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.
Paid subscribers can have this list emailed directly to their inboxes every day. Subscribe here, and then send us an email at contact@thewirechina.com to opt in for the Daily Roundup email.
The Wall Street Journal
- Traveling to China Just Got Easier—If You Take a Chinese Covid-19 Vaccine — Chinese embassies to facilitate visas despite concerns over efficacy of Chinese shots, as the concept of ‘vaccine passports’ gains pace.
- Ukraine to Nationalize Defense Firm, Keeping China Out in a Nod to U.S. — Washington had urged Kyiv to halt Chinese acquisition of Motor Sich; move risks backlash from Beijing.
- Pinduoduo Founder Colin Huang Steps Down From Company — Mr. Huang’s departure comes as Pinduoduo overtakes Alibaba as China’s biggest e-commerce company.
- Biden Imposes His First Sanctions on Chinese Officials Ahead of Bilateral Meeting — New sanctions are against 24 officials previously targeted by the Trump administration over Beijing’s suppression in Hong Kong.
- The Hole in Biden’s China Strategy: Central Asia — By Kamran Bokhari. Both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan could help the U.S. combat Beijing and advance human rights.
- China’s New Digital Currency Is Easy to Use but You’ll Be Watched (Video) — As China moves closer to rolling out its new digital cash, there are concerns the government will track every transaction––not just of citizens but of foreign companies in the country. WSJ travels to Chengdu to see this money revolution in action.
The Financial Times
- US targets Chinese and HK officials for undermining city’s autonomy — Biden signals continuing tough approach to Beijing ahead of first high-level bilateral meeting.
- China’s Baidu set to raise $3.1bn in Hong Kong stock listing — New York-listed search group sells shares closer to home as US-China tensions rise.
- MPs demand stronger laws to combat modern slavery — UK companies showing ‘wilful blindness’ to forced labour of Uighurs in China’s Xinjiang, claims report.
- Chinese piglet prices soar as swine fever raises supply fears — Unapproved vaccines may have accelerated spread of new strains in world’s biggest pork market.
The New York Times
- U.S. Punishes 24 Chinese Officials on Eve of First Talks Under Biden — Setting a confrontational tone ahead of meetings in Alaska, the United States punished Chinese officials involved in eroding democracy in Hong Kong.
- Inter Milan Is Threatened by Challenges at Suning, Its Chinese Owner — Inter Milan’s Chinese owners spent heavily on big stars, and now it is winning again. But the bill is coming due, putting the team’s future in doubt.
- Visiting Japan, Top U.S. Envoys Set Combative Tone for China Talks — American and Japanese officials issued a two-page statement that left little doubt that President Biden would defy Beijing in territorial disputes, challenges to democracy and other regional crises.
- China’s Climate Ambitions Collide with its Coal Addiction — Beijing’s new development blueprint is meant to steer the country to carbon neutrality before 2060, but companies and regions dependent on the fossil fuel aren’t making it easy.
- Latest Chinese Covid Vaccine Is From Hamster Ovaries — The vaccine has several drawbacks. One is that it does not produce many T-cells, which help clear infected cells and prevent them from spreading.
Caixin
- China Unveils New Broadcast Law for Internet Era — Draft legislation released this week will overhaul current law, which was rolled out in 1997 when TV and radio stations ruled and the nation’s internet was in its infancy.
- Apple Said to Cancel Orders With Mobile-Camera Maker as U.S. Sanctions Bite — State-backed media China Fund says tech giant severed ties with OFilm as company confirms it has lost a major foreign client.
- Bilibili Wins Approval for Hong Kong Secondary Listing — Flotation may raise $3 billion as Nasdaq-traded video streaming platform joins pilgrimage of Chinese stocks returning to China.
South China Morning Post
- China-Australia relations: barley dispute going to WTO as headwinds loom in Australia’s alternative markets — Informal talks between beleaguered trading partners China and Australia over their anti-dumping dispute involving barley have hit a wall, while some of Australia’s redirected barley exports could face headwinds in the Middle East.
