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 Economy Faces Challenges Despite Latest Moves to Stimulate Growth — Steps to fine-tune Covid controls and boost the property market aren’t likely to restore China to rapid expansion, economists say.
- Hong Kong to Seek Beijing’s Intervention After Top Court Rules in Favor of Jimmy Lai — Chief executive John Lee cites national security after government loses bid to block Apple Daily publisher being represented by a British lawyer at collusion trial.
- Taiwan’s President Steps Down as Leader of Ruling Party After Drubbing in Local Elections — Opposition Kuomintang wins several key mayoral races in results that add to political uncertainty as China looms.
- U.S. Effort to Arm Taiwan Faces New Challenge With Ukraine Conflict — Flow of weapons to Kyiv taxes an already-stretched U.S. defense industrial base.
- U.S. Expands Bans of Chinese Security Cameras, Network Equipment — FCC move blocks Dahua, Hikvision and other Chinese manufacturers from selling new equipment.
- Canada Calls China Disruptive Global Actor — Ottawa unveils revisions to foreign policy to account for Chinese assertiveness on economic and security interests, and coercive treatment of other nations.
- Vatican Says China Broke Agreement on Bishops — Complaint comes a month after renewing an accord with Beijing.
- American Casino Giants Win 10-Year Macau License Renewals — Wynn Resorts, MGM and Las Vegas Sands have operations extended in the Chinese gambling hub.
Zero-Covid Protests
- Chinese Protests Spread Over Government’s Covid Restrictions — Demonstrations erupt in Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities.
- New Symbol of Protest in China Roils Censors: Blank White Papers — Protesters are using few or no words in public and online demonstrations to speak out against Beijing’s zero-Covid policies.
- Political Risk Returns to China, and Looks Here to Stay — Domestic political instability and labor activism could reshape how foreign companies operate in China.
- Chinese Stocks Drop as Covid Protests Intensify, Cases Surge — Investors take profit amid rising uncertainty about direction of Covid-19 demonstrations in mainland China.
- Video: ‘We Want Freedom’: China’s Covid Protests Spread to Major Cities — A deadly fire in Xinjiang’s capital of Urumqi sparked anger.
The Financial Times
- Chinese takeovers become a geopolitical frontline — Semiconductors blur the line between national security and the national interest.
- Macau casino stocks soar after new licences granted — Operators struggle to recover as Beijing’s strict pandemic rules curb tourism.
- Scion of Taiwan’s late dictator Chiang Kai-shek wins in local elections — Former leader’s great-grandson Wayne Chiang to be mayor of Taipei in victory for Kuomintang party.
Zero-Covid Protests
- Xi Jinping’s pandemic triumphalism returns to haunt him — The president’s hubris and authoritarianism have trapped China in endless lockdowns.
- Xi faces stiffest challenge to rule as Covid outrage sparks mass protests — Demonstrations stamped out by Monday but analysts warn of reprisals if dissent flares up again.
- China’s zero-Covid protests create a rare nationwide coalition of interests — Both factory workers and urban elites oppose a policy that the Communist party has no easy way to abandon.
- Fears of Covid exit wave in China drive ventilator and oxygen machine sales — Searches for life-saving equipment soar after Beijing signals plan to change coronavirus rules.
- Shanghai protests: ‘We want everyone to hear our voice’ — Spontaneous demonstration underscores growing discontent with China’s strict zero-Covid policies.
- Global stocks slip after China’s zero-Covid protests — Local equities fall sharply and anxiety grows in other markets as demonstrations spread.
- China: stocks becoming uninvestable amid lockdowns and protests — A sharp drop in local shares highlights the risks stemming from unpredictable politics.
The New York Times
- Deadly Fire in China Fuels Protests Over Xi’s Covid Policies — Protests became rare once the government cut off most routes to collective action. But ubiquitous Covid rules, bringing shared suffering, have created a focus for anger.
- Why Protesters in China Are Using Blank Sheets of White Paper — In a country where the authorities have little tolerance for open dissent, demonstrators against Covid restrictions have turned to more subtle methods.
- The Covid Protests in China, Explained — Strict Covid restrictions are hurting the country’s economy and angering members of the public, who are taking to the streets. Here’s the latest on the situation.
- Protests Erupt in Shanghai and Other Chinese Cities Over Covid Controls — A chanting crowd called for China’s leader, Xi Jinping, to step down, a rare act of defiance reflecting growing anger after nearly three years of lockdowns.
- Zero-Covid Protests in China Shake Global Markets — Stock markets in Asia and Europe fell on Monday, as did U.S. futures and crude prices, as investors worried about the fallout of social unrest in China.
