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.
Paid subscribers automatically have this list emailed directly to their inboxes every day by 10 a.m. EST. Subscribe here.
The Wall Street Journal
- Covid-19 Lockdowns Ripple Across China—‘I Wonder How Long I Can Hang On’ — ‘Zero-Covid’ measures disrupt schools and prompt train evacuations; a toddler endures 100 nasal swabs.
- Chinese Tennis Star Peng Shuai’s Accusation Against a Retired Top Leader Causes Online Stir — Athlete’s post describing a relationship with former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli that sometimes involved coercion disappeared after 20 minutes.
- China Expands Nuclear Weapons Arsenal to Better Compete Globally, Pentagon Says — An annual Defense Department report says Beijing is on pace to have about 1,000 warheads by the end of the decade, giving China more military options.
- Hong Kong’s Top Court Narrows Scope for Charging Protesters — Judgment casts spotlight on city’s independent legal system after Chinese officials called for city’s judges to put national security first.
- Chinese Developer Stocks Endure New Selloff as Kaisa Hits Record Low — Wealth-management product guaranteed by Kaisa misses payment.
- Biden’s COP26 Strategy Is to Blame China and Russia While Securing Climate Deals — China’s unwillingness to further narrow climate difference emboldens U.S. officials to call out Beijing, Moscow.
- COP26 Negotiators Make Progress on Carbon-Trading Rules — Companies hope a U.N.-backed framework for cross-border carbon markets will kick-start trading.
The Financial Times
- China’s coal miners commit to cut prices after state intervention — Lower prices aimed at easing domestic energy crisis cause ‘chaos’ for global markets.
- China plans to quadruple nuclear weapons stockpile, Pentagon says — Forecast of 1,000 warheads by 2030 is sharp increase in estimates and ‘game-changer’ for Sino-US relations.
- China hits back at criticism of Xi’s absence from COP26 — Beijing says Chinese leader was prevented from joining summit by video link.
The New York Times
- Shutting Down Historical Debate, China Makes It a Crime to Mock Heroes — Under a new law, China has zealously prosecuted even the perceived slander of Communist figures, broadening Xi Jinping’s campaign to dominate party orthodoxy.
- China Could Have 1,000 Nuclear Warheads by 2030, Pentagon Says — Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called Beijing the “No. 1” nation-state military challenger to the United States.
Caixin
- World Economic Forum Postpones China Event Due to New Covid-19 Outbreaks — Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2021 had been scheduled to take place in the northern coastal city of Tianjin from Nov. 16.
- Record $781 Billion Wiped Off Chinese Internet Companies’ Market Value in Third Quarter — Stock prices across the sector tumbled 27% quarter-on-quarter as a regulatory earthquake spooked investors.
South China Morning Post
- China’s smartphone chip champion Unisoc reaches new heights in global market — Unisoc, China’s largest designer of chips for mobile phones, is quickly emerging as a rising power in the global market, as it seeks to challenge the dominance of traditional players such as Taiwan’s MediaTek and US giant Qualcomm.
- COP26: more than 100 nations pledge to cut methane, but not China — More than 100 countries have signed a commitment to reduce their methane emissions by at least 30 per cent from 2020 levels by 2030 – but the pledge came without participation from the top three emitters: China, Russia and India.
- 996 no more: TikTok owner ByteDance embraces shorter ‘1075’ work hours amid backlash in China’s tech world — The Chinese tech industry’s infamous 996 work hours – 9am to 9pm, six days a week – are set to disappear at ByteDance, the country’s first major tech company to explicitly discourage employees from working overtime.
- Hong Kong’s top court declares unlawful some aspects of ‘joint enterprise’ rule for rioting, illegal assembly cases in landmark judgment — Those not physically present at unlawful assembly, riot can no longer be held liable for the crime as actual participants, judges rule.
Bloomberg
- COP Produces Pact to End Fossil Fuel Funding; China Stays Out — More than 20 countries have pledged to stop funding foreign fossil fuel projects, though the impact of the deal is undermined by the absence of key countries.
- China’s Ride-Hailing Outfits Feed on Fierce Competition — Scrappy startups have given way to large, publicly traded companies.
- Kaisa Misses Wealth Product Payout on ‘Unprecedented’ Stress — Chinese developer Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd. missed payments on wealth management products it guaranteed, the latest sign of stress in the nation’s beleaguered real estate industry.
- Top Solar Firm Longi Says U.S Customs Has Detained Modules — China’s Longi Green Energy Technology Co., the world’s largest solar-panel maker, is the latest in the industry to have shipments detained by U.S. customs as part of a crackdown by Washington over alleged human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region.
Reuters
- Sinopec signs China’s largest long-term LNG contract with U.S. firm — China’s Sinopec has signed a contract with U.S. Venture Global LNG to buy 4 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually for 20 years.
- U.S. Senate committee approves Biden nominees to be ambassador to China, Japan — The nominees must still win the support of a majority of the full Senate, but all received bipartisan support at the committee level, a good indicator that they eventually will be confirmed.
- Chinese city to expand border facilities with North Korea — The Chinese city of Dandong aims to build more facilities at its border crossing with North Korea as the two countries resumed cross-border rail freight traffic, media reported, fuelling anticipation of the complete reopening of the border soon.
Other Publications
- The Economist: American basketball’s tricky relations with China — Human-rights protests threaten profits.
- Nikkei Asia: Analysis: Xi’s ‘common prosperity’ feels the heat as economy fizzles — Divide the cake or make it bigger? Debate returns to China.
- Quartz: Who is a Hong Konger? The US government has one of the widest definitions — The US has joined the UK, Australia, and Canada in offering varying kinds of immigration measures to protect Hong Kongers from the ongoing political crackdown in Hong Kong, which has seen over 160 individuals arrested under the city’s sweeping national security law.
- Quartz: China’s highest profile #MeToo accusation shows the limits of blanket censorship — The world’s strongest censorship machine hasn’t been able to stop China’s highest profile #MeToo allegation yet—aimed at the top level of the Communist Party—from being discussed both inside and outside the country’s great firewall.