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
- Warriors Investor Chamath Palihapitiya Responds to Criticism Over Comments on China’s Uyghurs — Billionaire said nobody cares about treatment of minority group in Xinjiang region.
- Chinese Investment in U.S. Plane Maker Draws FBI, National-Security Reviews — The scrutiny on Icon Aircraft comes as Washington and Beijing vie to control technologies seen as critical for future competitiveness.
- In China, the Economic Buzzword for 2022 Is Stability — After a spree of regulation to fix long-running ills last year, Beijing is focused on shielding growth.
- China’s Zero-Covid Policies Cause a Traffic Jam in Vietnam as Farmers Suffer — Trucks laden with Vietnamese produce are backed up at border crossings as China endeavors to contain the spread of Covid-19.
- Deepening Debt Crisis in Sri Lanka Stokes Controversy Over Chinese Lending — The crunch opens window for India to push back against Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean region.
- Macau Needs Visitors, Not Just a Milder Gambling Law — A new gambling law looks likely to be much less punishing than expected and is pushing up stocks. But that isn’t the casino industry’s biggest problem.
The Financial Times
- What we know about Evergrande’s ‘black-box’ restructuring — Beijing’s orchestrated collapse of the indebted property developer is an attempt to limit contagion.
- Slowdown in Chinese town highlights potential pitfalls of property reforms — Homeowners’ struggles demonstrate challenge of cooling sector without damaging wider economy.
- China’s record trade gap a symptom of struggle to rebalance its economy — Surpluses will continue as Beijing struggles to rein in burgeoning debt and increase domestic consumption.
- Xi defends crackdowns in ‘common prosperity’ drive — China’s president says reforms not about egalitarianism but to ‘make the pie bigger’ and divide it fairly.
- Renewables: China will breeze into offshore wind top slot — Three new plants will turn Three Gorges into the world’s largest offshore operator.
The New York Times
- China’s Olympics App for Athletes Has Security Flaws, Study Says — Researchers said the app, which will store sensitive health data on participants at the Winter Games, has serious encryption vulnerabilities.
- Hong Kong will cull thousands of hamsters after Covid cases in a pet shop. — Officials said on Tuesday that it was not clear that the virus had been transmitted to humans from imported hamsters. But they called on residents to surrender hamsters imported since Dec. 22 to be tested and euthanized to prevent any further spread.
Caixin
- Delivery Times Likely to Stretch After Beijing Warns Omicron Could Have Traveled in Mail — Customs, postal authorities have directed airports and logistics companies to disinfect cross-border deliveries more thoroughly.
- China’s Securities Regulator Backs Overseas Share Sales in Orderly Manner — CSRC outlines seven priorities for its work in 2022, including healthy development of capital market and registration-based IPO system.
- Death of Top Moutai Sales Executive Under Investigation — Zeng Xiangbin, general manager of scandal-plagued liquor giant’s sales unit, may have committed suicide while involved in a probe, source say.
South China Morning Post
- ‘Only a matter of time’ before Taiwan has no allies, Chinese vice foreign minister says — Chinese vice foreign minister Le Yucheng said it was “a matter of time” before Taiwan lost all of its diplomatic allies, following Nicaragua’s switch in recognition to Beijing in December.
- China’s education crackdown forces ‘anxious’ parents to rethink immigration, foreign-study options for kids — Amid the pandemic and geopolitical tensions with the West over the past two years, members of China’s middle class found themselves increasingly compelled to postpone plans to emigrate overseas, while others refrained from sending their children abroad to study.
- 2,000 hamsters to be culled over fears of first animal-to-human transmission in Hong Kong — Authorities have told pet shops and owners to hand over about 2,000 hamsters for euthanisation and temporarily suspended imports of small animals after finding evidence for the first time of possible animal-to-human transmission of Covid-19 in Hong Kong.
- 3 senior Hong Kong officials caught up in Omicron ‘partygate’ scandal leave quarantine camp early after policy eased — They were allowed to return home before serving full 21 days of quarantine after government reduced period of mandatory stay.
Bloomberg
- Olympians Told to Leave Phones at Home to Dodge Spying — Beyond Omicron and gold medal tallies, athletes arriving in China’s capital for the Winter Games next month may have one more thing to worry about: is it safe to access the internet?
- Hong Kong Arrests Ex-Cathay Crew at Center of Covid Outbreak — Two former Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. flight attendants were arrested for violating pandemic rules, Hong Kong police said late Monday, after they were identified as the source of the city’s omicron outbreak.
- China Hydro Giant Will Add Wind and Solar as Dam Prospects Cool — China Three Gorges Corp., the world’s largest hydropower company, is adding wind and solar capacity under plans to diversify its business as the era of mega-dam projects fades.
- Chamath Palihapitiya Uyghur Comment Draws NBA Into New China Row — The National Basketball Association found itself in a China-linked controversy once again after serial dealmaker Chamath Palihapitiya, a part owner of the Golden State Warriors, dismissed concerns over human rights abuses facing the Uyghur minority in China.
Reuters
- China urges caution opening overseas mail after Omicron case — China is urging people to wear masks and gloves when opening mail, especially from abroad, after authorities suggested the first case of the Omicron coronavirus virus variant found in Beijing could have arrived via a package from Canada.
- Hong Kong to cull 2,000 hamsters after COVID-19 outbreak — Hong Kong warned people not to kiss pets and ordered a mass cull of hamsters on Tuesday, to the outrage of animal-lovers, after 11 of the rodents tested positive for COVID-19.
- U.S. examining Alibaba’s cloud unit for national security risks — The Biden administration is reviewing e-commerce giant Alibaba’s cloud business to determine whether it poses a risk to U.S. national security, according to three people briefed on the matter, as the government ramps up scrutiny of Chinese technology companies’ dealings with U.S. firms.
Other Publications
- The Washington Post: The U.S. declared China’s treatment of the Uyghurs a genocide. A Golden State Warriors co-owner said ‘nobody cares.’ — “Nobody cares what’s happening to the Uyghurs, okay?” Chamath Palihapitiya, 45, who co-hosts the podcast “All-In,” said. He added that it’s “nice” his co-host cares, but “the rest of us don’t care.”
- Nikkei Asia: Moonshots: U.S. and China fire up new era of cosmic competition — Japan, South Korea and others seek place in race for lunar resources and glory.
- Nikkei Asia: Thousands of Chinese overseas forced home involuntarily: report — Authorities accused of using threats and even kidnapping to repatriate targets.
- The Guardian: Chinese activist told he could not visit dying wife is re-arrested — Yang Maodong held ‘on suspicion of inciting subversion of state power’ two days after death of his wife.
- Foreign Affairs: The Overstretched Superpower — Does America Have More Rivals Than It Can Handle? By Hal Brands
- Citizen Lab: Cross-country Exposure: Analysis of the MY2022 Olympics app — MY2022, an app mandated for use by all attendees of the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, has a simple but devastating flaw where encryption protecting users’ voice audio and file transfers can be trivially sidestepped.
