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
- ByteDance Shelved IPO Intentions After Chinese Regulators Warned About Data Security — Owner of TikTok video app took different approach from ride-hailing company Didi, which pressed ahead with U.S. listing.
- Binance Froze When Bitcoin Crashed. Now Users Want Their Money Back — The world’s largest crypto exchange has no headquarters, making it difficult for disgruntled traders to complain about the May crash.
- Beijing Blocks Merger, Tightens Data Rules as Post-Didi Crackdown Speeds Up — Two moves are clearest signals yet that authorities are tightening the leash on overseas-listed Chinese companies.
- Didi Tried Balancing Pressure From China and Investors. It Satisfied Neither — The ride-sharing giant gave regulators in Beijing the impression it would pause the IPO. It told bankers in New York it had a green light.
The Financial Times
- China threat tempers Taiwan’s welcome of Hong Kong exiles — Taipei wary of provoking Beijing and fear mainland agents infiltrated protest movement.
- China to impose security checks on overseas listings — Companies with 1m users will need to pass review to ensure sensitive data cannot be obtained by foreign regulators.
The New York Times
- As Chinese Ships Swarm, Filipino Fishermen ‘Protest and Adapt’ — Beijing’s aggression in the South China Sea has harmed the fishermen’s livelihood for years, and now the lessons of Scarborough Shoal are playing out elsewhere in the disputed waters.
- China Plans Security Checks for Tech Companies Listing Overseas — The proposed rules would close a gap that let the ride-hailing company Didi go public on Wall Street before assuring Beijing that its data was safe.
- In another blow to Didi, China halts downloads of 25 more of its apps. — The latest announcement was nearly identical to one the same agency issued on Sunday, ordering Didi’s main, consumer-facing app off mobile stores.
Caixin
- Exclusive: China Resumes Hunt for Investors to Take Control of Anbang’s Remains — Six consortiums are in the running to take a stake in Dajia Insurance, the company created to pick up the pieces of the financial conglomerate seized by the state in 2018.
- Cover Series: How Didi’s Rush to Raise Funds in U.S. Backfired (Part 1) — Ride-hailing giant’s $4.4 billion New York share sale may have run afoul of Chinese national security requirements and regulators’ wish to settle questions before IPO.
- Cover Series: How SoftBank’s $11 Billion Bet on Didi Turned Sour (Part 2) — Ride-hailing giant’s rush to raise funds in a U.S. IPO may have been driven by pressure from investors eager to cash out some of their $35 billion of equity.
- TikTok’s Growth Shows Signs of Winding Down — TikTok was still the world’s most downloaded non-game app in June, but whether the Chinese-owned app will continue to be No. 1 is becoming less certain as downloads slow.
South China Morning Post
- Chinese cities among 25 big producers of greenhouse gases, study finds — Chinese cities are among the big emitters responsible for more than half the carbon produced by 167 urban centres worldwide, an analysis of emission trends has found.
- Meituan quietly revives its stand-alone ride-hailing app as Didi Chuxing faces regulatory storm — Meituan, China’s on-demand delivery giant, has relaunched its ride-hailing app as Didi Chuxing, the country’s dominant player, faces a cybersecurity investigation that could erode its 90 per cent market share.
- China’s antitrust regulator blocks Tencent’s US$5.3 billion merger of game streamers Huya and Douyu in landmark anti-monopoly case — China’s antitrust watchdog officially blocked the merger of Huya and Douyu International Holdings, China’s two biggest video game live-streaming platforms, both backed by Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings, in the latest blow to the country’s tech sector as Beijing intensifies its regulatory scrutiny.
Bloomberg
- China’s Extreme Weather Warnings Avoid Talk of Climate Change — State media often frame climate change as a global problem that China can lead in solving, not as a crisis that affects its citizens’ daily lives.
- China Harvests First Crop of ‘Space Rice’ in Food Security Push — China harvested its first batch of “space rice” from seeds that returned from a lunar voyage last year, with scientists hoping it could help create new plant varieties and safeguard the country’s food security.
- China Accuses U.S. of ‘Unreasonable Suppression’ of Companies — Beijing firmly opposes Washington’s “unreasonable suppression” of its companies after the U.S. added 23 Chinese entities to an economic blacklist, the country’s commerce ministry said in a statement.
Reuters
- Exclusive – China to order Tencent Music to give up music label exclusivity -sources — China’s antitrust regulator is set to order the music streaming arm of Tencent Holdings Ltd to give up exclusive rights to music labels which it has used to compete with smaller rivals, two people with knowledge of the matter said on Monday.
- German lab Eluthia says suspends use of BGI prenatal tests for privacy probe — German laboratory operator Eluthia GmbH said on Monday it would suspend the use of Chinese gene company BGI Group’s prenatal blood test for pregnant women while it looks into potential measures to protect its customers’ data privacy.
- After G7 pledge, EU seeks to rival China’s ‘Belt and Road’ with own infrastructure plan — European Union foreign ministers agreed on Monday to launch a global infrastructure plan linking Europe to the world, its latest step after deals with India and Japan and a similar pledge by the Group of Seven richest democracies.
- China drafts new cyber-security industry plan — China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Monday it has issued a draft three-year action plan to develop the country’s cyber-security industry, estimating the sector may be worth more than 250 billion yuan ($38.6 billion) by 2023.
Other Publications
- Nikkei Asia: Laos deepens reliance on China for key transport projects — Construction cost could amount to around $18bn amid ‘debt trap’ concerns
- Nikkei Asia: China’s Shein has taken the womenswear world by storm. Now what? — Speed, innovative marketing and smart technology not enough to scare Amazon.com.
- Quartz: A new US-Europe rare earths supply chain is using a “very Chinese model” to counter China — The effort to curb dependence on Beijing is actually, to a certain degree, modeled off of China’s successful rare earth strategy.
