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
- China’s Lengthy Probe of Fatal Plane Crash Offers Few Answers for Victims’ Families — Two years after a China Eastern jet nosedived and killed 132 people, authorities in China said they were still investigating what caused the crash.
- Closed Book Stores, Canceled Shows: A Sad Silence Descends on Hong Kong — No corner of Hong Kong’s society has been left untouched by China’s tightening grip on the metropolis.
- Li Auto Cuts Sales Target on Weak Order Intake — Li Auto cut guidance for first-quarter car sales after its chief executive acknowledged missteps in the rollout strategy for its first fully electric car.
- America Is Sliding Toward Chinese-Style Capitalism — In the name of national security, politics take priority over profits.
- As Fisker Fails, EV Startups Need to Learn From China — Speeding up product development might be a more effective way to lighten the car industry’s debilitating capital burden than outsourcing production.
- XPeng Shares Fall in Hong Kong as Alibaba Continues to Trim Stake — XPeng’s stock fell sharply in Hong Kong as Alibaba sold more shares in the electric-vehicle maker, potentially divesting itself of noncore assets.
- China’s Central Bank Hints at More Monetary Easing — The People’s Bank of China hinted at more monetary easing ahead, as Beijing doubles down on efforts to juice up its economy and manufacturing sector.
- Amazon’s New Focus: Fending Off Rivals Temu and Shein — The e-commerce companies with Chinese roots have, for now, replaced Walmart and Target as Amazon’s central competitive focus.
- Shein to Market Its Unique Supply-Chain Technology to Global Brands — The China-founded fashion giant is shifting its business strategy as it faces U.S. challenges.
- Huawei’s Return Is Case Study in U.S. Power—and Its Limits — Washington has severely damaged, but not destroyed, China’s telecom champion. Its return to growth may be a sign of things to come.
The Financial Times
- Tim Cook praises China’s ‘critical’ role in Apple’s business — iPhone maker chief visits Shanghai and emphasises increased investment in manufacturing supply chain.
- China’s bumper steel exports fuel oversupply concerns — Shipments at eight-year high as domestic property crisis and lack of stimulus encourage external sales.
- Cambodia vexes Vietnam with plan to divert Mekong trade via China-built canal — Planned Phnom Penh-to-coast link raises alarms amid regional influence tussle.
- Temu-owner PDD doubles revenues to cap ‘pivotal’ year — Profits at Nasdaq-listed Chinese ecommerce group soar 146% in three months to December.
The New York Times
- Where Are Hong Kong’s Leading Pro-Democracy Figures Now? — The city enacted tough new security legislation with little public outcry, partly because those who would have opposed it were either in jail or in exile.
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Caixin
- U.S. Watchdog Fines Three KPMG China Partners for Audit Violations — The PCAOB says the partners failed to comply with its standards in their 2017 audit of a Chinese education service provider that was later found to have inflated its revenue.
- Hong Kong’s Strategic Enterprise Attraction Plan Secures 19 Additional High-Tech Companies — Some 49 technology sector companies are opening offices in Hong Kong bringing an expected $5 billion in investment and 13,000 jobs, Chief Executive says.
- China Launches Platform to Quickly Solve Financial Consumer Complaints — New platform that allows financial consumers to complain or seek mediation directly with banks and insurance companies received 60,000 on its first day.
- Tesla Increases Price of Model Y in China in Sign That Price War Is Easing — Tesla is raising the price of its Model Y is China by nearly $700 while cutting back on extras offered to Chinese customers.
South China Morning Post
- China, EU financial regulators embark on voyage through choppy waters in search of common ground — The China-EU Working Group on Financial Cooperation has met for the first time, and analysts say that while such meetings between economic heavyweights are in the world’s best interests, progress may be slow to come.
- Tech war: Chinese chip executives put faith in global cooperation despite intensifying US restrictions — At a major industry event in Shanghai, China’s top semiconductor executives failed to address the elephant in the room: growing US export restrictions on advanced chip technology.
- China’s Shenzhen sees trade swell, with ‘impressive’ volumes to the US amid tech war — The first two months of 2024 were lucrative for the southern tech hub even as some of its biggest private players and industry champions remain under sanctions imposed by Washington.
- China ups the ante in hunt for foreign investment, hi-tech firms, but will Beijing follow through with actions? — President Xi Jinping visited a Chinese-German joint venture lithium battery material firm earlier this week, before the State Council also unveiled measures aimed at foreign investors and expats.
Nikkei Asia
- U.S. wades into India-China spat, says border state belongs to New Delhi — Washington opposes encroachments over boundary that Beijing insists is not decided.
- Analysis: Xi-Putin honeymoon at risk as Chinese flood into Russia — History tells of Ukrainians being exploited to counterbalance a large Chinese presence.
- Opinion: Trump’s China tariff plan would be the death of the WTO — Republican presidential candidate would turn ‘MFN’ principle on its head. By Stephen Olson.
Bloomberg
- China, Russia Reach Agreement With Yemen’s Houthis on Red Sea Ships — The Yemen-based Houthis have told China and Russia their ships can sail through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden without being attacked, according to several people with knowledge of the militant group’s discussions.
- China on Track to Be Ready to Invade Taiwan by 2027, US Says — China is building its military and nuclear arsenal on a scale not seen since World War II and all signs suggest it’s sticking to ambitions to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027, a top US admiral testified.
- Micron Set to Rise Most Since 2011 as AI Growth Boosts Outlook — Micron Technology Inc., the largest US maker of computer memory chips, is on course for its biggest gain in more than 12 years after giving a surprisingly strong revenue forecast for the current quarter, buoyed by demand for artificial intelligence hardware.
- China Wants to Crush More Local Soybeans in Self-Reliance Push — China may ask its soybean crushers to prioritize local supplies as the world’s top buyer seeks to reduce its reliance on imports.
- Alibaba’s Ex-CEO Joins Low-Profile China Fund Months After Exit — Former Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. chief Daniel Zhang has joined a little-known Chinese investment fund, a surprise twist to a long career during which he oversaw the rise and decline of the country’s highest-profile internet firm.
Reuters
- China says it is considering maritime talks with Australia — Maritime issues have been a hot-button topic between China and Australia amid growing confrontations in the vital economic waterway that China claims almost in its entirety.
- Woman guilty of laundering bitcoin in UK from $6.3 bln China fraud — Prosecutors said Wen Jian helped hide the source of money allegedly stolen from nearly 130,000 Chinese investors in fraudulent wealth schemes between 2014 and 2017.
- US lawmakers ask Biden administration to increase tariffs on Chinese-made drones — DJI said it opposed restrictions based on country of origin and said it closely follows “all applicable data privacy protection laws, regulations, and norms in the U.S. and anywhere else we operate.”
Other Publications
- Barron’s: Sovereign Defaults Are More Likely Than Experts Think. The Problem Is Politics. — The International Monetary Fund is increasingly at odds with China and its sovereign borrowers over the former’s obligations to aid the latter before multilateral resources are called upon.
- AP: A police officer was accused of spying for China. The charges were dropped, but the NYPD fired him — Angwang, who was born in Tibet and granted asylum in the U.S. in his teens, was arrested by federal agents in September 2020.
- The Intercept: Palantir Official Jacob Helberg Stokes Fears of TikTok, China — On a government commission, Jacob Helberg stokes fears in Congress of TikTok and China. His firm, Palantir, could profit from a Cold War.
- Rest of World: You can’t play on both sides of the Great Firewall — What the TikTok ban really means for U.S. companies.
