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
- Airbnb Executive Resigned Last Year Over Chinese Request for More Data Sharing — Company says it declined to disclose more details with China and is transparent with users; former FBI official was told by co-founder, ‘We’re not here to promote American values’.
- Trump’s China Blacklist Sparks Reviews at Index Compilers — MSCI, FTSE Russell seek feedback from investors after move to ban Americans from investing in some Chinese companies.
- China Vows to Investigate Bond-Market Misconduct — Warning issued after a series of defaults by state-backed groups unsettled investors.
- White House Weighs New Action Against Beijing — Trump administration wants to form an alliance to retaliate when China uses its trading power to coerce countries.
- Chinese State-Owned Bank Stops Digital Bond Sale That Was Drawing Scrutiny — China Construction Bank pulls sale of up to $3 billion in short-term debt in an offshore financial center in Malaysia.
The Financial Times
- Lufax/short sellers: from hot to not — China’s second-biggest online lender faces struggles at home and abroad.
- Joshua Wong faces up to three years in jail over Hong Kong protest — Prominent activist and colleagues detained as city cracks down on pro-democracy movement.
- Beijing-based development bank AIIB to target healthcare in Asia — New unit to consider loans for areas such as improving wet markets and sewage monitoring.
- Beijing warns of crackdown on misconduct after bond defaults — China’s debt market roiled after high-profile state-owned groups miss payments.
- Xi’s aim to double China’s economy is a fantasy — The idea that GDP can be twice as big in 2035 faces two significant obstacles: demography and politics.
- Rivals spy weakness in HK’s status as Asia’s prime financial centre — Singapore and Tokyo are poised for opportunity, but China’s shadow looms large.
- Mink/fur prices: cull of the wild — 17m mammals in Denmark at risk over fears of a coronavirus mutation.
- China regulations spur investors to reassess tech sector — Proposals to curb dominance of mainland groups prompt fund managers to rethink holdings.
- New Zealand’s top diplomat vows to speak truth to China — The first Maori woman appointed foreign minister faces fraught portfolio on geopolitics and climate.
- Wish reveals $1.7bn revenue as it joins rush of tech IPOs — Cheap shopping app aims for $25bn to $30bn valuation.
The New York Times
- China Prepares to Launch Mission to Collect Moon Rocks — It has been four decades since lunar samples were brought to Earth, and the Chang’e-5 spacecraft’s bounty could have great scientific value.
- China’s Surveillance State Sucks Up Data. U.S. Tech Is Key to Sorting It. — Intel and Nvidia chips power a supercomputing center that tracks people in a place where government suppresses minorities, raising questions about the tech industry’s responsibility.
Caixin
- Top Financial Regulator Pledges Zero Tolerance for Debt Dodgers — Financial Stability and Development Committee to investigate string of SOE bond defaults.
- Exclusive: Finance Ministry Official Takes Senior Position at Everbright Group — Wang Yi, head of the ministry’s finance department, has been installed as a deputy general manager at the state-owned financial conglomerate.
- Exclusive: Cash-Strapped Mining SOE Sweetens Repayment Offer to Avoid More Defaults — Yongcheng Coal tells bondholders it can repay 50% of the principal if they accept a 270-day extension on the rest.
- Cover Story: How SOE Default Wave Shows State Bailouts Are Over — After Brilliance Auto and Yongcheng Coal defaults, bondholders find they can no longer count on an implied government debt guarantee.
- China Again Pledges Cross-Border Audit Cooperation With U.S. — Securities regulatory commission reaffirms commitment to joint inspections and calls for dialogue as SEC pushes delisting regulation.
- Investors Reject Coal Miner’s Bid to Reschedule Payment of Defaulted Bond — Creditors’ stance makes deal unlikely before deadline that triggers automatic defaults on another 26.5 billion yuan of debt.
- Malaysia Terminates $10.5 Billion Infrastructure Project Involving Chinese Investors — The Melaka Gateway was seen as a major part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Malaysia.
