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
- Omicron Puts China’s Zero-Covid Strategy to Its Toughest Test — The country’s effort to remain in a bubble points to more frequent and longer-lasting lockdowns with the arrival of the highly contagious variant.
- China Looks to Secure Supplies as Strains With U.S. and Its Allies Grow — An emphasis on security of anything from food to energy and raw materials comes with political overtones.
- China’s Startups Are Awash With Money as Beijing Shifts Focus to ‘Hard Tech’ — Investors embrace Beijing’s pivot, even as Chinese leaders exert more control over country’s tech sector and China-U.S. relations sour.
- China’s 11th-Hour Tax Reprieve Cheers Foreign Workers—For Now — Change in policy would have dramatically raised costs for foreign workers and their employers in the country.
The Financial Times
- Lithuania’s foreign minister calls on EU to stand up to China — Beijing targeting companies that use components made in the Baltic state, says Gabrielius Landsbergis.
- China GDP: five things to watch ahead of Xi’s push for a third term — Beijing has sought to balance economic stability, fiscal discipline and property sector reform.
- Chinese port workers jailed in Dalian for Covid breaches — Sentences of up to almost 5 years handed down as Omicron restrictions threaten supply chains.
- US and China are not ready to talk about nuclear arms controls — China wants to tackle growing risk of nuclear conflict but is reluctant to curb its nuclear weapons programme.
Caixin
- China Sets Five-Year Targets to Boost Digital Economy — A new plan aims for the contribution of core industries in the sector to reach 10% of GDP by 2025.
- In Depth: China’s Property Slump Pushes Real Estate Agencies to Remake Their Business — The slump in the country’s seemingly invincible market has taken toll on property brokers, which have suffered mass layoffs and falling revenue since the second half of 2021.
- Evergrande Auto Stock Plunges After It Finally Makes First Car — After years of delays, the troubled automaker says it produced its first electric vehicle 12 days ahead of schedule.
- Lithium Price Breaks Record on Tight Supply Concerns — Battery-trade lithium carbonate hits $49,600 a ton, up almost a third in a month, amid surging demand from the booming EV industry.
South China Morning Post
- Chinese economist Ren Zeping banned from posting on Weibo after comments on financing childbirth stir controversy — Chinese economist and online celebrity Ren Zeping was banned from posting on Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter, late on Wednesday after a string of controversial posts suggesting the central bank print 2 trillion yuan (US$314 billion) to support the birth of 50 million babies over the next 10 years sparked lively public debate.
- Former Chinese security minister Sun Lijun charged with taking ‘huge’ bribes — Prosecutors in northeast China have officially charged Sun Lijun, a former public security minister, with accepting a “huge amount” of bribes, market manipulation and the illegal possession of firearms.
- Lithuanians overwhelmingly oppose Vilnius’ hardline policy toward China, poll shows — Just 13 per cent support Vilnius, according to a government poll that adds to the pressure on its foreign ministry.
Bloomberg
- House Leaders Near Agreement on Stalled China Competition Bill — The U.S. House of Representatives is preparing to move forward on a China competitiveness bill that would authorize billions of dollars in funding to bolster U.S. research and development as well as aid for the domestic semiconductor industry, according to a leadership aide.
- Country Garden Selloff Shows Chinese Developer Worries Spreading — China’s largest developer is feeling the pain of dwindling investor confidence as a debt crisis sweeps across the country’s real estate sector.
- China Faces Mounting Economic Damage From Its Covid-Zero Policy — Big-city lockdowns to curb omicron disrupt supply chains and spook consumers.
Reuters
- China hopes U.S. can enable more trade amid ‘Phase 1’ deal uncertainties — China said on Thursday that it hopes the United States can create conditions to expand trade cooperation, after Chinese purchases of U.S. goods in the past two years fell short of the targets in a Trump-era trade deal.
- Denmark accuses Russia, China, Iran of espionage threat — Denmark warned on Thursday of a rising espionage threat from Russia, China, Iran and others, including in the Arctic region where global powers are jostling for resources and sea routes.
- Chinese ex-security official accused of disloyalty charged with gun possession — A former senior Chinese security official, censured last year by the ruling Communist Party for not embracing President Xi Jinping’s authority, was charged for gun possession, market manipulation and graft, China’s top prosecutor said on Thursday.
Other Publications
- The Economist: A corruption probe is only the latest of Chinese insurers’ woes — About 30% of salespeople have left the industry since 2019.
- Nikkei Asia: Huawei bets big on chip packaging to counter U.S. clampdown — China tech champion doubled semiconductor investments in 2021.
- Nikkei Asia: Analysis: China’s ex-Washington envoy resurfaces with an important message — Cui Tiankai says war of anger does not help the national cause.
- The Guardian: Woman’s diary goes viral as lockdown in China forces her to stay with blind date — Wang went for dinner at date’s house in Zhengzhou when Covid forced thousands into quarantine.
- CSIS: A Stealth Industry: The Quiet Expansion of Chinese Private Security Companies — In the context of increasing threats to Chinese infrastructure and Chinese nationals overseas and the Chinese government’s unwillingness to deploy the People’s Liberation Army abroad, PSCs are a well-positioned tool for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to project power abroad.
