Didi of China Moves to Delist From New York Stock Exchange

With 377 million active users a year in China and services in 16 other countries, Didi Chuxing has been celebrated in China as a homegrown tech champion. It vanquished its American rival, Uber, and bought that company’s Chinese operations in 2016. Promises to use its banks of data to unsnarl traffic and develop driverless car technologies made its executives icons as Chinese officials called for building a more innovative economy. Updated  Dec. 2, 2021, 7:49 p.m. ET The delisting is likely to increase investor concerns about what seems to be…

Steve Simon: Who is the WTA boss taking on China?

Steve Simon (far left) has appeared at many trophy ceremonies but his stance on China has earned him plaudits of his own The first words of the brief profile page about Steve Simon in his organisation’s media handbook are quite telling. “From day one … an instigator of change”. The chief executive of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has been widely praised for putting principles above pockets in suspending all of its tournaments in China amid concern for Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai. And maybe no-one should be surprised –…

What Chinese Dams in Laos Tell Us About the Belt and Road Initiative

Advertisement With nearly $900 billion in investment across nearly 140 countries, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has sparked significant debate. Much of this debate has focused on the professed grand strategic aims of the project, leading to greater emphasis on its geopolitical and geoeconomic dimensions, particularly its risks and opportunities. It is in this context that we get arguments between proponents of the “debt-trap diplomacy“ narrative and those who question it. What is typically overlooked in these debates are the internal drivers of the BRI. Specifically, the BRI is…

China hits back at WTA as IOC says it has spoken again to Peng Shuai

China has attacked the Women’s Tennis Association’s boycott in response to the treatment of Peng Shuai, as two other major international tennis associations steered clear of the subject of future events in a market worth billions of dollars. Wang Wenbin, a foreign ministry spokesperson, said at a daily briefing that his government was “always firmly opposed to acts that politicise sports”. The WTA said on Wednesday it was suspending all tournaments in China in response to continued questions over Peng’s condition. Its chair, Steve Simon, said he did not see…

‘Where is **?’: Fans in China Elude Censors to Talk About Peng Shuai

Julien Chen was getting ready for bed when he learned that one of his favorite Chinese tennis players, Peng Shuai, had made #MeToo allegations against a powerful Chinese official. A friend told him to check Ms. Peng’s social media account. “There’s a ‘huge melon’ in the tennis circle,” the friend wrote, using the Chinese metaphor for a bombshell. Mr. Chen couldn’t find anything. He searched the word “tennis,” but Ms. Peng — one of China’s most famous athletes — appeared in barely any results. With stunning efficiency, China’s censors had…

WTA Pulls Its Tournaments From China Over Concerns for Peng Shuai

Advertisement The suspension of all WTA tournaments in China because of concerns about the safety of Peng Shuai, a Grand Slam doubles champion who accused a former government official there of sexual assault, could result in cancellations of those events beyond 2022, the head of the women’s professional tennis tour told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “We’re hopeful we get to the right place, but we are prepared, if it continues as it is — which hasn’t been productive to date — that we will not be operating in the…

Domestic Abuse Incident Highlights Taiwan’s Struggles With Misogyny

Advertisement There has been increased discussions of violence against women in Taiwan after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Kao Chia-yu revealed that she had been physically assaulted by her partner, Lin Bing-shu, a pan-Green political columnist who writes under the pen name of Raphael Lin. Kao represents the Neihu-Nangang area of Taipei as a legislator. News of the incident broke after a report published by Mirror Media on November 30. The report stated that Lin beat Kao after finding that she was exchanging text messages with an ex-boyfriend, injuring her…

Beijing warns China-linked US businesses: you cannot ‘make a fortune in silence’

Beijing has urged US business groups with interests in China to “speak out” and lobby the US government in its defence, warning that as bilateral relations deteriorate they cannot make money “in silence”. The vice-foreign minister Xie Feng, in charge of managing China’s relationship with the US, also urged against political boycotts of the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, saying it harms the interests of athletes and was “unpopular”. Key business groups including the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and the US-China Business Council, met Xie at a virtual forum…