A billionaire has enough of Beijing

The China Letter: July 29, 2022

This week in our roundup of news worth knowing from China: Ant Group loses its leader after a couple of strange years, TikTok is under increased scrutiny, why Nancy Pelosi is determined to visit Taiwan, the attempt to bring zero-COVID to Wuhan, and what a legal loss says about parenting perceptions.

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Ant chief is crawling away

The Wall Street Journal @WSJ

Jack Ma plans to cede control of Ant Group, people familiar said, as the Chinese fintech giant looks to move on from a tough year and mounting regulatory pressure

on.wsj.comWSJ News Exclusive | Jack Ma Plans to Cede Control of Ant GroupThe shift, long under consideration to reduce governance risks, comes as the Chinese fintech giant seeks to move on from a tough year.

The report of Jack Ma planning to give up control of Ant Group follows a tumultuous 21 months in which the billionaire had his initial public offering halted by authorities in China due to his criticism of regulators. Ma then disappeared for a conspicuous period of time as Beijing’s crackdown on technology companies has continued to increase.

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TikTok can see too much

BuzzFeed "listening to Renaissance on repeat" News @BuzzFeedNews

Here's why a bunch of lawmakers are asking questions about TikTok

buzzfeednews.comHere’s Why A Bunch Of Lawmakers Are Asking Questions About TikTokThe past few months have seen growing concerns about the company’s Chinese ownership amid leaks and former employees speaking out in two separate BuzzFeed News reports.

The latest investigation into TikTok found pro-China messages being pushed through a news app owned by parent company ByteDance. BuzzFeed has similarly drawn attention to Chinese engineers accessing the data of American users, which led the company to relocate its storage location. U.S. lawmakers are now taking a harder look at its workings.

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Speaker set on a statement

POLITICO @politico

Nancy Pelosi wants to bookend her career on the world stage with a trip to Taiwan — whether the White House likes it or not

politico.comPelosi and China: The making of a progressive hawkAfter a career of holding Beijing to account over human-rights abuses and predatory economic practices, the speaker wants to cap it off with a visit to Taiwan — whether Joe Biden likes it or not.

Nancy Pelosi’s history of standing against Beijing dates back to when she was chased out of Tiananmen Square during a 1991 visit to mark the massacre of two years prior. So, as concern continues to swirl from both sides of the political fence over her planned trip to Taiwan, it appears the U.S. speaker is determined see this through in spite of fears.

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Wuhan back to beginning

BBC News (World) @BBCWorld

Million people under lockdown in Chinese city of Wuhan after four Covid cases

bbc.inCovid in China: Million in lockdown in Wuhan after four casesThe city where Covid began is under partial lockdown for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

News of a district of 1 million locked down due four COVID-19 cases has become less unusual in China due to its policy in 2022, but the headlines are more ironic when it’s in the place where the coronavirus pandemic started. Meanwhile, whether Xi Jinping got vaccinated himself remains a mystery, even after Beijing finally stated the president was.

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Egg appeal frozen by court

CNN International @cnni

In the first case of its kind, a Chinese court has ruled against an unmarried woman who sued a hospital that refused to freeze her eggs -- sparking a debate over gender equality in the country

cnn.itUnmarried woman loses bid to freeze her eggs -- and sparks a gender equality debate in ChinaIn the first case of its kind, a Chinese court ruled Friday against an unmarried woman who wanted to freeze her eggs. Several posts on Chinese social media platform Weibo noted that the ruling underscores an existing double standard regarding access to reproductive technology in China.

Xu Zaozao was told by her doctor to get married and have children in response to her request to have her eggs frozen. Four years later, a court ruled against her legal effort to permit the procedure for single women without fertility issues. China has started offering perks to women to have babies—but only under circumstances approved by government.