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
- Evergrande CEO Sold Bonds Before Profit Warning — Xia Haijun sold bonds for 36 to 52 cents on the dollar.
- At the Winter Olympics, Beijing’s Digital Yuan Push Puts Visa in a Bind — For decades, the U.S. card giant was the only electronic-payments provider at the Games. Not this time.
- China’s Most Popular Olympian May Be a Japanese Figure Skater — Two-time gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu’s devoted following in China flies in the face of history and geopolitics; ‘His face is like jade, his body is like a pine tree.’
The Financial Times
- Evergrande chair breaks silence to rule out asset fire sale — Hui Ka Yan says world’s most indebted developer is working to deliver more than half a million units.
- Winter Olympics star Eileen Gu wins over public and brands by avoiding politics — US-born Chinese skier is the face of the Games but has skirted contentious questions.
- Mandarin Oriental chief pushes for execs to temporarily relocate from Hong Kong — James Riley says most top staff operating from outside city until freedom of movement returns.
- China infrastructure: slower growth means faster state spending — Chinese companies have much to gain as Beijing ramps up the pace of projects.
Caixin
- Evergrande Vows to Finish Half of Units Under Construction This Year — Pledge reflects how one of China’s largest real estate firms is desperate to raise cash to pay bills through housing sales, given its challenges with borrowing money due to default risks.
- In Depth: Why China’s Once Red-Hot Solar Sector Is Cooling — The industry has outrun supply of its chief raw material, and rising prices of downstream components are leaving profitability of new projects at risk.
- Unit of Chinese State-Owned Metals Firm to Buy Zimbabwe Lithium Mine — Sinomine says it has agreed to pay $180 million for a controlling stake in the Bikita project, pending regulatory approval.
- Chinese Banks Required to Strengthen Due Diligence for One-Off Withdrawals Exceeding 50,000 Yuan — Lenders will have to verify the identity of customers under new rules aimed at curbing money laundering and fraud.
South China Morning Post
- ‘Made in China, sold on Amazon’ troubles continue as US$314 million sale of online merchant Patozon drags on — The former owner of Patozon, one of the biggest “made in China, sold on Amazon” merchants, has slapped online fast fashion retailer Shein and another firm with a lawsuit for non-payment of the stakes in that business they had agreed to buy.
- Chip lithography leader ASML flags possible intellectual property infringement by a ‘little giant’ in China — ASML Holdings, the world’s largest supplier of lithography machines used in manufacturing chips, has alleged that a Chinese company could be infringing on its intellectual property (IP) rights.
- Hong Kong prosecutors slap 3 Apple Daily-affiliated firms with colonial-era sedition charge —
- The firms, all involved in the newspaper’s operation before a police crackdown last June, appointed a proxy to appear at West Kowloon Court for the first time during Thursday’s pre-trial hearing before the case was moved to the High Court.
Nikkei Asia
- Analysis: Russia deal gives Xi safety net for potential Taiwan action — Natural gas pipeline enables China to survive Western energy blockade.
- China suspends Lithuanian beef imports as Taiwan row grows — Beijing demands Baltic country to ‘face up to facts’ as Taipei blasts ‘bullying.’
Bloomberg
- Hong Kong Risks Everything With ‘Impossible’ Covid-Zero Policy — Hong Kong is doubling down on a Covid-Zero strategy that has failed almost everywhere else, battering its economy and threatening its status as an international financial center just as much of the world learns to live with the virus.
- ASML Warns Chinese Rival May Be Infringing Its Trade Secrets — ASML Holding NV has warned that an affiliate of a China company it previously accused of stealing its trade secrets has begun marketing products that could infringe on its intellectual property rights.
- India Prohibiting Drone Imports Effectively Blocks China’s DJI — India banned the import of drones, a move that effectively blocks an emerging market for China’s SZ DJI Technology Co., the world’s top dronemaker, and encourages a nascent local industry to ramp up production.
- Why the World Needs China’s Covid-Zero Policy — The alternative is a massive surge in infections and deaths that could bring global supply chains to a halt, sending inflation higher.
Reuters
- New China tariff probe among options considered by Biden – U.S. Chamber — The Biden administration is considering a new China tariff probe if talks fail to persuade Beijing to follow through on promised purchases of U.S. goods, energy and services, officials from the largest U.S. business lobbying group said on Wednesday.
- How a Trump deal got a boost from a China-based financier — New information shows that Cinta and ARC did not just advise Digital World. They also offered money to create Digital World and recruited an executive to help put the company together.
Other Publications
- The Economist: Asia’s superpower does not always collect its debts on time — Thirty-nine developing countries have delayed repayment to China since 2000.
- MIT Technology Review: Meet the scientist at the center of the covid lab leak controversy — Shi Zhengli has spent years at the Wuhan Institute of Virology researching coronaviruses that live in bats. Her work has come under fire as the world tries to understand where covid-19 came from.
- CSIS: China May Move beyond Zero-Covid. That Could Benefit Us All. — China will inevitably move beyond Zero-Covid, a patently unsustainable approach that makes less and less sense as effective treatments arrive and immune protections from vaccines and infection rise elsewhere in the world.