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 Offers $4.6 Billion in Euro Bonds — Beijing is selling debt due in three, seven and 12 years.
- Tencent’s Profit Growth Slows After China Tightens Games Rules — The company highlights its efforts to stay compliant with new regulations.
- China’s Factory Inflation Grows at a Record Pace on Soaring Energy Prices — Producer prices jumped 13.5% in October, fueling worries about continued global inflation.
- China Evergrande’s EV Unit Taps Investors Ahead of First Car Sales — Electric-vehicle maker aspired to overtake Tesla, but has struggled with a cash shortage.
- Chinese Market’s Promise Turns to Threat for Adidas — The sportswear company, along with other Western apparel brands, continues to suffer from a Chinese consumer boycott.
- Chinese Developer Fantasia Says Lenders Seek Repayment; Shares Plunge — Company says it is still working with advisers on its liquidity problems.
The Financial Times
- China’s factory gate inflation soars to 26-year high on energy crunch — Producer prices rise 13.5% in October in fastest gain since 1995 as stagflation fears mount.
- Four of world’s five largest vehicle makers fail to back COP26 emissions agreement — China, US and Germany absent from 2040 commitment despite hundreds of local and regional authorities signing up.
- Hong Kong’s future — the pearl and the dragon — Three books look at the territory’s recent tussles with Beijing and offer differing levels of optimism on the outlook for freedom.
The New York Times
- This Chinese City Requires 28 Days of Quarantine. Then Another 28. — The restrictions in Shenyang are a stark example of how seriously officials are taking the country’s “zero Covid” approach to the pandemic.
- Europe, Taiwan Inch Closer as Distrust of Beijing Grows — Talks between European lawmakers and Taiwanese officials point to Europe’s increasing willingness to strengthen relations, despite Beijing’s threats.
- Alibaba Downplays Singles Day for a Tense Time in China — The Chinese e-commerce giant is updating its blockbuster shopping holiday for a humbler, more dutiful era in the country’s internet industry.
- U.S. Holocaust Museum Says China ‘May Be Committing Genocide’ Against Uyghurs — Its report found that the government’s attacks against the group of Muslims in Xinjiang had escalated and most likely included “forced sterilization, sexual violence, enslavement, torture, and forcible transfer.”
- China Evergrande Troubles Spread Through Property Sector — Global markets just weeks ago were fretting over the possible failure of Evergrande. Now the developer says the worst is over, even as other companies show signs of trouble.
Caixin
- TSMC, Sony Confirm Plans to Build $7 Billion Chip Factory in Japan — The joint venture’s semiconductor plant will have a capacity to produce 45,000 12-inch wafers per month.
- Shenzhen Court Issues Landmark Ruling on Personal Bankruptcy — Approval of first individual insolvency case follows first bankruptcy reorganization ruling in July and brings national system a step closer.
- Stainless Steel Giant’s Lithium Deal Shows How Everyone Is Getting Into New Energy — Tsingshan joins the cavalcade of companies expanding into production of a key raw material used in EV batteries.
South China Morning Post
- Weibo sued for monopolistic practices limiting access to its data as China’s antitrust crackdown invites new challenges — Weibo, one of China’s biggest social media sites, is being sued by a small software company over alleged anticompetitive restrictions on the use of the microblogging platform’s data.
- TSMC and Sony team up on US$7 billion semiconductor fabrication plant in Japan — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co will build a US$7 billion fabrication plant in Japan, with a subsidiary of Sony Group Corp becoming a minority shareholder in the venture.
- Tencent’s third-quarter profits up 3 per cent, its slowest growth in two years amid regulatory crackdown, gaming licence freeze — Tencent Holdings reported a 3 per cent increase in profits in the third quarter of 2021, its slowest growth in two years.
- China shipping: from its monopoly on containers, to its critical role in the global supply chain — How important is shipping to China’s economy?
Bloomberg
- China-Friendly Lawmaker Appointed Japan Foreign Minister — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida appointed a China-friendly veteran lawmaker to the post of foreign minister on Wednesday, balancing out more hawkish politicians picked for other senior positions.
- Biden-Xi Virtual Summit Set for Next Week, With Date to Come — U.S. President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are scheduled to hold a virtual summit next week, although no specific date has been set, according to people familiar with the matter.
- China’s Political Events in the Long Run Up to Next Year’s Party Congress — Party probes and power games ramp up ahead of a landmark leadership congress next year.
- China Under Xi Is Tough Target for CIA Spies, Hurting Biden’s Beijing Policy — Under Xi Jinping, China has become an even harder target for America’s spying operation.
Reuters
- Dalai Lama: China’s leaders ‘don’t understand variety of cultures’ — Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama criticised the leaders of China on Wednesday saying they “don’t understand the variety of different cultures” there and there is too much control by the main Han ethnic group.
- China should advance property tax legislation – think tank — China should advance the legislation of a proposed property tax and hold the line on speculative purchases, a state think tank said, underlining Beijing’s resolve to tame the once unruly property market despite ongoing upheaval in the sector.
- U.S. extends ban on securities investments in companies linked to China military — The United States will continue a Trump-era ban on U.S. investments in Chinese companies that Washington says are owned or controlled by the Chinese military, President Joe Biden said on Tuesday.
- Scary times ahead for China hockey team at Beijing Games, warn coaches — China should brace for a string of blowout losses at the 2022 Beijing Olympic men’s ice hockey tournament unless the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) steps in and throws the hosts a lifeline, warned two international coaches.
Other Publications
- Politico: We Reviewed Hundreds of Chinese Army Contracts. Here’s What We Found. — Publicly available documents show how Chinese progress in military AI is being driven, in part, by access to American technology and capital.
- The Atlantic: The World Is Fed Up With China’s Belligerence — Democracies are no longer as worried as they once were about offending a fragile Beijing.
- Foreign Affairs: Red China — Why Beijing Can’t Shake Its Risky Debt Habit.
- ChinaFile: When Will China Get Off Coal? — A ChinaFile Conversation.
- The Verge: Why Charging Phones is Such a Complex Business, with Anker CEO Steven Yang — Better, faster, smaller chargers.
