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
- Spying. Human Rights. Covid-19. Beijing Olympic Athletes Face the Most Complex Games Ever. — Competitors navigate a tense mix of issues around politics, free speech, security and strict pandemic protocols.
- Chanel Faced a Consumer Backlash in China. It Fizzled. — Cosmetics maker Forest Cabin initiated social-media posts targeting the French luxury brand’s use of red camellias.
- Foreign Journalists in China Say They Face Deepening Intimidation — Many said they experienced harassment in the field when reporting, including from ordinary citizens who are increasingly hostile.
- Evergrande Faces Forced Sale of Hong Kong Land It Pledged for Loan — Oaktree Capital Management said to appoint receiver after developer defaulted on secured borrowing.
- China’s Economy Starts the Year With a Wobble — Manufacturing and service sector surveys show retreat in January as latest Covid-19 outbreaks hit domestic demand.
- For Chip Industry, Global Supply Crunch Pushes Next Target to $1 Trillion — After posting record sales in 2021, semiconductor makers prepare for historic expansion to boost capacity.
The Financial Times
- Chinese documentary prompts rare criticism of Xi’s corruption crackdown — ‘Zero Tolerance’ was designed to boost support for policy but some viewers say punishments are too light.
- China sets the pace in adoption of AI in healthcare technology — Concerns remain over privacy and security of mountain of healthcare data.
- Investors are shunning China’s once-hot consumer tech start-ups — Funding for grocery and edtech companies drops as VCs pour money into ‘hard tech.’
- Chinese ski hub buried in debt after Olympics building spree — Chongli suffers losses as Beijing’s property credit and pandemic crackdowns take their toll.
- Zambia’s president vows not to favour Chinese creditors in restructuring — Debt challenge seen as test of whether Beijing will accept losses from loans made to Africa.
- Ukraine conflict shines light on deepening ties between Beijing and Moscow — US and others worry a war in Europe could embolden an already assertive China.
- Chinese manufacturing slows as zero-Covid compounds property turmoil — Beijing’s economic planners confronted with unemployment and inflationary pressures.
- The vanishing slow trains of China — The time-honoured ritual of a long, slow, train journey home for Chinese New Year is under threat — both from Covid restrictions and the rapid expansion of high-speed rail.
- Hong Kong minister resigns after Omicron karaoke party scandal — Caspar Tsui violated government’s ‘zero-Covid’ rules at sensitive political moment.
The New York Times
- Ahead of Winter Olympics, Beijing Moves to Quash Dissent — As athletes begin to arrive in China for the Olympics, the authorities are rounding up activists and shutting down social media accounts.
- China’s Covid-Era Controls May Outlast the Coronavirus — The country has instituted a wide range of high-tech controls on society as part of a mostly successful effort to stop the virus. The consequences may endure.
- For Olympic Sponsors, ‘China Is an Exception’ — Pressure is mounting on companies to condemn the country’s human rights violations, but executives say the Games should not be politicized.
- Migrant Worker’s Tale of Inequality Grips China, Then Is Erased — A man with Covid revealed a parallel universe to well-off Chinese and became a symbol of inequality. The government found him inconvenient to its narrative.
Caixin
- Exclusive: Goldman Sachs Has Big Plans for China — As China tears down barriers to foreign investment banks, the U.S. group is looking to expand in all four of its business lines.
- Weekend Long Read: Why Solving U.S.-Listed Chinese Stocks’ VIE Issue Can Get Hong Kong Out of the Doldrums — I’d like to continue the topic about Hong Kong, which involves national security, the city’s stock market, and the variable interest entity (VIE) ownership structure widely used by Chinese tech companies listed in the U.S.
- Sequoia-Backed Chinese Car Chipmaker Moves Closer to $300 Million Shenzhen IPO — The chipmaking subsidiary of Chinese electric-car giant BYD Co. Ltd. won the nod from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Thursday for its IPO, as Beijing pushes for greater self-sufficiency in semiconductors amid U.S. sanctions and a global chip shortage.
South China Morning Post
- Slovenia tries to head off row with Beijing over Taiwan office — Slovenian officials have attempted to head off a potential dispute with China by clarifying that any Taiwanese diplomatic presence in the country will refer to “Taipei” rather than “Taiwan”.
- China-Russia ties: as the West forces them together, Xi and Putin show up for each other — Chinese President Xi Jinping tendered a warm welcome to the Russian leader as a guest of honour at the grand Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing on Friday.
- China puts ‘unprecedented’ pressure on foreign journalists: press group — Foreign journalists in China are facing “unprecedented hurdles”, including threats of legal action, online troll campaigns and dwindling numbers, according to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC).
Bloomberg
- China Home Sales Slump Deepened in January in Blow to Economy — China’s property sales slump persisted in January with top developers seeing a steeper decline in transactions, signaling the sector may remain a drag on the economy.
- Hong Kong Minister Quits After Flouting Covid Rules at Party — A senior Hong Kong government official has resigned after attending a large birthday party that fueled complaints of double standards by authorities enforcing strict Covid-control measures.
- Fewer China Flights May Worsen Chip Shortage With Port Snarled — Congestion at the world’s biggest port in Shanghai is being compounded by reductions in air-cargo capacity at the city’s main airport, a situation that’s likely to raise costs further for the semiconductor industry.
- Hong Kong Says Covid Zero Critics Won’t Be Locked Up in Prison — Hong Kong denied that criticism of the city’s strict policy to push for zero Covid-19 cases is illegal under a sweeping national security law that has silenced dissent in the former British colony.
Reuters
- Dashed dreams for China Evergrande’s showpiece resort island — Evergrande is in default to global bondholders, the former Communist Party secretary of the small Hainan island city where Ocean Flower Island was built is serving a life sentence for bribery, and officials in Danzhou city have ordered 39 of the project’s towers – roughly 3,900 of the island’s 65,000 homes – to be demolished over environmental and construction violations.
- AstraZeneca China summoned over suspected fraud — Chinese authorities summoned officials of AstraZeneca China regarding an investigation of suspected medical insurance fraud by the company’s employees, the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) said on Saturday.
- China to strengthen anti-monopoly efforts in pharma industry — China will toughen law enforcement to curb monopoly practices and unfair competition in the pharmaceutical industry as the government seeks to foster a good business environment, the industry ministry said on Sunday.
- Police arrest Macau’s No 2 junket boss in crackdown — Macau Legend Development, a company that owns and operates a casino resort in Macau, said its chief executive Chan Weng Lin had been arrested and detained by police.
Other Publications
- Politico: Inside the Biden Administration’s Unwritten Plan to Confront China — Biden’s trade team has struggled to take on Beijing without alienating allies at home and abroad. By Bob Davis
- The Washington Post: Eileen Gu: Born and raised in America, skiing for China — With one foot in each country, medal favorite seeks to strike a perilous balance.
- The New Yorker: How Beijing Is Playing the Olympics — China has long been fascinated with Olympic glory, but the run-up to the Winter Games has been beset by extraordinary pressures from the realms of politics, diplomacy, and public health. By Evan Osnos
- Nikkei Asia: Hong Kongers search for new lives in U.K. a year after visa rollout — Thousands join exodus over fears about Beijing’s national security law.
