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
- Evergrande’s Woes Fuel Selloff in Chinese Property Shares — ‘Extreme negative sentiment’ grips sector, with a Hong Kong stock index hitting multiyear lows.
- China’s Biggest Movie Star Was Erased From the Internet, and the Mystery Is Why — Zhao Wei was the Reese Witherspoon of China, then she was censored by the Communist Party amid a clampdown of the country’s entertainment industry.
- China Stymies Once-United U.N. Panel on North Korea Sanctions — A draft panel report is filled with perfunctory responses and dissenting footnotes from Beijing.
- China Casts Itself as Ally to Workers in Battle With Big Tech — Unionization push and new algorithm rules could help workers, but activists and scholars say Beijing’s ultimate aim is greater control.
- Biden Expresses Confidence in Mark Milley After Reports of General’s Talks With China — Republicans call for ouster of joint chiefs chairman over his discussions with his Chinese counterpart at end of Trump presidency.
- U.S. to Share Nuclear Submarine Technology With Australia in New Pact — A new defense partnership between the U.S., the U.K. and Australia forms to focus on security.
The Financial Times
- Submarine deal makes Australia new maritime rival for Beijing — China faces prospect of another nation able to project power in Pacific alongside US and Japan.
- China lashes out at Australia, UK and US over security pact — Canberra scraps French submarine programme to sign deal with Washington and London.
- Evergrande discloses $3m investment by founder’s wife to placate investors — Debt-laden Chinese property developer reveals backing to try and calm shareholders after protests.
- Financial blogger crackdown leaves China investors scrabbling for data — Websites and social media accounts are scrubbed making it harder to assess state of economy.
- US builds bulwark against China with UK-Australia security pact — Allies send signal to Beijing with plan to build nuclear-powered submarines for Canberra.
- Didi loses 30% of daily users after Beijing crackdown following IPO — Promotions and discounts help ride-hailing rivals increase customer numbers.
The New York Times
- China Says It Has Vaccinated 1 Billion People — The country stepped closer to its goal of inoculating 80 percent of its population of 1.4 billion by the end of the year.
- Why Australia Bet the House on Lasting American Power in Asia — Less than three years ago, Australia’s leader said his country need not choose between the U.S. and China. A nuclear submarine deal shows that much has changed since then.
Caixin
- Huarong Puts $58.8 Billion of Bad Assets Up for Sale — Scandal-plagued bad-debt manager moves to speed up revitalization and restructuring following announcement of rescue plan led by Citic.
- In Depth: China’s Climate Goals Leave One Province Torn Between Past and Future — Hydropower-rich Yunnan is struggling to balance its longtime role as a source of cheap electricity with aspirations to build up its own manufacturing industry.
- GM’s China Venture Is Developing Its Own Microchips, Report Says — SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile says it aims to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of its chips through a project it has been working on since 2018.
South China Morning Post
- Nine bonds of Evergrande’s flagship go on restricted trading after ratings cut in latest woe to befall indebted developer — Trading restrictions were placed on nine onshore bonds sold by China Evergrande Group’s flagship property unit, after a local credit rating agency slashed the debts’ creditworthiness, deepening the woes for the world’s most indebted real estate developer.
- China unemployment: Beijing’s regulatory crackdowns pose yet another hurdle for young urban jobseekers — Roughly one out of every seven young urban workers in China remains unemployed, as Beijing’s regulatory crackdowns on key industries are adding further pressure on the nation’s weak jobs sector amid more signs of a broad economic slowdown, according to the latest economic data.
- TikTok faces probes in EU over transferring data to China and processing children’s information — TikTok’s lead data privacy regulator in the European Union has opened two inquiries into the Chinese-owned short-video platform related to the processing of children’s personal data and transfers of personal data to China.
- National security law: Tiananmen vigil organiser in Hong Kong to remove content, messages from website, Facebook and YouTube — Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China says national security police ordered it to delete messages from platforms.
Bloomberg
- Evergrande Market Fallout Grows as Local Unit Halts Bond Trading — Intensifying concern over the impact of a China Evergrande Group default is rippling through the nation’s financial markets.
- Evergrande Key Shareholder Sells Another $11 Million Amid Crisis — Chan Hoi Wan, the wife of billionaire Joseph Lau, sold another HK$87.5 million ($11.2 million) worth of shares in China Evergrande Group, underscoring investor concern over the Chinese developer’s escalating troubles.
- No Chinese Stock Left Among Global Top 10 as Tencent Slides — Tencent Holdings Ltd. has lost its place among the world’s 10 largest companies by market value, leaving no Chinese company in the list as Bejing’s regulatory crackdown continues to wreak havoc on the stock market.
- China Said to Intensify Hunt for Cryptocurrency Miners in Hiding — China’s campaign against the cryptocurrency industry is now targeting miners who tried to disguise themselves as data researchers and storage facilities to stay in business, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
Reuters
- Russia’s Putin to attend 2022 Beijing Olympics – report — Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted China’s invitation to attend the Beijing Olympics in February 2022, the RIA news agency quoted Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Thursday.
- China’s winter air pollution drive to encompass more cities — China plans to include more cities in its 2021 winter air pollution campaign, the environment ministry said in a draft on Thursday, as Beijing attempts to clear smog-laden skies.
- After Australia arms deal flop, EU to launch Indo-Pacific plan — The European Union will set out a formal strategy on Thursday to boost its presence in the Indo-Pacific and counter China’s rising power, although Australia’s decision to cancel an arms contract with France may complicate cooperation.
Other Publications
- The Economist: The vanishing allure of doing business in China — Who will be next?
- The Economist: Japanese companies try to reduce their reliance on Chinese manufacturing — But only a bit.
- Quartz: Asia’s global finance hubs Hong Kong and Singapore are taking aim at “foreign interference” — Though the two cities are situated in different political contexts, their respective laws designed to target foreign meddling share similarities in their vagueness, expansiveness, and potential for abuse.
- Nikkei Asia: Analysis: Wolf warriors fall silent as Xi ponders U.S. strategy — Biden wants summit but Chinese leader remains reluctant to leave Beijing.
- Nikkei Asia: Hong Kong police invoke security law to censor online posts — June 4 vigil organizer forced to purge social media accounts.
- Foreign Policy: Has China’s Housing Crisis Finally Arrived? — The government seeks to avoid Evergrande Group becoming Beijing’s Lehman Brothers.
- Protocol: Tencent dominates digital donations in China. That’s the problem. — After building the only successful digital fundraising platform in China, Tencent’s immense impact in the charity world raises questions about inequality, state censorship and platform responsibility.
