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
- Behind China’s Warning Against a Russian Invasion Is a Desire to Protect Ties With the U.S. — After strongly supporting Moscow’s standoff with the West over Ukraine, Beijing aligns its position closer to Washington’s.
- Meituan Shows China Tech Isn’t Delivering Yet — Investors were hoping for a reprieve from the regulatory crackdown that punished shares in 2021.
- Beijing Winter Olympics End With Parade of National Flags and Burst of Fireworks — Games sought to unify the world but ended up highlighting its divisions.
- One of the Hardest Feats at the Winter Olympics Is Calculating the Bill — Beijing says it stayed true to its budget, while a Journal analysis reveals a complicated picture.
The Financial Times
- Beijing grows frustrated at Hong Kong’s handling of pandemic — City is more lenient than the mainland towards officials breaching pandemic restrictions.
- Ukraine crisis tests Xi’s pivot to Putin — Military stand-off offers potential ‘gift’ to China when negotiating oil and gas supplies.
- China’s driverless car dreams troubled by US chip dependency — The country’s booming autonomous-vehicle industry needs foreign tech.
- Richard Nixon in China: 50 years on — Xi-Putin friendship usurps half a century of US diplomacy.
- Chinese naval vessel aims laser at Australian surveillance plane — Prime minister Scott Morrison describes encounter in the Arafura Sea as an ‘act of intimidation.’
- China moves to counter India with arms sales to Pakistan — Beijing’s first export of J-10C jets marks step-up in decades-old arms relationship with Islamabad.
- China junk bonds/Zhenro: shock warning shakes ratings’ credibility — Developers’ woes will make refinancings harder, and more defaults should be expected.
- Beijing Winter Olympics close after fortnight of competition and controversy — Norway tops medal table in ‘safe’ Games but event was tarnished by a Russian doping scandal.
- Valieva affair overshadows sport as Beijing Winter Olympics concludes — Games will be best remembered for the furore over the teenage Russian figure skater.
The New York Times
- Bond Between China and Russia Alarms U.S. and Europe Amid Ukraine Crisis — The Biden administration plans to build up global coalitions to counter a pact between Vladimir V. Putin and Xi Jinping, portending a new type of Cold War.
- Justice Dept. Is Set to Modify Trump-Era Program Aimed at Fighting Chinese Threats — Critics said the China Initiative unfairly targeted Asian professors and contributed to a rising tide of anti-Asian sentiment.
- With Olympics Closing Ceremony, China Celebrates a Joyless Triumph — The Games ended without disaster but overshadowed by a doping scandal, rising tensions in Europe and anxiety over the future of the sporting movement.
- China’s foreign minister calls for new negotiations and respect for ‘territorial integrity.’ — China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, called on Saturday for fresh negotiations to avoid major conflict over Ukraine, arguing that a set of moribund cease-fire agreements from 2014-15 could form the basis for a deal.
- Some believe China was the birthplace of skiing. — As evidence, researchers have pointed to cave paintings in the community, which sits in the lowlands of the Altai Mountains.
- These vaccines have been embraced by the world. Why not in China? — Two years into the pandemic, China’s 1.4 billion people still don’t have access to one of the most effective coronavirus vaccines the world has to offer.
Caixin
- Cover Story: How a Fortune 500 Company Built a Commodity Colossus on a Shell Game — Billionaire Zhang Jin’s Cedar generates immense revenue from fake deals to borrow billions of dollars it can’t repay, Caixin learned.
- Chinese Regulators Warn of Metaverse Scams — Investors told to be wary of phony projects, dodgy virtual currencies.
- China’s Anti-Graft Agency Probes Former Telecom and Bank Exec — Li Guohua is being investigated for suspected wrongdoings during his time at state-owned Postal Savings Bank of China, where he served as chairman, Caixin has learned.
South China Morning Post
- Beijing to impose sanctions on US defence firms Lockheed and Raytheon over arms sales to Taiwan — Beijing on Monday said it would impose sanctions on two American defence companies in retaliation to the latest US arms sale to Taiwan.
- China lithium deposit discovered near Mount Everest may be boon in push to secure critical resource — A vast deposit of one of the most highly coveted metals on Earth could potentially be located in the region around Mount Everest, according to Chinese scientists.
- TikTok said to restore Russian media account, video on Ukraine crisis after government intervention — Chinese short video app TikTok has restored the account of a Russian state news agency after Moscow intervened when the account was blocked over the weekend, highlighting the social media platform’s increasing influence that has led to heightened scrutiny in multiple countries.
Nikkei Asia
- France slams China’s attempts to ‘break the status quo’ on Taiwan — Foreign minister Le Drian keen to deepen trade ties with Taipei.
- Nusantara poses threat to Indonesia’s China-led high-speed rail — Capital’s move out of Jakarta darkens profit outlook for rail operator.
- EU spurs African telecom development to win back clout from China — Brussels seeks to mix economic aid with democracy and free speech.
Bloomberg
- Hedge Funds That Won Big in China Bond Meltdown Now See Risk — As default risks surrounding troubled issuers like China Evergrande Group rocked the nation’s bond markets last year and left global investors nursing losses, a handful of little-known hedge funds swooped in.
- China Is Said to Plan State-Backed Platform to Buy Iron Ore — China’s latest bid to wrest control of soaring iron ore prices is a plan to make global suppliers negotiate sales to the world’s biggest market through a centralized platform.
- China Signals Coal Reliance to Continue With Three New Mines — China’s top planning agency approved three different billion-dollar coal mine projects on Monday as the country continues to support the fuel that much of the rest of the world is shunning.
- Pompeo to Visit Taiwan in Rare Trip by Ex-Top U.S. Diplomat — Former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo is scheduled to travel to Taiwan next month, one of the most senior U.S. dignitaries to visit the democratically ruled island in recent years.
Reuters
- U.S. former top diplomat Pompeo, sanctioned by China, to visit Taiwan — Taiwan’s foreign ministry said Pompeo and his wife would visit the Chinese-claimed island from March 2-5, and also meet Foreign Minister Joseph Wu and give a speech at a think-tank.
- Beijing sanctions Lockheed, Raytheon again over Taiwan arms sales — The sanctions are countermeasures against the two companies over a $100-million Feb. 7 arms sale that “undermined China’s security interests, seriously undermined China-U.S. relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular news briefing.
- Australia urges ‘full investigation’ into China naval laser incident, Beijing defends actions — Scott Morrison told media his government had not received an explanation from China over the incident last Thursday, which Australia considered “dangerous and reckless”.
Other Publications
- The Washington Post: An alleged Chinese interference plot stirs fears — and smears — ahead of Australian elections — The alleged plot and subsequent political haymaking have dominated headlines for more than a week in Australia, where anti-Chinese sentiment has risen in recent years amid a chilly economic and diplomatic standoff.
- The Atlantic: ‘I’m Afraid That I Cannot Be a Journalist Anymore’ — Government officials claim that Hong Kong’s media environment is “as vibrant as ever,” another addition to their accrescent portfolio of lies.
- Foreign Policy: ‘I Can Think as the Chinese Do’ — Harned Hoose played both sides of the U.S.-China relationship—including during Nixon’s famous trip. By Mike Chinoy
