Now it’s graphite

• The new restrictions will require exporters to apply for permits to ship two types of graphite, including high-purity, high-hardness and high-intensity synthetic graphite material, and natural flake graphite and its products
• These materials are deemed “highly sensitive” and therefore fall under “dual-use item” export controls

China is the world’s top graphite producer, and Japan, the U.S., India, and South Korea are its top buyers

• China currently accounts for 67% of global supplies of the mineral in its natural form, and 90% of the synthetic variety used in virtually all EV battery anodes.

Although China insists that the new export controls are not aimed at any specific country, they appear to be another result of U.S.-China trade tensions.

• Earlier this week, the Biden administration imposed additional limits on the kinds of advanced semiconductors that American companies can sell to the Chinese market, citing the desire to close perceived loopholes in existing regulations announced a year ago.

Click through for more details and links.

Zhao Yuanyuan

The U.S. said China is accelerating the expansion of its nuclear arsenal in its annual report on China’s military development. The Pentagon report, titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China” (PDF here) released by the Department of Defense (DOD), claims that China currently has 500 operational nuclear warheads in its arsenal and will probably have over 1,000 warheads by 2030.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Máo Níng 毛宁 hit back at the report, stating that it “ignores the facts, is full of prejudice and spreads the theory of the threat posed by China.”

Two days ago, the DOD accused China of conducting “a centralized and concerted campaign” against U.S. and allied counterparts in international airspace. It also released photo and video footage that show 15 recent cases of “coercive and risky operational behavior” by People’s Liberation Army (PLA) fighter jets crossing in front of U.S. aircraft in the East and South China Seas.

Nigeria inked $2 billion worth of deals for new projects between its National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure and three Chinese partners, Nigerian Vice President Kashim Shettima announced on X today in the wake of his meeting with Chinese President Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 at the third Belt and Road Forum in Beijing.

Another $4 billion worth of letters of intent was received for new projects and investments in different sectors of the economy, he added. Nigeria also signed contracts with China Harbour Engineering Company for the construction of the Lekki Blue Seaport in Lagos.

Australia axed a plan to cancel a Chinese company’s lease over a strategic port, in the latest move to thaw bilateral tensions just weeks ahead of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to Beijing.

The Australian government today announced that “it was not necessary to vary or cancel the lease” by China’s Landbridge Group over the Port of Darwin in northern Australia, citing “a robust regulatory system in place to manage risks to critical infrastructure.” The port was leased to Landbridge in 2015 for 99 years, but the deal came under intense scrutiny since relations between the two nations nosedived over the COVID pandemic and a bitter trade dispute, driving Camberra to probe the agreement in 2021.

Chinese state media is a sea of Xi today. Every single headline on the People’s Daily print edition front page begins with Xi’s name. All the stories about meetings he held with leaders in Beijing for this week’s Belt and Road Forum: Xi Jinping met with: Mongolian President Khürelsukh, Congolese President Sassou, Turkmenistan’s national leader and Chairman of the People’s Committee Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, Egyptian Prime Minister Madbouly, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manai, Thai Prime Minister Saitha Thakur, Mozambican Prime Minister Maleane, Pakistani Prime Minister Kakar, and Rousseff, President of the New Development Bank.

Xinhua News Agency’s top story is about another meeting that happened after the People’s Daily deadline: Xi Jinping met with General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and President Thongloun Sisoulith

• The company has about $11 billion in offshore debt, and it is believed to have another $6 billion in onshore loans.
• Rumors are swirling that the company’s founder Yeung Kwok Keung (杨国强 Yáng Guóqiáng) and his daughter Yáng Huìyán 杨惠妍 — the company’s current chairwoman — have fled China. The company denied the rumors this week but the Yang’s have not been seen in public.

Evergrande, the other troubled Chinese real estate behemoth, grabbed headlines when it defaulted on offshore bond payments in 2021, but Country Garden is arguably more important for China’s broad middle class because it has far more unfinished projects that have already been sold to impatient citizens.

William Sandlund reports from Country’s Garden’s abandoned offices in Hong Kong on how the company got into this mess, and what’s at stake for China.

William Sandlund

• In an effort that has gone unnoticed by most of the world, China’s leadership is pushing to raise the percentage of protected land area to 35% through Ecological Conservation Red Lines (ERLs).
• This innovation has the potential to make China a leader in global conservation. The concept could be exported elsewhere along the Belt and Road Initiative, and strengthen the state’s control over its land and people.

