CRG Weekly: BBC barred, UK unis under investigation, Spring Festival
News from the China Research Group
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The week in review
The Chinese government's swift move to ban the audio chatroom app Clubhouse foreshadowed the barring of BBC World News in mainland China. A week after Ofcom revoked CGTN’s licence, China's National Radio and Television Administration announced the BBC would no longer air in China on the grounds of falling short of the standard of 'truthful and fair' reporting. Radio Television Hong Kong also announced that it would suspend BBC radio programming.
BBC News issued a response stating that it reports 'fairly, impartially and without fear or favour.' Response in Westminster to the news was strong: Dominic Raab, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, commented that banning the BBC would 'only damage China's reputation', while Tobias Ellwood referred to the decision as 'our Sputnik moment.' The US State Department also condemned China's 'controlled' and 'oppressive' media environment. Banning the BBC World Service was a predictable, symbolic move and characteristic of Beijing’s proclivity for tit-for-tat retaliation. But Chinese media have already begun making ominous references to the UK as a 'second Australia', and it also continues a concerning trend of deteriorating media freedom in China.
200 British academics from over a dozen universities are to be sent enforcement notices from the government over violations of the UK’s export control laws for dual-use and military technology. A new research paper produced by Civitas showed that 15 of 24 Russell Group universities, and 20 UK universities in total, have research relationships with organisations linked to the Chinese military, and suggested controls on these relationships are 'inadequate.' Only a day later, it emerged that the University of Oxford’s Wykeham professorship in physics will be renamed the Tencent-Wykeham professorship in return for a £700,000 donation. Tencent also funded Cambridge University research into quantum computers. The CRG's Tom Tugendhat accused universities of being 'motivated by a mixture of fear and greed.'
Parliament is in recess next week. But parliamentary ping-pong over the Trade Bill will continue after a government amendment proposed by Sir Bob Neill, Chair of the Justice Select Committee, passed in the Commons by 318-303. The government used what rebel MPs termed 'arcane procedural games' to combine the genocide amendment with a Labour amendment and discourage rebels. Tensions heightened as Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress, said that the government were 'spitting into the faces' of the Uyghur people. Barristers at Essex Court published a formal legal opinion which states that there is a credible case that the Chinese government is carrying out genocide.
As calls for a Winter Olympic boycott rise, raised publicly in the UK for the first time this week by MPs Ed Davey and Chris Bryant, China's human rights record remains under scrutiny. Inner Mongolia passed a regulation to promote ethnic unity. Dahua, a surveillance technology company, was revealed to have a Uyghur recognition software that sent alerts to police. New regulations on religious clergy came into place. In Hong Kong, three judges specially appointed to try National Security Law cases will take the place of a jury in an unprecedented move for Hong Kong's legal system. Banks have been instructed to stop accepting BNO passports and Hong Kong will no longer recognise dual nationality, which the FCDO advised might reduce its ability to offer consular assistance. Reports also emerged suggesting that the Canada visa application centre in Beijing is run by the Chinese police force.
With Lunar New Year celebrations underway, much of Asia will enjoy a Lunar New Year break over the next week. Over 1 billion viewers tuned into CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala on Thursday - the most-watched TV show in the world. It is also a chance for tech firms to secure a serious marketing opportunity. Back in 2015, Tencent’s WeChat marked its arrival on the mobile payments scene by giving away 500 million yuan of ‘red packets’ during the show. It gained 200 million users in two days. This year, ByteDance’s Douyin was the show’s exclusive ‘red packet partner’, promising to give away 1.2bn yuan ($186m) in the hope of a comparable marketing bump. But China is cracking down on the dominance of its largest tech firms. Earlier this week, Chinese regulators formalised an earlier anti-monopoly draft law, aimed at big tech companies like Alibaba and JD.com. China’s tech ecosystem will continue to evolve.
In brief
The WHO dismissed the possibility of the Coronavirus leaking from the Wuhan Institute of Virology as it ended its Wuhan investigation, calling for further exploration into potential origins. The US announcement that it would not accept the investigation's findings without independent verification was condemned by members of the WHO team.
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping exchanged their first call since Biden's inauguration. A US readout and a later tweet by the US president suggest that Biden did not back down over key human rights and economic concerns. Chinese media reported that Xi pushed back, saying that 'cooperation is the only choice' and affording 'internal affairs' no importance. The call lasted two hours.
Xi Jinping delivered a message of 'solidarity, coordination and cooperation' to the 17+1 forum of central and eastern European nations. The conference was notable for its absentees (a record 6 heads of state did not attend), though China will seek still to build on the foothold it has developed through Belt and Road projects and vaccine diplomacy.
Wang Yi called for Europe to act 'independently and autonomously' after Li Keqiang had earlier in the week attended a virtual conference with 30 European business leaders. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell responded by reminding Wang Yi that Europe maintains a 'strong bloc' with the US.
President Biden's China policy is beginning to take shape: a Pentagon taskforce on China has been formed, led by Ely Ratner. US investment in infrastructure will be a priority. Meanwhile, TikTok, Huawei and WeChat are pushing for a review of the Trump administration's policies.
India and China have agreed to withdraw troops from part of their disputed Himalayan border after a series of 'sustained talks.' The UK moved closer to a trade deal with India.
Weekend reads
Short of War: Former Australian PM Kevin Rudd offers 'strategic managed competition' and a framework of engagement to prevent the US-China relationship from deteriorating into war.
Hong Kong can't be saved: A Foreign Policy piece argues that the world must embrace that Hong Kong has been reduced to an existence as a mere appendage of China.
The Xinjiang camps on Clubhouse: SupChina's Sinica Podcast reflects on Xinjiang's importance in the short-lived Chinese Clubhouse bubble.
The right word: The Economist’s leading article argues that genocide is not the correct term to describe the persecution of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
Research snippets
A new working paper ‘China’s great boom as a historical process’ by Loren Brandt and Thomas G. Rawski sets China’s economic miracle in the context of 200 years of the institutional constraints of elite control.
A Graphika report on 'Spamouflage Breakout' - the pro-Chinese propaganda network across social media - finds that the phenomenon is breaking out beyond its echo chamber of fake accounts into 'persona accounts' that imitate real people. Propaganda also increasingly follows state narratives, particularly on US-China relations.
A new policy brief by ECFR looks at how China became a power in the Western Balkans.
The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index shows that around 30% of China's energy use for Bitcoin mining came via Xinjiang’s coal plants. Bloomberg reported on the back of this research that Bitcoin production could be heavily tied to Uyghur forced labour.
China has become less trusted by its regional neighbours, according to a new survey by the ASEAN Studies Centre at Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. Despite its vaccine diplomacy, nations are increasingly anxious about its growing influence.
Happy Lunar New Year and thanks for reading. To get in touch, hit reply or email julia@chinaresearchgroup.org.