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
- TikTok Employees Say Executive Moves to U.S. Show China Parent’s Influence — U.S. staff have raised questions internally about recent personnel transfers from ByteDance.
- China Has Second Thoughts About Controlling Prices in Its Multi Trillion-Dollar Housing Market — Authorities imposed rules against ‘malicious’ price cuts but now are rethinking them, with hard-to-predict consequences for the economy.
- Senior Nomura Banker Charles Wang Zhonghe Can Move Freely in China. He Just Can’t Leave. — The Japanese lender’s China investment banking chairman can’t return to Hong Kong, where he is based.
- U.S. Warns Professional Services Firms of China Risks — The warning on due-diligence efforts came in an advisory highlighting a gulf between the U.S. and China on forced-labor questions.
- Chinese AI Company Sets IPO Price at Bottom End of Range — Fourth Paradigm, which offers AI software for businesses, is on a U.S. export blacklist.
- China Property Developer CIFI Drops After Swing to Net Loss — The developer’s shares had been suspended from trading since March after it failed to publish financial results on time.
- China’s Business Environment Is Deteriorating, U.S. Companies Say — More than one-third of companies surveyed say they have reduced or paused Chinese investment in the past year.
The Financial Times
- Chinese battery groups invest in Morocco to serve western markets — North African country emerges as bridge to US and Europe that reduces risk for producers.
- China’s economic malaise hits efforts to raise $41bn chip fund — Biggest financing round to date to support domestic semiconductor industry struggles to attract capital.
- What ‘peak oil’ will mean for China — Slowing demand as EV use grows will have an impact on everything from energy security to refineries.
- Chinese TV presenter linked to missing foreign minister had surrogate child in US — Beijing is examining the relationship between Fu Xiaotian and Qin Gang, who was abruptly dismissed in July.
The New York Times
- What the U.S.-China Chip War Means for a Critical American Ally — South Korea’s vital semiconductor sector depends on China. A deadline looms for how it could be affected by U.S. efforts to control China’s tech advance.
Caixin
- Huawei Unveils New Products Boasting Self-Developed Chips — Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. launched a line of new products this week, including a tablet and smart TV, powered by self-developed chips, in its latest show of semiconductor self-sufficiency in the face of U.S. sanctions.
- Property Brokerage Lianjia Slashes Beijing Commissions to Boost Sales — Starting Tuesday, Lianjia cut its commission fee on property sales in Beijing from 2.7% to 2%, several agents from the brokerage confirmed with Caixin.
- China Wins First Ever Esports Gold Medal at Asian Games — China won the first gold medal in esports ever awarded at the Asian Games, in a history-making milestone that could further stimulate passion for online gaming even as Beijing steps up efforts to combat addiction among teenagers in the world’s biggest market.
South China Morning Post
- Solomon Islands joins China-backed AIIB days after PM snubs Biden invite for Pacific summit at White House — COP28 president designate praises bank’s new climate action plan; new report questions AIIB accountability process.
- China-US relations: American businesses welcome, Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng tells Henry Paulson in Beijing — In Beijing, US banker and former treasury secretary meets Han and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi who expresses wishes for ties to get back on track.
- For China, bamboo ‘is where the future lies’ in shift away from polluting plastics — As the world’s top producer of plastic waste, China is transforming its bamboo industry using advanced technology to create biodegradable products.
Nikkei Asia
- Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors to end production in China — Sluggish sales, rising local brands will force automaker to shutter operations.
- China and Japan shippers are worst emitters, says U.N. report — Global body calls on shipping industry to decarbonize ‘as soon as possible’.
- China’s media mouthpieces troll West over India-Canada spat — From Sri Lanka to Pakistan, Sikh separatist killing stirs mix of reactions.
- TikTok targets Asia’s red-hot video game market to boost ad revenue — ByteDance-owned platform says it can help smaller studios reach more players.
- Taiwan security chief says AUKUS, NATO must counter China threat — Beijing’s expansionist drive is sowing alarm across Asia: Wellington Koo.
Bloomberg
- China Puts Evergrande’s Billionaire Founder Under Police Control — Hui Ka Yan, the billionaire chairman of beleaguered property developer China Evergrande Group, has been placed under police control, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
- Country Garden Takes Step Toward Restructuring Offshore Debt — Chinese developer Country Garden Holdings Co. is in talks with Houlihan Lokey Inc. and China International Capital Corp. for both to become financial advisers and put together an offshore-debt restructuring plan, according to people familiar with the matter.
- China Shies Away From Confrontation With Europe Over EV Probe — As Europe’s top trade chief headed to Beijing this month shortly after announcing a probe into China’s electric vehicle subsidies, some in the bloc braced for fiery criticism and any hint of retaliation.
Reuters
- China lists mobile app stores that comply with new rule, but Apple missing — China’s cyberspace regulator released on Wednesday names of the first batch of mobile app stores that have completed filing business details to regulators, signalling it has begun to enforce new rules that expand its oversight of mobile apps.
- US restricts imports from three more Chinese companies tied to forced labor — The United States restricted imports from three more Chinese companies on Tuesday as part of an effort to eliminate goods made with the forced labor of Uyghur minorities from the U.S. supply chain.
- Philippines urges fishermen to keep up presence at China-held shoal — The coastguard of the Philippines urged the country’s fishermen on Wednesday to keep operating at the disputed Scarborough Shoal and other sites in the South China Sea, pledging to step up patrols there despite an imposing Chinese presence.
Other Publications
- The Economist: China is flooding Taiwan with disinformation — With elections looming, China wants Taiwanese voters to think America is their greatest threat.
- Council on Foreign Relations: The GOP’s Posturing Will Push Latin America Into China’s Arms — Reviving the Monroe Doctrine would take a time machine.
- The Information: Sequoia Capital China Buys Discounted Stake in Prominent E-Commerce App — Sequoia Capital China recently acquired a stake in Chinese social e-commerce app Xiaohongshu from existing investors at a discount to the company’s most recent equity financing valuation, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
- Mercator Institute for China Studies: Image control: How China struggles for discourse power — The recent wave of high-level bilateral visits between China and the EU sought to reestablish room for cooperation. But the perception of China has notably worsened across large parts of the EU.
