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
- Biden Administration Explores Raising Tariffs on Chinese EVs — Officials are once again debating Trump-era duties on roughly $300 billion of Chinese goods.
- U.S., China Militaries Start Talking Again After a Dangerous Rupture — Video call between generals follows a summit agreement between President Biden and China’s Xi Jinping.
The Financial Times
- Taiwan/China: trade tiff targets island’s presidential election — The timing of Beijing’s ending of tariff cuts for certain chemical imports is telling.
- China’s renminbi pips Japanese yen to rank fourth in global payments — Chinese currency surpasses euro in November to become second most-used in trade finance.
- Belgium suspected China spy but was unable to prosecute — Outdated penal code prevented action against far-right Flemish politician, says justice minister.
- Beijing home price slide fans China property sector alarm — Discrepancy between broker testimony and official data fuels fears authorities are playing down extent of crisis.
The New York Times
- War in Ukraine Has China Cashing In — China is profiting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has led Russia to switch from the West to China for purchases of everything from cars to computer chips.
- ‘The Most Vulnerable Place’: China Quake Survivors Huddle in Bitter Cold — The death toll from the quake, which hit a poor, remote area during a cold snap, rose to 135. Some people who’d fled their homes had just a few layers of clothes.
- Opinion: 75 Years Later, Asia’s Wartime Memories Linger — Rather than resolving wartime grievances, though, the Tokyo trial remains an occasion for patriotic quarrels across East Asia to this day. By Gary J. Bass

Caixin
- Star Power Triumphs After Fans Boycott Livestreaming Platform East Buy — A semblance of corporate peace has returned to livestreaming e-commerce platform East Buy after a fan revolt this month sparked by a perceived slight to its star influencer, Dong Yuhui, triggered a slump in the company’s shares and a management shakeout.
- China to Bolster Oversight of Booming Consumer Finance Sector — China’s top financial regulator plans to strengthen oversight of companies that provide small loans to consumers with new rules that tighten market access requirements and require them to improve protection for their customers.
- Mainlanders Find Workarounds to Get Their Kids Into Hong Kong Schools — A growing number of parents from the Chinese mainland are using Hong Kong’s talent visa and post-graduate study schemes as shortcuts to bring their children to the special administrative region as dependents, giving the kids rights to enter Hong Kong schools.
South China Morning Post
- China’s manufacturers, exporters urged to speed up low-carbon transition as EU wields ‘trade weapon’ with import tax — Chinese officials have expressed strong opposition to the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, even though the short term impact on China’s manufacturing sector is seen to be limited.
- China’s secret space plane emits strong signal to the ground when passing North America: satellite tracker — Amateur astronomer speculates the aircraft could be signalling ‘a clandestine ground station on the west coast of North America or on a ship off the coast’.
- How to cure China’s declining consumer prices divides opinion as deflation signs deepen — Economist Steven Ng-Sheong Cheung saying China should target a yearly inflation rate of 6 per cent triggered a backlash, as the world’s second-largest economy struggles with slowing growth and low inflation.
Nikkei Asia
- In charts: How Asia’s tourism recovery is held back by stay-home Chinese — World’s biggest foreign travel market hurt by weak economy, safety concerns.
- Shanghai Disney’s Zootopia debuts amid weak economic recovery — High expectations for post-COVID demand follow new theme park delays.
- Analysis: China’s spy agency now watches for doomsayers — With increasing power over ‘economic security,’ ministry hints at crackdown.
Bloomberg
- China’s Mega Banks Cut Deposit Rates Further to Boost Growth — China’s biggest state-owned banks are launching a third round of deposit rate cuts in a year, as lenders work to maintain profitability amid shrinking margins and government policies aimed at boosting consumption and demand.
- China Said to Approve First Boeing 787 Delivery Since 2021 — China has signed off on the first delivery of a Boeing Co. 787 jet since April 2021, an indication strained US-China trade relations may be easing and a potential precursor to the more significant resumption of 737 Max deliveries.
- China’s Foreign Direct Investment Drops to Near Four-Year Low — A measure of foreign investment into China fell to the lowest in nearly four years in November, underlining how geopolitical tensions and a slowing economy have combined to convince foreign companies to slow their expansion.
Reuters
- China bans export of rare earth processing tech over national security — China, the world’s top processor of rare earths, on Thursday banned the export of technology to extract and separate the strategic metals, in a further step towards protecting its dominance in several strategic metals.
- China’s power sector emissions to surpass 4 billion metric tons in 2023 — China’s power sector emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and equivalent gases will surpass 4 billion metric tons for the first time in a calendar year in 2023, as the country cranks up coal-fired electricity output to new highs.
- Fitch downgrades Wanda Commercial to “restricted default”, then upgrades to “CC” — Fitch Ratings downgraded Dalian Wanda Commercial Management Group to “restricted default (RD)” from “C” on completion of the distressed debt exchange, and simultaneously upgraded the firm to “CC” from “RD” to reflect its post-restructuring profile.
Other Publications
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Why China, Not the United States, Is Making the Rules for Deep-Sea Mining — China is leading the international rulemaking process to regulate deep-sea mining, but Washington can still blunt Beijing’s advances.
- The Atlantic: Xi Jinping Is Fighting a Culture War at Home — The Chinese leader seeks to restore an earlier era of ideological indoctrination and national unity—whether his society wants it or not.
- The Economist: Why China’s rulers fear Genghis Khan — Repression reaches one of China’s quirkiest ethnic communities.
- POLITICO: Top US general speaks to Chinese counterpart, ending freeze on military talks — Gen. C.Q. Brown is the first senior U.S. military official to speak with his Chinese counterpart since the two countries agreed to resume military communications.