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 Tries to Gain U.S. Cooperation Over Taiwan Elections — Beijing tried to size up Washington’s interest in the coming race in self-ruled Taiwan, with Chinese officials sharing their concerns over the presidential candidate of the incumbent Democratic Progressive Party.
- Covid Virus Wasn’t at Wuhan Lab Before Pandemic, U.S. Report Says — U.S. spy agencies remain divided on whether the Covid-19 virus passed to humans via an infected animal or laboratory accident.
The Financial Times
- The blossoming US-Indian romance — As with many budding relationships, a word of caution may be in order.
- Renminbi drops to seven-month low against dollar over economic worries — Slowing domestic growth and shrinking exports have become main concerns as Fed’s influence wanes.
- China’s biggest IPO in years poses $9bn question for western banks — Goldman Sachs and others seek clarity over planned Shanghai listing of agricultural chemicals group Syngenta.
- Saudi Arabia sends top delegation to China’s ‘Summer Davos’ — World’s second-largest economy deepens co-operation with Middle East.
- China plays down impact of Russia’s aborted rebellion on bilateral ties — Beijing labels Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mutiny as Moscow’s ‘internal affair’ after visit by Putin’s deputy foreign minister.
- GLG scales back in China as Beijing zeroes in on due diligence firms — US expert network consultant is latest to lay off staff in the country as scrutiny intensifies on national security grounds.
- China’s premier avoids ‘factional confrontation’ with Europe on maiden trip — Li Qiang says EU ‘de-risking’ strategy need not jeopardise economic ties with Beijing.
- British MPs warn Israel anti-boycott law could also stifle criticism of China — Opponents fear bill to stop public bodies adopting ‘own foreign policy’ will not apply exclusively to any state.
- US brings first charges against Chinese entities over fentanyl ‘precursors’ — Prosecutors say defendants helped supply chemicals fuelling deadly opioid crisis that has killed thousands.
- Opinion: A first step in repairing US-China ties — Washington and Beijing must prevent a bad relationship from becoming a catastrophic one.
The New York Times
- The U.S.-China Rivalry Is Complicating the World’s Debt Crisis — Suriname, a tiny nation ravaged by recession, inflation and impossible debts, saw its relief held up by superpower politics. It won’t be the only country.
- China’s Extreme Floods and Heat Ravage Farms and Kill Animals — China’s leader has made it a national priority to ensure the country can feed its large population. But weather shocks have disrupted wheat harvests and threatened pig and fish farming.
- U.S. Intelligence Report Finds No Clear Evidence of Covid Origins in Wuhan Lab — A declassified report says that the illnesses of three laboratory researchers in 2019 do not support or refute the theory that the virus that causes Covid could have slipped out of a lab.
- U.S. Charges 4 Chinese Firms With Selling Chemicals to Make Fentanyl — The indictments are part of a strategy attacking every stage of the supply chain for the opioid, which kills thousands each year.
Caixin
- China Joins Effort to Avert Sovereign Debt Crisis — Nation fills new role as top creditor to poor countries rattled by the worst debt crisis since the 1980s.
- CEO of JD Logistics Steps Down for ‘Health Reasons’ — Yu Yui, a JD.com veteran of 15 years, handed his roles over to Hu Wei on Monday, the company says.
South China Morning Post
- In China, world’s largest hybrid solar-hydro plant produces electricity on Tibetan Plateau — Kela plant in Sichuan is part of a huge renewable production base planned by the Chinese government to generate clean energy for 100 million households.
- China’s cyberspace chief raises concerns over the power of generative AI, pledges to make it ‘controllable’ — China’s cyberspace watchdog has raised concerns over the power of generative AI and its potential for disruption, reflecting Beijing’s balancing act with ChatGPT-style technologies.
- Taiwan-Arizona ties: the history behind TSMC’s decision to build US$12 billion chip plant in southwestern US — Arizona’s long-standing support for Taiwan, going back to the 1960s, underscores the increasing importance of subnational diplomacy for the self-ruled island.
Nikkei Asia
- U.S. files first-ever charges against Chinese fentanyl manufacturers — Highly addictive painkiller has fueled opioid crisis in America.
- Wagner uprising unnerves Russia’s partners across Asia — Some leaders left to parse how to prevent challenges to their own power.
- Opinion: Joe Tsai can’t take Alibaba back to its golden days — Investors, consumers and regulators are all more demanding now. By Henry Sender.
Bloomberg
- China’s Price War Favors the Cars Beijing Is Trying to Phase Out — After Tesla Inc. kicked off a price war that quickly enveloped other manufacturers earlier this year, now some two-thirds of auto brands in the world’s largest car market are offering discounts.
- Xi’s Bet on Putin Looks Even More Risky After Russian Rebellion — Threat of unrest casts shadow on China’s cheap energy imports.
- Trump’s Trade Chief Proposes New Tariffs on All Chinese Imports — The architect of Washington’s trade war with China said the US needs to unilaterally raise tariffs on all Chinese imports in order to limit economic ties with America’s biggest adversary.
Reuters
- China expresses support for Russia after aborted mutiny — China supports Russia in maintaining its national stability, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Sunday, a day after an aborted mutiny by the Wagner group of heavily armed mercenaries.
- Blinken called South Korea to discuss China visit; North Korea warns of stronger response — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called key ally South Korea to discuss results of his visit to China this month, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday.
- No direct evidence COVID started in Wuhan lab, US intelligence report says — U.S. intelligence agencies found no direct evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic stemmed from an incident at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, a report declassified on Friday said.
Other Publications
- Foreign Policy: Will India Surpass China to Become the Next Superpower? — Four inconvenient truths make this scenario unlikely.
- POLITICO: Blinken backs Biden after he called China’s Xi a dictator — “The president always speaks candidly, he speaks directly. He speaks clearly, and he speaks for all of us,” he said.
- The Washington Post: Opinion: China’s threat should be a major campaign issue. GOP, are you listening? — What ought to be an election cycle’s focus sometimes doesn’t figure into it much at all. By Hugh Hewitt.
- AP: Packages from China are surging into the United States. Some say $800 duty-free limit was a mistake — Conservatives anxious to counter America’s leading economic adversary have set their sights on a top trade priority for labor unions and progressives: cracking down on the deluge of duty-free packages coming in from China.
- Rest of World: Shein overstock is getting a second life in Latin America’s street markets — Resellers are buying garments from Shein’s suppliers in China that would have ended up in a dump.