- Company behind Chinese dating app Soul said to confidentially file for US IPO — The company behind Chinese social networking platform Soul App has confidentially filed for an initial public offering in the US that could take place as soon as this year, according to people familiar with the matter.
- Alibaba said to launch bargain marketplace Taobao Deals as mini-program on Tencent’s WeChat — Chinese internet giants Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings are said to be on the verge of a major e-commerce collaboration, which will see bargain online shopping platform Taobao Deals offered as a mini-program on multipurpose super app WeChat.
Bloomberg
- Biden’s Solar Dreams Collide With Scorn for China ‘Genocide’ — President Joe Biden’s White House is trying to reconcile his desire to ratchet up U.S. renewable power generation with his outrage over alleged Chinese human-rights abuses in Xinjiang, a major supplier of a key component in solar panels.
- Bilibili Eyes Up to $3.2 Billion in Hong Kong Second Listing — Video streaming platform Bilibili Inc. is looking to raise as much as $3.2 billion in a second listing in Hong Kong, as the trend of Chinese companies seeking trading footholds in the city gathers pace.
- China Seen Needing More U.S. Corn to Plug Domestic Shortage — China, the biggest corn consumer after the U.S., is still short of the feed grain, and more overseas purchases are likely.
Reuters
- EU envoys agree first China sanctions in three decades — The European Union agreed on Wednesday to blacklist Chinese officials for human rights abuses, two diplomats said, the first sanctions against Beijing since an EU arms embargo in 1989 following the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
- Pfizer to halt biosimilar output in China, sell assets to WuXi Biologics — Pfizer Inc will stop producing biosimilar products in China and sell a unit in the eastern city of Hangzhou to WuXi Biologics Inc, the U.S. drugmaker said on Wednesday.
- Blacklisted Chinese firms eye lawsuits after Xiaomi win against Trump ban — Chinese companies targeted by a sweeping investment ban imposed by former President Donald Trump are considering suing the U.S. government after a federal judge on Friday suspended a similar blacklisting for Beijing-based smartphone maker Xiaomi.
- UK lawmakers call for blacklist of firms linked to Uighur abuses — LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Britain should look to crack down on forced labour of Uighurs in China’s Xinjiang region with a blacklist of companies that cannot show clean supply chains and tough penalties for those which break anti-slavery law, lawmakers said on Wednesday.
- U.S. lawmakers seek 20% boost in foreign affairs budget, with eye on China — Democratic U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday proposed an increase of $12 billion in the country’s foreign affairs budget, hoping to prod President Joe Biden to boost funding for diplomacy after years of flat spending.
Other Publications
- Nikkei Asian Review: Line silently exposed Japan user data to China affiliate — Wildly popular app failed to say so in its privacy policy.
- Nikkei Asian Review: China chip champion urges global effort to ease supply crunch — ‘Any other way is wrong,’ SMIC chairman says at opening of SEMICON China event.
- Nikkei Asian Review: Silent Chinese companies weigh costs of Myanmar’s growing chaos — Targeted violence intensifies as top investors consider future of business operations.
- The Diplomat: Laos Grants 25-Year Power Grid Concession to Chinese-Majority Firm — The deal will deepen China’s involvement in the Lao government’s goal of transforming itself into the “battery of Southeast Asia.”
- Foreign Policy: Climate Offers a Glimmer of Hope for U.S.-China Cooperation — As relations worsen on other fronts, the Kerry-Xie relationship could make a difference on climate change.
- Foreign Affairs: How to Craft a Durable China Strategy — Washington Must Reconcile Interdependence and Conflict.
- Axios: White House expects a tough first meeting with China in Alaska — Secretary of State Tony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan will take a “tough-minded” approach to their first meeting with senior Chinese officials and raise several of the most sensitive issues in the relationship, senior administration officials told reporters on Tuesday night.
- POLITICO: U.S. warns of China’s growing threat to Taiwan — Officials from Washington and Beijing are meeting in Alaska on Thursday.