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
- Embattled Chinese Property Tycoon Turns to Electric Cars. Cue $87 Billion Valuation. — Evergrande founder Xu Jiayin hasn’t sold any vehicles yet and his real-estate empire is groaning with debt.
- China’s Mutual-Fund Stars Go From Boom to Backlash — Investors thronged to market-beating fund managers. Then the market slumped, and the onetime stars became targets of online ire.
- TikTok Parent’s Founder Zhang Yiming to Step Down as CEO — Co-founder Liang Rubo to lead ByteDance, inheriting a company that is facing growing government pressure in China to stay in line.
- Tencent Earnings Power Through Tech Crackdown — The gaming company’s shares have been pummeled along with the rest of the Chinese tech sector, but its latest results show the doom may be overdone.
- Bitcoin Volatility Signals a Long Road to Adoption [Video] — China’s recent warning on cryptocurrency sent the market in a tailspin. WSJ’s Aaron Back explains why the recent shake-ups in the value of bitcoin, dogecoin, ether and other cryptocurrencies may point to obstacles in mainstream acceptance.
The Financial Times
- Tencent revenues jump 25% as regulators circle — Chinese social and gaming group’s strong growth led by fintech and business services unit.
- India blames China for deadly Himalayan clashes — Foreign minister S Jaishankar says relations will not improve until calm is restored on disputed border.
- ByteDance/Zhang Yiming: swapping political nightmares for daydreaming — Liang’s elevation should help Chinese group at home amid crackdown on tech giants.
- Chinese province sets up hotline to report suspected crypto miners — Move comes as Beijing’s crackdown prompts volatility in global bitcoin trading.
- Biden to push South Korea to take tough line on China at summit — Moon Jae-in wary of language that would anger Beijing as he meets US president in Washington.
- Zhang Yiming to step down as ByteDance chief — Resignation marks latest retreat by a Chinese tech executive as Beijing cracks down on sector.
- Don’t bet against China’s investment-led growth model — Stronger outlook compared with US supports gains in renminbi over the dollar.
The New York Times
- Countries Are Scrambling for Vaccines. Mongolia Has Plenty. — By playing off its big neighbors, Russia and China, Mongolia has emerged as a positive outlier among developing nations on the hunt for shots.
- TikTok’s Owner, ByteDance, Says C.E.O. Zhang Yiming Will Resign — Zhang Yiming steered ByteDance to become China’s first truly globally successful internet company.
Caixin
- One-Off Investment Gains Drive Up Tencent’s First-Quarter Profit — China’s most valuable internet company notches 65% earnings jump as revenue rises 25% in the three months through March.
- Fosun Unit Mulls Bid for Bankrupt HNA’s Airline Assets — Chinese conglomerate brings to four the number of investors showing interest in buying the former high-flyer’s sprawling air travel operations.
- Edtech Firm Zhangmen Files for U.S. IPO as Regulatory Scrutiny Tightens At Home — Lesser-known Chinese online education firm Zhangmen has submitted an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list on the New York Stock Exchange, skipping home country where regulators have increased scrutiny on e-learning platforms amid complaints about improper business practices.
South China Morning Post
- China vows to curb inflation risks by tackling ‘malicious speculation’ in commodity markets — China says it will step up efforts to curb fast-rising commodity prices and prevent inflation, pledging more targeted measures to fight “abnormal trading” and “malicious speculation”.
- China must give up control of yuan exchange rate to achieve internationalisation, central bank official says — China has to give up its control over the currency’s exchange rate eventually if it wants to achieve greater global use of the yuan, according to a central bank official.
Bloomberg
- Tencent Joins Alibaba in Spending Spree as Competition Heats Up — Tencent Holdings Ltd. pledged to sharply increase investments this year after posting a 25% gain in quarterly revenue, aiming to fend off ByteDance Ltd. and sustain its pandemic-era boom in gaming and cloud.
- Hong Kong Raises IPO Profit Minimum in Watered-Down Move — Hong Kong’s exchange backed off from a proposal to double or even triple the annual profit requirement for companies seeking to sell shares on its main board following opposition from banks.
- Billionaire Founder of China Property Giant Dies of Illness — The billionaire founder of KE Holdings Inc. has died of an unspecified illness, a shocking development for a Chinese property company that pulled off one of the strongest U.S. market debuts of 2020.
- Tencent Tries to Recover From $200 Billion Antitrust Slide — Tencent Holdings Ltd. is setting out to prove it’s best placed to weather a storm of antitrust scrutiny that’s wiped about $200 billion off the value of China’s largest company in a span of months.
- Biden Says U.S. Must Defend Sea Lanes in Arctic, South China Sea — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the U.S. must defend open and safe sea lanes in the Arctic and South China Sea as nations including Russia and China seek to assert greater control over the maritime regions.
Reuters
- China CO2 emissions 9% higher than pre-pandemic levels in first quarter -research — China’s emissions of climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions rose 9% in the first quarter of 2021 compared with pre-pandemic levels, driven by a carbon-intensive economic recovery and big hikes in steel and cement output, research showed on Thursday.
- Explainer: What’s happening with industrial commodity prices in China? — Prices in China for commodities such as iron ore, steel rebar, coal and copper have surged to record highs this month prompting the government to step in to curb “unreasonable” cost increases for consumers.
- Ageing China boosts private sector role as pensions time bomb ticks — China is tweaking its $1.2 trillion pension system to increase private sector involvement as its population ages rapidly and underfunding looms, but experts say fundamental changes are needed to provide adequate safety nets.
- Ericsson’s China ambitions in jeopardy over Sweden’s Huawei ban — An upcoming court decision that will decide the future role Huawei can play in Sweden could also be a potential turning point for national champion Ericsson’s ambitions in China.
Other Publications
- Axios: Scoop: Bipartisan bill pushes Biden to act on Uyghur genocide — A bipartisan bill being introduced in the House Wednesday would hold President Biden accountable for taking tangible steps to address the Chinese Communist Party’s genocide of the Uyghur population, Axios has learned.
- Economist: China’s Communist Party chips away at Hong Kong business houses — The territory’s tycoons are falling out of favour.
- Economist: How to thrive in the shadow of giants — Smaller companies are snapping at the heels of the tech titans.
- Nikkei Asian Review: JD.com beats market expectations as China online boom persists — Q1 revenue jumps after Starbucks and other brands launch stores on e-commerce platform.
- Nikkei Asian Review: China breaks ground on Russian-designed nuclear reactors — Xi and Putin tout partnership ahead of G-7 summit as US pressure mounts.
- Nikkei Asian Review: China supply chains give birth to potent global brands — ‘Factory of world’ infrastructure and online retailers give leg up to startups.
- AP News: China says providing vaccines to almost 40 African states — China said Thursday it is providing COVID-19 vaccines to nearly 40 African countries, describing its actions as purely altruistic in an apparent intensification of what has been described as “vaccine diplomacy.”
- The Diplomat: China Deepens Fintech Dominance With New Digital Currency — Beijing is still just chipping away at U.S. financial hegemony.
- The Diplomat: China’s Tightening of IPO Regulations Could Push More Companies Toward Overseas Listings — Even as China’s IPO market booms, more and more firms are looking overseas – especially to the U.S.
- Atlantic Council: How to leverage the Quad to counter China’s Digital Sinosphere — China’s growing ambition to recode the rules of cyberspace should serve as a wake-up call for the Indo-Pacific’s leading digital democracies: Cooperate on technology or risk ceding ground to Beijing and its expanding digital sphere of influence.