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
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Unsubstantiated Bioweapon Claims Find Audience in China — Chinese media selectively picks up comments to reinforce the Communist Party’s talking points, with the U.S. presidential race playing out amid high tensions between Washington and Beijing.
- China’s Options for Retaliation Are Few After U.S. Investment Ban — Beijing is unlikely to match U.S. restrictions given asymmetrical money flows and a weak economy at home, analysts say.
- American VCs Still Have a Lot at Stake in China — White House investment restriction raises questions about deals U.S. firms made in China.
- China’s Chip Champion Is Taking It From All Sides — The U.S.-China tech war is a mixed bag for Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.—but the China growth slowdown is all bad.
- Chinese Property Giant Country Garden Sends Another Distress Signal — China’s largest surviving developer warns of a record loss, saying it has been attempting a ‘self-rescue’.
- Opinion: China’s Deflation Danger Isn’t What You Think — Only a productivity boom, driven by market reforms, can heal the economy after an asset-price collapse. By Joseph C. Sternberg.
- Opinion: Biden Walks a China Tech Tightrope — A narrow investment ban doesn’t eliminate the business risks. By The Editorial Board.
The Financial Times
- Storm clouds gather over Xi Jinping’s political beach retreat — China’s economic downturn and flaring US tensions mar annual Beidaihe leadership gathering.
- Beijing claims to arrest Chinese national over spying for US — Rare disclosure says military-industrial group employee was recruited by CIA operative in Italy.
- China sends finance experts to tackle regions’ debts — Beijing raises pressure on provinces to deal with bloated balance sheets as economy stumbles.
- What the US crackdown on Chinese investment actually means — Plus, US luxury brands try to keep up with their European counterparts and Dentons retreats from China.
- Country Garden crisis brings new pain to China’s property sector — Turmoil at country’s largest private developer comes as Beijing struggles to revive economy.
- China pushes to dominate trading in clean energy metals — Beijing aims to wrest benchmark contracts for minerals such as lithium carbonate away from the west.
- US-Japan whaling spat threatens Indo-Pacific trade deal — Dispute between allies erupts just a week before Joe Biden hosts Japanese leader at Camp David.
- US investors face uncertain future in China after tech ban — Private equity and venture capital funds targeted in Biden administration’s crackdown.
- China’s troubling drop into deflation — Beijing should stop tinkering and take bold steps to revive the economy.
The New York Times
- China’s Military, ‘Chasing the Dream,’ Probes Taiwan’s Defenses — Day by day, the People’s Liberation Army is turning up the pressure, deploying an ever-wider array of planes and ships.
- Country Garden’s Stock Plunges After Report of Huge Losses — Financial troubles at Country Garden, the last real estate giant to avoid default, sparked panic in the markets and angry comments online.
- Opinion: Why Is China’s Economy Stumbling? — Its “zero Covid” policy of locking cities down at the first indication of an outbreak proved untenable, but abandoning the policy hasn’t produced the expected economic surge. By Paul Krugman.
Caixin
- In Depth: How a Regional Low-Speed Carmaker’s Big EV Dreams Crashed — After an underwhelming transition to conventional EVs and a restructuring bid, the production lines at Weifang-based Levdeo lie still.
- China’s Regulators Flag ‘Systemic Corruption’ Risk in Drugs Sector — The corruption includes misconduct by drugmakers in sales and promotion activities, medical equipment procurement in local hospitals, and ethical concerns according to an official audit report.
- Opinion: ChatGPT-Like Tools Are Key to China’s Future as a Manufacturing Power — It is crucial to maintain this competitiveness as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly important in industry. By Zhu Min.
South China Morning Post
- US wants China’s chip industry 5 generations behind cutting edge, head of equipment maker AMEC says at Wuxi conference — AMEC CEO Gerald Yin said escalating export restrictions have revealed the ‘true intention’ of the US to curb China’s semiconductor progress.
- Chinese military scientists claim to have achieved a ‘huge breakthrough’ on laser weapon technology — New cooling system for high-energy laser weapons could change the face of battle, researchers say.
