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
- The Election-Year Fight Over What Counts as Chinese-Owned U.S. Farmland — A company with Chinese investors that owns land near U.S. military sites successfully petitioned the USDA to change the lands’ classification as Chinese-owned.
- China PMIs Hint at Economic Recovery — An official gauge of China’s manufacturing activity rebounded in October, snapping a five-month run in contractionary territory in a tentative sign of recovery as Beijing strives to revive the economy.
- Taiwan’s Race for Secure Internet Detours Around Musk’s Starlink — SpaceX’s network hasn’t cracked the market on an island where self-sufficiency is a matter of survival.
The Financial Times
- Chinese factory activity expands for first time in six months — Beijing set to unveil fiscal stimulus focused on struggling local governments next week.
- New Hong Kong-focused ETF gains approval in Saudi Arabia — Hang Seng Investment Management is second manager to get green light as authorities push for closer ties between both markets.
- Chinese sanctions hit US drone maker supplying Ukraine — Move by Beijing leaves California company rushing to find new battery providers.
- Asia has ‘enormous’ shortfall of funds to adapt to climate change, warns ADB — Development bank report says region still needs hundreds of billions of dollars for action to tackle impact of global warming.
- EU to pursue Temu for alleged sale of illegal products — Consumer groups have raised concerns about toxic goods sold on platform.
- AstraZeneca China president under investigation by Chinese authorities — British drugmaker says Leon Wang is ‘co-operating with an ongoing investigation’.
- BYD quarterly sales beat Tesla for first time — Warren Buffett-backed Chinese carmaker’s revenues surge 24 per cent but fierce competition slims margins.
- Opinion: The internal rivalries that will determine Trump’s policies on trade — The Republican candidate’s first presidential term was marked by infighting in the administration. By Alan Beattie.
The New York Times
- In China, Comedy Is Giving Women a Voice. But Can Men Take a Joke? — Comedy has become a way for women to skewer China’s gender inequality. Some men aren’t happy about it.
- How Volkswagen Lost Its Way in China — A brutal price war, sudden shifts in consumer demand and human rights issues in Xinjiang have left VW stumbling in a market it led for 40 years.
- Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Already a Leader in Satellites, Gets Into the Spy Game — The Pentagon needs what the company offers to compete with China even as it frets over its potential for dominance and the billionaire’s global interests.
Caixin
- China’s Drive to Develop the Tech to Move Machines With Thoughts Alone — Researchers in the country are pushing clinical applications in certain areas to the cutting edge globally as they look to rival Elon Musk’s Neuralink.
- China’s Comac Global Expansion Plans Take Off with New Singapore Office — Comac’s Singapore office will act as hub to coordinate with other airlines and suppliers in the Asia-Pacific region.
South China Morning Post
- Chinese navy holds first dual aircraft carrier drills in South China Sea — State television report shows Liaoning and Shandong sailing side by side in exercises aimed at improving ‘systematic combat capability’.
- China’s eastern Zhejiang province rolls out platform to grow cross-border e-commerce — Zhejiang’s new e-commerce service platform expects to serve 15,000 enterprises within the next three years.
- EU to investigate China’s Temu over suspected illegal products and ‘addictive’ platform — If found guilty, the Chinese online marketplace could face fines amounting to 6 per cent of annual global revenue.
- China’s finance sector comes to grips with new normal in year since landmark conference — China’s central financial work conference laid down stricter standards for the field one year ago. How have practices and attitudes changed?
- Opinion: Will China replace India and Japan as Asia’s new investment darling? — Although Indian and Japanese stock markets have lost some of their lustre, more signs are needed to affirm the quality of China’s post-stimulus bull run. By Nicholas Spiro.
Nikkei Asia
- Ministries compete to show economic loyalty to Xi Jinping — Housing, reform and central bank officials feel the anti-corruption campaign’s threat.
- North Koreans fighting for Russia point to China’s waning clout — Beijing warns against Ukraine escalation as Pyongyang and Moscow grow closer.
- Opinion: U.S. must act on Afghanistan to slow China’s and Russia’s gains — Beijing and Moscow are engaging with Taliban rulers for security, resources. By Farhan Bokhari.
Bloomberg
- China Is Becoming a Bigger Problem for Europe’s Profit Scorecard — A broadening array of European firms is blaming China for glum earnings outlooks, as weak demand, government scrutiny and tariff spats with the trading partner put pressure on stocks.
- China Widens AstraZeneca Probe as Country Boss Investigated — AstraZeneca’s China President Leon Wang is under investigation by the country’s authorities, as Beijing’s intensifying regulatory scrutiny on the British drug giant reaches its senior ranks.
- Pacific Island Leader Says China Is Pressing for Taiwan Switch — The leader of one of Taiwan’s last diplomatic allies in the Pacific said his nation is under increasing pressure from China to end its support for Taipei.
Reuters
- BYD’s outpacing of Tesla has only just begun — One electric-vehicle challenge Elon Musk saw coming in his rear-view mirror has just edged past him.
- China tells carmakers to pause investment in EU countries backing EV tariffs, sources say — The new European Union tariffs of up to 45.3% came into effect on Wednesday after a year-long investigation that divided the bloc and prompted retaliation from Beijing.
Other Publications
- Foreign Policy: No, BRICS Isn’t Trying to Rival the West — The declaration from last week’s summit reads like a cri de coeur for the existing order.
- Foreign Policy: The G-20 Needs a Grand Bargain With the Global South — A revitalized group can act as a counterweight to BRICS.
- Foreign Affairs: Why China Won’t Give Up on a Failing Economic Model — Beijing Might See Short-Term Gains—but Ignores the Risk of Long-Term Pain.
- POLITICO: US released a Chinese detainee to free imprisoned American — Neither the U.S. nor Beijing had disclosed that David Lin was freed as part of a prisoner swap.
- The Washington Post: China built a $50 billion military stronghold in the South China Sea — Just 500 feet from the lush grounds of the Holiday Inn Resort Yalong Bay is East Yulin Naval Base, home to Chinese destroyers and nuclear-armed submarines.
- The Economist: Why China needs to fill its empty homes — The country’s economy is broken. A recovery requires a healthier property market.
- CSIS: Responding to China’s Growing Influence in Ports of the Global South — Port infrastructure around the world is critical to U.S. economic and military security. Although vitally important, it is an investment area where China is outpacing the United States.
- Los Angeles Times: How China sees the U.S. presidential election: ‘It’s high political drama’ — It’s one of the rare points of agreement between the U.S. presidential candidates: China is a major threat to the United States.