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
- Facebook Staff Fret Over China’s Ads Portraying Happy Muslims in Xinjiang — Workers express concerns internally about advertisements and content by Beijing promoting message that mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in the region are thriving.
- China Targets H&M With Xinjiang Propaganda Made for Home and Abroad [Video] — Beijing is beating back international criticism of its treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang with a propaganda push on Facebook, Twitter and the big screen. Here’s how China’s campaign against Western brands is aimed at audiences at home and abroad.
- Convicted in Hong Kong — By The Editorial Board. China sends the message that if we can get them, we can get you too.
- Godfather of Hong Kong Democracy Movement Convicted for Big 2019 Protest — The trial is part of a wave of prosecutions under way as China crushes dissent in the former British colony.
The Financial Times
- China intensifies Xinjiang propaganda push as global backlash grows — State broadcaster blames ‘terrorist threat’ to justify clampdown on Uyghurs in region.
- New Laos president faces rising China debt and battered economy — Party General Secretary Thongloun Sisoulith enjoys high support as ‘clean’ leader.
The New York Times
- China’s New Rules Worry Foreign Banks and Companies — New rules, aimed at taming big money flows and possibly controlling the Chinese currency, could give domestic rivals a competitive edge and make international firms more dependent on local lenders.
- Japan Is Finding It Harder to Stay Quiet on China’s Abuse of Uyghurs — Public awareness of the issue is growing in the country, spurred in part by the work of Uyghur activists, and that is increasing pressure on the government to take action.
- BBC’s John Sudworth Leaves China, Citing Growing Risks — John Sudworth left with his family after a propaganda campaign against him that followed coverage of the origins of Covid-19 and of a crackdown on Muslim minorities.
- Britain Holds On to a Colony in Africa, With America’s Help — And together they are sabotaging their own efforts to curb China’s advances in the South China Sea.
Caixin
- Exclusive: Corrupt Shanghai Clearing House Ex-Boss Brought Down by Hidden Bonuses, Sources Say — Xu Zhen skirted salary limits through undeclared tax refunds and secret payments, sources told Caixin.
- Huarong Asset Management Shares Suspended in Hong Kong Trading — Troubled state-owned bad debt manager misses March 31 deadline for reporting 2020 results, saying auditors need more time to sort out certain transactions.
- TSMC to Beef Up Chip Production Capacity with $100 Billion Investment Plan — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) unveiled on Thursday a plan to invest $100 billion over the next three years to increase capacity at its plants, a move that came amid a shortage of chips that has hindered the production of makers of cars, phones, laptops and even appliances, according to Reuters.
- Bilibili Invests in Mobile Game Developer Amid Push to Expand Content Library — Chinese video streamer Bilibili, dual listed in New York and Hong Kong, has made an equity investment in Shanghai-based mobile game developer XD Inc., as it aims to build a content library that can cater to the various tastes of animation fans, moviegoers, gamers as well as merchants.
South China Morning Post
- Overuse of antibiotics threatens China’s fish farms, scientists warn — Excessive use of antibiotics could ruin China’s booming seafood industry, a new study has warned.
- Taiwan train crash: 51 killed, 146 hurt in collision with runaway truck — At least 51 people died and 146 were injured after a train was derailed after apparently colliding with a runaway truck in Taiwan on Friday. The incident was the worst of its kind on the island for at least 40 years. The dead include one French citizen, while two Japanese and a Macau citizen are among the injured, according to local authorities.
- How deadly floods in western China could threaten new Silk Road — Summer rains in western China have nearly doubled in the past 50 years because of climate change, posing an unexpected threat to Belt and Road Initiative projects in Xinjiang and central Asia, according to a new study.
- Xiaomi bets big on ‘smartphone with four doors’ despite huge challenges in electric vehicle market — When Lei Jun stepped on stage this week to announce Xiaomi’s entrance into China’s highly competitive electric vehicle (EV) race, the company founder and CEO compared smart cars to “smartphones with four doors”.
Bloomberg
- Japan’s Suga to Be the First Foreign Leader to Meet With Biden — Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will become the first foreign leader to hold a face-to-face meeting with President Joe Biden in a summit planned for April 16, where China will be high on the agenda.
- Justin Sun Buys Real Picasso, Warhols After Losing $69 Million Beeple NFT — Justin Sun, a Chinese tech investor, has transitioned from digital to IRL art.
Reuters
- Analysis: In China’s small cities, home buyers suffer as debt-ridden developers fail to finish projects — In Zhuozhou, a small city in China’s north, Zhu has stopped making mortgage payments on her apartment after its developer did not build a promised rail line that would have allowed residents to commute to Beijing for work.
Other Publications
- BBC: The cost of speaking up against China — Women who made allegations last month of rape and sexual abuse in Chinese detention camps have been harassed and smeared in the weeks since. Rights groups say the attacks are typical of an aggressive campaign by China to silence those who speak up.
- Nikkei Asian Review: Chinese banks cautious on bad loans despite bumper profits — Prudent stance compares with analyst and investor confidence for turnaround.
- Foreign Policy: Are U.S. and Chinese Interests Really Opposed in Iran and Myanmar? — Beijing is making moves to ensure regional dominance in Southeast Asia and oil supplies from the Middle East. It could be shooting itself in the foot.
- Foreign Policy: Great-Power Competition Is a Recipe for Disaster — The latest poorly defined buzzword in Washington is leading pundits and policymakers down a dangerous path.
- Washington Post: Chinese firms — and African labor — are building Africa’s infrastructure — On March 18, Tanzanians woke up to the news that their president, John Magufuli, had died. Nicknamed “the bulldozer” for his advocacy of infrastructure development, in Africa-China circles he was known for indefinitely suspending the involvement of China Merchants Holdings International in the development of the $10 billion Bagamoyo port, citing the project’s skewed terms and conditions.
- The Diplomat: Growing Duality: Polish Opinions on China and Why They Matter — A recent survey suggests that that Poles are becoming increasingly skeptical about China.
- Axios: Antitrust scrutiny is a growing concern for China’s Big Tech — Big Tech players in China like Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu are facing challenges all-too-familiar to Amazon, Facebook and Google.
- Axios: Biden builds infrastructure pitch around China challenge — In laying out his $2 trillion infrastructure plan on Wednesday, President Biden used the word “roads” twice and “China” six times.