CiCM 17th September 2024

NEWS IN CHINA

Former Vice-Minister of Education Under Investigation for Corruption: Du Yubo, China’s former vice-minister of education from 2010 to 2016 and deputy director of the education, science culture and health committee of the 13th National People's Congress from 2018 to 2023 is under disciplinary review and supervisory investigation. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Commission of Supervision announced that Du was suspected of seriously violating Party discipline and national laws. Du was born in Hebei, joined the Party in 1975 and worked at the Beijing Institute of Technology for over 20 years, was promoted to the position of executive deputy Party chief of the university from 2001 to 2002 and made Party chief of Beihang University until 2010. Du’s last public appearance was on July 31 at the 4^th National College Teachers Teaching Innovation Competition organised by the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education. Du Yubo is the highest ranking official from China’s education system to be placed under investigation since the 18^th Party Congress.
Mid-Autumn Festival Creates Consumption Boost: Mid-Autumn Festival spending across China has created a boost of consumption for travel, entertainment and recreational services and products. According to statistics from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, the mid-Autumn festival will register national box office sales of 389 million yuan. Travel websites have reported that compared to other festivals, the Mid-Autumn festival has registered higher sales of domestic travel bookings by almost 5%. On the first day of the festival on September 15, the total cross-regional movement of people amounted to 215.92 million trips, a 37.9 percent increase from the same period in 2023. Cultural events were held across China to mark the traditional festival and the catering industry received a boost in sales. Meituan reported a 433% increase in searches for “mid-Autumn restaurants” and themed group orders rose by 76%. China’s holiday economy surges during festivals, raising consumption and market confidence.
PLA Tracks and Monitors US Patrol Aircraft Flight Over Taiwan Straits: The PLA Eastern Theater Command was placed on high alert as it monitored the flight of a US P-8A anti-submarine patrol aircraft over the Taiwan Straits. The Eastern Theater Command organised warplanes to follow and monitor the US aircraft in order to safeguard China’s national sovereignty and regional stability, stated a Chinese military spokesperson. The US Seventh Fleet claimed in a statement that the flight of the patrol aircraft was a demonstration of US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. A Chinese military expert, Fu Qianshao, argued that the behaviour of the US military is “not an innocent passage, but a blatant provocation”. In a related development, on the occasion of the Mid-Autumn festival, the PLA Eastern Theater Command released footage of the PLA’s monitoring of foreign vessels transiting the Taiwan straits.
Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area Sees 200 Plus Projects from CIFTIS: The 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) held a Beijing Day event which saw over 202 investment projects worth 162 billion Yuan singed. The promotion event held at the CIFTIS included the participation of local governments, domestic and foreign businesses and Fortune 500 companies. The new investments announced in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region were in the areas of integrated circuits, biomedicine, robotics, hydrogen energy, machine tools and cybersecurity. At the event, Beijing Customs announced that the State Council approved the establishment of the Beijing E-Town Comprehensive Bonded Zone and the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area Administrative Committee signed agreements with 16 new agreements and give ecosystem partners. The promotion event leverages CIFTIS as a national-level platform for international cooperation to attract high-level investments.
Appliance Giant Midea Group Listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange: Home appliance manufacturer Midea Group has gone public on the Hong Kong Stock exchange, the largest new stock raised in China since the listing of Kuaishou Technology's in 2021. Midea's offering price was between HK$52 ($6.67) and HK$54.8 ($7.03) per share, with 565,955,300 shares offered globally and 28,297,800 shares offered in Hong Kong. The Group's listing has raised more than HK$30 billion and shares opened higher on its first trading day and closed higher by 7.8%. Midea Group's offering of shares makes it the largest in Asia and second largest globally, this year. The company may sell 15 per cent more shares to meet the excess demand, which saw the international tranche of the offering oversubscribed by 8.1 times and public investors overbuy by 5.3 times. Analysts suggest that the listing is Midea’s plan to further the globalisation of the company.

SOCIAL MEDIA CHATTER

55-Year Old Delivery Man Dies of Exhaustion After 18-Hour Workday: The tragic death of a delivery man in Hangzhou was brought to public attention by an online video that has been widely circulated on social media. The footage shows a food delivery worker, Yuan, resting on his electric bike after a tiring day of delivering orders. Witnesses revealed that Yuan had been at work from 9 PM on 5th September until he was discovered at 1 AM the next morning. Yuan was nicknamed the “Order King” for his relentless work ethic. His colleagues told local news outlets that Yuan would work till 3 AM and rest only till 6AM, only to begin working again. The incident has sparked public outrage online. “Is there really no way to avoid these tragedies?”, one person asked online. “I hope in his next life, he will not have to race against time like this”, another said. The surge in working hours and increase in the number of food delivery apps has heightened public concern for legal rights of delivery workers. In 2018, 36.5 per cent of riders worked more than 10 hours daily and by 2021, the number had risen to 62.6 per cent.

INDIA WATCH

Global Times Reports on Arrests of Samsung Factory Workers in Tamil Nadu: An article in the Global Times reported on the arrests of more than 100 workers of a Samsung factory in Tamil Nadu. The state police stated that workers were striking and marching without permission and the article argues that the police action marked a significant escalation in the situation. The article states that workers claimed prices in India have risen rapidly, but factory wages have not, making their income insufficient to manage household expenses. Workers at the Samsung factory, which produces washing machines, refrigerators, televisions and other home appliances have been striking since September 9. The main demand of the workers has been to increase monthly wages from 25,000 to 30,000 INR and permit workers to establish a Union and make contact with the Centre of Indian Trade Unions. The article claims that the strikes may make other companies concerned about investing in the state.

Prepared By

Rahul Karan Reddy

Rahul Karan Reddy is a Senior Research Associate at Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA). He works on domestic Chinese politics and trade, producing data-driven research in the form of reports, dashboards and digital media. He is the author of ‘Islands on the Rocks’, a monograph about the Senkaku/Diaoyu island dispute between China and Japan. Rahul was previously a research analyst at the Chennai Center for China Studies (C3S). He is the creator of the India-China Trade dashboard and the Chinese Provincial Development Indicators dashboard. His work has been published in The Diplomat, East Asia Forum, ISDP & Tokyo Review, among others. He can be reached via email at rahulkaran.reddy@gmail.com and @RahulKaranRedd1 on Twitter.