- Crisis-Struck Evergrande Looks to Unit’s Hong Kong IPO to Get Back on Its Feet — Developer to spin off property management unit as it works to avoid paying billions to investors, shore up liquidity.
- Roads to Nowhere Cost Baidu $10 Million in Mapping Dispute — Court rules search engine giant used another company’s digital maps’ without permission.
- Brilliance Auto’s Debt Problems Drive It Into Restructuring — Court determines that the cash-strapped carmaker does not have sufficient assets to repay all of its debts, but holds out hope the company can be salvaged.
- Codemao Raises $198 Million to Teach China’s Youth Computer Programming — Codemao, a Shenzhen-based tutoring platform focusing on teaching computer coding, has raised 1.3 billion yuan ($198 million) in its series D funding round led by a fund affiliated to global investment management company Barings.
- Tesla Challenger Xpeng Plans to Install Lidar on Electric Vehicles in 2021 — Xpeng, a U.S.-listed company sometimes called the Tesla of China, has announced plans to start installing Lidar sensors on its mass-produced cars next year in an effort to gain an edge in the country’s highly competitive smart electric-vehicle market.
- Chinese Online Educator Fraud Suspect GSX Reports Losses — New York-listed Chinese online tutor GSX Techedu failed to profit in the third quarter despite logging staggering growth in revenue, as the company is being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over allegations from short sellers that it falsified its sales.
South China Morning Post
- China looks to deepen regional integration via CPTPP as US rivalry grows — China is trying to turn a strategic threat into an asset in its rivalry with the United States by publicly stating it wants to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP).
- Xi Jinping has pledged to double the size of China’s economy by 2035, but can he rein in inequality? — China will need to reform tax, welfare and labour policies if it is to reign in inequality and create “common prosperity” for all by 2035, economists say.
- China’s path to zero emissions prepared by veteran climate change diplomat’s team — When Chinese President Xi Jinping put a 2060 end date on his country’s contribution to global warming, he managed to take almost the whole world by surprise. Even diplomats, climate activists and policy experts inside China for the most part had not anticipated Xi’s pivotal announcement in his September speech to the United Nations.
- Chinese authorities warn bond issuers they can’t ‘run away’ from their debts after defaults rock investor confidence — China’s financial regulators have vowed to crack down on people “running away” from their debts after a slew of bond defaults rocked the country’s onshore market.
- Could coronavirus threaten China’s shift towards market economy? — The Chinese state’s increased role in economic activity in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic is threatening the country’s move towards a market-oriented economy, a government adviser has warned.
- Li Ka-shing’s bet on the future is synthetic biology, with Horizons’ investments in faux meat, plant milk and molecular whiskey — Impossible Foods’ vice-president Nick Halla had the tables turned on him in early 2014 during a pitch of his three-year-old start-up to one of the world’s most powerful venture capital investors.
- China’s ‘grey rhino’ debt risk highlighted by bond defaults — A series of bond defaults by state-owned firms has highlighted the “grey rhino” risks threatening China’s economic prospects, raising alarm bells about high national debt that has grown to more than three times gross domestic product (GDP).
- China plans incentives to boost population growth and address ageing society: reports — China is planning to include new measures to encourage more births and address its rapidly ageing population as part of its new 2021-25 “five-year plan”, state media reported on Monday.
- Technological self-reliance is at heart of China’s economic plans, says key Xi Jinping aide — Chinese President Xi Jinping’s top economic adviser Liu He has stressed that the country’s pursuit of self-reliance in key technologies is “imperative” to its new economic strategy, which places an increased emphasis on domestic consumption.
- Listings of Evergrande Property Services, JD Health poised to push Hong Kong’s funds raised via IPO to 10-year high — The initial public offerings of Evergrande Property Services and JD Health, both due to kick off this week, look set to push the total funds raised on the Hong Kong stock exchange to a 10-year high.
- After five years of losses, Hong Kong Disneyland pins hopes on new attraction, local visitors to keep going — Loss-making Hong Kong Disneyland heads into a new year with a new attraction and a new chief, but with international travel stalled by the coronavirus pandemic, must continue to depend on local visitors to keep going.
