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
- Nancy Pelosi’s Expected Taiwan Visit Raises U.S.-China Tensions: Live Updates — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is making the highest-level trip in 25 years by a U.S. government official to Taiwan, a self-governing island that China’s Communist Party claims as a part of its territory.
- Nancy Pelosi to Visit Taiwan Despite Warnings From China — U.S. House speaker plans meetings with Taipei officials, raising prospect of increased tensions with Beijing.
- Beijing Bets the House on Infrastructure — As Chinese factories and the housing market stumble again, the silence from Beijing is deafening.
The Financial Times
- Chinese fighter jets fly close to Taiwan ahead of Pelosi visit — Taipei and Washington braced for prospect of violent reaction after Beijing warns it will ‘not sit by idly.’
- HSBC’s chair hits back at Ping An break-up demands — Mark Tucker warns investors split would result in share-price drop and reduce dividends.
- Missfresh hit by lawsuits from investors and employees — Shares of Tiger Global-backed Chinese delivery start-up have collapsed from $13 last year to 10 cents.
- Xi misses his chance to dismiss Pelosi’s trip as feeble grandstanding — The Chinese president’s reaction has imbued the visit with greater importance than it deserves.
- Hong Kong casino tycoon considers Macau move to avoid US delisting — Melco is exploring a loophole as negotiations between Beijing and Washington reach a stalemate.
- Crunch looms in China-US wrangle over delistings — Negotiations over inspections of company audits nearly out of time.
- Made in China 2025 plan thrives with subsidies for tech and EV makers — Handouts continue but local government cash crunch adds extra dimension.
- Pelosi to meet Taiwan’s president on Wednesday — Controversial visit by US House Speaker triggers concern about possible Chinese retaliation.
- Taiwan/Pelosi: push to pick US or China leaves TSMC in dire straits — Silicon chips feature in tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The New York Times
- Ahead of Pelosi’s Trip, Defiance in Taiwan — Public nonchalance about the tensions over Nancy Pelosi belies a political reality: Many are tired of China’s threats and crave American support.
- U.S. Warns China Not to Turn Pelosi’s Expected Trip to Taiwan Into a ‘Crisis’ — Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime China hawk, has not confirmed that she plans to visit Taiwan, but all indications suggest that she will make a stop on the self-governing island without prior announcement.
- Debris From Uncontrolled Chinese Rocket Falls Over Southeast Asian Seas — Space watchers had tracked the 23-ton rocket stage’s path in Earth orbit this week because of the slight possibility that it could come down over a populated area.
Caixin
- In Depth: China Debates Who Should Pay for Public Health Crises — The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed shortcomings in China’s medical system and triggered a national debate about how public health emergencies should be funded and what role the medical insurance system should play.
- Chinese Battery Giant CATL Hits Rival With Another Patent Lawsuit — The country’s largest EV battery-maker accuses competitor CALB of patent infringement and unfair competition.
- Alibaba Added to U.S. List of Chinese Stocks Facing Expulsion — SEC says American oversight agency couldn’t fully review e-commerce giant’s fiscal 2022 books as negotiators appear deadlocked.
South China Morning Post
- Ant Group changes top management at Alipay corporate entity in latest restructuring move — In a top management change at Ant Group’s major entity, chairman Eric Jing Xiandong will relinquish his role as legal representative and chairman of Alipay.
- China unveils system for filing antitrust reviews in sign of ‘normalised’ regulations in tech industry — The State Administration for Market Regulation has imposed dozens of fines since late 2020 against Big Tech firms over failures to disclose mergers and acquisitions.
- HSBC executives face off with Hong Kong shareholders in charm offensive to fend off calls to split city’s largest bank — High on shareholders’ minds is whether the London-based bank should continue to straddle the gulf between the East and the West, and how it can navigate the geopolitical minefield in deteriorating US-China relations.
- Hong Kong activist detained for inciting subversion of state wins judicial review to lift reporting restrictions on case — Judge Alex Lee from Court of First Instance says he does not see how media blackout serves to protect prosecution witnesses in case.
