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
- Apple Held Talks With China’s Baidu Over AI for Its Devices — The iPhone maker has been exploring using external partners to help accelerate its artificial-intelligence ambitions.
- Foreign Direct Investment in China Continues to Fall — Foreign direct investment in China dropped, continuing a fall that started after economic growth plateaued amid a prolonged property downturn and weak domestic demand.
- Why China’s Middle Class Is Losing Its Confidence — For years, China’s new generation of middle class were able to take a booming economy for granted. Their increasing nervousness could be a major problem for Beijing.
- Meituan Posts Profit on Travel, Consumption Rebound — Meituan reported a profit on higher revenue, as Chinese consumption continued to recover and local businesses rebounded.
- Beijing Concerned Funds From Liquidity Boosts Aren’t Finding Borrowers — China’s policymakers are growing concerned that intensified monetary policy support has led to excessive liquidity in the banking system that isn’t being funneled into the real economy.
- The Tea Shops Bubbling Up Hong Kong’s Anemic IPO Market — Hong Kong’s IPO market was once the biggest in the world. Now, its great hope is bubble tea with at least four Chinese stores that sell bubble tea preparing to go public in the city, where nine companies have listed shares so far this year.
- China’s Xi Jinping to Woo U.S. CEOs in Beijing — The Chinese leader plans to meet a group of American business leaders after a government-sponsored forum in Beijing, amid an exodus of foreign capital.
The Financial Times
- Global CEOs flock to China as tensions mount over export glut — Apple’s Tim Cook, ExxonMobil’s Darren Woods and HSBC’s Noel Quinn head to Beijing for annual development forum.
The New York Times
- In One Key A.I. Metric, China Pulls Ahead of the U.S.: Talent — China has produced a huge number of top A.I. engineers in recent years. New research shows that, by some measures, it has already eclipsed the United States.
- Apple Lawsuits: A Look at the Many Challenges Facing the Tech Giant — The Justice Department’s lawsuit against Apple is the latest in a series of regulatory actions that are hitting the tech giant at the same time.
Caixin
- Analysts Warn of Growing Risks in China’s Bond Bull Market — An increasing amount of short-term money in the market means any rumor can cause volatility, Huatai Securities researchers say.
- Ant Group Completes Microloan Business Reshuffle — Separating Huabei and Jiebei is a key part of bringing Ant Group back into line after the abrupt suspension of its $34.5 billion IPO.
- China State-Owned Investment Firm’s 30-Year Bond is Oversubscribed as Investors Queue Up — Ultra-long-term bonds are attracting investors in China as, with interest rates falling, they bear lower risk while offering higher returns.
- Geely-Backed Auto Suppliers Unveil 7nm Smart Drive Chip to Rival Nvidia — The AD1000 is a super-fast chip designed specifically for self-drive cars with a maximum computing power that is comparable to Nvidia’s Orin chip.
- CGN to Start Building Southeast Asia’s Largest Clean Energy Facility in Laos — Electricity generated in the Laos renewable energy base will be transferred to ease shortages in South China’s Yunnan province.
South China Morning Post
- China’s Australian coal imports surge, replacing Russia as top supplier, but hi-tech products to be ‘slow burner’ — China’s imports of Australian coal increased by 3,188 per cent year on year to US$1.34 billion in the first two months of 2024 amid improving relations between Beijing and Canberra.
- US ‘may be sending strong message’ to China with hypersonic missile test as arms race heats up — US and China likely to continue developing hypersonic weapons while also improving their defensive capabilities to neutralise these systems.
- Chinese chip maker SMIC ‘potentially’ broke US law to make Huawei’s 7-nm smartphone processor, lawmaker says — A senior US official reiterated that SMIC’s 7-nm semiconductor process is ‘low-yield’, but said he cannot comment on potential investigations.
- Russia’s car tycoons look to China for a lifeline to restart production in bid to nurture Europe’s biggest vehicle market — Russian carmakers are seeking to restart output in a country that produced some 1.5 million vehicles annually before the war and once aimed to become Europe’s biggest auto market.
- Chinese Big Tech firms from Tencent to Kuaishou tout advancing generative AI models in race to catch up — Comments made by top executives this earnings season have offered a glimpse into the progress made by China’s Big Tech firms, after US start-up OpenAI launched in late 2022 its groundbreaking ChatGPT.
Nikkei Asia
- China’s Ping An hit by $2.7bn loss in asset management business — The red ink sheds light into ongoing investor concerns as the major private insurer adjusts future investment return assumptions downward, citing the need for a more cautious approach.
