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
- Shipping Stocks Will Sink as U.S. Consumers, China Lose Ballast — Container shipping industry has started to slow amid U.S. inflation, Shanghai’s Covid-19 lockdown.
- China Covid-19 Lockdowns Spread Beyond Shanghai to Other Cities — Forty-five cities that account for 40% of China’s economic output had implemented full or partial lockdowns as of Monday, by one tally.
- China’s Central Bank Takes Small Steps to Support Economy — People’s Bank of China cuts banks’ reserve requirement but keeps rates unchanged, disappointing expectations for bigger jolt of stimulus.
The Financial Times
- China cuts banks’ reserve rules in effort to combat economic impact of Covid — PBoC holds back on reducing key interest rate as it juggles capital outflows and weakening growth.
- Steinway IPO seeks to catch the ear of the world’s biggest piano market — Hedge fund billionaire John Paulson has China’s 40mn pianists in his sights with return to the public markets.
- Shanghai residents and police clash after homes seized for Covid quarantine — Videos of demonstrators being restrained by authorities quickly erased from social media.
- VW China sales hit by lockdowns and semiconductor supply problems — Deliveries fell by almost a quarter in the three months to the end of March.
- Uniqlo owner warns of big profit drop in China due to Covid-19 curbs — Chief executive Yanai says weakening yen has ‘no merit whatsoever’ for Japan.
The New York Times
- Shanghai’s Isolation Facilities Have Prompted a Backlash — Hundreds of thousands of Shanghai residents have been sent to quarantine and isolation facilities. One woman described her ordeal.
- Faced With a Changed Europe, China Sticks to an Old Script — Europe was viewed as lacking the power and the will to contest China’s rise. But now, a harder line toward Russia has implications for Beijing.
Caixin
- In Depth: China Flags Expansion of Red-Hot REITs to Boost Infrastructure Investment — Regulators will broaden a pilot program started in 2021 to let trusts raise more money for infrastructure projects and affordable rental housing.
- Chinese Banks Expand Mortgage Rate Cuts to Bolster Housing Market — Lenders in more than 100 cities slashed borrowing costs since March, PBOC says, as authorities move to shore up key economic sector.
- Facing Uncertainty in U.S., Chinese Q&A Platform Zhihu Turns to Hong Kong — The company behind the Quora-like website raises $106 million in an additional primary listing as it faces the possibility of having to abandon its U.S. listing.
South China Morning Post
- Tim Cook of Apple and financier Ray Dalio should register as agents for China, US panel hears — US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, an advisory panel, is told that the business executives ‘kowtow’ to Beijing.
- Leading Russian scientist says Chinese have stopped cooperating after Ukraine invasion — The head of the Russian Academy of Sciences told an international conference that Chinese researchers have ‘pressed pause’ with no explanation.
- China’s semiconductor ambitions take a hit after Huawei’s HiSilicon drops out of global top 25 chip vendor rankings — HiSilicon’s exit made an impact on China’s overall share of the global semiconductor market, which declined to 6.5 per cent in 2021 from 6.7 per cent a year earlier.
Nikkei Asia
- China holds military drills around Taiwan as U.S. delegation visits — China says it sent frigates, bombers and fighter planes.
- Huawei exec: Supply chains at risk if Shanghai lockdown persists — Tech and auto industries could face ‘massive losses,’ warns Richard Yu.
Bloomberg
- China’s Central Bank Takes Modest Easing Path Despite Covid Toll — China’s central bank gave lenders a modest cash boost on Friday and refrained from cutting interest rates, taking a cautious approach with monetary easing despite the worst Covid outbreak in two years taking a toll on the economy.
- China Battery Giant CATL Joins $6 Billion Venture in Indonesia — China’s top battery producer plans to boost its presence in the aspiring electric-vehicle hub of Indonesia by partnering with local state-owned groups to build a $5.97 billion mining-to-batteries complex.
- Tesla Staring Down 40,000 Lost EVs Due to Shanghai Lockdown — For the first time, Tesla Inc. has hit a real production snag in China.
Other Publications
- Foreign Affairs: The Age of Slow Growth in China — And What It Means for America and the Global Economy. By Daniel Rosen
- Foreign Policy: How Beijing Sees Biden — For decades, Chinese leaders thought they knew the man who would become America’s 46th president. But he was changing all along. By Melinda Liu
- Foreign Policy: What Exactly Is America’s China Policy? — The United States needs to right-size the China threat to know how to counter it. By Andrew Nathan
- Foreign Policy: Generation Snitch — How censorship, nationalism, and wealth have shaped young Chinese. By Tracy Wen Liu
- ChinaFile: Europe’s China Policy Has Taken a Sharp Turn. Where Will It Go Next? — A ChinaFile Conversation
- Science: Why a judge might overturn a guilty verdict against a U.S. scientist for hiding China ties — Comments from federal judge suggest the case against chemical engineer Franklin Tao could have fatal flaws.
