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 Gives Market More Say in Setting Yuan’s Value — Move likely intended to boost currency’s international appeal rather than to drive it lower, analysts say.
- New York Fed Finds ‘Implausibly Smooth’ Chinese Growth Data — China is cooking the books when it comes to reporting its economic growth data, according to a new paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
- Ant Speeds Ahead with Record IPO After Investor Orders Pour In — Financial-technology company part-owned by Alibaba Group is set to raise at least $34.4 billion through dual listings in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
The Financial Times
- China and the US: the ties that bind — American companies face more obstacles, but business continues — and at pace.
- China races ahead in electric vehicles — Local companies leverage the country’s scale advantages to make competitively priced cars.
- Ant’s $34bn IPO to propel Shanghai’s bourse past global rivals — Exchange set for best year for offerings since 2007 as Beijing seeks to build up tech sector.
- Coronavirus boosts Chinese schools’ domestic appeal — Travel curbs — and better career prospects — are putting more homegrown students on China’s campuses.
- India takes its tussle with China to the high seas — New Delhi has shifted focus from the Himalayas to the oceans to send a warning to Beijing.
- AMD’s 5G and China’s 5-year chip plans — Waymo’s self-trucking move, SpaceX broadband, survival gadgets.
- China: the trade shows must go on — Having saved face with online sessions, Beijing hopes events can resume as normal in 2021.
The New York Times
- China’s Stance on Homosexuality Has Changed. Its Textbooks Haven’t. — A lawsuit brought by a student is part of an effort to get schools, editors and publishers to recognize that being gay is not a mental disorder.
- Don’t Even Try Paying Cash in China — How two apps created new kinds of commerce in China, and what a cashless future might look like.
- A Mighty Ant — The Chinese fintech firm is set to break I.P.O. records.
Caixin
- China Has a Different Approach to Digital Currency Than Other Countries, Zhou Xiaochuan Says — PBOC has focused on domestic retail payments while seven other central banks have looked at cross-border transactions, according to its former governor.
- Exclusive: China May Scrap Key Ingredient in Setting Yuan’s Daily Fixing — Some lenders have already started to omit the counter-cyclical factor from their daily calculations for yuan quotes submitted to the central bank.
- Almost All New Cars Sold in China Will Be Battery Powered by 2035, Blueprint Predicts — The bold forecast comes despite sales declining in 2019 and the opening months of this year.
- Huawei Founder Says Chinese Tech Research Is Similar to U.S.’ Before World War II — Ren Zhengfei plots chipmaking independence in navigating Chinese high-tech away from the West.
- China Imports Most American Oil Ever — Crude shipments into the country hit an all-time high of 3.9 million tons in September as China scrambled to meet U.S. trade deal commitments.
- Online Home Furnishing Group Makes Surprise $1 Billion Bid for TV Production Company — Evergrande- and Tencent-backed Hengten Networks acquires Shanghai Ruyi in $1 billion deal.
- Aluminum Giant Chalco Books Healthy Profit on Post-Covid Rebound — State-run behemoth’s net income quadrupled in three months through September as prices rebounded after China brought its local virus under control.
- China’s Duty-Free Giant Posts Strong Rebound on Policy Incentives — New rules unleash 40% sales gain for third quarter and 142% jump in profits for China Duty Free, controlling 90% of the market.
- Beemers and Big Macs Join Alibaba’s Shopping Extravaganza — BMW and McDonald’s sign partnerships in time to join expanding e-commerce universe for Double 11 sales event Nov. 11.
- Xiaomi Leads India’s Smartphone Market with 26.1% Share — Smartphone shipments in India rose 8% year-on-year to 50 million units in the third quarter of 2020, a little more than a quarter of which were sold by Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi.
South China Morning Post
- How retail investors can increase their chances of getting a piece of Ant Group’s blockbuster IPO in Hong Kong — It’s the world’s biggest initial public offering (IPO), and retail investors are itching to get a slice of the action.
- Axed Cathay Pacific staff may not stay unemployed for long as property agents, insurers snap them up, absorbing shock of Hong Kong’s biggest ever lay-off — Insurers and property agents in Hong Kong are snapping up flight attendants and ground crew made redundant by Cathay Pacific Airways, absorbing some of the shock from the city’s biggest corporate lay-off in decades.
- Hong Kong’s government may have to step up on land sales as two failed auctions starve the coffers of much-needed revenue — Hong Kong’s government, which depends on land sales for up to a fifth of its annual fiscal revenue, may have to put more plots on the market to fill its coffers amid the city’s worst recession, after two failed auctions in October and May.
