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 Targets AI, Chips Among Seven Battlefronts in Tech Race With U.S. — Five-year economic plan unveiled in Beijing promises more spending, loans to bolster development of advanced technologies.
- The Woke Chinese Communist Party — By the Editorial Board. Beijing uses progressive rhetoric to attack Western interests.
- Chinese Stocks Slide, With a Major Index in Correction Territory — CSI 300 benchmark has fallen 12.5% from a recent peak in February.
- An Island Stuffs Itself With Pineapple Smoothies, Pineapple Burgers and Pineapple Cake — Taiwan embraces the fruit as an act of patriotism, though some wonder if everyone should slow down.
- Huawei Loses Cellular-Gear Market Share Outside China — Ericsson, Nokia make gains amid U.S.-inspired bans, restrictions against Huawei around the world.
- JD Needs to Move Fast With Logistics IPO — Chinese e-commerce giant ought to follow healthcare unit’s successful spinoff swiftly, lest local stocks lose more steam.
The Financial Times
- Chinese stocks enter correction territory — Pullback underlines global market vulnerabilities from drop in bond prices and post-virus normalisation.
- Pharma groups spend billions to tap into booming China healthcare — Partnerships with local start-ups hit record despite data security and IP protection concerns.
- Japan’s SBI plans Hong Kong pullout on concerns over security law — Owner of online brokerage also looking at Europe instead of London for expansion.
- StanChart tries to navigate moral minefield — London-based lender struggles to reconcile ‘here for good’ promise with fast-growing business in China.
- Wishful thinking on China will not serve American interests — Beijing’s foreign policy stance towards the US can help inform Washington’s strategy.
- China set to cut proportion of directly elected lawmakers in Hong Kong — Sweeping changes to electoral laws would signal end of territory’s democratic experiment.
- Joe Biden enlists ‘Quad’ allies to counter China — US expected to hold first summit with India, Japan and Australia next week in show of unity against Beijing.
- China turns its back on Hong Kong loyalists — Beijing is putting its faith in its own mainland officials as it clamps down on the territory.
The New York Times
- Preparing for Retaliation Against Russia, U.S. Confronts Hacking by China — The proliferation of cyberattacks by rivals is presenting a challenge to the Biden administration as it seeks to deter intrusions on government and corporate systems.
- Thousands of Microsoft Customers May Have Been Victims of Hack Tied to China — The hackers started their attack in January but escalated their efforts in recent weeks, security experts say. Business and government agencies were affected.
- I Asked the Head of Space Force What the Agency Has Done for Me Lately — Gen. John Raymond has put up with plenty of mockery. But, he says, there’s nothing funny about protecting U.S. interests from Russian and Chinese anti-satellite technology.
Caixin
- JD Logistics Hops on China’s High-Speed Rail With New Joint Venture — Delivery company’s new tie-up with China Railway comes as the former moves ahead with a Hong Kong IPO.
- Exclusive: Idle Cranes, Unfinished Buildings Are All That’s Left in China’s Former Field of Chip Dreams — The $19.8 billion project was meant to churn out cutting-edge microchips, but quickly fell apart due to lack of funds and inexperience.
- Power Revamp Rebooted as State Grid Resumes Divestiture Plan — State Grid Corp. of China, the world’s biggest utility, is expected to spin off its equipment manufacturing operations by the end of 2021, according to a timetable unveiled by the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planner.
South China Morning Post
- ‘China’s military must spend more’ to meet US war threat — China must increase military spending to prepare for a war with a dominant power, according to the country’s top general, raising the spectre of armed conflict with the United States.
- How two British ports owned by Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison will help UK pivot to Asia after Brexit — Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison’s ports division has secured a strategic win from the UK’s post-Brexit pivot towards Asia.
- China’s ‘two sessions’ 2021: plans for ‘Digital China’ transformation come with increased regulations for personal data — At China’s biggest annual political gathering, known as the “two sessions”, policymakers revealed intentions to build a “Digital China” with clearer boundaries for how and when mainland tech companies can use the massive amounts of data they collect from users.
Bloomberg
- China’s Yuan Becomes Latest Victim of Treasury-Led Selloff — The Chinese yuan erased all its gains against the dollar this year, the latest to fall prey to the Treasury-led global market selloff.
- China’s Xpeng Reports Shrinking Losses as EV Deliveries Take Off — Chinese electric-vehicle maker XPeng Inc. reported a narrowing loss in the fourth quarter and deliveries that beat its own expectations by 30%, a sign the startup is building a solid footing in the world’s largest market for cleaner cars.
- UA Cinemas Shuts Down Hong Kong Theater Chain After 36 Years — UA Cinemas, one of Hong Kong’s biggest movie-theater chains, abruptly shut down operations in the city, citing the pressure that the pandemic had on its business.
- China Vows to Expand Legal ‘Toolkit’ to Fight U.S. Sanctions — Beijing pledged to speed up legislation aimed at countering U.S. sanctions, as it seeks to narrow Washington’s advantages in disputes after the Trump administration levied waves of penalties against China.
- China’s Carbon Market to Grow to $25 Billion by 2030, Citi Says — The size of China’s carbon market will expand more than 30-fold over the next decade as it covers more industries and polluting becomes more expensive, according to Citigroup Inc.
- Xi’s Green Drive Heralds Speedy End to Aluminum’s Era of Plenty — China’s climate policy is poised to do what years of international pressure couldn’t — halt the growth of the world’s biggest aluminum industry.
Reuters
- Game of drones: Chinese giant DJI hit by U.S. tensions, staff defections — Chinese drone giant DJI Technology Co Ltd built up such a successful U.S. business over the past decade that it almost drove all competitors out of the market.
Other Publications
- CSIS: Understanding China’s 2021 Defense Budget — The first day of the new NPC session was highlighted by the widely anticipated announcement of China’s 2021 defense budget, which was set at 1.36 trillion yuan, a 6.8 percent increase from the 1.27 trillion yuan budget set last year.
- Nikkei Asian Review: China-backed telco launches service to take on Philippine duopoly — Dito Telecommunity kicks off mobile operations in provinces of Davao and Cebu.
- Nikkei Asian Review: China’s addiction to coal clashes with carbon neutrality pledge — New plant construction exceeded shutdowns by 30 GW last year.
- POLITICO: Diplomats Warned of a Coronavirus Danger in Wuhan—2 Years Before the Outbreak — In the spring of 2020, inside the U.S. government, some officials began to see and collect evidence of a different, perhaps more troubling theory—that the outbreak had a connection to one of the laboratories in Wuhan, among them the WIV, a world leading center of research on bat coronaviruses.
