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
- U.S. Can Stop the Pandemic and Counter China — By Ben Sasse. Vaccine diplomacy would save lives, bolster national security, and help everyone but the Communist Party.
- China Mobile to List in Shanghai as It Departs NYSE — China Mobile, two smaller rivals lost appeals against being kicked off New York Stock Exchange.
- Pro-China Lawmakers in Hong Kong Find a New National-Security Target: Art — Legislators call for barring some art from new museum as insulting to China; ‘middle finger pointing at Tiananmen Square’.
The Financial Times
- Poetic social media post costs founder of China’s Meituan super app $2bn — Investor reaction to ancient verse underscores fears over Beijing’s tech crackdown.
- Cloud becomes new front line between China and the west — US resolve to resist Beijing’s advance remains solid, despite a Biden-led White House reining in rhetoric.
The New York Times
- China’s Biggest ‘Bad Bank’ Tests Beijing’s Resolve on Financial Reform — Chinese regulators say they want to clean up the country’s financial system, but a state-owned conglomerate may ultimately get in the way.
- How Apple Stays on the Good Side of Chinese Authorities — To stay on the good side of the Chinese authorities, the company has made decisions that contradict its carefully curated image.
- In China, Apple Compromises on Censorship and Surveillance — Apple built the world’s most valuable business on top of China. Now it has to answer to the Chinese government.
- What We Know About China’s Mars Rover Zhurong Landing — The success establishes China as a principal contender in what some see as a new era of space competition.
Caixin
- Tencent Music Posts Strong Growth Under Shadow of Antitrust Clampdown — Leading Chinese online music provider’s revenue jumps 24% in first quarter on growth in subscriptions, advertising services.
- Chinese Online Language Educator 51Talk Sees Profits Slump Even as Revenue Grows — Chinese online language-training platform 51Talk may have mixed feelings about its first-quarter results which showed that it enjoyed solid growth in revenue but suffered a dramatic drop in profits.
- Automaker Changan Plans to List EV Unit in Shanghai, Report Says — Chongqing Changan Automobile plans to list its electric vehicle (EV) unit on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-like STAR Market, Reuters reported on Monday, citing sources briefed on the matter, in a move that could give the state-owned Chinese carmaker a big source of funding as startups like Xpeng have become investor darlings.
South China Morning Post
- Sour relations between Beijing and Canberra dampen mainland Chinese investment in Australian property market — The worsening tensions between Canberra and Beijing have dampened the appetite of mainland Chinese for Australian property, with investments declining by 29 per cent in 2020, according to data from Real Capital Analytics (RCA).
- Tencent loses last major exclusive music licensing deal as NetEase, Sony seal distribution pact — Sony Music Entertainment announced on Monday “a direct digital distribution relationship” with NetEase Cloud Music, a unit of Chinese video games giant NetEase, to effectively end an exclusive licensing deal in mainland China with Tencent Music Entertainment (TME).
Bloomberg
- Copper Rises With Industrial Metals as Supply Risks Buoy Rally — Copper rose toward a record as the potential for tighter regulation and higher taxes in Chile fuel concerns about the long-term supply outlook. Zinc jumped amid speculation about disruptions to Chinese output.
- Alibaba-Backed Huitongda Said to Weigh $1 Billion Hong Kong IPO — Huitongda Network Co., a Chinese e-commerce platform serving the country’s rural areas, is weighing a Hong Kong initial public offering that could raise as much as $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
- Hong Kong Closes Trade Office in Taiwan Amid Spat Over Visas — Hong Kong has closed its trade office in Taipei, the latest tit-for-tat exchange between the cities as Beijing works to isolate the democratically ruled island.
Reuters
- Chinese financial, payment bodies barred from cryptocurrency business — Chinese financial industry bodies said on Tuesday that financial and payment institutions must not conduct cryptocurrency-related businesses.
- China’s Baidu beats quarterly revenue estimates on AI, cloud boost — China’s Baidu Inc reported quarterly revenue that beat Wall Street estimates on Tuesday, as the company beefed up its cloud and artificial intelligence services to fend off competition in the advertising business.
- China Mobile eyes $6 billion Shanghai listing after flagging NYSE exit — China Mobile has approved plans for a potential HK$47.08 billion ($6.06 billion) listing in Shanghai, weeks after the telecom firm said it would be delisted by the New York Stock Exchange in line with U.S. investment restrictions dating to 2020.
Other Publications
- Nikkei Asian Review: China’s $2.14tn of bonds coming due unnerves foreign investors — Country faces massive debt servicing costs for infrastructure by 2023.
- Nikkei Asian Review: US Senate votes to open debate on China tech bill — Measure enables authorizing more than $110bn in research over five years.
- POLITICO: Senate advances a rare bipartisan deal on countering China — The nascent agreement, backed by President Joe Biden, is a bright spot for a chamber that has grown increasingly partisan in recent years.
- POLITICO: EU countries extend sanctions against Russian, Chinese hackers — The Council of the EU on Monday extended a tool allowing the bloc to slap asset freezes and travel bans on foreign hackers, including those imposed on Russian, Chinese and North Korean state-backed groups last year.
- Defense News: Taiwan unveils Army restructure aimed at decentralizing military — Taiwan will reorganize its Army’s command structure to emphasize joint operations between its services and give regional commanders more operational flexibility in the event of a conflict, the country’s defense minister told lawmakers.
- The Diplomat: China’s Warning to Bangladesh on the Quad — The comments from the Chinese ambassador show Beijing’s insecurities on the issue.
- The Diplomat: Australia-China Trade Tensions Persist With Cancelled Agreements and Sharp Statements — Canberra and Beijing pass the one-year mark of increased tensions over COVID-19 origins and the subsequent trade war.
