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
- Chinese Propaganda Officials Celebrate Social-Media Attacks on H&M in Countering Forced-Labor Allegations — To blunt Western pressure over cotton from Xinjiang, Beijing looks to apply lessons from Hong Kong protests.
- China Approves Merger of Chemical Giants, Creating $150 Billion Company — Move paves the way for another supersize state-run enterprise that Beijing hopes will become a dominant global player.
- Who’s Coming to Huawei’s Support? Its Biggest European Competitor — Even though Ericsson is benefiting from sanctions, CEO Börje Ekholm felt moved to lobby for Chinese rival to ward off a backlash from Beijing.
- Biden Calls for $50 Billion to Boost U.S. Chip Industry — Officials cite need to counter threat from China, but opponents say industry can succeed without tax dollars.
- Evergrande’s Debt by Any Other Name — Despite its ambitious debt-reduction targets, China’s largest property company is still building up liabilities.
The Financial Times
- China chemical merger to create group with $152bn sales — Sinochem shares rise by maximum 10% after regulator approves tie-up with ChemChina.
- Hong Kong court convicts veteran activists over 2019 protests — Media mogul Jimmy Lai and ‘father of democracy’ Martin Lee among group of seven found guilty.
- China manoeuvres near Taiwan fuel concerns of potential attack — Beijing has stepped up military posturing in recent days, raising worries it could invade.
- Biden administration maintains Trump policy on Hong Kong — State department concludes territory should not receive preferential treatment under US law.
- Western brands caught between US and China over human rights — Companies in invidious position as both sides ratchet up pressure over Xinjiang.
- China’s secret loan contracts reveal its hold over low-income nations — Researchers expose stringent clauses which give Chinese lenders priority over other creditors.
- China forces brands to make a cotton choice — Action against H&M and Nike shows intolerance of scrutiny over Xinjiang.
The New York Times
- Hong Kong Convicts Martin Lee and Other Democracy Leaders Over Protest — The defendants, including the media tycoon Jimmy Lai and the barristers Martin Lee and Margaret Ng, were some of the city’s most prominent activists.
Caixin
- Shenzhen Bourse to Merge Main and SME Boards Next Week — After the merger companies will be able to start listing again on the main board, which hasn’t seen an IPO in approximately 20 years.
- China’s Manufacturing Recovery Loses More Momentum, Caixin PMI Shows — The reading came in at 50.6 in March as the subindexes for output and total new orders edged down for a fourth straight month.
- PipeChina Completes Gas Pipeline Network With Kunlun Energy Acquisitions — Infrastructure giant’s consolidation strategy adds Beijing natural gas pipeline and Dalian LNG company.
- In Depth: China’s Carbon-Reduction Plans Turn Up the Heat on Steel Capital — Tangshan’s steel mills have been ordered to make strict cuts this year as China prepares to roll out a national plan to tame the emissions-heavy industry.
South China Morning Post
- China’s dam rush: critics query hydropower path to carbon neutrality — On July 1, the day China’s Communist Party celebrates its 100th anniversary, the country will also mark another milestone – when its newest hydropower plant is powered up for the first time.
- Can China and the US overcome their distrust on climate action? — As the US waits to learn if President Xi Jinping will attend a virtual White House climate summit later this month, analysts warn the two countries still have a deep and mutual distrust to overcome about each other’s commitment to saving the environment.
- US-China relations: trade chief Katherine Tai lays out hardline approach with ‘world’s leading offender’ label — The United States government on Wednesday vowed to continue battling what it sees as significant trade barriers that are harming American companies and farmers, and singled out China as the “world’s leading offender” in creating overcapacities in several sectors.
- Value of TikTok maker ByteDance approaches US$400 billion for new investors, sources say — The valuation of ByteDance is approaching US$400 billion for private-equity investors, a source told the South China Morning Post, as the Chinese owner of short video-sharing app TikTok cements its leading position among global tech unicorns.
Bloomberg
- Hong Kong Tycoons Emerge as Losers From Xi’s Election Revamp — When China regained control of Hong Kong more than two decades ago, the Communist Party entrusted the city’s wealthiest tycoons with enormous influence over local politics.
- Trudeau Industry Chief Calls for Five Eyes Action on China — Canada needs to adopt a united front with its Five Eyes allies on China, according to one of Justin Trudeau’s top ministers who handled trade, foreign affairs and is now in charge of industry.
- China’s Latest Tax Cuts Add to Local Governments’ Funding Woes — China will deliver 550 billion yuan ($84 billion) in tax cuts to help support the economy’s recovery, a move that could also damage local governments’ finances further.
- HKEX Proposes Easing Listing Rules to Lure More Overseas Firms — Hong Kong’s stock exchange proposed easing listing requirements to attract more overseas firms to sell shares in the financial hub.
- China’s Fosun Willing to Supply BioNTech Vaccine to Taiwan — The Chinese company with the deal to distribute BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine in “Greater China” says it’s willing to supply Taiwan, after the contested island suggested Beijing blocked it from securing the shot.
Reuters
- Analysis: African swine fever inflicts renewed toll on northern China’s hog herd — A wave of African swine fever outbreaks this year has wiped out at least 20% of the breeding herd in northern China, industry sources and analysts said, exceeding expected losses and raising fears about the potential for further impact in the south.
- Exclusive: Volkswagen to buy credits from Tesla in China to comply with environmental rules – sources — A Volkswagen joint venture in China has agreed to buy green car credits from Tesla to help meet local environmental rules, three people briefed on the matter told Reuters.
- China pledges to ensure crude steel output falls as aims to cut carbon — China will ensure its crude steel output falls in 2021 and launch a nationwide investigation into the implementation of steel capacity cuts since 2016, industry regulators said on Thursday, as the country aims to meet goals to curb emissions.
- Breakingviews – Chinese AI dragon confronts fiery new realities — Megvii Technology’s political problems have turned into financial ones. The Chinese developer of artificial-intelligence hardware and software is angling to go public again, this time in Shanghai after a U.S. trade ban factored into its abandonment of a Hong Kong listing attempt a year ago. The mainland venue makes more sense, but the numbers are far from compelling.
Other Publications
- ABC Investigations: Australians flagged in Shanghai security files which shed light on China’s surveillance state and monitoring of Uyghurs — The identities of 161 Australian citizens — including a former intelligence chief, government officials and business leaders — have been exposed in a hacked Shanghai security database which reveals the inner workings of China’s surveillance state.
- Foreign Policy: Russia and China Seek to Tie America’s Hands in Space — Biden should avoid the treaty trap set by Moscow and Beijing.
- Economist: America rediscovers its alliance with Japan — The pair are getting on better than ever, with Japan taking more of the initiative.
- Economist: China wants to make its Christians more Chinese — “Sinification” involves a five-year plan, of course.
- Economist: What 100 contracts reveal about China’s development lending — Loans are not obviously predatory; secrecy is sometimes a condition.
- Economist: China is betting that the West is in irreversible decline — The country’s leaders see their moment, and are seizing it.
- Nikkei Asian Review: Analysis: China revisits the night US bombed its Belgrade embassy — H&M boycott and Beijing diplomacy tours reflect country’s ability to punch back.
- The Diplomat: China’s Central Asian Rail Investment Does Not Add Up — China’s contribution to Central Asian rail connectivity remains miniscule.
- The DIplomat: China-US Relations: Views From China — By Mu Chunshan. Understanding how ordinary Chinese people view the relationship is a crucial, but often overlooked, element in getting U.S. policy right.
- Washington Post: China and Iran announced a new economic and security partnership. That’s not as alarming as it sounds. — China has similar deals with a number of Middle Eastern countries.
