China Analysis Digest

Publications from October 28 to November 5, 2021

China Analysis Digest is a weekly published list of new China-related analyses.

Issue: 2021/36

• Date range: October 28 - November 5, 2021

• Sources scanned: 100

• Content: 224 publications from 52 sources

• Download raw data (.csv)

---

Recommended Reading

Beijing’s tech crackdown on ideological misalignment and drivers of inequality

Alexander Mac Dábhaidh | MERICS | November 3

Mac Dábhaidh attributes Beijing’s tech crackdown to the need for tackling “ideological misalignment” and inequality with two symptoms: “growing alternative power bases and an increasing divide between rich and poor.” He writes:

The party not only wants to align the internet platform’s interests to CCP industrial policy. It aims to reduce the market dominance of China’s tech behemoths to foster greater competition and innovation. However, it remains to be seen what the long-term economic effects of the tech crackdown will be. The big question the Chinese government is surely trying to answer is how might these developments stifle innovation and economic growth, will their efforts at political alignment be confined to the tech giants, or can they afford to  take root in smaller companies too. And if the party’s endeavors only target key players, perhaps they will expect to see a renewed sense of competition within the internet platform sector.

The Third Road: Where Will Xi Jinping Go in 2022?

Ling Li | Made in China Journal | November 1

Li predicts that Xi will stay in power beyond the next Party Congress in 2022 by reactivating the office of Party Chairman, a position so prominently occupied by Mao. She argues that Mao’s precedent gives Xi legitimacy and a roadmap to get there, and that this is “the best solution to deal with the succession issue”. The proposed resolution on Party history, which will almost certainly be passed next week at the 6th Plenum, is seen by Li as a critical culmination of Xi’s ideological drive and a preparatory move for getting to the chairmanship. This is entirely possible. The upcoming resolution on history will provide us with critical clues.

---

The email form of this post may be clipped due to length. Click on “View entire message” at the bottom to see it in full. You can also view it online.

---

China Watching

China Neican

• UN, trade resilience, Chinese Australians, songs, MeToo

• Towards common prosperity?

Reading the China Dream

• Yao Yang on Common Prosperity

• Yu Liang on Little Pinks

• Chen Yaya on Single Mothers

Made in China Journal

• Xi Jinping’s Third Road: A Response

• The Third Road: Where Will Xi Jinping Go in 2022?

---

Opinion Pages

Australian Financial Review

• Telstra’s Digicel Pacific challenge

---

Blogs

China Story

• How to report on your enemy’s success: Why is smiling a big deal for China’s Olympic diver?

War on the Rocks

• China’s Hypersonic Weapons Tests Don’t Have to Be a Sputnik Moment

Lawfare

• Defense Department Issues Annual Report on Military and Security Developments in China

• The ODNI Releases Declassified Assessment On the Origins of the Coronavirus

• Issuance of Export Licenses Reveals Strategic Limits on Economic Decoupling

The Interpreter

• Markets and resilience in the face of economic coercion

• Just how serious is Xi about climate change?

• The legal case for defending Taiwan

East Asia Forum

• China and the United States can play a positive-sum game on the CPTPP

• Washington still searching for a China trade policy

• Leaders must commit to green finance at COP26 to avoid climate catastrophe

• Flexible energy governance is key to China’s decarbonisation efforts

• China holds the financial key to huge carbon emission avoidance

• The Latin American element in China’s CPTPP bid

China Dialogue

• Will recent power shortages slow China’s progress to carbon neutrality?

• Is China stepping up its nature conservation?

Pearls and Irritations

• Allegations about China and carbon pollution are rooted in racism

• Foreign interference: Protective mechanisms in Hong Kong are legitimate and necessary

• What is going on in China?

• Having lost Afghanistan, America has a new enemy in China. We blindly follow

The Strategist

• US strategic clarity on Taiwan wouldn’t unleash a spiral of escalation

• What drove the United States to AUKUS?

• Explaining Indonesia’s lopsided treatment of its two ‘strategic partners’—Australia and China

---

News & Magazines

Monkey Cage

• China has invested deeply in Africa. We checked to see whether that is undermining democracy.

The Atlantic

• What Will Drive China to War?

