Meet up with China

1. Two influential Chinese language bloggers in exile have been sharing uncensored information in regards to the nation on abroad social media. Now the police are monitoring down their followers in China, one after the other. (Related Press)

• “Instructor Li,” one of many bloggers, rose to prominence in late 2022 when he tirelessly collected and shared info on the White Paper protests in China. I talked to him on the time in regards to the toll the work had taken on him. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)

2. Leaked inner paperwork from a Chinese language cybersecurity agency recommend it has been surveilling ethnic minorities in China and neighboring nations on behalf of the Chinese language authorities. (Wall Avenue Journal $)

3. It’s been years since I heard that Shein, the viral fast-fashion model, wished to go public. Nevertheless it appears it might want to wait longer. The corporate is now contemplating itemizing in London, because it’s anxious the US Securities and Change Fee gained’t approve its IPO. (Bloomberg $)

4. To diversify its provide chain away from China, Google is beginning to make its Pixel smartphones in India. (Nikkei Asia $)

5. Oops—TikTok is having one other small drawback within the US. Its New York Metropolis workplace has been infested with bedbugs. (The Data $) 

6. Nvidia simply recognized Huawei as one in all its high opponents in making chips used for synthetic intelligence. (Reuters $)

7. A couple of Chinese language insurance policies have been factors of rivalry in US-China relations—they promote the two-way switch of military-civil applied sciences and drive out international gamers in cloud infrastructure. Now it’s reported {that a} suppose tank led by McKinsey suggested the Chinese language authorities in drawing up these insurance policies. (Monetary Occasions $)

Misplaced in translation

Chinese language drugmakers are sizzling on the worldwide market now, but it surely’s not essentially a superb factor for the home biotech business. In keeping with the Chinese language publication Caixin, Chinese language pharmaceutical firms set a brand new report in 2023 for licensing their revolutionary remedies to international firms. And in simply the primary month of 2024, they offered one other 15 licensing offers, totaling over $10 billion in potential income. 

It’s actually a testomony to the analysis capabilities of Chinese language pharmaceutical firms, however firm executives advised Caixin it’s additionally a results of the business’s pressing want for money. Since 2019, Chinese language biotech firms have discovered it more and more tougher to boost cash, and the quantity of enterprise funding in biotech retains falling. To outlive the capital crunch, some biotech firms are pressured to promote their analysis progress for reasonable to multinational giants. Whereas these offers can present non permanent monetary aid, the business remains to be ready for macro developments to change into favorable once more.

Yet one more factor

In final week’s e-newsletter, I discussed {that a} knockoff model of Apple’s Imaginative and prescient Professional is offered in China now. Properly, there’s one other means for Apple followers to expertise the VR know-how with out paying the hefty worth, in keeping with the South China Morning Put up: savvy retailers are renting out the headsets they purchased overseas. For $13.60, anybody can strive it out for one hour. Greater than 10,000 individuals have paid for the privilege.