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
- Casino Guests Face Extended Stay in Macau as China’s Covid-19 Lockdowns Spread — The Chinese gambling hub is enforcing stringent measures to battle its worst outbreak after months of almost no cases.
- SPAC Slowdown Tests Asia’s Fledgling Market for Blank-Check Firms — So far just five blank-check companies have listed in either Hong Kong or Singapore.
- China’s Covid-19 Controls Force U.N. Biodiversity Conference to Move to Canada — Meeting that could have helped Beijing project its diplomatic and cultural clout is now scheduled for December in Montreal.
- Video: What a New Bridge Says About How China Is Helping Russia — Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China has been cautious about openly supporting Moscow.
- Opinion: Semiconductor Dependency Imperils American Security — The U.S. Innovation and Competition Act is only the first step in preventing Chinese dominance. By Graham Allison and Eric Schmidt
- TikTok Left a Hole in India’s Net—Both Meta and Google Want to Fill It — Google is pumping capital into all the promising video bets in the country, hoping at least some of them pan out.
The Financial Times
- Hong Kong exchange sets terms for Evergrande to avoid delisting — Chinese property group under pressure as investors dump bonds from junk-rated developers.
- Musk’s Starlink aid to Ukraine triggers scrutiny in China over US military links — ‘Silicon Valley Iron Man’ is under pressure over satellites as Chinese rivals close in on Tesla.
- Macau’s Covid crackdown leaves Stanley Ho’s SJM casino group burning cash — Liquidity declines at operator founded by late tycoon as coronavirus curbs hit gambling sector.
- Iron ore price surrenders gains for the year as Chinese demand cools — Steelmaking commodity hit by investors’ concerns over construction output in key market.
- Miners/iron ore: faltering Chinese demand highlights problems ahead — Miners and energy producers will become riskier propositions in the second half of this year.
The New York Times
- Video: China’s Surveillance State Is Growing. These Documents Reveal How. — A Times investigation analyzing over 100,000 government bidding documents found that China’s ambition to collect digital and biological data from its citizens is more expansive and invasive than previously known.
- China’s Expanding Surveillance State: Takeaways From a NYT Investigation — Times reporters spent over a year combing through government bidding documents that reveal the country’s technological road map to ensure the longevity of its authoritarian rule.
- Jumbo, Hong Kong’s Floating Restaurant, Sinks After Capsizing — Jumbo Floating Restaurant, which closed in 2020, capsized in the South China Sea after being towed from the city. The sinking triggered nostalgia for a happier period of Hong Kong history.
- Chinese Omicron Study Renews Debate Over ‘Zero Covid’ Policy — The study found that the variant carried a relatively low risk of severe illness.
Caixin
- Cover Story: China’s Climate Envoy Says Multilateral Approach is Crucial (Part 2) — China’s climate change envoy Xie Zhenhua has for decades been at the forefront of his nation’s drive to reduce carbon emissions and protect the environment.
- Less Than 0.1% of Shanghai’s Hospitalized Covid Patients Develop Severe Illness, Study Shows — Less than 0.1% of the more than 30,000 hospitalized Covid-19 patients in Shanghai in the latest outbreak developed severe illness and all of them were over 60 years old with underlying medical conditions or weakened immune systems, a study found.
South China Morning Post
- Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act takes effect in US, banning imports from Xinjiang — Cotton products, tomatoes and polysilicon, a material used in the solar panel industry, are among the ‘high priority’ sectors that will face scrutiny by US customs agents.
- Police officer fired and 5 placed under investigation over attack in women in Chinese city of Tangshan — A deputy district commander was dismissed from his post with the others being investigated by the local disciplinary watchdog.
- Does China’s demotion of its deputy foreign minister signal a rethink over Russia ties? — Le Yucheng, the deputy foreign minister and Russia expert, has been shunted aside as Beijing’s relationship with Moscow faces increasing scrutiny.
Bloomberg
- China Premier’s Trip to Wheat Farm Shows Lingering Food Worries — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited a wheat farm in a province neighboring the capital, underscoring his government’s lingering worries about food security.
- Ximalaya Said to Push Back Hong Kong IPO Launch Amid Volatility — Chinese podcasting startup Ximalaya Inc. is pushing back the launch of its planned initial public offering in Hong Kong, in an abrupt change of heart amid market volatility, people familiar with the matter said.
- US Sanctions Help China Supercharge Its Chipmaking Industry — China’s chip industry is growing faster than anywhere else in the world, after US sanctions on local champions from Huawei Technologies Co. to Hikvision spurred appetite for home-grown components.
Reuters
- Honda China venture begins construction of Guangdong EV factory — Honda Motor Co Ltd said on Tuesday its joint venture in China with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co has begun building an electric vehicle factory in Guangdong province with an initial investment of 3.49 billion yuan ($522 million).
- Analysis: Quantity over quality – China faces power supply risk despite coal output surge — China could face further power shortages this summer despite taking drastic measures to boost coal production, as much of the new supply is of lower quality than before and burns more quickly in power stations, traders and analysts told Reuters.
- No Biden move on Chinese tariffs likely before G7 meeting – sources — U.S. President Joe Biden is considering scrapping tariffs on a range of Chinese goods to curb inflation, but no decision is likely before next week’s Group of Seven summit, people familiar with the matter said.
Other Publications
- Associated Press: China’s 1st Horn of Africa envoy offers to mediate in region — Notably absent was Eritrea, which teamed up with Ethiopia’s forces in the Tigray conflict and was among the African countries visited by China’s foreign minister early this year.
- Rest of World: For some Chinese hosts, Airbnb’s exit marks a return to a smaller world — “The entire country is becoming more closed to the world.”
