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
- Western Firms That Flocked to China Are Now Pulling Back — As China’s growth slows and the difficulty of doing business there rises, Western companies have stopped plowing money into the country.
- Chinese Cargo Cranes at U.S. Ports Pose Espionage Risk, Probe Finds — Chinese manufacturer ZPMC has pressured American ports for remote access to its machines, a congressional report says.
- Trade ‘Loophole’ Used by China Should Be Closed, House Democrats Tell Biden — Use of the de minimis provision has surged amid the rise of e-commerce giants that ship from China.
- China’s Slowdown Threatens Pace of Global Oil-Demand Growth, IEA Says — A rapid slowdown in Chinese oil-demand growth is driving down global consumption, reinforcing expectations that demand will peak by the end of the decade, the International Energy Agency said.
The Financial Times
- US Navy Seal unit that killed Osama bin Laden trains for China invasion of Taiwan — Elite commando team makes plans to help island nation in event Beijing launches war.
- How China has ‘throttled’ its private sector — Venture capital finance has dried up amid political and economic pressures, prompting a dramatic fall in new company formation.
- Top Chinese general to visit US as militaries step up engagement — Move marks latest effort to defuse tensions over Taiwan and the South China Sea.
- China’s smartphone ‘King of Africa’ hit by detention of finance chief — Shanghai-listed Transsion also facing growing competition in African market and legal challenges over intellectual property.
The New York Times
- Young Chinese Émigrés Confront America’s Brutal Visa Lottery — For Chinese seeking educational opportunity, the United States has long been the top spot, but as more want to stay to work, their paths are full of roadblocks.
- James Sasser, Senator and Clinton’s Envoy to China, Dies at 87 — He became ambassador after three terms as a senator from Tennessee. In 1999, he was made a virtual prisoner in the embassy in Beijing during a siege by protesters.
Caixin
- Chinese Banks’ Cash Flow Plummets After Crackdown on High Deposit Rates — Chinese banks are under strain as their deposits shrink in the wake of a regulatory crackdown on offering deposit rates higher than regulatory caps.
- Exclusive: IBM Chief Says Closing China Units Is ‘Done’ and ‘Not Reversible’ — Arvind Krishna, the chief executive of IBM Corp. has explained the company’s rationale in closing its research and development units in China, citing the need to focus on several strategic sites such as Austin and San Jose in the United States, as well as key Indian cities like Bangalore and Kochi.
- Boost for Lithium Mining Stock as CATL Halts Yichun Production After Price Plunge — An announcement by Contemporary Amperex Technology that it will halt production at its giant lithium concentrator in Yichun, Jiangxi province, triggered a sharp rise in domestic lithium mining companies’ stocks.
South China Morning Post
- Beijing urges Chinese EV makers to avoid investments in countries like India and Turkey — Chinese EV makers’ drive to go global hit a snag after Beijing urged them to avoid investing in countries like India and Turkey.
- Tech war: US-sanctioned Chinese AI chip rival to Nvidia, Biren Technology, plans IPO — The Shanghai-based unicorn, seen as a potential Nvidia competitor on the mainland, has begun its IPO tutoring process.
- ByteDance’s Douyin emerges as fast-rising rival to e-commerce giants Alibaba, JD and PDD — The short-video platform saw gross merchandise value rise by 46 per cent in the year ended July 2024, an executive says.
Nikkei Asia
- German warships set to sail through Taiwan Strait: sources — Beijing says move would be a ‘provocation’ while analysts warn of confrontation.
- U.S. companies’ confidence in China hits record low — Chilly bilateral ties, economic slowdown dent investment appetite.
- Xiangshan security forum opens amid South China Sea tensions — U.S. sends delegation to China event as rival militaries step up communication.
Bloomberg
- China Detains Investment Bankers, Takes Passports in Corruption Sweep — China is turning up the heat on its army of 8,700 investment bankers.
- China’s Excess Solar Capacity Forces More Firms to Restructure — More Chinese solar companies are ending up in court as the industry contends with massive overcapacity and deepening losses.
- China’s Attempt to Boost Demand Is Stifled by Wall of Austerity — Finance chiefs in Beijing are testing new ways to boost the economy by encouraging demand, breaking with long-established practice as threats to the country’s growth target mount.
Reuters
- China’s Li, Saudi crown prince discuss cooperation in Riyadh meeting — Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman discussed cooperation in several sectors including energy, investment and trade in a meeting in Riyadh on Wednesday, the Saudi state news agency SPA reported.
- China’s Geely scouting locations for Europe plant — Chinese carmaker Geely is scouting locations for a plant in Europe but has not committed fully to building up local production, executives from the car conglomerate said in interviews with Reuters in Frankfurt.
- US lawmakers urge Biden to close tariff ‘loophole’ for Chinese small package imports — A majority of Democratic U.S. House of Representatives members on Wednesday urged President Joe Biden to use his executive powers to end a tariff “loophole” for low-value packages that they say are being exploited by Chinese e-commerce firms and fentanyl traffickers.
Other Publications
- Nature: US and China inch towards renewing science-cooperation pact — despite tensions — Sources say the nations are close to a deal, but the looming US presidential election is likely bogging it down.
- The Economist: China’s government is surprisingly redistributive — That is despite a stingy tax-and-transfer system.
- Associated Press: China’s Xi Jinping to visit Russia next month for the BRICS summit — Chinese leader Xi Jinping will visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi confirmed Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence.
- Washington Post: House GOP maneuvers to portray Democrats as weak on China — With a blitz of legislation aimed at Beijing, Republicans seek to bolster their party’s foreign policy credentials ahead of November’s election.
- Foreign Policy: The Coming Clash Between China and the Global South — As the West protects its markets, China will need to dump its exports elsewhere—and emerging nations are alarmed.
- Council on Foreign Relations: The Trump-Harris debate ignored Asia/China, and that’s bad news — The U.S. presidential election neglected to discuss Asia, one of the most pivotal regions to U.S. foreign policy.
- POLITICO: EU rejects Chinese proposals to avoid duties on EVs — Offer of price floors or volume caps would not offset the injury caused by Chinese subsidies, European Commission says.