- China’s ban on Australian coal causes surge in imports from Mongolia, but difficulties remain — Chinese steel mills and power stations have started buying more coal from Mongolia after Beijing imposed a ban on imports from Australia, but price, quality and logistical difficulties mean it will not be easy for some users to make the switch.
- China’s corn imports soar in September as Beijing moves to counter skyrocketing domestic prices — China’s corn imports soared nearly sevenfold from a year earlier to four-and-a-half year high in September as Beijing sought to address a domestic supply shortage and skyrocketing prices with shipments from the United States.
- Brazil’s coronavirus vaccine squabble another fight over US, China influence — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro killed a deal last week to buy a potential Covid-19 vaccine being developed by China, provoking a dispute with state governors and contradicting his own health ministry. While the argument may seem local, it is really another front in the US-China tug of war for global influence.
- Ousted Hong Kong arts hub CEO received 5.2 per cent salary bump in final year despite major setbacks, cost overruns — The outgoing head of Hong Kong’s troubled arts hub received a 5.2 per cent salary increase last year, even as the multibillion-dollar project suffered major setbacks and ballooning costs.
- What economic recovery? China’s delivery drivers just along for the ride as other opportunities remain elusive — When the temperature dropped sharply and heavy smog returned to Beijing on the last night of the recent “golden week” holiday, most downtown restaurants and stores closed early. But Chai Fengning was still riding through the streets on a black electric bike, standing out in his bright yellow uniform and helmet identifying him as an employee of Meituan – the largest on-demand delivery service in China.
- China-Australia relations: what has happened over the last six months? — What is happening between China and Australia?China is Australia’s most important and biggest trading partner, but after Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison led calls for a coronavirus inquiry, Beijing has made trade moves against Australian barley, beef, wine, cotton and coal.
- China ramps up pilot training to boost drone operator ranks as unmanned vehicles rise in military importance — The Chinese army has launched professional drone operator courses at its academies as the importance of unmanned equipment increases and more skilled personnel are needed.
- Hong Kong jobless rate could hit record high this year, experts warn, as unions urge for more relief measures — Hong Kong’s jobless rate could hit a record high at the end of this year if its struggling economy does not improve and relief measures are discontinued, analysts have warned.
Bloomberg
- China’s Failing Small Banks Are Becoming a Big Problem — With its ad hoc rescues and bailouts of regional lenders, the country’s central bank risks fueling a larger financial crisis.
- China’s Recovery Shows Mixed Signals as Global Outlook Dims — Small business sentiment eased, while car sales climbed; aggregate index of early indicators was unchanged in October.
- Tesla’s Chinese Battery Supplier Boosts Profit as Pandemic Eases — Electric-car battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. returned to sales and profit growth after the effects of the coronavirus pandemic eased in China and demand rose for customers including Tesla Inc.
- China Virus Epicenter Hubei Lags as Regional Growth Picks Up — Hubei is one of few regions to post 9-month GDP contraction.
- Philippines Building Up Fleet in South China Sea to Counter Chinese — The Philippines is taking a page out of China’s book by building up its own fleet that includes fishing boats in the South China Sea, the Southeast Asian nation’s top diplomat said.
- This Is What Biden Has Said on Major U.S. Flashpoints With China — While Joe Biden has spent much of the campaign criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies toward China, his own platform sounds more like a change of tactics than a strategy overhaul.
- Agriculture Giants Are Finally Making Money From Trading Again — After years of lackluster returns as bumper crops curbed the volatility traders need to thrive, the stars seem to have aligned for the likes of Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. and Bunge Ltd. China is loading up on American corn and soybeans, profits from oilseeds processing have rebounded, and a drought in Brazil is boosting prices. Even the beleaguered biofuels market is improving.
- Another Chinese Fintech Firm Is Going Public at the Same Time as Ant Group — Two Chinese financial technology companies are going public at the same time, but their initial public offerings are looking pretty different.
- Bremmer Warns of ‘Enormous’ U.S.-China Confrontations After Vote — Relations between the world’s two largest economies will deteriorate further no matter who wins the U.S. presidential election, according to Ian Bremmer, who heads the risk consultant Eurasia Group.
- Are China and the NBA Friends Again? — It almost seems like last year’s furor over Daryl Morey’s tweet has disappeared. Almost.
Reuters
- China’s Sinopec flips to quarterly profit on robust refining business — Top Asian oil refiner Sinopec Corp swung to a record quarterly profit in July-September, a company filing showed on Wednesday, thanks to a robust refining business and earnings from the spin-off of pipeline assets.
