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
- TSMC Seeks Up to $15 Billion From U.S. for Chip Plants but Objects to Conditions — With construction under way in Arizona, Taiwanese semiconductor maker calls some aid terms unacceptable.
- Lawmakers Look for Tough Implementation of Forced Labor Law Targeting China — Hearing focuses on how goods from Xinjiang, targeted under a near-comprehensive import ban, continue to enter the U.S.
- U.S. to Penalize Companies for Staying Quiet About Export-Control Issues — Businesses that learn about, but don’t disclose, potential export-control violations now face heightened penalties.
- Chinese Authorities Arrest 12 After Beijing Hospital Fire Kills at Least 29 — News of the blaze appeared to be censored online, sparking criticism.
- India’s Population to Surpass China’s by Midyear — U.N. report highlights dramatic demographic shifts as China’s population is forecast to decline rapidly over next decades.
- What If Your Tesla Could Run on Sodium? — Lithium-ion batteries in today’s electric vehicles have a credible new competitor.
The Financial Times
- US commander pushes back against colleagues ‘guessing’ Taiwan invasion date — Admiral says threat from China has increased but refuses to endorse possible timeline.
- Shares in China metals miner CMOC surge as Congo impasse clears — Deal between Chinese group and Gécamines threatens to put downward pressure on cobalt prices.
- Beijing’s rise leaves Paris Club of creditors struggling to find forum — Breaking the debt deadlock will require China to adopt a more collegial approach.
- VW to launch €1bn Chinese innovation centre 100%TechCo — German carmaker pushes ‘in China, for China’ strategy to address declining share in its biggest market.
- Dissenting politicians join young activists to oppose TikTok bans — A small group of lawmakers from across the political divide speak out against restrictions to the Chinese-owned video app.
- India overtakes China as world’s most populous country — UN data marks a historic crossover moment for the two neighbours and geopolitical rivals.
- Opinion: Europe and America will always think differently on China — The stakes aren’t the same and nor is the geography. By Janan Ganesh
The New York Times
- In China, a Big Auto Show Returns to a Country That Has Gone Electric — The Shanghai auto show, the largest in China since before the pandemic, had one theme: The dominance of electric vehicles in the world’s largest car market is here to stay.
- China Is on Track to Become Nuclear Superpower, Ushering in New Age — China is on track to massively expand its nuclear arsenal, just as Russia suspends the last major arms control treaty. It augurs a new world in which Beijing, Moscow and Washington will likely be atomic peers.
- Death Toll in Beijing Hospital Fire Soars to 29 — Officials say a preliminary investigation found that the fire started when sparks from a construction project ignited paint. A dozen people have been detained.
- India Is Passing China in Population. Can Its Economy Ever Do the Same? — India has a young, vast work force that is expanding as China’s ages and shrinks. But the country’s immense size also lays bare its enormous challenges.
- Why China’s Shrinking Population Is a Problem for Everyone — China struggled for years to curtail its rapid population growth. Now that its population is declining, economists and others fear serious implications for China and countries around the world.
- Blinken and Top G7 Diplomats Stress Unity on Russia and China — The foreign ministers of the Group of 7 nations affirmed their shared visions on Russia’s war on Ukraine and China’s assertiveness after talk flared this month over different strategies.
Caixin
- China Private Equity Investment Plunges to Eight-Year Low — PE funding fell 53% to $62 billion in 2022 amid growing macroeconomic headwinds, Bain reports.
- New EU Carbon Measures Could Hinder Chinese Battery-Makers’ Expansion — A provisional EU policy to make batteries more sustainable and a proposed carbon tax might present fresh obstacles for Chinese companies in one of their largest overseas markets, experts say.
- Update: Tesla Safety Faults Contributed to Worker Fatality in Shanghai, Investigation Finds — Electric vehicle giant should be punished in connection with a February death of a worker who was crushed at the plant, report says.
South China Morning Post
- Guangdong suffers first decline in over 4 decades, underlining demographic and economic woes — Population of China’s leading exporting province of Guangdong fell for the first time in over four decades last year, adding to the demographic crisis at a time India is set to become the world’s most populous country.
- Chinese and Russian defence chiefs agree to boost military ties — Academies, branches and theatre commands will work together more closely, Chinese General Li Shangfu and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu said.
- US law banning Xinjiang imports has glaring weaknesses, lawmakers are told — Unintentionally or not, products made with forced labour are eluding US safeguards, the commission hears.
Nikkei Asia
- China chip event draws Applied Materials, others despite U.S. tensions — Leading global companies eager to stay in biggest semiconductor market.
- Businesses urge U.S. to seek partners for China export curbs — Cooperation with G-7 and others in focus after unilateral chip controls draw ire.
- EVs on pace to make up third of China’s auto sales this year — Tesla sparks price war, spurring demand from middle-income drivers.
Bloomberg
- Alibaba’s Grocery Arm Is Said to Gear Up for Hong Kong IPO — Freshippo, the Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. grocery chain known for selling cooked lobsters and grouper freshly chosen from fish-tanks in the store, has started preparations for a Hong Kong initial public offering, people familiar with the matter said.
- CATL Says New Super Strong Battery May Power Electric Flight — China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., known as CATL, unveiled its strongest battery to date Wednesday, saying that it could one day be used to power electric aircraft.
- TikTok Ban Legislation Meets Wave of US Tech Company Resistance — US tech companies are pushing to narrow the scope of legislation that could ban TikTok in the US, creating new obstacles as the Biden administration seeks to confront China’s influence.
- Chinese Miner Gets Congo Deal to Free Stuck Stash of Metals — China’s CMOC Group Ltd. made a breakthrough in a long-running spat over mining royalties in the Democratic Republic of Congo, potentially paving the way for its massive stockpile of battery metals to start flowing to global markets.
Reuters
- US in ‘extensive effort’ with partners to counter China influence operations — Federal prosecutors said the arrests on Monday were part of a crackdown on China’s targeting of dissidents, which Beijing denies. Both men arrested are U.S. citizens.
- Protester breaks silence on China’s crackdown on COVID demonstrators — Dazed and terrified, Yicheng Huang narrowly managed to escape being detained by police in Shanghai while attending historic protests calling for an end to China’s COVID-19 curbs that spread across numerous cities last November.
Other Publications
- The Washington Post: China readies supersonic spy drone unit, leaked document says — China’s cutting-edge drone could give it a surveillance advantage during a possible military confrontation over Taiwan.
- Associated Press: Taiwan suspects Chinese ships cut islands’ internet cables — Taiwan’s government stopped short of calling it a deliberate act on the part of Beijing, and there was no direct evidence to show the Chinese ships were responsible.
- CSIS: Frozen Frontiers — China’s Great Power Ambitions in the Polar Regions.
- Stiftung Neue Verantwortung: Who is funding the chips of the future? — Analysis of global semiconductor startup funding activities.
- Columbia Journalism Review: Ping On — Hong Kong’s unrelenting independent press.