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
- U.S. Launches Initiatives to Boost Economic Ties With Taiwan — As tensions grow with China, the Biden administration is forging closer ties to Taiwan in areas such as trade and supply chains.
- To Draw Asia Closer, U.S. Tries an Alternative to Traditional Trade Pacts — Indo-Pacific Economic Framework aims to align technology and supply-chain policies, but some countries seek access to U.S. market.
- Shanghai Ready to Exit Lockdown as Covid Cases Drop — After two months of lockdowns, China’s financial capital attempts return to normalcy.
- Video: Shanghai Celebrates Reopening as Beijing’s Zero-Covid Plan Stays in Place — Shanghai is China’s most populated city with more than 25 million residents.
The Financial Times
- US and Taiwan launch trade ‘initiative’ — ‘Road map’ falls short of Taipei’s hopes for full deal and inclusion in regional framework.
- Apple iPads: Vietnamese switch will fortify a vulnerable supply chain — Shift away from China will protect tech company against political interference.
- Shanghai retailers prepare for shopping spree as Covid restrictions ease — Lockdowns across Chinese cities to combat Omicron have led to a sharp economic slowdown.
- Ardern and Biden forge closer security ties after China’s Pacific push — New Zealand takes firmer stance after trying to strike balance between trade and Beijing threat.
- China’s exports suffer reversal of fortune as world shakes off Covid lockdowns — Shift in global consumption back to services threatens Beijing’s ability to reach growth target.
- Just say no — China has sprung a debt trap on many developing countries.
The New York Times
- Biden Administration Begins Trade Dialogue With Taiwan — Talks with the self-governing island that China claims as its territory aim to challenge Chinese trade practices and are sure to irritate Beijing.
- Relief, Reunions and Some Anxiety as Shanghai (Mostly) Reopens — With daily infections in low double digits, there’s pressure to shake the city back to life, reviving the factories, companies and supply lines vital to China’s economy.
Caixin
- Bank of International Settlements Names China’s Zhang Tao as Asia-Pacific Head — The appointment will make Zhang the first Chinese national to join the BIS’ senior management team in its 92-year history.
- In Depth: Millions of China’s Migrant Workers Find Themselves Shunned in Old Age — Despite years of contributions to their adopted cities, these workers are getting cut off by the labor market due to stricter hiring and workplace safety policies.
- China Eases Package Tour Restrictions to Aid Battered Industry — Groups will only be barred from traveling to specific cities with cases, rather than whole regions.
South China Morning Post
- China’s supercomputer Sunway TaihuLight falls to sixth place amid reluctance to share data over US sanctions fears — China’s supercomputing research institutions no longer submit data to the Top500 list because of worsening relationship with the US, a scientist said after the US came in No 1 with its Frontier system.
- Ant Group appoints HKEX chairman Laura Cha as independent director as restructuring to meet state concerns nears completion — The reshuffle comes as a state-directed overhaul of Ant nears completion and after China signalled an easing of a months-long Big Tech crackdown.
- Alibaba is best-paying tech firm in China but Oppo, Tencent more generous with bonuses, survey finds — Alibaba is the best-paying tech firm in China, with an average monthly salary of US$5,000, ahead of ByteDance and Tencent Holdings, but Oppo and Tencent are more generous with bonuses, a survey finds.
Nikkei Asia
- All for one: U.S. enlists its Asian allies in defense of Taiwan — Washington fears a possible Chinese invasion by 2027. It will need all the help it can get.
- Apple to shift iPad capacity to Vietnam amid China supply chain woes — U.S. tech giant asks suppliers to build up extra inventory as contingency plan.
- Oaktree still sees chance in China’s distressed debt, co-founder says — Howard Marks optimistic but warns of risk in Beijing siding with Moscow.
Bloomberg
- Hong Kong Backpedals on Home Quarantine as Variants Flare — Hong Kong is reviving one of its toughest Covid Zero measures, forcing patients with even mild infections caused by the new omicron sub-variants and their close contacts into centralized quarantine to tame any spread.
- Beijing Says US Supply Chain Curbs Sabotage China’s Development — The United States is “over-stretching” the concept of national security by imposing supply chain sanctions on China to stymie its growth, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian.
- Chinese Firm That Accused NSA of Hacking Has Global Ambitions — For years, the US government and American cybersecurity companies have alleged that China is behind brazen hacks that have pilfered troves of sensitive documents.
Reuters
- U.S. investigates Chinese companies over export sanction issues — The Biden administration is actively considering adding new Chinese companies to the government’s economic blacklist as it investigates what it calls efforts by China to evade U.S. sanctions.
- China says a third of electricity will come from renewables by 2025 — China will aim to ensure that its grids source about 33% of power from renewable sources by 2025, up from 28.8% in 2020, the state planning agency said.
- HSBC plans $448 mln investment in Chinese business – Xinhua — In the rare interview with Xinhua, Quinn said the Chinese investment would be carried out over a five-year period running until 2025 without specifying the divisions that would receive the cash.
Other Publications
- The Economist: China’s spies are not always as good as advertised — They are adept at hacking and harassing dissidents. But in other areas they have a lot to learn.
- The Washington Post: Taiwan offered hope after they fled Hong Kong. Now, they’re leaving again. — People from Hong Kong see their long-term residency applications rejected by Taiwan over ties to China — the place they escaped.
- Associated Press: Report: China bars Russian airlines with foreign planes — China has barred Russia’s airlines from flying foreign-owned jetliners into its airspace, the Russian news outlet RBK reported, after President Vladimir Putin threw the aircrafts’ ownership into doubt by allowing them to be re-registered in Russia to avoid seizure under sanctions over Moscow’s attack on Ukraine.
