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
- Hong Kong Plans Law to Tie Mobile-Phone Numbers to User’s Identity — The city’s government moved to make people provide their identities when buying SIM cards, a change that critics said will infringe on individual freedoms and privacy.
- China Delivers Three-Child Policy, but It’s Too Late for Many — Beijing is letting married couples have three children, but demographers say it would have had a bigger impact before the one-child mind-set took hold.
- China Factories Delay New Orders as Costs Rise, Risking Supply Shortages — Buffeted by rising costs, some Chinese manufacturers are refusing to accept new orders or are considering shutting down operations temporarily—moves that could put more strain on global supply chains and cause more inflation.
- China Three-Child Policy Aims to Rejuvenate Aging Population — China’s top decision-making body said the government would raise its limit to three children per couple from two, just weeks after a census showed the population on the cusp of a historic turning point following decades of rapid growth.
- China’s Factory Activity Slipped in May, but Consumer Spending Held Up — A holiday spurred spending on travel and accommodation, and construction climbed.
- Does China’s Baby Bust Mean a Global Inflation Boom? — The effects of China’s demographic crisis will percolate to nearly every corner of the global economy.
The Financial Times
- China demographics: bet on robots, not baby booms — The influence of governments and faith leaders on reproduction rates is low compared with economics.
- The pitfalls of modern battleship diplomacy — UK, France and Germany should beware of sending mixed messages to China.
- China boosts measures to cool renminbi rally — Beijing turns to measures not used since global financial crisis as currency strengthens.
- Two Ethiopian projects show ‘railpolitik’ in action — Rail deals offers a chance to compare major pieces of infrastructure backed by Chinese and non-Chinese companies.
- China’s wolf warriors bristle at Covid blame — A new US investigation into the origins of the pandemic raises the stakes for Beijing and Washington.
- China trying ‘to undermine Australia and New Zealand’s security’, warns Morrison — Wellington accused of putting commercial interests with Beijing ahead of human rights concerns.
- China and green energy drive copper prices to record high — Shares in Asian miners and nonferrous producers surge despite supply concerns.
- How to buy Champions League success — This week in the business of sport: private equity bets on basketball in Africa, China fights to keep up with marathon growth, and more.
- Wall Street’s new love affair with China — At a time of growing geopolitical competition, US and European investment firms are plunging into the Chinese market.
- Electronics sales boom drives tin prices to 10-year high — Shift to homeworking, drought in China and volcanic eruption in the DRC all contributed.
The New York Times
- China’s Three-Child Policy Sparks Indignation and Concern — Intense workplace competition, inadequate child care and widespread job discrimination against pregnant women have made childbearing an unappealing prospect for many.
- China Wants More Babies. Some Men Choose Vasectomies. — As the Chinese government tries to increase the country’s falling birthrate, some millennials are striving for a lifestyle commonly known as “Double Income, No Kids.”
- For China’s Single Mothers, a Road to Recognition Paved With False Starts — Unmarried mothers are often denied government benefits. A debate over the policy is being propelled by a declining birthrate and a new generation of independent Chinese women.
- How China’s Family Planning Policies Have Evolved — For decades, couples were generally limited to one child to slow population growth. With a potential demographic crisis looming, the government now wants them to have more.
- U.S. Experts Call on China to Allow More Inquiries Into Pandemic’s Origin — Suspicions have focused on the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which long gathered bat viruses and whose laboratories conducted experiments on them.
- Why the Lab Leak Theory Matters — The debate about Covid’s origins will have implications beyond the media critique.
- A Neighborhood in Guangzhou Locks Down Amid New Outbreak — Residents of five streets of a district in the southern city of Guangzhou are under stay-at-home orders after an outbreak that appeared to have spread from a restaurant.
Caixin
- Money-Losing Chinese Electronics Reseller Files for U.S. Listing — In its IPO filing to the NYSE, the JD.com-backed company identifies its negative cash flow and reliance on the e-commerce giant as key risks.
- China Logistics Giant SF Holding Aims to Spin Off Intracity Express Delivery Business — Latest deal comes as SF’s results swing to losses amid industry shake-up stemming from long-running price war.
- Cover Story: How a Perfect Storm Created a Global Chip Shortage — Pandemic, trade tensions and miscalculations may lead to a multibillion-dollar reshaping of the global semiconductor industry with sweeping implications.
