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
- Russia Pushes Security Talks With North Korea, China — Moscow’s top diplomat, on a Pyongyang trip, advocated for the three-way talks to counter the U.S. threat.
- China Holds Benchmark Lending Rates Steady — China held its loan prime rates steady, as expected after the country’s central bank kept its policy rates unchanged earlier this month.
- Apple’s Tim Cook Makes Surprise China Visit as iPhone Sales Slump — The CEO’s second visit to China in roughly seven months highlights Apple’s increasingly complex relationship with the world’s second-largest economy.
- Australia Decides Chinese Firm Can Keep Operating Strategic Port — The decision comes as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese seeks to improve ties with Beijing.
- China Tightens Chokehold on Graphite Needed for EV Batteries — Beijing is bolstering export restrictions on the strategic mineral, days after the U.S. squeezed Chinese access to advanced semiconductors.
- Hong Kong’s Financial-Sector Feast Turns to Famine — Weak underlying results from the Hong Kong exchange’s owner are the latest sign of profound damage to the Asian financial center from recent changes in the city and on the mainland.
The Financial Times
- China imposes export curbs on graphite — Restrictions on critical electric vehicle battery material set to escalate trade tensions with US.
- Tightened US rules throttle Alibaba and Baidu’s AI chip development — Chinese tech groups restricted to using outdated processors as Washington aims to curtail Beijing’s AI ambitions.
- US groups lobby to refine proposed limits on China investment — Banks, manufacturers and industry bodies warn over potential impact of Washington’s curbs on domestic innovation.
- UBS and Barclays buck trend with substantial China ETF bets — Both banks are top backers of a China-domiciled financials exchange traded funds launch.
- Pentagon accuses China of accelerating nuclear build-up — New report to Congress finds Beijing on track to exceed previous projections.
The New York Times
- China’s Military is Making Risky Moves and Adding Nuclear Warheads, U.S. Says — The Defense Department said in a report to Congress that Beijing’s “coercive” air intercepts were aimed at intimidating U.S. forces in the region.
Caixin
- Beijing and Hong Kong Agree to Promote Cross-Border Financing — National Development and Reform Commission and Hong Kong Monetary Authority sign accord at Belt and Road forum.
- Flying Car Maker EHang in $100 Million Partnership With Hefei City — Eastern China’s Hefei pushes to advance autonomous air taxis by pushing sales of vehicles and providing subsidies and land use and infrastructure support.
- Sunwoda Prepares for Share Sale of EV Battery Unit — Global top-10 battery maker hires Citic Securities to help with IPO application for Shenzhen’s ChiNext board.
- Trina Solar to Build PV Manufacturing Base in UAE — Chinese solar panel giant signs accord with Middle Eastern country’s AD Ports Co., joining domestic rivals rushing into the region.
- China mRNA Vaccine-Maker Stemirna Struggles With Debt Crisis — A Shanghai court has imposed spending limits on Chinese mRNA vaccine maker Stemirna Therapeutics Co. Ltd. for failing to make good on its debts.
South China Morning Post
- China and Russia supercharge trade with record grain order, bolstering food and energy security as Western pressure persists — Economic cooperation between the neighbours continues to be ramped up as poor ties with Western countries and the war in Ukraine have restricted trade and stalled supply chains.
- Chinese Communist Party’s diplomatic arm in ‘candid and constructive’ meeting with US think tank Asia Society — China has stepped up backchannel efforts with the United States amid signs of a thaw in bilateral relations.
- China megacity to build US$30 billion hi-tech infrastructure cluster by 2026, and investors will be key — Chinese leadership wants to see the digital economy pick up the slack and drive growth, and regional powerhouses such as Shanghai are poised to take the lead.
Nikkei Asia
- U.S. must hold on to its ‘One China’ policy, Joseph Nye says — At Tokyo forum, Japan’s defense minister calls on Beijing for ‘dialogue’.
- Wang Yi angers Chinese netizens by touting Belt and Road abroad — Big spending questioned as people back home struggle.
- How China’s tech ambitions slip through the U.S. export control net — Experts reveal weak points and strengths of America’s clampdown.
- China’s Astellas arrest seen fueling retreat by foreign companies — Businesses rethink investment amid lack of clarity over broadening crackdown.
- Opinion: China’s ‘Lehman Brothers moment’ will be just as tense as 2008 — Just because Beijing can rescue failing companies does not mean that it will. By Benjamin Bennett.
Bloomberg
- Xi Urges Vietnam to ‘Not Forget’ Roots of Its China Friendship — Chinese President Xi Jinping urged Vietnam not to forget the roots of the friendship between the two Communist countries during a meeting with Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong in Beijing.
- China’s Stance on Hamas Key Point of Division, US Envoy Says — The US’s top diplomat in China called on President Xi Jinping’s government to denounce terrorism by Hamas, citing Beijing’s stance toward the group as yet another challenge in fraught ties between the world’s biggest economies.
- Nvidia’s RTX 4090 Caught Up in US-China Trade War — Chinese gamers now have to pay more than double the list price of Nvidia Corp.’s flagship consumer graphics card after it was caught up in a US technology export ban on its biggest geopolitical rival.
Reuters
- Analysis: US chip curbs give Huawei a chance to fill the Nvidia void in China — Chinese firms including Huawei have been developing their own versions of Nvidia’s best-selling chips, including the A100 and the H100 graphics processing units (GPU).
- Vietnam arrests rare earth industry officials, casting shadow over plans to rival China — VTRE’s chairman, Luu Anh Tuan, was accused of forging value added tax receipts in trading rare earths with Thai Duong Group, which operates a mine in the northern Vietnamese province of Yen Bai.
- China weighs options to blunt U.S. sanctions in a Taiwan conflict — The sanctions against Moscow have prompted hundreds of Chinese economists, financiers, and geopolitical analysts to examine how China should mitigate extreme scenarios, including loss of access to U.S. dollars.
Other Publications
- Foreign Policy: The Belt and Road Ahead — At this week’s summit to celebrate Xi’s signature initiative, the headwinds facing it were clear.
- The Washington Post: China is set to dominate the deep sea and its wealth of rare metals — Beijing aims to control the resources needed for next-generation tech, including advanced weapons systems.
- Brookings: The US and its allies should engage with China on AI law and policy — Engagement with China’s regulators and experts on their experience developing and implementing AI law and policy would be in the best interests of Western regulators as they work to set their own policies.
- CSIS: How the Chinese Communist Party Uses Cyber Espionage to Undermine the American Economy — Cyber espionage campaigns by the Chinese Communist Party are about to increase in scope and severity with the proliferation of generative AI.
- The Information: Opinion: Biden’s Not Pushing U.S. Investors Away From China. China Is — The ban has attracted much attention, and concern from some investors. But it will have only a modest impact. By Ming Liao.
