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
- SEC Probes China’s GSX Techedu After Short Sellers’ Pleas — The New York-listed tutoring company said the SEC asked it to produce financial and operating records dating back to the beginning of 2017 after short sellers accused it of inflating its sales.
- Pentagon Says China Could Double Nuclear Weapons in Decade — China’s stockpile of nuclear weapons numbers in the “low 200s,” the Pentagon told Congress, providing its most precise estimate to date of Beijing’s nuclear capabilities.
The Financial Times
- Technology has abetted China’s surveillance state — Beijing’s plan for a digital currency presents yet another opportunity for citizens to be monitored.
- Citi becomes first US bank to win custody prize in China — Wall Street bank receives licence at a time of rapid growth in mainland funds market.
- Alibaba doubles stake in Chinese courier in bid to fend off PDD — Ecommerce giant pays nearly $1bn to boost holding in YTO as it tries to speed up delivery.
- Investors pour cash into Chinese start-ups in hunt for next Tesla — Electric vehicle makers in the country are raising billions of dollars as demand returns.
- How western democracies can help Taiwan — China is putting growing pressure on the self-governing island.
- Zoom: video star — Shares have jumped more than 800% from a $36 listing price last April — but its China link remains a liability.
- Medical equipment boost for Chinese exports could be shortlived — More competition from overseas and risk of recession pose threat to ‘health silk road’ ambitions.
The New York Times
- America, Don’t Try to Out-China China — Beijing’s nationalism will be self-defeating in the long term. Washington should just let that run its course.
Caixin
- Singapore’s DBS Bank Wins Approval for Majority-Owned Chinese Securities Venture — Lender becomes eighth foreign company to get green light from regulators.
- China-Led AIIB Names Its First Chief Economist — Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank appoints Swedish economist Erik Berglof to the newly created position.
- China Relaxes 75% Passenger Cap on Inbound International Flights — Airlines will be able to fill their cabins as long as they aren’t coming from high-risk areas for the coronavirus, don’t import too many cases.
- Chinese Airlines’ First-Half Losses Show They Can’t Shake Coronavirus Fallout — Domestic carriers suffered a combined loss of 74.1 billion yuan as revenues plummeted.
- Who Will Be Affected by China’s New Tech Export Restrictions? — Drone giant DJI and robotics and smart phone makers could join TikTok in feeling the effects of new requirement of government licensing for export of 23 kinds of technologies.
- Tianqi Lithium Faces Large Debt Repayments as Revenues Fall — Debt-ridden Tianqi Lithium will have to pay some 13.6 billion yuan ($2 billion) in debt – equal to one third of its total assets – to China Citic Bank by November this year, according to its interim report filed to Shanghai Stock Exchange on Monday.
- White House Adviser Navarro Hints At Expanded Chinese Apps Ban — More Chinese apps will find themselves ensnared in a U.S. campaign aimed at purging “untrusted” Chinese software from the country’s digital networks after President Donald Trump’s August executive orders prohibiting American residents from doing business with TikTok, WeChat or the apps’ Chinese owners.
- Realme Becomes One of the Five Biggest Smartphone Brands in All Eight Key Southeast Asian Markets — Despite being a lesser-known smartphone brand in its home market in China, Realme is on course to becoming a big name in Southeast Asia.
South China Morning Post
- Australia’s largest grain firm CBH Group says there is no evidence to support China’s barley suspension — China has suspended barley imports from Australia’s largest grain exporter, CBH Group, after detecting pests in a recent shipment, in a further escalation of bilateral tensions between the two countries that show no signs of easing.
- China’s market for gaming cheats tops US$293 million despite crackdown — Software that enables users to cheat in popular multiplayer video games is now a business worth more than 2 billion yuan (US$293 million) in China, the world’s biggest gaming market, according to Tencent Holdings.
- Hong Kong extends payment holidays until April 2021 to give struggling small businesses a lifeline out of worst recession — Hong Kong’s monetary authority has instructed banks to extend their loan repayment holidays for small businesses for another six months until April 2021, providing more breathing space for some of the biggest job providers as they struggle to crawl out of the city’s worst recession on record.
- TikTok: China’s new export rules mean quick sale of video app ‘unlikely’ — Beijing’s updated export control list offers it plenty of leeway to determine a possible sale of TikTok’s overseas operations, adding a powerful new player in the fight for control of the popular video-sharing app, according to sources from the Chinese government and the company’s owner ByteDance.
- Gaming media title IGN relaunches official Chinese site in a tie-up with Tencent as demand booms — Leading US video game media title IGN Entertainment has relaunched its official Chinese website in a tie-up with Tencent Holdings as game sales and appetite for gaming content continue to surge in China.
