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
- Senate Republicans Demand Answers on Handling of Suspected Chinese Spy Balloon — In letter, senators ask about similar craft from China that also entered U.S. airspace.
- China’s Fleet of Balloons Prove Hard to Detect as They Survey the World — Biden administration tries to bring international attention to scope of Chinese surveillance program.
- In China, Protesters’ Detentions Bring Up Dilemma for Their Loved Ones — With little experience, friends and family have to decide whether to speak out.
- U.S.-China Tensions Are High. So Is Commerce Between the Nations. — Trade reached a record $690.6 billion last year despite efforts by Biden and Trump to reduce reliance on China.
- ChatGPT Clones Are Preparing to Take Over China — Baidu and Alibaba are both jumping on the advanced-chatbot bandwagon. The technology could be a big deal in China—but that comes with its own dangers.
- Coast Guard Looks at More Ships, Innovative Patrols to Ramp Up Pacific Presence — Biden administration wants the Coast Guard to expand its footprint amid competition with China.
- Hong Kong Vies for Blockbuster Aramco Listing as Saudi Ties Deepen — A deal could be valued at tens of billions of dollars, according to some bankers’ estimates.
- Opinion: We Still Don’t Know the Truth About Covid — Congress should establish a bipartisan national commission of inquiry into the pandemic’s origins. By Jamie Metzl and Matt Pottinger
The Financial Times
- Chinese tech group’s Nasdaq IPO signals revival for offshore listings — Hesai Technology is largest China-based company to go public in US since 2021.
- Foreign investors start 2023 with record $21bn push into China stocks — Traders bet reopening rally for Chinese equities has further to run.
- Hong Kong reopens with post-Covid charm offensive — City pins its hopes on a comeback after its economy was battered by three years of lockdowns.
- Baidu/chatbots: heavy R&D spend means talk may be cheap — China’s online search giant will have to spend more on artificial intelligence.
The New York Times
- What China’s Military Balloons Show About Its Spying Ambitions — Chinese military scientists have been looking for ways to make them more durable, harder to detect and even to serve as platforms that fire advanced weapons.
- Can China Reverse Its Population Decline? Just Ask Sweden. — Wealthy countries have been trying to boost their birthrates for decades. The results have been pretty similar.
- U.S. Aims to Curb Investment in China Amid Security Concerns — The Biden administration is preparing new rules that would restrict U.S. dollars from flowing to China.
- China Sends Spy Balloons Over Military Sites Worldwide, U.S. Officials Say — The balloons have some advantages over the satellites that orbit the earth in regular patterns. They fly closer to earth and can evade radar.
Caixin
- In Depth: China’s Slumping Office Rental Market Faces a Steep Climb in 2023 — Lingering concerns about demand and a rush of new supply hitting the market uncut hopes for a quick recovery this year.
- China Outlines Responsibilities for Developing Hengqin Guangdong-Macao Zone — Guidelines aim to clear up roles of agencies involved in a corner of the massive Greater Bay Area project.
- Shanghai Bourse Probes AI Firms’ Stock Surge on Chatbot Fervor — The huge pops in the companies’ share prices caught the attention of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, which recently asked the duo to explain what it said looked like abnormal stock price fluctuations.
South China Morning Post
- China’s biggest foundry SMIC sees profits fall by one-fourth on waning demand for electronic gadgets — SMIC reported full-year sales growth of 34 per cent, but it expects the global chip industry to remain at the bottom of the cycle in the first half of 2023.
- China’s plan to fully electrify public vehicles to give NEV sector US$118 billion boost, analyst says — Beijing’s push to fully electrify its public-sector vehicles is expected to create more than 800 billion yuan (US$118 billion) in market value for China’s NEVs industry by 2025, analyst says.
Nikkei Asia
- Analysis: Was object spotted over Japan in 2020 a Chinese spy balloon? — The flight path went above Self-Defense Force facilities.
- Mongolia seeks foreign help to produce minerals used for EVs — More investments are needed to unlock Mongolia’s ‘huge potential,’ official says.
Bloomberg
- Hesai Raises $190 Million in Biggest Chinese US IPO Since Didi — Hesai Group, a developer of sensor technologies used in self-driving cars, has raised $190 million in an initial public offering, the largest by a Chinese issuer in the US market since the crash of Didi Global Inc. in 2021.
- EU Scales Back US Climate Law Reply to Focus on Green Tech — Leaders in Europe have dialed down the rhetoric aimed at Washington over its massive green subsidy plan, and instead are focusing on how to improve their own policies to make European companies more competitive with the US and China.
- G-7 Mulls Sanctioning Chinese, Other Firms Aiding Russia’s Military — Group of Seven member states are discussing whether to sanction companies in China, Iran and North Korea they believe are providing Russia with parts and technology that have military purposes, according to people familiar with the matter.
Reuters
- With eye on China, U.S. Democrats want more resources for Indo-Pacific — Washington must commit more diplomatic and security resources to the Indo-Pacific to push back against China as Beijing seeks to create a regional sphere of influence and become the world’s most influential power, U.S. Senate Democrats said on Thursday.
- Britain defends possible talks with governor of China’s Xinjiang — Junior foreign office minister Leo Docherty said that Tuniyaz might visit Britain next week, though he had not been invited to London by the government and would not be “dignified” with a ministerial meeting.
- China car sales plunge 38% in January as subsidies, tax cut end — China’s passenger car sales slumped 38% in January, reversing a 2.4% gain in the previous month, industry data showed on Wednesday.
Other Publications
- The Economist: The history and limits of America’s favourite new economic weapon — America has ramped up controls on technology trade with China.
- The Guardian: Cross-party MPs shocked by Foreign Office talks with Xinjiang governor — Erkin Tuniyaz ‘played central role’ in persecution of Uyghurs, says inter-parliamentary alliance on China.
- Vice World News: Workers Keep Dying at This Chinese Nickel Mining Company in Indonesia — In the year after the factory opened, workers fell into molten waste, got swept into the sea, and took their own lives. Then, after two employees were burned alive, protests erupted—and turned deadly.
- The Los Angeles Times: A bill banning Chinese citizens from buying property has some wondering if they’re welcome in Texas — Critics fear the expansive bill could ease the way for broader discrimination.
- Associated Press: The spy who wasn’t? New York police officer wants badge back — Angwang, a former U.S. Marine, spent six months in a federal detention center before he was freed on bail while awaiting trial on charges that he fed information about New York’s Tibetan community to officials at the Chinese consulate in New York. Then, just as suddenly, it was over.
