Lavender Au
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Past articles by Lavender:
China’s queer internet is being erased
LGBTQI groups found rare freedoms online, but this year, many were shut by censors. It feels like slowly being sanded down, said one member. → Read More
The future of electric cars isn’t Tesla. It’s golf carts.
Millions of people in China are buying off-brand electric cars, which are cheap, tiny, barely regulated, and extremely useful. → Read More
What a Landmark Trial Means for #MeToo in China
Last week, 27-year-old Zhou Xiaoxuan headed to Haidian District People’s Court in Beijing to have her case of sexual harassment heard. The defendant, Zhu Jun, a Chinese TV star, did not turn up for the trial, which is far from the first high-profile #MeToo case to emerge in China recently. → Read More
How China Is Trying to Capitalize on the COVID-19 Vaccine Race
The global race for COVID-19 vaccines has serious implications for how soon countries will be able to return to something resembling pre-pandemic normality. China has struck deals with more than a dozen countries to develop vaccines, amid questions about the vaccine trials and their eventual rollouts. → Read More
China Once Feared the U.S.-Led TPP. Now It’s Trying to Join the CPTPP
The sweeping Pacific Rim trade deal formerly known as the TPP was once spoken about in China as a U.S. attempt to contain and exclude it. But then Donald Trump was elected president and immediately withdrew the U.S. from the pact, which was later salvaged as the CPTPP. China now sees an opportunity. → Read More
For China, Biden Won’t Bring a Total Reset to the Pre-Trump Era
Although Xi Jinping still has not yet issued a statement or called to congratulate Joe Biden on his election win, prominent Chinese commentators are already discussing what his presidency means for U.S.-China relations. The consensus seems to be that a total reset to a pre-Trump era will be difficult. → Read More
Xi Exudes Confidence That China Will Weather Any More Pandemic Headwinds
Last week, the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee met for its fifth plenum, where it laid out an ambitious five-year plan despite the global economic upheavals of the coronavirus pandemic. Dry as it may be, the conclave sent an overriding message of self-assurance from leader Xi Jinping. → Read More
China’s New Data Protection Law Won’t Rein in State Surveillance
Last week, China’s National People’s Congress released the first draft of the long-awaited Personal Information Protection Law, its first dedicated system to protect personal data. But it’s clear China is far more concerned with how companies use data, than how the state uses it for mass surveillance. → Read More
How China Aims to Capitalize Economically on Its Containment of COVID-19
China seems to have bucked the trend of pandemic slumps hitting other countries, as its economic recovery accelerated in the third quarter. Given what domestic policymakers see as a potentially hostile international environment, a broader rethink is underway over how the Chinese economy is structured. → Read More
U.S. Sanctions on Iran Boost China’s Plans to Internationalize the Yuan
Tightening sanctions, the U.S. blacklisted Iran’s financial sector last week. Perhaps in anticipation, Iran’s central bank announced it had adopted the yuan as its reserve currency, replacing the dollar. It looks like another step in China’s push to internationalize the yuan and challenge the dollar’s dominance. → Read More
Why Trump’s Plan to Boost U.S. Mining Will Still Be Dependent on China
China’s dominance of rare earth minerals has made some in the U.S. uncomfortable, with growing calls to safeguard U.S. national security by bringing the mining supply chain home. But the Trump administration’s executive order last week to expand America’s mining industry may actually mean more trade with China. → Read More
Why Trump’s Bid to Boost Rare Earths Mining in the U.S. Is Misguided
China’s dominance of rare earth minerals has made some in the U.S. uncomfortable, with growing calls to safeguard U.S. national security by bringing the mining supply chain home. But the Trump administration’s executive order last week to expand America’s mining industry may actually mean more trade with China. → Read More
Xi’s Climate Pledge Is Really About China’s Energy Security
Last week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping told the United Nations General Assembly that China’s emissions would peak before 2030 and that the country would go carbon neutral by 2060. The pledge fits with Beijing’s pursuit of energy security and will herald a boom in domestic power generation. → Read More
The TikTok Deal Is Much Less Than Trump Is Making It Out to Be
TikTok was set to be taken off U.S. app stores this past weekend, but the news that the Chinese-owned app struck a tentative deal with Oracle and Walmart allowed it a one-week reprieve from the Trump administration’s ban. If the deal goes through, not much will change in terms of preventing disinformation. → Read More
Why Is the U.S. Revoking So Many Chinese Student Visas?
More than 1,000 Chinese students and scholars have had their visas to the U.S. revoked under a Trump administration program that claims to target security risks. The affected students largely hail from China’s seven major national defense colleges, which, despite their military ties, are not a pipeline to the army. → Read More
The Battle Over Chips Heats Up in the Escalating U.S.-China Tech War
When the U.S. tightened restrictions on Huawei’s access to semiconductor chips last week, the Trump administration’s goal became clear, if it wasn’t already: kneecap the Chinese telecom giant’s technological advancement. Chips are becoming a crucial choke point in the U.S.-China tech rivalry. → Read More
Stuck in Central China on Coronavirus Lockdown
Before the outbreak, the only masks familiar to most people in Shiyan were made of a gauze designed to fend off the dust from auto factory work. The coronavirus has taught them now what an N95 is. → Read More