iQIYI and Tencent Banned in Taiwan

Chinese over-the-top (OTT) media service providers including iQIYI and Tencent's WeTV have been declared "illegal services" and will be banned from operating in Taiwan, with Taiwan's National Communications Commission (NCC) set to make an official announcement on the matter on September 3, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

An OTT service circumvents traditional media distribution channels such as telecommunications networks or cable television providers, and is offered directly to viewers via the Internet. 

Taiwan lawmakers began drafting a bill in July to ban Chinese streaming giants iQIYI and Tencent from operating on the island as well as to punish local service providers working with the Chinese OTT platforms, according to Variety.

iQIYI applied for permission to use OTT service in 2016. After being rejected by the NCC, the company partnered with local distributors, OTT Entertainment and Akamai Technologies. As of this July, iQIYI may have as many as 6 million illegal subscribers in Taiwan, according to the NCC. 

The NCC said in a committee meeting in May that it determined iQIYI breached the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area by offering an OTT TV service, from which Mainland Chinese investment interests are prohibited from involvement, Taipei Times reported. 

JD.com Ends Partnership With Alibaba-Backed Express Service 

B2C online retail giant JD.com has terminated its partnership with STO Express and notified its merchants to stop using the courier. JD.com blamed the termination on Shanghai-based STO Express Co's largest shareholder, Alibaba Group. The move came after Alibaba refused JD Logistics' previous proposal to access its e-commerce platform, The Paper reported.

Merchants and sellers operating on JD.com have to switch to other approved couriers before August 31. More than 50 domestic delivery companies, including JD Express, were named in a JD.com public notice. 

The notice said that when the contract between JD.com and STO Express expired in 2019 and the two companies were discussing renewal terms, Alibaba invested in shares of STO Express and became its largest shareholder. 

In March 2019, Alibaba announced the purchase of a 14.65% stake in STO for 4.7 billion yuan ($673.8) through a deal with Shanghai Deyin Investment Holding Co., which owns 54% of STO. Additionally, Alibaba owns stakes in Best Inc., YTO Express, ZTO Express and Yunda Express, to the tune of 33%, 9.89%, 8.7% and 2% respectively. 

In response to the breakdown in business negotiations, STO Express said it was "deeply shocked" by JD.com's choice to block their service and claimed that Alibaba only owns a minority stake and the chairman of STO Express remains the largest shareholder of the company. 

Chinese Workers Infected With COVID-19 In Israel

As of Tuesday, about 90 Chinese construction workers had tested positive for coronavirus after as their neighborhood in Petah Tikva, Israel, became the epicenter of the latest COVID-19 outbreak, according to a post by the Chinese embassy in Israel. 

Following a public health alert, the affected neighborhood where the Chinese workers reside was placed in lockdown. Testing was conducted by Israel's Health Ministry last Friday.

All positive cases, including asymptomatic ones or those with mild symptoms, have been quarantined or hospitalized. The workers who tested negative for coronavirus will have to undertake another test after a period of quarantine as a preventive measure to control spread of the infection. The local government is providing food and medical services, People's Daily reported. 

The authorities haven't indicated the source of this outbreak. As of Tuesday, Israel had reported 95,264 positive COVID-19 cases with 698 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Swine Vaccine Enters Efficacy Trials

A vaccine intended to prevent African Swine Fever in pigs has completed first-stage clinic trials. Developed by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (CAAS), it will soon enter a larger scope of clinical trials while it concurrently begins manufacturing test runs, according to a website posting by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

The first trial lasted for 20 consecutive weeks from April through June this year. It was conducted on about 3,000 pigs, in the provinces of Heilongjiang and Henan and in western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. 

The immunized pigs have been growing well and have not shown adverse reactions. The next step is to enlarge the scope of clinical trials in these locations and conduct related testing as soon as possible, the CAAS said.

Since August 2018, African Swine Fever has decimated Chinese herds, causing the deaths of millions of pigs nationwide. Pork imports for the first five months of the year reached 1.72 million tons, said the General Administration of Customs.

Higos Lands In Zhuhai, Wreaks Havoc In Hong Kong

Typhoon Higos, the seventh typhoon this year, made landfall in Zhuhai city in Guangdong province at around 6 a.m. on Wednesday, moving northwest at a speed of about 20 kilometers per hour and hitting Hong Kong with such gusto that morning trading in the city's local stock market was cancelled, many businesses shuttered and public transportation services suspended.

The Hong Kong Observatory initially issued a signal 9 warning, with 10 being the highest, but downgraded to No. 8 by 7:40 a.m. local time. Most businesses were forced to close, since public transport services are limited when signal 8 or higher alerts are in place. All land ports connecting Zhuhai and Macao were also closed. 

Hong Kong canceled pre-market and morning trading in the stock market and in Hong Kong-China stock connect trading, and trading in the derivatives market was delayed, according to a statement by Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd.

Hong Kong's Observatory cancelled its last alert signal for Typhoon Higos at 1:20 p.m. as it moved away from the city, allowing businesses to reopen. Trading in the US$5.8 trillion equity market resumed at the delayed time of 1.30pm after the morning session was cancelled.