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
- A $100 Billion Comedown: Soaring Defaults Shrink Asia’s Junk-Bond Market — The crisis in China’s property market has hammered bond prices and curbed sales of new debt.
- China’s Economic Distress Deepens as Lockdowns Drag On — Economists call for more-aggressive stimulus; slowdown is worst since the initial Covid outbreak in 2020.
- China Competitiveness Bill Faces Hurdles as Time Runs Short — More than 100 lawmakers are involved in talks as flashpoints emerge.
- India Can’t Hang Up on Chinese Smartphones — When it comes to smartphones, India and China have to keep the line open.
- Arrest of ‘Stubborn About Justice’ Cardinal Zen Divides Hong Kong’s Catholics — The priest, 90 years old, has been a spiritual leader of the city’s pro-democracy movement while the church hierarchy has aligned itself with the pro-Beijing government.
The Financial Times
- China’s economic activity plummets as Covid lockdowns hit growth — Consumer and industrial output plunge as country counts cost of Xi Jinping’s coronavirus strategy.
- Harrow Beijing school loses its hallowed British branding — Regulations force Chinese affiliate of famous English public school to drop its foreign name.
- Shanghai lockdown exposes global supply chain strains — Knock-on effects from disruptions in China could hit ports in Europe and the US when sea freight starts moving again.
The New York Times
- Students Protest Covid Lockdowns at Elite Beijing University — Authorities moved quickly to censor videos and photos that showed students at Peking University demonstrating.
Caixin
- Wait Time for Public Rental Housing in Hong Kong Hits 23-Year High — The lengthening wait time adds to the pressure on the city’s next chief executive, who has promised to get low-income families into public housing quicker.
- Two Carriers to Resume Domestics Flights Out of Shanghai This Week — Juneyao and Spring Airlines will restart passenger services to the cities of Kunming and Longyan.
South China Morning Post
- China to throw more resources at zero-Covid policy, health chief says — NHC head writes in party publication that permanent quarantine facilities will be built and dedicated teams set up for testing.
- China’s job market plagued by zero-Covid ‘uncertainty’, with swift rebound unlikely — Strict coronavirus controls, including lockdowns, have disrupted production and dealt a heavy blow to private firms and the service sector,
- China’s largest academic research database CNKI had years of alleged market power abuse before antitrust crackdown — China National Knowledge Infrastructure has long been the subject of lawsuits and complaints, with one alleging a 132 per cent fee increase from 2010 to 2016.
- China’s top diplomat hits out at Western critics who ‘distort the truth’ on pandemic controls — In state media commentary, Yang Jiechi also says Beijing will firmly respond to ‘plans or deeds by the US to suppress China’ ahead of party congress.
Nikkei Asia
- COSCO plants its flag in South America with $3bn Peruvian port — Chinese state shipping conglomerate seeks to build new Belt and Road hub.
- Shanghai targets June 1 return from COVID lockdowns — City officials declare epidemic under control but wait to prevent rebound.
- China tech bosses to meet officials amid talk of crackdown easing — Mixed signals from top leaders leave executives scrambling for guidance.
- New data transfer rules pursued to keep out China and Russia — Japan, U.S. and South Korea seek alternative to APEC framework.
Bloomberg
- Ant Completes China Tech Sector’s First ESG-Linked Loan Deal — Ant Group Co. has completed the first sustainability-linked loan arrangement in China’s tech sector.
- China’s Economic Activity Collapses Under Xi’s Covid Zero Policy — China’s economy is paying the price for the nation’s Covid Zero policy, with industrial output and consumer spending sliding to the worst levels since the pandemic began and analysts warning of no quick recovery.
- JPMorgan Analysts Behind ‘Uninvestable’ Call Upgrade China Tech — JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts are turning more positive on Chinese Internet stocks, upgrading at least 15 companies just two months after their bearish report on the industry triggered a market selloff.
- Calb Is Said to Tap More Banks for $1.5 Billion Hong Kong IPO — Calb Co., a Chinese battery supplier for electric vehicle makers, has added more banks to arrange its planned Hong Kong initial public offering.
- US Deepens China Solar Tariff Probe With Scrutiny of 8 Firms — The US Commerce Department is deepening its probe into whether solar power companies are circumventing import tariffs.
Reuters
- China regulator says Tesla recalling 107,293 China-made Model 3, Model Y vehicles — China’s market regulatory agency said on Monday that Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) is recalling vehicles due to overheating that may cause the centre touchscreen display to malfunction.
- China warns bankers against excessive incentives in pay curbs — China’s securities association is urging the country’s brokerages to set up a sound remuneration system, warning that excessive, or short-term incentives could trigger compliance risks.
- China asked 3 property developers to issue bonds this week — Three major private Chinese property developers who are financially healthy were asked by the authorities to issue bonds this week to help boost market sentiment, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday.
Other Publications
- Foreign Affairs: What Is China Learning From Russia’s War in Ukraine? —America and Taiwan Need to Grasp—and Influence—Chinese Views of the Conflict.
- AP: Uyghur county in China has highest prison rate in the world — Nearly one in 25 people in a county in the Uyghur heartland of China has been sentenced to prison on terrorism-related charges, in what is the highest known imprisonment rate in the world, an Associated Press review of leaked data shows.
- The Washington Post: Once China’s darling, tech industry is burdened by covid and crackdowns — Some in China’s tech industry fear that the best days of the sector may be behind it.