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 Shock 2.0 Sparks Global Backlash Against Flood of Cheap Goods — Emerging economies have joined the U.S. and Europe in shielding domestic manufacturers from a rising tide of Chinese imports.
- China Oilfield Services Suspends Operations of Four Mideast Rigs — China Oilfield Services has suspended operations of drilling rigs related to a multibillion-dollar contract in the Middle East, a setback for China’s largest offshore drilling contractor in one of its most important international markets.
- China Is Targeting U.S. Voters and Taiwan With AI-Powered Disinformation — Findings from Microsoft and others are shedding light on Beijing’s expanding covert influence operations.
- Huawei Sanctions-Evasion Trial Pushed to 2026 After Settlement Negotiations Fizzle — Prosecutors have indicated a trial could last more than six months. Lawyers for the Chinese tech giant say they intend to ask a judge to split the case into two separate trials.
The Financial Times
- The Steve Jobs of China turns car salesman in Xiaomi’s EV evolution — Lei Jun aims to match his smartphone success in the electric vehicle market.
- Chinese fintech Ant Group targets global growth without Jack Ma — Bid for Credit Suisse’s China securities unit puts spotlight on expansion plans after Beijing’s tech crackdown.
The New York Times
- China’s Youth Are Giving Up on Saving for Retirement — Citing a rapidly aging society, difficult job market and uncertainty about the future, some young people are rejecting the idea of saving for old age.
Caixin
- Property Management Firms See Profits Rise as Ties to Debt-Laden Developers Severed — Adjustment of business strategies allows property management companies to earn more than half their income from third parties.
- Why China’s Middle Class Is Cutting Back on Private Daycare Centers — Amid the job and income insecurity brought by the lackluster post-pandemic economic recovery, cheaper options are pushing costly private centers out of business.
- China’s Former Justice Minister Under Graft Probe Into His Ties with Evergrande — Questions were raised about Tang’s oversight responsibilities after he helped Evergrande gain control of Shengjing Bank.
South China Morning Post
- Chinese cities spark outcry with ban on joss paper sales and ‘feudal superstitions’ for Ching Ming Festival — Local governments prohibit sale and production of joss paper, spirit money and other offerings used in ancestor worship during Tomb-Sweeping Day, sparking online debate and drawing rare dissent from state media over ‘crude and heavy-handed’ measures.
- Chinese firms lag behind US peers in AI development ‘by two years’, Alibaba chairman Joe Tsai says — Alibaba chairman Joe Tsai said US chip export restrictions to China have ‘definitely affected’ mainland tech firms, including the e-commerce giant’s cloud computing business.
- China trade delegation chief raises US restrictions at Washington meeting — First talks for China-US trade working group occur days after Xi, Biden review progress on summit agreement to improve communications.
- As Chinese businesses launch operations in Mexico, managers learn cross-cultural lessons — Setting up shop in Mexico helps avoid US tariffs, but Chinese companies still must confront major concerns about labour costs, profitability and cultural differences.
Nikkei Asia
- India’s remote Ladakh protests against Beijing-Delhi squeeze — Thousands braved sub-zero temperatures across India’s remote Ladakh in recent weeks as they march for statehood and safeguards to protect a Himalayan region they say is increasingly squeezed by China and their own government.
- Australian cobalt refiner bets on demand for ‘ethical’ China-free EV metals — Cobalt Blue aims to produce “ethical” battery-grade cobalt sulfate in Western Australia in partnership with Japanese oil and gas refiner Iwatani Corp.
- Japan’s Rohto and Mitsui to buy Chinese-medicine chain for $590m — Singapore-based Eu Yan Sang is the largest traditional Chinese medicine chain in Southeast Asia, and operates over 170 stores and 30 Chinese herbal medicine clinics, mostly in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Bloomberg
- Giving Up China Is Hard, Even for Argentina’s Anarcho-Capitalist — President Javier Milei is taking a softer tone than he did as a candidate, saying he won’t touch existing trade agreements with Beijing.
- China’s Real Estate Tycoons Lost $100 Billion in the Housing Collapse — The runup in mainland property prices minted dozens of billionaires. The sector’s collapse has erased most of that wealth.
- US, Philippines, Japan to Tackle South China Sea Incidents — Leaders of the Philippines, US and Japan will tackle at next week’s meeting the recent incidents in the South China Sea which escalated tensions between Manila and Beijing.
- China’s CIC Said to Back Investcorp’s $800 Million Mideast Fund — China’s sovereign wealth fund is in talks to back an investment vehicle that will take stakes in Middle East companies, the latest sign of the growing trade ties between Gulf oil exporters and the world’s second biggest economy.
- Opinion: China’s Economy Needs a Strategy, Not a Buzzword — Xi Jinping is counting on “new productive forces” to revive growth. He is likely to be disappointed. By Minxin Pei.
- Opinion: Undersea Fiber-Optic Cables Need Stronger Defenses Against Russia, China — Trillions of dollars pass through undersea fiber-optic cables every day. More must be done to protect them. By The Editorial Board.
Reuters
- Yellen says global concerns growing over China’s excess industrial capacity — China is too large to export its way to rapid growth, Yellen said in remarks to an audience of about 40 representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce in Guangzhou.
- China’s crowded wine market offers no lifeline for struggling global industry — China’s “apparent consumption” of wine in 2023, which includes imports and domestic production, was barely a quarter of its peak in 2017.
- Banking bottleneck causing six-month delays for Russia-China payments, sources say — Alternative payment methods remain available, such as through the subsidiaries of small Chinese banks in Russia, but the delays show how U.S. restrictions can have a strong knock-on effect.
- China invites Uganda’s energy minister for talks on pipeline financing — Potential Chinese funding is being considered as pivotal after Western banks declined to fund the pipeline after pressure from environmentalists who said the project would add to global carbon emissions.
- Targeting Chinese chips, US to push Dutch on ASML service contracts — The Chinese Embassy in Washington said Beijing opposes the U.S.’s use of “pretexts to coerce other countries into joining its technological blockade against China.”
Other Publications
- The Washington Post: The new border fearmongering: China is ‘building an army’ in the U.S. — Former president Donald Trump made this claim in a radio interview Thursday.
- The Economist: How China’s political clans might determine its future — The descendants of those who fought with Mao will help choose the country’s next ruler.
- Brookings: How will Biden and Trump tackle trade with China? — Based on available data, Biden’s approach has delivered greater relative gains. Trump’s term, by contrast, was defined by a trade war that came at a heavy cost to the American economy.
- Brookings: US security and immigration policies threaten its AI leadership — With this backbone of talent originating from China, America’s position as a frontrunner in AI is far less secure than many assume.
- The Guardian: China braced for rise in air pollution deaths — Country needs to speed up environmental response to protect its ageing population, multinational study finds.
