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
- A China Subway Flood Survivor’s Harrowing Experience: ‘I May Not Be Able to Get Out’ — Record rains in Zhengzhou flooded subway cars, trapping more than 500 commuters and disabling the ventilation system.
- Chinese Officials Blame U.S. for Stalemate in High-Level Talks — Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman is most senior U.S. official to visit China under the Biden administration.
- China’s Tutoring Restraint Slams Stocks — Country confirms intention to take drastic steps to curb booming industry.
- China Tech Slumps, Sending a Benchmark Back to Last Year’s Debut — Selloff leads Hong Kong’s flagship tech index to suffer worst percentage drop since launching.
- China’s Digital Yuan Puts Ant and Tencent in an Awkward Spot — Jack Ma’s Ant has quietly run pilot tests using digital yuan; ‘it’s even more risky to stay on the sidelines,’ says one observer
- What’s Holding Back China’s Recovery? The Kids Aren’t Alright — Young workers and job seekers, who often spend more of their income as they are just starting out, are struggling
The Financial Times
- Crackdown on education companies sparks sharp sell-off for Chinese stocks — Ban on tutoring groups from making profits raises fears that no sector is safe from Beijing’s regulatory assault.
- China’s education sector crackdown hits foreign investors — Tutoring businesses feared ‘virtually uninvestable’ under plans to curb private capital.
- China blasts ‘extremely dangerous’ US policy at high-level talks — Beijing’s vice foreign minister accuses Washington at meeting with US deputy secretary of state.
- UK looks to remove China’s CGN from nuclear power projects — Change in stance follows worsening of relations between London and Beijing.
- China is defying US pressure to change its behaviour — Talks in Tianjin aim to stop an increasingly belligerent relationship spilling into conflict.
- Extreme weather takes climate change models ‘off the scale’ — Scientists say shifting pattern of jet stream and global warming are key drivers.
- China imposes sanctions on Wilbur Ross and six other Americans — White House says moves demonstrate Beijing’s ‘further isolation from the world.’
- China Telecom: US blacklist was a blessing in disguise — Shanghai listing is well timed and sets the stage for other Chinese groups planning to return to the mainland.
The New York Times
- China Moves Against Education Companies, Causing Shares to Plunge — Beijing’s latest regulatory move in the tech sector requires online tutoring firms to become nonprofit institutions.
- As China Boomed, It Didn’t Take Climate Change Into Account. Now It Must. — China’s breathtaking economic growth created cities ill-equipped to face extreme weather. Last week’s dramatic floods showed that much will have to change.
- In Stinging Rebuke, China Tells U.S. Diplomat That Its Rise Can’t Be Stopped — Beijing accused Washington of a “thinly veiled attempt to contain and suppress China,” in remarks released before talks with a visiting U.S. diplomat had ended.
- Rescuing China’s Muzzled Past, One Footnote at a Time — In a two-volume tome, the independent historian Yu Ruxin explains the crucial role of the military in Mao’s stormy Cultural Revolution.
- Podesta Hired to Lobby by Huawei and Bulgarian Energy Company — With his allies running Washington, the veteran Democratic lobbyist has re-emerged after his firm collapsed under scrutiny from investigators.
Caixin
- Ministry Launches Six-Month Campaign to Clean Up Internet Platforms — Authorities target 22 ‘specific scenarios’ such as disrupting the operations of rival companies, using misleading pop-ups and improper collection of personal data.
- Weekend Long Read: How a London Power-Duo Outfoxed China’s Biggest Private Steel Giant — Shagang’s restructuring plan centered on a multibillion pound deal for a British data center operator. After five years, an insider trading investigation and a record trading suspension, was the deal worth it?
- Beijing Orders Tencent to Give Up Exclusive Music Copyrights — Regulatory probe finds tech firm’s 2016 purchase of China Music Corp. stake breached Anti-Monopoly Law.
South China Morning Post
- China moves to protect food delivery drivers from digital exploitation, knocking stocks such as services giant Meituan — Chinese regulators have ordered online platforms to ensure food delivery riders earn above the country’s minimum wage, that riders be freed from unreasonable demands placed upon them by algorithms, and that these workers have access to social security and a place in a union.
- Why the end of Tencent’s exclusive music deals not the panacea for China’s smaller music-streaming apps — Small operators of music-streaming apps in China will soon be able to offer some of the most popular tracks that were controlled for a long time by Tencent Holdings, but analysts said these firms still face an uphill battle to challenge the internet giant in this market.
- Beijing launches fresh crackdown on internet industry misconduct as Hong Kong tech stocks sink — China’s internet ministry has launched a new nationwide campaign to purge what it deems problems in the internet industry, which has been battered for months in an almost continuous crackdown from different government bodies.
Bloomberg
- Meituan Dives 14% in China Tech Selloff After New Crackdown — Meituan plummeted 14%, its worst on record, after Beijing authorities issued a series of sweeping reforms for private-sector companies.
- China Stocks Tumble in ‘Panic Selling’ Amid Broad Crackdown — A selloff in Chinese private education companies sent shockwaves through the equity market Monday, as investors scrambled to price in the growing risks from an intensifying crackdown by Beijing on some of the nation’s industries.
- Evergrande’s Special Dividend Has Investors Seeking Clues — As China Evergrande Group mulls a special dividend to revive confidence in its tumbling stock, analysts are gaming out several scenarios that could have markedly different implications for equity and bond investors.
Reuters
- Chinese parents fret after government bans for-profit tutoring firms — Anxious Chinese parents were rushing to hire private tutors to help their children navigate a fiercely competitive education system after the government moved last week to rein in companies in the massive tutoring services industry.
- China asks U.S. to remove visa restriction on Chinese students and Communist Party members -media — China has asked the United States to remove visa restriction on Chinese students and Communist Party members, among other requests, reported state media The Paper.
- China tightens grips on local government hidden debt — China is stepping up restrictions on financing to local government financing vehicles (LGFVs) to mitigate risks from hidden debt, the official Securities Times reported on Monday.
Other Publications
- The Washington Post: Search for China flood survivors turns desperate as Typhoon In-Fa hits east coast — Online and in local news outlets, people shared dozens of accounts of missing friends and family, conflicting with official reports that said only five people were unaccounted for.
- Quartz: China is extending its regulatory storm from tech to education — China’s State Council and the Party’s central committee have jointly issued a set of rules aimed at curtailing the sprawling sector that has flourished thanks to massive funding from global investors and ever increasing spending from families.
- The New Yorker: Hou Yifan and the Wait for Chess’s First Woman World Champion — For years, Hou was the only woman who stood a chance against the very best. But she had her own ambitions.
