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
- Automation Giant Faces U.S. Government Probe Over China Operations — Investigation of Rockwell looks at whether its software might allow access to critical U.S. government and industrial infrastructure.
- China Seeks to Pry Europe Away From Washington — Beijing’s new foreign minister uses first solo Europe trip to warn against decoupling between two economic giants.
- TikTok Delays Full Opening of U.S. Shop — Tepid adoption of live-streaming e-commerce by merchants slows plans for rollout.
- Indian Tech’s Promise of Rivaling China Is Falling Apart — The post-burn era exposes the deep fault lines in the Indian startup ecosystem.
- Estée Lauder, L’Oréal Look to Local Investments to Grow Business in China — Venture funds, research labs, new brands are moves to counter rise of homegrown companies.
The Financial Times
- Sudan conflict delivers fresh blow to China’s African lending strategy — Beijing’s loans to Sudan at risk as Chinese lenders hit by series of defaults across continent.
- Chinese chipmaker plans listing after clearing US export controls — ChangXin Memory Technologies to raise funds for production expansion following assurance on American equipment supplies.
- ‘The full treatment’: China sends a message with raid on consultancy — Clampdown on Capvision at odds with Beijing’s efforts to woo back foreign investors.
- China’s raids on foreign firms hurt its own interests — Western multinationals have been leading advocates for engagement with Beijing.
- China vows to retaliate against EU sanctions on its companies — Beijing will defend businesses ‘strictly and firmly’ if Brussels blacklists them for aiding Russia, says foreign minister.
The New York Times
- The Elusive Fix for China’s Budget Crisis — Property taxes would help local governments that are sinking further into debt. But after years of talk, officials have yet to introduce a real estate tax.
- ‘Rip and Replace’: The Tech Cold War Is Upending Wireless Carriers — As China and the United States jockey for tech primacy, wireless carriers in dozens of states are tearing out Chinese equipment. That has turned into a costly, difficult process.
- China Does an Awkward Dance with Europe Over Russia-Ukraine War — A three-stop tour by China’s foreign minister this week has everyone trying to balance economic and security interests when it comes to Russia and Ukraine.
Caixin
- China’s AI Charge Part 4: Striking a Balance Between Ethics and Innovation — Concerns are mounting about the potential for copyright infringement and fraud from AI-generated photos, videos and text.
- China Cuts Automakers a Break on New Emission Rules — Dealers will have until Dec. 31 to sell off 2 million vehicles that won’t comply with more-stringent standards taking effect July 1.
- BYD Takes Over Insolvent Online Insurer as Foundation for Auto Insurance Unit — EV giant to pay $1 million for E An insurance operation, seized in 2020 as financial authorities sought to defuse risks of scandal-plagued Tomorrow Holding.
South China Morning Post
- Alibaba cancels chief technology officer position, spins off in-house tech service provider in sweeping overhaul — Alibaba Group Holding has eliminated its CTO position as part of a sweeping business restructure that would see the sprawling conglomerate being broken up into smaller independent units.
- China’s financial overhaul continues with banking veteran Li Yunze named party chief of new regulatory body — Banking veteran Li Yunze has been appointed as the party chief of China’s new financial regulator, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, amid Beijing’s shift to prioritise financial stability.
- Hong Kong national security law: legislature passes bill allowing government to ban overseas lawyers from cases — Approved amendment of Legal Practitioners Ordinance gives chief executive final say on involvement of foreign counsel in sensitive cases.
- Call for US to lift sanctions on Hong Kong leader John Lee ahead of Apec summit — Chinese expert says ‘concrete actions’ are needed to improve ties between Beijing and Washington.
Nikkei Asia
- Hong Kong curbs foreign lawyers’ participation in state security trials — Legal amendments could erode confidence of foreign companies in the city.
- U.S. eyes Mideast-India transport network to counter China — Saudi Arabia joins talks with Washington following Beijing-brokered detente with Iran.
Bloomberg
- US Airlines Are Sitting Out China’s Reopening — United, Delta and American are pressing Washington to ban Chinese planes headed to or from the US from flying over Russia.
- Eskom Head in China as South Africa Grapples With Acute Outages — Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.’s acting chief executive officer traveled to China, as the South African state-owned utility implements record power cuts that are hobbling the nation’s economy.
- China Names Li Top Financial Regulator in Surprise Move — China picked a little-known local government official as the nation’s top regulator overseeing the $61 trillion financial sector, in a surprise move after President Xi Jinping unveiled the biggest overhaul of the nation’s bureaucracy in decades.
- Italy Intends to Exit China Belt and Road Pact as Ties Sour — Italy has signaled to the US that it intends to pull out of a controversial investment pact with China before the end of the year.
Reuters
- China consultancy crackdown sends jitters across foreign business — Overseas business lobbies in China said on Tuesday they were unnerved by a sweeping crackdown on consultancy and due diligence firms that is damaging investor confidence in the world’s second-largest economy.
- Exclusive: CICC Capital bans consulting firm Capvision after China crackdown-sources — CICC Capital, a unit of Chinese investment bank CICC, has decided to stop using consultancy Capvision Partners’ services, three sources said, as some financial firms review their ties with China’s largest “expert network” group.
- China urges giant state firms to be tech ‘pillars’ in self-reliance drive — China has urged big state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to play a key role in its drive to attain self-reliance in technology, raising the stakes in the race amid rifts with the United States.
Other Publications
- AFP: Hong Kongers find new ways to defend democratic ideals — Two years after being released from a Hong Kong prison, Lau Ka-tung has lost count of the times he has returned — not as an inmate, but to offer support to pro-democracy activists in jail.
- The Economist: Just how good can China get at AI? — Its models may in time rival America’s. But that may not translate into an economic or military edge.
- The Guardian: DeSantis signs bills banning Chinese citizens from buying land in Florida — Republican governor says bills are meant to ‘counteract’ the ‘malign influence of the Chinese Communist party’ in the state.