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
- Meta Uncovers Largest-Ever Chinese Influence Network — Company removed almost 8,000 accounts, says content didn’t spread far.
- Beijing Pledges to Step Up Financial Support for Private Companies — Private companies including platform businesses will be encouraged to list overseas.
- State Department Set to Name New Top China Policy Official — Mark Lambert, a foreign service officer of more than 30 years, will oversee department’s China and Taiwan strategy, people familiar say.
- Polluted Air Shortens Human Lifespans More Than Tobacco, Study Finds — India, other South Asian countries suffer biggest losses as China reverses damage; improvements often ‘driven by people’s demands.’
The Financial Times
- Cleverly’s pragmatic China stance clashes with Tory hawks — Foreign secretary rejects calls from sceptics including his former boss Liz Truss to designate Beijing a ‘threat.’
- China’s corruption crackdown rips through healthcare sector — Efforts to tackle bribery and fraud could have far-reaching impact on doctors, patients and multinational drugmakers.
- British policy on China lacks clarity and coherence, say MPs — Report urges foreign secretary to publish more details of strategy as he prepares for talks in Beijing.
- Goldman bought UK and US companies using Chinese state funds — Deals tapped private equity ‘partnership fund’ that the bank set up with China’s CIC.
The New York Times
- China’s Country Garden Sells Stock to Pay Debts — Country Garden is teetering on the brink of default with $190 billion in debt, in a sign of the country’s rapidly spreading real estate crisis.
- Factories May Be Leaving China, but Trade Ties Are Stronger Than They Seem — The United States is trying to lessen its dependence on Chinese goods, but research is showing how tough it is to truly alter global supply chains.
- Typhoon Saola Nears Taiwan, China and Hong Kong — The tropical cyclone was passing near Taiwan on Wednesday and edging closer to Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland.
- Opinion: How Do We Manage China’s Decline? — The main challenge we will face from the People’s Republic in the coming decade stems not from its rise but from its decline. By Bret Stephens
Caixin
- Country Garden Seeks 40-Day Grace Period to Avert Default — Country Garden is seeking a 40-day grace period for a maturing 3.9 billion yuan ($540.8 million) onshore bond as the distressed property developer pushes to secure creditor support for stretching out repayment by three years.
- China’s Richer Diet is Straining the Agricultural Industry — Since the nation grew richer and diets shifted to more meat and dairy, the world’s second-most populous country is running out of enough arable land to keep up with the demand for high-protein food.
- R&F Properties Outlines Looming Debt Crisis — Guangzhou R&F Properties has 48.1 billion yuan ($6.6 billion) of debt due within a year with less than 10 billion yuan on hand as of the end of June, the southern China property developer disclosed.
South China Morning Post
- China approves 31 foreign video games, including Avatar and Lord of the Rings, pushing 2023 total past previous year — Tencent and NetEase both have newly approved titles and are banking on foreign games to help lift revenues at home amid an industry slump.
- China-UK ties: Cleverly’s visit to Beijing boosts ‘sound and stable’ relations, vice-president Han Zheng says — Foreign secretary James Cleverly is the first top British official to visit China since predecessor Jeremy Hunt in 2018, with bilateral relations taking a nosedive since.
- Tech war: China exploring ways to make its own AI memory chips despite US sanctions, sources say — China is exploring how to make its own versions of the next-generation memory chips tailored for artificial intelligence (AI) processors, despite headwinds from US sanctions, sources said.
- China’s record annual limit for infrastructure-boosting bonds to be spent by October — Local governments are scrambling to sell more than US$500 billion worth of special-purpose bonds that will mostly fund construction projects and boost China’s economic growth.
Nikkei Asia
- U.K. foreign minister visits China as report slams Beijing — Influential parliamentary panel criticizes British government for incoherent approach.
- China in charts: Missing economic boom points to slowing post-COVID growth — Economists say industrial model based on infrastructure and real estate is grinding to a halt.
- Xi blindsides Japan with outcry over Fukushima water release — Tokyo misreads China’s response in repeat of 2012 Senkaku protests.
Bloomberg
- Raimondo Emphasizes Need for ‘Predictable’ Regulations in China — US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo stressed the need for a predictable regulatory environment in China as she wrapped up a visit to the nation intended to improve economic ties.
- PBOC Drafts Policy to Give Private Firms More Access to Funding — The People’s Bank of China is drafting preliminary policies to give private businesses better access to funding as authorities ramp up efforts to boost economic growth.
- China Issues New Data Regulations Aimed at Protecting Security — Chinese authorities rolled out new rules to regulate data services provided by money brokers, tightening their grip on security in the sector.
- China Steel Website Zhaogang Nears Hong Kong’s First SPAC Merger, Sources Say — Chinese steel trading website Zhaogang.com is nearing a deal to merge with a Hong Kong-listed blank-check company backed by China Merchants Bank Co.’s overseas asset management arm, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Reuters
- US states ask SEC to check if Shein complies with forced labor rules — Republican attorneys general from 16 U.S. states asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to audit China-founded fast-fashion retailer Shein’s supply chain for the use of forced labor ahead of its potential initial public offering.
- China says open for business, sidesteps US ‘uninvestible’ comment — China has defended its business practices after U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said American firms had told her it had become “uninvestible,” highlighting a trend of global investors turning away from assets in the world’s second-largest economy.
- Guangzhou eases mortgage rules as China ramps up efforts to revive property sector — Guangzhou on Wednesday became the first major Chinese city to announce an easing of mortgage curbs as the government ramps up efforts to revive the crisis-hit property sector and shore up the sputtering economy.
- US companies in China struggle with raids, slow deal approvals, anti-espionage law — Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Tuesday that U.S. companies have complained to her that China has become “uninvestible,” pointing to fines, raids and other actions that have made it risky to do business in the world’s second-largest economy.
Other Publications
- China Media Project: What Does Xi Jinping Mean By “Forever”? — During a dialogue with African nations last week, Xi Jinping declared that China will “forever be a member of the developing world.”
- Politico: UK parliament calls Taiwan ‘independent country’ as Cleverly visits China — ‘Taiwan possesses all the qualifications for statehood,’ a parliamentary committee report says.
- Associated Press: India protests China’s land claim ahead of the G20 summit President Xi Jinping is expected to attend — India is protesting a new Chinese map that lays claim to India’s territory ahead of next week’s Group of 20 summit in New Delhi, a foreign ministry official said, exacerbating tensions during a three-year military standoff between the two nations.
- Axios: China’s post-reform era has arrived — and its future is unclear — The period of economic and political opening that transformed China over the past 50 years is now over, a growing number of experts say. What the next 50 years will look like isn’t yet clear.
- The Guardian: Chinese migrants believe Australian media fuels hostility towards them, study shows — Reports about China’s ‘influence’ made public more suspicious of Chinese-Australian communities, according to 70% of respondents to UTS survey.
- The Information: Apple Hopes Chinese Suppliers Can Solve Vision Pro’s Display Challenges — Apple is currently testing advanced displays made by two Chinese suppliers for possible inclusion in future models of its Vision Pro mixed-reality headsets, said two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
- The Guardian: The London art student whose Chinese political slogan mural caused a storm — Wang Hanzheng said the mural was a ‘silent reminder of the oppression of thought’ in China.
