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 Manufacturing Stumbles as U.S. Takes Off — Manufacturing readings out of China are slowing while those out of the U.S. are soaring.
- Biden’s Plans to Rally Allies on China Are Put to the Test — Administration’s bid for a coordinated China strategy finds early gains but also differing interests.
- India Suspects China May Be Behind Major Mumbai Blackout — Officials are investigating whether cyberattacks from China could have caused the power outage, an assertion that China rejects.
- U.S. to Take Hard Line on Chinese Trade Practices, Administration Says — White House said it is committed to using tariffs and other tools to combat alleged unfair trade practices by Beijing.
- China Banking Regulator Sees Risk From ‘Bubble’ in Real-Estate Prices — Guo Shuqing also says global financial markets are out of sync with real-world economic conditions.
- Chinese Developer’s $4.6 Billion in Offshore Debt Is in Doubt After Default — Beijing has grown more tolerant of defaults as it tries to erode assumptions that investors will always be made whole.
The Financial Times
- China’s trade hand remains strong post-Trump — With US’s allies still divided, the era of Chinese ‘strategic opportunity’ has not run its course.
- Ecuador’s exporters caught between US and China after debt deal — Washington had agreed to help Quito pay Beijing to keep Chinese companies out of 5G telecoms network.
- China’s top bank regulator warns of ‘bubble risks’ in foreign markets — Guo Shuqing says country’s property market also shows signs of ‘relatively large’ excesses.
- WHO investigators deeply sceptical of China’s Covid origin theory — Members of Wuhan team say authorities’ claim virus entered city on frozen food highly unlikely.
- Chinese electric carmaker Nio warns of hit from global chip shortage — US-listed shares in China’s leading Tesla challenger slide after quarterly loss widens.
- Jack Ma’s Ant defies pressure from Beijing to share more customer data — Central bank frustrated with drip feed of user information in crackdown following pulled $37bn IPO.
- Jack Ma personifies the contradiction of China’s ideology — The Communist party system needs entrepreneurs but curtails anyone who becomes too powerful.
- Hong Kong protesters defy ban to show support for detained leaders — Demonstrators gather outside court after 47 charged in biggest sweep under new security law.
- Biden pressed for tough response to China’s repression of Uighurs — Some lawmakers call for boycott of winter Olympics in Beijing over its policies in Xinjiang.
The New York Times
- Copying China’s Online Blockade — How other countries’ efforts to control the internet compare with China’s Great Firewall.
Caixin
- After 12 Years, China’s Oldest Ultra-High-Voltage Power Line Can Finally Meet Its Potential — A massive generator designed to supply the line connecting Shanxi and Hubei provinces said it made its first successful transmission.
- Hisense Bets Big on Car Market With $200 Million Bid for Air-Conditioning Maker — Chinese appliance-maker outbids 24 other companies for a controlling stake in Japanese manufacturer Sanden Holdings.
- China Eastern Places 1st Formal Order for Homegrown C919 Jetliner — COMAC’s competitor to A320 and Boeing 737 moves a step closer to commercial deployment as regulators consider final approval.
South China Morning Post
- How does China reopen its borders without losing its grip on Covid-19? — China is facing a dilemma: how to reopen its borders to foreign visitors – as some other nations are considering doing – while stepping up its vaccination programme and relaxing the containment measures it introduced to prevent a resurgence of Covid-19.
- China warns ‘side effects’ of US economic stimulus risk causing sharp market correction — The “side effects” of aggressive economic stimulus policies in the United States and other developed countries have started to surface in the US stock market, China’s top financial regulator warned on Tuesday, saying officials in Beijing were “very worried” that foreign asset bubbles could burst soon.
- China extends lead over US for international patent applications, UN agency says — China, which last year overtook the United States as the world’s top filer of international patents – a key measure of technical innovation – increased its lead significantly in 2020, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
Bloomberg
- China’s Nio Misses Profit Forecast Even as Vehicles Sales Grow — Chinese electric-vehicle upstart Nio Inc. posted a wider-than-expected loss in the fourth quarter, a year after a government cash injection saved the company from bankruptcy.
- Biden Trade Pick Tai Pledges to Ensure China Tariffs Appropriate — President Joe Biden’s nominee for trade chief said she’d work to ensure that tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on billions of dollars of imported Chinese goods are appropriate, signaling no immediate changes to the levies.
Reuters
- Chinese fintech platforms expected to meet capital requirements within two years: regulator — China’s financial technology companies are expected to meet capital adequacy requirements within a maximum of two years, said Guo Shuqing, head of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) on Tuesday.
- U.S. doubles down on protecting university research from China — A U.S. national security commission is recommending that American universities take steps to prevent sensitive technology from being stolen by the Chinese military, a sign of growing concerns over the security of academic research.
- U.S. panel recommends export ‘choke points’ to prevent Chinese dominance in semiconductors — A U.S. national security commission on Monday recommended Congress tighten up “choke points” on chipmaking technology to prevent China from overtaking the United States in semiconductors in the coming years.
Other Publications
- POLITICO: China wants to dominate AI. The US and Europe need each other to tame it. — Political leaders in the U.S. and Europe are becoming increasingly alarmed by China’s use of artificial intelligence to track its people and engage in other authoritarian behavior. But so far, the long-time allies are not united over rules for the rapidly evolving technology.
- Tech in Asia: Sea Group allocates $1b to new fund Sea Capital to manage investments — Sea Group announced that it has acquired Composite Capital Management, a Hong Kong-based firm founded by former Hillhouse Capital partner David Ma.
- AP News: Chinese vaccines sweep much of the world, despite concerns — The plane laden with vaccines had just rolled to a stop at Santiago’s airport in late January, and Chile’s president, Sebastián Piñera, was beaming. “Today,” he said, “is a day of joy, emotion and hope.”
- The DIplomat: China Responds to Bloodshed in Myanmar With Deafening Silence — Beijing has a stated preference for no violence in Myanmar, but the deadly crackdown on February 28 was not enough to provoke China’s condemnation.
- Nikkei Asian Review: China steel imports surge 150% in 2020 on economic stimulus boost — Asian producers reap big benefits but supply glut fears persist.
- Nikkei Asian Review: Who will be the battery powerhouse? China, Japan and the West compete — From lithium to assembly, a global dash is on to secure supply chains.
