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
- China Mobile Plans to Raise $7.64 Billion Through Shanghai Listing — The mobile operator’s offering would be one of the largest equity fundraisings so far this year.
- The U.S. Pursued Professors Working With China. Cases Are Faltering — MIT professor’s academic collaboration in Shenzhen led to criminal charges, but the university says such ties are ordinary practice.
- Asian Insurer FWD Moves to Shelve U.S. IPO — Group is exploring listing in Hong Kong instead, a person familiar with the matter says.
- Macau’s Casino King Is Dethroned as Beijing Reins In Offshore Gambling — Arrest of junket boss over alleged illegal gambling syndicate targeting Chinese high-rollers threatens VIP revenue that helped city eclipse Las Vegas, analysts say.
The Financial Times
- China Mobile: local investors are beneficiaries of US blacklist — State-owned companies and defensive sectors look increasingly attractive.
- SEC demands more risk disclosure for Chinese companies listing in US — Issuers asked to provide more information on their use of legal loopholes to list in New York.
- US-China gas deals defy tensions between world powers — Cnooc locks in 20-year LNG contract with exporter Venture Global as global fuel prices surge.
- China’s top online shopping celebrity suspended after tax fine — Alibaba hit hard after Viya fined $210m for under-reporting income from internet promotions.
- A tale of two elites in Washington and Beijing — While American analysts worry about civil war, China’s ones dream of global ascendancy.
Caixin
- Richard Li’s FWD Withdraws U.S. IPO Plan With Pivot to Hong Kong — Increased market volatility and some high-profile failures have changed market sentiments on listings by companies based in China.
- In Depth: How One Chinese Province Is Struggling to Deal With Its Debt Mountain — Guizhou is one of the country’s most heavily indebted regions, but unlike its richer counterparts, has few real options to tackle the problem.
- Chinese Property Market’s Liquidity Struggles Continue Despite Signs of Policy Easing — More measures to support real estate are needed to bring financing, sales and land purchases back to normal, analysts say.
South China Morning Post
- China sanctions four US officials after Washington’s measures over Xinjiang — Beijing has announced sanctions against four members of a US government commission monitoring religious freedom, in response to Washington’s latest sanctions targeting China’s Xinjiang policies two weeks ago.
- AI can reduce deaths on construction sites, says start-up viAct, by tracking workers and resources — A Hong Kong start-up is using artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor construction workers and site conditions to minimise injuries and other accidents in a largely traditional business.
- China’s Big Tech crackdown: number of apps falls 40 per cent over 3 years amid new data laws and clean-up campaigns — Chinese smartphone users have seen the number of apps available to them fall by 38.5 per cent over the past three years, with the most precipitous drop coming this year amid the country’s crackdowns on Big Tech platforms and internet content, showing how China’s fortified market structure has taken a toll on the digital sector.
- China calls on US businesses to play ‘bridging role’ as trade talks stall — American businesses should play a “bridging role” between China and the United States and “actively” contribute to a healthy and stable bilateral relationship, Beijing says.
- Chinese aviation firms vulnerable to financing restrictions due to US embargo on dual-use exports — As the US expands its sanctions lists, Chinese companies in the aviation sector are facing increasing restrictions on financial services as well as American technology, according to trade lawyers and defence experts.
Bloomberg
- China’s Solar Industry Is Slowly Shifting Away From Xinjiang — Chinese solar companies are gradually shifting the country’s solar supply chain away from Xinjiang as the U.S. increases its scrutiny of the region.
- China Influencer Crackdown Exposes Loophole Used to Hide Wealth — An intensifying crackdown in China on the country’s ballooning live-streaming industry is exposing the loophole that had allowed online influencers to dodge millions of dollars in taxes.
- China Mobile Eyes $7.6 Billion Shanghai Debut Post Trump Ban — China Mobile Ltd., the country’s largest wireless carrier by revenue, is aiming to raise 48.7 billion yuan ($7.64 billion) from its Shanghai listing in what would rank among the largest share offers for the nation’s domestic stock market in a decade.
- China Tech Stocks Fall as Top Livestreamer Fined for Tax Evasion — China’s biggest livestreaming and e-commerce platforms saw shares drop after the country slapped an unprecedented tax evasion fine on a top influencer, intensifying its crackdown on celebrities responsible for shifting millions in merchandise on the Chinese Internet.
Reuters
- Chinese spies have penetrated Taiwan’s military, case documents reveal — Taiwan’s spycatchers are battling a sustained Chinese espionage campaign.
Other Publications
- The Atlantic: Why Authoritarian Regimes Bother With Elections — Beijing rewrote the rules of Hong Kong’s recent elections, and the result among voters was apathy.
- The Diplomat: China’s Investment Drive and Africa’s Disjointed Infrastructure — The Lagos-Ibadan train line joins a list of disjointed infrastructure projects taken up on the African continent by Chinese firms.
- Nikkei Asia: Chinese city takes back two plots of land from Evergrande — Property group had not developed Chengdu sites in over 10 years.
- Nikkei Asia: Standard-bearer: China races U.S. and Europe to set tech rules — Beijing’s focus on strategic sectors like lithium and 5G puts West on defensive.
