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’s ‘Common Prosperity’ to Squeeze Cash-Strapped Local Governments — Beijing has pledged to expand public services in education, healthcare and housing, but much of cost burden is expected to fall on heavily-indebted local governments.
- Venture Capital Becomes a Tech Battleground Between China, U.S. — U.S.-trained VCs built China’s tech sector, but now the Communist Party calls its shots.
- EV Battery Maker’s Sales Pitch to the West: We’re Not Chinese — South Korea’s LG Energy Solution, which goes public Thursday, highlights its dominance in Europe and aggressive U.S. investments.
- Hong Kong Penalizes Tianhe Executive in Long-Running IPO Scandal — Tribunal sanctions Wei Xuan over the 2014 listing of the chemicals company that had claimed about $1 billion in nonexistent sales.
The Financial Times
- Apple reclaims top smartphone spot in China — US group benefits from Washington’s war on Huawei.
- Xi meets Olympics chief to discuss Covid containment ahead of Winter Games — Chinese president holds rare in-person encounter with foreign official during pandemic.
- Global banks push back against Beijing’s new overseas listing rules — Extra regulatory risks and higher costs may deter banks from advising Chinese companies on IPOs abroad, says lobby group.
- LG battery division seeks global dominance after blockbuster IPO — South Korean group targets Chinese rival CATL as geopolitical tensions spill into electric car market.
- US warns of fragile chip supply as inventory falls to just five days — Supplies at companies dwindle from 40 days leaving ‘no room for error’, says Biden administration.
The New York Times
- Where Is Peng Shuai? Tennis Players and Fans Still Want to Know — A central question, “Where is Peng Shuai?”, has represented concern for the star but also points to related questions about the future of tennis in China.
- I.M.F. Forecasts U.S. and China Slowdowns Will Hold Back Growth — The International Monetary Fund forecasts that the growth rate of the world economy will slow to 4.4 percent in 2022.
- U.S. Navy Fighter Jet Accident in South China Sea Injures 7 — The military said it was investigating the cause of a “landing mishap” during routine operations.
Caixin
- Beijing Urges Integration of Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Macao Insurance Markets — Regulators have been working to develop a connect program in a bid to solve problems in cross-border services.
- China’s Banking Sector Dumps Record $490 Billion of Bad Assets in 2021 — Banking and insurance regulator reports $663 billion reduction in shadow banking and vows to continue guarding against systemic financial risks.
- PBOC Takes a Knife to Interest Rates as Economic Headwinds Grow — The rate cuts sent the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond to its lowest in 20 months.
- In Depth: Major Evergrande Creditor Faces Wave of Bad Loans — The Shanghai- and Hong Kong-listed lender is a major casualty of China’s property downturn. Minsheng is one of the largest creditors of debt-ridden China Evergrande Group, and it also lent tens of billions of yuan to other risky developers.
South China Morning Post
- China’s digital currency: Meituan expands e-CNY payments to offline merchants ahead of Lunar New Year — China’s leading on-demand service provider Meituan on Wednesday began allowing more than 200 types of offline merchants – including restaurants, grocery stores, cinemas, and hotels – to accept payments in digital yuan, also known as e-CNY.
- Winter Olympics: China restricts activists’ social media ahead of Beijing Games — Human rights activists and some academics in China have had their WeChat messaging app accounts restricted in recent weeks, multiple people affected said, as Beijing cracks down on dissent before the Beijing Winter Olympics.
- US-China investment at risk of slowdown under Senate proposal for greater FDI scrutiny, report says — A proposed new screening regime for American outbound investment risks harming investment relations with China and making business more difficult for US multinationals in the world’s No 2 economy, a new report said on Wednesday.
Bloomberg
- Apple Tops China for First Time in Six Years After Huawei Fades — Apple Inc. was China’s top-selling smartphone brand in 2021’s final quarter, industry research showed, taking top spot in the world’s largest mobile market for the first time since 2015.
- China Criticizes U.S. Diplomats Seeking Exit Over Covid Rules — China said a U.S. bid to let its diplomats exit China during the pandemic defied logic, after reports emerged American embassy officials were worried about the country’s tightening epidemic measures.
- Solar Giant Jinko Lists in Shanghai at Near 800% Premium to U.S. — Jinko Solar Co. more than doubled on its first day of trading in Shanghai, giving it a massive premium to its parent’s listing in the U.S.
- Chinese mRNA Vaccine May Fall Short of Pfizer, Moderna Shots — A vaccine being developed in China using messenger RNA, the new technology that has become the backbone for immunizing much of the world, may fall short of the benefits generated by shots from Pfizer Inc., BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc.
Reuters
- Analysis: A metaverse with Chinese characteristics is a clean and compliant metaverse — How will China’s metaverse evolve? Look to the letter “c”. Clean, censored, compliant and crypto-less is the view from experts.
- Lithuania considers modifying Taiwan representation name to defuse row with China — Lithuanian officials, seeking to defuse a row with China, are discussing whether to ask their Taiwanese counterparts to modify the Chinese translation of the name of Taiwan’s de-facto embassy in Vilnius, two sources told Reuters.
- U.S. House leaders unveil chips, China competition bill — U.S. House of Representatives leaders on Tuesday unveiled a bill aimed at increasing U.S. competitiveness with China and supporting the U.S. chip industry, including $52 billion to subsidize semiconductor manufacturing and research.
Other Publications
- Vice World News: They Were Reporters in Hong Kong. Now They Drive Cabs and Sell Fried Chicken. — For Stanley Lai, driving a cab is a lot like being a breaking news photographer. Both jobs require overnight work, skilled driving, and a good sense of direction navigating Hong Kong’s disorienting urban space. The biggest difference is speed.
- ProPublica: A Visionary Without a Country — Celebrated scientist Joe Tsien retreated to China after his Georgia university and the U.S. government began investigating him. He says he’s a victim of anti-Asian discrimination, but key parts of his story don’t add up.
- Politico: House China bill includes aggressive trade provisions — The long-awaited bill tees up a flurry of corporate lobbying and intense negotiations with the Senate over final legislative language.
- Foreign Affairs: China’s Immunity Gap — The Zero-COVID Strategy Leaves the Country Vulnerable to an Omicron Tsunami. By Yanzhong Huang
- Quartz: Taiwan’s $1 billion Lithuania fund is a high-stakes game of economic diplomacy — With Taiwan’s pledge this month to set up a $1 billion credit fund to finance Lithuanian projects, on top of a $200 million investment fund it announced just days prior, Taiwan is wagering that well-timed and precise deployments of economic tools can bring about significant diplomatic gains.