- Chinese internet firm Sina, social media service Weibo abruptly close Taiwan platforms amid rising geopolitical tensions — The abrupt shutdown on Monday reflects heightened tension in cross-strait relations amid reports that US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi will visit Taiwan.
Nikkei Asia
- China mortgage strikes threaten property sector’s house of cards — As unfinished homes disrupt lives, pressure grows on developers and Beijing alike.
- CHIPS Act leaves chipmakers facing choice between U.S. and China — Bill’s funding comes with overseas investment restrictions attached.
- China extends EV tax break past year-end deadline — Domestic automakers benefit from longer support, which source says may last 1 year.
- China bans thousands of Taiwan food imports as Pelosi trip riles — Halt on everything from vegetables to baby food comes as Sino-U.S. tensions soar.
Bloomberg
- China in Longest Streak of Liquidity Withdrawals Since February — China’s central bank drained cash from the banking system for a seventh straight day as market rates plummeted amid ample liquidity.
- Why a Primary Listing in Hong Kong Matters for Alibaba, BiliBili — The decision by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to change its listing status in Hong Kong to “primary” from “secondary” is a move similar to that taken by other companies in the Asian hub recently and might spur others to do the same. What are reasons for such a switch?
- China State-Owned Developers Borrow Cheaply as Peers Shut Out — A divide in funding access is widening among Chinese developers, as most struggle to raise cash in the domestic bond market amid a deepening sector crisis while mostly state-backed builders manage to borrow at the lowest cost in 12 years.
- US to Stop TSMC, Intel From Adding Advanced Chip Fabs in China — As the US Congress passed an historic $52 billion federal program to boost domestic chipmaking capabilities, it included one significant caveat: Companies that receive the funding have to promise not to increase their production of advanced chips in China.
- China Slaps Export Ban on 100 Taiwan Brands Before Pelosi Visit — China barred shipments from more than 100 Taiwanese food exporters in an apparent effort to impose economic pressure on a key industry ahead of an expected visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Reuters
- U.S. senators Schumer, Warner join calls to blacklist Chinese chipmaker YMTC — Huawei Technologies Co Ltd a Chinese telecommunications equipment maker, was put on the list in 2019, and the letter said YMTC is supplying them, limiting the effectiveness of the sanctions.
- Chinese requests for U.S. clearance on investments doubled in 2021 — Chinese investors roughly doubled the number of applications they made last year seeking U.S. regulatory clearance for proposed stakes in American companies, according to a report the government plans to release on Tuesday.
- China’s CATL reshuffles management as billionaire executive exits — Vice chairman and deputy general manager Huang Shilin had resigned and would leave the battery maker to explore business opportunities elsewhere.
- U.S. needs full access to Chinese company audit papers to resolve accounting dispute – watchdog — The U.S. public company accounting regulator will not accept any restrictions on its access to the audit papers of Chinese companies listed in New York, its chair said on Monday.
Other Publications
- The Economist: Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan highlights America’s incoherent strategy — The Biden administration’s policy is a mess.
- The Atlantic: Why Britain Changed Its China Stance — The cycles of London’s engagement with Beijing reveal how the U.S.’s ability to keep allies in line for its great-power competition is weakening.
- The Guardian: British MPs plan visit to Taiwan as tension with China simmers — Exclusive: Tom Tugendhat likely to lead trip later this year as London’s relationship with Beijing deteriorates.
- Politico: Biden wants an industrial renaissance. He can’t do it without immigration reform. — Intel’s planned microchip plant outside Columbus, Ohio, is the administration’s poster child for reviving high-tech manufacturing. But failure to allow a small number of foreign-born doctorates to stay in the U.S. could cause the effort to fizzle.
- MIT Tech Review: EV tax credits could stall out on lack of US battery supply — Rules call for US-made batteries and domestically sourced minerals, but there won’t be enough of either if EV sales take off.
