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
- Bitter Alaska Meeting Complicates Already Shaky U.S.-China Ties — A divisive exchange between senior foreign policy officials exposes the deepening distrust between the powers.
- U.S., India Vow to Deepen Defense Ties — Trip by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is part of an effort by the Biden administration to strengthen alliances to counter China.
- China Tries Michael Kovrig, Second Canadian at Center of Diplomatic Standoff — Espionage trial of researcher began days after a similar hearing for Canadian Michael Spavor.
- U.S., China Climate Envoys to Meet Despite Frosty Alaska Talks — Tuesday’s meeting tests a Biden administration strategy to engage on climate while competing in other areas.
- How Pinduoduo Beat Alibaba to Become China’s Top Shopping Site — Five-year-old company is first challenger to loosen Alibaba and JD.com’s stranglehold over online consumption in the country.
- Elon Musk Says Tesla Won’t Share Data From Its Cars With China or U.S. — Beijing has restricted use of Tesla cars by military personnel or employees of some state-owned companies over national-security concerns.
- China’s Warning to Biden — A lecture in Alaska shows that adversaries sense U.S. weakness.
The Financial Times
- Canada denied entry to Beijing trial of former diplomat — Michael Kovrig was arrested in apparent retaliation for 2018 detention of Huawei CFO.
- Historic EU sanctions on China to herald tough decisions to come — Bloc must negotiate complex relations with Beijing as US pressure for action grows.
- Hong Kong promises investors its prized tax haven status is secure — Political pressures and budget deficits spark fears territory might need to raise revenue.
- Tencent spent more than Alibaba on start-ups in 2020 — Minority stakes have helped avoid scrutiny from Beijing but this may change.
- Global investors seek freeze on China chip champion’s foreign assets — Tsinghua Unigroup’s debt woes hit Xi Jinping’s push for semiconductor self-reliance.
- Bitter summit shows no reset in chilly US-China relations — Biden team continues confrontational Trump approach but does not rule out co-operation.
- China suffers relapse to era of poor air quality — Dust particles interact with rising fossil fuel emissions to create extreme pollution episodes.
- Alaska meeting ends without breakthrough in US-China relations — ‘Candid’ first talks between Biden administration and Beijing started with public spat.
- Australia can teach the UK a lesson in Chinese wrath — London may have to learn the hard way that it cannot have its cake and eat it with Beijing.
The New York Times
- Michael Kovrig, Canadian Accused of Spying, Is Tried in China — Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, was tried in secret, Canadian officials said. Two dozen diplomats were barred from the courtroom.
- Think Covid’s Messed Up Your Travel Plans? Try Getting Into China. — To keep the virus out, Beijing has enacted some of the world’s toughest border controls. Lives have been upended, and business has been disrupted.
- Hong Kong, Its Elections Upended, Reconsiders Its Dream of Democracy — The promise of universal suffrage has animated the city’s politics for decades. Beijing’s latest moves could finally extinguish that hope.
- Biden Clashes With China and Russia in First 60 Days — It may look like the bad old days of the Cold War, but today’s bitter superpower competition is about technology, cyberconflict and influence operations.
Caixin
- JPMorgan to Take 10% Stake in China Merchants Bank’s Wealth Management Arm — The tie-up is the latest in a string of investments in the sector by foreign financial institutions.
- Suning.com-Controlled Carrefour China Eyes Potential IPO and Seeks New Strategic Investors — Retailer’s hunt for new investment comes amid mounting liquidity pressures for its parent, which recently received partial bailout from enterprises controlled by Shenzhen municipal government.
- Cover Story: What Will Suning Have to Sell Next? — Chinese retailing giant still faces massive debts even after Shenzhen government bailout and may have to unload financial or logistics units.
- ByteDance Gaming Unit Agrees to Acquire Mobile Legends Developer — ByteDance said on Monday that its gaming subsidiary Nuverse has signed an agreement to acquire Moonton, a Shanghai-based mobile game developer focusing on overseas markets, in the latest demonstration of the TikTok owner’s commitment to the competitive but lucrative gaming business.
South China Morning Post
- Seoul’s budding military ties with Beijing hit a snag as it tries to stay on Washington’s good side — South Korea’s budding military ties with China may hit a snag due to the rivalry between its ally the United States and an increasingly assertive Beijing, analysts say, at a time when Seoul needs Washington’s cooperation as it bids to resume the denuclearisation process with North Korea.