The Economist

• China’s state-controlled media are put on an even shorter leash

• A row about toilets reveals a lot about women’s place in China

Sixth Tone

• A Miner’s Verse: Through Peril and Pain, Just Words Remain

• De-Platformed: China Rethinks Its Subway Addiction

• China’s Tutoring Ban Leaves a Trail of Debt, Anger, and Broken Dreams

• Hustling at the Bottom of the Stand-Up Pyramid

Quartz

• Who is a Hong Konger? The US government has one of the widest definitions

• Yahoo is the third major US tech platform to exit China in the past month

• A single covid case has stopped the magic at Shanghai’s Disneyland

• The strongest weapon in Xi Jinping’s common prosperity armoury is a property tax

China Digital Times

• Foreign Correspondents Club of China Demands Greater Transparency from Organizers of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

• Fearing for their Personal Safety, 14 Independent Candidates Drop Out of Local Beijing Elections

• Language Learning App Emphasizing Linguistic Diversity Deletes Tibetan and Uyghur Languages

• Yahoo, Fortnite Leave China

• China Expands Security Presence in Central Asia Through Tajikistan Bases

• Netizen Voices: No Egg Fried Rice Allowed In October… Or November!

• Translation: Spilling the Tea About Being “Invited to Tea” and Hearing the Police Read Aloud Your Tweets

The Conversation

• China’s tech and finance crackdown is a challenge to western ideas that cuts across developing world

• A diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games could bring Huseyin Celil home

The Wire China

• The Longterm Consequences of China’s Cash-Strapped Cities

• Jasper Becker on How to Deal With China Post-Covid

• Seeking CFIUS

• The Local Government Squeeze

• The Corps of Xinjiang

SupChina

• Censors go nuclear as tennis player’s MeToo allegations against top official go viral

• Taiwan parties split over constitutional reform

• Norman Bethune’s last surgery

• Yahoo shuts down remaining China services

• ByteDance cuts working hours of China office, implements new schedule of ‘10-7-5’

• COVID origins: China denounces inconclusive U.S. intelligence report that calls for more transparency from Beijing

• Shanghai Disneyland locks in more than 30,000 people for testing after COVID scare on Halloween night

• Alibaba’s silicon chip in the age of hypersonic missiles

• Chinese Super League’s Hebei FC on verge of collapse

• ‘The Bund’: The Hong Kong TV series that defined a generation

• China warns that Taiwan’s push for international space presents ‘seismic risks’

• Genki Forest accidentally loses millions due to price glitch. Now it wants the money back.

• Understanding China’s historic changes through informed empathy

ThinkChina

• China’s alliance with Russia is solidifying

• When Beijingers can't return home: Is China going overboard with its zero-Covid measures?

• Chinese youths are falling for the 'Squid Game trap' with Chinese characteristics

• Jack Ma an agriculture tsar?

• Has the US shifted its position on Taiwan, again?

• AUKUS and Quad do not solve India's regional security problems

• Fire hazards plague Taiwan's ageing buildings and their residents, but is anyone fixing the problem?

• China displays its new weapons amid cross-strait tensions

• Taiwan and Indo-Pacific are the primary targets of China’s hypersonic glide vehicle

• Why half of Chinese youths want to be an influencer

• Why mobile gaming is important for maintaining social stability in China

• The EU and ASEAN should join hands in cajoling China and the US towards peace

• China needs to raise personal income to achieve common prosperity

The Diplomat

• Chinese People Think China Is Popular Overseas. Americans Disagree.

• China, Russia Urge UNSC to End Key Sanctions on North Korea

• The Anti-Submarine Warfare Component of China’s Sorties in Taiwan’s ADIZ

• Chinese Tennis Star Accuses Former Top Official of Sexual Assault

• The Politics of Taiwan’s Environmental Policy

• Yahoo Pulls out of China, Citing ‘Challenging’ Environment

• China’s Neo-Nationalism Poses Risks for International Businesses

• China’s Supply Chain Bottlenecks: Winners and Losers

• EU Disinformation Committee Heads to Taiwan

• Can China and the United States Cooperate Fully in Tackling Climate Change?

• Huawei and China’s ‘Hostage Diplomacy’

• The Shifting Nature of India-China Relations

• What Role Could Civilians Play in Taiwan’s Defense?

• Can China and the US Cooperate on Climate Change?

• Work Drinking in China Comes Under Fire

• China’s New Land Borders Law Is a Nightmare for North Korean Refugees

• The G-20 Can’t Ignore the World’s China Problem

• The Asia-Pacific’s Free Trade Disagreements

• No, the ‘Middle East Quad’ Is Not Anti-China

• China’s Foreign Minister Tries Again to Win Europe Back

• India Slams China’s New Boundary Law Amid Border Tensions

• Taiwan: Cooperating With the World to Achieve a Net-Zero Future 

Foreign Policy

• The Pentagon Wants to Talk About China’s Nukes

• Duterte’s Dalliance With China Is Over

• A Green Deal at COP26 Can’t Be a Green Light for China

• Why China May Not Bail Out Evergrande

• Xinjiang’s Oppression Has Shifted Gears

• German Academic Freedom Is Now Decided in Beijing

---

Think Tanks

Center for Advanced China Research

• Weekly Report 4|48 10.23.2021-10.29.2021

Center for Strategic and International Studies

• Winning the Tech Talent Competition

Center for Security and Emerging Technology

• Harnessed Lightning

MERICS

• Tech regulation in China brings in sweeping changes

• Beijing’s tech crackdown on ideological misalignment and drivers of inequality

• China’s quick way of going green: cutting production to cut emissions

• Why China’s plan to reduce abortions sparked anger and fear

Brookings Institution

• Why China is cracking down on its online fandom obsessed youth

• China is definitely on the rise. But don’t write off American dominance just yet.

