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
- China’s Xi Emphasizes ‘Peaceful Reunification’ With Taiwan, Days After Record Show of Force — Taiwanese people would not bow to Chinese pressure, President Tsai Ing-wen said in a speech Sunday.
- Beyond Evergrande, China’s Property Market Faces a $5 Trillion Reckoning — Developers have run up huge debts. Now home sales are down, Beijing is imposing borrowing curbs and buyers are balking at high prices.
- Tariff Relief Plan From Biden Administration Falls Short, Businesses Say — Companies lacking cost-effective alternatives to Chinese imports complain that the new trade policy isn’t as helpful as they had expected.
- Video: China’s Huawei Lags in 5G Race as U.S. Sanctions Leave Their Mark — U.S. export restrictions have strangled Huawei’s chip pipeline, causing the Chinese tech giant to lose its lead in the global smartphone market.
The Financial Times
- China’s coal futures hit record high as floods worsen energy crisis — Mine closures intensify power crunch that has forced rationing and rattled global markets
- US-listed Chinese group Renren settles investor complaint for $300m — The company once dubbed ‘Facebook of China’ had been accused of steering a valuable stake in SoFi to insiders
- China’s energy crisis: what caused the crunch? — Beijing’s green ambitions, policy confusion and supply disruptions blamed for shortfall
- US has already lost AI fight to China, says ex-Pentagon software chief — Nicolas Chaillan speaks of ‘good reason to be angry’ as Beijing heads for ‘global dominance’
- Hong Kong university hires US law firm to seek Tiananmen statue’s removal — Mayer Brown sends letter to pro-democracy group demanding ‘Pillar of Shame’ is removed from campus.
The New York Times
- Shrinking Schools Add to Hong Kong Exodus — The Chinese territory is experiencing its biggest population drop in decades as residents flee political repression and a new “patriotic” curriculum.
- In China, Abducting Children in a Bid to Gain Custody — For years, thousands of children in China have been taken and hidden. The practice rose along with the nation’s divorce rate. A new law aims to curb the practice.
- U.S. and China Enter Dangerous Territory Over Taiwan — The self-ruled island has moved to the heart of deepening discord and rivalry between the two superpowers, with the potential to ignite military conflagration and reshape the regional order.
Caixin
- Cover Story: How China Stumbled Into a Giant Energy Shortage — Surging electricity demand in a rebounding economy, plunging coal supplies and Beijing’s climate change policies create a perfect storm disrupting global supply chains.
- China’s Biggest Real Estate Developers Look Unlikely to Meet Annual Sales Targets — As of September, less than one-fifth of the top 100 firms were on track to meet their goals for the year.
- Chinese Miner to Acquire Canada-Based Neo Lithium for $770 Million — The all-cash deal will give Zijin Mining access to the Canadian company’s assets in Argentina.
South China Morning Post
- At COP26 summit in Glasgow, China-US tensions could shape the world’s climate future — Global momentum is building on the climate crisis but action will be impossible without two nations, China and the United States, which together account for more than half of emissions – and whose governments do not get along.
- Is there a dark side to China’s high-speed rail network? — Researchers say bullet trains could mean lower economic activity in some western parts of the country.
- China’s power crisis prompts warning from rust-belt despite efforts to boost coal supply, manage electricity — China’s largest provincial economy in its northeast rust belt warned of worsening power shortages on Monday.
- Evergrande reprimands insiders for hitting the exit ahead of wealth product clients, forcing redeemers to return proceeds — China Evergrande Group has taken action against half a dozen company insiders for front-running their wealth management customers.
Bloomberg
- China Faces Power Hikes And That’s Likely to Cut Metals Output — China’s energy crisis is likely to mean higher electricity prices, forcing the nation’s army of metals smelters to reduce output and threatening the industrial activity that has underpinned the nation’s recovery from the pandemic.
- Fantasia Founder Keeps Investors Guessing With Online Posts — Investors searching for clarity after a shock default by Chinese developer Fantasia Holdings Group Co. won’t find much in its founder’s social media posts.
- China’s Little Red Book Said to Shift IPO to Hong Kong From U.S. — Chinese startup Xiaohongshu, or “Little Red Book,” is weighing a Hong Kong initial public offering to raise at least $500 million, after putting its U.S. listing plans on hold, according to people familiar with the matter.
- Ant Boosts Capital to $5.4 Billion One Year After IPO Halted — Ant Group Co. ramped up its capital base to 35 billion yuan ($5.4 billion), almost a year after Chinese regulators thwarted its record initial public offering and told it to overhaul its sprawling operation.
- Lenovo Tumbles Most in 3 Years After Scrapping CDR Listing Plan — Lenovo Group Ltd. plunged by the most in three years in Hong Kong trading after the world’s No. 1 personal computer maker withdrew a plan to list in mainland China just days after its application was accepted by regulators.
Reuters
- China says it carried out beach landing drills in province opposite Taiwan — China’s military said on Monday it had carried out beach landing and assault drills in the province directly across the sea from Taiwan, though it did not link the exercises to current tensions with Taipei.
- China vows to include biodiversity in economic plans as UN talks begin — China will incorporate biodiversity protection in development plans in all regions and sectors, Vice Premier Han Zheng said on Monday at the opening of U.N. talks aimed at making progress on a global deal to halt mass extinction.
- China state media says gaming time limit loopholes should be closed — Chinese state media said loopholes allowing minors to bypass new rules aimed at curbing gaming play time to three hours per week should be removed to “prevent addiction.”
- Home from home: Mercedes-Benz doubles down on China — Mercedes-Benz, the German company founded by the inventors of the motor car, is pouring more resources into its cutting-edge research and design capabilities in China as the centre of gravity of the new auto world shifts eastwards.
Other Publications
- The Atlantic: Washington Is Getting China Wrong — A crisis at a property company exposes deep, dangerous, and often unrecognized weaknesses in the Chinese economy.
- Associated Press: Terror and Tourism: Xinjiang Eases Its Grip, But Fear Remains — Four years after Beijing launched a brutal crackdown that swept up to a million or more Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim minorities into detention camps and prisons, its control of Xinjiang has entered a new era.
- Foreign Affairs: Can Berlin Get Tough on Beijing? — Merkel’s Successor Must Revive Germany’s Moribund China Policy.
- Quartz: China wants an even more dominant state monopoly on the media — A document issued last Friday (Oct. 8) by China’s top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Council, proposes new rules that appear designed to completely clamp down on media activities funded by private capital.
- MIT Technology Review: The covid tech that is intimately tied to China’s surveillance state — Heat-sensing cameras and face recognition systems may help fight covid-19—but they also make us complicit in the high-tech oppression of Uyghurs.