- India pharma quality lapses force U.S. to look to China for vital drugs — Toxic medications, burned records, analog systems dim prospects for world’s third largest pharmacy.
- China chip expo shows investment buildup amid plans for huge new fund — At this week’s Semicon China expo in Shanghai, state-owned Naura Technology Group appeared to tout in a video that there are machines in China that can handle the 7-nanometer production process that makes chips used in smartphones.
- Opinion: China’s Indian land grab has become a strategic disaster — Xi Jinping faces dilemma in resolving crisis without losing face. By Brahma Chellaney.
Bloomberg
- Philippines Says China Made Risky Sea Moves, Used Chopper — The Philippines said China made dangerous moves and deployed a chopper during Manila’s research mission to South China Sea, the latest flare-up in lingering tensions between the two nations over disputed waters.
- China Scrutinizes PwC Role in $78 Billion Evergrande Fraud Case — Chinese authorities are examining the role of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in China Evergrande Group’s accounting practices after the developer was accused of a $78 billion fraud.
- China Urges Lilly to Boost Investing Amid US Cutoff Threat — China’s top trade official vowed to create vast opportunities for international pharmaceutical companies even as the US works to cut those ties.
- Huawei Tests Brute-Force Method for Making More Advanced Chips — Huawei Technologies Co. and a secretive chipmaking partner in China have filed patents for a low-tech but potentially effective way to make advanced semiconductors.
- PetroChina Set to Take Venezuelan Oil After US Sanctions Eased — PetroChina Co. is set to receive a cargo of Venezuelan oil, which will be used at its mega refinery in Guangdong, after the US rolled back sanctions on the OPEC producer late last year.
Reuters
- Tencent’s next level up: fewer big foreign franchise games, more in-house — The redeployment of resources highlights the trends forcing a strategic pivot at Tencent. Firstly, developing big-name Western franchises for mobile phones tends to yield thin margins.
- EU, US discussed how to address China’s role as conduit for goods to Russia — The EU has imposed sanctions on some entities in China and Hong Kong that it sees as part of procurement networks for buying European products for export to Russia, and will continue to do so.
- Exclusive: UK’s Legal & General shelves China business licence plan, cuts headcount, sources say — L&G did not comment on the business licence shelving or the job cuts when Reuters sought a response but said that China remained “an important and large market opportunity for asset management over the long term”.
- Australia, Britain call out China for Hong Kong, South China Sea and Russia support — China, which claims almost all of the South China Sea, has repeatedly warned neighbouring countries to refrain from violating its territorial sovereignty.
The Economist
- America is concerned about social media. China is, too — Most Chinese get their news from such platforms. The Communist Party is paying attention.
- China’s low-fertility trap — The one-child policy may be gone, but its harmful effects linger.
- Even China’s own state media sometimes resent state control — Censorship of a deadly explosion causes ructions among local journalists.
- TikTok is not the only Chinese app thriving in America — What happens to them if the short-video sensation is banned?
Other Publications
- ProPublica: A Diplomat’s Visits to Oklahoma Highlight Contacts Between Chinese Officials and Community Leaders Accused of Crimes — After a mass murder at a marijuana farm, a Chinese diplomat visited an organization that has been the subject of investigations.
- ProPublica: A Marijuana Boom Led Her to Oklahoma. Then Anti-Drug Agents Seized Her Money and Raided Her Home. — A year after authorities arrested Qiu He, the Chinese immigrant has yet to be charged with a crime. She and others say anti-Asian bias plays a role in the state’s crackdown on the pot industry.
- CSIS: Unpacking Linkages Between the Chinese State and Private Firms — Recent data suggests that there may be an even more fundamental encroachment on the private sector underway.
- Brookings: China, Mexico, and America’s fight against the fentanyl epidemic — Even while China’s current goal is to reduce tensions, China’s drug cooperation is vulnerable to new crises in the bilateral relationship.
- Brookings: Who is America’s top commercial partner? (Hint: It’s not China.) — Just as trade is more than flows of goods, international commerce is more than just trade.
- The New Yorker: The Misguided Attempt to Control TikTok — The freedom to use social media is a First Amendment right, even if it’s one we should all avail ourselves of less often.
- AP: Land purchases by Chinese ‘agents’ would be limited under Georgia bill; Democrats say it’s racist — Rep. Michelle Au, a Democrat who is Chinese American, said she has been accused during her time in the General Assembly of being an “agent of the Chinese Community Party, a spy, a plant, un-American and a foreign asset.”
- Foreign Policy: China’s Public Wants to Make a Living, Not War — Discontent about the country’s poor economic reality is starting to drown out nationalist calls to attack Taiwan.
