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 Central Bank Moves Further to Bolster the Yuan — People’s Bank of China reintroduces measure that will make it costlier to bet against its currency.
- China Stresses Its Taiwan Stance at U.N. — Unsettled status of Taiwan, which China claims as its sovereign territory, is at center of deteriorating U.S.-China relations.
- Hong Kong’s Cardinal Zen Goes on Trial Over Support Fund for Protesters — Proceedings against the democracy advocate represent one of the most high-profile arrests in the crackdown on pro-democracy groups.
The Financial Times
- China property: Onewo float will need all its defensive properties — Finding enough brave investors to take up the IPO will be a big test.
- Zero-Covid policy dents appeal of Hong Kong MBAs — Regional rivals set to benefit as number of overseas students slides.
- Paternalistic leadership offers lessons for western executives — Understanding the approach will help them to develop better international partnerships.
- China’s business schools embrace the state agenda — Mandatory courses on policy and geopolitics come as Beijing seeks to recast the country’s economy.
- End of Hong Kong’s Covid quarantine fuels hope of looser China rules — International businesses welcome easing of restrictions but attention turns to mainland policy.
- China’s Maike Metals will sell assets and restructure, says chair — Commodities trader pursues investment talks with state-owned companies after liquidity crunch.
- US and Philippines increase military ties over China threat — Manila is strengthening its alliance with Washington due to fears of a possible war over Taiwan.
The New York Times
- TikTok Seen Moving Toward U.S. Security Deal, but Hurdles Remain — A draft agreement with the Biden administration to keep the Chinese-owned video app operating in the United States is under review. That could mean more wrangling.
- For China’s Auto Market, Electric Isn’t the Future. It’s the Present. — More electric cars will be sold in the country this year than in the rest of the world combined, as its domestic market accelerates ahead of the global competition.
Caixin
- Cover Story: The Heated Fight Against Facial Recognition Scams — China’s financial industry uses the technology tens of millions of times a day for identity verification, but criminals race ahead in finding ways to exploit vulnerabilities.
South China Morning Post
- Chinese cobalt giant aims to have Zimbabwe lithium project delivering early next year — Analyst says future shortages of battery metals may raise cost of electric vehicles, or curb production, ‘as we’ve seen with the semiconductor shortage’.
- ‘709’ crackdown: Chinese human rights lawyer Zhou Shifeng released after 7 years in prison for subversion — Zhou was the first rights lawyer to face trial from the nationwide crackdown in 2015 which saw over 300 lawyers and activists detained.
- How is Xinjiang still shipping millions of goods to US after ‘forced labour’ law came into effect? — Xinjiang entities exported a 10-month high of US$56.8 million of goods to the US in August despite the Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act being in place since June.
Nikkei Asia
- Hong Kong IPOs suffer from business downturn and China tension — Fundraising at lowest since 2013 as lack of policy clarity hits market.
- Did China overestimate its births? Leaked data raises questions — Differences between official census, hacked information identified by scholar in U.S.
- Hong Kong’s Cardinal Zen goes on trial over protest fund — One of Asia’s highest-ranking Catholic clerics among six facing charges.
Bloomberg
- China’s failure to invest in Afghanistan is frustrating the Taliban — The US withdrawal from Afghanistan after two decades of war opened up an opportunity for China to expand its influence and lock down access to the country’s vast mineral deposits.
- Wall Street Banks Prep for Grim China Scenarios Over Taiwan — Global financial firms, still smarting from multi-billion dollar losses in Russia, are now reassessing the risks of doing business in Greater China after an escalation of tensions over Taiwan.
- Apple Begins Making iPhone 14 in India Weeks Ahead of Schedule — Apple Inc. began making its new iPhone 14 in India sooner than anticipated, after a surprisingly smooth production rollout that slashed the lag between Chinese and Indian output from months to mere weeks.
Reuters
- Here to stay? China’s cityscapes transformed by thousands of COVID test booths — Testing booths, typically container-like structures erected in the middle of a pavement, are staffed by a few health workers in hazmat suits ready to take quick throat swabs. Some booths operate 24 hours a day.
- Prominent Chinese commentator urges COVID experts to ‘speak out’ — Prominent Chinese commentator Hu Xijin said on Sunday that as China ponders its COVID-19 policies, epidemic experts need to speak out and China ought to conduct comprehensive research and make any studies transparent to the public.
- In China, home buyers occupy their ‘rotting’, unfinished properties — Shanghai E-House Real Estate Research Institute estimated in July that stalled projects accounted for 3.85% of China’s housing market in the first half of 2022.
