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 Strikes Back in Indonesia — The takeover of a local e-commerce business follows government efforts to ban shopping on social media.
- One of the World’s Hardest Diplomatic Jobs Is About to Open Up — Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu says he will step down after six years sparring with an increasingly aggressive Beijing.
- Why Biden’s EV Tax Credit May Become Hard to Claim — China-related restrictions on the subsidy are likely to kick in before automakers figure out how to replace China-produced graphite.
- COP28 Nations Agree for First Time to Transition Away From Fossil Fuels — The accord bridged differences between big energy-producing nations and countries that want to completely phase out coal, oil and natural gas.
- Chinese Leaders Vow to Step Up Support for Flagging Economy — Pledges on government spending and monetary support come as data points to slowing growth.
- China Turns the Tables on Wall Street — Beijing is upending how the international financial system handles debt crises in the developing world. Wall Street isn’t happy.
- Why Everyone Wants to Be Vietnam’s Friend — China’s Xi Jinping became the latest world leader to strengthen ties with the country on a visit this week, three months after Vietnam upgraded its relationship with the U.S.
The Financial Times
- US hits Turkish and Chinese companies over Russia trade — Latest sanctions package aims to stem flow of sensitive war-related goods to Moscow
- Chipmaker TSMC casts long shadow over Taiwan election — Voters question role and influence of ‘crown jewel’ tech company that dominates country’s economy.
The New York Times
- World Bank Warns Record Debt Burdens Haunt Developing Economies — Surging interest rates and waning financing options threaten a “lost decade” for poor countries.
Caixin
- Country Garden Bosses Take Hefty Pay Cuts as Developer Struggles — Chair Yang Huiyan has taken a 67% reduction and President Mo Bin 96%, each to 120,000 yuan.
- Wanda Reaches Deal with Investors to Avoid $5.6 Billion Immediate Repayment — Equity swap saves Wanda from ticking-time-bomb repayment to investors as it fails to meet listing deadline.
- Poly Development Plans $279 Million Share Buyback to Shore up Price — China’s leading developer sees shares jump 7.6% as it announces major buyback to bolster its equity price which has almost halved since 2022 due to property market downturn.
South China Morning Post
- China rides high on domestic tourism wave as 2023 revenues reach pre-pandemic levels — Fuelled by a domestic travel boom, tourism revenues in China have recovered to their pre-pandemic levels – but inbound trips are still far behind what they were in 2019.
- Tech war: China memory chip maker CXMT may have made a breakthrough amid US sanctions, paper indicates — ChangXin Memory Technologies presented a paper involving advanced gate-all-around transistors to the 69th annual IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting.
- China ‘not willing’ to cooperate on fentanyl crisis until institute was removed from blacklist, US official testifies — US will appear to have ‘egg on our face’ if China’s demand is met without getting results ‘Americans deserved in return’.
- In global shipping, it’s China vs South Korea, and Seoul is securing its shipbuilding secrets — Analysts say it is all hands on deck in South Korea to stave off the competition from China’s surging shipbuilders in the cutthroat industry.
- Opinion: Amid US-China rivalry, Chinese parents’ dragon dreams for their children need an adjustment — By directing more young people to vocational schools, China is trying to meet future labour needs, particularly in industries where competition with the US is intense. By April Zhang.
Nikkei Asia
- The great nanometer chip race — China looks for shortcuts as TSMC, Samsung and Intel push the limits of miniaturization.
- Global law enforcement targets Southeast Asian cyberscam gangs — U.K. launches first sanctions against suspects involved in online fraud schemes.
- Opinion: Beijing must act now on Evergrande crisis — China’s real estate woes continue to weigh on economic recovery. By Nikkei Asia.
Bloomberg
- Hungary Sees ‘Horrible’ Economic Fallout Without EV Subsidies — Hungary said the European Union should reconsider a return to tighter fiscal policy and allow for higher subsidies for the electric-vehicle industry to ward off crushing competition from the US and China.
- Xi Asks Vietnam to Stop Outsider Efforts to ‘Mess Up’ Region — Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped his first visit to Vietnam in six years by calling on the Southeast Asian country to stop external forces from causing problems in the Asia-Pacific.
- Chinese Billionaire’s Geely Autos Empire Hits Road Block With Polestar — As equity markets sour on Chinese EV makers, some of Geely’s brands are turning to riskier funding.
- China Official Vows to Prevent Deluge of Defaults by Developers — A top Chinese housing official pledged to avoid a cascade of debt defaults by property developers, among the strongest commitments yet to cushion an escalating real estate liquidity crisis.
- Opinion: China’s Economy Is OK. The Problem Is Its Politics — Long-term fundamentals are stronger than pessimists think. A real recovery, though, will require reforms the government simply won’t make. By Minxin Pei.
Reuters
- China chip firm powered by US tech and money avoids Biden’s crackdown — The company, Brite Semiconductor, offers chip design services to at least six Chinese military suppliers, a Reuters examination found.
- Chinese forces approached close to Taiwan coast to ‘intimidate’ voters before key elections – sources — Taiwan has complained during the past four years of regular Chinese military incursions as Beijing increases pressure to try to force the democratically governed island to accept its sovereignty.
- Second cold wave envelops China’s Beijing in snow, ice — City officials have issued the second-highest alert for blizzards through Thursday, the only such warning yet in the country.
Other Publications
- The Information: ByteDance Axes Next VR Headset, in Pullback From Meta Battle — Chinese tech giant ByteDance might have set Facebook owner Meta Platforms on its heels with its hugely popular TikTok app. But ByteDance is now retreating from its effort to compete with Meta in the virtual reality headset market.
- Brookings: India-China dynamics in multilateral and minilateral organizations — Tanvi Madan discusses India-China interactions in these domains with Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin, and Indrani Bagchi.
- The Washington Post: Opinion: Biden just lowered the pressure on China’s latest human rights violations — China’s mass DNA collection is a threat to Americans. So why did the administration cave on the issue? By Josh Rogin.
- POLITICO: ‘Long list of excuses’: Why the US and Chinese militaries still aren’t talking — It’s been almost a month since Joe Biden and Xi Jinping agreed that the defense chiefs should stay connected.
