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’s Message to America: We’re an Equal Now — President Xi is confronting the Biden administration with a new world view, that Beijing’s decades of not challenging the U.S. as global leader are over.
- In Battle With U.S. for Global Sway, China Showers Money on Europe’s Neglected Areas — Goods are arriving in Europe through a new trade corridor consisting of railroads, airport hubs and ports built with Chinese support.
- Ecuador’s New Leader Needs Help From U.S., but China Will Stay Close — President-elect Guillermo Lasso will inherit an economy in crisis following one of Latin America’s worst Covid-19 outbreaks.
- Chinese Auto Giant Geely Explores SPAC Deals — Multinational company is in talks to sponsor $300 million SPAC on Nasdaq and is considering another SPAC to float EV maker Polestar.
- Biden Touts Infrastructure Proposal in Chip-Shortage Meeting — Executives from Ford, GM, Intel, Alphabet and others discuss concerns about U.S. production capacity.
- Can Biden’s Resolve Weather Putin and Xi? — By Walter Russell Mead. He needs to rally not only allies but dovish Democrats against Beijing and Moscow.
The Financial Times
- China tech groups given a month to fix antitrust practices — Regulators summon 34 online companies after imposing record fine on Alibaba.
- If China demands less steel, Australian exporters will suffer — Rising commodity prices might help but relying on Chinese imports of iron ore looks unwise.
- China bonds/Huarong: debt manager heal thyself — Unless the Chinese government intervenes, the sell-off is set to widen.
- China’s high stakes engagement with Iran — A strategic partnership deal will raise alarm in Washington.
- Bonds of China’s largest bad debt investor plunge to record low — Concerns grow over assets linked to executed former chair of state-owned group.
- China struggles to rein in steel production — Covid has frustrated Beijing’s plans to redirect economy towards greener sources of growth.
- Clash of the titans — How a great power conflict is looming between the US and China.
- Ant ordered to restructure by Chinese regulators — Lending services could be severely weakened by loosening ties to Alipay payment platform.
- Alibaba: record fine means more spending on corporate good deeds — Ecommerce group will have to continue working hard to remain in Beijing’s good books.
- Alibaba shares jump after record antitrust fine — Chinese ecommerce group says penalty marks end of probes targeting its online practices.
- China backtracks on comments questioning efficacy of local vaccines — Top health official says remarks about jabs were ‘taken out of context’.
The New York Times
- Ant Group Announces Overhaul as China Tightens Its Grip — Beijing had accused the internet-finance titan, a sister company of the e-commerce giant Alibaba, of flouting regulations in its quest for growth.
- Alibaba Will Lower Merchant Fees After Antitrust Fine — China’s $2.8 billion antitrust penalty against Alibaba far exceeds its previous fines for anticompetitive business practices.
- China’s Forced-Labor Backlash Threatens to Put N.B.A. in Unwanted Spotlight — Lucrative endorsements deals with Chinese sports brands supporting Xinjiang cotton could pull the league and its athletes back into another geopolitical firestorm.
Caixin
- China Approves $5 Billion Quota for Hainan’s QDLP Pilot Program — QDLP pilot aims to improve domestic access to foreign assets as part of push to liberalize Hunan financial services, including free trade account to cross-border transactions, while QFLP would help foreign investors tap Chinese assets.
- Beijing to Big Tech: Stop Breaking the Law Within One Month or Else — China’s market regulator, cyberspace and tax agencies hauled in 34 tech firms for a dressing down Tuesday.
- Update: Huawei to Invest $1 Billion on Car Tech to Offset Impact of U.S. Sanctions — The Chinese telecommunications-gear maker says it will focus this year on software research and technologies related to electric vehicles in an effort to move into new growth areas.
- China Drone Giant Shows Its Hand With Plan to Appear at Shanghai Auto Show — DJI announces it will take part in the event for the first time in what is expected to be a coming-out party for its automotive arm.
South China Morning Post
- Can reshuffle help Beijing position its foreign aid more effectively? — For years many people have argued Beijing needs a reform of its foreign aid system to bolster its image as a responsible global power in the face of growing criticism over the lack of transparency and accountability in its aid projects.
- China digital currency: Shanghai, Hainan among regions added to e-yuan trials — China has added six more regions to its pilot programme for the sovereign digital yuan, expanding the scope of testing as the country inches closer to launching the world’s first central bank digital currency among major economies.
- China semiconductor imports surge to all-time high in March amid global chip shortage — Semiconductor imports by China surged to an all-time high in March, according to the latest figures released by the country’s customs authorities, as an acute chip shortage continued to disrupt major industries around the world.
- Tencent, JD and dozens of Chinese tech firms ordered to ‘learn from Alibaba’ as antitrust regulator keeps foot on crackdown pedal — China’s regulators hauled in 34 of the country’s largest technology companies, with a combined value that surpassed the UK’s economy, for a haranguing on Tuesday, as the government widened the scope and upped the ante on its crackdown on Big Tech.
Bloomberg
- Yellen Plans to Spare China From Currency Manipulator Label — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will decline to name China as a currency manipulator in her first semiannual foreign-exchange report, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that allows the U.S. to sidestep a fresh clash with Beijing.
- Trip.com Raises $1.1 Billion in Hong Kong Second Listing — Online travel platform Trip.com Group Ltd. has raised about HK$8.5 billion ($1.1 billion) in its Hong Kong second listing after pricing the shares at HK$268 each.
- China Clamps Down on Independent Oil Refiners to Curb Capacity — China is clamping down on independent oil refiners in an effort to curb overcapacity and stamp out illegal practices as the central government tries to control one of the country’s fastest-growing industries.
- China Considers Shifting Huarong Stake to Central Huijin — China’s finance ministry is considering transferring its stake in China Huarong Asset Management Co. to a unit of the nation’s sovereign wealth fund that invests in financial companies, according to a person familiar with the matter.
- GE, PowerChina Hydro Project on Zambia-Zimbabwe Border Delayed — The developers of a $4 billion hydropower plant on the Zambia-Zimbabwe border delayed the project until next year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Reuters
- Local Chinese regulators fine Alibaba-backed browser for false advertising — BEIJING (Reuters) -Local market regulators in China on Tuesday fined subsidiaries of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and 360 Security Technology Inc for engaging in false advertising.
- China’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine may start late-stage trial in May: state media — China’s locally developed COVID-19 vaccine candidate that uses messenger RNA (mRNA) technology could start late-stage clinical trial overseas as early as next month, official media said on Tuesday.
- China’s March trade surplus with United States at $21.37 billion — China’s trade surplus with the United States stood at $21.37 billion in March, Reuters calculations based on Chinese customs data showed on Tuesday, down from $23.01 billion in February.
Other Publications
- Nikkei Asian Review: China fines SPAC-linked fallen tech tycoon $37m over IPO fraud — Jia Yueting faces penalty with Leshi even as Faraday Future looks to Nasdaq.
- Foreign Policy: When Clean Energy Is Powered by Dirty Labor — Most solar panels come from China, and using them to fuel a clean energy transition risks reliance on Uyghur slave labor in Xinjiang.
- Foreign Affairs: Competition With China Can Save the Planet — Pressure, Not Partnership, Will Spur Progress on Climate Change.
- The Diplomat: China’s Digital Silk Road and the Global Digital Order — China’s Digital Silk Road is an ambitious vision to catalyze global digitalization. What will it mean for digital governance?
- The Diplomat: Civil Society and China’s Global Media Footprint — Insights from Sarah Cook.
