Following the Election of Lai Ching-te, Billions of Dollars are Flowing Out of Taiwan Island
11 Chinese Students Blow the Whistle on Supervisor's Academic Misconduct | TikTok Shifts Staff Overseas Amid Growth and Compliance Efforts
Hello from Shanghai, China. Here’s our pick for today’s news:
11 Chinese Students Blow the Whistle on Supervisor's Academic Misconduct.
Following the Election of Lai Ching-te, Billions of Dollars are Flowing Out of Taiwan Island.
TikTok Shifts Staff Overseas Amid Growth and Compliance Efforts.
1. 11 Chinese Students Blow the Whistle on Supervisor's Academic Misconduct
On January 16th, a group of Huazhong Agricultural University students jointly accused their academic supervisor, a professor surnamed Huang, of engaging in research fraud. In response, the university swiftly established an investigation team and launched an official inquiry on the same day.
The comprehensive 125-page report presented detailed evidence of academic misconduct by Professor Huang, including data manipulation in scientific experiments and allegations of withholding student remuneration. The document was signed by 11 postgraduate students under the professor's tutelage.
The exposé immediately garnered significant attention on Zhihu, a Quora-like question-and-answer platform. A whistleblower claimed her initial motivation for pursuing a master's degree was to contribute her professional knowledge to the country's agricultural development, which makes her unable to remain silent on their supervisor's academic misconduct, "We reject any form of research fraud and refuse to graduate with tarnished reputations!"
2. Following the Election of Lai Ching-te, Billions of Dollars are Flowing Out of Taiwan Island
According to a report from Taiwan Economic Daily News, Taiwan's stock market has faced three consecutive days of decline following the election of Lai Ching-te.
On the 17th, Taiwan's stock market witnessed a drop of 185 points, representing a 1.06% decrease. Foreign investors sold off NT$78.223 billion, marking it as the third-largest sell-off in history. Key sectors such as electronics, AI-related stocks, and shipping were severely impacted.
Notably, trading volume surged as two major foreign exchange brokerage firms recorded a total turnover of $2.209 billion on the 15th, doubling the average daily volume, and escalating to $3.1065 billion on the 16th. An executive from UFX Bank noted that such a substantial outflow of foreign exchange would typically not be expected before the end of the month. However, due to the uncertain future of cross-strait relations post-election, foreign investors have acted swiftly. It is estimated that at least 60% of the outflow is attributed to foreign capital.
In another report by China Times on the 17th, the New Taiwan Dollar (NTD) experienced significant devaluation following the election. On the 16th, the NTD witnessed a sharp decline with increased foreign capital outflows. At one point, it reached 31.4 against the US dollar and closed at 31.392, marking a substantial depreciation of 1.77 cents, the largest drop in a year. On the 17th, the NTD further depreciated by 1.97 cents against the US dollar, closing at 31.589, and hit a nearly two-month low.
3. TikTok Shifts Staff Overseas Amid Growth and Compliance Efforts
Since November 2023, TikTok employees working in China such as front-end and back-end development, data, and algorithms have been receiving notices to transfer to overseas positions. The work locations include Singapore, Australia, Canada, and the United States.
In 2020, TikTok was investigated in multiple regions including the United States, the European Union, and Australia over data security concerns. To address these risks, TikTok began establishing data centers in Europe, the United States, and other locations from 2020 and subjected itself to local regulations.
Currently, compliance is the primary issue faced by companies going global. According to data from the app analytics agency DataAI, TikTok's global monthly active users are close to one billion. In the United States alone, TikTok's monthly active users have exceeded 150 million, which is nearly 45% of the total population. In terms of revenue, ByteDance's second-quarter revenue grew by more than 40% to 29 billion USD, with nearly 20% of ByteDance's total revenue coming from overseas markets. From this, it can be estimated that this year's overseas market revenue is likely to exceed 20 billion USD, with a growth rate of more than 50%, and most of this income is contributed by TikTok.