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
- Tesla to Locate China Design Center in Beijing — The electric-car maker’s placement for the center, which it first disclosed in 2020, was cited in a Beijing government document.
- FDA Advisers Say Agency Shouldn’t Approve China-Developed Cancer Drug Now — The experts voted 14 to 1 that Eli Lilly and its Chinese partner conduct more testing before the FDA approves the lung-cancer immunotherapy.
- Chip Famine Is a Feast for China’s SMIC — Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., China’s largest foundry, is bringing in record revenue but spending big, too.
- Mystery Plane Tests ‘Loophole’ in Taiwan’s Defenses — Military experts say buzzing of remote island is likely first incursion of Taiwanese territorial airspace by noncommercial Chinese aircraft in decades.
- At Winter Olympics, China Seeks to Dial Down Anti-Athlete Vitriol a Notch — Authorities rein in online attacks on a U.S.-born Chinese figure skater as Beijing plays host to the world.
The Financial Times
- Chinese developers selling off more London property to raise cash — Shanghai-based Greenland is latest to exit with £40mn sale of Ram Brewery site.
- Nixon in China: are there lessons for today’s leaders? — Jane Perlez beat Nixon to China by five years. Here she charts the tale of a historic rapprochement — and its unravelling.
- China’s vaping queen is dethroned as Beijing targets tobacco — Xi Jinping’s reform campaign will be tested by state interests in $235bn industry.
- Beijing ready to implement harsher Covid lockdown on Hong Kong — Chinese government worried officials in financial hub are not doing enough to quash outbreak.
- China semiconductors/SMIC: longer waits for new cars mean higher profits — As most auto companies warn of longer delivery times, chipmaker’s shares could soon stage a reversal.
- Tales from the Beijing Winter Olympics bubble — Inside the ‘closed loop’: the Games are showing just how far China will go to keep Covid at bay.
The New York Times
- F.D.A. Panel Rejects Lilly’s Cancer Drug Tested Only in China — The panel debated whether overseas trials could be applied to a more diverse U.S. population. The decision may affect other Chinese drug trials, and spotlights the high cost of immunotherapy.
- What’s black and white, weighs half a pound and is popular in China? — Nobody expected a shortage of stuffed pandas when China won the rights to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. But a week into the Games, the Chinese public now appears interested in little else.
- As Other Hot Spots Boil, U.S. Shows Its Foreign Policy Focus Is Asia — Antony Blinken’s Asia-Pacific trip during the crisis with Russia and Ukraine signals that the U.S. is committing to the world’s largest region — and to competition with China.
Caixin
- Chinese Firms Press Ahead With U.S. Listing Plans Despite Regulatory Uncertainties — At least 15 companies with the controversial VIE structure have pushed forward their IPO plans, in what analysts say could be a move to go public before the rules get tougher
- Chipmaker SMIC Reports High Profit Amid Global Shortage — The contract chip manufacturer saw gross profit margins grow to 35% in the fourth quarter from 18% in the same period of 2020
- Hong Kong-Traded GCL-Poly Energy Plans Mainland Share Sale — Solar power equipment maker may join rush of rivals into the A-share market, where investors favor the sector more than those in Hong Kong and the U.S.
South China Morning Post
- Online fashion giant Shein plans US$2 billion global supply chain base in Chinese port hub — Shein, the fast-growing Chinese fast-fashion online retailer, plans to invest 15 billion yuan (US$2.3 billion) to build a global supply chain centre in Guangzhou, a new government plan revealed.
- China population: Beijing pledges support for empty nesters as ageing crisis gathers speed — China has vowed to provide special care for elderly empty nesters, as concern grows over the nation’s fast-ageing population.
- ‘No excuse to ignore us’, say Hong Kong residents still waiting to receive medical treatment after testing positive for Covid-19 — Hong Kong residents who remained at home for a week after testing positive for the coronavirus have complained about the government’s lack of response to their plight, saying they are still waiting to receive medical treatment.
Nikkei Asia
- Follow the money: China adds scrutiny to deposits, withdrawals — New rules on $8,000 bank transactions said to target money laundering.
- China plans events with U.S. to mark 50th anniversary of Nixon visit — Beijing seeks to ease tensions but also takes swipe at Biden’s involvement with Taiwan.
Bloomberg
- China’s Edutech Crackdown Expands to High-School Tutoring — China’s government banned online tutoring firms from offering high-school curriculum classes during a current holiday, expanding a crackdown that has decimated a large portion of the country’s $100 billion private edutech industry.
- When Will China Be the World’s Biggest Economy? Maybe Never — A debt crisis, international isolation, and a shrinking population are some variables that could block Beijing’s quest to lead the world.
- Hong Kong’s New Covid Rules Face Resistance From Weary Public — Hong Kong’s escalating campaign to stamp out its biggest ever Covid outbreak is facing resistance from a population that’s distrustful of the government and weary of a zero-tolerance strategy that much of the world has abandoned.
Reuters
- Record Hong Kong COVID infections strain hospitals, China pledges support — New daily infections rose to at least 1,325 on Friday, health authorities said. “Our healthcare system is overloaded, it’s really beyond capacity,” said Chuang Shuk-kwan, a senior health official.
- ILO seeks changes to China’s ‘discriminatory’ labour policies in Xinjiang — An International Labour Organization committee has expressed “deep concern” about China’s policies in Xinjiang, calling them discriminatory and asking Beijing to bring its employment practices into line with global standards.
- Review: Hollywood’s China tragedy, in three acts — Few corporate sagas can top Hollywood’s sordid and ultimately failed romance with China. Erich Schwartzel’s “Red Carpet: Hollywood, China and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy” is a classic cautionary tale that has yet to fully play out.
Other Publications
- The Economist: Wang Huning’s career reveals much about political change in China — He has shaped the leaders’ defining policies for more than two decades.
- The Economist: The good and the bad of China on Olympic show — As Beijing hosts the winter games, a mood of pride mixed with defiance.
- The Economist: British regulators have approved a Chinese reactor design — It is unlikely to be built.
- Grid News: Was your T-shirt made using forced labor? A new U.S. law takes aim at ‘made in Xinjiang’ — It’s the most significant effort yet to address forced labor in China; it’s also a challenge for U.S. companies and their supply chains.
- The Washington Post: Opinion: Biden doesn’t want to change China. He wants to beat it. — Restraining China is now a multi-administration, bipartisan strategy that stands among the most important foreign policy adjustments since the end of the Cold War. By Josh Rogin
- Foreign Affairs: A Rival of America’s Making? — The Debate Over Washington’s China Strategy. By G. John Ikenberry; Andrew J. Nathan; Susan Thornton; Sun Zhe; and John J. Mearsheimer
