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
- U.S. Orders Departure of Consulate Staff and Family From Shanghai Due to Covid-19 Surge — The State Department said that China’s measures to curb the spread of the virus are affecting travel and access to public services.
- China Starts Approving Videogame Licenses Again — List of licenses granted for 45 games doesn’t include Tencent or foreign developers.
- Citi Names Angel Ng as Head of Asia Pacific for Global Wealth Management — Appointment comes as New York-based bank doubles down on serving wealthy clients in the region.
The Financial Times
- Australian minister flies to Solomon Islands for urgent talks on China pact — Mid-election trip to Honiara highlights western alarm at draft security deal with Beijing.
- US orders non-essential consulate staff to leave Shanghai — Chinese city locked down after Covid outbreak as Beijing warns about economic growth.
- Shanghai unveils limited easing of Covid lockdown as Chinese markets fall — Declines in shares underline worry about impact of coronavirus restrictions on manufacturing.
- China approves new online games as crackdown eases — Beijing gives go-ahead for first time in nine months in boost to hard-hit providers like Tencent and Bilibili.
- King Dollar is in no danger of losing its world financial crown — Neither the renminbi nor cryptocurrencies pose a serious threat to the greenback’s supremacy.
The New York Times
- From the U.S. to China: A 3-Month Quarantine Horror Story — A lawyer flew home to China hoping to see his family for the first time since the pandemic began. Instead, he was trapped in three months of quarantine.
- China Sets Aside Push to Spread Wealth in Pivotal Year for Xi — Xi Jinping’s rhetoric about redistributing wealth was aimed partly at drumming up public support. But it unnerved entrepreneurs and posed a drag on growth.
- China’s Echoes of Russia’s Alternate Reality Intensify Around the World — China’s officials and state media are increasingly parroting Russian propaganda organs on the war in Ukraine, undercutting U.S. and European diplomatic efforts, even after the killings in Bucha.
Caixin
- Exclusive: Former Shenzhen Head of China Construction Bank Taken Away by Graft Busters — Wang Ye, who ran the lender’s operations in the southern boomtown, is the latest executive of the state-owned giant to land in hot water with anti-corruption authorities
- Ex-Bank Regulator Kicked Out of Communist Party in Bribery Probe — Li Guorong accepted illegal payments related to Baoshang Bank failure while serving as a senior executive in the bank’s government takeover, graft busters say
- In Depth: How China’s Biggest Academic Library Got Shrouded in Copyright Disputes — The CNKI has over 200 million research papers and owns 95% of copyrighted academic papers written in Chinese. This gives the CNKI near-monopoly power over China’s digital resource publishing industry, where it holds bargaining power over both academic journals and researchers.
South China Morning Post
- Huawei suspends some Russian operations, reports say, treading carefully amid sanctions risks as it weighs options — China’s largest telecoms equipment maker, already burdened by US sanctions, is furloughing local employees for a month, according to a Forbes Russia report.
- Taiwan’s premier calls for chip protection laws to be passed ‘at earliest date’ — Su Tseng-chang says the ‘red supply chain’ is using various methods to ‘infiltrate’ the island, take its talent and steal its technology.
- China’s support for Russia galvanises US, Europe as Washington examines once-unthinkable sanctions against Beijing — Beijing has failed to convince the West of its self-proclaimed neutrality on the Ukraine war as political winds shift rapidly.
Nikkei Asia
- China to hold party congress in November: report —Ming Pao cites stricter information controls surrounding date.
- Thailand’s purchase of first Chinese submarine runs aground — Germany’s refusal to provide engine stalls procurement plan.
- U.S. fines 6 companies linked to Chinese metals tycoon $1.8bn — Court found conspiracy to inflate sales of Hong Kong-listed Zhongwang.
Bloomberg
- The Near-500% Rally in Lithium Is Showing Cracks in China — Lithium is showing signs of losing momentum — at least in China — after a powerful rally that carried prices to what Elon Musk called “insane levels”.
- Taiwan Issues War Response Handbook Over China Invasion Threat — Taiwan issued its first war handbook advising citizens how to respond in the wake of an attack, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raises fears of a Chinese incursion at home.
- Chinese Billionaire-Linked Aluminum Fraud Gets $1.8 Billion Fine — Six companies tied to Chinese billionaire Liu Zhongtian were ordered by a U.S. judge to pay $1.83 billion in restitution for disguising aluminum shipments to avoid paying approximately that amount in customs duties.
Reuters
- China nudges listed firms, investors to buy stocks to stabilise market — China is encouraging long-term investors to buy more equities and major shareholders of listed firms to increase their holdings when stocks slump.
- China gaming firms toe the line, paving the way to end licence freeze — The watchdog of the $47 billion video games market, the world’s largest, stopped issuing publishing licenses, which are key to monetising games, in August following a crackdown that curbed game-playing time for minors.
- Italy to set up unit to scrutinise takeovers of strategic firms – sources — PM Draghi has blocked four Chinese forays in 14 months.
Other Publications
- The Atlantic: Photos: Two Weeks of COVID Lockdown in Shanghai — On March 28, officials in Shanghai, China, instituted strict lockdown controls, confining millions of residents to their homes. More than two weeks later, as residents struggle to stretch their supplies and make do with the little food that is available, the frustrations of those in lockdown are rising.
