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
- CIA Chief Says China Has Doubts About Its Ability to Invade Taiwan — Russia’s struggles in Ukraine may be causing Beijing to have more trepidation.
- Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, Energy Department Now Says — U.S. agency’s revised assessment is based on new intelligence.
- Belarus Leader to Visit China Amid Flurry of Ukraine Diplomacy — President Alexander Lukashenko has been a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin during the war.
- Covid-Era Savings Are Crucial to China’s Economic Recovery — Chinese families and businesses hoarded cash they might not spend.
- As China Reopens, Flight of Wealthy Chinese to Singapore Set to Accelerate — Anxiety over the country’s direction and three years of Covid restrictions has prompted many to move elsewhere.
- Chinese E-Commerce Flourishes on U.S. Soil — Platforms such as PDD’s Temu expanding rapidly in the U.S. and farther afield.
- Evergrande’s Foreign Bondholders Push Back as Hearing Looms — Competing claims between international bondholders and creditors in mainland China are one of the issues the property developer needs to resolve.
- From McDonald’s to Ralph Lauren, U.S. Companies Are Planning China Expansions — Many firms still see country’s huge consumer market as a promising long-term bet, though economic and geopolitical concerns linger.
- How Microchips Migrate From China to Russia — Like birds, microprocessors often take a circuitous route to arrive at their destination. Controlling where they fly to is proving difficult.
- China Sticks Close to Russia as It Makes Cautious Diplomatic Push — Beijing has sought to cast itself as an advocate for peace in Ukraine, but shown little willingness to distance itself from Moscow’s positions.
- Sequoia Turns to Outside National-Security Experts to Vet New China Tech Investments — The move comes as Washington prepares to limit U.S. capital going to some Chinese firms.
- As China Calls for Peace, U.S. Believes Beijing Is Considering Artillery and Drone Deliveries to Moscow — U.S. intelligence shows possible Chinese weapons deliveries to help Moscow stave off expected Ukrainian offensive this year.
The Financial Times
- JPMorgan slashes China weighting in proposed new Asia bond index — Bank lines up alternative benchmark after Chinese property crisis chokes off debt issuance in the sector.
- China lithium: eco probe enables CATL to milk the situation — A rise in cost of the commodity would create relative advantage for better-hedged companies.
- Congress to examine operations of US companies in China — Lawmaker Mike Gallagher says panel will look at groups with investments in Chinese technology.
- EY China staff encouraged to wear Communist party badges — Committee calls for display of loyalty from CCP members in run-up to big political meeting.
- China Renaissance says missing founder ‘co-operating’ in government probe — Investment bank reports Bao Fan is assisting Chinese authorities with investigation.
- How Singapore stacks up against Hong Kong in battle of Asia hubs — FT analysis of real estate prices, air traffic and other indicators suggests Chinese territory has lost ground in recent years.
- US wary of Chinese drone shipments to support Russia in Ukraine — Government officials and politicians step up warnings on lethal aid ahead of Xi-Putin meeting.
- Shanghai’s return to business tests China reopening — The financial hub has begun to revive after Covid restrictions — but not to the outside world.
- China’s economy is looking at a new wave of Japanification — New research suggests that Beijing’s property market is as bubbly as Tokyo’s two decades ago.
- Chinese airlines left at the gate as international travel takes off — State-owned carriers grapple with headwinds including lingering Covid rules and limits on tourist visas.
- Biden says he does not think China will send weapons to Russia — US president appears to undermine comments made by top officials over Beijing’s provision of arms for war in Ukraine.
The New York Times
- China Dismisses Latest Claim That Lab Leak Likely Caused Covid — The response came after the Energy Department concluded with “low confidence” that the coronavirus emerged from a lab in Wuhan, China.
- Lab Leak Most Likely Caused Pandemic, Energy Dept. Says — The conclusion, which was made with “low confidence,” came as America’s intelligence agencies remained divided over the origins of the coronavirus.
- China, Needing Babies, Eases Limits on Births — A number of new incentives encouraging people to have children highlight the challenges China faces in trying to boost its declining birthrate.
- China to Welcome Belarusian Leader, Raising Concerns Over Ukraine — A state visit next week by Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus comes as the U.S. has accused China of preparing to send lethal aid to Russia.
- Plans in Congress on China and TikTok Face Hurdles After Spy Balloon Furor — With budgets tight and political knives drawn, lawmakers seeking to capitalize on a bipartisan urgency to confront China are setting their sights on narrower measures.
