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
- Xi Prepares China for ‘Extreme’ Scenarios, Including Conflict With the West — As Beijing and Washington move gingerly toward restoring high-level exchanges, Xi Jinping is stepping up his effort to gird China for conflict.
- China’s Central Bank Moves to Shore Up Recovery — Unexpected trim in key lending rate likely heralds further steps to stimulate China’s economy.
- Opinion: Russia, China and Iran in America’s Backyard — These adversaries threaten the U.S. with their moves into Latin America. By Walter Russell Mead.
The Financial Times
- Distributor Bunzl shifts more sourcing out of China — FTSE 100 distributor of everything from plastic spoons to PPE looks to ‘de-risk’ its supply chain.
- Subsea cables: how the US is pushing China out of the internet’s plumbing — Driven by fears of espionage and geopolitical tensions, experts say the infrastructure underpinning the internet is in danger of dividing into eastern and western blocks.
- Nio: Chinese electric-car company enters race to lower prices and cut costs — Lossmaking carmaker needs to prove it can rein in spending.
- Demand grows for Asian investment products that exclude China — Asset managers say clients are worried about geopolitical tension and sub-par growth in Chinese economy.
- China’s pressure on ‘weakest link’ South Korea falls flat amid tensions with US — Beijing has wielded trade and leverage over North Korea to discourage Seoul from closer ties with Tokyo and Washington.
The New York Times
- A Saudi-China Business Conference Underscores Strengthening Ties — The kingdom hosted a lavish Arab-China business conference days after a visit from the American secretary of state, inviting companies blacklisted by the United States.
Caixin
- China’s EV Battery Industry Expansion Tests Transport Capacity — May production surges 57.4% year-on-year as experts see need for more-advanced transportation technology to keep up with demand.
- Nio Ends Holdout in China’s Auto Price War — EV maker slashes bases prices $4,200 and pulls the plug on its free battery-swap service for car buyers.
South China Morning Post
- Chinese EV maker Human Horizons’ US$5.6 billion deal among agreements worth US$10 billion signed during two-day summit — Human Horizons’ agreement with Saudi’s investment ministry comes amid a push by Riyadh to develop a domestic EV manufacturing industry.
- US cracks down on flight training for Chinese military pilots with export restrictions — 43 entities, including a security firm previously run by Blackwater founder Erik Prince, were added to the entity list over national security concerns.
- Apple’s supply chain in China evolves as Foxconn hires, Compal invests in Vietnam and MacBook production relocates to Thailand — The world’s largest iPhone factory is hiring for iPhone 15 production in China, but there are signs the country’s dominance in the Apple supply chain continues to face competition from Southeast Asia.
- Scientists hold US nuclear tests responsible for South China Sea radioactivity — Researchers say radioactive pollutants from Marshall Islands testing in the Cold War are still arriving on Pacific Ocean currents.
- Huawei wins lion’s share of China Mobile’s 5G base station contracts, in much needed boost to revenue — Chinese telecoms giant Huawei will supply over half of the base stations for China Mobile’s 5G network between 2023 and 2024, in a deal that will bring in more than US$570 million of much needed revenue.
Nikkei Asia
- China millionaire exodus to continue this year — Emigration forecast to reach 13,500 as Xi clamps down, economy slows.
- Opinion: Sequoia will still stand tall in China after VC firm’s breakup — With split, Neil Shen faces less regulatory risk on both sides of the Pacific. By Henny Sender.
- Singapore bargain-hunters target distressed Chinese properties — Wave of developer defaults follows Beijing’s crackdown on speculation.
Bloomberg
- Chinese Billionaire Wang Fights to Save Wanda Empire After $40 Billion Loss — Just last year, billionaire Wang Jianlin had appeared to cement his reputation as one of the few remaining Chinese property tycoons to sidestep a wave of debt defaults sweeping the industry.
- BYD’s Plan to Vie With Tesla Leaves Out American EV Buyers — New climate laws could end up backfiring and leave Americans paying more for EVs than the rest of the world.
- Temu Sells Products in US Linked to Forced Labor in China’s Uyghur Region, Analysis Shows — Tel Aviv-based Ultra Information Solutions says it found at least 10 items made or sold by businesses located in Xinjiang that are also available in the US on Temu.
Reuters
- As climate change hits, China weighs new water megaprojects — China is planning ambitious projects in hope that moving more water across the country will mitigate the impact of climate change.
- China holds live-fire drills in East China Sea north of Taiwan — China began military exercises in the East China sea to the north of Taiwan on Tuesday as the U.S and its allies conduct their drills in the Western Pacific.
- U.S. officials call spy program key to big cases, but give few details — Senior U.S. government officials warned on Tuesday of serious national security risks if a key surveillance program set to expire this year isn’t renewed.
Other Publications
- The Messenger: China Drives Spike in Global Nuclear Stockpile — The U.S. and Russia still have the vast majority of the world’s nuclear weapons, but China is catching up fast.
- CSIS: Sunk Costs: The Difficulty of Using Sanctions to Deter China in a Taiwan Crisis — Effectively using economic coercion to shape China’s decisionmaking begins with accepting its limitations, of which there are many. By Gerard DiPippo and Jude Blanchette.
- The Economist: China’s influence in South-East Asia has grown. America’s has waned — President Joe Biden hopes to reverse that.
- The Washington Post: Opinion: If the United States can spy on China, why can’t China spy on the U.S.? — The United States can hardly call out Chinese spying with a straight face when the U.S. intelligence community undoubtedly operates the largest signals-collection network in the world. By Max Boot.
- Foreign Affairs: What Does the West Really Know About Xi’s China? — Why Outsiders Struggle to Understand Beijing’s Decision-Making. By Odd Arne Westad.