- Asean has no reason to stop Hong Kong joining world’s biggest free-trade pact, says director of bloc’s secretariat — Asean has no reason to stand in the way of Hong Kong joining the world’s biggest free-trade deal, according to a director of the bloc’s secretariat who says accession will improve the flow of goods and services in the region.
- Chinese court orders wildlife park to delete facial recognition data as privacy concerns grow among Chinese citizens — A court in east China has ordered a wildlife park to delete the facial recognition data of a law professor and pay him compensation in the first case of its kind in the world’s second-largest market for surveillance systems.
Bloomberg
- Leaders Try to Salvage Global Order Post-Trump — The final months of every year mark what is known as “summit season.” Leaders hop from one acronym-rich meeting to another, from APEC to Asean to the G-20. The meetings tend to produce fairly bland communiques and awkward group photos. But they fill a need.
- Oil Rises to Twelve-Week High on Covid Vaccination Optimism — Oil touched its strongest level since early September as signs that Covid-19 vaccinations in the U.S. could be underway within three weeks improved the demand outlook.
- U.K. Mulls Future of Its Judges in Hong Kong Over Security Law — Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is consulting with the U.K.’s most senior legal officer on the position of British judges in Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal, as he condemned China’s “chilling” national security law for suppressing legal freedoms in the former British colony.
- Rivian Buyers Can Customize Orders But the Wait Could Be Long — The electric pickup truck and SUV maker, which has sold out its first planned batch of vehicles, is facing limited production capacity.
- India Stymies Investment From Hong Kong Amid China Border Row — India is subjecting foreign investment proposals from Hong Kong at par with China as part of a new policy that makes approval mandatory for plans from countries that share a land border, a person with the knowledge of the matter said.
- Blackstone Is Said to Seek $5 Billion for Second Asia Fund — The U.S. investment firm has started marketing the new vehicle to potential investors, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. It’s targeting more than double the size of its first Asia buyout fund, which closed at about $2.3 billion in 2018.
- ShawKwei & Partners Said to Weigh Sale of Tech Component Maker — Private equity firm ShawKwei & Partners is considering a sale of precision manufacturer Beyonics Technology Ltd., people with knowledge of the matter said.
- Hong Kong-Singapore Bubble Delay Hits Travel Rebound Hopes — The shelving of the keenly-anticipated Hong Kong-Singapore travel bubble shows just how delicate the process of reopening borders is — even for places that have largely contained the coronavirus.
- China May Have to Delay National Carbon Market Debut to 2021 — China may delay the launch of its national carbon market for power companies to the first half of 2021, according to a researcher who helped the government design the emissions trading system.
- JPMorgan’s $150 Billion Unit Taps Hedge Funds for ESG Gains — JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s $150 billion alternative asset management arm says it’s found a way to help clients make sustainable investments through hedge funds without sacrificing returns.
- Pompeo Confirms U.S. Withdrawal From Open Skies Treaty — The U.S. has withdrawn from the Open Skies Treaty due to non-compliance by Russia, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said Sunday, making good on a planned move by the outgoing Trump administration.
- U.S. Navy Rear Admiral on Surprise Visit to Taiwan, Reuters Says — A senior U.S. military officer who oversees intelligence gathering for the Indo-Pacific Command made an unannounced visit to Taiwan, Reuters reported, a move that risks further raising tensions between Washington and Beijing.
- Thailand No Longer Top Overseas Destination for Chinese Tourists — Thailand has lost its spot as the most popular cross-border destination for tourists from mainland China, according to a survey by HSBC Holdings Plc, as neighboring Japan and South Korea moved up the list.
- Short Sellers Target Ping An Fintech Unit After Ant IPO Halt — The headwinds that toppled Ant Group Co.’s initial public offering now threaten a $22 billion dream of China’s Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. — to pivot from a finance group to a tech giant and be valued like one.
- Top Diplomats Say Media Freedom ‘Under Attack’ in Hong Kong — A group of Western envoys to Hong Kong has condemned the erosion of media freedoms in the Asian financial hub, a situation they say has been worsened by Beijing’s imposition of a “vaguely defined” national security law.