- China’s semiconductors: How Wuhan’s challenger to Chinese chip champion SMIC turned from dream to nightmare — When Cao Shan promised he could build a chip plant to challenge China’s reigning chip champion, Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), the Wuhan local government was quick to jump on board.
- China-Australia relations: Beijing set to dominate refined oil exports in Asia-Pacific region, observers say — A rapid increase in China’s crude oil refinery capacity will see it dominate exports in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly to Australia where there are concerns of a vulnerability in the supply chain, analysts say.
- Baidu, once seen as China’s answer to Google, hopes for a second chance in smart vehicles ahead of secondary listing in Hong Kong — When Baidu launched its initial public offering on the Nasdaq in 2005 it was widely hailed as China’s answer to Google, and it would later follow the California-based giant into the field of artificial intelligence, but today the Chinese company’s market valuation is only 6.3 per cent the size of Google’s.
- Alibaba Cloud launches its first personal cloud product, challenging Baidu and Tencent — Alibaba Cloud, the data backbone of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, has launched its first personal cloud product Alibaba Cloud Drive, challenging established players like Baidu and Tencent Holdings in China.
Bloomberg
- EU Imposes Sanctions Against China Over Human Rights Abuses — The European Union signed off on a slate of punitive measures over human rights abuses including sanctions aimed at China.
- China Confronted by Show of Western Unity at Canadian’s Trial — More than 20 Western diplomats staged a public show of unity outside a Canadian’s high-profile spying trial in China, highlighting their shared concern about the risk of arbitrary detention in the country.
- America’s Corn Belt Looks Like It’s Safe From U.S.-China Spat — High-level talks between officials from Beijing and Washington may have broken down into bickering, but American farmers are still selling boatloads of corn to Chinese importers.
- Taiwan’s Export Orders Keep Soaring on Robust Tech Demand — Taiwan’s exporters overcame a traditional lull over the Lunar New Year holiday to continue their strong start to the year as overseas demand for their products registered a fourth straight month of double-digit growth.
- IPO Mania Fizzles in Hong Kong as Mega First-Day Pops Fade — The days of the massive first-day pop in Hong Kong’s initial public offering frenzy may be nearing an end.
- China May Be Taking Rebranded Iran Oil Amid Increased Scrutiny — China released data that showed it imported no Iranian crude for the first time in months, a sign that oil from the U.S.-sanctioned nation may be masked as supplies from other countries.
- Aramco Aims to Partner With China on Blue Hydrogen, CEO Says — Saudi Aramco plans to “expand and intensify” cooperation with China on research in areas including hydrogen and ammonia production from natural gas, according to Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser.
- Niall Ferguson: A Taiwan Crisis May End the American Empire — America is a diplomatic fox, while Beijing is a hedgehog fixated on the big idea of reunification.
Reuters
- EU imposes China sanctions over Xinjiang abuses; first in three decades — The European Union imposed sanctions on Monday on four Chinese officials, including a top security director, for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, the first sanctions against Beijing since an arms embargo in 1989 following the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
- China’s JD.com to invest $800 million in Dada Group — China’s JD.Com said on Monday it would invest $800 million in on-demand delivery platform Dada Group, following which the e-commerce firm will own about 51% of Dada.
- China seeks to rein in mobile apps’ collection of personal data — China’s cyber watchdog said on Monday mobile app providers cannot deny users basic access to their services even if they decline to share non-essential personal information, in the government’s latest attempt to curb the sprawling technology sector.
Other Publications
- POLITICO: U.S. and allies set to announce coordinated sanctions on China over Uyghurs ‘genocide’. — The United States, Canada, Britain, and the European Union are set to announce an array of sanctions on China on Monday over what U.S. officials have called a genocidal campaign against Uyghur Muslims, according to two people familiar with the issue.
- The Diplomat: Australian Parliamentary Debate Condemns China over Uyghur Abuses — The motion can be interpreted as a parliamentary release valve for the growing pressure around matters of human rights in China.
- Axios: U.S. and China discussed climate change, but did not form working group — A delegation for the Biden administration “discussed the climate crisis” with Chinese counterparts during talks in Alaska this week, but the two sides did not form a working group on the issue, contrary to a Chinese media report, a State Department spokesperson tells Axios.