Australia-China Relations Institute

• How does Australia’s Chinese-language media negotiate between Australian and PRC state media?

• Australia's export mix, industrial base and economic resilience challenge

Chatham House

• Who decides China’s foreign policy?

Lowy Institute

• Lines blurred: Chinese community organisations in Australia

Observer Research Foundation

• Power crisis: How China can turn the challenge into an opportunity

• China’s hypersonic missile test won’t go unanswered

---

Bilateral

Politico China Watcher

• The U.S.-China COP26 cliffhanger

Beijing to Britain

• Xi and Boris phone call, Truss and China, Diplomacy check in, Ministry of Defence and AI, Jobs

Beijing to Canberra and Back

• US force posture, China-Indonesia, and foreign investment

---

Newsletters

World Game

• The metaverse and national security. A view from China: governments must turn their attention to the metaverse

Beijing Baselines

• Ramping up rationality

Takshashila PLA Insight

• China-India: Land Boundary Law, Major Power Rivalry in SA; Taiwan: Statements, Biden, Blinken & Waters, Tsai's Interview; 钧 声;  Weapons Development

Tracking People's Daily

• Xi's 'Extraordinary' Vision & Leadership in Devising the New Development Pattern - China's Sci-Tech Drive - Li: No More Vanity Projects - Improve Basic Economic System for Common Prosperity

• 'People’s Leader' Xi's Poverty Alleviation Campaign - Li on Supporting Market Entities - Wang Huning on Learning from Revolutionary History - Economic Shake-up Underway - Qu Qingshan on Xi's Diplomacy

• Xi's Command of COVID-19 'People's War' - 'Time and Momentum': China's Economic Development Review - Xi's COP26 Speech - Zhong Sheng on US Intelligence Report on COVID Origins

• G20 Summit - Xi's in Qiushi on Ideals and Beliefs - Xi's Core Status = Party's 'Common Will' & 'Inevitable Choice' - Wang-Blinken Meeting - Ren Lixuan on Xiaokang

• Li @ EAS - Common Prosperity: There are no Free Lunches - 'Supreme Leaders' Guide PRC-DPRK Ties - Zhong Sheng Commentary Against Taiwan's IO Engagement - Wang Yi Wants Neighbours to Work with Taliban

---

Misc

China Law Translate

• Opinions on Establishing and Completing Institutional Mechanisms Prohibiting Improper Contact and Interactions between Judges or Prosecutors and Lawyers

• Measures for Data Export Security Assessments (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)

National People's Congress Observer

• NPC Calendar: November 2021

---

Society & Culture

What's on Weibo

• Hong Kong Stars Shine in Call Me By Fire: ‘Greater Bay Area Brothers’ Go Viral on Chinese Social Media

RADII

• How Violin “Nerd” Henry Lau Turned into a Mega Pop Star

---

Greater China

Hong Kong Free Press

• Are Hong Kong’s ever-tightening Covid-19 rules keeping people safe or stressing them out?

• Hong Kong should bring big tech to heel and protect the environment with ‘right to repair’ laws

• COP26: Rather than criticise the developed world, China should shoulder its share of blame for the climate crisis

• In the new Hong Kong, is there nowhere for people to seek redress against the authorities?

• Hong Kong’s fuzzy national security law – where are the details?

Taiwan Insight

• Comparing space industry interventions in Taiwan and elsewhere

• Technology is the new Priority in Central and Eastern Europe’s Accelerating Relations with Taiwan

• What Resolution 2758 doesn’t say: Bringing Taiwan in from the cold of political isolation

---

Chinese Sources

爱思想

• 关于中国经济学理论体系建设的思考与建议

• 胡耀邦

• 政府对于平台的公共政策

• 当下国际政治权力结构不是中美“新两极”

• 论健康公平

• 透过阿富汗看国际关系格局的三个维度

• 再探林彪的“一号号令”