- Billionaire Miner Forrest Aims to Be a Global Clean Energy Giant — Billionaire Andrew Forrest broke into the ranks of the world’s top iron ore exporters, now he’s targeting an entry into renewables in as soon as two years under an ambitious plan to produce more energy than giants like Chevron Corp.
- Evergrande, Unit Seek About $2 Billion in Hong Kong IPO — China Evergrande Group and its property management arm are seeking to raise as much as HK$15.8 billion ($2.04 billion) in a Hong Kong initial public offering of the unit, Evergrande Property Services Group Ltd. said Sunday.
- China’s 2060 Climate Pledge: Inside Xi Jinping’s Secret Plan to End Emissions — A veteran Communist Party bureaucrat quietly changed climate history
- China’s Bond Market Opening is Set to Reshape the Financial World — The nation’s entry into the World Trade Organization rocked global commerce. The financial markets could be next.
- China Is Set to Eclipse America as World’s Biggest Oil Refiner — The Covid crisis has hastened a seismic shift in the global refining industry as demand for plastics and fuels grows in China and the rest of Asia, where economies are quickly rebounding from the pandemic.
- Invesco Seeks $100 Billion in Assets to Defend China Top Spot — Invesco Ltd. is aiming for growth of more than 40% in its China assets in three years, seeking to defend its leading position among foreign managers by leveraging its years of local experience as more rivals like BlackRock Inc. and Amundi SA step up their forays into the Chinese market.
- Trump Is Leaving the Key Questions on China Policy to Biden — The State Department’s China paper fails to address key aspects of containment policy.
- China Evergrande Gets $4.6 Billion Lifeline From State Firms — Two companies backed by local governments in Guangdong province have stepped in to provide a lifeline for beleaguered developer China Evergrande Group after a key strategic investor demanded an exit, according to a person familiar with the matter.
- Trump Aide Says He Expects Bans on WeChat, TikTok to Succeed — U.S. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said he expects President Donald Trump’s attempts to ban the WeChat and TikTok apps to “ultimately” succeed.
- Hong Kong Strives to Join Regional Trade Deal: Finance Chief — Hong Kong hopes to be part of the first group of economies to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership after the agreement takes effect, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said in a blog post on his website Sunday.
- Beyond Meat’s Fake Pork Faces Competition From Tofu in China — The original plant-based protein has been a central feature of mainland cuisine since the first millennium. Why would tastes change now?
- Brainard Slips as Treasury Contender With Biden Nearing Pick — Fed Governor Lael Brainard has slipped from among top contenders for Treasury secretary under Joe Biden, according to people familiar with the matter, as the president-elect’s team winnows its choices for key positions.
- Shopify Sees ‘Paradigm Shift’ as Black Friday Approaches — Shopify Inc. expects a banner holiday season as the worsening pandemic encourages more consumers to shop online and buy from the small businesses that sell through its platform.
- Tesla Is Joining the S&P, and Maybe We Should Worry — The company is in much better shape than it was a couple of years ago, but its valuation is hard to justify.
- U.S., Taiwan Sign Pact to Hold Annual Economic Talks for 5 Years — The U.S. and Taiwan signed a pact to establish annual economic talks for five years despite objections by China to Washington’s support for Taipei.
- Pork Piles Up in Europe as Virus and Swine Fever Slash Sales — There’s a glut of pork in Europe and prices are plunging.
- World War II Past Isn’t Past for Moscow and Beijing — Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping are using changing views of World War II to unify people at home and project power abroad.
- A Covid-Battered Philippines Might Turn to China, Rather Than Biden’s U.S. — Filipinos were once solidly in the U.S. sphere of influence, but they may be moving closer to their intrusive neighbor across the South China Sea.
- Asia-Pacific Leaders Voice Support for World Trade Organization — Global economic leaders from the Asia-Pacific region reaffirmed their commitment to global trade, including an endorsement of the World Trade Organization that President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to discredit.