- Italy Approves Vodafone 5G Deal With Huawei — But There Are Strings Attached — Huawei has reportedly obtained conditional approval from Rome to participate in the construction of Vodafone’s 5G radio access network in Italy, winning a rare victory in Europe where the Chinese tech giant finds deals to buy its 5G equipment hard to come by.
South China Morning Post
- China economy: manufacturing growth picked up in May, but inflation pressures builds — China’s factory activity expanded at the fastest pace this year in May as domestic and export demand picked up, though sharp rises in raw material prices and strains in supply chains crimped some companies’ production, a business survey showed on Tuesday.
- China antitrust: inquiry into the merger of video game streamers Huya, DouYu puts spotlight on Tencent — In the second of a four-part series on China’s antitrust investigations into the nation’s internet and technology sectors, Josh Ye looks at the latest development in the world’s largest video gaming market.
- Food delivery giant Meituan to deepen dialogue with regulators after beating estimates to post first-quarter revenue growth — Meituan, operator of China’s largest food delivery and local services platform, reported a 120.9 per cent revenue increase in the first quarter, as the company vowed to deepen its dialogue with antitrust regulators amid an investigation into the company’s operations.
Bloomberg
- China Is Digging Deep Into Its Currency Toolkit to Manage Yuan — As China’s central bank pulls back from direct intervention in its currency market, officials are reverting to old tools to manage the yuan.
- China’s Three-Child Policy May Do Little to Boost Birthrate — China’s surprise decision to allow all couples to have a third child may be too little too late to reverse the nation’s declining birthrate and shrinking workforce.
- A Fugitive Chinese Billionaire (and Bannon Buddy) Has an American Dream — Guo Wengui’s combative personality has made him a social media sensation among the Chinese diaspora. But does he really have a good head for business?
- Huarong Wires $978 Million to Repay Bonds as Doubts Persist — China Huarong Asset Management Co. made the biggest bond payment since confidence in its financial health began plunging two months ago, adding to signs that the company still has access to near-term liquidity.
- China Wrecks IPO Plans for High-Flying Education Startups — China is escalating a crackdown on its online education sector, forcing once high-flying startups to mothball plans for multi-billion-dollar initial public offerings this year.
- China Stocks’ Best Week in Months Rekindles Investors’ Hopes — China stocks’ biggest weekly surge since February is rekindling investor hopes for a strong rally ahead. But don’t expect the sentiment-driven frenzy of last year, analysts say.
- China Limits Issuance in $63 Billion Mortgage-Backed Debt Market — China is beginning to curb issuance of securities backed by residential mortgages, expanding efforts to rein in runaway property prices and household debt, people familiar with the matter said.
Reuters
- China ups fines and widens scope of draft money laundering law — China’s central bank on Tuesday issued a revised draft anti-money laundering law, under which fines for certain offences would rise to as much as 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) and a host of non-financial institutions would be brought within its scope.
- Growth in China home prices to sustain momentum in 2021 — BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s home prices are expected to grow faster this year than anticipated a few months earlier fuelled by hot demand in major cities and easy liquidity, despite Beijing’s heightened cooling measures, a Reuters poll showed.
- How will China’s latest oil probe affect the world’s biggest crude importer? — SINGAPORE (Reuters) -This year China’s government has been gradually ramping up scrutiny of its sprawling oil industry, reinforcing its authority with new taxes on refined products while investigating crude imports by state energy giants and independent refiners.
Other Publications
- Nikkei Asian Review: China cracks down on tutoring schools amid education scrutiny — Fines imposed as Beijing looks to cut costs of raising children.
- Foreign Affairs: Identity Politics With Chinese Characteristics — How the CCP’s Quest to Define “China” Shapes Beijing’s Agenda.
- The Diplomat: A European FTA With India Is Not a Counterweight to China — There is currently no way for India to take China’s place in the European Union’s economic relations.
- Human Rights Watch: “Take Maternity Leave and You’ll Be Replaced” — China’s Two-Child Policy and Workplace Gender Discrimination.
- PIIE: US-China phase one tracker: China’s purchases of US goods — Through April 2021, China’s total imports of covered products from the United States were $47.1 billion, compared with a year-to-date target of $64.5 billion.