- Face masks among Chinese exports given four-month US trade war tariff reprieve — Disposable face masks, respirators, Bluetooth tracking devices and musical instruments are among the Chinese exports granted a new short-term exemption to trade war tariffs by the United States, its trade department announced on Tuesday.
- China’s coronavirus epicentre Wuhan returns to life, but economic scars run deep — When Wang Dandan moved to Wuhan for a job managing a newly built hotel last summer, she could never have guessed the front seat-view she would have of the city’s battle against the coronavirus pandemic.
Bloomberg
- China May Support Global Vaccine Program That Trump Has Shunned — China hinted on Wednesday it may participate in the same World Health Organization-led global vaccine program that U.S. President Donald Trump said America wants no part of.
- Wheat King Russia Is Missing Out on China’s Buying Spree — Despite ramping up wheat purchases from around the globe, China remains one of the few main markets that Russia is struggling to crack.
- Vaccine Front-Runner Held Back by China’s Spat With Canada — One of the world’s fastest-moving efforts to develop a Covid-19 vaccine is falling behind rivals, its advance appearing to be stymied by political tensions between China and Canada and concerns its shot may not work as well as others.
- China’s Record Oil Imports Slowing as Teapots Use Up Quotas — China’s record haul of crude is poised to end as state-issued allowances for imports dwindle, potentially taking the wind out of the uneven recovery across global oil markets.
- Asian Dollar Bond Sales Seen Slowing After China Record Binge — Asia’s dollar bond issuance looks set to lose momentum after a Chinese-led sales blitz this year, in a development that could help assuage concerns about mounting debt loads.
- China Post Life Is Said to Seek $2.2 Billion in Stake Sale — The life insurance arm of China Post Group Co. is seeking to raise about 15 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) from investors to broaden the state-backed firm’s ownership, people with knowledge of the matter said.
- Kirin Said to Revive Australian Unit Sale After Mengniu Fallout — Kirin Holdings Co. has revived a sale of its Australian beverage unit after scrapping a deal with China Mengniu Dairy Co. amid political strain, according to people familiar with the matter.
- Chinese Shoppers Splash on Luxury Goods, but Still Won’t Eat Out — Chinese consumers are back to binging on luxury handbags, cosmetics and cars. But this shopping enthusiasm is not extending to mass consumption in sporting goods, beer and restaurants.
- Nervous Wait for Australian Commodities as China Bans Escalate — Australia’s commodities industry is nervously watching its biggest trading partner, China, after the Asian behemoth slapped more import restrictions on its agricultural products.
- Tense Berlin Exchange Shows China’s Struggle to Charm Europe — A tense back-and-forth in Berlin on Tuesday showed how a planned Chinese charm offensive in Europe only appears to have backfired.
- Xi Doubles Down on Domestic Focus as U.S. Relations Fray — China’s top leaders next month will lay out their economic strategy for the next five years that will include a new ambition to ramp up domestic consumption and make more critical technology at home in a bid to insulate the world’s second-largest economy from swirling geopolitical tensions.
- China Ratchets Up Australian Trade Tensions With Barley Ban — China gave a further twist to escalating trade tensions with key commodity supplier Australia on Tuesday, halting barley imports from the country’s biggest grain shipping company.
- U.S. and China Should Seek a Truce in TikTok Fight — The world’s two biggest economies need to work on developing shared global rules to govern digital trade flows.
- Oil Rises With Global Economic Data Pointing to Demand Rebound — Oil advanced as expectations for shrinking American crude and gasoline stockpiles added to signals that a demand recovery may be on the horizon in the U.S. and China.
- China’s Stock Market is Rebounding More Broadly Than the U.S. — The record-setting rally in U.S. equities gets all the attention but China’s stock market boasts a broader rebound.
- Lawmakers Seek to Curb U.S. Reliance on China for Rare Earths — U.S. House lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill aimed at reducing dependence on China for rare earths used in everything from electric vehicles to missiles to wind turbines.
- Japan, Australia and India to Launch Supply Chain Initiative — The trade ministers of Japan, India and Australia agreed Tuesday to work toward achieving supply chain resilience in the Indo-Pacific region, following reports that the three nations are looking to work together to counter China’s dominance on trade.
- Geely Auto Moves Closer to Potential $2.9 Billion China Listing — Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd., the Chinese carmaker controlled by Volvo Cars owner Li Shufu, may raise as much as 20 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) via a listing on Shanghai’s Star board.
- Europe Isn’t Immune from U.S.-China Trade Tensions — Tech companies could suffer collateral damage.
- U.S. Opens Economic Front in Campaign to Expand Ties With Taiwan — The U.S.’s decision to launch economic talks with Taiwan opened a new front in Taipei’s effort to push back against increased pressure from Beijing.
