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
- China and the U.S. Are Arranging an In-Person Meeting Between Heads of Defense — Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe is expected to meet U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at Singapore conference amid tensions over Taiwan.
- China Sees Action on Deal With Pacific Island Nations Deferred — Fiji summit ends without comprehensive accord amid concerns that proposal could give Beijing too much regional sway.
- China’s Slowdown Poses Credibility Test for Economic Data — Growth has collapsed in a sensitive political year for Chinese leader Xi Jinping, causing many economists to question how closely official figures will hew to reality.
- China’s Tentative Reopening Gives Boost to Markets — Some market participants expect any further rebound to be limited.
- China’s Economic Downturn Shows Signs of Easing — Economists say growth will likely remain subdued as long as Beijing sticks to its zero-tolerance approach to Covid-19.
- As China’s Private Developers Retreat, State-Backed Rivals Gain Ground — Real-estate companies linked to central and local governments are seen as likelier survivors in a shrinking market.
- U.N. Human-Rights Chief Calls on China, Gently, to Boost Transparency in Xinjiang — Michelle Bachelet, after a six-day visit to China, offered no timeline on a highly anticipated report on rights abuses in Xinjiang.
- China’s Lockdowns Prompt a Rethinking of Life Plans Among the Young — Restrictions feed a sense of insecurity among many middle-class Chinese; ‘We are the last generation.’
The Financial Times
- Shanghai on course to reopen after two months of lockdown — Financial centre eases restrictions but government remains committed to zero-Covid policy.
- Hong Kong officials escape quarantine that batters city’s reputation — Senior staff exempted from up to two weeks in designated hotel faced by ordinary travellers on return to city.
- Hong Kong tycoon Richard Li’s FWD delays $1bn IPO on market volatility — Insurance group’s decision to postpone listing deals another blow to Asian financial centre.
- How China’s lockdown policies are crippling the country’s economy — Xi Jinping’s attempts to keep China free of Covid-19 are causing widespread damage to the world’s second biggest economy.
- Pacific Islanders snub China by rejecting security pact — Washington and Canberra campaign strongly against Beijing’s efforts to boost regional influence.
- Overseas investors mired in fight for control of Chinese developer Nam Tai — Feud casts rare spotlight on challenges for outsiders navigating country’s property industry.
- UN envoy ‘unable to assess’ scale of Xinjiang repression — Michelle Bachelet’s Uyghur human rights investigation has been stymied by Beijing and expediency.
- China fails to work out a plan to ease its economic malaise — Covid lockdowns strangle growth but there seems little officials can do to surmount the challenges.
The New York Times
- Why China Is Miles Ahead in a Pacific Race for Influence — To many observers, the South Pacific today reveals what American decline looks like. Even as Washington tries to step up its game, it is still far behind, mistaking speeches for impact and interest for influence.
- Crude, Ugly and Pro-American? China Investigates Images in Math Textbooks. — The discovery of what some viewed as disturbing illustrations in books for elementary school students set off a national furor.
- China Spins U.N. Human Rights Chief’s Visit as Propaganda — Michelle Bachelet’s tour includes Xinjiang, where China has been accused of genocide. The terms of her visit are unclear, and critics say Beijing is using her for propaganda.
- Global Brands Seek Clarity on Xinjiang — Companies that sourced cotton from the region in China are weighing evidence of forced labor, a lack of visibility into operations and new regulation.
Caixin
- Exclusive: Qualcomm Plans to Be in China for the Long Haul — CEO Cristiano Amon says American semiconductor giant can show what U.S.-Sino cooperation can look like despite bilateral tensions.
- China’s Aviation Regulator Halts Subsidies to Airlines — Flights drop as Covid-relief plan kicks in, raising concerns of carriers sandbagging to collect government payments.
- China Draws From Next Year’s Budget for Local Government Handouts — The early release of the funds originally earmarked for next year shows the lengths that the central government is willing to go to bolster local economies.
South China Morning Post
- China continues to dismantle missing tycoon Xiao Jianhua’s financial empire — Shenzhen-based Rongtong Fund Management, which manages US$36 billion, has named Zhang Wei as the new chairman.
- China foreign business sentiment reaches ‘tipping point’ as zero-Covid dents confidence, erodes attraction — British Chamber of Commerce in China calls for ‘predicable and proportionate’ measures to be applied under the zero-Covid policy in the latest call for Beijing to tweak its highly restrictive virus controls.
- Richard Li’s FWD postpones its listing plan in Hong Kong amid persistent stock market slump, sources say — Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index has fallen 9.3 per cent this year, a slump that deterred companies from raising capital through IPOs, driving the city to sixth place among global IPO destinations in the first quarter.
Nikkei Asia
- Huawei’s digital power business key to ‘survival’ amid U.S. crackdown — Asia-Pacific head says Chinese company is ‘welcomed in many countries.’
- China cram schools learn new tricks under tutoring crackdown — New Oriental and TAL woo parents to spend on ‘noncore’ classes like cooking.
- Japan’s Foreign Ministry debuts China strategy group — Long-term assessment of Beijing’s activity planned, spurred by Ukraine war.
Bloomberg
- China Unveils Car Tax Cut Details in Bid to Boost Spending — China will cut the purchase tax levied on some low-emission passenger vehicles by half, according to a statement on the finance ministry’s website, as Covid outbreaks and lockdowns crush consumer confidence and the government pulls out all stops to spur economic growth.
- With Just One IPO Done, Hong Kong Sees Its Worst May In a Decade — Only one company sold shares for the first time in Hong Kong this month, with proceeds raised marking the lowest for IPOs in May in 10 years.
- China Is Leading the Global Contraction in Venture Capital Deals — China, once the primary rival to Silicon Valley’s technology success, is now leading the global decline in venture capital investments.
- China’s Electric Car Growth Forecasts Are Starting to Look Shaky — Lockdowns and supply chain snarls have combined to cloud the outlook for electric-car sales.
Other Publications
- The Economist: China’s intergenerational divide — Older intellectuals find young Chinese childish, nationalist and scary.
- MIT Tech Review: How censoring China’s open-source coders might backfire — Many suspect the Chinese state has forced Gitee, the Chinese competitor to GitHub, to censor open-source code in a move developers worry could obstruct innovation.
- The Guardian: China funnels its overseas aid money into political leaders’ home provinces — Schools and airports help the leaders of countries that receive cash from Beijing tighten their grip on power, a new book claims.
- The Washington Post: Opinion: How the U.N. became a tool of China’s genocide denial propaganda — Before U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet made her long-awaited tip to China last week, the Biden administration and the human rights community urged her not to let Beijing turn the visit into a propaganda win for the Chinese Communist Party. By Josh Rogin
