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
- Inside Ant Group’s Giant Valuation: One Billion Alipay Users and Big Profit Margins — The Chinese financial-technology giant controlled by billionaire Jack Ma showed how highly profitable its business has been as it gears up for what is likely to be a record-breaking IPO.
- U.S.-China Trade Talks Boost Global Stocks — Futures tied to the S&P 500 rose, suggesting the benchmark index may advance to a fresh record at the opening bell.
- In China’s Cutthroat E-Commerce World, Only Growth Matters — Investors punished Pinduoduo and rewarded Alibaba and JD after their quarterly results. Chinese e-commerce companies need to deliver growth to meet rising expectations.
- China Will Maintain ‘Normal’ Monetary Policy, PBOC Says — China needs to provide more stability via monetary policy to combat the uncertainties brought on by the coronavirus, said Sun Guofeng, head of the monetary policy department at the People’s Bank of China.
- Senior U.S., Chinese Officials Say They Are Committed to Phase-One Trade Deal — Senior U.S. and Chinese officials said they were committed to carrying out the phase-one trade accord between the two nations, the two governments said, after the sides discussed the pact on Monday evening.
- General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital Are Key Drivers in Oracle Bid for TikTok — General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital, two top investors in TikTok’s Chinese parent company, are vying to be part of a deal for the U.S. operations of the video-sharing app as it seeks to avoid a ban by the Trump administration, according to people familiar with the talks.
- TikTok Files Suit Challenging U.S. Ban — Chinese-owned TikTok sued the U.S. government in federal court, saying that it protects its users’ data and challenging President Trump’s executive order that would effectively ban the video-sharing app if it doesn’t find an American buyer for its U.S. operations.
- China’s Economy Is Bouncing Back—And Gaining Ground on the U.S. — China’s inflation-adjusted economic output is projected to expand to roughly 70% of that of the U.S. this year—a seven-percentage-point increase and China’s largest advance on the U.S. in a single year.
- New Details Revealed of RNC Fundraiser’s Lobbying for China — A senior Chinese official enlisted the help of a top Republican fundraising official to lobby the Trump administration in 2017 to return a Chinese businessman living in the U.S. who has long been sought by Beijing, according to a court document.
- Facebook, TikTok and China — What does the regime demand of technology companies?
The Financial Times
- Ant Group files for dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong — Chinese payments company could raise about $30bn in what would be world’s biggest IPO.
- The problems with China’s “Dual Circulation” economic model — When it comes to the future of the Chinese economy, Beijing has a difficult choice to make..
- The risk of China-US military conflict is worryingly high — The two sides are sleepwalking into confrontation in the South China Sea.
- Shenzhen: where property speculation is ‘more lucrative than dealing drugs’ — Metropolis embodies Chinese housing market’s resilience to coronavirus pandemic.
- China’s tech giants grapple with threats at home and abroad — Alibaba, Tencent and co face increasing constraints on their ability to grow.
- India moves to cut Huawei gear from telecoms network — Industry executives say government is seeking to phase out Chinese equipment without a formal ban.
- Shenzhen stock market reforms trigger wild price moves — Investors welcome rules making listings easier on the ChiNext start-up board.
- Chinese managers apply to launch first Hang Seng Tech index ETFs — The new index includes Chinese tech giants such as Tencent, Alibaba and Meituan.
- Taiwan’s ‘bandit phone king’ hit by US crackdown on Huawei — Tsai Ming-kai’s MediaTek among chipmakers left reeling by ban on sales to Chinese group.
The New York Times
- Ant Group, the Alibaba Payment Affiliate, Files to Go Public — The company, whose flagship Alipay app has helped drive the boom in mobile payments in China, is preparing to list shares in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
- American and Chinese Officials Take Pulse on Trade Deal, Six Months In — Trade negotiators from the two countries met by videoconference to review the progress in enacting their trade deal.
Caixin
- New Consumer Lending Arm Gives Ant Group License to Lend a Lot More — Alibaba’s fintech affiliate plans to establish Ant Consumer Finance with a registered capital $1.2 billion in a bid to boost growth of its online finance business.
- China’s $18.5 Billion Chip Champ Hopeful Fights for Survival — Planners hoped Wuhan Hongxin Semiconductor would lead a new generation of Chinese chipmakers. Instead, a funding crunch has left the project on life support.
- Cover Story: Stalled Guinea Project Highlights China’s Struggle to Reforge Iron Ore Supply Chain — Chinese investors led by Baowu hope to save billions of dollars by reviving long-dormant Simandou project, but face billions in infrastructure costs and high risk of plunging prices.
