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
- Lessons From Lithuania’s David-Goliath Clash With China — The trade conflict is highlighting some interesting truths about the modern global economy.
- China’s Exports Picked Up in June as Logistics Problems Eased — Overseas orders to the U.S. and Southeast Asia grew as ports reopened, but economists say such a rebound may not last.
- U.S. Steps Up Pacific Engagement to Challenge China’s Clout — Washington plans to open embassies, increase funding, expand aid presence to bolster its status as regional power broker.
- Former Herbalife China Executive Ordered to Pay Fine After Defaulting in SEC Case — Yanliang ‘Jerry’ Li didn’t send a lawyer to respond to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission bribery charges brought in New York.
- Targeted by Beijing, One Chinese Tutoring Company Reinvents Itself With Live Streams Selling Groceries — New Oriental’s rebranding catches on with viewers as English tutors go viral selling produce online.
- Yellen Pitches Russian-Oil Price Cap to Chinese Counterpart — Treasury Secretary is working to build international support for a plan aimed at countering inflation and limiting Russian revenue.
The Financial Times
- Hong Kong IPOs: lithium giant’s disappointing listing spells trouble — Tianqi Lithium’s poor showing offers a window into what other candidates could expect.
- US employs ‘tuna politics’ to resist China’s Pacific push — Kamala Harris warns island nations of ‘bad actors’ after promising more aid to the region.
- US woos Pacific island nations in effort to push back against China — Vice-president Kamala Harris to give virtual address to regional forum.
- No, the global economy is not breaking into geopolitical blocs — Shrewd operators like Brazil’s Bolsonaro and India’s Modi can avoid getting trapped in a restrictive alliance with Washington or Beijing.
The New York Times
- Covid Surge in Shanghai Rases Fears of Another Lockdown — Residents have been alarmed by mixed messages from officials, including advice that they stock up on food and medicine.
- In Divide Over Ukraine, China Stakes a Position Further From U.S. — Recent statements have underscored the deep chasms in a relationship that is getting worse, as the Biden administration tries to come up with a cohesive China policy.
- ‘I Don’t Mind Being a Martyr’: Ailing Hong Kong Activist Defiant in Court — Koo Sze-yiu, who has been diagnosed with late-stage colon cancer, was sentenced to nine months in prison for planning a protest, amid fears he could die in prison.
Caixin
- Exclusive: China Development Bank Removes Vice President — Zhou Qingyu was set to retire in September from the state-owned bank where graft busters have nailed at least nine former senior executives.
- Tianqi Lithium Slides Below IPO Price in Hong Kong Debut — Miner’s shares open 11% lower, before recovering some of the losses during morning trading.
- China Is No Longer Temasek’s Top Investment Destination — The Singaporean state-owned company says it continues to invest in Chinese companies focused on ‘new consumption patterns, sustainability and innovation.’
South China Morning Post
- China’s court AI reaches every corner of justice system, advising judges and streamlining punishment — Smart court’s electronic reach allows the system to access police, prosecutor and government databases and integrate with China’s social credit system.
- China to buy Xinjiang cotton, but state stockpiling won’t save mills from massive losses amid US ban — To help stabilise China’s reeling cotton industry, the state will buy up to a half-million tonnes of Xinjiang cotton from mills starting on Wednesday
- Top Alibaba executives Daniel Zhang and Joe Tsai quit board of e-commerce giant’s sports unit: Tianyancha — Alibaba Sports aims to bring its digital capabilities to sports in China and in early 2019, it became a part of Alibaba’s culture entertainment unit.
- Hong Kong Bar Association head says any attempts at interference ‘deplorable’ after US commission report calls for sanctions on new justice chief, 15 of city’s prosecutors — Secretary of Justice Paul Lam and Maggie Yang, director of public prosecutions, among those cited by Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
Nikkei Asia
- China closes in on Japan’s hydrogen technology patent lead — Race to develop ultimate clean fuel heats up as Japanese filings slow by 30%.
- China says it ‘drove’ away U.S. destroyer near Paracel Islands — U.S. Navy calls Chinese statement on the USS Benfold’s mission ‘false’.
- Tencent dashes Chinese teens’ hopes for ‘video game summer’ — Country’s biggest gaming group quashes rumors of longer screen time limits.
Bloomberg
- IPhone Maker Backs China Chip Giant After $9 Billion Rescue — A Shanghai-listed arm of Foxconn Technology Group acquired a stake in China’s top chipmaker during its $9 billion bailout, people familiar with the matter said, the latest in a series of investments the Taiwanese-run firm has made in the mainland’s semiconductor industry.
- Goldman’s China Fund Distribution Approval Held Up by Regulator — China’s securities regulator suspended vetting an onshore fund distribution application by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., after putting on hold similar requests from both local and foreign firms earlier this year.
- Morningstar Cuts Hundreds of Shenzhen Jobs in China Shift — Morningstar Inc. is slashing a significant portion of its workforce in Shenzhen and relocating jobs to other countries as part of a restructuring exercise in China, a retreat that reflects a growing global ambivalence over doing business in the world’s second largest economy.
- Canada Fund Picks Singapore Over Hong Kong for Asia Beachhead — Alberta’s $129 billion investment manager is looking at Singapore rather than Hong Kong for its first office in Asia as it plots an international expansion of its private equity group.
Reuters
- China space tourism prospects boosted by cooperation agreement — A Chinese space tech company said on Wednesday it had signed a cooperation agreement with the country’s largest state-owned travel corporation, the latest sign that the arrival of a domestic “space tourism” industry is near.
- U.S. lawmakers ask Biden administration why some China solar giants left off slave labor list — It asks specifically why JinkoSolar Holding Co Ltd, Xinte Energy Co Ltd and Longi Solar were left off the list even though all three were included in a 2021 report by geopolitical risk consultancy Horizon Advisory that found signs of ties to forced labor in their supply chains.
- China’s “new retail” hype meets old retail reality — Alibaba’s high-tech Freshippo grocery chain lowered its targeted valuation by 40% as investors shy away from trendy online-to-offline retail plays. Shares in traditional supermarket chains are outperforming as e-commerce brands tank. It’s a lesson in the limits of disruption.
Other Publications
- Swedish National China Centre: Purchasing with the Party: Chinese consumer boycotts of foreign companies, 2008–2021 — In the past decade, consumer boycotts of foreign companies have become an increasingly common phenomenon in China. This study presents the first comprehensive overview of this development.
- Grid News: The end of China’s population boom has arrived. How will the country’s changing demographics shape its future? — New U.N. data shows that China’s population has begun to shrink — and is likely to decline significantly in the years to come.
- The Globe and Mail: Sri Lanka may be on cusp of tipping out of China’s sphere of influence amid economic crisis — With many in Sri Lanka partly blaming the outgoing government’s closeness to Beijing for the current economic crisis, the island nation may be on the verge of tipping out of China’s sphere of influence, wiping out billions of dollars the Asian superpower has invested in building an Indian Ocean foothold.
