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.
Paid subscribers automatically have this list emailed directly to their inboxes every day by 10 a.m. EST. Subscribe here.
The Wall Street Journal
- Kamala Harris Seeks to Strengthen Philippines Alliance Amid Fraught China Relations — Vice president touts proposed expansion of a military pact, pledges $7.5 million for the country’s maritime law-enforcement agencies.
- China Turns to Back-Channel Diplomacy to Shore Up U.S. Ties — With Xi Jinping’s blessing, a Chinese delegation of policy advisers and executives met with a U.S. counterpart group ahead of the Biden-Xi summit.
- Germany Debates Naming Businesses With Large China Exposure — Proposal to get companies to disclose their involvement in China, undergo stress tests is part of a strategy to reduce dependence on the Asian giant.
- JD.com Cuts Executive Pay as China’s Tech Firms Tighten Belts — E-Commerce company to reduce pay of 2,000 senior managers by up to 20%.
- U.S., Chinese Defense Chiefs Meet in Reflection of Easing Tensions — Bilateral gathering in Cambodia follows summit between President Biden, Xi Jinping this month.
- Stocks Close Lower as Covid-19 Cases Rise in China — Investors are worried the increase in infections will interrupt the easing of restrictions in the country, delaying a pickup in growth.
- Opinion: America Can’t Depend on China for Its Electric Vehicles — An Inflation Reduction Act provision promotes local production of electric-vehicle batteries. By William P. Barr
The Financial Times
- Beijing claims child video game addiction ‘resolved’ — Industry group report signals likely easing of China’s curbs on new titles.
- China lockdowns reach record level as coronavirus cases soar — Country sticks to zero-Covid policy, with almost 28,000 new infections reported.
- Covid/China: fear of contagion still worries world markets — Global supply chain disruptions could exceed those experienced in the past year.
- Chinese regulators warn IPOs of zero-Covid winners subject to tight checks — Listings of PCR testing companies and food delivery groups subject to strict reviews driven by business sustainability concerns.
- Carmakers try to frustrate US push to cut China from EV supply chain — Motor companies fret about loss of tax incentives as they depend on Chinese battery components.
- West could end reliance on Chinese batteries by 2030, says Goldman — Countering China’s dominance in batteries, components and raw materials would cost over $160bn.
- Australian business hopeful of better ties with China — Albanese and Xi meeting at G20 raises expectations that Beijing may lift trade sanctions.
The New York Times
- China’s Grandparents Are Done Babysitting and Ready to Go Viral — Rapping grannies, crooning 70-year-olds and gamers in their 80s are challenging traditional Chinese views about aging and what it means to have a long and happy life.
- China Factory Fire Kills 38 — Officials say an investigation is underway into what caused the tragedy at the two-story facility operated by a wholesaler of industrial equipment, clothing and chemical products.
- Beijing Is Tackling Air Pollution. Why Can’t New Delhi? — The return of smog season in India’s capital has again left residents asking why nothing has changed. The answer may be largely political.
- Outbreaks Test China’s Efforts to Limit the Cost of ‘Zero Covid’ — China wants to fine-tune its stringent pandemic restrictions to reduce the disruption to daily life caused by lockdowns. But officials are still taking few chances.
- Bao Tong, 90, Dies; Top Chinese Official Imprisoned After Tiananmen — He helped design China’s political reforms in the 1980s and tried to avert the bloodshed that ended the democracy protests. After prison, he became a critic of the party.
Caixin
- In Depth: China’s Struggle for Data Security — Organizations from hospitals to police departments are accumulating vast amounts of personal information, but these huge stores are often poorly guarded, making them honey pots for hackers.
- Central Bank Plans New Lending Tool to Support Embattled Developers — Addition of $28 billion at zero cost is intended to encourage 18 big banks to issue credit to builders with stalled residential projects.
- China’s Top Nickel Trader Mines for $600 Million in Hong Kong IPO — Lygend Resources & Technology plans to use the new capital to expand its Indonesia-based operations.
