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
- Chinese Property Bonds Hammered by Weak September Sales and a Surprise Default — Dozens of dollar bonds sold by Chinese real-estate companies tumbled in price Wednesday.
- China’s Property Fantasia Turns Nightmarish — Property developer Fantasia’s missed payment is the sector’s latest red flag. But the real question mark is housing prices themselves.
- Writer Liu Cixin on How His Visions of the Future Collide With Reality — The bestselling novelist’s ‘hard science fiction’ books and short stories have explored the fate of humanity—and how the universe might end.
The Financial Times
- Power crunch in China and India stokes global growth anxiety — Two big Asian economies drive worldwide GDP expansion but coal shortages are hammering output.
- The importance of what Tai didn’t say — What clues there were left us suspecting any reshaping of relations with China will be far from radical.
- Taipei warns that China will be able to invade Taiwan by 2025 — President Tsai Ing-wen appeals to democracies to help the island defend its independence.
- Beijing crackdown threatens to crush China’s love of London property — Thousands of high-end flats bankrolled by Chinese developers lie unfinished and unsold.
- US and Chinese officials to hold high-level meeting in Switzerland — Discussions expected to include negotiations about a possible virtual Biden-Xi summit.
The New York Times
- Why Wall Street Backs China Despite Beijing’s Tighter Grip — Beijing is opening its financial system to foreign banks — and they have maintained their traditional openness to the Communist Party’s rule.
- C.I.A. Admits to Losing Informants — Counterintelligence officials said in a top secret cable to all stations and bases around the world that too many of the people it recruits from other countries to spy for the U.S. are being lost.
- For China’s Holidays, a Big-Budget Blockbuster Relives an American Defeat — A government-sponsored movie recounting a brutal battle in the Korean War has touched a popular nerve in China at a time of heightened tensions with the United States.
Caixin
- Fugitive China Banker Returned After Arrest Abroad — Jiang Dongmei, who was accused of corruption, served as president of a rural commercial bank in Northeast China.
- Another Former China Securities Official Under Investigation — The probe of Zeng Changhong is just one of the latest in a recent spate of senior figures to be ensnared in nationwide corruption dragnet.
- China Fleshes Out Details on Sensitive Data Collection by Firms — Draft regulations categorize level of national security risk posed by certain types of information, offering much needed guidance amid tightened controls over cross-border data flows.
- China War Epic Blasts Holiday Box Office Back to Near Pre-Pandemic Levels — ‘The Battle at Lake Changjin’ snares more than 70% of holiday ticket sales after sluggish start.
South China Morning Post
- US demand for chip supply data from TSMC, Samsung, Apple, others sparks debate about true intentions in China — The US government’s request for supply chain information from chip firms, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), has triggered debate in China, where some see Washing’s latest effort to grapple with a global chip shortage as hegemonic and harmful to their country’s interests.
- Fantasia downgraded to default status by rating companies as Chinese property sector crisis worsens — Fantasia Holdings Group, the debt-laden property developer founded by the niece of a former Chinese vice-president, has been downgraded to default or near default status by the three major credit rating companies after it missed a bond repayment this week.
- US-China trade: who will ‘targeted tariff-exclusion process’ help more, Chinese factories or American buyers? — Some factories and industries in China will benefit from the Biden administration’s upcoming “targeted tariff-exclusion process”, but US policy is still more focused on supporting American companies than it is on strengthening bilateral trade, according to analysts.
- 6 takeaways from 2021 Hong Kong policy address: from a new metropolis to Carrie Lam conducting national security classes — Long-term implications abound in address Lam promised would be ‘visionary’, though advisers say that’s no indication of whether she’ll seek second term.
Bloomberg
- China Resources Unit Said to Be in Talks for JLL China Business — Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. has picked China Resources Mixc Lifestyle Services Ltd. as the preferred bidder for its China real estate management unit, people familiar with the matter said.
- Hong Kong Plans Massive City on China Border as Cure for Unrest — Hong Kong’s leader outlined plans for a massive urban development on the border with China that appeared designed both to ease the world’s most expensive housing market and prove her own loyalty to Beijing.
- Graphic: How Hong Kong’s National Security Law Is Changing Everything — In little more than a year, China’s expansive crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong has transformed the Asian financial hub and raised big questions for individuals and companies alike.
Reuters
- China turns to stranded Australian coal to combat power crunch — China is releasing Australian coal from bonded storage, despite a nearly year-long unofficial import ban on the fuel, as it scrambles to ease a national power crunch stemming from a coal shortage.
- U.S. suspends authority to ship nuclear materials to China’s CGN — The suspension further tightens controls set in 2018 by the administration of former President Donald Trump on shipments to China of civilian nuclear technology to prevent it from being used for military or other unauthorized purposes.
- Evergrande’s major shareholder Chinese Estates plans to go private — Chinese Estates Holdings, a major shareholder of embattled developer China Evergrande, said on Wednesday it has proposed to be taken private by Solar Bright Ltd for HK$1.91 billion ($245.30 million).
Other Publications
- Nikkei Asia: Taiwan defense minister: China tensions are worst in four decades — Says ‘full scale’ invasion possible by 2025, but China will not start war easily.
- Quartz: China’s role in shrinking global income inequality is suddenly up for debate — It’s certainly an issue high on the priority list of Chinese officials, who in recent months have trumpeted “common prosperity” with great vigor. But whether that actually translates to distributed wealth and reduced inequality, or morphs into downward mobility, remains to be seen.