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 New Tech Weapon: Dragging Its Feet on Global Merger Approvals — Officials of antitrust regulator ask firms to make available products they sell elsewhere.
- Taiwan’s President Quietly Met With U.S. Senators Ahead of Kevin McCarthy Sit-Down — Beijing has threatened retaliation if House speaker meets with Tsai Ing-wen.
- France’s Emmanuel Macron to Press Xi Jinping on China’s Support of Russia — West worries that Beijing could boost aid to ally Moscow in its war against Ukraine.
The Financial Times
- China banks: state purges of bankers signal weaker profits ahead — Clear-outs undoubtedly make lenders more obedient politically and less commercial in their motives.
- Xi Jinping to face European pressure to ditch Putin over Ukraine war — Chinese leader unlikely to heed Macron and von der Leyen’s entreaties to drop Vladimir Putin, experts warn.
- Vanguard plans exit from China joint venture — Asset manager has struggled to convince country’s investors they need its low-cost passive funds.
- Taiwan’s deepening political divide over the US and China — While Tsai Ing-wen is visiting the US, her predecessor has been in China as the country’s two main parties debate which superpower to side with.
- Mexico’s president seeks help from China’s Xi on deadly fentanyl imports — Plea from Andrés Manuel López Obrador follows pressure from US lawmakers over trafficking of drug across border.
The New York Times
- Can China Make Peace in Ukraine? Macron Isn’t Saying No. — The French president hopes Beijing can be useful in pressing Russia to end the war in Ukraine. How exactly is not clear.
- China’s Ambassador to the E.U. Tries to Distance Beijing From Moscow — The ambassador, Fu Cong, said China was not on Russia’s side in the war in Ukraine. “‘No limit’ is nothing but rhetoric,” he said, referring to a statement from last year about the countries’ relationship.
Caixin
- Former China Everbright Chairman Probed as Financial Crackdown Intensifies — The Central Commission of Discipline Inspection (CCDI) announced that Li was being probed for “severe violations of (party) discipline and laws.”
- In Depth: How China’s Export Surge Left the Shipping Industry With a Hangover — Since early March, two of China’s largest container truck yards near the major port city of Ningbo in Zhejiang province have been filled with nearly 3,000 idle vehicles with no cargo to haul.
- Meituan Co-Founder Scouts Talent for ChatGPT-Like Venture — Talent is more important than capital for developing artificial intelligence (AI) right now, Meituan co-founder Wang Huiwen told Caixin.
South China Morning Post
- Xi Jinping’s inner circle is getting ‘even tighter’ with powerful new chief of staff — Cai Qi is the most senior official in the job since the time of Mao Zedong, and the office he heads wields a great deal of influence.
- Several Chinese AI experts back call by Musk and others for a pause in rapid development of ChatGPT technologies — Several China experts say ChatGPT technologies need to be developed ‘safely, reasonably, and ethically’ and this requires more scrutiny.
- In Beijing trip, European leaders’ unity on China will be put to the test — French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen will arrive in Beijing on Wednesday.
Bloomberg
- Inside Apple’s Plan to Move iPhone Production From China to India — The company is laying the foundation to make phones elsewhere, from the screws on up.
- GOP’s Youngkin to Meet Taiwan President on Trade Trip to Asia — Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, a potential 2024 GOP presidential contender, intends to meet with the president of Taiwan when he leads a trade mission to Asia later this month, a trip likely to further rankle China.
- China’s Unloved EV Chargers Point to Challenges for Public Plugs — Low utilization rates for many connectors on city streets and highways illustrate an auto industry conundrum.
Reuters
- Mexico asks China for help on fentanyl, slams US critics — President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador read out the letter to Xi dated March 22 in which he defended efforts to curb supply of the deadly drug, while rounding on U.S. critics, some of whom want Washington to intervene militarily in Mexico.
- Vatican says China has unilaterally appointed bishop to Shanghai — Chinese authorities have appointed a new bishop to Shanghai, the largest Roman Catholic diocese in China, the Vatican said on Tuesday, in an apparent violation of a bilateral pact between the two states.
- Top Saudi, Iranian diplomats to meet in China, say media, officials — The top envoys for Saudi Arabia and Iran will meet in Beijing on Thursday, an Iranian official and a Saudi-owned newspaper said.
Other Publications
- The Economist: Will Xi Jinping outsmart Emmanuel Macron? — The war in Ukraine is at the top of the agenda in Beijing.
- Associated Press: ITF resumes tennis in China with no word on Peng Shuai — In late 2021, WTA Chairman and CEO Steve Simon announced that the WTA would be suspending all of its tournaments that were held in China because of concerns over Peng, costing the tour millions.
- The Washington Post: China watches Trump courtroom drama: A ‘premium show without paywall’ — Trump’s arraignment “epitomizes social divide, systemic alienation, and political and cultural decay” in the United States, which is turning into a “Divided Nations of America,” wrote a reporter for the state-run Xinhua News Agency.
- Quartz: The West is trying to cut China out of rare earths—and China is noticing — China is facing heated competition as the US, Europe, Australia, and Japan collaborate on rare earths.
- The Information: Sequoia and Other U.S.-Backed VCs Are Funding China’s Answer to OpenAI — U.S. government officials have grown increasingly wary of such investments in Chinese AI as well as semiconductors because they could aid a geopolitical rival.
- Data & Society: The TikTok Teens Go To Washington — TikTok videos underscore the gap in expertise between those who seek to regulate technology and those who use it.
