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
- Apple to Cut New iPhone 14 Production Lag Between India and China — Move to make devices more quickly in India would help lessen dependence on China.
- Adidas CEO to Leave Amid Struggles in China — German sportswear firm has been under pressure from investors after facing challenges in its key market.
- China’s Yuan Slides to Two-Year Low as Economy Stumbles, Dollar Soars — Currency could hit 7 against U.S. dollar by year-end, bears predict.
- China’s Central Bank Prods State Banks to Step Up Lending — The central bank also asked the lenders to guarantee “reasonable financing demand” for China’s property market.
The Financial Times
- Ping An hit by enduring impact of pandemic but profits beat expectations — China’s largest insurer engaged in fight with HSBC as it tries to engineer break-up of bank
- The problem with Biden’s EV subsidy: hardly any cars will qualify — Climate law links subsidy to domestic manufacturing goals that render some vehicles ineligible.
- Opinion: America must consider the risk a war over Taiwan could go nuclear — The debate on confrontation with China ignores a crucial conversation about atomic weapons. By Michael Auslin
The New York Times
- In China’s Version of ‘Minions’ Movie, Morality Triumphs — An apparent censor-added epilogue specially for Chinese moviegoers changed the tone of the comedy and earned online mockery from viewers.
Caixin
- In Depth: How Chinese Private Equity Firms Got Scammed by Their Own Sales Teams — Dozens of small and midsize private fund management firms say they have been defrauded by con artists who each work at multiple companies simultaneously with the intention of only collecting their base salaries.
- Chinese Capital to Subsidize Charging Stations for Hydrogen-Powered Cars — The city will offer up to 5 million yuan for each station as part of a broader state-backed push to develop the clean energy source.
- China Calls Ride-Hailing Platforms on the Carpet — Didi, Meituan and nine others ordered to step up business compliance and control risks after being summoned by Ministry of Transport.
South China Morning Post
- Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei urges employees to prepare for hard days ahead and focus on profit not sales — Ren told employees that they should focus on profits and cash flows instead of revenue to ensure the company’s survival, and be realistic when talking about the company’s prospects.
- China makes rare but ‘necessary’ foreign investment pitch as ‘they’re not writing cheques’ — Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua said that it is ‘necessary’ for China to attract new foreign investment as supply chain and consumption slowdowns, a real estate crisis and power shortages are weighing on the economy.
- Nationalistic blogger Sima Nan banned from Chinese social media — Pundit nicknamed the ‘anti-US fighter’ frequently accuses intellectuals, entrepreneurs and even government departments of betraying China’s national interests.
Nikkei Asia
- China’s ASEAN Silk Road gets slippery as other powers move in — U.S., Europe, India join battle to build regional supply chains from Thailand to Vietnam.
- China has 340 reactors’ worth of solar cell plants in the pipeline — Global decarbonization push sets stage for aggressive investments.
- Opinion: China’s property-sector woes will inevitably spread further — Developers’ troubles are further sapping economic momentum. By Andrew Collier
Bloomberg
- Ping An Profit Rises Unexpectedly as Insurer Bucks Pandemic — Ping An Insurance (Group) Co., China’s largest insurer by market value, posted an unexpected rise in first-half profit as it withstood pandemic-induced lockdowns and impairments losses fell.
- China-Bound Ex-Apple Engineer Admits to Trade Secrets Theft — A former Apple Inc. engineer pleaded guilty to criminal charges that he stole proprietary information from the company while preparing to go work for a Chinese startup that makes electric cars with autonomous driving features.
- Apple’s New IPhone to Show India Closing Tech Gap With China — Apple Inc. plans to begin manufacturing the iPhone 14 in India about two months after the product’s initial release out of China, narrowing the gap between the two countries but not closing it completely as some had anticipated.
Reuters
- China says COVID has exacerbated decline in births, marriages — Demographers have also said that China’s uncompromising “zero-COVID” policy of promptly stamping out any outbreaks with strict controls on people’s lives may have caused profound, lasting damage on their desire to have children.
Other Publications
- Associated Press: Its largest lake is so dry, China digs deep to water crops — The dramatic decline of Poyang Lake in the landlocked southeastern province of Jiangxi had otherwise cut off irrigation channels to nearby farmlands.
- Foreign Affairs: China’s Looming Water Crisis — A Chinese Drought Would Be a Global Catastrophe. By Gabriel Collins and Gopal Reddy
- Quartz: China waived debt for 17 African countries to argue against western bullying — China, Africa’s largest bilateral lender, waived debt owed by 17 countries in the continent for 23 interest-free loans that were due in 2021.
- CSIS: Commentary: The Rant Continues — When the Wall Street Journal published an article last week that repeated old canards and reignited an old debate, I felt I had no choice but to weigh in once again to set the record straight. By William Alan Reinsch