Reuters
- ‘We’ve got your back’ – Trump advisor vows U.S. support in South China Sea — U.S. national security adviser Robert O’Brien on Monday assured the Philippines and Vietnam, countries both locked in maritime rows with China, that Washington has their backs and would fight to keep the Indo-Pacific region free and open.
- Exclusive: In latest China jab, U.S. drafts list of 89 firms with military ties — The Trump administration is close to declaring that 89 Chinese aerospace and other companies have military ties, restricting them from buying a range of U.S. goods and technology, according to a draft copy of the list seen by Reuters.
- Smelling blood, Huawei’s Chinese mobile rivals look to capitalise on its U.S. woes — Chinese handset rivals of Huawei Technologies including Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo are making aggressive moves to seize market share from their giant rival, after stepped-up U.S. sanctions hobbled Huawei’s supply chains, industry insiders say.
- Australian PM says misinterpretation of interests behind China tension — Tension between Australia and China has been driven by incorrect assumptions shaped by rivalry between China and the United States but Australia has its own interest and independent views, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday.
- China says it will respond to U.S. admiral visit to Taiwan — China will respond to the reported visit of a U.S. Navy admiral to Taiwan and firmly opposes any military relations between Taipei and Washington, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday as a senior U.S. official praised their ties with Taipei.
- Hit by cryptocurrency curbs, Chinese fund managers look elsewhere to ride bitcoin bull — As the price of bitcoin soars, Chinese cryptocurrency asset managers are looking to expand in places such as Hong Kong and Singapore, skirting an intensified crackdown at home.
- Timeline: Major milestones in Chinese space exploration — China plans to launch an unmanned probe to the moon early this week to bring back lunar rocks in the first attempt by any nation to retrieve samples from Earth’s natural satellite since the 1970s.
- China says it opposes U.S. draft list of firms with military ties — China said on Monday it opposes a potential move by the United States to declare that 89 Chinese aerospace and other companies have military ties, restricting them from buying a range of U.S. goods and technology.
- Alibaba CEO says China’s draft anti-monopoly rules ‘timely and necessary’ — China’s move to draft rules aimed at preventing monopolistic behaviour by internet platforms is “timely and necessary”, Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang said on Monday.
- China issues final batch of refined fuel export quotas for 2020: sources — China has issued a new and final batch of refined fuel export quotas for 2020 totalling 3 million tonnes, including its first sizeable quota to a giant private refiner, two industry officials with knowledge of the matter said on Monday.
- China planning new policies to take on ageing population: state media — China is planning to include new measures to encourage more births and address its rapidly ageing population as part of its new 2021-2025 “five-year plan”, state media reported on Monday.
- Coons says hopes for bipartisan U.S. policy to ‘out-compete’ China — U.S. Democratic Senator Chris Coons, seen as a contender for secretary of state in the incoming Biden administration, told Reuters on Friday he hoped to see a bipartisan policy take shape for the United States to “out-compete” China.
- China’s Li Keqiang tells local governments to create more jobs: state media — China’s Premier Li Keqiang told local governments to create more jobs, spur consumption and expand effective investment, according to a report by state-owned China National Radio.
- China to extend fishing ban to Yangtze estuary in 2021 — China will prohibit all fishing in the Yangtze river estuary from Jan. 1, extending a ban along the length of the river that came into effect at the beginning of this year, the country’s agriculture ministry said.
- Trump administration to add four more Chinese firms to Pentagon blacklist: sources — Washington is poised to designate four more Chinese companies as backed by the Chinese military, sources said, curbing their access to U.S. investors as the Trump administration seeks to cement its hawkish China legacy in its waning days.
- Hungary could receive up to one million doses of Chinese coronavirus vaccine: foreign minister — Hungary could receive up to one million doses of coronavirus vaccine from China in the coming months, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told state news agency MTI on Friday after a phone call with his Chinese counterpart.
- Beijing seeks talks on joint inspection of U.S.-listed Chinese firms — China’s securities regulator said on Friday it looked forward to holding discussions with its U.S. counterparts as soon as possible on “specific plans” to conduct joint inspections of Chinese firms listed in the United States.