Of course, there are loopholes, which present challenges to conservationists’ efforts.

• Unclear standards and enforcement hold back the system’s potential. But this is recognized, expected even.
• What’s at stake? Homo sapiens, not asteroids or mega-volcanoes, are now the cause of the earth’s sixth mass extinction. China’s great experiment will be watched by many.

Click through to read the latest in award-winning photographer Kyle Obermann’s series about China’s environment.

Kyle Obermann

• The Israel-China relationship is in danger as state media blames Israel, the U.S., and Jews for the ongoing conflict. Jordyn Haime reports on China’s Foreign Ministry and media responses to the crisis — no mention of the October 7 Hamas attack — and on the dramatic spike in online antisemitism on Chinese social media.
• For queer people in China, pets provide a sense of home, writes Nathan Wei in the latest Queer China column.
• Empires of lies: Phil Cunningham traces how Chinese and Russian state media appropriated an apocryphal Orwell quote to criticize the West.

Below are links from our NewsBase to other noteworthy reports published in the last 24 hours from and about China.

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

Electric vehicles
China to curb exports of key EV battery material from Dec. 1 / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
“China announced on Friday that it will require export permits for graphite, a key material for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, starting Dec. 1. The country is the world’s top graphite producer, and the move could spur procurement difficulties for global EV makers.”
China imposes export curbs on graphite / FT (paywall)
China tightens export controls on battery-making graphite / Caixin (paywall)
China tightens its chokehold on graphite needed for EV batteries / WSJ (paywall)

Russia wants Chinese goods
Moscow tells officials to buy Russian Ladas, Chinese cars / Reuters
“Russia’s government on Friday published a list of domestically-produced cars that state officials should buy, all either Russian or Chinese brands, highlighting Beijing’s infiltration of Russia’s automobile industry since the Ukraine war.”

U.S. chip curbs
Tightened U.S. rules throttle Alibaba and Baidu’s AI chip development / FT (paywall)
“Washington’s tightened export controls on chips may leave Chinese tech groups relying on outdated and stockpiled chips to pursue their artificial intelligence ambitions, with industry giants Alibaba and Baidu facing new hurdles for the manufacturing of their latest self-designed AI processors.”
U.S. chip curbs give Huawei a chance to fill the Nvidia void in China / Reuters
“U.S. measures to limit the export of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China may create an opening for Huawei Technologies to expand in its $7 billion home market as the curbs force Nvidia to retreat, analysts say.”

Supermarkets
The struggle facing big-box supermarkets in China / Caixin (paywall)
“Carrefour China, once the country’s largest foreign supermarket chain with nearly 260 stores in 2017, had less than 150 stores remaining at the end of last year. In Beijing, it is currently down to running one of its last outlets, with shoppers taking to social media last month to post photos of rows of empty shelves and refrigerators.”

Real estate and property development
China’s troubled property sector to face more debt default / Reuters
“More debt defaults are likely to emerge in China’s property sector as troubled developers struggle with a weak home sales outlook, while fundraising remains challenging, according to credit analysts.”
Opinion: China’s ‘Lehman Brothers moment’ will be just as tense as 2008 / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
Benjamin Bennet writes: “Many people are asking whether China could be approaching a moment like what the U.S. encountered with the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.”

Evergrande
China Evergrande says it will revise its restructuring plan / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
“Troubled property developer China Evergrande Group announced Friday that it is revising the terms of its proposed restructuring plan.”

Apple
China vice premier pushes for more Apple investment, cooperation / Reuters
“China’s Vice Premier Dīng Xuēxiáng 丁薛祥 told Apple CEO Tim Cook the group was welcome to participate in developing China’s digital economy, as Cook made a surprise visit to Beijing less than a month after the Chinese launch of its iPhone 15.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook meets China’s information technology minister as Beijing demands app store compliance / SCMP (paywall)

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND ENVIRONMENT:

New infectious disease control policy
Chinese lawmakers set to overhaul infectious disease reporting system / Caixin (paywall)
“Chinese lawmakers are considering revising the country’s infectious disease control law to improve the outbreak reporting system and prohibit anyone from interfering with case reports, a move aimed at filling in gaps that risk the spread of illness that endanger people’s lives.”