- China Broker Pressured H.K. Staff on Virus Test, Union Says — China’s Founder Securities Co. drew criticism from a labor union for pressuring its staff in Hong Kong to participate in the government’s campaign to get everyone in the financial hub tested for the coronavirus.
- China’s Charm Offensive Undermined in Beijing — China is proving to be its own worst enemy in countering the barrage of criticism coming from the U.S. campaign trail.
- Yuan’s Jump to One-Year High Tests China’s Tolerance for Gains — A surge in China’s yuan to a more than one-year high is testing the central bank’s appetite for currency strength.
- Carlyle Buys Stake in Chinese Health-Care Firm for $260 Million — Carlyle Group agreed to invest 1.78 billion yuan ($260 million) to buy a minority stake in Shenzhen Salubris Pharmaceutical Co., bringing its announced investment in health-care companies in Asia this year to almost $1 billion.
Reuters
- India bans 118 mobile apps including Tencent’s PUBG — India has banned another 118 mostly Chinese mobile apps including Tencent Holdings Ltd’s popular videogame PUBG, citing data security concerns, according to a government statement on Wednesday.
- China cabinet approves two nuclear power projects: state media — China’s cabinet approved two nuclear power projects, according to state radio on Wednesday evening, quoting the country’s cabinet meeting.
- China says it will keep prudent monetary policy appropriate and flexible — China will keep its prudent monetary policy appropriate and flexible, state radio quoted the cabinet as saying on Wednesday.
- China will gradually resume direct international flights to Beijing — China’s aviation regulator said on Wednesday it will resume direct flights to Beijing from eight countries including Thailand, Cambodia, Greece, Denmark, Sweden and Canada from Sept. 3.
- UFC says signs deal to prepare Chinese Olympians — The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) said on Wednesday it had signed a multi-year deal to prepare China’s athletes for the next two Olympics at its “Performance Institute” in Shanghai.
- Beijing rejects U.S. report on Chinese warheads — China’s foreign ministry on Wednesday rejected a U.S. report that Beijing was expected to double the number of its nuclear warheads.
- India secures its east after western Himalaya clashes with China — India has moved troops to its eastern stretch of border with China since clashes erupted between the nuclear-armed rivals on the western part of their border in the Himalayas in June, a government official said.
- Solomons province pushes for independence in ‘China switch’ fallout — The large Solomon Islands province of Malaita said it will conduct an independence referendum after rejecting the Pacific nation’s decision last year to cut its association with Taiwan and establish formal ties with China.
- Pompeo hopeful China’s Confucius Institutes will be gone from U.S. by year-end — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday he was hopeful that Chinese Confucius Institute cultural centers on U.S. university campuses would all be shut down by the end of the year.
- Ovintiv ends Duvernay shale joint venture with PetroChina — Oil and gas producer Ovintiv Inc said on Tuesday it would end a nearly eight-year joint venture with China’s state-owned firm PetroChina Co in the Duvernay shale region in west-central Alberta.
- Argentina delays China pork export deal amid environmental protests — Argentina has delayed until November the signing of a memorandum of understanding with China aimed at increasing investment in Argentine hog output, a government source said on Tuesday, citing environmental protests over the planned export deal.
Xinhua
- Factbox: China’s progress in economic resumption — China’s success in controlling COVID-19 means the economy is in a steady revival mode. The following facts and figures indicate how the country is forging ahead in resuming work and production:
- China 2-year treasury bond futures close mixed — China’s two-year treasury bond futures closed lower on Wednesday, with the contract for September 2020 having no trading at closing.
- China’s benchmark power coal price remains flat — China’s benchmark power coal price remained flat during the past week.
- Guangdong carbon market closes lower — Carbon emissions allowances closed at 27.8 yuan (about 4.07 U.S. dollars) per tonne on Wednesday, 1.03 percent down from Tuesday, at China Emissions Exchange (Guangzhou), the largest local carbon market in China.
Other Publications
- AP: In China’s Xinjiang, forced medication accompanies lockdown — The government in China’s far northwest Xinjiang region is resorting to draconian measures to combat the coronavirus, including physically locking residents in homes, imposing quarantines of more than 40 days and arresting those who do not comply. Furthermore, in what experts call a breach of medical ethics, some residents are being coerced into swallowing traditional Chinese medicine, according to government notices, social media posts and interviews with three people in quarantine in Xinjiang.
- Nikkei Asian Review: Trump and COVID force Chinese students to rethink the US — A generation that buoyed the country’s $170bn university sector is leaving.
- Foreign Affairs: American Support for Taiwan Must Be Unambiguous — To keep the peace, make clear to China that force won’t stand.
