Good Morning. Welcome to The Wire’s daily news roundup. Each day, our staff gathers the top China business, finance, and economics headlines from a selection of the world’s leading news organizations.
The Wall Street Journal
- China’s Ant Group Will Bestride Chinese Markets — Ant Group is named after a small creature, but it is shaping up to be a leviathan of China’s markets. Would-be investors must hope that is due to real heft, and not hot air.
- Companies Must Move Faster to Avoid the Unfurling Commercial Cold War — Some Chinese businesses that the U.S. government has connected to human-rights abuses work with major American companies. They aren’t likely to be the last on Washington’s radar.
- U.S. and China to Launch Mars Missions, Vying for Space Supremacy — The rivalry between the U.S. and China assumes cosmic proportions, as both countries prepare to send spacecraft to Mars within days of each other.
The Financial Times
- Trade in education set to suffer from China’s caution — Universities will have to find new sources of income to replace lost fees from Chinese student.
- South Korea’s Naver relocates Hong Kong data centre to Singapore — First major foreign tech group to confirm exit from Chinese territory amid privacy concerns.
- China demand for Australian resources soars despite souring ties — Mining and energy sectors drive country’s economic recovery after coronavirus.
- Alibaba bets on European influencers to spur global reach — Chinese group races to sign 100,000 content creators for its AliExpress platform.
- Tory hawks press button on nuclear power battle with China — After Huawei, energy sector looks set to be next flashpoint in Sino-British relations.
The New York Times
- When China Met Iran — A growing partnership between America’s main Middle East adversary and Asia’s rising superpower bears careful watching in Washington.
- U.S. Imposes Sanctions on 11 Chinese Companies Over Human Rights — The move, which affects suppliers to major international brands such as Apple, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger, could force companies to sever some ties to China.
Caixin
- Former Policy Bank Official Falls Under Investigation — Yang Degao is being investigated on suspicion of serious violations of law and Communist Party discipline.
- Exclusive: Didi Rides Toward Hong Kong IPO, Source Says — China’s homegrown Uber equivalent is taking the step under pressure from investors who want to cash out, rather than for financial reasons.
- China’s Cinema Reopening Sees Low Box Office Figures — First day’s revenue came in at $470,000, 1.7% of the average daily performance last July.
- BAIC Takes Over Car Rental Stake From Troubled Luckin Founder — Deal worth $245 million brokered by authorities ends month-long battle between China’s two biggest automakers as Lu Zhenyao’s empire teeters.
- Tencent-Backed Online Publisher China Literature Warns of Net Losses in First Half of 2020 — Tencent-backed online publishing and e-book company China Literature has announced it anticipates a net loss in the first half of 2020, in a sharp contrast to net profits during the same period last year, according to a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday.
- Trending in China: Investigation Reveals Your Face Worth Just 7 Cents to Scammers in China — China’s facial recognition data has been sold online for as little as 0.5 yuan (7 cents) apiece, according to a Xinhua report. Scammers then use the information to generate fake accounts or commit fraud.
- Vodacom and Alipay Team Up to Develop WeChat-Like App — South African mobile operator Vodacom Group has selected Alibaba-owned Alipay as the technology provider for its upcoming WeChat-like app that will help South African users manage business and day-to-day activities.
- Chinese Smartphones Thrive in India Despite Tensions — China’s top four smartphone brands in India extended their market dominance in the second quarter by increasing their share to 75.1% from 66.1% a year earlier, according to research firm Canalys.
South China Morning Post
- Reliance-Google smartphone deal in India set to pose major challenge to Chinese firms, analysts say — A US$4.5 billion deal under which Alphabet’s Google will collaborate with India’s Reliance Industries on a new smartphone likely heralds a big shake-up for the world’s second-largest mobile market, industry executives and analysts say.
- US’ perverse bullying of Hong Kong on trade will prove counterproductive — Last week, US President Donald Trump determined – in an executive order on so-called Hong Kong Normalisation – that the Special Administrative Region (SAR) is no longer sufficiently autonomous to justify differential treatment in relation to the People’s Republic of China under various American laws.
