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
- Large Chinese Bank Protest Put Down With Violence — Video from clash in Central Chinese city spreads online despite censorship; officials had prevented earlier protest using Covid-19 health codes.
- Congress Juggles China Bill, Democrats’ Climate and Drug-Pricing Ambitions — U.S. lawmakers return to work for final legislative push as midterm elections approach.
- Fed Up With China, One Boss Tries Removing It From the Supply Chain — Designer perfume maker Inter Parfums is shifting production to U.S., but some suppliers are unsure how long it will last.
- Covid Spreading at Fastest Pace Since Shanghai Lockdown Sends Shivers Through China Markets — As officials nervously track infection charts, investors watch warily for signs of another sudden clampdown.
- Blinken Reproves China Counterpart Over Support for Russia — Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s sit-down with China’s Wang Yi comes amid U.S. effort to isolate Russia at G-20 gathering.
- Macau Shuts Casinos as City Enters Weeklong Lockdown — Decision comes as authorities struggle to contain a Covid-19 outbreak in the Chinese gambling hub.
- U.S. Seeks to Fix WTO’s Broken Trade Dispute Process — The U.S. has blocked new appointments to the seven-member Appellate Body, disabling the World Trade Organization’s high court.
- The Human Cost of Shanghia’s Covid-19 Lockdown: Helplessness, Isolation, Despair — Residents who lived through the city’s battle against the virus share deeply personal accounts.
- Opinion: Shinzo Abe Invented the ‘Indo-Pacific’ — He broadened the world’s view of Asia, much to the consternation of the Chinese Communist Party. By Matt Pottinger
The Financial Times
- China tech stocks: M&A goes on the chopping block — Regulatory fines covering past transactions could have an outsized impact on Alibaba and Tencent.
- Chinese stocks drop on threat of renewed Covid lockdowns — Outbreaks of contagious Omicron subvariant hit shares of property developers and commodity prices.
- FBI director warns China espionage is greatest threat to US and allies — Christopher Wray aims to raise awareness in rare joint public briefing with MI5 boss.
- Chinese bank fraud protest turns violent after police step in — Authorities under pressure to explain who will reimburse customers in Henan for missing funds.
- China reimposes curbs as BA.5 variant spreads Omicron outbreaks — Authorities in cities across the country are rushing to fight more infectious Covid-19 strain.
- China’s image loses its shine in Europe — Opinion is turning against Beijing because of its human rights record and support for Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
- The ‘nutty’ professor behind rise of China’s electric vehicle giant — Wang Chuanfu’s BYD is in fierce competition with US and Europe over future of car industry.
The New York Times
- China’s Economy Stumbles in the Fog of Covid War — Even if the country avoids new lockdowns of big cities, question marks over the pandemic and policy direction are dogging efforts to revive growth.
- Three Cities in China Impose Partial Lockdowns and Macau Shuts Casinos — The cities of Xi’an, Lanzhou and Haikou set restrictions on several million residents. In Macau, the gambling hub, authorities shut casinos and ordered everyone to stay home.
- Security Forces in China Attack Protesters Seeking Frozen Funds — After a rare mass demonstration, bank depositors demanding their money back were beaten, kicked to the ground and dragged away in the city of Zhengzhou.
- Blinken Presses China’s Top Diplomat on Ukraine — At a G20 meeting, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken sought to cool tensions with Beijing in an effort to further isolate Russia. He met resistance.
- Opinion: America Can’t Allow China to Keep Crushing Our Solar Energy Industry — The Biden administration is taking a gamble that furthers our reliance on China without providing the essential elements to build our domestic solar industry.
Caixin
- Cover Story: Where Covid Vaccine Development Is Going — Scientists try to invent a broad-spectrum inoculation for future mutations while racing to fortify today’s shots against omicron subvariants.
- Fallen Tycoon Xiao Jianhua’s Trust Company Gets Green Light for Bankruptcy — New China Trust, an arm of debt-laden giant Tomorrow Holding, gets the nod to begin liquidation two years after being seized.