- China starts building $20 billion mega petchem complex in Shandong oil hub: media — China started this week building a mega petrochemical and refining complex in east China’s Shandong province, local state media reported, four months after the $20 billion project received state approval.
- China’s domestic jet fuel demand back to near pre-COVID levels — China’s domestic aviation fuel consumption rebounded to near pre-COVID levels in September, thanks to a fast recovery in passenger travel and cargo freight, although demand from international flights remained weak, industry sources said.
- China accuses U.S. of deflecting blame as diplomatic row shifts to climate — A senior Chinese official accused the United States on Wednesday of deflecting blame and breaking its word when it comes to fighting climate change, as the simmering diplomatic row between the world’s two biggest economies shifts to the environment.
- China eyes launch of national emissions trade scheme within five years — China is targeting the launch of a nationwide emissions trading scheme during the period from 2021 to 2025, its top climate official said on Wednesday, signalling another delay for the long-awaited carbon trading platform.
- Carlsberg raises outlook on strong sales in China and Russia — Danish brewer Carlsberg posted third-quarter underlying sales that beat expectations on Tuesday and raised its full-year earnings guidance thanks to strong sales in Russia and China.
- Rubio unveils bill to kick blacklisted Chinese firms out of U.S. markets — Top Republican Senator Marco Rubio has introduced legislation to block access to U.S. capital markets for Chinese companies that have been blacklisted by Washington, threatening a blow against Chinese firms that rely on U.S. investors for funding.
- China environment ministry calls for end to aluminium sector’s move west — China’s environment ministry on Tuesday said new aluminium production should no longer be encouraged in the country’s sprawling western region – in a proposal that goes against a current industry trend – and made the same suggestion for coke.
Xinhua
- 50 Kazakh companies to be trained to promote products on Alibaba: trade official — A total of 50 Kazakh companies will have been trained by the end of this year to get registered and promote their products on Alibaba.com, a B2B platform owned by China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, a senior Kazakh trade official has said.
- Greece’s participation in CIIE to further boost trade relations with China — Greek-Chinese trade relations will expand further as Greece is gearing up to participate in the third China International Import Expo (CIIE), to be held in Shanghai from Nov. 5 to 10, Greek officials and business representatives told Xinhua recently.
- European trade MEPs back GIs agreement with China — An agreement between the European Union (EU) and China to protect the signature agri-food products won its first approval in the European Parliament on Tuesday, as the Committee on International Trade of the parliament voted for it with 38 in favor, one against and three abstentions.
- China’s central bank injects liquidity into market — China’s central bank pumped cash into the banking system through open market operations to maintain liquidity Wednesday.
- China’s general aircraft totals 2,913 — China’s general aviation industry has achieved major progress with increasing enterprises and aircraft over the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), according to the civil aviation authorities.
- Pork supply in China likely to rise during upcoming holidays — The supply of pork in China is expected to increase 30 percent year on year in the upcoming New Year and Spring Festival holidays as production recovers and imports rise, the agriculture ministry said.
- New Zealand-Guangdong Commodity Exhibition Centre opens fresh platform for bilateral trade — The newly-established New Zealand-Guangdong Commodity Exhibition Centre in Auckland has opened up a fresh platform for bilateral trade between China and New Zealand, said trade experts on Wednesday.
- Chinese shares close higher on Wednesday — Chinese stocks closed higher on Wednesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 0.46 percent to end at 3,269.24 points.
Other Publications
- Nikkei Asian Review: US election: Trump’s China policy is here to stay, no matter who wins — Allies see America as tougher, but weaker.
- Nikkei Asian Review: Suga walks tightrope between US and China — Prime minister tones down ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’ language to cast wider net.
- Foreign Policy: How the United States Handed China its Rare Earth Monopoly — China didn’t always dominate the Rare Earth (RE) industry. In fact, up until 1980, 99 percent of the world’s heavy REs were a byproduct of U.S. mining operations for titanium, zircon, and phosphate. In fact, it was only because of changes in U.S. regulations, the voluntary transfer of expertise and intellectual property, and the absence of an industrial policy that China has been able to corner this market.
- Axios: Senators introduce bipartisan resolution to label Xinjiang abuses “genocide” — A cadre of bipartisan senators introduced a resolution on Tuesday to formally label the Chinese government’s human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in the region of Xinjiang as “genocide.”
- Motley Fool: Baidu Could Challenge ByteDance by Buying JOYY’s Chinese Business — But the aging tech giant still faces an uphill battle against the Gen Z leader.
