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
- Hong Kong Takes Its Crackdown Abroad — Authorities are questioning families and placing hefty bounties on overseas activists sought under violations of the national security law.
- U.S. Tries to Build Ties in China’s Backyard — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will visit India and Vietnam a week after her China trip.
- China Hacking Was Undetectable for Some Who Had Less Expensive Microsoft Services — Officials call for changes to Microsoft cloud services following hack.
- For Many in China, It Feels Like a Recession — Official data will likely show solid growth in the most recent quarter, but many say conditions in world’s No. 2 economy are grim.
- Chinese Oil Demand Doesn’t Make Sense — Global crude demand and prices could soon take a hit.
The Financial Times
- China will avoid deflation, central bank official says — Economic ‘turbulence’ is normal during post-pandemic recovery, claims PBoC deputy governor.
- Mitsubishi suspends China production as car sales plunge — Foreign marques struggle to compete with domestic carmakers amid rapid EV rollout.
- EU asks metals producers to explore making chip inputs after China export curbs — Aluminium and zinc companies approached about making gallium and germanium critical to semiconductors.
- No Trade Is Free — Robert Lighthizer’s lessons from Trump’s tariff war with China — The former US trade representative on how America must produce as well as consume — and win friends in the global economy.
- Beijing struggles to revive China’s paralysed property market — Help for developers is not translating into investor confidence or rising sales.
- Germany’s strategy to ‘de-risk’ ties with China — Restrictions in sensitive areas should allow commerce to flourish in others.
- Chinese-backed carmaker Lotus ‘studying’ US factory — UK-based sports brand expects to outgrow its Wuhan manufacturing site, chief says.
The New York Times
- Uruguay Saw Opportunity in China. It Got Schooled in the Hazards of Trade. — Uruguay’s pursuit of a trade deal with China has angered its powerful neighbors while failing to yield economic gains.
- Comparing Responses from ChatGPT and China’s AI Chatbot Ernie — We spoke in Chinese to Baidu’s Ernie and the American standard-bearer, ChatGPT. This is what we found.
- Republicans Assail Kerry Before His Climate Talks With China — John Kerry, President Biden’s climate envoy, was criticized by Republicans as being too soft on China, the world’s biggest polluter.
- Blinken Meets China’s Top Diplomat in Latest Bid to Ease Tensions — In their second meeting in less than a month, the secretary of state spoke to China’s envoy, Wang Yi, about ‘managing competition’ amid reports of a potential Chinese hack.
- Germany Says China Trade Could Create Perilous Dependence — A long-awaited strategy statement from Berlin is an attempt to set a coherent approach for dealing with China, Germany’s largest trading partner, in policy and business.
Caixin
- Former Senior Chinese Banking Regulator Stands Trial for Bribery — Cai Esheng’s charges include taking bribes totaling more than 500 million yuan.
- Exclusive: Former Everbright Chairman Tang Shuangning Out of Contact — Sources say Tang and his wife were taken away by authorities on Wednesday.
- Beijing Office Vacancy Rate Rises to 13-Year High — Figures show hesitancy among businesses to put up the cash to rent workspaces amid an economic recovery.
South China Morning Post
- China’s local governments to play bigger role in protecting citizens abroad under new regulation — Beijing’s first regulation on consular protection requires local authorities to improve their ability to ‘dynamically’ monitor people and institutions while they are abroad.
- Intel CEO wraps up low-key China trip as US chip giant taps hot Chinese demand for semiconductors — Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger concluded a low-key trip to China this week, his second to the country in three months, as the US chip giant doubles down on the Chinese market despite an intensifying US-China tech war.
- China urged to push Russia to renew Black Sea Grain Initiative to avoid ‘blow to global food market’ — The Black Sea Grain Initiative was introduced to help alleviate a global food crisis after Russia’s invasion blockaded Ukrainian ports, but it is set to expire on Monday.
- WeChat Pay, Flywire make Chinese students’ overseas tuition payments ‘as easy as sending a chat’ — Tencent Holdings’ WeChat Pay e-wallet unit and US payments platform Flywire have streamlined the payments process for Chinese students abroad, making it easier for them to pay their tuition fees as part of a new partnership.
Nikkei Asia
- Fight China’s economic force with strength: Taiwan rep to Lithuania — Beijing will not respond to humble requests, warns Eric Huang.
- GAC-Mitsubishi auto JV in China suspends production, cuts staff — Sales and revenue drop at Chinese-Japanese venture led to ‘dire situation’.
- China no longer top exporter to U.S. as trade rift widens — Mexico and Canada take over amid tariffs and ‘friendshoring’.
- Opinion: China can’t just keep building the world’s biggest dam in secret — Brahmaputra project poses risks for India and Bangladesh. By Brahma Chellaney.
Bloomberg
- Crypto Bridge Multichain Shuts Down, Says Chinese Police Arrested CEO — Multichain, a crypto project that connects different blockchains, said it’s shutting down after learning that its founder was taken away by Chinese police.
- Biden’s Energy Funds Fall Behind Schedule Over China Scrutiny — Trying to incentivize companies to break from China’s battery supply chain is proving tricky.
- Philippines Cracks Down on China-Centric Online Casinos — The Philippines’ gaming regulator is tightening controls on online casinos that have attracted Chinese clients and have recently been linked to crimes.
Reuters
- Japan calls on China to approach Fukushima water release in ‘scientific manner’ — Japan is set to start releasing more than 1 million tonnes of water from the wrecked Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant this summer.
- China invites global investors for rare meeting as economy sputters — The meeting in Beijing next Friday will focus on the current conditions of U.S. dollar-denominated investment firms in China and the main challenges facing them.
- South Korea asks China to play ‘constructive role’ against North’s threats — The remarks were made during a meeting with Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Jakarta.
Other Publications
- Foreign Policy: Chinese Scientists Are Leaving the United States — Here’s why that spells bad news for Washington.
- Foreign Affairs: The Upside of U.S.-Chinese Competition — How Institutional Balancing Promotes Stability in Asia.
- The Washington Post: Opinion: China has itself to blame for warming NATO-Asia ties — This week’s NATO summit in Lithuania showed that Asian countries are committed to deepening ties with NATO despite China’s threats of retaliation. By Josh Rogin.
- CSIS: Combating Fisheries Related Crime in the South China Sea — Given the impact of fisheries-related crime, there is a need for the countries of Brunei, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam to collaborate.
