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 Detains Prominent Activists as Olympics Near, Citing State Security — Detention of free-speech advocate Yang Maodong, missing since December, is confirmed days after wife’s death from cancer in the U.S.
- China Notifies Firms of Tougher Investment Rules for Big Tech — Requiring tech firms to seek regulatory approval for investment deals could curb companies’ growth.
- Hong Kong Activist Who Inspired Violent Resistance Released From Jail — Edward Leung’s call for forceful opposition resonated with young protesters in 2019; his campaign slogan is now banned.
- Macau’s Tighter Casino Controls to Usher in Biggest Shake-Up in Decades — Government unveils full legislation aimed at protecting national security and thwarting illegal money flows through the gambling hub.
- Fuzzy Hamsters Are Hong Kong’s Newest Enemy in Its Covid-Zero Campaign — City is going to great lengths to eradicate emerging outbreaks following months of near-zero locally transmitted cases.
The Financial Times
- ByteDance disbands investment team amid China’s Big Tech clampdown — Reorganisation at company behind TikTok comes as authorities tighten antitrust enforcement.
- Tencent pursues quieter investment strategy amid China’s Big Tech crackdown — Pony Ma seeks to avoid Beijing’s push against perceived monopolists by targeting expansion overseas.
- Patriotic Generation Z fuels pandemic-era jewellery boom in China — Country’s biggest retailer Chow Tai Fook banks on young people’s love of traditional designs.
- China’s high-tech rise sharpens rivalry with the US — Alarm over the country’s growing military strength is accelerating moves towards economic decoupling.
- Cathay Pacific offers $3,700 bonuses to pilots to fly into Hong Kong — Airline pummeled by pandemic has been losing staff because of Hong Kong’s strict quarantine rules.
- Hong Kong to cull hamsters and quarantine pet store visitors over Covid fears — About 150 people will be sent to government facility after suspected animal-to-human transmission.
The New York Times
- N.B.A.’s Warriors Disavow Part-Owner’s Uyghur Comments — The Golden State Warriors distanced themselves from a minority stakeholder, Chamath Palihapitiya, who said “nobody cares” about the Uyghurs, the ethnic group that has faced a deadly crackdown in China.
- ‘We Are Taiwanese’: China’s Growing Menace Hardens Island’s Identity — More than ever, Taiwan defines itself by its democratic values. Beijing’s military and diplomatic threats only reinforce the island’s separateness.
Caixin
- Caixin Explains: What China’s Overhaul of Overseas IPO Rules Is All About — New regulatory framework aims to put all companies who qualify for a listing under the same rules, regardless of their corporate structure and where they sell their shares.
- Shipping Companies Pay Out Bumper Bonuses as Supply Chain Chaos Boosts Profits — Cosco’s container unit offers end-of-year bonuses as high as 30 times staff’s monthly pay.
- Beijing Labs Barred From Price Gouging on Rush Covid-19 Tests — Local government promises to punish offenders with fines up to five times the cost of the extra fee, as the capital deals with a fresh outbreak ahead of the Olympics.
South China Morning Post
- China’s digital currency: e-CNY wallet nearly doubles user base in two months to 261 million ahead of Winter Olympics — China’s official digital yuan app, e-CNY, had 261 million unique users at the end of 2021, nearly twice what it had in October, even before it was released in app stores this month, according to a central bank official.
- China ‘shocked’ by Slovenia’s plans to allow Taiwan to open an office — The Chinese foreign ministry said it was “shocked” by Slovenia’s plans to allow Taiwan to open an office there, saying it would damage ties between China and Europe.
- TikTok owner ByteDance dissolves strategic investment unit amid Beijing’s Big Tech scrutiny — ByteDance, owner of popular short video app TikTok and its Chinese sibling Douyin, is dissolving its strategic investment unit and reassigning about a hundred employees.
Bloomberg
- China Considers Easing Developer Cash Crunch With Presale Funds — Chinese regulators are considering lifting some restrictions on developers’ access to cash from presold properties tied up in escrow accounts, according to people with knowledge of the matter, a potentially major step toward easing the industry’s liquidity crunch.
- ByteDance Cuts Investment Arm as Deal Curbs Chill China Tech — ByteDance Ltd. has downsized its powerful investment arm, anticipating Beijing will soon tighten curbs on the prolific deal-making that turbocharged the growth of China’s largest internet companies.
- China’s Sinopec Floods LNG Spot Market with Cargoes for 2022 — A top Chinese liquefied natural gas importer is offering to sell dozens of spot cargoes this year, indicating the world’s biggest buyer is well-stocked.
- Killing Hamsters Drives Hong Kong to New Low in Meeting China’s Zero-Covid Dream — The day Hong Kong decided to kill 2,000 of the cuddly creatures to fall in line with China’s zero-Covid policy marks a new, dystopian low.
Reuters
- Athletes warned against speaking up on human rights at Beijing Games — Athletes travelling to next month’s Beijing Olympics were warned on Tuesday about speaking up on human rights issues while in China for their own safety by speakers at a seminar hosted by Human Rights Watch.
- Exclusive: China drafts rules to ease property developers’ cash crunch — China is drafting nationwide rules to make it easier for property developers to access funds from sales still held in escrow accounts in its latest move to ease a severe cash crunch in the sector, four people with knowledge of the matter said.
- China state planner to punish monopolies in internet platform industry — China’s central government has issued a series on opinions aimed at better cracking down on monopolies, unfair competition, and user data issues in China’s sprawling internet platform economy.
- Huawei seeks chip money in China as fights off US pressure — Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd has obtained a licence in China that allows it to seek external capital, as it works to shore up its supply of silicon chips in the face of U.S. pressure.
Other Publications
- Politico Europe: Slovenia to bolster trade ties with Taiwan, wading into row with China — Prime Minister Janez Janša says Beijing’s ‘ridiculous’ response to Lithuania won’t deter his own country.
- The Guardian: Protesting Winter Olympics athletes ‘face punishment’, suggests Beijing official — Organising committee official warns against ‘any behaviour or speech that is against the Olympic spirit.’
- The Washington Post: The Winter Olympics faces an existential crisis a half-century in the making — How the Winter Olympics ended up in Beijing — and what it means for the future.
- Quartz: How Beijing’s global ambitions are playing out in politics, economics, and technology — A Q&A with Elizabeth Economy, currently senior advisor for China to the US Secretary of Commerce while on leave from her position as senior fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and author of The World According to China.
- CSIS: What Does China Stand to Gain by Hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics? — With the world’s eyes again turned to Beijing for the Winter Olympics, what does China stand to gain by hosting the Games in the midst of rising political tensions, and will their efforts succeed?