- Daimler, Geely mull China as production hub for hybrid powertrains — Daimler AG and Geely Holding on Friday said China could emerge as a manufacturing and export hub for hybrid powertrains jointly developed for Volvo and Mercedes-Benz cars.
Xinhua
- IMF chief urges G20 leaders to maintain policy support as global economy “not out of the woods” — International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Sunday urged the Group of 20 (G20) leaders to maintain policy support and reinforce the economic bridge to recovery as the global economy is “not out of the woods.”
- China’s insurance AMCs, PE fund managers register products worth nearly 650 bln yuan — The value of products registered by China’s insurance asset management companies (AMCs) and private equity (PE) fund managers in the first 10 months of 2020 totaled 648.72 billion yuan (about 98.61 billion U.S. dollars), up 47.15 percent year on year, official data showed.
- China’s insurance sector raises 16 trn yuan for real economy — China’s insurance sector has raised nearly 16 trillion yuan (about 2.43 trillion U.S. dollars) for the real economy, the country’s banking and insurance regulator said.
- Chinese yuan strengthens against USD on Monday — The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 67 pips to 6.5719 against the U.S. dollar Monday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS).
- China’s industrial robot sales down in 2019 — China’s industrial robot market continued to shrink in 2019 but remained the world’s largest for the seventh straight year, the China Robot Industry Alliance (CRIA) announced on Monday.
- China’s courier sector handles over 70 bln parcels this year — China’s courier sector had handled more than 70 billion parcels as of Nov. 16, the State Post Bureau said.
- China’s service outsourcing industry sees steady growth — China’s service outsourcing industry reported stable growth in the first 10 months of 2020, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
- China’s Hubei sees tourism boom in autumn, winter — Central China’s Hubei Province, once hard hit by the COVID-19 epidemic, has received more than 53 million tourists since a tourism promotion event was launched on Aug. 8.
- China’s cargo throughput maintains stable growth in first 10 months — China’s cargo throughput at ports posted stable growth in the first 10 months of 2020, expanding 3.7 percent year on year to 11.93 billion tonnes, official data shows.
- China’s coal output edges up in first 10 months — China’s raw coal output rose 0.1 percent year on year to 3.13 billion tonnes in the first 10 months of 2020, official data showed.
- China sees rise in steel imports in Sept. — China’s import of steel hit a new high in September, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
- China’s tablet shipments record highest growth since 2014 — China’s tablet computer shipments reached around 6.9 million units during the third quarter (Q3), surging 21.7 percent year on year, according to an industrial report.
- PowerChina reports growth in new contract value — The Power Construction Corporation of China, Ltd. (PowerChina) reported growth in new contract value in the first 10 months.
- China’s securities firms report over 342 bln yuan of revenue in Jan.-Sept. — China’s 135 securities brokers saw their operating revenues reach 342.38 billion yuan (about 52 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three quarters, according to the Securities Association of China.
- Hitachi ABB Power Grids inaugurates new surge arrester factory in east China — XIAMEN, Nov. 22 (Xinhua)– Hitachi ABB Power Grids has inaugurated a new surge arrester factory in the city of Xiamen, east China’s Fujian Province to meet the demand for safe and reliable energy.
- China Mobile builds over 385,000 5G base stations — China Mobile, one of the country’s leading telecommunication operators, has built more than 385,000 5G base stations.
- China’s agricultural product wholesale prices edge up — The wholesale prices of China’s agricultural products edged up Monday, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
- Chinese shares close higher on Monday — Chinese stocks closed higher on Monday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 1.09 percent to 3,414.49 points.
Other Publications
- The Atlantic: Mao’s Lesson for Trump’s America — Beware of leaders willing to set their own country on fire.
- Washington Post: Apple is lobbying against a bill aimed at stopping forced labor in China — Apple wants to water down key provisions of the bill.
- Nikkei Asian Review: China’s TPP ambition puts Japan in a bind: expert — US-Sino tensions unlikely to ease right after Biden takes office, professor says.
