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
- Chained Woman in China Was Sold as a Bride Twice — Officials give details of the woman’s plight at the hands of human traffickers, responding to online anger.
- HSBC Faces Crucial Test From Rising Rates — Cost control in the face of rising revenues is a key proof point of a successful turnaround of the Asia-focused bank.
- Virtual Lenders Shake Up Hong Kong’s Banking Industry — A group of eight digital-only banks is using mobile games and higher interest rates, among other things, to try to win over consumers.
The Financial Times
- Sea cucumbers feed China’s influence in Sri Lanka — Delicacy sparks intensifying battle for leverage between Beijing and New Delhi.
- Chinese education group New Oriental posts $876mn loss after Beijing clampdown — US-listed online tutoring companies have been hammered by China’s ban on profits.
- Hong Kong to give out spending vouchers as Covid cases hit record level — Economists warn that elimination strategy is ‘unsustainable’ as Omicron sweeps through city.
The New York Times
- China criticizes sanctions against Russia as ineffective and warns of wider damage. — China on Wednesday criticized the expansion of economic sanctions against Russia, saying that they were unlikely to solve the Ukraine crisis and that they had the potential to harm average people as well as the interests of Beijing.
- With some seeing parallels to Ukraine, Taiwan steps up its defenses. — Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, on Wednesday ordered the island’s armed forces and security personnel to step up surveillance and strengthen defenses as she sought to reassure those who see, in the Ukraine conflict, echoes of the self-governed territory’s own existential crisis.
Caixin
- Former Boss of Citic Bank Admits Taking $154 Million of Bribes — Sun Deshun pleads guilty at trial to using his position at several state-owned banks to offer favorable loans to businesses including HNA
- China’s Largest Private Tutor Sinks $907 Million Into the Red After Transformative New Rules — New Oriental ceased all tutoring of K-9 academics, laid off tens of thousands of staff in second half of last year
- Analysis: How Hong Kong Failed to Maintain ‘Zero Covid’ — Under the double whammy of omicron and delta variants, the number of daily new cases in Hong Kong has increased from about 1,000 in early February to 6,211 on Tuesday, with dozens of deaths.
South China Morning Post
- China back-pedals on plan to ban personal QR codes for business payment receipts after backlash — China has back-pedalled on a plan to ban merchants from using personal QR codes to receive payments, maintaining the status quo in which millions of street vendors, small businesses and even beggars rely on the simple scanning of a bar code to receive money.
- China edges closer to national pension system with ‘balancing’ of main retirement fund as population ages — China has taken another step toward setting up a national pension system, beginning the “balancing” of its main retirement fund to help regions with older populations continue to make payouts.
Nikkei Asia
- Asia’s arms race: China spurs military spending spree — The region’s biggest players are shelling out on defense at an alarming rate. Is war on the horizon?
- BYD zooms past Tesla in China’s electric-car market — Middle-of-the-road prices fuel Chinese automaker’s growth, but profit lags.
- China property developer sales ‘falling off a cliff’ — Rating agencies flag governance, transparency as liquidity dries up.
Bloomberg
- China Life’s Wang Bin Resigns as Chairman Amid Anti-Graft Probe — China Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Chairman Wang Bin resigned, just six weeks after being placed under investigation by the nation’s top anti-graft watchdog.
- Alibaba Halted Talks to Raise $1 Billion Before Lazada IPO — Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. discussed raising at least $1 billion for Lazada before calling off negotiations with potential investors when talks bogged down over the Southeast Asian online mall’s valuation.
- Hong Kong Weighs Easing Listing Rules for Large Tech Firms — Hong Kong is considering easing some listing requirements for large, advanced technology firms that are currently not eligible in an effort to help them meet capital needs for research and development, according to the city’s top financial official.
- Japan Protests After China Briefly Detains Diplomat in Beijing — China temporarily detained a diplomat working at Japan’s embassy in Beijing this week, prompting protests from Japanese officials.
Reuters
- S.Korea presidential frontrunner seeks to ‘reset’ China ties with extra THAAD missile system — Plans by South Korea’s leading opposition presidential candidate to buy an additional THAAD U.S. missile system risks economic retaliation from China, his top foreign policy adviser said, but that would provide a chance to “reset” testy diplomatic ties.
- Fundraising by Chinese private funds dives, slowing economy takes toll — Money raised by newly-launched private funds in China plunged 44% in January from a month earlier, latest official data showed, adding to evidence of rapidly-shrinking risk appetite amid a slowing economy and rising geopolitical tensions.
- Exclusive: S.Africa in talks with Huawei subsidiary to settle lawsuit over hiring — South Africa’s labour department is negotiating a possible out-of-court settlement with a subsidiary of China’s Huawei Technologies, which it accuses of failing to comply with local hiring quotas, a government official told Reuters.
Other Publications
- Associated Press: Biden wants to cut into China’s electric battery dominance — The Democratic president announced his administration is giving $35 million to MP Materials, a company that mines rare earth metals near the Nevada border in Southern California.
- Quartz: How China uses tax policies to defend its rare earths monopoly — A key factor that has helped China build and maintain its dominance over all segments of the rare earths supply chain is carefully calibrated administrative tools—specifically, tax policies and production quotas.
- The Washington Post: Hong Kong’s coronavirus surge leaves the most vulnerable without a place to isolate — An explosion of coronavirus infections has exposed the yawning inequities in Hong Kong, hitting hardest the most vulnerable — seniors, domestic workers and the more than 90,000 lowest-income households who live in cramped, subdivided flats.