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
- Beijing’s Stock Market Playbook Won’t Work for Long — Return to old tactics to prop up market will only help short-term.
- Anti-Japanese Feeling Rises in China After Fukushima Water Discharge — Tokyo complains to Beijing as boycotts and phone harassment spread.
- Foxconn Founder Stirs Up Taiwan Presidential Race by Declaring Bid — Terry Gou’s independent candidacy could split opposition vote and boost the ruling party, which seeks closer U.S. ties.
- Chinese Stocks Rally After Beijing Moves to Boost Market — Regulators cut stamp duty and plan to reduce IPO supply.
- Gina Raimondo Says China Visit Aimed at Protecting U.S. Economic Interests — Commerce secretary is the third cabinet member to visit Beijing in recent months.
- Fed’s Inflation Fight, China’s Slowdown Hammer Emerging Markets — Once optimistic, now disappointed investors are dumping Asian, African, Latin American assets.
- Communist Party Priorities Complicate Plans to Revive China’s Economy — Western experts say more stimulus is needed, but Xi Jinping resists handouts to consumers, fearing they could lead to ‘welfarism’.
- Everyone Wants to Talk to Gina Raimondo – Even China — The Commerce Department secretary tests her expanded reach in Beijing this weekend.
- 3M Settles U.S. Probe Over Tourist Trips for China Officials — The company agreed to pay more than $6.5 million to settle a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case over dozens of excursions it bought for government healthcare officials.
The Financial Times
- Chinese ride-hailing group Didi to sell smart vehicle unit to Xpeng — Da Vinci project faced difficulties obtaining production licence from Beijing.
- Chinese stock rally fades after Beijing cuts trading levy — Halving of stamp duty is part of authorities’ attempt to reinvigorate markets.
- Chinese companies’ earnings to lay bare impact of economic slowdown — Companies linked to troubled property and financial sectors expected to issue downbeat forecasts.
- Evergrande shares fall nearly 90% as creditor talks postponed — Chinese property developer reveals first-half losses of $4.5bn and liabilities of $328bn.
- US will not compromise with China on national security, says commerce secretary — Gina Raimondo also stresses economic stability as vital for two countries’ $700bn of annual trade in visit to Beijing.
- Western companies warn of hit from China’s sluggish rebound — Corporate updates document worries about weak post-pandemic recovery of world’s second-largest economy.
- US commerce secretary lands in Beijing to boost business ties — Raimondo’s trip part of efforts to stabilise relations even as Washington tightens restrictions on Chinese tech.
- Logistics groups seek Asian bases to help clients offshore from China — Trend is fuelled by cash reserves swollen by high pandemic-era earnings.
- Chinese robot waiters fuel Korean anxiety over labour shortages — Imported machines designed to serve diners in restaurants outnumber homemade rivals.
- Isabel Crook, anthropologist and chronicler of China’s communist revolution, 1915-2023 — A sympathetic westerner who became a participant-observer as the country transformed.
- Xi Jinping dominates Brics summit as leaders endorse Beijing-led expansion — China’s president given special treatment at gathering that moves the bloc closer to his vision of creating a G7 rival.
- The new contest to land on the Moon — India’s successful landing is the latest manifestation of renewed interest in lunar exploration, driven both by national pride and strategic considerations.
- Opinion: Markets are not signalling doom and gloom for China’s economy — Financial price moves are telling a different story to some of the more pessimistic forecasts for the country. By Louis-Vincent Gave.
The New York Times
- Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Walks a Tightrope in China — Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has kicked off her China tour, calling for “stable” trade relations even as both countries continue to chip away at them.
- U.S. Commerce Secretary Faces a Wide Range of Issues in China — From tourism to advanced technology, here are the topics that are dominating the secretary’s visit to China this week.
- What China’s Economic Woes May Mean for the U.S. — The fallout is probably limited — and there may be some upside for American interests.
- How China’s Long Arm Nabbed the Dissident Lawyer Lu Siwei — Beijing has become more aggressive in its pursuit of dissidents overseas, as highlighted by the arrest of a Chinese rights lawyer in Laos.
- Isabel Crook, 107, Dies; Her Life in China Spanned a Century of Change — A noted educator and anthropologist, she spent almost her entire life in China, where she was a committed friend of the Communist government.
- A Crisis of Confidence Is Gripping China’s Economy — China’s economy, which once seemed unstoppable, is plagued by a series of problems, and a growing lack of faith in the future is verging on despair.
Caixin
- Cover Story: Clock Ticking on Country Garden’s Debt Bomb — Formerly China’s top developer in terms of sales for six consecutive years, the behemoth is now teetering on the brink of its first ever bond default.
