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
- America’s Cash for Clunkers Is Back—in China — Beijing dangles financial incentives to trade in old jalopies—as well as rickety home appliances and aging factory equipment.
- China’s Xi Enjoys Embrace of Europe’s Renegades, Serbia and Hungary — No other European countries have done more to embrace Beijing and Moscow—and to challenge the U.S.-led world order.
- Why China’s Xi Faces a Pressing Challenge in Europe — Chinese leader has sought to repair trade ties as Beijing’s exports to West have dropped.
- Intel Lowers Sales Outlook After China Chip Licenses Revoked — Chip maker says revenue likely below the midpoint of second-quarter range.
- Country Garden Misses Bond Payments, Says State Could Help — The developer said that it couldn’t pay interest on two bonds due May 9, but that it would try to make the payments within the grace period.
- Chinese Stocks Rebound, but Foundation for Rally Still Weak — Stocks in Chinese companies have bounced back, but investors have seen false dawns before.
The Financial Times
- Baidu executive tells staff: ‘I’m not your mum’ — PR boss at Chinese search giant warns she can ruin careers in series of social media videos.
- China’s trade returns to growth on back of AI equipment imports — Beijing has prioritised high-tech manufacturing as it seeks to offset moribund property market and consumer demand.
- China’s BYD and Neta target Indonesia market with EV investments — Automakers plan local operations to break into market dominated by Japanese players.
- VW warns Brussels against raising tariffs on Chinese electric cars — Move risks ‘retaliation’ against international brands in the country, German carmaker’s brand chief tells FT car summit.
The New York Times
- Biden Looks to Thwart Surge of Chinese Imports — The president has proposed new barriers to Chinese electric vehicles, steel and other goods in an attempt to protect his manufacturing agenda.
- China Rules the Green Economy. Here’s Why That’s a Problem for Biden. — Beijing’s dominance raises economic and security concerns, and tensions will be high as top climate diplomats meet this week.
- Pro-Trump PAC Joins TikTok Amid Fight Over Its Chinese Ownership — President Biden, whose presidential campaign uses the app, signed a law in April that would force a sale of TikTok by ByteDance.
- In Serbia, Xi Underlines Close Ties With Ally That Shares Wariness of U.S. — Visiting friendly leaders in Eastern Europe, the Chinese president commemorated the 25th anniversary of a misdirected U.S. airstrike that destroyed China’s embassy in Belgrade.
Caixin
- China Moves to Rein in Battery Boom Amid Overcapacity Concerns — China’s industry regulator Wednesday published draft rules for the lithium battery sector, an attempt to rein in freewheeling expansion and address overcapacity concerns.
- Chinese Shipbuilding Giant Says Operation Not Affected by U.S. 301 Probe — China State Shipbuilding Corp., the world’s largest shipbuilder, responded to the United States’ probe into China’s shipbuilding industry, saying its operation is normal and has scheduled production for the next four years.
- China Opposes U.S. Decision to Revoke More Export Licenses to Huawei — China’s Ministry of Commerce is firmly opposed to the United States’ decision to further tighten semiconductor export restrictions against Huawei, calling the move “economic coercion.”
South China Morning Post
- Hungary rolls out red carpet for Xi Jinping on last stop of Chinese president’s European trip — Hungarian president and prime minister greet Xi and his delegation ahead of talks expected to be dominated by trade and Ukraine.
- Tech war: China’s use of RISC-V chip standard faces headwinds amid US scrutiny and Google’s end of Android support — China’s strengthened push to use RISC-V, an open-source chip-design architecture, is facing new risks amid scrutiny by the US and Google’s move to stop supporting it on Android.
- In Serbia, Xi Jinping skips site of 1999 Nato bombing in ‘calculated move’ to not stoke tension with West — The Chinese president’s visit to Serbia coincides with the anniversary of the deaths of three Chinese journalists, say analysts, but not visiting the site ‘shows Xi does not want to overly irritate the US, or put his Serbian hosts in a difficult position’.
Nikkei Asia
- China’s exports return to growth, rising 1.5% in April — Imports up 8.4% in dollar terms as trade friction persists.
- China, Hong Kong stocks win back investors on economic recovery — Benchmark indexes approach S&P 500 gains, with banks and oil majors leading pack.
- Xi sends messages on trade and NATO in Europe tour full of symbolism — China woos useful partners in Serbia and Hungary after French ‘cognac diplomacy.’
Bloomberg
- China Homebuyer Easing Gains Momentum as Big Cities Scrap Curbs — China’s efforts to revive homebuyer demand gathered steam on Thursday when two major cities scrapped all their remaining curbs on residential property purchases, a move that more local governments are expected to follow.
- WhatsApp, Banned in China, Is Suddenly Working for Some Users — WhatsApp has begun working freely and consistently for some users in China despite a longstanding government ban on the messaging service, an unusual phenomenon for a country with some of the world’s strictest internet curbs.
- Xi Touts China-Hungary Relations as a Good Blueprint for Europe — President Xi Jinping is set to announce a range of new investments in Budapest as he touts Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Hungary as a model for what the European Union’s relationship could look like with the world’s second-largest economy.
Reuters
- Exclusive: Huawei’s new phone uses more China-made parts, memory chip — Huawei’s latest high-end phone features more Chinese suppliers, including a new flash memory storage chip and an improved chip processor, a teardown analysis showed, pointing to the progress China is making towards technology self-sufficiency.
- US official says Chinese seizure of TSMC in Taiwan would be ‘absolutely devastating’ — U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Wednesday a Chinese invasion of Taiwan and seizure of chips producer TSMC would be “absolutely devastating” to the American economy.
- China outbound investment rule to be completed by end of year — US official — Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Wednesday she expects rules to implement U.S. outbound investment restrictions on China will be completed by the end of the year.
Other Publications
- The Economist: What Xi Jinping gets wrong about China’s economy — Despite his protestations, the country does have an overcapacity problem.
- The Atlantic: The Absurdity of Believing China’s Great at Protecting Kids Online — Lawmakers have argued that the Chinese internet is better for kids. They’re wrong.
- POLITICO: The tariff fight that could swing the election — Since he ran for president in 2020, President Joe Biden and his team have promised to rethink the tariffs that his predecessor imposed on China.
- Foreign Affairs: Defending Taiwan by defending Ukraine — The interconnected fates of the world’s democracies. By Joseph Wu
- Brookings Institution: Is China financially decoupling? — China’s goods exports are close to record levels, yet accumulation of official FX reserves is almost zero. This blog post—our third—examines what is driving this. By Robin Brooks
- The Verge: China’s Chang’e 6 Moon probe has a mysterious guest on board — China’s lunar lander, bound for the far side of the Moon to collect samples, seems to have a little baby rover attached.
- Business Insider: The West is freaking out that China is making too much stuff, and it looks like China might be starting to agree — China has published draft regulations for the battery industry, and it wants to curb overproduction.