- Gina Raimondo, a Rising Star in the Biden Administration, Faces a $100 Billion Test — Gina Raimondo, the commerce secretary, has made a career of tackling increasingly larger challenges. Could the next one be too big?
- Op-Doc: Happiness is £4 Million Pounds — An idealistic journalist and a prosperous real estate guru question each other’s worldviews. By Weixi Chen and Kai Wei
Caixin
- Cover Story: China Lines Up Yet More Aid for the Property Sector, But Will It Be Enough? (Part 1） — New round of policy measures to support beleaguered developers is imminent, as Beijing seeks to check a protracted downturn, Caixin has learned.
- Meituan Posts Surprise Profit Soon After Tencent Announces Exit — After logging seven straight quarters of losses, Meituan on Friday revealed it had swung into the black.
South China Morning Post
- Hong Kong leader to ask Beijing to interpret national security law after top court rules UK barrister can defend Jimmy Lai — Chief judge of the High Court had earlier approved barrister Tim Owen’s participation in light of ‘clear’ public interest.
- Being there: American researchers extol benefits of returning to China — Between Covid-19 restrictions and US-China frictions, trips by academics and think-tankers have dropped off sharply.
- Tesla sets up autos chip JV in China, in line with localisation strategy and as Beijing promotes domestic industry development — The JV and Tesla’s push into the autos chip sector is another sign of its localisation strategy in the country, which is promoting domestic semiconductor development.
Nikkei Asia
- Thriving on China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Laos border town ditches kip for yuan — But rail cargo still weak due to zero-COVID while debt to Beijing looms large.
- Opinion: Xi Jinping has a tough decision to make on China’s COVID protests — Ending lockdowns and cracking down would both have high costs. By Minxin Pei
Bloomberg
- Hong Kong Asks China to Bar UK Lawyer From Media Tycoon Trial — Hong Kong will ask China to interpret the law and determine whether overseas lawyers can be part of national security trials, after the government unsuccessfully tried to bar a UK lawyer from defending prominent local dissident Jimmy Lai.
- Taiwan Elections Set Stage for Tense 2024 Presidential Race — Taiwan is set for a more contentious presidential race focused on rising tensions with China, after low turnout in local elections handed China-skeptic President Tsai Ing-wen’s party historic losses.
- Wynn and MGM Surge After Macau Casino Operators Get New Licenses — Wynn Macau Ltd. and MGM China Holdings Ltd. climbed in early trading Monday, leading gains among the six Macau casino operators that were awarded new licenses to continue running their businesses in the gambling hub.
- Drive to Bypass China in Lithium Refining Grows in Australia — Pilbara Minerals Ltd., one of Australia’s biggest lithium producers, plans to build a demonstration plant in Western Australia capable of refining the material that’s key to the booming global battery metals market.
- US Bans Huawei, ZTE Telecom Equipment on Data-Security Risk — The Federal Communications Commission, in an order released Friday, also named connected-camera providers Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. and Dahua Technology Co., as well as two-way radio maker Hytera Communications Corp.
Reuters
- BBC says Chinese police assaulted one of its journalists at Shanghai protest — China disputed the account and said the journalist had not identified himself as a reporter.
- Canada to boost defence, cyber security in Indo-Pacific policy, focus on ‘disruptive’ China — Canada launched its long-awaited Indo-Pacific strategy on Sunday, outlining spending of C$2.3 billion ($1.7 billion) to boost military and cyber security in the region and vowed to deal with a “disruptive” China while working with it on climate change and trade.
Other Publications
- The Economist: Unrest breaks out across China, as frustration at lockdowns grows — No one knows how or when Xi Jinping’s zero-covid policy will end.
- The Washington Post: Twitter grapples with Chinese spam obscuring news of protests — For hours, links to adult content overwhelmed other posts from cities where dramatic rallies escalated.
- Associated Press: China eases COVID rules after wide protests of lockdowns — The city government of Beijing announced Monday it would no longer set up gates to block access to apartment compounds where infections are found. It made no mention of a deadly fire last week that set off the protests following questions about whether firefighters or victims trying to escape were blocked by locked doors or other anti-virus controls.
- Foreign Affairs: Xi’s Costly Obsession With Security — How a Quest for Control Threatens China’s Economic Growth. By Stephen Roach
- Rest of World: The dirty road to clean energy: how China’s electric vehicle boom is ravaging the environment — In neighboring Indonesia, nickel extraction is causing environmental and social devastation.
- The Globe and Mail: Canada’s Indo-Pacific strategy sees China as a ‘disruptive global power’ — The 26-page document outlining the new trade and security policy contains blunt language about China, describing it as “an increasingly disruptive global power.”