- Opinion: A War With China Would Be Unlike Anything Americans Have Faced Before — As a career strategic analyst and defense planner, including for Australia’s Defense Department, I have spent decades studying how a war could start, how it would play out and the military and nonmilitary operations that China is prepared to conduct. By Ross Babbage
Caixin
- ‘Big Four’ Accounting Firms Still Favored by Some China State Firms — Recent announcements from China Taiping Insurance and PICC show continued use of the auditors.
- Cover Story: China’s Tax System Gets a Digital Upgrade — The rollout of the so-called Golden Tax System Phase IV is slated for this year and will see greater scrutiny of tax dodgers.
- Investment Banker Bao Fan Is Aiding an Investigation, China Renaissance Says — Beijing-based investment bank reports on billionaire founder and chairman’s status more than a week after he went missing.
- China’s Struggling Bus Operators Highlight Fiscal Woes of Local Governments — A public transport company in the central city of Shangqiu threatens to suspend services due to mounting losses, prompting the government to step in.
South China Morning Post
- US-led semiconductor alliance setting up ‘early warning system’ to protect supply chains, Taiwan says — The warning system between the “Chip 4” partners will help ensure the supply of semiconductor chips for cars and could cover chipmaking raw materials and manufacturing equipment, Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs says.
- Big Tech firms in race to introduce AI chatbots to the world’s biggest internet population — From Baidu and Alibaba to iFlytek and NetEase, a string of technology giants in China have jumped on the ChatGPT bandwagon.
- Hong Kong ‘to end mask mandate by Wednesday at earliest’, nearly 3 years after Covid erupted — Sources say requirement for wearing masks indoors and outside to be scrapped at same time.
- ‘Threat’ of prison visitors instilling anti-government sentiment will be investigated, Hong Kong security chief says — “This is a security threat. Basically, this is a threat to Hong Kong.”
Nikkei Asia
- Xi pick for next chief of staff draws speculation before leadership shuffle — Ding Xuexiang’s successor still unnamed heading into National People’s Congress.
- China pushes for resurrection of EU investment deal — Revival faces big political hurdles despite business support.
- Hong Kong courts crypto industry as other governments crack down — Chinese territory is seen as ‘desperate’ to catch up with regional rival Singapore.
Bloomberg
- China-Russia Space Alliance Stumbles in Bid to Surpass US — China’s state-run media frequently touts the country’s major achievements and grand ambitions in outer space, including its space station and planned research outpost on the moon.
- China Lithium Probe Shuts Down a Tenth of Global Supply — China’s lithium industry is reeling as its top production hub — responsible for around a 10th of the world’s supply — faces sweeping closures amid a government probe of environmental infringements.
- China Approved Enough New Coal Plants Last Year to Power the UK — China massively accelerated its coal power plans in 2022, quadrupling the number of new permits and approving new capacity equivalent to all the UK’s plants combined.
- Opinion: US Laws Blocking Chinese Ownership of Farmland Are Unnecessary — Fears over Chinese purchases of US cropland are vastly overblown. Lawmakers should slow down before imposing damaging new restrictions.
Reuters
- Analysis: CATL’s ‘price war’ shows its power, and China’s EV edge — CATL, the world’s largest battery maker, has offered to cut costs for Chinese automakers, a move that demonstrates its market power and could also widen China’s cost advantage in electric vehicles.
- China’s EU ambassador says EU leaders may visit China by mid-2023 — Chinese ambassador to the European Union Fu Cong said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel may visit China in the first half of 2023, China’s state-backed Global Times reported.
Other Publications
- The Washington Post: China’s coal plant approvals highest in seven years, research finds — It also underscores the way China is at odds with the global shift away from greenhouse gas-emitting forms of energy — and from its own pledges to reduce its emissions.
- Associated Press: Leaders of House China panel denounce attack on Rep Judy Chu — The leaders of a new House select committee on China defended Democratic Rep. Judy Chu on Sunday, saying it was abhorrent and unacceptable for a GOP lawmaker to question her loyalty to the United States based on her Chinese heritage.
- The Globe and Mail: Former Trudeau advisers call for public inquiry into China’s election interference — Two former advisers to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as the leader of the New Democrats, say that a non-partisan public inquiry into Chinese state-directed interference into the 2019 and 2021 federal elections is warranted.
- The New Yorker: Sliding Toward a New Cold War — Not since the Berlin Wall fell has the world been cleaved so deeply by the kind of conflict that John F. Kennedy called a “long, twilight struggle.” By Evan Osnos
