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.
Paid subscribers automatically have this list emailed directly to their inboxes every day by 10 a.m. EST. Subscribe here.
The Wall Street Journal
- In China, a Completely Different Approach to Lowering Healthcare Costs — Close to 200 hospital heads have been detained in a monthslong anticorruption campaign aimed at helping Xi Jinping’s ‘common prosperity’ drive.
- Arms Megadeal Collapsed When China, Russia Links Emerged — Failed talks between RTX and a Saudi defense firm show the kingdom’s difficulties in establishing its own military industry.
- U.S. and Other Foreign Venture Firms Pull Back From China’s Biotech Sector — China’s economic troubles and geopolitical concerns contribute to reduction in venture funding.
The Financial Times
- China attacks EU’s ‘naked protectionist act’ on electric cars — Beijing warns anti-subsidies investigation will have negative impact on relations.
- Chinese banks shun Beijing’s flagship property bailout fund — State-backed lenders have disbursed less than 1% of $27bn scheme after failing to find creditworthy developers.
- Sunak urged to conduct ‘full audit’ of UK-China relations — Labour calls for review after parliamentary researcher is arrested on suspicion of spying.
- EU moves against China’s electric-car makers in bid to shield own industry — Beijing’s subsidising of EV manufacturers stokes fears of European rivals being priced out.
The New York Times
- Schumer to Lead Senate Delegation to China Amid Tensions — The Senate majority leader, a longtime China hawk, plans to visit Beijing in the fall in another high-level visit as the Biden administration tries to improve diplomatic ties.
- China Conducts Major Military Exercises in Western Pacific — The drills, which appear to simulate a blockade of Taiwan, are believed to be in response to recent military drills between the United States and allies.
- China Frees Banks to Lend More in Latest Attempt to Spur Economy — The People’s Bank of China will allow commercial banks to hold less money in reserve, but businesses and households have been cautious about borrowing.
Caixin
- In Depth: China’s Mid-Tier Cities Vie for EV Battery Supremacy — China’s city governments have been bending over backwards to court firms as they seek new sources of economic and jobs growth amid a general slump.
- Shenzhen Eases Home Purchase Curbs to Unleash Demand — Shenzhen took another step to bolster the housing market by rolling back some of the nation’s strictest limits on home purchases that were in place for years to curb speculation.
- Analysis: China Ups Pressure on Some Provinces as Energy-Saving Efforts Fall Short — China has warned four provinces to pick up the pace in achieving their central government-set energy-saving targets by 2025.
South China Morning Post
- Beijing city authorities take steps to support tech unicorns, including fast-tracking IPO approvals — Eleven Beijing municipal agencies have joined hands to lay out what they are calling the ‘Ten Measures for Unicorns.’
- Beijing says it now has capacity to build Taiwan high-speed rail link from Chinese mainland — Taipei has dismissed Beijing’s latest blueprint for boosting connectivity between the island and nearby province of Fujian as ‘wishful thinking’.
- China-Middle East aim to lift trade to new heights by 2030 amid strained ties with Western partners — China’s Belt and Road Initiative has helped enhance exchanges with the Arab world in recent years, and Beijing’s foray into the Middle East is paying dividends.
Nikkei Asia
- China’s shortfall in AI tech talent estimated in the millions — Worker shortage casts shadow over generative AI boom.
- Hong Kong uses Belt and Road summit to kindle Middle East ties — Territory follows Beijing in seeking new friends amid chilly relations with West.
- Analysis: Biden administration detects red flags in Xiconomics — U.S. president says China’s economic ‘tenet’ not working ‘at all.’
Bloomberg
- Foxconn Founder Taps Netflix Star as Running Mate in Taiwan Vote — Foxconn Technology Group’s billionaire founder Terry Gou chose an actress famous for portraying a presidential candidate in a recent Netflix series as his running mate in his bid to become leader of Taiwan.
- Bearish Bets on BYD Surge to 22-Month High Before EU Probe — BYD Co. may face further selling pressure as traders ramped up bearish bets against the electric vehicle maker even before the European Union launched an investigation into Chinese subsidies for clean cars.
- Chinese EV Makers Are Bit Players in EU’s Clean Car Market — While Chinese electric-vehicle manufacturers are making some headway in Europe, their sales pale in comparison to market leaders like Volkswagen AG, Tesla Inc. and Stellantis NV.
Reuters
- UK’s House of Commons backs blocking Chinese cameras from government sites — Britain’s lower house of parliament approved a new law on Wednesday that would ban Chinese surveillance technology from government buildings and military bases days after news of an alleged spying scandal in parliament.
- Western firms shift investment from China to India as worries mount — U.S. and European firms are shifting investment away from China to other developing markets, a report from Rhodium Group showed, with India receiving the vast majority of this redirected foreign capital, followed by Mexico, Vietnam and Malaysia.
- Taiwan blasts Elon Musk over latest China comments — Taiwan is “not for sale”, the island’s foreign minister said in a stern rebuke to Elon Musk who asserted Taiwan was an integral part of China, as the billionaire again waded into the thorny issue of relations between Beijing and Taipei.
- Apple and Huawei’s smartphone rivalry divides China — Apple’s iPhone 15 drew mixed reactions in its third largest market of China on Wednesday, with many online users liking its faster chip and improved gaming capabilities while others preferred Huawei’s new smartphone.
- UK government says China attempting to headhunt Britons in sensitive positions — Chinese spies are targeting British officials in sensitive positions as part of an increasingly sophisticated spying operation to gain access to secrets and their specialised knowledge, the British government said on Thursday.
Other Publications
- MIT Technology Review: How China hopes to secure its supply chain for critical minerals — China is building up domestic production of ultra-pure quartz, which is currently produced predominantly in North Carolina.
- Center for Strategic & International Studies: Measurement Muddle: China’s GDP Growth Data and Potential Proxies — How fast is China’s economy growing? Or given the recent trends, how much is it slowing down? Obtaining a reliable answer to these seemingly straightforward questions has proved amazingly elusive.
- The Examination: How China became addicted to its tobacco monopoly — For two decades, China Tobacco has undermined a landmark anti-smoking treaty. Millions more deaths are predicted as a result.
- China Media Project: A Law to Protect China’s Feelings — The draft of a new legal amendment criminalizing speech or dress that “hurts the feelings of the Chinese nation” has attracted a wave of criticism online.
- Politico: The House China Select Committee issued its first ever subpoena as it investigates a Chinese-owned lab in California — Local, state and federal agencies have been investigating the lab that produced pregnancy and coronavirus tests to sell online.
- Washington Post: Maduro says Venezuela will send astronauts to moon in Chinese spaceship — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro vowed to send “the first Venezuelan man or woman to the moon” in a Chinese spacecraft as part of a new strategic partnership between the two countries.
- Rest of World: China’s AI boom depends on an army of exploited student interns — As part of China’s digital underclass, vocational school students work as data annotators – for low pay and little future prospects.
