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.
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The Wall Street Journal
- China’s Tourist Spots Are Full, but Wallets Are Still Light — China’s consumers are slogging back toward normalcy, but weak holiday spending shows the recovery is far from complete.
- Behind China’s Latest Property Boom: Doormen and Gardeners — Investors have seized on another way to profit from China’s huge housing market: snapping up stocks in the companies that take care of apartment complexes and help residents with child care, groceries and repairs.
- John Bolton Says U.S. Policy Isn’t Deterring China — The former national security adviser expressed concern that if President Trump was re-elected, he could be quick to ease pressure against Beijing in favor of making a trade deal with China’s leader Xi Jinping.
The Financial Times
- Lex Letter from Seoul: Huawei and the new way — Moving to an entirely new business may be the Chinese company’s chance to get on the road to recovery.
- From AI to facial recognition: how China is setting the rules in new tech — In its bid to rival the US, Beijing wants to establish the industrial standards that will shape future industries.
- SE Asia set to overtake China as world’s top notebook PC producer — Region will account for half of global output in 2030, says Taiwan think-tank.
The New York Times
- Distrust of China Jumps to New Highs in Democratic Nations — The sharpest rise in negative views was in Australia, while unfavorable opinions jumped in the United States and Europe, a Pew survey found.
- Pompeo’s Message in Japan: Countering China Is Worth Meeting Face to Face — The American diplomat’s willingness to meet with allies in Asia, despite the crisis embroiling the White House, speaks to fears of China’s rise.
Caixin
- Chinese Video Site Bilibili Prepares Hong Kong IPO — Bilibili, a Nasdaq-listed Chinese video platform popular with millennials for its animation and gaming content, is moving ahead with plans for a secondary listing in Hong Kong next year that could raise as much as $1.5 billion, two people familiar with the situation said.
- Chinese Video Streamer Says Internal Review Debunks Fraud Claims — Chinese video streaming firm iQiyi said in a statement on Monday that its internal review into the financial fraud allegations made by American short seller Wolfpack Research “did not uncover any evidence that would substantiate the allegations.”
- Didi-Controlled Ride-Hailing App 99 Partners With WhatsApp to Offer Service in Brazil — Brazil-based ride-hailing app 99, a unit of China’s Didi Chuxing, has partnered with WhatsApp to enable users to directly order rides on the Facebook-owned social media app, Didi said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.
- Cash-Strapped Electric Vehicle Startup Faraday Plans to Go Public Through SPAC Deal — Faraday Future, the electric vehicle startup founded in the U.S. by debt-plagued Chinese tech entrepreneur Jia Yueting, is finding a shortcut to go public by merging with a special-purchase acquisition company (SPAC).
South China Morning Post
- China is building mega refineries with capacity to process more crude oil than the UK’s combined, just as fuel demand stalls — China is investing tens of billions of dollars in new mega-refineries even as its fuel demand is expected to peak within five years, raising the risk it will flood the region with cheap exports.
- Hong Kong’s mandatory pension scheme hits HK$1 trillion for the first time in 20 years after a stellar third quarter — Each member of the Mandatory Provident Fund earned an average of HK$9,395 (US$1,212) in the past three months, thanks to a strong stock market performance. But analysts warn of a bumpy road ahead for the rest of the year.
- Nvidia, Arm CEOs confident of regulatory approval for US$40 billion deal despite potential Chinese concerns — The CEOs of Nvidia and Arm expressed confidence in getting regulatory approvals for their US$40 billion merger despite Chinese experts expressing doubt that authorities in Beijing will sign off on the deal.
- Why did China’s forex reserves fall by US$22 billion in September? — China’s foreign exchange (forex) reserves, by far the world’s largest, unexpectedly dropped by US$22 billion in September to US$3.1426 trillion, according to data released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) on Wednesday.
