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
- The Era of Total U.S. Submarine Dominance Over China Is Ending — New Chinese submarines and sensors to catch U.S. subs will alter the balance of power.
- MasterCard Scores China Breakthrough After Biden-Xi Summit — Global payments giant MasterCard can finally start issuing yuan-denominated credit cards in China, after years of waiting.
- China’s Problem With Unfinished Homes Keeps Getting Bigger — Authorities have set aside billions of dollars to help developers complete apartments that were already sold, but the logjam is growing.
- How Starbucks Lost the Top Spot in China’s Coffee Race — Rival Luckin now leads Starbucks in world’s second-most-populous nation.
- Australia Accuses China of Injuring Naval Divers With Sonar Pulses — Chinese destroyer ignored requests to stay clear of effort to remove fishing nets from Australian frigate’s propellers, defense minister says.
The Financial Times
- Arab foreign ministers press China to support end to Israel-Hamas fighting — Wang Yi backs ‘immediate ceasefire’ as Beijing seeks to step up influence in Middle East.
- ‘We were not hard enough’: how past trade tensions inspired Brussels’ fresh China crackdown — EU believes ramping up pressure on Beijing is the only way to tackle huge bilateral trade deficit.
- Taiwan opposition parties’ plan to join forces hits rocky ground — Two camps haggle over which candidate should lead the push to unseat the ruling party.
- Opinion: China’s rise is reversing — The past two years have seen the largest drop in the nation’s share of global GDP since the Mao era. By Ruchir Sharma
The New York Times
- A Rare Opportunity to See China’s Leader Up Close and (Sort of) Personal — President Xi Jinping of China is one of the most self-contained Chinese leaders in decades, who reveals next to nothing about his personal life.
- China Wants to Bulldoze Old Neighborhoods to Revive the Economy — The halting revitalization of one “urban village” in Shenzhen shows the challenges of fixing a national property crisis after years of overborrowing.
Caixin
- Cover Story: Rethinking China’s Property Market Meltdown — The downward spiral of China’s ailing property sector shows no sign of abating despite the government’s rollout of a seemingly endless series of supportive but as yet ineffective measures, with the crisis stretching for over three years.
- Mastercard Gets Go-Ahead to Get Into China’s Trillion-Dollar Bank Card Clearing Business — Mastercard has gotten approval to run a yuan-denominated bank card clearing service in China through a joint venture, the central bank said, giving the U.S.-based company a shot at a slice of the fees generated by the trillions of dollars in card transactions made in the country each year.
- New Pilot Program Aims to Speed Up Commercialization of Self-Driving Tech in China — intelligent connected vehicles (ICVs) will be allowed to operate in designated areas on a trial basis if their manufacturers and operators get a regulatory permit.
South China Morning Post
- New semiconductor factories are rising in US, but billions in Chips Act money has yet to flow — Makers of advanced semiconductors are awaiting US$52 billion in incentives to help American companies ‘win the race for the 21st century’ against China.
- Taiwan’s presidential front runner William Lai picks de facto envoy to US as running mate — Hsiao Bi-khim named as vice-presidential candidate in pairing hailed as ‘perfect match’ by ruling DPP, while Beijing denounces her as ‘diehard secessionist’ and says decision could ‘mean war for Taiwan’.
- BYD unveils premium Sea Lion brand, mid-sized, full-electric SUV, in challenge to Tesla in China’s luxury car market — New launches by BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) maker, targeting established models by Tesla, leader in China’s premium EV segment, are expected to intensify competition in the world’s largest auto market, analysts said.
Nikkei Asia
- Pakistan expands security for Chinese after Beijing’s pressure — Officials insist on bulletproof cars as separatist merger raises fears of attacks.
- Chinese births at risk of falling below 9m in accelerating crisis — With economic anxiety and expensive education, youth choose to remain childless.
- Xinjiang foreign trade hits record despite Western sanctions — Shipments in first 10 months of year jumped 40%, topping 2022 full-year results.
- Why Xi tried to assure U.S. he has no plans for Taiwan invasion — Chinese leader plays for stability while facing economic stress at home.
Bloomberg
- Australia’s PM Says China Ties Hurt by Navy Divers Incident — Australia made clear its “strong objections” to Beijing after a Chinese destroyer disregarded warnings about personnel in the water and used sonar pulses that injured a navy diver, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
- Chinese, Saudi Central Banks Sign Currency Swap Worth $7 Billion — China and Saudi Arabia have signed a local-currency swap agreement worth around $7 billion, deepening their ties as countries across the Middle East look to shift more of their non-oil trade away from the dollar.
- Li Ka-shing-Backed WeLab Launches Digital Bank in Indonesia — WeLab Ltd., backed by investors including billionaire Li Ka-shing and Astra International, a unit of Jardine Matheson, is launching a digital bank in Indonesia to tap the young and fast-growing economy.
Reuters
- China reaffirms support for new nations joining BRICS as Argentina signals rejection — China reaffirmed its support on Monday for new countries joining the BRICS grouping of developing nations, even as Argentina’s likely next foreign minister was quoted as saying that her country would no longer do so.
- Trump vows to kill Asia trade deal being pursued by Biden if elected — Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, said on Saturday that he would kill off a Pacific trade pact being advanced by U.S. President Joe Biden if he were to win the 2024 election and return to the White House.
- China vows to support property sector, tackle local debt — China’s central bank and financial regulators pledged on Friday to ensure financing support for the property sector and to work together to resolve local government debt risks.
Other Publications
- The Globe and Mail: Spavor blames fellow prisoner Kovrig for Chinese detention, alleges he was used for intelligence gathering — One of the two Canadians jailed by China for nearly three years in a case that was at the heart of a diplomatic crisis is seeking a multimillion-dollar settlement from Ottawa, two sources say, alleging he was detained because he unwittingly provided intelligence on North Korea to Canada and allied spy services.
- Washington Post: China vows to crack down on fentanyl chemicals. The impact is unclear — When Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in San Francisco last week, his top aides delivered welcome news for U.S. officials: Beijing had already taken action against 25 Chinese companies involved in supplying chemicals used in the illicit fentanyl trade, said a White House official familiar with the matter.
- Politico: China committee Republicans: Biden’s request for Taiwan aid is ‘wholly inadequate’ — “The Indo-Pacific, our priority theater, must not be an afterthought,” Gallagher’s letter reads.
- MIT Technology Review: This viral game in China reinvents hide-and-seek for the digital age — I was in a park with 40 strangers, trying to catch and evade each other with the help of live locations shared through a map app.
