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 Opens More Sectors to Foreign Investment — The government said it would reduce list of industries off-limits to foreign investors to 29 from 31 and fulfill its pledge of zero restrictions on the manufacturing sector.
- China Still Isn’t Seeing Much Inflation — The consumer-price index rose for a seventh consecutive month in August, ticking up 0.6% compared with the same period a year earlier.
- China’s Midea Moves Ahead With Hong Kong’s Likely Biggest Listing This Year — Midea owns brands including Midea, Colmo and Little Swan.
- China’s EV, Hybrid Sales Maintain Momentum — More regions in the country rolled out incentives in August to encourage car sales and EV prices started to stabilize.
- China Is Becoming Much Harder for Western Scholars to Study — Some researchers revert to Mao-era techniques as Beijing curtails access; suspicions in Washington threaten to exacerbate knowledge gap.
- The Family Business in Alabama That Fights China for Survival — Long before Trump hit Beijing with tariffs, an American company making wire hangers won numerous trade cases involving Chinese hangers. Still it struggles to survive.
The Financial Times
- Weak China prices boost deflation fears — Concerns grow that deflationary forces are taking root in world’s second-biggest economy.
- China and US push each other on priorities for UN COP29 climate talks — John Podesta presses China for ambitious goals on emissions while Beijing urges Washington to ‘maintain consistency.’
- China must act on deflation, former central bank governor warns — Yi Gang calls for looser monetary policy in rare admission of pressing economic concern.
- Chinese start-up aims for nuclear fusion at half the cost of US rivals — Shanghai’s Energy Singularity looks to raise $500mn to develop clean energy breakthrough using locally sourced materials.
The New York Times
- In Rural China, ‘Sisterhoods’ Demand Justice, and Cash — Growing numbers of Chinese women are challenging a longstanding tradition that denies them village membership, and the lucrative payouts that go with it.
- In Shanghai, Searching for Those in Search of Connection — Every week, lonely retirees in the city gather in a public park — and an Ikea canteen — with one goal in mind: finding true love. Alexandra Stevenson shared their stories.
Caixin
- Cover Story: Chinese Solar Giants’ Shine Fades Amid Growing Product Glut — China’s solar panel makers are suffering plunging valuations amid mounting losses as a price war triggered by overcapacity and weak demand takes a toll.
- Ministry of Finance Wants to Tighten Rules for Foreign Accounting Bodies Operating in China — China’s Ministry of Finance is seeking feedback on draft regulations that tighten filing requirements for overseas accounting organizations that conduct business there without establishing domestic offices.
- Weekend Long Read: Are Chinese Industries at Risk of Hollowing Out? — While the relocation of some Chinese industries overseas since 2010 has led to declines in the country’s global share of certain exports, a new wave of overseas expansion in recent years has raised concerns about its impact on unemployment in some sectors.
South China Morning Post
- Tech war: China’s chip industry becomes key breeding ground for unicorns, report says — As start-up funding dwindles, investments are concentrated in a few unicorns, such as those in the integrated circuit sector.
- China to enforce up to 10-year ban on ex-regulators investing in new stock offerings — The change is part of a wider crackdown on corruption to bolster flagging investor confidence in China’s US$8 trillion stock market.
- VW factory fears renew concerns about China exposure of German carmakers — China’s evolution into a formidable competitor is revealing cracks in Germany’s economic success, analysts said.
Nikkei Asia
- China and Russia to hold joint drills in Sea of Japan and Okhotsk — Exercise aims to deepen cooperation in facing ‘security threats,’ says Beijing.
- China to allow wholly foreign-owned hospitals to lure investment — Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hainan among major locations identified for initiative.
- Midea’s $3.45bn Hong Kong share offering met with Shenzhen selloff — Appliance maker seeks more funds but dilution, discount anger current investors.
Bloomberg
- China Deflation Risk Grows as Signs of Economic Weakness Mount — China’s core inflation cooled to the weakest in more than three years, fueling calls for greater efforts to boost household spending as weak demand puts the annual growth target under pressure.
- Japan’s Companies Sour on China After Years of Brushing Off Risk — Japanese companies are increasingly abandoning an approach to business in China that once seemed immune to politics, a stark shift after years when they were the biggest single investors in their neighbor’s economy.
- China Sets Up Beijing-Backed Lithium Group to Tap Salt Lakes — China Minmetals Corp. will take control of a province-backed lithium company in a bid to speed development of a “world-class” industry extracting the battery material from salt lakes in the far west of the country.
Reuters
- China Renaissance plunges on trade resumption as star dealmaker’s absence clouds prospects — China Renaissance shares plunged as much as 72% on Monday after ending a 17-month suspension triggered by a probe involving the boutique investment bank’s former CEO and star dealmaker Bao Fan, with recent losses weighing on its outlook.
- China says “dissatisfied” with new Dutch export controls on ASML chipmaking tools — China is “dissatisfied” with the Dutch government’s decision to expand export controls on ASML chipmaking equipment, the Chinese commerce ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
- Russian military to join Chinese exercise in September, says Chinese state media — Russia’s military will send naval and air forces to join an exercise held by China in the Sea of Japan and Sea of Okhotsk in September, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.
- Exclusive: Execs of Jimmy Lai’s Hong Kong media firm mount legal challenge against BDO — Two Western media executives with long experience in Hong Kong have accused global accounting firm BDO of breaking international rules by helping the city’s government liquidate the company, which was run by the jailed tycoon Jimmy Lai.
Other Publications
- Washington Post: China’s ‘disappeared’ foreign minister demoted to low-level publishing job, say former U.S. officials — Qin Gang, an aggressive “wolf warrior” diplomat, had a meteoric rise and an even faster fall from grace. He’s now said to be taking a salary at a Beijing state-run bookseller.
- Washington Post: Opinion: ‘Made in China’ initiative, nearing Beijing’s target, threatens U.S. — China has made giant strides toward its goal of technological dominance. The U.S. must not be complacent about the most advanced adversary we have ever faced. By Marco Rubio
- CNN: An alleged Chinese agent went undetected in New York state government for years. Why it may have taken so long for authorities to act — When Linda Sun visited Beijing in the winter of 2018, according to federal prosecutors, a Chinese businessman based in the US made travel arrangements for her and reserved a presidential suite once used by First Lady Michelle Obama.
- Lowy Institute: South China Sea: The “transparency initiative” success is plain to see — But pressure on the Philippines means that its key partners must step up more.