- Editorial: Put an End to Covid Discrimination — To minimize the social costs, China needs to take a rules-based, scientific and targeted control measures to balancing Covid-19 control and economic growth.
South China Morning Post
- China’s cash crisis culprit named by police, said to have run powerful criminal gang since 2011 — Banking scandal in Henan and Anhui provinces has left thousands of rural residents cut off from their savings for months, sparking protests and a violent response.
- White-shirted group attacks protesters at China banking scandal demonstration — Protesters say the unidentified men in white attacked them and dragged them away while local police looked on.
- Former Chinese police boss Fu Zhenghua to face court on corruption charges — Fu the latest senior justice official to fall in Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign.
- Sudden citywide coronavirus lockdown confuses and frustrates Macau residents, as city faces worst Covid-19 outbreak — The city’s first lockdown sparks panic buying, despite authorities assuring that it had sufficient stock of basic necessities.
Nikkei Asia
- Hong Kong is transformed from Asia’s financial hub to Xi’s ‘wallet’ — City attracts more Chinese money, professionals but foreign exodus continues.
- Samsung slips further behind TSMC in chipmaking race — South Korean giant replaces several executives following supply mishap.
- Chinese battery maker powers SAIC’s economy EV — Gotion High-Tech’s low-cost LFP batteries seen doubling driving range by 2030.
- Baidu’s self-driving taxis now a common sight in Beijing — Chinese company to compete with rival Didi in rolling out new transport option.
Bloomberg
- Evergrande Risks First Local Bond Default as Delay Rejected — China Evergrande Group suffered its first rejection from local creditors to extend a bond payment, a development that may result in a landmark onshore default and encourage investors to take a tougher stance against other developers battered by the nation’s property debt crisis.
- Xiaomi-Backer Snags $3.2 Billion as China Startup Hopes Grow — Qiming Venture Partners raised $3.2 billion across two new funds, joining Sequoia China and IDG in securing fresh capital as investors grow more sanguine about the country’s startup arena.
- Australian PM Won’t Respond to Beijing’s ‘Demands’ At Meet — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has ruled out complying with a list of demands from the Chinese government to improve relations between the two countries, complicating attempts to repair diplomatic ties between Canberra and Beijing.
- Hong Kong Plans China-Like Health Code System as Outbreak Grows — Hong Kong is considering a China-style system to ban Covid-19 patients and those meant to be isolating from entering public venues, the city’s new health chief said, as the financial hub sees a resurgence of infection that’s testing the limits of its virus tolerance.
Reuters
- China’s Ganfeng Lithium to buy Lithea Inc for $962 million — China’s biggest lithium compounds producer Ganfeng Lithium Co Ltd said on Monday it will buy Argentina-focussed Lithea Inc for up to $962 million as it seeks to secure access to more resources for production of key battery metals.
- Premier African Minerals plans lithium shipments to China by March 2023 — Premier African Minerals, will start shipping spodumene concentrate from its Zulu lithium mine in Zimbabwe to China by March 2023.
- Exclusive: Myanmar’s junta rolls out Chinese camera surveillance systems in more cities — Since the February 2021 coup, local authorities have started new camera surveillance projects for at least five cities including Mawlamyine – the country’s fourth-largest city.
- In China’s Shenzhen, nostalgia persists for the old days of Hong Kong culture — Before Shenzhen began to be transformed in the 1980s, Hong Kong’s freewheeling economy represented a consumer haven for many from the mainland.
Other Publications
- The Economist: After a turbocharged boom, are chipmakers in for a supersized bust? — Surging supply and softening demand are bringing the pandemic’s superstar industry back to Earth
- Politico: Biden’s pitch for Eric Schmidt-funded fellowship raised red flags — White House defends president’s support for philanthropy headed by former Google CEO, who has cultivated close ties to the administration.
- The Guardian: Australia ‘doesn’t respond to demands’, Anthony Albanese tells China — PM reacts to Beijing’s four-point advice on improving relations following high-level G20 meeting between the two countries.
