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 May Be Chasing Impossible Dream by Trying to Harness Internet Algorithms — Beijing has received details on core algorithms of country’s top internet firms but experts warn exerting direct control may be beyond any regulator.
- Biden Still Undecided on Chinese Tariffs, Commerce Secretary Says — Some cabinet members, including Gina Raimondo, think a limited tariff reduction would help U.S. businesses and consumers.
- Taiwan Warns of Counterattack if China Violates Territorial Waters, Airspace — Statement comes as Beijing sends increasing numbers of jet fighters, warships and drones near self-ruled island.
- China Factories Hurt Amid Covid Disruptions, Heat Wave, Property Slump — Economic indicators show extreme weather and coronavirus-related lockdowns stifled Chinese manufacturing in August.
- Chinese Auto-Related Businesses Set Course for Hong Kong IPOs — EV maker Leapmotor targeting $1.5 billion listing as services company Tuhu refiles for IPO.
- Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Trims Stake in Chinese Auto Maker BYD — Investment firm sells 1.33 million shares for about $46 million.
- Video: U.S. vs China: The Race to Build the World’s Fastest Supercomputers — Supercomputers are essential for research including on vaccine development, green energy and other issues.
The Financial Times
- Alibaba and Yum China first in line for audit checks by US regulator — Accounts will be inspected in Hong Kong as part of landmark deal.
- Goldman Sachs’ 50-50 odds on China’s Wall Street ties — Plus, a pay war heats up at top consultancies and Elon Musk uses the Twitter whistleblower to his advantage.
- China drought highlights economic damage wrought by global warming — Record heatwave behind power shortages that paralysed industry probably caused by climate change, scientists say.
- Taiwan shoots at Chinese drone over outlying island for first time — Taipei seeks to balance assertive response against risk of sparking actual conflict.
- China Communist party congress set to elevate Xi to third term in October — Meeting to open on October 16 as president seeks to cement position as most powerful leader since Mao.
- China’s intellectual property landscape is maturing — Foreign companies are finally winning the battle to trademark names — but is the cost worth it?
The New York Times
- Solomon Islands Suspends Visits by Foreign Navies, Raising Concerns Over China — The move comes after top U.S. officials visited the Pacific nation to bolster ties and deliver warnings over its new security agreement with China.
- China’s Record Drought is Drying Rivers and Feeding Its Coal Habit — Dry weather in southwestern China has crippled huge hydroelectric dams, forcing cities to impose rolling blackouts and driving up the country’s use of coal.
Caixin
- Top Officials Fan Out Across China to Fend Off a Slowdown — Central Bank Governor Yi Gang and other ministry chiefs lead teams to 10 provinces to supervise the State Council’s pro-growth policies.
- Local Governments’ Covid-19 Testing Bills Pile Up, Corporate Earnings Show — Accounts receivable at China’s major testing service providers surged in the first half of 2022, squeezing liquidity at some firms.
- Anti-Graft Crackdown Nets Another Semiconductor Veteran — Chen Datong, a managing partner of Yuanhe Puhua (Suzhou) Investment Management Co. Ltd., was detained by authorities earlier this month and has remained out of contact.
- In Depth: Why Chinese Companies Hesitate to Hedge Forex Risk — The State Council suggested that China should quickly improve the capabilities of trade companies to blunt the damage that wild swings in exchange rates can do to their bottom lines.
South China Morning Post
- Taiwan’s TSMC making ‘excellent progress’ on Arizona plant, governor says — Speaking at an investment conference in Taipei, Doug Ducey says construction on the main chip facility is complete.
- Official who led Wuhan pandemic response set to be China’s next top prosecutor, sources say — Ying Yong said to have taken up job as deputy party secretary at the Supreme People’s Procuratorate office last week. He was a graft-buster and senior judge in Zhejiang when Xi Jinping governed the province.
- Plug Hong Kong’s brain drain or Singapore will poach top talent and ‘shake’ regional financial status, human resources experts warn — Human resources experts say Singapore is poaching talent from Hong Kong, especially from financial or high technology sectors.
Nikkei Asia
- Farming out: China’s overseas food security quest — As the Ukraine war sparks shortages, China looks to invest abroad to secure food supplies.
- After beating Tesla in China EV sales, BYD plots global expansion — Chinese automaker to debut in more than 15 new markets, including Thailand and Germany.
- BYD shares plunge as Warren Buffett trims stake in China EV maker — Stock in country’s biggest electric car producer drops nearly 8%.
- China pushes ahead with Indonesia’s largest hydro-plant project — $17bn facility finally under construction as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road.
Bloomberg
- Alibaba, Netease Picked in First Batch for US Audit Inspection — US regulators have picked companies including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Netease Inc. in the first batch of inspections after reaching a deal with China to end a decades-long impasse over access to audit papers of Chinese firms listed in New York.
- As IPOs Slump Globally, the Big Deals Are Coming From China — In a year where initial public offerings globally have slumped by more than two-thirds, one would expect the summer break to be especially quiet. Not so in Asia, where stock listings have notched their second-highest August haul on record.
- UBS Cuts Half a Dozen Bankers in Hong Kong as Deals Slump — UBS Group AG is letting go of half a dozen mainland China-focused employees in Hong Kong as turmoil in the world’s second-largest economy hammers dealmaking, prompting global banks to rein in their presence in the once lucrative market.
- Apple Quietly Gives Up Its Didi Board Seat After Turmoil — An Apple Inc. executive has left the board of Didi Global Inc., as the Chinese ride-hailing company struggles to regain ground it lost during Beijing’s crackdown on the country’s internet sector.
Other Publications
- The Washington Post: Chinese react to Gorbachev’s death, accuse him of selling out Russia — Lionized in the West for ending the Cold War, Mikhail S. Gorbachev is seen in China as the man who brought disaster on his own people and blithely dismantled a great socialist nation.
- Foreign Affairs: Spirals of Delusion — How AI Distorts Decision-Making and Makes Dictators More Dangerous. By Henry Farrell, Abraham Newman, and Jeremy Wallace
- Opinion: Why Xi’s ‘united front’ is vital to the artificial concept of a ‘Chinese nation’ — The word “unity” is a superficial fabric that it has spread, for eight decades now, over its bullying of people into a condition of spiritual slavery. By Ai Weiwei