- Taiwan Takes Swipe at Alibaba’s Taobao over Mainland Ownership and Information Security Concerns — Just a week after announcing the decision to stop internet television streaming services from iQiyi and Tencent, Taiwan turned its attention to the local branch of Alibaba’s e-commerce site Taobao because of its Chinese mainland ownership.
- E-Retailer Mogu’s Livestreaming Sales Rocket As Total Sales and Revenue Plummet — Chinese fashion e-commerce platform Mogu has released its second-quarter results indicating that sales linked to live video broadcasts have continued to gain steam.
South China Morning Post
- China keen to work with ‘US states, local councils, businesses’ despite Washington’s hostility, Xi Jinping says — President Xi Jinping has reaffirmed a commitment to cooperate with all countries, regions and businesses that are willing to work with China, including “American states, local councils and businesses”.
- Cyprus Papers: secret migration of China’s rich, led by Asia’s richest woman, revealed in leaked documents — More than 500 Chinese people obtained European Union citizenship in the island nation of Cyprus between 2017 and 2019, including Asia’s richest woman, according to leaked documents obtained by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit.
- Chinese smartphone giant Oppo to launch short video app amid online services expansion — Oppo, the world’s fifth-largest smartphone vendor, plans to launch its own short video platform later this year, betting on the company’s hundreds of millions of users to drive its expansion into online services.
- Hong Kong ranks fourth on list of most expensive places in Asia to employ expats, with cost per person nearing US$300,000 — Hong Kong remained the fourth most expensive place in Asia to employ an expat last year, with a mid-level foreign employee costing a company an average of US$284,466 (HK$2.2 million) per year, according to a new survey.
- World’s largest vaping devices maker Smoore defies coronavirus, trade war to expand capacity amid booming sales — The world’s biggest maker of e-cigarettes has shrugged off the challenges of coronavirus, the US-China trade war and tougher regulations to report a huge increase in profit, as more smokers make the switch to vaping.
- Hong Kong intervenes for the third time in August to weaken local dollar as funds keep pouring in ahead of blockbuster IPOs — The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) stepped into the market on Tuesday to weaken the local currency for the third time this month, as capital continues to flow into the city ahead of several blockbuster stock offerings by Nongfu Spring, Ant Group and other start-ups.
- China’s social security fund is being propped up by local government subsidies, but for how long? — When the coronavirus began taking its toll on China’s economy earlier this year, one of Beijing’s key policies to reduce the impact was to exempt firms from contributing to the national social security fund for a few months.
- Bilibili ratchets up China gaming drive with publishing rights for Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout — Online entertainment platform Bilibili recently beat Chinese video game industry leaders Tencent Holdings and NetEase to obtain the domestic publishing rights for global hit battle royale game Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout – expanding the gaming ambition of the fast-growing service with a loyal fan base.
- Coronavirus: Hong Kong Book Fair to tentatively go ahead in December after being postponed amid city’s third wave of infections — The Hong Kong Book Fair – one of the world’s largest – is set to be held from December 16 to 22, its organiser said on Tuesday, after the annual event was postponed amid the city’s third wave of coronavirus outbreak.
- Foxconn, Pegatron among Asian firms considering Mexico factories as China risks grow — Taiwan-based electronics manufacturers Foxconn and Pegatron are among companies eyeing new factories in Mexico, people with direct knowledge of the matter said, as the US-China trade war and coronavirus pandemic prompt firms to re-examine global supply chains.
- China’s ByteDance receives mixed reaction at home for suing the US government over its TikTok order — TikTok owner ByteDance has received a mixed reaction in its home market for suing the United States government over an executive order that would ban its popular short video service in the world’s largest economy.
- China’s ‘American Factory’ laid off more than 2,000 jobs worldwide in first half of 2020 due to weak car market — China’s largest car glassmaker, which featured in the award-winning documentary American Factory, laid off more than 2,000 people globally in the first half of the year due to weak demand caused by the coronavirus.
Bloomberg
- China Seen Skipping Winter LNG Feast With Storage Brimming — Don’t expect an LNG buying binge ahead of winter from the world’s fastest growing consumer of the fuel.
- China Starts European Diplomatic Blitz to Counter U.S. Influence — China is looking to turn on the charm in Europe to push back against a U.S. campaign for allies to shun cooperation with Beijing.
- Credit Suisse Head of Asia Technology to Join Xiaomi as CFO — One of Credit Suisse Group AG’s most prominent executives in Asia, Alain Lam, is joining Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp as chief financial officer, according to people familiar with the matter.
- China Dairy Giant Ends Australia Deal Amid Political Strain — China Mengniu Dairy Co. scrapped its plans to buy Kirin Holdings Co.’s Australian beverage unit after being told the deal would likely be blocked, amid increasingly strained relations between Canberra and Beijing.
