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
- Luxury’s Last Growth Engine Has Stalled — A sudden slowdown in Chinese demand reported by Louis Vuitton’s owner is a bad sign for the luxury industry.
- Alibaba, Baidu Invest in Chinese Smart-Driving Tech Company’s Near $700 Million IPO — Alibaba and search-engine giant Baidu are investing in a nearly $700 million equity offering by Horizon Robotics.
- How the U.S. Is Trying to Challenge China’s Cobalt Chokehold — Talks over mining company Chemaf in Congo are part of a push by the Biden administration to secure global supplies of a metal used in everything from jet fighters and drones to electric-vehicle batteries.
The Financial Times
- Switzerland’s wealth managers bank on a future in Asia — Hong Kong and Singapore are the world’s rising wealth centres.
- Opinion: China’s economic ills are serious but not incurable — Unfortunately, policymakers have made things worse by resorting to temporary palliatives. By Martin Wolf.
The New York Times
- With Jets and Ships, China Is Honing Its Ability to Choke Taiwan — China’s large-scale military exercises are encircling Taiwan and testing the island’s defenses. They also raise the risk of conflict, accidental or otherwise.
- TikTok’s Owner Already Publishes Digital Books. Now It Is Moving Into Print. — ByteDance, the Chinese tech giant that owns TikTok, will focus its publisher, 8th Note Press, on popular genres such as romance, romantasy and young adult fiction.
- Trump Signals Skepticism of Google Breakup, Citing Competition With China — The former president also said he would do “something” to make Google “more fair” if he regained the presidency.
- Giant Pandas From China Return to National Zoo in Washington, D.C. — A motorcade through the capital revived “panda diplomacy” between Washington and Beijing for the first time in nearly a year.
- Chinese Automakers Display Force at Paris Auto Show — Weeks after Europe imposed additional tariffs on electric vehicles made in China, the country’s car companies were defiant at France’s leading auto event.
Caixin
- UnionPay Teams Up with Vietnam Partner to Simplify QR Payments Across Borders — The UnionPay and NAPAS agreement is not only a commercial alliance but a national-level integration.
- Caixin Explains: The Power Grid’s Solar and Wind Problem — China’s power grid will come under increasing pressure as the country’s renewables surge continues, according to a recent IEA report.
- Opinion: Brazil and China Could Lead the Way on South-South Climate Cooperation — This August marked the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Brazil — two of the most consequential countries for global efforts to avert climate chaos. By Leo Horn-Phathanothai and Rogerio Studart.
South China Morning Post
- Economist urges China to push further to elevate private sector as draft law disappoints — Teng Tai suggests ‘milestone’ law should dispel concerns that private entrepreneurs in China are only needed in times of crisis.
- China’s Australia trade sees more EVs, green tech even as EU, US tariffs fly — Unlike its allies in the West, Australia has kept its doors open to Chinese and green tech. What accounts for this divergence?
- Lenovo partners with Meta, Nvidia for AI outside China — On Wednesday, Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing made a high-profile announcement to deepen the company’s collaboration with chip maker Nvidia.
- Alibaba’s global unit pushes translation-focused AI model for merchants, individual users — Macro MT is a new large language model that supports translation in various cross-border e-commerce scenarios.
- Opinion: China’s overcapacity could enable a green Marshall Plan — As trade barriers rise in developed countries, China’s production capacity can fill the green development gap in the Global South instead. By Huang Yiping.
Nikkei Asia
- China’s ‘entrepreneurship for everyone’ era ends as state sets agenda — Beijing backs strategic tech like drones and chips, while general venture funds dry up.
- China is leading an ‘age of electricity,’ IEA says — Asia energy demand surges as supplies shaken by Middle East, Ukraine wars.
- BMW, other European EV makers follow China’s lead to small models — Some join with Chinese partners to tap knowhow for quick market entry.
Bloomberg
- China’s Wild Stock Market Swings Hurt a $21 Trillion Bull Case — China’s 200 million-strong army of retail investors was supposed to help the market turn a corner. Instead, it has become a source of weakness.
- Xi’s Stronger Grip on Legislature Shows Lack of Checks on Power — As the world waits for China’s lawmakers to put a price tag on fiscal stimulus, one thing is increasingly clear: Anything they produce will reflect the growing control of President Xi Jinping over all aspects of government and society.
- Opinion: The US Can’t Stay ‘Ambiguous’ in the Taiwan Strait — America’s official policy toward Greater China is riddled by contradictions and swathed in bureaucratic argot that sounds suspiciously like parody. By Andreas Kluth.
Reuters
- Chinese finance professionals switch careers as industry crackdown dims prospects — The $67 trillion financial sector has borne the brunt of various initiatives, in particular the “common prosperity” campaign launched in 2021 aimed at closing the wealth gap.
- Chinese cyber association calls for review of Intel products sold in China — While CSAC is an industry group rather than a government body, it has close ties to the Chinese state and the raft of accusations against Intel.
- Inside the underground lab in China tasked with solving a physics mystery — After years of construction, the $300 million Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) in China’s southern Guangdong province will soon start gathering data on neutrinos, a product of nuclear reactions.
- China-led regional group calls for countering protectionist policies, sanctions — The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a Eurasian security and political group, also hit out at “unilateral sanctions” as member states Iran and Russia face curbs on trade.
Other Publications
- The Washington Post: Opinion: Why China still needs to boost consumption — China — the world’s second-largest economy — is in the midst of a lengthy period of deflation. China’s leaders know it. They’re just not doing enough to fix it. By Keith B. Richburg.
- The Economist: Does China welcome—or dread—an Iran-Israel war? — It wants American interests to suffer, but not at any price.
- Los Angeles Times: Chinese chemical manufacturer is targeted by federal prosecutors trying to stop flow of fentanyl — An indictment unsealed last month in federal court in Los Angeles seeks to slow the flow of such drugs into the U.S. by targeting a Chinese company and its executives accused of manufacturing the chemicals used to make the drugs.
- The Guardian: David Lammy urged to raise human rights concerns on China trip — Exclusive: Group of UK MPs says foreign secretary must ‘engage with China as it really is’ amid rapprochement drive.
