Giant demographic changes in Africa have defined most of China’s strategic vision, says Howard French, author of China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa, at a discussion at the National Bureau of Asian Research on the report by Nadège Rolland“A New Great Game? Situating Africa in China’s Strategic Thinking.”Read More →

China’s new three-child policy has received a lackluster reception among its population. Author Zhang Lijia offers a few tips for the government to make its policy attractive for women: offer financial incentives, significantly expand its childcare capacity, and promote women-friendly policies and equality, she writes in the South China Morning Post.Read More →

The cryptocurrency market has been disrupted by interventions by China’s governments, but it certainly does not mean a full-blown ban on digital currencies, says financial analyst Winston Wenyan Ma, former managing director at China Investment Corporation (CIC), adjunct professor at NYU, and investor. The government is still defining the scope of digital currencies, and focuses on minging and trading, and is certainly no banning ownership, he says at Verify.Read More →

China’s legislators have set another step on regulating data security, this time for the automotive industry, but publishing a draft for comments. China-lawyer Mark Schaub gives an overview of the plans for the China Law Insight. “Companies would be well advised to conduct a systematic review and assessment of the current state of their data handling,” he concludes.Read More →

When Zhang Yiming, founder and CEO of successful internet giant Bytedance, left last week his post, speculations on a relation with the government crackdown on internet firms was easily made. Internet analyst Matthew Brennan, who wrote a book on Bytedance, says there might be a link, but different from what was mostly suggested, he says in Marketscreener.Read More →

China is gettings its digital agenda for its legislation in order, especially the protection of users’ privacy, writes China-lawyer Mark Schaub on the China Law Insight.  He looks at the call for comments on the Interim Provisions on the Administration of Personal Information Protection of Mobile Internet Apps.Read More →

H&M got hit by an unprecedented boycott from Chinese consumers, as the China internet went after the company for its stance on labor in Xinjiang. Partly that vehement outpour of anger was caused because internet companies have been under government investigations, says veteran business analyst Shaun Rein, so they had to prove more than ever they were not a danger for that government, he says at AP.Read More →

As the internet becomes a dominant sales channel in China, virtual key opinion leaders (KOLs) are becoming key for brands, says marketing expert Arnold Ma to the Jing Daily. As patriotism becomes an issue for global brands in China, they have to be careful in picking those virtual KOLs, adds Ma.Read More →

China is following the European Union’s GDPR in trying to regulate the unruly data industry, says Winston Ma, Winston Ma, adjunct professor at the New York University School of Law at CNBC. China’s internet companies based for years their business models on consumers’ lack of awareness of privacy, he adds, but those days are over.Read More →

Alibaba and Tencent were high-profile casualties as the central government stepped in to regulate free-wheeling tech firms with growing financial clout. To the relief of consumers and smaller competitors, exponential growth in the tech industry is over, tells Winston Ma, former managing director of the sovereign wealth firm China Investment Corporation (CIC) in New York to Reuters.Read More →