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
- Fizzy Beer Stocks Are Due for a Bar Fight in China — China’s beer drinkers are getting choosier. Will Bud remain the King of Beers?
- Carson Block Calls for Delisting of Many Chinese Firms in U.S. — ‘We have…roughly 400 companies from China listed in the U.S. that are literally beyond the reach of investigation and enforcement,’ the short seller said.
The Financial Times
- China hits out at G7 leaders over Taiwan statement — Beijing accuses bloc of ‘gross interference’ in its affairs after bloc backs Taipei’s participation in WHO forums.
- The west is in a contest, not a cold war, with China — To restore their relevance the G7 rich democracies need to come up with a better offer than Beijing.
- Olympics sponsors duck questions over Beijing 2022 as boycott calls grow — Multinationals under pressure to take a stand on Xinjiang ahead of winter games.
- Beijing loses US-China conference to Singapore — Michael Bloomberg picks city-state citing Covid and conditions in China for journalists.
- Top US trade envoy signals intention to meet Chinese counterpart soon — High-level talks between Washington and Beijing would end months of stalemate.
The New York Times
- ‘Are You Like This Doggy?’ U.S. Embassy Asked Chinese Students. It Backfired. — In a social media post about visa applications, the consular section in Beijing posed a question that some critics called racist.
Caixin
- China’s Most Popular Podcast Platform Files for U.S. Listing — Tencent-backed Ximalaya bets investors will buy into growth story despite string of losses.
- Express Delivery Giants Struggle to Stem Losses as Price War Intensifies — With razor-thin margins, China’s delivery companies reported hundreds of millions of yuan in losses, even as their volumes grew significantly during the pandemic.
- China Box Office Tops Pre-Pandemic Levels During Labor Day Holiday — Ticket sales over the five-day period rose 9.36% from 2019 to reach 1.67 billion yuan.
- In Depth: China’s Updated Labeling Rule Gives Food-Makers More to Chew On — Revised nutritional labeling guidelines expected to require disclosure of high sugar, sodium and saturated fat content as Chinese suffer from growing array of diet-related maladies.
South China Morning Post
- China’s debt ratio continued decline in first quarter as economy rebounded from coronavirus pandemic — China has begun gradually reducing its debt-to-GDP ratio without compromising support for the nation’s post-pandemic economic recovery, the central bank has said in a new report.
- US-China tech war: Huawei’s chip unit HiSilicon to see massive decline in 5G chip market this year — HiSilicon, Huawei Technologies Co’s integrated circuit (IC) design unit, is expected to be the biggest loser in the 5G smartphone chipset market in 2021 as US company Qualcomm and Taiwan’s MediaTek expand their presence, according to a new research note published by Counterpoint.
- West must be ‘very careful’ about Chinese investment, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the West had to be very careful about the exact nature of Chinese investment in Western economies and think very carefully about investments in strategic assets.
- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is spending millions in China, a fraction of its total funding — On Monday, Bill and Melinda Gates, one of the world’s richest couples, shocked the world with the announcement that their 27-year marriage was coming to an end, raising questions about the impact on the couple’s philanthropy, which has seen hundreds of millions of dollars poured into China over the last couple of decades.
Bloomberg
- Copper and Iron Ore Surge as Chinese Investors Unleash Demand — Spot iron ore broke $200 a ton for the first time, while copper rose above $10,000 as Chinese investors unleashed fresh demand following a three-day holiday.
- What’s Happening in the World Economy: Meet China’s Mr Fix It — China’s vice premier is leading the charge to clean up the nation’s more than $50 trillion financial sector
- China’s Emissions Now Exceed All the Developed World’s Combined — China now accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than all of the world’s developed nations combined, according to new research from Rhodium Group.
- Chinese Electric Car Maker Nio Eyes Europe With Norway Foray — Chinese electric car upstart Nio Inc. will take its first step outside its home market, opening a showroom and beginning to sell vehicles in environmentally conscious Norway.
- Adidas, Nike Web Sales Plunge in China Amid Xinjiang Boycott — Online sales of Adidas AG and Nike Inc. plunged in China after a boycott of international brands that have taken a stand against the treatment of Muslim Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region, reflecting the blow to businesses that cross Beijing’s political lines.
- Huarong’s Fate May Rest With Xi Confidant Who Loathes Bailouts — The future of Huarong Asset Management Co., a troubled Chinese financial conglomerate, may be determined by a man who believes that allowing more state-owned companies to default is just what the country needs: Vice Premier Liu He.
Reuters
- U.S. Senate panel to take up technology research spending bill -sources — WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. legislative proposal to allocate about $110 billion for basic and advanced technology research and science in the face of rising competitive pressure from China will be debated by the Senate Commerce Committee on May 12, sources said on Wednesday.
- Britain set to stockpile metals for electric cars to beat Chinese threat – The Telegraph — Britain is exploring the creation of a national stockpile of so-called rare earth metals amid rising fears that country’s efforts to adopt electric cars are at risk from a Chinese stranglehold on supplies, The Telegraph reported on Wednesday.
Other Publications
- Economist: China wants the world to know that resistance to its rise is futile — It should worry more about why it is so distrusted.
- Economist: Will going digital transform the yuan’s status at home and abroad? — Don’t count on it: the new yuan will be a lot like the old yuan.
- Foreign Policy: Biden Wants to Replicate China’s Infrastructure Miracle — But he won’t be able to pull that off. Here’s why.
- Axios: China’s emissions surpass all developed nations combined — The distribution of global greenhouse gas emissions has reached an inflection point: China’s emissions exceeded developed nations combined in 2019, a new Rhodium Group analysis concludes.
- The Diplomat: China’s Deep-Sea Motivation for Claiming Sovereignty Over the South China Sea — At the bottom of the contested waters lies a supply of the rare earth minerals crucial to China’s tech ambitions.
- Nikkei Asian Review: Europe torn over calling China out over Xinjiang ‘genocide’ — Lawmakers pressuring governments, which are keen to preserve economic interests.
