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
- Fears of Losing Out to China Put U.S. Under Pressure Over Kenya Base — Help to build new runway at counterterrorism hub could come from Beijing if Washington declines.
- TikTok Dealt Another Hit as Democratic Senator Joins Calls for Banning the App — Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet urges Apple and Google to bar TikTok from their app stores.
- U.S., Philippines Strike Military-Base Deal — Agreement giving U.S. access to four more bases was announced during a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
- Estée Lauder Sales Hit Again by China’s Covid Lockdowns — Skin-care business declines overshadow performance in fragrance and hair-care segments.
The Financial Times
- Philippines grants US access to four military bases — Allies boost efforts to jointly push back against aggression from China.
- China Belt and Road dreams fade in Germany’s industrial heartland — Geopolitical tensions including Beijing’s close ties with Moscow derail Duisburg’s hopes of trade bonanza.
- Opinion: The EU will struggle to de-risk its trade with China — Brussels doesn’t yet have the tools or the strategy to fine-tune economic disengagement.
The New York Times
- U.S. and Philippines Have a Complex Military Alliance: What to Know — The United States and the Philippines have announced a plan to broaden American military access. The alliance is complicated by colonial history and rising tensions over Taiwan.
- China and the U.S. Are Wooing Indonesia, and Beijing Has the Edge — The resource-laden nation of nearly 300 million is a big prize in the strategic battle between the United States and China for influence in Asia.
Caixin
- China Rolls Out Registration-Based IPO Rules Across Market — Securities regulators move to expand faster approval system for new shares sales following trials on STAR Market, ChiNext and Beijing Stock Exchange.
- China Completes Provincial Leadership Reshuffle Ahead of ‘Two Sessions’ — 20 of the 31 province-level regions named new directors of the standing committees of their people’s congresses while 18 ushered in new chairs for their political advisory bodies.
- China’s Express Couriers Deliver Rebound in Earnings — China’s express courier firms estimated bumper profits for the 2022 financial year, even as their business volume scaled more slowly due to the pandemic and the country’s strict “zero-Covid” policy.
South China Morning Post
- China offers further clues about plans for sixth-generation fighter planes — Video released by Aviation Industry Corporation of China suggests jets will have a tailless, fixed-body design that analysts say will improve its stealth capability.
- Xi Jinping says China must quicken pace of tech self-reliance to prevent being ‘strangled by foreign countries’ — President Xi Jinping says China should strive to become a global leader in scientific and technological fields to prevent its development goals being harmed by foreign countries.
- Ping An-backed fintech lender Lufax follows in footsteps of Nio and Tencent Music, applies for Hong Kong dual listing through introduction — Ping-An (Insurance) Group-backed Chinese online lender Lufax Holdings has applied to list in Hong Kong, joining other US-listed Chinese companies seeking a float closer to home.
Nikkei Asia
- Analysis: China flip-flop on Japanese visas highlights further policy confusion — Efforts to save face for Xi show same traits as abrupt cancelation of zero-COVID policy.
- Hunter Biden’s China business ties in spotlight at hearing next week — Evidence shows ‘millions of dollars’ from ‘adversaries,’ Republican oversight head says.
- China plans industrial zones to lure Chinese diaspora in Asia — Fujian province aims to attract companies from Indonesia and the Philippines.
Bloomberg
- Buffett’s Offloading of Stock in BYD Tops $500 Million Mark — Sales by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in Chinese electric carmaking giant BYD Co. have cracked the $500 million mark.
- US Detains Chinese Aluminum Suspected of Forced-Labor Origin — The US is beginning to detain imports of aluminum products suspected of being made through forced labor, particularly from China’s Xinjiang region, according to one of the world’s biggest shipping firms.
- Hong Kong to Give Away 500,000 Air Tickets to Revive Tourism — Hong Kong will hand out 500,000 air tickets to bring in much-needed visitors as part of a global publicity campaign unveiled on Thursday.
- Chinese Entrepreneurs Are Wary of Government Promises on Economy — Leaders appear to be making headway convincing Western investors that the country is open for business again. But they face a more skeptical audience at home.
Reuters
- Republican U.S. lawmaker meets with TikTok, but unpersuaded — Gallagher, the Republican chair of a U.S. House of Representatives select committee on China, met with TikTok officials led by TikTok’s head of public policy for the Americas Michael Beckerman.
- U.S. investors have plowed billions into China’s AI sector, report shows — According to the report, 167 U.S. investors took part in 401 transactions, or roughly 17% of the investments into Chinese AI companies in the period.
- Canadian lawmakers back resettlement of 10,000 Uyghur Muslims — The House of Commons voted 322-0 for Liberal member of parliament Sameer Zuberi’s bill, which also called on the government to recognize that Uyghurs and other ethnic Turkic Muslims who have fled to third countries face “pressure and intimidation” by China to return.
Other Publications
- The Economist: China’s put-upon maritime neighbours are pushing back — China can no longer count on getting its way in the South China Sea.
- The Economist: China is paralysing global debt-forgiveness efforts — Restructurings have all but disappeared.
- Associated Press: US opens embassy in Solomon Islands to counter China — The U.S. previously operated an embassy in the Solomon Islands for five years before closing it in 1993 as part of a global reduction in diplomatic posts after the end of the Cold War.
- The Los Angeles Times: The U.S. military has big plans for an Australian port. So does the Chinese firm that controls it — Although it’s not stopping the expansion, the Chinese stake has sparked nervousness in both Washington and Canberra, where Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised a new review of the port’s 2015 sale.
- The Sydney Morning Herald: Property grab: AFP smashes alleged $10 billion Chinese money-laundering operation — One of those arrested, Steven Xin, is the local business partner of fallen global casino industry tycoon, Alvin Chau, who was sensationally jailed in Macau last week.
- PIIE: China’s state vs. private company tracker: Which sector dominates? — The private sector’s share of China’s largest listed companies continued to decline to 43 percent in the second half of 2022.
- CSET: U.S. Outbound Investment into Chinese AI Companies — The authors identify the main U.S. investors active in the Chinese artificial intelligence market and the set of AI companies in China that have benefitted from U.S. capital.
