Monday morning links

• I believe the biggest recent event in Asia over the past week is an intensification of COVID-19 across Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia due to the high transmissibility of the Delta variant (B.1.617.2). Southeast Asia has relied on Sinovac, and it’s now clear that 2 doses of Sinovac can’t beat the Delta variant. Luckily, US and EU mRNA vaccine exports are set to boom.

• China cut its reserve requirement ratio. Not a major event as credit growth in China tends to be driven by top-down window guidance rather than the availability of reserves.

• A major focus of investors has been regulatory action concerning ride-hailing company Didi. But the crackdown on Chinese tech companies is seen across the board, with Tencent’s Huya and Douyu merger cancelled just a few days ago on anti-trust grounds.

• Japan pledged to defend Taiwan if China attacks, putting pressure on the US to do the same. Anthony Blinken has only said that it would be a serious mistake [for the PRC] to change the status quo “by force”.

• The Philippine Stock Exchange is set to allow short selling by the end of this year. There’s also talk about extending the exchange’s trading hours. I’m finding good value in Philippine stocks, and I’m hoping that these reforms could be catalysts for greater international focus on the Philippine stock market.

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Company-specific reports

• I wrote a deep-dive on New Zealand infant formula maker A2 Milk Company (ASX: A2M — US$4.0 billion) ($)

• I wrote an article weighing the bull & bear cases on Nintendo (TSE: 7974 — US$68 billion)

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Long-form writing

• 10 Questions with Michael Fritzell (= me) (est. reading time: 18 mins)

• I wrote a Twitter thread on Gunpei Yokoi, the man behind Nintendo’s product development strategy (2 mins)

• Doomberg: Explaining Xi’s crackdown on the Chinese tech sector (3 mins)

• ChinaFile: Why China is going after its tech giants (5 mins)

• Glenn Chan on “the fraud industry”: part 1, part 2, part 3 (19 mins total)

• Lee Hsi-min of Project 2049 Institute on the threat of a war over Taiwan (6 mins)

• Australia’s Packer & Co’s 2Q21 report discussing bubbles & oil stocks (9 mins)

• Adam Tooze: Hyperinflation in the 1940s Republic of China (13 mins)

• Arisaig Partners: Navigating ESG in China (38 mins)

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Podcasts and videos

• Jeremy Grantham on current market bubbles (57 mins)

• China Beige Book’s Leland Miller discussing China’s crackdown on Didi (8 mins)

• GMT Research on potential tax liabilities of variable interest entities (3 mins)

• Interview with Fred Liu from tech-focused fund Hayden Capital (49 mins)

• NYT: The rise of the Delta variant (22 mins)

• Dan Rosen and Jude Blanchette on China’s reforms under Xi (46 mins)

• Asia Tech Strategy podcast on China’s Full Truck Alliance (1:00 hours)

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Chart of the week – The Livex Fine Wine 100 index (a measure of China’s credit cycle)

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Picture of the week - oxygen cylinders in Sagaing, Myanmar after a recent outbreak

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Thanks for reading, and I wish you a great week ahead!

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