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
- Resurrection of U.S.-China Ties Boosts COP27 Climate Talks — Official cooperation, frozen after Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, has been revived for the global climate gathering after the Biden-Xi meeting in Bali.
- China’s Xi Stacks Government With Science and Tech Experts Amid Rivalry With U.S. — Number of people with backgrounds in strategically important areas among the Communist Party elite has more than doubled to nearly 40%.
- U.S. Official Warns Against Efforts to Defy Forced-Labor Crackdown — An enforcement push is under way to stop the importing of goods from China’s Xinjiang region, but Customs also will expand a prevetting program.
- Japan’s Leader Seeks Steady China Ties in First Meeting With Xi Jinping — Military tensions have risen as Tokyo worries about being drawn into a conflict over Taiwan.
- China’s New Daily Covid Cases Jump Above 24,000 — Beijing unveils plan to handle future infection wave while urging local governments to stay vigilant.
- Tim Draper Touts Decision to Pull Out of China — Silicon Valley investor is looking toward Taiwan, while dismissing China’s Xi Jinping as a ‘weak leader’ for tightening controls on business.
- Alibaba Conjures Up Cost Savings — China’s e-commerce giant cut its way to better-than-expected operating profit growth.
- China’s Economic Miracle That Wasn’t — Chinese Communist Party archives show the chaotic underside of the country’s vaunted period of ‘Reform and Opening Up’. By Frank Dikotter
The Financial Times
- Moody’s cuts over 100 jobs in shutdown of China analytics arm — Rating agency’s sudden closure of profitable risk management business comes as it works to trim costs.
- Foreigners join speculative China stocks frenzy — Wary US investors spur options surge for fear of missing any recovery rally.
- ‘A remarkable job’: how Russia and China buckled in the face of a united G20 — Economic hardship from Ukraine invasion helped sway the developing world to isolate Moscow.
- ‘We’re not ready’: threat of Covid exit wave stymies China’s reopening — Beijing has failed to prepare for an inevitable mass outbreak by focusing on containment, experts say.
- Kishida and Xi agree to improve strained ties — Japan’s prime minister tells Chinese president of ‘grave concerns’ over military activities.
- Alibaba reports sluggish growth as consumer spending slows — Ecommerce group’s third-quarter revenue falls short of analysts’ expectations.
The New York Times
- Chinese Government Steps In to Help Apple — The government has sought out military veterans and Communist Party members to try to help an Apple supplier address a labor shortage at a major factory.
- World of Warcraft and Other Blizzard Games Will Be Pulled From China — Blizzard Entertainment is suspending most of its gaming services in China after failing to renew a licensing deal with NetEase, a Chinese gaming partner.
Caixin
- Citic to Become Biggest Huarong Shareholder — State-owned investment company to get 3% from Finance Ministry, pushing its Huarong stake to 24.46% after leading $6.6 billion bailout of the bad-debt manager.
- China’s Covid Caseload Hits Six-Month High as Big Cities Suffer Flare-Ups — The count includes 22,853 asymptomatic cases, the National Health Commission (NHC) reported Friday.
- Tahoe Chairman Returns After Eight Months Assisting Investigation — Huang Qisen was taken away in March along with two Tahoe vice presidents by authorities probing alleged corruption at China Construction Bank.
South China Morning Post
- Local government ‘land grabs’ raise concerns amid tumbling fiscal revenues — Budget deficits for local governments in China have been growing as a result of rising spending and a slump in land sales and tax revenues, with some turning to land purchases via local government financing vehicles (LGFVs).
- EU chamber in China intent on getting Beijing to ‘move the needle’ as ideology curtails commerce — ‘I can hardly leave my doorstep’: Beijing-based chamber president says in fresh call for substantial action to restore business confidence among European firms operating in China.
Nikkei Asia
- China tops U.S. to take research crown at global chip conference — Chinese universities, companies produce 30% of papers accepted by ISSCC.
- Applied Materials sees $2.5bn revenue hit from China chip ban — Company hopes to ease pain by seeking licenses for certain Chinese clients.
- Chinese youth overseas find their way ‘out of the political closet’ — Nameless, faceless and decentralized, young mainlanders protest for the first time.
Bloomberg
- Danish Fund Cuts China Exposure in $100 Billion Portfolio — PFA, Denmark’s largest commercial pension fund, has exited two Chinese clothing manufacturers and is discussing how to handle its other China holdings amid an evolving risk environment.
- China Says UK Abused State Power to Overturn Chip Factory Deal — China said the UK overstepped its authority and violated Nexperia Holding BV’s rights when the government decided to reverse the company’s takeover of a Welsh semiconductor factory.
- Tencent Wins First Major Game Approval as Crackdown Eases — Tencent Holdings Ltd. won approval for its first new major game title since Chinese regulators resumed licensing this year, in a sign that Beijing’s crackdown on the mobile entertainment industry is easing.
Reuters
- FBI director ‘very concerned’ by Chinese ‘police stations’ in U.S. — The United States is deeply concerned about the Chinese government setting up unauthorized ‘police stations’ in U.S. cities to possibly pursue influence operations, FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers on Thursday.
- Xi says China to consider holding Belt & Road Forum in 2023 — Belt & Road is Xi’s signature infrastructure investment initiative, and previous editions of the forum, in 2017 and 2019, drew leaders and officials from dozens of countries.
- China and Indonesia to resume joint military training exercises — China and Indonesia will resume their joint exercises and training which were previously suspended due to COVID-19 epidemic, China’s defence ministry said on Friday.
The Economist
- America and China try to get along — Signs of progress at a meeting between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden.
- China’s steampunk covid response — How to read the country’s confusing pandemic-policy changes.
- Chinese students abroad take on their government — But there are reasons such protests are rare.
- How the rivalry between America and China worries South-East Asia — The region’s 700m people have much to lose.