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 Rails Against Covid Restrictions on Its Citizens — Beijing warns of unspecified countermeasures, as stalling domestic consumption points to a sluggish economic rebound.
- China’s Robinhoods Are Still Out in the Cold in 2023 — Beijing is sending out notably more friendly vibes to business in the new year. But not for everyone.
- Chinese Health Official Raises Covid Alarm Ahead of Lunar New Year Holiday — Scientists worry that traditional travel season could spread the virus in China’s countryside, where medical facilities are more poorly equipped.
- Chinese Factories, Restaurants Adjust to Life Without Zero-Covid — Following the government’s abrupt policy reversal, cases are rising among workers, customers and suppliers ahead of the Lunar New Year.
- Australia Joins Countries Requiring Covid Tests From China Travelers — Passengers from China must submit a negative test before departure; Australia follows the U.S. and others in imposing a testing requirement.
- China’s Xi Jinping Provides Rare Acknowledgment of Covid-19 Policies’ Toll — Chinese leader says in New Year’s Eve speech that things will improve soon.
- China’s Economy Reels as Beijing Lifts ‘Zero-Covid’ Measures — Scrapping of pandemic restrictions removes a source of uncertainty, but businesses face a long winter ahead.
The Financial Times
- China banks: Covid will eclipse property woe this new year — Chinese authorities will expect big banks to support struggling enterprises with soft loans and outright rescues.
- China’s factories suffer from end of zero-Covid policy — Data show further economic contraction amid Beijing’s disruptive transition to living with virus.
- EU offers free Covid-19 vaccines to China to help curb outbreak — Beijing rejects Brussels’ offer, citing full control of situation.
- China’s Covid generation: the surging inequality behind Xi’s U-turn — Lockdowns have often been more relentless in rural areas, upending the education of millions and blocking social mobility.
- Taiwan counts on military conscription reform to deter China invasion — Plan to extend compulsory training falls short of what is needed, experts warn.
- Lawmaker says sale of TikTok to US company could avoid outright ban — Republican congressman says social media group is ‘addictive and destructive’.
- Recession will hit a third of the world this year, IMF chief warns — Kristalina Georgieva says next couple of months will be ‘tough for China’ due to spread of Covid.
- Xi’s credibility ‘badly wounded’ as China’s Covid death toll mounts — Beijing’s war games with Russia and aggression against Taiwan fail to distract from public health crisis.
- Tesla supplier Panasonic seeks to balance US and China in tech war — Chief says Japanese group will study shifting its battery materials supply chain.
- Opinion: Stopping China’s growth cannot be a goal for the west — Deterrence and trade will have to go hand in hand. By Gideon Rachman
The New York Times
- China Denounces Covid Testing Rules Imposed on Its Travelers — A government spokeswoman said Beijing would consider reciprocal measures against countries that have sought to limit travelers arriving from China.
- Tesla Car Sales Grow Slower Than Expected, Amplifying Concerns — Wall Street has grown decidedly pessimistic about Tesla, fearful that Elon Musk, its chief executive, is too focused on Twitter.
- Why China’s Economy Faces a Perilous Road to Recovery — Years of lockdowns took a brutal toll on businesses. Now, the rapid spread of Covid after a chaotic reopening has deprived them of workers and customers.
- China’s Young Elite Clamber for Government Jobs. Some Come to Regret It. — With youth unemployment high, millions will take this month’s Civil Service exam. But for those who get jobs, the reality can be monotonous work that blurs the line with personal lives.
- U.S. Pours Money Into Chips, but Even Soaring Spending Has Limits — Amid a tech cold war with China, U.S. companies have pledged nearly $200 billion for chip manufacturing projects since early 2020. But the investments are not a silver bullet.
- ‘OK, Mexico, Save Me’: After China, This Is Where Globalization May Lead — As American companies seek to limit their exposure to the pitfalls of making goods in China, some are moving production to Mexico.
Caixin
- Ant Group’s Lending Unit Gets Approval for $1.2 Billion Capital Boost — The capital expansion is seen as a necessary move for Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance to maintain its lending business.
- Cover Story: China’s Road to Economic Recovery Faces Post-Covid Speed Bumps — Policymakers are now squarely focused on reviving the economy. But some analysts warned against ‘excessive optimism’ about when pre-pandemic growth rates will return.
South China Morning Post
- Beijing decries ‘political’ curbs on Chinese travellers, threatens to reciprocate — Foreign ministry spokeswoman says Covid-19 restrictions targeting arrivals from China are ‘unacceptable’ and ‘lack scientific basis’ as more than a dozen countries impose new measures..
- New Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang vows to prioritise US ties, tweets praise for Americans — The outgoing ambassador to Washington, whose promotion is seen as an effort by Beijing to stabilise relations, says he is seeking a ‘better China-US relationship’..
- For China’s intellectuals, restrictions started long before the pandemic and will continue after Covid is over — It is increasingly difficult for scholars and thinkers to publicly express or exchange academic views, especially those at odds with the party under Xi.
- China’s low profile tech bosses may become more visible and vocal in the coming year — While China’s tech bosses are not yet seeking the limelight, some have started to remind employees that they are still in charge.
Bloomberg
- China’s Finance Minister Reiterates Plan for Fiscal Expansion — China’s Finance Minister Liu Kun reiterated plans to appropriately expand fiscal spending to aid economic recovery, while pledging to prevent systemic risks.
- Bodies Pile Up in China as Covid Surge Overwhelms Crematoriums — For five days the elderly Chinese lady’s corpse lay decomposing in the Shanghai house she shared with her family before a hearse finally arrived to take away her remains.
- US Speeds Up Timeline in China Firms Delisting Threat — US lawmakers ratcheted up pressure on Chinese companies whose shares list on American stock exchanges to be more transparent with their financial audits.
Reuters
- Tesla makes China boss highest-profile executive after Musk — Tesla Inc’s China chief Tom Zhu has been promoted to take direct oversight of the electric carmaker’s U.S. assembly plants as well as sales operations in North America and Europe, according to an internal posting of reporting lines reviewed by Reuters.
- Hong Kong eyes Jan. 8 to resume cross-border travel with mainland — Chan, the city’s No.2 official, said quotas will be set in the first stage of the plan to limit the number of people who can travel between the city and the mainland.
Other Publications
- The Economist: What the great reopening means for China—and the world — This year’s biggest economic event is already under way.
- The Washington Post: Made-in-China labels become a problem for Meta’s anti-China stance — The company needs China’s factories as it pushes to become a hardware producer
- Quartz: Tesla is looking to China chief Tom Zhu to turn the company’s fortunes around — The man who amped up Tesla’s Shanghai plant production is now the most high-profile executive at the EV company after Elon Musk
- MIT Tech Review: What’s next for the chip industry — Aggressive new US policies will be put to the test in 2023. They could ultimately fragment the global semiconductor industry.