South China Morning Post
- Taiwanese semiconductor veteran Chiang Shang-yi comes out of retirement to join Foxconn as top chip adviser — Chiang Shang-yi, 76, who helped TSMC and SMIC become leading wafer foundries, has come out of retirement to join iPhone assembler Foxconn as an adviser to help with its push into semiconductors.
- China’s C919 passenger jet to start commercial operation ‘as soon as possible’ in first half of 2023 — China’s C919 home-grown passenger jet is expected to be delivered to China Eastern Airlines by the end this year before being put into commercial operation in the first half of 2023.
- Hong Kong’s dollar rises towards the strong half of the band as short sellers bail — The rally came as the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s intervention in the foreign-exchange market, which effectively lifted interbank funding costs, rendered a popular strategy of shorting the local dollar unprofitable.
- 6 ex-Apple Daily staff plead guilty to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces in seeking sanctions on Hong Kong, Beijing officials — High Court records first convictions of news editors and media directors under Beijing-imposed legislation since it took effect in June 2020.
Nikkei Asia
- China thought to be stockpiling gold to cut greenback dependence — Buying of metal is at its fastest pace since the 1960s.
- Kazakhstan seen tilting to China after president’s landslide win — Tokayev shifts country away from predecessor Nazarbayev and Moscow.
- China, U.S. defense chiefs meet in Cambodia amid Taiwan tensions — Austin raises ‘dangerous’ aircraft behavior in pair’s second meeting this year.
Bloomberg
- Shanghai to Strengthen Covid Rules on New Arrivals From Nov. 24 — Shanghai will ask new arrivals to stay away from public venues for five days starting from Nov. 24 as the financial center seeks to insulate itself from China’s nationwide surge in Covid infections, the local government said in a statement posted on its official Weibo account.
- Xi’s Common Prosperity Roars Back in JD Executive Pay Cuts — JD.com Inc. is slashing salaries for about 2,000 managers by 10% to 20% and diverting some of those savings toward a $1.4 billion employee benefits fund, aligning China’s No. 2 online retailer with Xi Jinping’s “common prosperity” campaign to share the wealth.
- China Reportedly Paid Taiwan Officer to Surrender If War Started — Taiwan is investigating an infantry officer on suspicion he took monthly payments from China for years to gather intelligence and surrender if a war ever broke out, saying the case highlights the “serious threat” posed by Beijing’s espionage.
- China Vows to Build Hospitals to Prepare for Outbreaks — China’s top health authorities vowed to strengthen hospital networks to more effectively treat Covid patients, in a sign that the country is preparing to face a higher caseload as it contemplates a shift away from its zero-tolerance strategy.
Reuters
- Exclusive: China set to fine Ant Group over $1 billion, signalling revamp nears end-sources — Chinese authorities are poised to impose a fine of more than $1 billion on Jack Ma’s Ant Group, said six sources with direct knowledge of the matter, setting the stage for ending the fintech company’s two-year long regulatory overhaul.
- Analysis: China’s great reopening may come too late for many businesses — China, the last among major countries not treating COVID as endemic, this month unveiled 20 new steps that eased its stringent anti-COVID policies.
- Credit Suisse lays off one-third of China-based investment bankers – sources — Credit Suisse’s China annual report shows it had 68 people in its investment banking department at the end of last year.
Other Publications
- 1843 Magazine: Why was this Mongolian school teacher branded an enemy of China? — Even after fleeing to Thailand the Chinese state chased him down. By Alice Su
- Foreign Policy: How to Avoid a New Cold War Over Critical Minerals — To prevent a return to the zero-sum logic of Cold War resource politics, critical mineral supply chains must be widened at every step. By Cullen Hendrix
- MIT Tech Review: China just announced a new social credit law. Here’s what it means. — The West has largely gotten China’s social credit system wrong. But draft legislation introduced in November offers a more accurate picture of the reality.
- CSIS: “Reunification” with Taiwan through Force Would Be a Pyrrhic Victory for China — This brief explores the implications of a Chinese attack on Taiwan based on reasonable, albeit speculative, assumptions.