- China-born US citizen charged over alleged theft of American trade secrets — A naturalised US citizen from China, his wife and their company, have been charged with a total of 24 counts related to the alleged theft of trade secrets valued at millions of US dollars.
- China’s duty-free shoppers rush to tropical Hainan as Hong Kong and Seoul off travel list — Chinese tourists who traditionally rush to duty-free outlets in South Korea or Hong Kong for holiday shopping are being lured to southern China’s island province of Hainan this year as the coronavirus continues ravaging most of the world.
- Huawei’s stockpiling of chips drives up Taiwan exports for second consecutive month — Taiwan’s exports rose in September, boosted again by Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies’ rush to get in orders at Taiwanese firms before they had to comply with US curbs that took effect last month.
- US-China rivalry: Quad’s rise a serious threat to Beijing’s security interests, analysts say — As the United States seeks to formalise a four-nation alliance to counter China’s growing influence in the Asia-Pacific, Chinese foreign policy observers are asking whether Beijing’s assertive foreign policies have pushed its regional neighbours closer to Washington.
- Next big thing for Hong Kong’s virtual banks: wealth management — The next big thing for Hong Kong’s virtual banks is an expansion into wealth management as part of the “next phase” of their development, according to a group of top executives from the city’s newest crop of lenders.
- Taiwan’s bigger military budget must go further to fend off mainland China, says US defence official — A senior US defence official has suggested that Taiwan’s efforts to raise its military budget are not enough to fend off Beijing’s military threat.
Bloomberg
- How U.S. and China Can Avoid War Over Taiwan — To keep the peace, the U.S. needs to balance diplomacy and deterrence.
- Premier League Sues China TV Partner for $215.3 Million — England’s Premier League is suing a Chinese broadcaster for $215.3 million, saying the partner failed to make a payment for rights to show live matches from the world’s richest soccer league.
- Motley Fool to Leave Hong Kong, Citing National Security Law — Motley Fool, the investing news site, said it will shut its Hong Kong operations because of the growing uncertainty of doing business in the city.
- Billionaire Packer Says He Didn’t Consider Ho Ban in Melco Deal — Crown Resorts Ltd.’s billionaire shareholder James Packer pushed for a tie-up last year between Australia’s biggest casino operator and Hong Kong-based Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd.
- China’s Building Mega Refineries Just as Fuel Demand Stalls — China is investing tens of billions of dollars in new mega-refineries even as its fuel demand is expected to peak within five years, raising the risk it will flood the region with cheap exports.
- Hedge Funds Bet Big Against Evergrande a Day Before Stock Soared — Hedge funds betting against the fortunes of China Evergrande Group got a reminder of why the indebted developer was once Hong Kong’s most painful short.
- CJ Said to Mull $1 Billion Sale of China Logistics Arm Rokin — South Korean conglomerate CJ Group is exploring a sale of its Chinese unit CJ Rokin Logistics Supply Chain Co., according to people familiar with the matter, as a surge in e-commerce fuels demand for assets in related sectors.
- China-Canada Trade Is Going Strong Despite Huawei Feud — China’s share of Canadian trade has risen to record levels, even as the two nations go through their worst diplomatic crisis since they established ties. And Covid-19 is a big part of the reason why.
- Western Allies Rebuke China at UN Over Xinjiang, Hong Kong — A group of 39 countries including Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. stepped up criticism of China’s human rights record, denouncing Beijing at the United Nations for its treatment of ethnic minorities and for curtailing freedoms in Hong Kong.
- U.K. Won’t Rule Out Beijing Olympics Boycott Over Uighur Abuse — Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab refused to rule out a U.K. boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games in 2022 over alleged abuses of China’s Uighur Muslim minority.
- China Says Brazil’s Business Reputation Hinges on 5G Decision — Brazil’s upcoming decision on whether to allow Huawei Technologies Co. to supply technology to its future 5G network will help define the country’s broader relationship with China, according to a senior Chinese official.
