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
- Electric Vehicles Drive Growth for China Car Sales — Market snaps three-year decline amid chip shortage and Covid-19 disruptions.
- Bridgewater’s Ray Dalio Endorses China’s ‘Common Prosperity’ Drive — The longtime China bull said the U.S. and other countries could benefit from a similar approach.
- Taiwan Air Force Loses Contact With Pilot After F-16 Crashes on Training Mission — Lost jet marks the sixth major incident involving a Taiwanese military aircraft since 2020.
- Kazakhstan Crisis Shows That Russia Still Trumps China’s Power in Central Asia — Beijing’s huge investments in the region increasingly rely on Russian protection.
- Video: China’s Zero-Covid Strategy Tested Ahead of Winter Olympics — From mass tests to lockdowns, China is on high-alert to keep the coronavirus at bay ahead of the Winter Olympics.
The Financial Times
- China applies brakes to Africa lending — Beijing has signalled a more cautious approach amid warnings that several African countries could struggle to repay debts.
- VW sells 10,000 fewer electric cars in China as chip crisis hits deliveries — German carmaker faces fierce competition from homegrown brands.
- Chinese education group New Oriental fires 60,000 workers — US-listed online tutoring companies have been hammered by Beijing’s ban on profits.
- Fast Retailing: political risk remains biggest challenge to growth — Uniqlo owner’s decision to increase investment in China will require making tough choices.
The New York Times
- China’s Covid Outbreak Complicates Safety Plan for Beijing Olympics — Officials are racing to extinguish a spate of coronavirus infections around the country.
Caixin
- Kangmei’s Former Chief Gets 12 Years in Final Verdict — Appeals court upholds prison sentence for Ma Xingtian as well as $188,300 fine in the drugmaker’s massive financial fraud.
- Developer Agile Agrees to Sell 14 Properties for $439 Million — Hong Kong-traded company joins other cash-strapped Chinese property companies selling assets to raise funds and avoid defaulting.
- Bank of East Asia Unit Fined $2.6 Million for Violating Credit Information Rules — Hong Kong-based Bank of East Asia says the subsidiary has since rectified the issues, noting that it ‘places high emphasis on compliance.’
South China Morning Post
- Didi Chuxing co-founder leaves chairman position at payment subsidiary as cybersecurity review drags on — Bob Zhang Bo, co-founder and chief technology officer of Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing, has left his position as chairman of Didi’s payment subsidiary while the parent company remains under a cybersecurity investigation at home and is in the process of delisting from the New York Stock Exchange.
- Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang quits Weibo board amid government scrutiny on Big Tech — Alibaba Group Holding chairman and chief executive Daniel Zhang Yong has resigned from the board of directors of Weibo, the microblogging platform operator announced on Monday, days after Zhang left the board of ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing.
- Alibaba founder Jack Ma shows up at Hainan primary school as his foundation celebrates 7th anniversary of rural teacher’s charity — Alibaba Group Holding founder Jack Ma made a rare public appearance on Monday, participating in a ceremony at a primary school in the tropical island of Hainan, his first public showing since returning to China in November from a European study trip.
Bloomberg
- Huawei Ranks No. 5 in U.S. Patents in Sign of Chinese Growth — Huawei Technologies Co. is continuing to move up the list of companies getting the most U.S. patents, according to a new study of patenting activity that shows Chinese firms are increasingly responsible for a greater share of the world’s innovation.
- VW Bets on EVs for China Growth as Chip Shortage Hits Sales — Volkswagen AG is betting demand for electric vehicles and easing supply constraints will help it return to growth in China this year, after the global chip shortage dented sales in 2021.
- How China Is Getting Drug Companies to Slash Prices — China has been overhauling its health-care system with the aim of providing broader access to quality drugs for its enormous population. The result: Drug prices are tumbling and the once-high profit margins of drugmakers, both local and foreign, are eroding.
Reuters
- Harvard doesn’t have to cover professor’s China case defense costs, court rules — The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled the Ivy League school was within its rights to deny Charles Lieber’s request for Harvard to advance his legal defense fees and costs under an indemnification policy that covered its faculty.
- ‘Colonial wine from new, authoritarian bottles’: Hong Kong re-tools sedition law — The Hong Kong government is expanding its use of a long-dormant sedition law in what some lawyers and democracy advocates say is intensifying a squeeze on press freedom.
- Afghanistan’s China envoy leaves after months without pay — Afghanistan’s ambassador to China, Javid Ahmad Qaem, left his post earlier in January after months without pay from Kabul following the Taliban’s seizure of power, he said on Twitter.
Other Publications
- Protocol: China’s tech startups raised a record $131B in 2021 despite crackdown — China’s startups not only held up but thrived in the past year: Together in 2021, they received a record $131.6 billion in VC funding, Bloomberg reported Sunday, about 50% higher than the 2020 figure.
- Rest of World: China steps up efforts to ban deepfakes. Will it work? — Beijing’s new algorithm rules shift responsibility — and risk — onto companies, not creators.
- The Information: After China Tech Bloodbath, Top VC Tests U.S. Appetite For $1.2 Billion Fund — One of China’s top VC firms, Qiming Venture Partners, an early backer of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, is in talks with U.S. institutional investors as it tries to raise more than $1.2 billion for a new fund.
