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.
Paid subscribers automatically have this list emailed directly to their inboxes every day by 10 a.m. EST. Subscribe here.
The Wall Street Journal
- China’s Messaging to the U.S.: Don’t Rock the Boat — With a new catchphrase, the “San Francisco vision,” Beijing’s outreach has gone into high gear ahead of Taiwan elections.
- China’s Solar Dominance Faces New Rival: An Ultrathin Film — As renewable energy becomes a geopolitical tool, Japan looks to recover its technological edge.
The Financial Times
- US companies and Chinese experts engaged in secret diplomacy on AI safety — OpenAI, Anthropic and Cohere held back-channel talks with Chinese state-backed groups in Geneva.
- Taiwan opposition candidate rules out unification talks with China — Kuomintang’s Hou Yu-ih rejects negotiations on Beijing’s long-held goal ahead of election.
- Citadel Securities bids for Credit Suisse’s China business — Market maker founded by Ken Griffin seeks expansion in country with purchase of investment banking and brokerage unit.
- Fall of Chinese shadow bank Zhongzhi highlights uncertainty over economy — Speed of bankruptcy filing indicates government concern over prolonged slowdown in vast property sector.
- Biden to send delegation to Taipei after Taiwan’s election — Decision comes despite mounting tension between the island and mainland and could complicate US-China relations.
- Cathay Pacific struggles to put its troubles behind it — Airline beset by acute pilot shortages, flight cancellations and poor staff morale.
- Belgium opens criminal probe into suspected Chinese spy — Flemish far-right politician Frank Creyelman was an intelligence asset for Beijing for years, according to investigation.
- China’s Communist party watchdog warns business of graft crackdown — President Xi Jinping to expand anti-corruption campaign to finance, agricultural and pharmaceutical sectors.
The New York Times
- ‘Frozen Garlic!’ Taiwan Likes Its Democracy Loud and Proud — At the island’s election rallies, warming up the crowd for candidates is crucial. “You have to light a fire in their hearts,” one host says.
Caixin
- China Tells Colleges to Look Into Retractions of Academic Papers — Ministry of Education asks for misconduct to be severely punished as Chinese scholars produced three-quarters of the highest-ranking scientific papers pulled by journal publishers last year.
- China Province Reveals Head of New Public Complaints Department — Inner Mongolia has named Wu Zhiqiang as chief of its Social Work Department, which is tasked with overseeing the handling of feedback from the public.
South China Morning Post
- China relaxes visa rules further to boost tourism, business travel as economy falters — Latest step is part of wider efforts by China to boost post-pandemic recovery in the world’s No 2 economy.
- China raises ‘serious concerns’ over US restrictions on chip-making machines, supply chain investigation — Chinese commerce minister Wang Wentao spoke to US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo by phone on Thursday, expressing concerns over US sanctions that ‘suppress’ Chinese companies.
- Apple supplier BOE, one of the world’s top display makers, forges US$9 billion deal to build next-generation plant in southwestern China — BOE’s so-called Gen-8.6 AMOLED production complex is expected to meet soaring global demand for high-end displays used in laptops and tablets.
- Huawei secures JD.com as HarmonyOS partner as home-grown software emerges as alternative for Apple iOS, Android in China — JD.com will build an app for HarmonyOS Next, based on the intelligence innovations in the next iteration of Huawei’s mobile platform.
- Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall Group pushes new AI tools to boost merchants’ service to consumers in first major move after leadership reshuffle — With the help of artificial intelligence, merchants on the Taobao and Tmall platforms are expected to improve their services and attract new customers.
Nikkei Asia
- Uniqlo owner posts 27% profit rise on China recovery — Fast Retailing, the owner of the clothing chain Uniqlo, said Thursday that net profit for the three months ended November 2023 rose, thanks to recovery in China.
- China set to lose crown as top U.S. exporter after 17 years — Mexico to take lead as ‘friendshoring’ brings in manufacturing.
- Analysis: Xi Jinping’s ambition to unify Taiwan motivates military purges — As the island votes for its next president, Beijing prepares to apply more pressure.
- Hong Kong police raid family home of exiled activist Simon Cheng — The move comes after security forces added Cheng and other activists to a list of overseas dissidents last month, signaling an intensification of pressure by Beijing on pro-democracy activists.
- Opinion: China needs to prove working groups can do more than talk — Forums may yield little more than reduction in tensions with U.S. and EU. By Michael Laha.
Bloomberg
- Ships Advertise Chinese Links to Avoid Houthi Attack in Red Sea — At least five vessels transiting the Red Sea are using their signals to say they have links to China — the latest unusual measure taken to try and avoid attack by Houthi militants in the Red Sea.
- China’s Solar Boom Fuels Record Growth in Global Renewables — The world’s new renewable power capacity grew by 50% last year and should keep breaking records this decade on the back of a surge in cheaper solar panels, particularly in China.
- China Produces a Record 30 Million Cars and Exports Soar — China’s auto production and exports climbed to record highs in 2023 as its domestic market recovered and manufacturers filled the void left by Western companies that pulled out of Russia.
- Xi’s Chief of Staff Is Quietly Amassing Even More Power in China — When President Xi Jinping held talks in California with his US counterpart Joe Biden in November, seated to his right was a man who is quietly emerging as one of China’s most influential politicians.
Reuters
- National security trial of tycoon Jimmy Lai: what’s happened so far — Lai, 76, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces – which carry a possible life sentence – and a lesser charge of conspiracy to publish seditious material.
- China proposes new target for better air quality — Chinese cities have grappled with high air pollution readings in recent months despite authorities’ efforts to improve air quality in recent years.
Other Publications
- CFR: Why China Would Struggle to Invade Taiwan — Although China’s ambition to gain control of Taiwan is clear, doing so through force would prove enormously difficult and costly.
- POLITICO: Missouri lawsuit accusing China of hoarding pandemic gear can proceed, appeals panel says — “Missouri’s overarching theory is that China leveraged the world’s ignorance about Covid-19,” Judge David Stras wrote.
- POLITICO: Here’s how Taiwan’s election could upend US-China relations — Fierce Chinese reaction to likely Taiwan electoral result may worsen already frayed U.S.-China relations.
- The Washington Post: Chinese PLA-linked vessels map the Indian Ocean for submarine warfare — Beijing’s growing research activities in international waters are designed to expand undersea military operations, analysts say.
- AP: US plans to send an unofficial delegation to Taiwan to meet its new leader amid tensions with China — A senior administration official said such a face-to-face meeting was the “most effective way” to engage the new Taiwanese government and convey U.S. policy in the region.
- The Atlantic: Beijing Won’t Allow Taiwan’s Democracy to Survive — The very prospect of a free election is a threat.
- The Economist: China heaps pressure on Taiwan ahead of a big election — Choose our favoured candidate or suffer the consequences, hints the mainland.
- Brookings: A roadmap for a US-China AI dialogue — Scoping an AI dialogue is difficult because, in many U.S.-China engagements on the topic, “AI” does not mean anything specific.
- CSIS: Surveying the Seas — China’s Dual-Use Research Operations in the Indian Ocean