Jab maker in debt
China mRNA vaccine-maker Stemirna struggles with debt crisis / Caixin (paywall)
“A Shanghai court has imposed spending limits on Chinese mRNA vaccine maker Stemirna Therapeutics Co. Ltd. for failing to make good on its debts, exacerbating the woes of the one-time investor darling as it struggles to raise fresh financing in the face of falling demand for COVID treatments.”

POLITICS AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

BRI
Wang Yi angers Chinese netizens by touting Belt and Road abroad / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
“Chinese Foreign Minister Wáng Yì’s 王毅 argument that China should continue to build infrastructure in developing countries under its Belt and Road Initiative has sparked outrage on the internet back home.”

China’s nuclear arsenal
China is building up its nuclear weapons arsenal faster than previous projections, a US report says / AP
“A Pentagon report on China’s military power says Beijing is exceeding previous projections of how quickly it is building up its nuclear weapons arsenal and is ‘almost certainly’ learning lessons from Russia’s war in Ukraine about what a conflict over Taiwan might look like.”

U.S. governor vs. Chinese journalist
Reporter wins support after Nebraska governor dismissed story because the journalist is Chinese / AP
“Advocates and Nebraska lawmakers are defending a reporter after Gov. Jim Pillen said her story about environmental concerns at his farms wasn’t worth discussing because the reporter was from ‘communist China.’”

Thaw in U.S.-China relationship?
Chinese Communist Party’s diplomatic arm in ‘candid and constructive’ meeting with US think tank Asia Society / SCMP (paywall)
“The Communist Party’s diplomatic arm held an online meeting with American think tank the Asia Society on Thursday, as more Chinese agencies reach out to U.S. groups amid signs of a thaw in bilateral ties.”

Taiwan
U.S. must hold on to its ‘One China’ policy, Joseph Nye says / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
“China’s recent economic slowdown does not mean there is an opening for the U.S. to change its ‘One China’ policy, which considers Taiwan as part of China, a former U.S. assistant secretary of defense stressed on Friday.”

Israel-Hamas war
China stands with Russia to help cool Middle East crisis, Beijing envoy in Qatar meeting says / SCMP (paywall)
“Beijing stands ready with Moscow to maintain communication and coordination to help cool down the Israel-Gaza conflict, its Middle East special envoy told his Russian counterpart in Qatar on Thursday.”
Israel-Hamas war tests China’s Middle East ambitions / FT (paywall)
“Turmoil will show whether Beijing can turn its economic clout and relationship with Iran into regional influence.”
Does Israel have effective nuclear weapons? Chinese military experts have doubts / SCMP (paywall)
“As the war between Israel and Hamas rages on in Gaza, international organizations have expressed their concern over a widening of the conflict, which has the potential to involve nuclear weapons.”

The Greater Middle East
China’s Middle East envoy’s tour of region heightens focus on Beijing’s influence over Iran / SCMP (paywall)
“China’s influence over Iran and how far that can help prevent the Israel-Gaza war escalating is likely to come under the spotlight after its special envoy to the Middle East Zhai Jun began a tour of the region.”
China’s Middle East envoy visits region gripped by Israel-Hamas crisis / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
Taliban plans to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative / Nikkei Asia (paywall)

Australia
Australia jails Chinese woman 3 years after US$630 million record drug bust involving fake cocaine as a lure / SCMP (paywall)
“A court in Australia has sentenced a Chinese woman to three years in jail for her role in the country’s biggest drug bust that netted US$630 million of cocaine.”
Australia says ‘not necessary’ to cancel port lease to Chinese firm / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
“Australia said a security review of a 99-year lease held by Chinese company Landbridge on the northern port of Darwin, a key focus of its defense strategy, found it was ‘not necessary to vary or cancel the lease.’”

Thailand
As trade ties strengthen, China’s appetite for Thai fruit soars / Sixth Tone
“From durians to apples, the Belt and Road Initiative is reshaping the fruit market dynamics between the two Asian giants.”

Russia
China and Russia supercharge trade with record grain order, bolstering food and energy security as Western pressure persists / SCMP (paywall)
“China and Russia are strengthening their partnership in food and energy, as both countries face mounting challenges amid tensions with the West, according to announcements made at recent forums in Beijing.”
Russia pushes security talks with North Korea, China / WSJ (paywall)