- Losses from China Overseas Takeover Binge Are Piling Up Fast — Chinese buyers have not only stopped snapping up iconic overseas assets, the coronavirus pandemic is ravaging the targets of deals that defined a headier era.
- China Banks Hire Tens of Thousands in Latest Rescue Mission — China’s mega banks are ramping up their recruitment of fresh graduates as a record number enter the labor market, joining other state-owned firms in boosting employment even as lenders deal with plunging earnings and ballooning bad debt.
- China Is Hungry for Imported Farm Goods Amid Demand Recovery — China boosted imports of farm goods ranging from corn to pork to sorghum last month, signaling a demand recovery for protein in the world’s most-populous nation.
- JPMorgan Needs to Pay $1 Billion to Take Over China Fund Venture — JPMorgan Chase & Co. needs to pay at least 7 billion yuan ($1 billion) if it proceeds to buy out its counterpart in its Chinese mutual fund business, a pricey premium for the U.S. bank that has ambitions to expand in China’s finance sector.
- Nongfu Seeks $1.1 Billion in Year’s Second Biggest F&B IPO — China bottled water giant Nongfu Spring Co. is seeking to raise as much as HK$8.35 billion ($1.1 billion) in what could be the world’s second biggest initial public offering by a food and beverage company this year.
- Dajia Kept Deed Woes From First-Round Bidders, Lawyer Says — China’s Dajia Insurance Group knew there were questions about the ownership of some U.S. luxury hotels they put up for sale last year but didn’t tell more than a dozen first-round bidders, a lawyer testified in the trial over whether Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. can get out of the deal.
- Beach Holidays for Some in China, Belt Tightening for Others — The recovery in China’s consumption is moving in two different directions, with the wealthier shopping for luxury goods and taking holidays to the beach, while poorer households continue to cut back.
Reuters
- Zinc price outperforms, China steel demand a strong tailwind — A tailwind for zinc demand from booming Chinese steel production has pushed prices of the galvanizing metal to their highest in more than nine months and helped it outperform other metals.
- Tech war chronicles: How a Silicon Valley chip pioneer landed in China — As the United States steps up its campaign to block China from acquiring key technological know-how, the winding journey of a pioneering Silicon Valley computer chip firm is showing just how tough a task that can be.
- Taiwan says won’t let China firms ‘pull a fast one’ to get into market — Taiwan will not allow Chinese companies to “pull a fast one” by using indirect methods to bypass rules and regulations to operate in the island’s market, Premier Su Tseng-chang said on Tuesday.
Xinhua
- Interview: U.S. industrial conglomerate Honeywell confident of Chinese market: executive — Honeywell is confident of the Chinese market, as the world’s second largest economy is well on track for recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic shock, a senior executive has said.
- China Focus: IPO reform on start-up board spurs capital market vitality — Eighteen start-up companies went public Monday on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange under a new Initial Public Offering (IPO) system, releasing more of the vitality of the country’s capital market.
- China’s travel agencies gross 100 billion USD in 2019 — China’s travel agencies received nearly 710.34 billion yuan (about 102.66 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue in 2019, said the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on Monday.
- Rwanda expects increased awareness of its coffee among Chinese consumers — Rwanda’s investment authority said Friday that it expects to raise more awareness of Rwandan coffee among Chinese consumers as coffee export to China is on the rise.
- Tesla Model Y in China available for preorder — Tesla China’s official website has recently launched booking for made-in-China Model Y, and production of the pre-ordered cars will start in 2021 at the earliest.
Other Publications
- AP: Professor, NASA researcher accused of concealing China ties — A NASA researcher and a Texas A&M University professor has been charged with accepting federal grant money while hiding work he was doing for a university established by the Chinese government as well as his affiliation with Chinese-owned companies.
- POLITICO: Europe’s 5G plans in limbo after latest salvo against Huawei — Last week, Washington announced it is blocking the use of any American technology in microchips powering Huawei’s smartphones and networking equipment, dealing what some analysts called a “lethal blow” to the company. The rule, which entered into force on Thursday, could jeopardize Europe’s own telecom networks, potentially ramping up costs and creating delays to the deployment of the bloc’s 5G networks.
- Nikkei Asian Review: China’s global yuan push makes inroads in Asia and Africa — China’s international yuan payment network is expected to reach 1,000 participants by the end of 2020, as Beijing aggressively woos new members in Asia and along its Belt and Road Initiative in a challenge to America’s supremacy in global finance.
- Al Jazeera: The Cyprus Papers — Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit has obtained a leak of documents revealing that almost 2,500 people paid to become Cypriot citizens between 2017 and 2019. With applicants from more than 70 nations, each required to make a 2-million-euro (approximately $2.5m) investment to qualify, Cyprus’s “golden passport” scheme reveals how citizenship of a small EU nation has become a commodity for the global super-rich.