- Trump’s Tariffs Failed to Fix the Trade Deficit — We’ll need a smarter approach, especially when it comes to China.
- China Seen Negatively at Record Rate in Nine Nations, Poll Says — Negative perceptions of China have reached record highs in the U.S. and other major economies, according to a global survey by the Pew Research Center.
Reuters
- EU imposes import duties on China, Indonesia, Taiwan stainless steel — The European Union will impose tariffs on imports of hot-rolled stainless steel coils and sheets from China, Indonesia and Taiwan after an investigation found they were being sold at artificially low prices.
- Taiwan says has spent almost $900 million scrambling against China this year — Taiwan has spent almost $900 million this year on scrambling its air force against Chinese incursions, the island’s defence minister said on Wednesday, describing the pressure they are facing as “great”.
- China’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine appears safe: study — A Chinese experimental coronavirus vaccine being developed by the Institute of Medical Biology under the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences was shown to be safe in an early stage clinical trial, researchers said.
- Breakingviews – Evergrande’s debt scares creditors into submission — China’s second-largest developer Evergrande has frightened creditors owed nearly $15 billion into converting obligations into unlisted shares. Details are scant, but this marks another miraculous escape for founder Hui Ka Yan regardless. The fact that creditors accepted this deal highlights how real estate has trapped policymakers.
- U.S. says Taiwan military budget boost insufficient for ‘resilient defense’ — A senior U.S. defence official said on Tuesday Taiwan’s plan to boost defense spending by $1.4 billion was a step in the right direction, but insufficient to ensure resilient defense in the face of an increasing Chinese threat.
Xinhua
- China’s tax, fee cuts top 1.8 trillion yuan in first 8 months — China’s top tax authority said the country’s tax and fee cuts totaled 1.88 trillion yuan (about 276.06 billion U.S. dollars) in the first eight months of the year.
- Chinese bank reports 1 trillion plus yuan in loans — China Minsheng Bank has reported nearly 1.1 trillion yuan (about 161.52 billion U.S. dollars) worth of outstanding loans to private businesses in the first eight months of 2020, according to data from the bank.
- Total output of landmark hydropower project in east China exceeds 100 TWh — The cumulative power generated by the Xin’an River Hydropower Station, the first of its kind designed and built by China with domestically produced equipment, exceeded 100 terawatt-hours (TWh) at the end of August.
- Major Chinese cities see housing price growth in first 8 months — Home prices in 100 major Chinese cities rose in the first eight months, a report by the E-house China R&D Institute showed.
- China’s Hubei sees booming tourism during holiday — Thirty key tourist attractions in central China’s Hubei Province, once hard hit by COVID-19, have received over 1.77 million tourists as of Tuesday during the National Day holiday, according to local tourism authorities.
- China’s forex reserves shrink in September — China’s foreign exchange reserves shrank to 3.1426 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of September, down by 0.7 percent from that at the end of August, official data showed on Wednesday.
- China approves two new IPO applications — China’s top securities regulator has approved the initial public offering (IPO) applications of two companies.
Other Publications
- Axios: China tops list of countries exporting products made with forced labor — China has long utilized prison labor, but new coerced labor schemes targeting Uighurs and other ethnic minorities now taint numerous industries in China.
- POLITICO: U.S. goods trade deficit in August hits record high — The monthly U.S. trade deficit in goods hit a record high in August, despite President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign promises to reduce it dramatically by negotiating new trade deals and getting tough on unfair foreign trade practices, a Commerce Department report showed on Tuesday.
- Nikkei Asian Review: Turkey begins to rival China in military drones — Exports of Turkish military drones are increasing, rivaling China’s own drone sector while shaking the military balance of power in the Caucasus, Middle East and North Africa.
- Nikkei Asian Review: SMIC on the edge of ‘junk’ bond status after US sanctions — S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday has put Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. on the brink of a ratings downgrade, warning of rising supply chain risk for the Chinese chip maker after U.S. sanctions.