- China’s Lockheed Martin sanctions reveal limited options in fighting economic war with US — China’s announcement that it will impose sanctions on American firm Lockheed Martin for its involvement in the United States’ arms sale to Taiwan has highlighted a harsh reality for Beijing: it has far fewer choices to inflict pain on American businesses than Washington does against Chinese firms in the escalating conflict between the world’s two biggest economic powers.
- China bought more US debt in May despite talk of financial war amid rising trans-Pacific tensions — China modestly increased its holdings of US Treasury securities in May, the first in three months, despite rising trans-Pacific tensions and growing talk of a financial war between the world’s two largest economies.
- Australia’s iron ore exports to China strong, but weak global demand indicates mixed coronavirus recovery — Australian iron ore exports to China surged in the first half of the year, as demand from steel mills rose to supply Beijing’s infrastructure building push to boost the coronavirus-hit economy.
- Hong Kong third wave: embattled restaurant sector faces HK$3 billion in July losses amid fresh Covid-19 restrictions — Hong Kong restaurants could lose as much as HK$3 billion (US$387 million) in revenue for July alone as unprecedented social-distancing arrangements made necessary by a third wave of Covid-19 cases deal a fresh blow to an already struggling sector, insiders have said.
Bloomberg
- Supply Chains Latest: Pakistan Helps Revive China’s Belt and Road — When China’s President Xi Jinping announced its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, Pakistan was one of the first to welcome it with open arms. The two have gotten together again to revive the project from hibernation.
- Credit Suisse Is Set to Score a Smaller Role on Ant’s Mega IPO — In the initial list of four sponsors for Ant Group’s mega initial public offering in Hong Kong, one bank’s name was conspicuously missing: Alibaba’s go-to bank Credit Suisse.
- What China’s Newest Tech Bourse Has Achieved So Far: QuickTake — While China has some of the world’s biggest technology companies, many are listed in the U.S. and Hong Kong. A new trading venue launched last year in Shanghai is making it easier for them to access funding at home. The Nasdaq-style SSE STAR Market has relatively relaxed rules on listing and trading that have drawn the attention of big names including Jack Ma’s Ant Group and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.
- Taiwan Welcomes U.S. Banks, Seeks Money Managed in Hong Kong — Taiwan’s top financial regulator said global banks are looking to expand on the island after China’s passage of a controversial security law in Hong Kong prompted some firms to rethink their Asian strategies.
- China’s Chipmaker Mania Grows Alongside U.S. Tensions — Chinese chipmakers have surged in the past year, boosted by Beijing’s support for self-sufficiency in semiconductors and as adoption of 5G and artificial intelligence prove resilient amid the pandemic. There’s no sign that rally is about to slow even as their stocks looks increasingly expensive.
- China Unveils Plan to Evaluate Banks’ Green Finance Performance — China will start reviewing how banks are performing in the green finance sector on a quarterly basis from next year, as the world’s second-largest economy steps up efforts to promote sustainable finance.
- Hong Kong Bourse Soars on Ant’s Dual Listing With Shanghai — Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. surged as much as 9.5%, its biggest jump in five years, after billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Group announced plans to seek a dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai, bypassing New York.
- TikTok’s Former Chief to Oversee Investment at ByteDance — TikTok’s co-creator and former chief will oversee ByteDance Ltd.’s investment arm, heading up the search for the company’s next breakthrough app and stepping further away from the viral video sensation that’s been caught in the cross-hairs of U.S.-China tensions.
- China Tech, Small-Business Gauges Show Economy Improving in July — Sentiment in China’s tech sector and among smaller firms improved this month, suggesting that the recovery in the second-quarter continued in July.
Reuters
- Pentagon chief looking to visit China this year amid tensions — U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Tuesday he hoped to visit China by the end of the year to discuss areas of mutual interest, even as he condemned Chinese maritime activity in the South China Sea.
- UK suspends Hong Kong extradition treaty, stoking China tensions — Britain announced on Monday it would suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong in an escalation of a dispute with China over its introduction of a national security law for the former British colony.
