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
- A Free-World Champion to Rival China: Nippon Chief’s Ambitions for U.S. Steel Deal — Nippon Steel’s president says the acquisition will boost economic security, but U.S. politicians and workers object.
- Alibaba CEO Takes Direct Control of Domestic E-Commerce Businesses — Leadership shake up is latest amid the e-shopping titan’s struggles with new competition.
The Financial Times
- Alibaba chief takes direct control of under-pressure Chinese ecommerce business — New group CEO Eddie Wu is now chief executive of cloud and online retail divisions in latest restructuring.
- China’s Xi calls for ‘all-out’ search after earthquake kills at least 118 — Rescuers race to find survivors as hundreds injured in mountainous region in north-western provinces.
- Opinion: China’s debt isn’t the problem — It is a symptom of the problem. By Michael Pettis
The New York Times
- China Earthquake: In Bitter Cold, a Struggle to Help Survivors — The death toll from the earthquake, in a poor, remote area, rose to 131. People who had lost their homes huddled in tents or spent the night in cars.
- Wang Gang’s Egg Fried Rice Video and Free Speech in China — A popular chef’s video was attacked as a jab at Mao Zedong’s dead son. But what if a recipe for egg fried rice was just a recipe for egg fried rice?
Caixin
- In Depth: Perpetual Bonds Become Lifeline for China’s Capital-Hungry Insurers — Just over a year after Chinese regulators gave the green light to insurance companies to issue perpetual bonds to shore up their balance sheets, Taikang Life Insurance became the first horse out of the gate.
- Alibaba Boss Eddie Wu Named CEO of E-Commerce Unit — Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has named co-founder Eddie Wu as CEO of its core e-commerce unit Taobao and Tmall Group (TTG), adding to his four current roles at the Chinese tech giant.
- China Mourns One of Its ‘Three Elders of The Rule of Law’ — Jiang Ping, a prominent Chinese legal scholar and educator who played a pioneering role in building the country’s contemporary legislative system, passed away in Beijing Tuesday, Caixin learned from Jiang’s family.
South China Morning Post
- US-sanctioned Chinese chip start-up Moore Threads unveils GPU-based computing centre, AI graphics card — Moore Threads, which was put on a US trade blacklist in October, has also introduced a new graphics card.
- A Chinese professor used AI to write a science fiction novel. Then it was a winner in a national competition — Journalism professor Shen Yang plans to detail his creation process so anyone can ‘create good fiction with AI’.
- Is China uninvestable or irreplaceable? Foreign investors ponder rising risks vs rewards of world’s second-largest economy — De-risking, geopolitical tensions and tightening regulation have turned some investors away from China, while others still see the potential in its market of 1.4 billion people.
Nikkei Asia
- Inside PDD, China’s e-commerce titan behind Temu and Pinduoduo — Efforts to surpass Alibaba at home and chase Amazon abroad come with human cost.
- Alibaba’s factory-direct online shopping soars in China — Consumers flock to 1688.com wholesaling site as economy loses steam.
- China’s Xi, Russian PM agree to expand economic cooperation — Goal already achieved of raising annual bilateral trade to $200 billion.
Bloomberg
- US-China Tension Not Stopping Chinese Middle-Class Migration to America — They are part of a growing group from China who are crossing the US border illegally, seeking asylum and a better life.
- TikTok-Owner ByteDance’s Revenue Set to Surpass China’s Tencent’s This Year — ByteDance Ltd.’s sales surged in 2023 to more than $110 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, potentially overtaking arch-foe Tencent Holdings Ltd. in a sign TikTok’s fledgling e-commerce business is driving growth at a time of economic malaise.
- Chinese Chip Gear Leader Achieves Key Breakthrough, Backer Says — Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co. achieved a technological breakthrough in chipmaking gear, a major state-backed shareholder declared, suggesting the US-blacklisted firm has made advances in China’s fight to overcome US chip sanctions.
- The End of the Debt Bubble Has Put the Chinese Dream On Hold — The government’s campaign to clean up the speculative, over-leveraged real estate sector has also been a shock to the burgeoning consumer economy.
Reuters
- Can China get its economic miracle back on track in 2024? — China’s disappointing post-COVID recovery has raised significant doubts about the foundations of its decades of stunning growth and presented Beijing with a tough choice for 2024 and beyond: take on more debt or grow less.
- US adds 13 companies in China to Unverified List — The United States has added 13 companies in China to a list of entities receiving U.S. exports that officials have been unable to inspect, according to a government notice posted on Tuesday.
- China’s Stemirna behind on wage payments – former employees — China’s COVID-19 vaccine developer Stemirna Therapeutics has fallen behind on regular wage payments to its staff, according to three former employees, as the firm grapples with tight funding.
Other Publications
- Associated Press: China’s earthquake survivors endure frigid temperatures and mourn the dead — Surrounded by destruction, survivors of an earthquake mourned the dead and endured a frigid cold in temporary shelters Wednesday, unsure how to rebuild their lives in the remote mountains of northwest China.
- Rest of World: Anxious and online, Chinese youth embrace spirituality apps — Young Chinese people are hiring online tarot readers and feng shui masters to seek cheap therapy.
- MIT Technology Review: China’s judicial system is becoming even more secretive — Chinese court verdicts have been accessible online for a decade. That is likely about to change.
- Jalopnik: Nio ET7 goes 649 miles on a single charge, new big battery available as upgrade for older cars — Nio’s founder, chairman and CEO William Li took one on a journey across China, going 649 miles without needing to charge.