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
- Xi Jinping Aims to Rein In Chinese Capitalism, Hew to Mao’s Socialist Vision — Going beyond curbing tech giants, he wants the Communist Party to steer flows of money and set tighter limits on profit making.
- Developer China Evergrande’s ‘Darkest Moment’ Will Pass, Boss Tells Staff — China’s most indebted property developer is on the brink of failure after years of rapid expansion and aggressive borrowing.
- Bitcoin Price Slides as China Jitters Hit Crypto Markets — Digital currencies punished by investors’ shift to safer assets, worries over tether’s links to China.
The Financial Times
- Evergrande used retail financial investments to plug funding gaps — Executive at crisis-hit Chinese property developer warns staff ‘might be arrested’ if investors are not repaid
- China’s property slowdown sends chill through the economy — New homes have anchored growth for decades but Beijing is determined to rein in prices
The New York Times
- Australia’s Submarine Deal Adds to Asia Arms Buildup — Some nations fear an accelerated arms buildup in a region where larger countries have already ramped up their military spending or capabilities.
- What Would an Evergrande Default Look Like? — The chairman of the troubled Chinese real estate giant, predicted a turnaround, but a new report predicted Beijing may have to step in if a collapse poses a risk to the economy.
Caixin
- In Depth: How Evergrande Created China’s Most Valuable Automaker Without Selling a Single Car — A look into the debt-riddled developer’s forays beyond real estate shows how it was able to conjure fictions about itself that it used to spin into gold in the financial markets.
- Former Citic Director Gets 18-Year Prison Sentence for Graft — Zhao Jingwen was convicted of receiving 5.5 million yuan in bribes.
- China Tightens Tax Evasion Crackdown on Showbiz — State Taxation Administration expands three-year-old campaign to include online influencers and vows regulator inspections of big stars.
South China Morning Post
- US-China technology FDI crashes but decoupling is ‘not imminent’ — Technology-related foreign direct investment (FDI) between China and the US dropped by 96 per cent from 2016 to 2020, as the world’s two biggest economies decouple their supply chains as part of their increasingly bitter great power rivalry.
- Ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing denies executive Jean Liu is leaving amid Beijing’s ongoing cybersecurity probe — Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing denied a Reuters report that its co-founder and president Jean Liu was on her way out and threatened legal action to fight the “malicious” spreading of rumours.
- China debt: Evergrande’s magnate Hui Ka-yan and Chinese Estates’ founder Joseph Lau through the years — Hong Kong’s property tycoon Joseph Lau Luen-hung is one of the closest business allies of the Chinese real estate magnate Hui Ka-yan, in a friendship and alliance forged through weekly card games going back more than a decade.
Bloomberg
- Beijing Pressures Top China Manufacturing Hub to Curb Power Use — Jiangsu — a Chinese province with an economy as large as Canada’s — is curbing electricity supplies to industry as Beijing pressures it to reduce energy usage to cut emissions.
- Ganfeng Lithium Is Said to Weigh Dropping Pursuit of Millennial — China’s Ganfeng Lithium Co. is unlikely to match a competing offer for Millennial Lithium Corp., according to people familiar with the matter.
- China Developer Sinic’s Dollar Bonds Slump Amid Repayment Fears — The dollar bonds of Chinese developer Sinic Holdings Group Co. have come under intense selling pressure this week, following a plunge in the firm’s shares and a credit rating downgrade on concerns over its finances.
- Sun Hung Kai Denies China Is Pressing Hong Kong Developers — Hong Kong’s biggest developer and a real estate industry group poured cold water on the notion that the Chinese government is putting pressure on the city’s developers.
Reuters
- Wall Street will learn to love Evergrande’s crash — Foreign investors have finally heard the alarm bells ringing around China Evergrande.
- Big miners are steeled against falling iron ore — A surge in the price of iron ore earlier this year fueled market chatter about an extended period of commodities demand. The recent reversal in the steelmaking ingredient’s fortunes has been even swifter and may well extend further.
Other Publications
- The Economist: China throws a wrench into a transpacific trade pact — Its application to join the CPTPP may not prosper, but it creates mischief.
- The Washington Post: China is key to saving the planet from climate change. But it can’t quit coal. — China’s climate pledges come as the country’s emissions and fleet of coal-fired power plants have grown during the economic recovery from the pandemic.
- Quartz: These numbers show just how big a headache Evergrande is for China — Evergrande, by the digits.
- The Los Angeles Times: As China’s property giant Evergrande veers toward collapse, its unpaid debts spark protests — “I owe this worker $1,500 and that worker $750. Should I give each of them a brick? A toilet? A room?”