- The Challenges of Mounting a Legal Defense in China — In recent years, Chinese public security and judicial organs infringing upon lawyers’ rights to defend their clients has become alarmingly frequent.
- AI Specialist SenseTime Is Laying Off More Workers, Sources Say — The software developer has been gradually cutting staff while slowing hiring in recent months, one former worker told Caixin.
- Li Auto’s First Pure EV to Use CATL’s Fast-Charging Batteries — The Mega MPV, slated for launch at the end of this year, will be powered by CATL’s Qilin batteries made with its cell-to-pack (CTP) technology.
South China Morning Post
- China plans to tighten environmental regulation of deep-sea fish farming — Coastal regions will be urged to speed up introduction of standards for discharging contaminated water and monitoring will be improved, ministry says.
- PDD-owned Temu enters the Philippines to heat up competition in Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market against Alibaba’s Lazada and TikTok Shop — The budget shopping app operator faces tough competition in Southeast Asia against larger rivals such as Alibaba’s Lazada, ByteDance’s TikTok Shop and Singapore-based Shopee.
- Could robots help China save the world’s only giant radio telescope from collapse? — FAST, the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope, is also the world’s only remaining instrument of its kind after the 2020 collapse of Puerto Rico’s Arecibo.
- Revolutionising the semiconductor industry: Chinese scientists unveil 12-inch wafer with groundbreaking 2D materials — New 2D wafer could become the next-generation semiconductor to complement silicon chips.
- ‘WeWork for events’ start-up eyes expansion from Shanghai to Beijing despite economic headwinds in China — Shanghai-based White Space, co-founded by an American entrepreneur, hopes to attract Chinese businesses downsizing their real estate footprint amid a slowing economy.
Nikkei Asia
- Factory strikes flare up in China as economic woes deepen — Electronics, garment workers hardest hit as post-COVID rebound fails to materialize.
- World struggles to break coal habit despite looming climate risk — Demand for black rock surges on Ukraine war, post-COVID recovery and heat waves.
- China’s Wang Yi pushes for multipolar world in return as foreign minister — Disappearance of previous minister Qin Gang remains unexplained a month after removal.
Bloomberg
- The (Mostly) Empty $100 Billion City Rising from the Sea — In its decade-long history, Forest City has dealt with political controversy, Covid and now questions over the financial health of its developer, the Chinese giant Country Garden.
- Apple’s iPhone Supply Chain Splinters Under US-China Tensions — The shift beyond China threatens to push up prices for consumers.
- Chinese Paper Demands British Museum Return ‘Stolen’ Artifacts — Call comes just before UK foreign secretary travels to Beijing.
- China’s Worsening Economic Slowdown Is Rippling Across the Globe — Policymakers are bracing for a hit to their economies as China’s imports of everything from construction materials to electronics slide.
- Opinion: How China’s Downturn Could Save the World — Strains in the country’s CO2-intensive growth model may be an issue for its economy, but good for the planet. By David Fickling.
Reuters
- Chinese carmaker BYD to buy US firm Jabil’s mobility business for $2.2 bln — The deal will expand BYD Electronic’s (BE) customer base, product portfolio and its business of smartphone components.
- Trustar plans to raise fund to manage McDonald’s China stake – sources — The new fund would also allow investors in Trustar’s existing fund tied to McDonald’s China unit cash in on their investments.
- Trump, Biden policies shifted trade from China at a cost, study shows — Consumers have faced higher costs, according to new research presented at a Federal Reserve economic symposium.
- Indian EV cell maker Log9 flags production hit on delayed visas to Chinese experts — Log9 Materials, India’s first lithium-ion battery manufacturer, warned production at its facility in Bengaluru could take a hit from the late arrival of Chinese experts.
Other Publications
- Foreign Policy: The Panda Party’s Almost Over — Three of Washington’s most beloved residents are heading back home, ending an era amid frostiness in U.S.-China relations.
- Foreign Affairs: The Real Contest With China — Washington Needs a Comprehensive Industrial Strategy to Outpace Beijing.
- AP: China won’t require COVID-19 tests for incoming travelers in a milestone in its reopening — Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin announced that China will no longer require a negative COVID-19 test result for incoming travelers starting Wednesday.
- Brookings: A look at food insecurity and agricultural trade around the world — Caitlin Welsh, director of the Global Food and Water Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, reviews global food insecurity.
- Rest of World: Chinese sextortion scammers are flooding Twitter — Scammers are targeting Chinese-language users, harassing political dissidents and influential figures.
- The Information: The Electric: A Coming Chinese Battery Deluge? — Now battery makers are courting the automakers, and observers such as Goldman Sachs are forecasting a battery surplus and much lower prices beginning in 2025.