- Nasa chief warns moon’s south pole may become ‘another South China Sea’ — Bill Nelson says Chinese astronauts could occupy the lunar region ‘like the Spratly Islands’ if US is beaten in new space race.
- Huobi grapples with rumours of employee arrests, insolvency and fraud in roller coaster week for crypto world — The torrent of allegations has triggered a roller-coaster ride in the crypto market over the past week, as the company remains committed to applying for a retail licence in Hong Kong.
Nikkei Asia
- Niger tensions threaten Chinese projects, as dam building stops — Beijing tells citizens to leave, stoking fears PetroChina pipeline works may stall.
- China chipmaking tech execs urge greater supply chain self-sufficiency — Some players aim as high as 70% as industry focuses on areas not hit by export controls.
- Chinese state telecom carriers seek new growth via cloud services — China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom continue to raise dividends.
- China walks line with Japan on group travel, Fukushima release — Beijing takes both soft and hard stance ahead of G20 summit.
Bloomberg
- The US Is Wrong About China: How to Get Back on Track: Economics — Grabby mercantilism demands a response, but the greater focus should be on building strength at home.
- Thousands of Tiny Hedge Funds Face Closure in China Shakeup — China’s 6 trillion yuan ($832 billion) hedge fund industry is bracing for a historic shakeup that will likely cause thousands of smaller managers to shut and impose stricter regulations on larger peers that have become a growing force in local markets.
- China to Shift $139 Billion of LGFV Debt to Provinces — China will allow provincial-level governments to raise about 1 trillion yuan ($139 billion) via bond sales to repay the debt of local-government financing vehicles and other off-balance sheet issuers.
- ‘I Miss My Children’: Australian Journalist Pens Letter From China Prison — An Australian journalist detained in China for three years on espionage charges said in a letter dictated to a diplomat in Beijing that she misses walks in nature and especially her children.
- Opinion: US Push for a Saudi-Israel Deal Can Stop China in the Middle East — Washington will have to give many concessions to buy Riyadh’s cooperation, including a strong security pact, but who knows if MBS will stay bought. By Hal Brands.
Reuters
- China avoids climate change discussion despite extreme weather — Record heat and historic floods in China this summer have failed to ignite domestic public debate about how the world’s top carbon polluter can mitigate climate change.
- China drugmakers axe IPO plans as they face scrutiny in anti-graft drive — Pharmaceuticals is the latest industry in the cross-hairs of Chinese regulators, and the tighter vetting of the sector’s IPO candidates shows the sway regulators have over companies’ fundraisings.
- Taiwan steeling itself for Chinese drills over VP’s US visit — The U.S. transits by Lai, who is the front-runner for Taiwan’s presidential vote in January, have already drawn Beijing’s ire.
- BYD calls on China automakers to unite, ‘demolish the old’ in global push — A patriotic call by China’s bestselling automaker to band the industry together and “demolish the old legends” of the global market has gone viral.
Other Publications
- Barron’s: Opinion: China Hawks In Congress Are Going Too Far — The Select Committee has far overstepped its purview. It has neither the expertise nor the mandate to intervene in the asset allocation of American investors. By Stephen Roach.
- Foreign Policy: NATO Is on the Back Foot in the Indo-Pacific — By exploiting an information vacuum about its intentions, China is setting the region against the Western alliance.
- The Washington Post: A Chinese lawyer was detained in Laos. His friends see Beijing’s reach — Ever since Chinese human rights lawyer Lu Siwei was detained in Laos, the first stop on his journey to the United States, a frantic effort has been underway to prevent him being sent back to China and almost certain imprisonment.
- The Information: ByteDance’s China Business Is Slowing, Putting Spotlight on TikTok — The tech giant’s red-hot pace of growth in China has slowed markedly, underscoring the importance of TikTok for the company’s future.
- The Guardian: China’s new London embassy on hold pending Westminster intervention — Deadline has passed for Beijing to appeal against Tower Hamlets council’s rejection of plans.
- PIIE: Biden’s new outbound investment restrictions with China are a sensible compromise, but further tightening is likely — An overly broad regime could be disastrous, necessitating a ballooning bureaucracy and expansion of government power that would bog down US investor firms.
