense of the unique—and often bizarre—mechanics of the Chinese economy, whether it be the state’s addiction to appropriating land from poor farmers, why a Chinese entrepreneur decided it was cheaper to move his yarn factory to South Carolina, why ambitious Chinese mayors build ghost cities, or why the Chinese bureaucracy was able to stare down Beijing’s attempts to break up the state’s pointless monopoly over the distribution of table salt.Debt, entrenched vested interests, a frenzy of speculation, and an aging population are all pushing China toward an economic reckoning. China’s Great Wall of Debt unravels an incredibly complex and opaque economy, one whose fortunes—for better or worse—will shape the globe like never before.{chop}

Conversation

04.11.18

China’s Communist Party Takes (Even More) Control of the Media

Stanley Rosen, Chris Fenton & more
China’s Communist Party made moves last month to solidify and formalize its (already substantial) control over the country’s media. China’s main state-run broadcasters are to be consolidated into a massive new “Voice of China” under the management...

U.S. Stocks Surge after China’s Xi Eases Trade Fears

David Hodari and Allison Prang
Wall Street Journal
U.S. stocks climbed Tuesday, with the Dow gaining more than 400 points, as remarks from Chinese President Xi Jinping soothed concerns about a trade war that have roiled markets in recent weeks.

China’s Vast Intercontinental Building Plan Is Gaining Momentum

Faseeh Mangi
Bloomberg
China’s massive build program to recreate trade routes stretching from Asia to Africa and Europe is gaining momentum.