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
- Video: War Songs, Game Shows: The Propaganda That Helped Xi Cement Power — Chinese President Xi Jinping has used propaganda to extend his rule and set the stage for a third term. WSJ looks at three moments over his 10 years in power that trace his rise to become the country’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.
The Financial Times
- China’s chip darling YMTC thrust into spotlight by US export controls — The company vital to Beijing’s quest for technological self-sufficiency faces threat of more restrictions.
- China’s internet scrubbed of rare protest against ‘dictator’ Xi — Banners hung from bridge call for leader’s removal ahead of Communist party congress.
- How Xi plans to tighten his grip at historic Communist party congress — Leader’s historic third term in sight amid traditional leadership reshuffle.
- Hong Kongers at home in Britain: ‘We came without a second thought’ — A special visa offered to citizens of the city has had thousands of takers.
- Slowing Chinese growth is a recipe for global instability — Beijing contemplates a future in which its economy remains well below the income levels of the US.
The New York Times
- Xi Jinping, China’s Leader, Embodies His Authoritarian Era — Xi Jinping was first cast as a firm but genial leader with a common touch. Approaching a second decade in power, he looms over China like a stern Communist monarch.
- ‘Eternal Spring’ Review: When State TV Got Hijacked — Two decades after members of Falun Gong took over local television programming in Changchun, China, a documentary looks back.
- Opinion: Biden’s Tough Tech Trade Restrictions on China — America abandons its sunny view of globalization. By Paul Krugman
Caixin
- In Depth: Can Beefed Up U.S. Chip Restrictions Energize China’s Local Tech Push? — China’s access to the global semiconductor industry has suffered another blow after the U.S. on Friday effectively severed the country’s supply of high-end chips — and of the equipment used to make them.
- Businessman Jumps to Death After Public Allegation of Dirty Cops — A businessman who drew wide attention on China’s social media by publicly accusing more than 20 police officials of corruption killed himself, Caixin learned from multiple sources.
South China Morning Post
- Chinese university ‘misses out’ on Nobel Prize after US economist Philip Dybvig leaves a year before winning — The cause of Philip Dybvig’s departure from his post at the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics is not known, but may be down to Covid controls.
- Which elders will reappear for the Chinese Communist Party’s national congress? And are they more than window-dressing? — The party congress presidium presides over key functions of the event, and offers valuable clues about seniority and the power-sharing arrangement of China’s leadership.
- Local Chinese governments snap up new homes in bid to buoy battered housing market, ease strain on developers — The authorities in Suzhou in the southern province of Jiangsu snapped up 5,000 new units in September, while similar moves are being undertaken in Jinan and Xinjiang.
- Hong Kong to refund extra taxes for foreign property owners taking up residency and launch new schemes to entice top-notch overseas graduates — Government insiders say tax concessions will be available to non-locals who have owned property for three or more years.
Bloomberg
- China Censors ‘Beijing’ After Rare Xi Protest Before Meeting — Chinese censors have taken the extreme step of restricting the search term “Beijing” on social media, after a rare public denouncement of President Xi Jinping days before his highly anticipated crowning moment in the capital.
- Chinese Drone Billionaire’s Dominance Threatened by US Blacklists — Frank Wang’s DJI is under siege over claims its unmanned aircraft could pose a national security risk.
- Texas Pension With $184 Billion to Halve China Stock Allocation — The manager of a $184 billion public pension fund for Texas public education employees is halving its target allocation to Chinese stocks, potentially cutting billions of dollars of such holdings over months.
- Opinion: Xi Jinping’s Second Decade in Power Won’t Be Pretty — Nearing his second decade in office, Xi Jinping is following in the footsteps of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Only one of them managed to avoid disaster. By Minxin Pei
Reuters
- German business chiefs clash with Berlin over China policies — When German business chiefs got wind last month of an economy ministry proposal to screen all company investment going into China as part of a raft of new measures, there was uproar. The investment proposal was soon shelved, a source in the ministry and a business leader told Reuters.
- Volkswagen to take 60% stake in $2 bln tech JV with China’s Horizon Robotics — The carmaker will invest $1 billion in Horizon Robotics and a further 1.3 billion euros ($1.26 billion) in the joint venture, with the transaction to be completed in the first half of 2023.
- Analysis: Xi faces painful gear shift as China’s investment-led growth sputters — With youth unemployment at record highs, growth near historic lows, a property crisis and eye-watering debt levels, Xi also needs to rethink the economic model that underpinned its impressive expansion over the past four decades but is now unsustainable.
The Economist
- China shows few signs of loosening its zero-covid policy — The state has neither ramped up vaccination nor prepared public opinion for ending lockdowns.
- The Communist Party congress will highlight Xi Jinping’s power — No one in the new Politburo will be a threat to the party chief.
- Chinese marques try to make inroads into Western markets — Second time lucky?
- Might China have followed a more reformist path? — In “Never Turn Back” and “China After Mao”, Julian Gewirtz and Frank Dikötter disagree.
- The dark side of Chinese pop culture — A hit TV series for teenagers peddles nationalist fantasies.
Other Publications
- Politico: Top Republican blocks Biden’s ‘China House’ — Sen. James Risch’s spokesperson says the plan ‘appears to be a bureaucratic power grab.’
- Foreign Policy: Biden Is Now All-In on Taking Out China — The U.S. president has committed to rapid decoupling, whatever the consequences. By Jon Bateman
- CSIS ChinaPower: How Will the 20th Party Congress Impact China’s Military? — This ChinaPower feature analyzes past personnel changes within the PLA leadership to identify important trends and to forecast changes that could take place at the 20th Party Congress.
- The Guardian: Dissidents in China detained and harassed as Beijing prepares for party congress — Government critics and activists intimidated by police ahead of Sunday’s Communist party meeting, where Xi Jinping is expected to gain third term.
