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’s Worsening Economy Is Hurting Corporate America — Caterpillar, DuPont are among big companies lowering expectations for a post-Covid-19 boom.
- China’s Deepening Housing Problems Spook Investors — Stocks in Hong Kong and mainland China drop after developer Country Garden flags more debt problems.
- Taiwan Vice President Flashes Defiance Against China During U.S. Stopover — Lai Ching-te speaks in New York during a U.S. visit that Beijing and Washington are both watching carefully.
- A DuPont China Deal Reveals Cracks in U.S. National-Security Screening — U.S. officials crafted a compromise to address worries about China’s military. It didn’t go as planned.
- China’s Home Buyers Are Waiting Out the Property Slump — The wait-and-see attitude of home buyers is deepening the slump and complicating policy makers’ attempts to revive economic growth.
- How U.S. and China Are Breaking Up, in Charts — Americans keep buying less from China, dropping its share of imports to a 20-year low.
The Financial Times
- Electric vehicles: Tesla gives China rivals a taste of price-driven competition — Local manufacturers have little choice but to cut prices faster and deeper than the US electric-car maker.
- Chinese investors alarmed over trust company’s missed payments — Concerns over property sector mount after entities linked to Zhongzhi fail to make payouts.
- China stocks hit after developer Country Garden suspends some bond trading — Property group’s shares slide to record low after company missed international coupon payments last week.
- Huge inflows to China ETFs prompt speculation about state buying — Observers say splurge could be sign of ‘national team’ activity in support of China’s economy.
- China expands farmland in bid to cut foreign food reliance — More than 170,000 hectares have been reclaimed in a drive to cut imports amid global supply chain fears.
- Hong Kong’s corporate lawyers test boundaries as Beijing’s influence grows — Chinese territory’s long-cherished reputation as a global legal hub is now in question.
- Korea battery materials maker onshores China supply chain to win US subsidies — Posco’s battery materials chief says company is targeting the growing EV market.
- Opinion: The US now accepts national and economic security can’t be separated — Outbound capital to China is the target of a White House executive order. By Rana Foroohar
The New York Times
- When Tragedy Strikes in China, the Government Cracks Down on Grief — The Chinese government represses public grief, withholding information and stanching displays of mourning to tell history the way it wants it told.
- Rock ’n’ Roll According to the Chinese Communist Party — It was a story of disillusionment and hopelessness in the industrial city of Shijiazhuang, and it was one of China’s most influential indie rock songs. Then a local Communist Party group decided to rewrite it.
- As a Taiwanese Presidential Contender Visits U.S., He Tries to Walk a Fine Line — An outspoken critic of Beijing, Lai Ching-te aims to reassure voters and Washington that he will be a safe pair of hands if elected.
Caixin
- Cover Story: Anti-Corruption Storm Sweeps China’s Health-Care Industry — An unprecedented anti-corruption crackdown is sweeping through China’s health-care industry, causing anxiety among hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and other segments of an industry that is vital to the well-being of 1.4 billion Chinese people.
- Country Garden Plans to Extend One Bond by Three Years, Sources Say — Country Garden Holdings Co. Ltd. is planning to extend an onshore bond maturing in September by three years, as its trading was suspended Monday, according to investors with knowledge of the property giant’s initial debt restructuring plan.
- Did China’s Youth Jobless Rate Really Hit 46.5%? — The short answer is no — at least not in the way most of the world recognizes this gauge.
- Zhongzhi-Linked Trust Company Fails to Repay Maturing Products — Zhongzhi-Linked Trust Company Fails to Repay Maturing Products.
South China Morning Post
- China investment: Beijing hones in on biotech in fresh pitch to woo foreign business — New 24-point list of guidelines covers areas of major focus where investors are likely to find opportunities, but relations between China and the West are a growing concern among business interests.
- Mainland China to hit Taiwan’s polycarbonate imports with anti-dumping measures, claims ‘concrete damage’ — China will levy deposits on polycarbonate products imported from Taiwan from Tuesday, with Monday’s announcement coming a day after Taiwanese vice-president William Lai Ching-te stopped in New York.
- World’s first mass-produced humanoid robot? China start-up Fourier Intelligence eyes two-legged robots with AI brains — The CEO of Fourier Intelligence discusses his plans and vision for the GR-1 humanoid robot, which stole the show at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai last month.
Nikkei Asia
- Triple woes of Alibaba, Tencent and other Chinese tech titans — Government regulations, slower economy and U.S. scaring foreign investors.
- Chinese property shares tumble as Country Garden hits record low — Private real estate players suffer as state-backed names gain ground.
- China property woes spread, adding to national economic gloom — Country Garden becomes latest big developer to miss bond payment.
- China bankrolls Africa railroad to cut Australia iron-ore reliance — Costly infrastructure in Guinea will unlock world’s largest untapped source.
- China companies’ R&D investment more than doubles over 5 years — Tech entities look to create and develop their own innovations.
Bloomberg
- Shanghai Woman in Focus as Probe Shows Fear of Capital Flight — The case highlights China’s efforts to stop wealthy citizens from moving cash overseas, reflecting the dire state of an economy still reeling from strict Covid curbs, property struggles and tighter regulations of the private sector.
- China Attempts to Please Foreign Firms as Investment Slumps — China’s latest attempt to reverse the nation’s foreign investment slump includes pledges to offer overseas firms better tax treatment and make it easier for them to obtain visas, as officials try to allay fears about doing business in the world’s second-largest economy.
- JPMorgan Sees ‘Vicious Cycle’ as Top China Trust Misses Payment — Missed payments on multiple high-yield investment products by a major Chinese shadow lender may trigger a “vicious cycle” for property developers’ financing and more delinquencies for trust products, JPMorgan Chase & Co. warns.
Reuters
- Militants attack Pakistani military convoy escorting Chinese nationals — Militants attacked a Pakistani military convoy near the strategic southwestern port of Gwadar on Sunday as it was escorting a delegation of Chinese nationals to a construction project, the military and China’s consulate in Karachi said.
- Tesla cuts prices in China for some Model Y versions — Tesla Inc has cut prices in China for its Model Y long-range and performance versions starting on Aug. 14, the company said in a notice on Monday.
- China criticizes visit of ‘troublemaker’ Taiwan VP to US — China on Sunday condemned a brief U.S. visit by Taiwan Vice President William Lai, saying he was a separatist and “troublemaker through and through,” and Beijing would take strong steps to protect its sovereignty.
- US, China agree to double weekly flights between countries — The U.S. and China will approve twice the number of passenger flights currently permitted for air carriers to fly between the two countries, the Biden administration said on Friday, in a rare sign of cooperation between the world’s largest two economies.
Other Publications
- ABC News Australia: While floods ravage northern China, people are wondering — where is President Xi Jinping? — Heavy rains and floods have lashed China for two weeks, but President Xi Jinping has not toured the devastated areas.
- The Guardian: Anthony Albanese vows to press Xi Jinping to remove trade barriers on Australian wine, lobster and beef — PM says at next meeting with leader of China he will make point that removing tariffs is ‘in best interests of everyone.’
- Associated Press: AP gets rare glimpse of jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai — Jimmy Lai, a former newspaper publisher and one of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy activists, spends around 23 hours a day in solitary confinement in a maximum-security facility while he awaits a trial that could send him to prison for life.
- The Times of London: Opinion: Is a declining China even more dangerous for the West? — Is a brittle-looking China in serious decline? And if so, how should the rest of the world adapt and respond? By George Magnus
