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
- Hong Kong Holds First Election Without Opposition. But Will People Vote? — Sunday’s election will feature only Beijing-approved candidates, after an overhaul of voting rules and a crackdown on the city’s opposition.
- Microsoft’s Bing Halts Autofill Feature in China, Citing Local Laws — The suspension comes as some China-based Bing users said they couldn’t access the search engine.
- U.S. Blacklists Dozens of Chinese Entities Over Surveillance, Military Work — The targets will be restricted from accessing U.S. investment and technology for their alleged support of China’s surveillance of mainly Muslim ethnic groups.
- Guam, America’s Forgotten Territory, Is New Front Line Against China — The remote Pacific island, better known for beaches, is seen as a potential staging ground in any future Asian conflicts.
- S&P Joins Major Credit Raters in Declaring China Evergrande in Default — Rating on Evergrande and its offshore financing arm Tianji Holding changed to ‘selective default’ after the developer failed to make its debt payments.
The Financial Times
- Alibaba: Jack’s back — Founder’s return provides entry point for long-term investors but they should remain cautious.
- Lex Letter from Seoul: China’s vaccines and efficacy rates — Demand for Sinovac’s CoronaVac will remain high. In
- Bond ETF inflows slump to lowest level since start of pandemic — Fixed income ETFs attracted global net inflows of just $14bn in November on inflation fears.
- KPMG among businesses backing Hong Kong’s ‘patriots’ election — Auditing firm urges staff to vote in poll for legislature that critics say is a ‘sham.’
- US accuses China of developing ‘brain control weaponry’ — Academy of Military Medical Sciences and others blacklisted over repression and surveillance of Uyghurs.
- Vietnam jails activists in widening crackdown on dissent — Court hands down stiff sentences to human rights campaigner for spreading anti-state propaganda.
The New York Times
- U.S. Cracks Down on Firms Said to Aid China’s Repression of Minorities — The Commerce and Treasury Departments put new restrictions on an array of companies and institutions that they said were misusing biotechnology.
- Congress Passes Ban on Goods From China’s Xinjiang Region — President Biden is expected to sign the bill, which drew a fierce corporate lobbying campaign against it.
- Hu Xijin, Chief of China’s Global Times, Will Retire — Mr. Hu, editor of the Communist Party tabloid Global Times, set the tone for a new generation of Chinese pundits with his flair for verbal combat.
- The Island Paradise Near the Front Line of Tensions Over Taiwan — New missile batteries planned for the Japanese island of Ishigaki reflect a drastic shift in Japan’s views on China.
- Putin and Xi Hold Video Summit — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and President Xi Jinping of China, meeting in a video summit, sought mutual support in their conflicts with the West but have not yet declared a formal alliance.
Caixin
- Xiaomi’s New Private Equity Firm to Invest in Smart Manufacturing — The new firm, with a registered capital of $172.7 million, will provide support for Hubei Xiaomi Changjiang Industrial Investment Fund.
- China Front-Loads 2022 Special Bonds to Boost Local Infrastructure Spending — Ministry of Finance makes early allocation of nearly $230 billion of local government bond quotas to support economic growth.
- Developer R&F Pleads for Six Month Delay in Repaying $725 Million of Bonds — Real estate company’s credit ratings have been slashed amid ‘distressed restructuring.’
South China Morning Post
- Meituan wants its drones to officially deliver meals to customers in Shenzhen by 2022 — On-demand service provider Meituan aims to be the first company in China’s southern tech hub of Shenzhen to officially deliver orders to customers using drones, after kicking off a trial run in the city’s commercial district.
- China’s video gaming crackdown: 2021 revenue growth slows sharply amid teenage play limits and new licence suspensions — China’s video games market had its slowest revenue growth in three years in 2021 amid Beijing’s crackdown on the industry while the number of players stagnated, according to an industry report released on Thursday.
- Microsoft’s Bing told by China to suspend auto-suggest search feature for 30 days — China has ordered Microsoft’s Bing search engine to pause its auto-suggest feature for 30 days, the US company said on Friday, dealing a new complication for the firm after it replaced its LinkedIn platform in the country with a special app that has no social feed.
- China’s TikTok creates stand-alone shopping app to take on Alibaba, Pinduoduo and JD.com — TikTok owner ByteDance has created a stand-alone shopping app in China, similar to its Fanno platform in Europe, betting on the new trend of Gen Z consumers buying on tips from online influencers.
Bloomberg
- Hong Kong Stock Exchange to Allow SPAC Listings Next Month — Hong Kong unveiled its rulebook for blank check companies, allowing for listings at the start of next year while setting a strict regime to safeguard investors.
- SenseTime Said to Get About $500 Million Cornerstone Investment — Chinese artificial intelligence startup SenseTime Group Inc. has secured about $500 million in cornerstone investment ahead of its planned Hong Kong initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter.
- Sell the Rumor Fails in China Biotech Stocks as They Roar Back — Some of China’s biggest drugmakers saw at least $22 billion of market value vanish after a day of wild speculation over possible inclusion in President Joe Biden’s blacklist.
- China Ramps Up Iran Oil Purchases After Getting New Quotas — China ramped up its buying of cheap Iranian crude last month after independent refiners were granted additional import quotas for 2021.
Reuters
- EU may involve WTO to resolve China-Lithuania trade row, Commission says — The European Union may take the trade row between China and Lithuania to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) if it finds evidence that Beijing is violating international trade rules, the bloc’s executive Commission said on Friday.
- U.S. Senate backs Biden nominee Burns to be ambassador to China — A majority of the U.S. Senate on Thursday backed the confirmation of President Joe Biden’s nomination of Nicholas Burns to be ambassador to China, positioning the veteran diplomat for a central role in the increasingly fractious relations between the two global rivals.
- Lithuania to ask European leaders for support in face of Chinese pressure — Lithuania’s president will ask European leaders for help in a dispute with China over diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the presidential advisor said on Thursday.
- Despite COVID-19, China expects 1 million passenger trips on new Laos rail link — China expects more than 1 million passenger trips to be made on a newly opened high-speed rail link to Laos during the peak Lunar New Year travel season early next year, despite COVID-19 travel restrictions.
Other Publications
- The Washington Post – The opposition is in jail. Hong Kong wants its ‘patriots’-only vote to look legitimate.
- Business Insider – Evergrande’s boss has seen his wealth slump by $17 billion this year amid the company’s debt crisis. China’s real-estate magnates have together lost $46 billion wealth this year amid the sector’s debt crisis.
- Nikkei Asia – Chinese carmaker FAW plans to sell high-end electric SUV in Japan. Japanese automakers’ slow moves leave door open for Chinese rivals
- The Diplomat – What’s Behind China’s Crackdown on Celebrities? There can only be one superstar in China, and that’s the Communist Party.
