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
- TikTok Rival’s Stock Slides Amid Removal of U.S. App, Criticism of Video Platforms — Kuaishou Technology pulled Zynn from U.S. app store, while Chinese state media attacked proliferation of harmful video-streaming content.
- Delta Variant Prompts Beijing to Cancel Large August Events — Cancellations are latest sign Covid-19 variant is denting economic activity in China.
- Delta Variant Arrives in Wuhan After More Than a Year With No Covid-19 — Wuhan officials order mass testing; Beijing cuts off travel in bid to protect capital from multiplying outbreaks.
The Financial Times
- ByteDance cuts jobs in education unit following Beijing crackdown — New regulations in China curtail key growth area for world’s most valuable start-up.
- Global investors try to claw back their capital from China tutoring groups — Several funds in talks with advisers in wake of Beijing’s regulatory action.
- China flexes nuclear muscle to burnish its big power credentials — Rapid development of arsenal suggests Beijing will forsake its ‘minimum deterrence’ policy.
- Short sellers double bets against China Evergrande’s bonds — Investor sentiment sours further against hugely indebted property developer facing cash crunch.
Caixin
- In Depth: China’s Hasty Launch of World’s Largest Carbon Market Results in Sputtering Start — The national emissions trading scheme could use more liquidity and higher-level regulations, industry insiders say.
- Another Industry’s Shares Sink After State Media Criticism, This Time It’s Vapes — E-cigarette stocks fell in the wake of a Xinhua report on how minors are getting their hands on the restricted devices.
- Algorithms in the Crosshairs as Authorities Issue New Commentary Guidelines — The agencies behind the move seek to implement ‘comprehensive governance’ of online recommendations to prevent the ‘dissemination of erroneous content’ in cultural critiques.
South China Morning Post
- ‘Greatest Chinese historian of his time’, Yu Ying-shih, leaves behind living legacy — Renowned Chinese-American historian and sinologist Yu Ying-shih, who died on Sunday aged 91, leaves behind him a legacy that shed new light on Chinese intellectual and cultural history.
- Data privacy in China: Zhejiang province proposes rule to ‘destroy’ personal data collected during emergencies — Zhejiang, which is leading the country in applying big data technology to administration, has drafted rules stipulating that personal data collected during a public emergency should be either “sealed” or destroyed after use.
- China vows to hit back at US$750 million US arms sale to Taiwan — Beijing has vowed to retaliate against Washington over the approval of the first arms sale to Taiwan by the administration of US President Joe Biden.
- Tencent resumes new user sign-ups on WeChat after ‘security upgrade’ last week — WeChat had paused new users registrations so it could upgrade its ‘security technology to align with all relevant laws and regulations.’
Bloomberg
- China Hunkers Down as Delta Reaches Nearly Half The Country — China imposed new restrictions on travel in a bid to slow a delta-driven outbreak that’s grown to more than 500 cases scattered across half the country, as the government stuck to an aggressive containment playbook rather than rely on its high vaccination rate.
- First Taiwan Arms Sale in Biden Administration Is Approved — The Biden administration has approved its first arms sale to the island democracy of Taiwan, a potential $750 million deal, amid rising tensions with China.
- Shocked Investors Scour Xi’s Old Speeches to Find Next Target — As $1 trillion evaporated from Chinese stocks last week, some investors realized they hadn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important man: President Xi Jinping.
Reuters
- Biden to offer temporary ‘safe haven’ to Hong Kong residents in U.S. — The United States on Thursday plans to offer a temporary “safe haven” to thousands of Hong Kong residents, a senior administration official told Reuters, allowing them to extend their stay in the country in response to Beijing’s crackdown on democracy in the Chinese territory.
- Investors dump alcohol and e-cigarettes stocks in China after state media criticism — Investor jitters over which sectors Chinese regulators might target next spread to the spirits and e-cigarette industries on Thursday after state media ran reports about the dangers of their products, sending related companies’ shares lower.
- China posts first decline in local new COVID-19 cases this week — China reported on Thursday a decline in locally transmitted COVID-19 cases for the first time this week, and a health official said he expected China’s latest outbreak, caused mainly by the Delta variant, to be largely under control within weeks.
- China-U.S. container shipping rates sail past $20,000 to record — Container shipping rates from China to the United States have scaled fresh highs above $20,000 per 40-foot box as rising retailer orders ahead of the peak U.S. shopping season add strain to global supply chains.
Other Publications
- The Economist: As more defaults loom, China’s finance regulators face a dilemma — Evergrande and Huarong may be only the tip of the iceberg.
- The Washington Post: Huawei extradition fight enters crucial phase for CFO Meng Wanzhou — and for the Chinese tech giant — The hearing could run until Aug. 20, and if the judge rules in favor of extradition, the decision on surrender will be made by Canada’s justice minister.
- Foreign Policy: Will China Regulate Video Games? — A call for greater oversight of the gaming industry has undercut technology firms already facing threats of a wider crackdown.
- The Intercept: Mass Resignations At Scientific Journal Over Ethically Fraught China Genetics Papers — “This situation is creating a shameful embarrassment that reflects poorly on all medical genetics journals and on the entire medical genetics community,” a critic of the studies wrote.
