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 Slashes Rates, Suspends Youth Jobless Data as Economy Signals Sharper Downturn — Retail sales, factory output miss expectations as overall urban unemployment rises.
- Why the White House Went to Wall Street to Revive the U.S. Chips Industry — Talent from Goldman Sachs, KKR and Blackstone will help determine how $39 billion in semiconductor chip subsidies are allocated.
- China’s Economic—and Social—Contract Is Fraying — Chinese households’ confidence in Beijing’s policies has been shattered.
- China Evergrande’s EV Unit to Get Cash Injection From Dubai Automaker — Chinese property developer’s auto business says NWTN’s $500 million investment would help it meet funding needs.
- Opinion: China Will Hunt You Down — Laos arrests Lu Siwei, a Chinese human-rights lawyer, en route to the U.S. By The Editorial Board
The Financial Times
- China stops reporting youth unemployment as economic pressures mount — Central bank cuts key interest rate to lowest since 2014 as growth slows in retail sales and industrial output.
- Brics creator slams ‘ridiculous’ idea for common currency — Jim O’Neill questions emerging nations bloc’s achievements as it considers expansion.
- Opinion: China is becoming more trouble than it’s worth for US investment banks — Selling shares in Chinese companies offshore used to be a money-spinner — but that’s no longer the case. By Kaye Wiggins
- Opinion: US industry is getting its way on China — Biden administration officials were keen to stress the limited scope of new rules announced in last week’s executive order. By Oren Cass
The New York Times
- China Suspends Youth Unemployment Report — The Chinese government said it would no longer release monthly data about unemployment in young people, which had risen each month this year and reached 21.3 percent.
- Opinion: Xi, Putin and the Perils of Aging Autocrats — The next decade or two will likely bring leadership changes in China and Russia that could play a role in resetting their relationships with the West. By Michael Beckley
Caixin
- In Depth: TikTok’s Foray Into Southeast Asian E-Commerce Is No Slam Dunk — TikTok, the world’s biggest short-video app, is pushing into the e-commerce business in Southeast Asia, stirring a new round of competition in the fast-growing market.
- Weakening Trade Pushes Down Shipping Rates Between China and ASEAN — Container shipping rates between China and Southeast Asia slumped 30% in the last five months as trade between the two markets slows down, highlighting weakening global demand.
- China Reveals Plan to Boost Capital Inflows, Attract Foreign Firms — The 24-guideline document, issued by the State Council on Sunday, said China will step up efforts to draw offshore investment to key sectors, such as tech and biomedicine.
South China Morning Post
- New generation of leaders may be best hope for US-China relations, says ex-Obama adviser — Ryan Hass said it is hard to imagine a better future at present, but the best-case scenario would be the emergence of leaders who want to move on from the past.
- E-commerce giant JD.com denies that founder Richard Liu and wife have moved to the US from China — The Chinese e-commerce giant has also rejected rumours that the couple bought more than US$100 million worth of luxury property in the US.
- Chinese tech giant Xiaomi reasserts goal to compete against Apple’s iPhone, but downplays ambition to become world’s largest smartphone vendor — Xiaomi founder and chief executive Lei Jun said using Apple’s iPhone as a benchmark will enable the company to ‘catch up and beat it one day’.
- China surprisingly cuts major policy rate by 15 basis points, signalling support for struggling economy — The People’s Bank of China cut the rate of the one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) on Tuesday, while also lowering the seven-day reverse repo rate.
- Top Chinese EV maker BYD opts out of deal to use Baidu’s autonomous driving technology, sources say — BYD has walked away from a deal to equip its EVs with Baidu’s autonomous driving technology, as the world’s leading EV maker pursues in-house development of such software, two sources said.
Nikkei Asia
- China real estate slump deepens with 8.5% investment drop — January-July figure reflects ‘difficulties’ among developers as cash dries up.
- Tesla assures Chinese drivers their data is stored locally — Automaker takes to social media after airport reportedly bans its EVs from parking lot.
- China’s industrial production growth slowed to 3.7% in July — Infrastructure projects support output; Beijing stops reporting youth jobless data.
Bloomberg
- Surprise China Rate Cut Only Highlights Tough Choices Facing Xi — President Xi Jinping has resisted pulling the trigger on a major stimulus to revive the world’s second-biggest economy. The grim market reaction to a surprise rate cut shows investors want to see him take much bolder steps.
- China Vows Sweeping Anti-Graft Campaign in Health Care Crackdown — An anti-corruption campaign in China’s health sector is gathering steam as regulators says their efforts will cover everything from drug companies and manufacturing to hospitals and its medical insurance fund.
- China Mulls Stamp Duty Cut to Revive Slumping Stock Market — Chinese authorities are considering cutting the stamp duty on stock trades for the first time since 2008, people familiar with the matter said, in what would be a major attempt to revive confidence in the world’s second-largest equity market.
- Taiwan Regulator Seeks Urgent Feedback on China Investment Risk — Taiwan’s financial regulator is asking life insurance companies to urgently report on their current positions and assess risks stemming from growing turmoil in China’s financial markets, according to people familiar with the matter.
Reuters
- Taiwan sees no Chinese military response to VP’s US trip — Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Tuesday it has not seen large-scale exercises or any other action by the Chinese military near the island after China condemned a brief U.S. visit by Taiwan Vice President William Lai.
- China’s livestreaming attracts young hopefuls as competition grows — Only a few months after beginning her career as a livestream sales host in January, Zhang Jinyu, 28, a former model and blogger with a master’s degree in fashion management, had clocked hundreds of hours of broadcasting time working with brands such as YSL Beauty.
- Heeding Beijing’s call, law firms tone down China risks in IPO applications — Law firms in China are scrambling to comply with Beijing’s new guidance to tone down the language used to describe China-related business risks in companies’ offshore listing documents, five people familiar with the matter said.
Other Publications
- The National Interest: How China Shifted Gears on Electric Vehicles—and Why It Matters — China’s ascent in the EV market marks the first instance in history where a country with a political regime and ideological values that differ from the democratic West is gaining momentum in a key industry representing the pinnacle of large-scale production.
- Washington Post: Chinese spies who read State Dept. email also hacked GOP congressman — Rep. Don Bacon said he was told of the hacking Monday; he pledged to ‘work overtime’ to win passage of an aid package for Taiwan.
- Politico: The Vanishing of a Chinese ‘Wolf Warrior’ Diplomat — Qin Gang’s untimely departure from leadership underscores how tenuous the very fates of senior Chinese officials and leaders are.
- Foreign Policy: Opinion: Purges Don’t Move Policy in China — Personnel are secondary in a Xi-dominated system. By Michael Rowand