- China’s rapeseed oil rally drives widening spread with other edible oils — A rally in China’s rapeseed oil futures is pushing its price spread with other edible oils to the widest in years, with lower imports of the oilseed from Canada and tightening supplies spurring trading interest and volumes.
- China says it will ensure firms’ rights after U.S. Uighur blacklist move — China’s foreign ministry accused the United States on Tuesday of abusing export control measures, in response to reports that Washington was adding 11 Chinese companies to an economic blacklist over the treatment of Uighurs.
- Breakingviews – Crisis forces Australia and China closer — Australia and China are stuck with each other despite diplomatic tensions. Supply disruptions in Brazil and weak global demand have left the two trading partners even more dependent on each other, which is letting miners BHP and Rio Tinto cash in on Beijing’s infrastructure stimulus.
- China to auction 10,000 tonnes of frozen pork from reserves on July 23 — China will sell 10,000 tonnes of frozen pork from its state reserves on July 23, said the China Merchandise Reserve Management Center on its website on Tuesday.
- China appoints Gong Zheng as mayor of Shanghai — China’s Shanghai government said on Tuesday it had appointed Gong Zheng as the city’s mayor, according to a statement posted on its WeChat account.
Xinhua
- Swiss watch exports see “unprecedented” drop in H1, mitigated by China — Switzerland’s watch industry experienced an “unprecedented crisis” in the first six months due to the coronavirus pandemic and a temporary halt in production and sales, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH) warned on Tuesday, adding that it expects a market contraction of around 30 percent for 2020.
- Tianjin parallel auto imports gain momentum in June — The northern Chinese port city of Tianjin saw an increase in the parallel-import auto business in June, with a surge of vehicles purchased directly from production bases and dealers abroad for sale in China.
- Guangdong’s foreign trade down 7.1 percent in H1 — Total foreign trade in south China’s Guangdong Province contracted by 7.1 percent year on year to 3.06 trillion yuan (about 438 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of this year, customs statistics showed.
- Tianjin tops Chinese ports with LNG imports in H1 — North China’s Tianjin port ranked first in liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports among the country’s LNG import ports in the first half of this year, according to Tianjin Customs.
- Alibaba’s DingTalk to promote digitalized grassroots governance — Alibaba’s communication app DingTalk said that it will invest 100 million yuan (about 14.3 million U.S. dollars) in the digitalization of 100 Chinese county-level regions and help build digital infrastructure for 10,000 villages.
- Chinese shares close higher Tuesday — Chinese stocks closed higher Tuesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 0.2 percent, at 3,320.89 points.
- China’s weekly farm produce prices continue to edge up — Prices of farm produce in China continued the upward trend last week, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed Tuesday.
- China’s agricultural product wholesale prices edge up — The wholesale prices of China’s agricultural products edged up Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
Other Publications
- CNN Business: Nestlé could shed some of its local brands in China — The world’s largest food company confirmed to CNN Business on Tuesday that it is exploring options for its bottled water business in the country, “including a potential sale.” The Swiss firm sells some of its upscale international brands in China, including Perrier, Acqua Panna, and San Pellegrino.
- The Guardian: The ‘perfect Uighur’: outgoing and hard working – but still not safe from China’s camps — Since 2017, up to 1.8 million Uighurs and other Muslims have been held in what researcher Adrian Zenz calls “probably the largest incarceration of an ethno-religious minority since the Holocaust”. Many have been interned for reasons as trivial as wearing headscarves or long beards, declining to eat pork, or in the case of Dilara’s mother, having travelled abroad.
- Nikkei Asian Review: Private carriers lead China’s aviation rebound from coronavirus — China’s airlines are restoring flights and regaining passengers for domestic service, defying the industry’s toughest period globally since the 9/11 terror attacks, but the rebound is being led by private carriers Spring Airlines and China Express Airlines rather than the country’s big three state airlines.
- San Francisco Chronicle: Visiting Stanford researcher from China accused of visa fraud — A Chinese woman who is a visiting medical researcher at Stanford University was charged Monday with lying about her affiliation with China’s military on her U.S. visa application.
