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 Evergrande Makes Overdue Interest Payment on Dollar Bonds, State Media Says — Chinese real-estate developer sent $83.5 million to the trustee for the dollar bonds, staving off a default.
- Xi Jinping Hasn’t Left China in 21 Months, Keeping Diplomacy Virtual — Chinese leader, his world travels interrupted by pandemic, is expected to remain a face on a screen at global summits.
- U.S. Issued $100 Billion in Export Licenses to Suppliers of Huawei, SMIC — Commerce Department data shows that suppliers of the blacklisted Chinese tech companies maintained access to U.S. products including semiconductors.
- China’s Biggest Mall Manager Plans Hong Kong Listing — The unit of Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda was valued at $28 billion in a recent fundraising round.
The Financial Times
- US intelligence officials warn companies in critical sectors on China — AI and biotech industries among those alerted over concern Beijing is pushing to obtain data.
- Biden vows to defend Taiwan from Chinese military action — White House seeks to play down comments that appeared to signal change in ambiguous policy.
- Evergrande pays missed dollar bond coupon, says Chinese state media — Developer’s repayment of offshore debt due last month comes days ahead of default deadline.
- What China’s hypersonic test launch reveals about the global arms race — New defence system-busting weapon could change the balance of power.
The New York Times
- China Evergrande Makes Payment to Dodge Default, Media Says — The troubled property giant faced the threat of default if it didn’t meet its obligations to foreign bondholders by Saturday.
- Li Yundi Is Detained in China on Suspicion of Prostitution — Li Yundi, a famous performer, was accused of soliciting a woman, state news outlets said. Officials often use such accusations against their enemies.
Caixin
- In Depth: Why Chinese Developers’ Offshore Bonds Are So Cheap — As default risks rise, many offshore debt holders are dumping bonds in the real estate sector, driving prices so low that some bargain-hunters are wading in.
- China’s Top Planner Seeks to Stamp Out Coal Producer Profiteering — NDRC meets with major miners as it seeks to curb soaring prices amid a dearth of the fuel that has caused power shortages across the country.
South China Morning Post
- China to accelerate US$224 billion of local bond issuance to support slowing economy — China intends to accelerate the pace of local government special bond issuance to bolster investment and economic growth, the finance ministry said on Friday, striving to complete the annual quota by the end of November.
- TikTok’s China sibling Douyin launches mandatory five-second pauses in video feed to curb user addiction — TikTok is known for keeping its users glued to the screen with an endless stream of bite-sized videos, but its Chinese sister app Douyin is trying to curb binge-viewing by inserting five-second pauses along the feed, following the Chinese government’s heightened scrutiny of addictive online behaviour.
- Hong Kong national security law: Tiananmen Square vigil activists refuse bail, saying liberty in exchange for free speech is a price not worth paying — Two leaders of group that organised city’s annual vigil decide to remain in prison ahead of national security law trial.
Bloomberg
- China Tightens Online Insurance Rules in Widened Crackdown — China tightened rules for online insurance sales, seeking to root out irregularities in a burgeoning business that has bolstered platforms like Waterdrop Inc. and Huize Holding Ltd.
- Inside the Race to Fix China’s Energy Crisis Without Missing Climate Goals — The world’s biggest energy consumer faces a colossal challenge: fixing the power crunch, curbing wild price gains — and keeping climate goals on track.
- China’s Top Financial Regulator Sees Progress in Tech Crackdown — China’s top financial regulator said he expects to achieve significant progress in the ongoing crackdown on fintech firms before the year-end, reinforcing speculation that Beijing’s campaign to rein in its tech giants may be receding.
- Princeling’s Surprise Default Roils Global Investors in China — Zeng Jie’s uncle was once China’s vice president. Her grandfather served as Mao Zedong’s minister of internal affairs.
Reuters
- Australia asks why Hong Kong considers lobsters national security risk — Australia said it is seeking answers from China on why its lobster exports have been blocked, after a top Hong Kong customs official said Beijing had imposed trade restrictions and lobster smuggling was a national security matter.
- Analysis: Tesla looks to pave the way for Chinese battery makers to come to U.S. — Tesla wants to shift to a less expensive battery for its electric vehicles but first needs to figure out how to overcome political tensions to get a Chinese partner to build the iron-based batteries near its U.S. factories.
- Huawei, SMIC suppliers received billions worth of licenses for U.S. goods — Suppliers to Chinese telecoms giant Huawei and China’s top chipmaker SMIC got billions of dollars worth of licenses from November through April to sell them goods and technology despite their being on a U.S. trade blacklist, documents released by Congress showed on Thursday.
Other Publications
- The Economist: The confidence of China’s Communist Party is striking — It is revealed in a rural county sponsored by the Chinese foreign ministry.
- The Economist: China’s test of a hypersonic missile worries America — It is the latest front in an emerging nuclear arms race.
- Associated Press: Chinese tax agency investigating high-profile developer — The Chinese government said Friday it is investigating possible tax evasion by a subsidiary of high-profile real estate developer SOHO China Ltd., the target of an aborted takeover attempt this year by Blackstone Group.
- The Washington Post: China’s overseas coal ban raises pressure on developing countries to go green — China, a leading source of public financing and construction know-how for coal-fired generators, pledged to no longer build coal projects overseas, undercutting a pipeline of dozens of power plants in developing countries, including Vietnam.
- Center for Strategic and International Studies: Degrees of Separation: A Targeted Approach to U.S.-China Decoupling — The CSIS Economics Program launched Degrees of Separation to establish clearer objectives for U.S. engagement with China and to assess whether disengagement from specific economic activities can help in meeting such objectives.