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 Says U.S. Blocked Joint U.N. Statement on Mideast — Beijing-Washington rivalry on display as U.N. holds emergency meeting on hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians.
- China Lands on Mars in Crowning Moment for Space Program — The success of the Tianwen-1 mission makes China the third nation after the U.S. and Soviet Union to land on the red planet.
- China Will Attempt to Land Rover on Mars in Coming Days — National space agency plans for rover to explore the planet for about three months, marking a milestone in China’s ambitious space program if successful.
- China’s Economic Recovery Slowed in April — Growth in retail sales slowed sharply from March pace as industrial output and fixed-asset investment beat expectations.
- Will Demographics Tank China’s Housing Market? — The fast-falling population of the industrial rust belt has yet to stem the rise in big-city home prices.
- NASA’s Perseverance vs. China’s Zhurong: Rover Tech in Mars Space Race [Video] — The U.S. and China are in a race to explore Mars. China successfully landed its Zhurong rover on the red planet, according to state media, just months after NASA landed its Perseverance rover.
- How to Get Schooled by Chinese Education Stocks — Investors have been ignoring political risk for too long.
The Financial Times
- Vale chief rejects talk of iron ore supercycle — Brazilian miner says raw material’s record prices are not a repeat of early 2000s boom.
- Corporate bond downgrades by China rating agencies triple — Regulators seek to increase transparency in credit ratings after defaults rock market.
- China’s ambitions create a new frontier in space — The rules and norms of extraterrestrial behaviour need to be updated.
- Developing countries sign Huawei deals despite US espionage warnings — Tie-ups in Africa, Asia and Latin America could give Chinese group ‘coercive leverage’, report warns.
- China census reveals depth of demographic challenge — Easing of family planning policies not enough to reverse slowing population growth, analysts say.
The New York Times
- What We Know About China’s Mars Rover Zhurong Landing — The success establishes China as a principal contender in what some see as a new era of space competition.
Caixin
- China Promotes Private Retirement Savings to Shore Up Strained Pension System — Insurance regulator plans pilot program that will allow workers to open their own self-funded retirement accounts.
- China Securities Regulator Probes ‘Pump and Dump’ Allegations — Investigation centers on accusations that publicly traded mainland companies, along with fund managers and brokers who promote them, manipulated stock prices.
- China’s Property Market Is ‘Out of Control’ as Prices Climb Further — New home prices in 70 cities rose 0.48% last month from March.
- Tokopedia-Gojek Merger to Create Southeast Asia Internet Giant — The two Indonesian companies count Chinese giants Alibaba and JD.com among their backers, and could challenge Alibaba’s own Lazada.
South China Morning Post
- Can China innovate itself into a lead in the chip industry as Moore’s Law nears its physical limit? — As Moore’s Law, which refers to a prediction by Intel’s co-founder Gordon Moore that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit would double roughly every two years, potentially approaches its physical limit, analysts are divided on whether China can seize an opportunity to develop disruptive semiconductor technology to get ahead.
- Jack Ma’s school for business elites drops ‘university’ from its name — An elite business school created by Jack Ma, the founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, has quietly dropped all online references to “university” in a sign that the sought-after school may be adopting a lower profile.
- China economy suffering new problems as retail sales, industrial output slowed in April — China’s industrial output grew 9.8 per cent in April from a year ago, slower than the 14.1 per cent surge in March, official data showed on Monday.
- JD Logistics kicks off marketing as it seeks up to US$3.4 billion in Hong Kong initial public offering — The logistics arm of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.
- Tencent launches 60 new video games, partners with Microsoft as rivalry with ByteDance heats up — Internet giant Tencent Holdings unveiled more than 60 new titles at its annual video gaming conference on Sunday, days after subsidiary TiMi Studios and Microsoft Corp’s Xbox Game Studios formed a strategic partnership, as competition intensifies with TikTok owner ByteDance.
Bloomberg
- Xinjiang’s Daqo Factory Opens Doors to Counter Forced Labor Claims — Daqo New Energy opened its facility to outsiders as it campaigns to avoid potential U.S. sanctions over allegations of forced labor in the industry.
- China Offers Banks Nearly $16 Billion to Maintain Liquidity — China’s central bank injected medium-term cash into the financial system, in an effort to keep borrowing costs stable as China’s economy continues its recovery from the virus pandemic.
- IPhone Maker Foxconn Finalizes Auto Partnership With Stellantis — Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the main assembler of Apple Inc.’s iPhones, and Jeep maker Stellantis NV said they’re prepared to announce a new strategic partnership, solidifying another major cooperation between technology and automotive giants.
- Iron Ore Rebounds as China Mills Churn Out Steel at Record Pace — Iron ore futures climbed back above $200 a ton as soaring steel production in China showed there’s no sign of the industry cooling despite government attempts to rein in output from last year’s record of over 1 billion tons.
- Goldman Sachs Is on an Unprecedented Hiring Spree in China — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has been on an unprecedented hiring spree in mainland China and Hong Kong in the first four months of the year as the Wall Street titan pushes further into the world’s second-largest economy.
- China’s Land Grab in Bhutan Is the New Face of War — The Pax Americana made outright invasions too risky, so autocrats are swallowing their neighbors one piece at a time.
Reuters
- China to relax birth policy but wary of social risks, sources say — China will tread carefully in relaxing its birth policies for fear of harming social stability, even as the latest census highlights the urgency to address the country’s declining birth trends and ageing population, policy sources said.
- China says will extend tariff exemption for some U.S. imports — BEIJING (Reuters) -China will extend a tariff exemption for 79 products imported from the United States that is due to expire on May 18, the finance ministry said in a notice published on Monday.
- Chinese automaker Changan aims to list EV unit on STAR Market -sources — Chinese state-run automaker Chongqing Changan Automobile plans to list its electric vehicle (EV) unit on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-style STAR Market, three sources briefed on the matter said, to fund a rapid expansion of its business.
- U.S. will not leave Australia alone to face China coercion -Blinken — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that the United States would not leave Australia alone in the face of economic coercion from China, and that such behavior toward U.S. allies would hamper improvement in U.S.-Sino relations.
Other Publications
- Nikkei Asian Review: China bars foreign curricula and ownership in some private schools — Beijing tightens control over burgeoning education sector.
- Nikkei Asian Review: Eyeing US, China wields $33bn subsidies to bolster chips, defense — State spending raises concerns as Washington weighs similar program.
- Nikkei Asian Review: China merges ailing small lenders to head off a big crisis — Regional governments lead efforts to shore up banking sector.
- Economist: China lands a rover on Mars — The feat shows off the country’s growing capabilities in space.
- AP News: AP Exclusive: Full-blown boycott pushed for Beijing Olympics — Groups alleging human-rights abuses against minorities in China are calling for a full-blown boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, a move likely to ratchet up pressure on the International Olympic Committee, athletes, sponsors and sports federations.
- Washington Post: Chinese businessman with links to Steve Bannon is driving force for a sprawling disinformation network, researchers say — A sprawling online network tied to Chinese businessman Guo Wengui has become a potent platform for disinformation in the United States, attacking the safety of coronavirus vaccines, promoting false election-fraud claims and spreading baseless QAnon conspiracies, according to research published Monday by the network analysis company Graphika.