• 价值系统以及人的价值系统构建

• 王安石与他的时代

• 关于房产税的几点看法

• 中国政治经济学原创性理论的三大来源

• 文学研究应有历史责任感

• 自然状态为什么是战争状态? ——霍布斯的两个证明与对人性的重构

• 略论《论语》的传承与训解

• 爱国何以成为一种美德？

• 在失序的世界中，如何建立“局部秩序”？

• 谈基本功

《求是》

• 坚定理想信念 补足精神之钙

• 革命理想高于天

• 只为主义真

• 五十年深化同联合国合作 协力构建人类命运共同体

• 做好新时代党的民族工作的科学指引

• 坚定制度自信 不断发展全过程人民民主

• 重视总结历史经验是我们党的一个好传统

• 用好思想政治工作这个传家宝 推动新时代机关党建高质量发展

• 加强生物多样性保护 共建地球生命共同体

• 国民经济总体保持恢复态势 推动高质量发展取得新进展

• 党员干部要牢记“国之大者”

• 修好坚定理想信念的终身课题

• 经济社会发展统计图表：2021年1—9月国民经济主要指标

• “七一勋章”获得者：“草原之子”廷·巴特尔

中国现代国际关系研究院

• 岸田文雄新政权后的中日关系值得关注

中央党史和文献研究院

• 党的建设经验启示

• 彪炳史册的伟大成就 更为完善的制度保证

• 深化国际经贸合作 实现共同繁荣进步

• 深刻认识辛亥革命的伟大历史意义

• 总结历史经验 向第二个百年目标奋进

• 两个“历史决议”的制定背景、主要内容和重要意义

• 新时代我国对外工作的根本遵循和行动指南（深入学习贯彻习近平新时代中国特色社会主…

• 在纪念中央革命根据地创建暨中华苏维埃共和国 成立90周年座谈会上的发言

• 太行精神、吕梁精神是我们党宝贵的精神财富

• 陈乔年从苏联归国时间考证

• 陈云最早著述向国外介绍红军长征

• 实事求是的典范——百色起义的特点

• 重视总结历史经验是我们党的一个好传统

• 树立大历史观

• 中国式现代化新道路展现人类文明新形态

• 马克思主义中国化百年发展历程和宝贵经验（深入学习贯彻习近平新时代中国特色社会主…

• 迈向中华民族伟大复兴的关键一步（深入学习贯彻习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想）

• 坚持和加强党对一切工作的领导

• 弘扬南泥湾精神，走更高水平的自力更生之路

• 构建新发展格局的理论意涵和政策取向

习近平系列重要讲话数据库

• 中共中央国务院隆重举行国家科学技术奖励大会 习近平出席大会并为最高奖获得者等颁奖 李克强讲话 王沪宁出席 韩正主持

• 习近平向《联合国气候变化框架公约》第二十六次缔约方大会世界领导人峰会发表书面致辞

---

Full list of sources scanned:

China Neican, Reading the China Dream, Made in China Journal, China Heritage, China Media Project, China Leadership Monitor, China Brief, Project Syndicate, Australian Financial Review, China Story, ChinaFile, War on the Rocks, Lawfare, The Interpreter, East Asia Forum, China Opinion, China Collection, China Dialogue, Pearls and Irritations, The Strategist, Echo Wall, Asialink Insight, Palladium, Inside Story, Foreign Affairs, Monkey Cage, The Atlantic, The Economist, Los Angeles Review of Books, Sixth Tone, Quartz, China Digital Times, The Conversation, National Review, Internationale Politik Quarterly, The Intercept, The Wire China, SupChina, ThinkChina, The Diplomat, Foreign Policy, MacroPolo, Center for Advanced China Research, Pew Research Center, Congressional Research Service, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Center for Security and Emerging Technology, MERICS, Institut Montaigne, European Council on Foreign Relations, National Bureau of Asian Research, Brookings Institution, U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, China Data Lab, Rhodium Group, Asia Society, Australia-China Relations Institute, China Research Group, Center for New American Security, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Chatham House, Lowy Institute, Atlantic Council, Observer Research Foundation, Australia Strategic Policy Institute, Politico China Watcher, Politico China Direct, The India China Newsletter, Beijing to Britain, Beijing to Canberra and Back, World Game, Eye on China, The Upheaval, Beijing Baselines, ChinaTalk, Pekingnology, Takshashila PLA Insight, Tracking People's Daily, Beijing Channel, Protocol | China, Chinese Storytellers, Chinarrative, Texas National Security Review, China Law Translate, China Trade Monitor, National People's Congress Observer, What's on Weibo, Chaoyang Trap House, RADII, Paper Republic, Lausan, Hong Kong Free Press, Taiwan Insight, 中国：历史与未来, 爱思想, 《求是》, 中国现代国际关系研究院, 中央党史和文献研究院, 习近平系列重要讲话数据库

---