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’s Economy Records 0.4% Growth, Weakest Since Wuhan Lockdown — The Chinese economy narrowly avoided a contraction in the second quarter as Beijing’s zero-Covid approach took a toll.
- China Property Market Shudders as Buyers Threaten to Stop Mortgage Payments — Bank shares and developers’ bonds sink, investors’ hopes of a near-term housing recovery fade.
- China’s Xi Made Rare Visit to Xinjiang — President aimed to demonstrate national unity in visit to region where Beijing has been accused of genocide against Uyghur ethnic group.
- Alibaba Executives Called In by China Authorities as It Investigates Historic Data Heist — Cybersecurity companies say Alibaba’s cloud platform that hosted Shanghai’s police database used outdated systems that didn’t offer ability to set a password.
- Senate Plans Vote Focused on Semiconductor Portion of China Bill — Talks on broader competitiveness legislation have stalled as administration urges quick action.
- Chinese Firms Are Selling Russia Goods Its Military Needs to Keep Fighting in Ukraine — Rising exports of microchips, aluminum oxide, other dual-use items undermine Western push to stall Russian war effort.
- Pacific Nations Reproach China for Its Push to Extend Regional Sway — Island leaders commit at a summit in Fiji to share information on issues of cross-border significance after Solomon Islands-China security pact raised concerns.
- Foxconn Invests $800 Million in Chinese Chip Conglomerate Tsinghua Unigroup — Once hailed as China’s semiconductor champion, Unigroup has been undergoing a string of bankruptcy reorganizations.
- FDA Delays Approval Decision on Cancer Drug From China — The agency says it can’t approve a esophageal cancer drug from Novartis and BeiGene without completing inspections in China.
- Video: China’s Property Developers Offer Cars, Pigs as Confidence in Market Wanes — Home sales in China have tumbled since the summer of last year.
The Financial Times
- China narrowly misses second-quarter contraction as zero-Covid batters economy — Gross domestic product expands 0.4% year on year in second quarter, imperilling annual growth target.
- Chinese drone maker lobbies to defeat US national security ban — DJI’s share of commercial market has fallen after Donald Trump placed it on ‘entities list’.
- Chinese regulators rush to tame investor panic over mortgage boycotts — Homebuyers stop paying loans on more than 200 unfinished property projects.
- Congress races to save $52bn in subsidies for chipmakers — US lawmakers consider ditching broader legislation as industry warns that investment will move overseas.
- Burberry and Richemont hit by China Covid lockdowns — Luxury goods groups benefit from strong US dollar and recoveries in Europe.
- Macau/gaming: casino operators bet on unlikely comeback — Recovery is a distant prospect given the twin effects of Covid and China’s bleak economic outlook.
- Rio Tinto warns of ‘considerable headwinds’ citing China Covid disruption — Miner’s share price drops as low iron ore demand clouds outlook.
- China hotpot chain Haidilao spins off overseas unit — Shares of the restaurant company fall 60% amid Beijing’s bruising zero-Covid policy.
The New York Times
- Xi Jinping Visits Xinjiang for the First Time Since Crackdown — State media have used Xi Jinping’s visits to Hong Kong and, now, Xinjiang to bolster his image as a leader who subdued turbulence on China’s periphery.
- China’s Economy Hits a Slump as Covid Policy Takes a Toll — High unemployment, a housing market in crisis and sluggish consumer spending during lockdowns are putting pressure on Beijing in a year when officials are focused on projecting stability.
Caixin
- Five Things to Know About Chinese Policy Banks’ Latest $45 Billion Infrastructure Stimulus — The Chinese government has once again leveraged its policy banks to aid its “all-out” infrastructure investment drive, in hopes of rescuing a struggling economy in the last six months of the year.
- JD.com Unit Buys One of China’s Largest Warehouse Operators — The subsidiary exercised an option to purchase China Logistics Property outright after growing its stake to about 36%.
- Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway to Post First Quarterly Loss Since IPO — Shanghai-traded line’s bottom line hurt by shrinking passenger traffic amid pandemic control measures, though train volume is up in July.
South China Morning Post
- China’s tech boomtown Shenzhen struggles under weight of lost jobs, dwindling profits and demand woes — ‘Everyone is frustrated about the economic outlook,’ Shenzhen worker laments as livelihoods continue to be adversely affected in China’s southern tech and manufacturing hub.
- Hong Kong protests: top court acquits first person jailed for carrying zip ties, rules items ‘not instruments fit for unlawful purposes’ — Court of Final Appeal also warns that an opposite interpretation would allow authorities to penalise ‘thought crimes’.
- Chinese ‘superiority’ keeps its inflation low, economic planner boasts as US prices keep rising — ‘Preventing imported inflation’ and domestic inflation are crucial in keeping China’s economy operating in a reasonable range, Premier Li Keqiang warns.
Nikkei Asia
- 30% of China’s local governments may face severe debt strain: S&P — Infrastructure bonds and COVID curbs squeeze budgets hit by real estate slump.
- Chinese Super League offers a lesson in how to kill a sport — Why has the world’s biggest football market failed to takeoff?
Bloomberg
- Xi Takes Defiant Victory Tour as He Closes in on Third Term — Xi Jinping’s trip to Xinjiang this week was the latest stop in a campaign-style tour that demonstrates the Chinese president’s willingness to defy foreign pressure before he secures a precedent-breaking third term.
- China Sees Most Covid Cases Since May as Lockdowns Spread — China reported its highest daily Covid-19 case tally in seven weeks as a new cluster emerged in the southern province of Guangxi, underscoring the difficulty of achieving the country’s Covid Zero strategy in the face of more infectious strains of the virus.
- Fresh Scrutiny of Alibaba Sends China Tech Stocks Into Tailspin — Investors in China’s tech shares just got another reminder that regulatory scrutiny into the sector is unlikely to go away anytime soon despite a concerted effort by authorities to shore up a flagging economy.
Reuters
- China’s President Xi says security measures in Xinjiang should become regular — China will make security measures in Xinjiang a regular fixture while requiring Islamic practices to conform to Chinese sensibilities, President Xi Jinping said on Friday during a visit to the northwestern frontier region, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
- In China’s Wuhan, cholera-causing bacteria in turtles strikes nerve — Detection in the Chinese city of Wuhan of a bacteria that caused cholera in a student and was separately found in samples from softshell turtles at a food market has struck a sensitive nerve with ordinary Chinese people, with some relating it to COVID-19.
- Biden administration reviewing China chip export policies, official says — The Biden administration is reviewing policies for the export of some semiconductor chips to China to ensure that advanced technological know-how does not ending up in Beijing, a top Commerce Department official said during a congressional hearing on Thursday.
Other Publications
- The Economist: A violent response to protests in China’s Henan province — Thousands of people lost access to their savings. Then bullies beat them up
- The Economist: How “civilised” are China’s model cities? — Clean toilets are good. Less crime would be better
- Politico: Senate eyes votes on computer chip bill that drastically slims U.S.-China competition plans — The move to vote on $52 billion in chip funding would signal the end of deadlocked negotiations between the House and Senate on the larger competition package.
- The Guardian: Four Hong Kong men arrested while trying to flee to Taiwan — Police said men, including one shot by officer in 2019 protest, had been hiding from law enforcement.
