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
- P&G Worked With China Trade Group on Tech to Sidestep Apple Privacy Rules — One of world’s largest ad buyers spent years building marketing machine reliant on digital user data, putting it at odds with iPhone maker’s privacy moves.
- U.S. Blacklists Chinese Entities It Says Are Aiding Weapons Program — Action bars American firms from supplying chips to Chinese supercomputing developers.
- Hyper-Nationalism on Xinjiang Poses Risks for Chinese Brands, Too — Some Western firms have become nationalist targets, but ‘consumer decoupling’ could cut both ways.
- China Car Sales Soar to Pre-Pandemic Levels — Tesla has its best month in the country, as demand for electric vehicles stand out in the market.
- China’s Greenland Ambitions Run Into Local Politics, U.S. Influence — Pro-environment party finished first in Greenland election, leaving in limbo a China-backed mining project central to Beijing’s drive to control rare earths.
- The Improbable Dream of the Chinese Property Tax — The dynamics of the country’s housing market may simply make a tax too costly, whatever its merits.
- CME Seeks to Tap Electric-Car Demand With Lithium Futures — Contracts tied to the battery metal could make pricing more transparent.
- Procter & Gamble’s New Stakeholder — By James Freeman. The woke corporation partners with a state-backed organization in China to collect data on consumers.
The Financial Times
- Europe and US stocks hold on to gains during record-setting week — Chinese equities tumble after producer price index jumps by the most in 2 years.
- Boycotting Beijing 2022 is not the answer — There are more targeted ways of expressing concern over Xinjiang.
- Beijing forces elite Jack Ma academy to halt new enrolments — Chinese authorities pressure business school in latest move to rein in tech billionaire’s influence.
- Manila confronts Beijing’s ‘utter disregard’ for law in South China Sea — China accused of using sheltering ships in the Spratlys as a precursor to claiming territory.
- US adds Chinese supercomputing companies to export blacklist — Biden administration tightens controls on technologies it says are helping China’s military.
The New York Times
- Chinese Shows Blur Western Brands Over Xinjiang Cotton Dispute — Online platforms that stream dance, singing and comedy shows are pixelating performers’ T-shirts and sneakers amid a nationalistic fervor.
Caixin
- In Depth: China Aims to Hold Down Property Prices With Land Auction Overhaul — The measure marks a significant departure from how cities sell land-use right to developers, but analysts disagree on whether it will work.
- Cash-Strapped Developer China Fortune Gets Debt Reprieve — Creditors agree to extend company’s deadline to repay $2.7 billion after it defaulted earlier this year.
- China Posts First Inflation Increase of the Year — Factory gate prices jumped by the fastest pace in almost three years in March on a low base and rapid rise in energy and commodity prices.
- China’s Li Auto Raises $750 Million Through Bond Sale to Fund Electric Car Development — U.S.-listed Chinese electric vehicle startup Li Auto is raising $750 million through the sale of convertible senior notes to fund its research and development, as the company steps up efforts to compete with established players and newcomers like Baidu and Xiaomi.
South China Morning Post
- China’s crackdown on cross-border gambling aims for payment platforms and others abetting — China’s Ministry of Public Security vows to take stringent measures to combat cross-border gambling as part of an effort to maintain economic security, social stability and the country’s national image.
- US-China tech war: the world’s two largest economies are ‘most significant rivals’ in space by 2040, new report says — The United States’ National Intelligence Council (NIC), an intra-governmental think tank, said China will be “the most significant rival” in space by 2040, an area the US government has already highlighted as strategic for continuing national security, according to a report released on Tuesday.
- Chile Covid-19 vaccination drive adds to Sinovac efficacy data — Chile has provided a real-time demonstration of the effectiveness of Chinese firm Sinovac’s Covid-19 vaccine, with its vaccination drive results showing it to be 56.5 per cent effective two weeks after the second dose. The findings were in line with Phase 3 trial results of the vaccine in Brazil, which found an efficacy rate of around 50 per cent.
- Baidu defeats US shareholder lawsuit over China internet law compliance — A US judge has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Baidu Inc of defrauding shareholders about its ability to comply with Chinese regulations governing internet content.
- After hitting carmakers like Tesla and Sony’s PlayStation 5, chip shortages have now spread to China’s vast home appliances industry — A global shortage in semiconductors, which has already disrupted manufacturing at carmakers like Tesla and production of Sony’s PlayStation 5 game consoles, has now spread to China’s vast home appliances sector, according to industry giant Midea Group.
Bloomberg
- Biden Combines Green New Deal With New Cold War to Fight China — Drafting cleantech to fight China could help sell voters, but endangers his climate goals.
- Alibaba’s South China Morning Post Said to Cut 4% of Workers — The South China Morning Post, the Hong Kong newspaper owned by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., is cutting 4% of staff in a reorganization of divisions including product, technology and subscriptions.
- Taiwan’s Exports Up for Ninth Straight Month on Chip Demand — Taiwan continued to benefit from global demand for its electronics goods, with exports rising for a ninth straight month in March.
- China’s Didi Is Said to Raise $1.5 Billion in Debt Ahead of IPO — Didi Chuxing is raising $1.5 billion of debt financing from banks as the Chinese ride-hailing giant seeks to expand its firepower ahead of a potential U.S. initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter.
- China Is Said to Revive $3 Billion Sale of Rescued Insurer Dajia — China is reviving a sale of Dajia Insurance Group Co., the company that took over most of the operations of troubled Anbang Insurance Group Co., as the government seeks to turn the firm over to private investors, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Reuters
- China unveils new financial policies to further open up Hainan province — BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) -China’s financial regulators announced on Friday a set of new policies, including increased yuan convertibility and market access for foreign investors, for Hainan, a southern island province being made a testing ground for economic reforms.
- Exclusive: China’s Didi picks Goldman, Morgan Stanley for mega U.S. IPO – sources — China’s top ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing has mandated Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to lead its blockbuster IPO and plans to file confidentially for the New York float this month, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
Other Publications
- Nikkei Asian Review: Record pace of Chinese listings in US shows signs of strain — 10 companies have fallen on debut in two-month losing streak.
- Nikkei Asian Review: China’s Wingtech builds $2bn EV-geared plant amid chip shortage — Power semiconductors fall outside reach of US sanctions.
- Economist: China thinks it can avoid Middle Eastern traps that caught America — It may find that hard.
- Economist: As China’s stockmarket corrects, regulators try doing less — So far, they have avoided heavy-handed intervention.
- Economist: China tries to nick another speck in the sea from the Philippines — Whitsun Reef is three times farther from China than the Philippines.
- Economist: The plight of China’s “left-behind” children — Some 31m live apart from both parents, who have moved for work in cities.
- Foreign Policy: Japan Toughens on China As Beijing Issues Threats — Pro-engagement politicians are aging out of the Liberal Democratic Party.
- Axios: Sens. Menendez, Risch unveil bipartisan bill to counter China — Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and ranking member Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) on Thursday announced their finished bipartisan proposal to counter China’s rising political and financial power.
- Washington Post: China scrambles to lock down Myanmar border amid fears of covid and post-coup instability — In a locked-down border city abutting Myanmar, Chinese authorities are springing into crisis mode to stamp out a spike in coronavirus cases and seal the porous frontier amid fears that refugees could be streaming in to escape fighting in post-coup Myanmar, bringing with them covid-19 and instability.
