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 Industrial Profit Falls on Covid-19 Measures, Bad Weather — A record heat wave and drought has prompted Beijing to offer massive economic support for power generation, agriculture.
- U.S. Warships Sail Through Taiwan Strait for First Time Since Nancy Pelosi’s Visit — Move comes as tensions rise between Taiwan and China following the U.S. House speaker’s trip earlier this month.
- China’s Property Slowdown Sends Bank Shares Tumbling — Fears of a weakening economy hit a pair of once-highflying bank stocks.
The Financial Times
- China’s property-driven growth model is broken — Beijing should prepare for a long and difficult economic transformation.
- China and Russia join forces for Vostok military exercises — Kremlin keen to display ‘business as usual’ image and underline ability to bolster ties with allies such as India.
- Inside Missfresh’s hunt for investor cash ahead of collapse — Fundraising deals struck right before the Chinese delivery start-up’s IPO have become the focus of investor lawsuits.
- Hong Kong tycoon calls bottom of China’s property slump — Adrian Cheng says his New World Development group will spend $1.5bn to buy land in the next year.
- South Korean shipbuilder bets on methanol-powered vessels in decarbonisation push — Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering chief expects alternative fuel boom.
- Retailer Gome struggles to survive China’s online revolution — Chain’s owner, once China’s richest man, has seen his electronics empire crumble in a cruel economic climate.
- Loss of Chinese tourists forces Europe’s luxury retailers to rethink — Beijing’s Covid travel restrictions mean upscale fashion stores must now adapt to attract pickier locals.
The New York Times
- ‘The Eye of the Storm’: Taiwan Is Caught in a Great Game Over Microchips — Worried about the Chinese threat to Taiwan, the U.S. and others have tried to expand their piece of the island’s semiconductor production.
- U.S. Warships Sail Taiwan Strait, Defying Chinese Pressure — Two guided-missile cruisers were the first to visit since China began extensive military drills after Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
- Xi Jinping’s Vision for Tech Self-Reliance in China Runs Into Reality — After heavy national investment in semiconductors to break a dependence on global chips, Mr. Xi seems unhappy with the results.
- ‘Wood Is Life’: A Hong Kong Sawmill’s Last Days — Chi Kee Sawmill and Timber, in business since the 1940s, will soon make way for a vast development project. But it is still bringing new life to old wood.
Caixin
- Cover Story: Breaking the Ice in the China-U.S. Audit Standoff — How a preliminary accord between regulators could help keep as many as 200 Chinese stocks worth over $1.5 trillion trading in the U.S.
- Two Rural Lenders in Northeastern China Set to Enter Bankruptcy — Liaoyang Rural Commercial Bank and Liaoning Taizihe Village Bank get regulatory clearance as the latest bankruptcy cases since the collapse of Baoshang in 2020
- U.S., Europe Expected to Take Bigger Bite of Global Power Battery Production by 2026 — A lot more of the world’s growing supply of electric-vehicle (EV) batteries will be produced by U.S. and European companies by 2026.
South China Morning Post
- Beijing dismisses ‘irresponsible talk’ after report Liz Truss plans to declare China a threat — British foreign secretary may also reopen review of diplomatic and defence priorities if she becomes prime minister, according to The Times.
- Future US-China cooperation on tackling global drugs trade seen as unlikely — China recently suspended all joint initiatives on narcotics in response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
- Singapore rolls out new visa for top global talent from tech to sport and arts sectors — The Overseas Networks and Expertise Pass, which requires a minimum monthly salary of S$30,000 (US$21,400), will begin in 2023.
Nikkei Asia
- Loan woes: China’s troubled property market hits banks — Spate of profit warnings reveals extent of risk to broader financial system.
- Risks hang over ‘milestone’ China-U.S. audit deal — Regulators may clash over degree of access to company records, analysts warn.
- China adds 5 advanced destroyers in naval buildup pressuring Taiwan — Dalian shipyard construction the latest sign of rapid expansion in sea capabilities.
Bloomberg
- China’s AgBank Says Overdue Loans From Mortgage Boycott Double — Agricultural Bank of China Ltd., the nation’s third-largest bank by assets, said it’s facing 1.23 billion yuan ($178 million) in overdue loans, nearly double a previous estimate, from a mortgage boycott on unfinished projects that has swept the country.
- China’s Bad Debt Managers See Profits Tank on Property Losses — China Huarong Asset Management Co. and China Cinda Asset Management Co., the nation’s two largest state-owned distressed debt funds, reported a slump in first-half profits as credit impairments surged on a deepening property crisis.
- Goldman Says Market Sees 50% Risk of China Stocks Exiting US — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said markets are still pricing in a 50% chance of Chinese companies being delisted from US exchanges, even as the two nations reached a preliminary deal to resolve a decades-long standoff over audits.
- Sichuan Restores Most Industrial Power After Two-Week Crisis — China’s southwestern province of Sichuan eased emergency energy measures, paving the way for companies including Toyota Motor Corp. to start resuming normal operations after two weeks of power cuts.
Reuters
- China policy steps this year exceed those of 2020 – state media cites premier — Last week, the cabinet announced 19 new policies, including raising the quota on policy bank financing tools by 300 billion yuan ($43.4 billion). That was on top of a package of 33 measures unveiled in May.
- Heat-weary Chongqing, Sichuan now on flood alert amid torrential rain — The rain began on Sunday and is forecast to extend into Tuesday.
- Analysis: U.S., China audit agreement not yet a done deal, lawyers warn — Legal experts warned that the investor optimism may be premature, pointing to the nuance in the wording of the two sides as cause for potential clashes as implementation of the deal starts next month.
Other Publications
- The New Yorker: The Censorship Machine Erasing China’s Feminist Movement — This summer, a viral video of a group of women being viciously attacked in a restaurant sparked national outrage. The response has been quashed.
- The Atlantic: Biden Looks East — Despite the war in Ukraine, the president is fully focused on the challenge of a rising China, says National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
- Associated Press: Chinese think tank: Virus curbs must change to help economy — Even such mild public disagreement with official policy is almost unknown in a politically sensitive year when Xi, China’s most powerful leader since at least the 1980s, is expected to try to extend his time in office.
- Foreign Affairs: Another Russia Is Possible — The Kremlin Will Eventually Tire of Its Reliance on China. By Dmitri Alperovitch and Sergey Radchenko
- Grid News: China’s mortgage boycotts: Why hundreds of thousands of people are saying they won’t pay — China faces a real estate crisis that threatens the entire economy.