What lies ahead for 2021 and beyond
The China Letter: December 28, 2020
We’ll keep watching news from China over the coming week, and return with an update in early January. Stand by for more in 2021—let your friends know they can also subscribe for free. Happy New Year!
Sizing up for their future
The historic year of 2020 is ending with a report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research in the U.K. that predicts China is seven years away from being the world’s largest economy. Meanwhile, more than half the adults in the country are currently overweight as fertility rates fall, although more trips to outer space await.
The bad and worse news
“Picking quarrels and provoking trouble” was the reason that citizen journalist Zhang Zhan has been jailed for four years, after documenting the early days of the coronavirus outbreak in Whuan. The former lawyer from Shanghai used social media to document life under lockdown, with details that prosecutors described as fake news.
Axios reporter Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian became the focus of her own story after she was reached on LinkedIn by someone claiming to work for a Chinese think tank who offered to pay for names of sources, and insight into how Joe Biden might approach China policy. But news media in Hong Kong falls into a different category:
Jimmy Lai was released on bail nearly three weeks after he was charged with colluding with a foreign country under the national security law, due to using his Apple Daily outlet as a platform to criticize it. People’s Daily, the state-run newspaper, slammed the Hong Kong court for the decision, which compounds the level of threats from Beijing.
The depths of this threat
The state-owned Chinese gold mining company Shandong sought to buy a gold mine project in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, but the deal was blocked for reasons not explained—but likely due to tensions between the countries. American dealings also face new restrictions applied in the last days of the Trump administration:
The list of Chinese and Russian firms with military ties was published towards trying to prevent their purchasing of U.S. goods and technology. Concerns over links between Moscow and Beijing were then exacerbated by a joint patrol mission, with two Russian military bombers and four Chinese ones.
Washington is also watching negotiations between the E.U. and China towards a comprehensive investment treaty. A deal seven years in the making was backed by all E.U. member states with hopes of imminent completion, despite political leaders concerned with human-rights abuses.
Beijing stomps on the Ant
The People’s Bank of China has ordered payments giant Ant Group to shake up its lending and other consumer finance operations, effectively forcing it back to basics. Jack Ma, the head of the Alibaba Group, found his $37 billion initial public offering suspended after he criticized Chinese regulators who once boosted him.
The last words, for now
One year ago, the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival reflected the efforts of about 10,000 workers, who built its attractions in 15 days along the border of Russia and Siberia just as COVID-19 started circulating in Whuan. The event has returned for China to promote it as a symbol of a return to regular life beyond the coronavirus:
The China Letter is produced by the Canadian Freedom Institute, a think tank based in Canada. We produce the China Letter every week to keep you informed and to press the ideas of free markets and free people not only in China but around the world. Please consider donating to keep this newsletter running!