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
- China’s Xi Jinping Shrugs Off Criticism in Push for Even More Control — Chinese leader moves to concentrate Communist Party power over security, finance and technology.
- U.S. Export Limits Target 28 Chinese Entities, Citing Alleged Ties to Iranian Military — Biden administration imposes export restrictions as it sees a growing national-security threat from China.
- Xiaomi Billionaire Leads New Fund to Boost China’s Chip Industry — Two companies founded by Lei Jun are investors in $1.45 billion fund to support sector hit by U.S. restrictions.
- Demand for Himars Rocket Launcher Grows in Asia-Pacific Amid China Threat — Several countries in the region are considering purchasing the system, Lockheed Martin executive says.
- U.S. Approves Potential Taiwan Arms Sale Worth $619 Million Amid China Tension — The proposed sale includes missiles for F-16 jet fighters.
- Volkswagen’s Xinjiang Plant Is No Longer Making Cars Amid Human-Rights Concerns — Factory visit by car maker’s China head revives criticism over its presence in the region.
- The Knives Are Out in China’s EV Industry — China’s new-energy passenger vehicle market nearly doubled in size last year. But 2023 is shaping up quite differently.
The Financial Times
- China’s central bank signals supportive tone for struggling property sector — Vice-governor Pan Gongsheng says access to finance has improved on eve of rubber-stamp parliament.
- US chip subsidies alarm Korean companies with tough conditions — Requirement to share some excess profits seen as dangerous precedent.
- US adds two dozen Chinese groups to trade blacklist — Targeted companies include chipmakers accused of assisting China’s military and surveillance tech exporters.
- Tencent boss Pony Ma left out of China’s signature political gathering — Absence from National People’s Congress highlights sidelining of internet giants.
- Republicans attack Democrats for dismissing Wuhan lab leak theory — New assessment from US energy department has given more credence to theory of the origin of Covid.
- Hong Kong’s slow unmasking reveals lasting Covid habits — Asian financial hub was one of last places to lift mandate but many prefer to keep faces covered.
- Caught between Russia and the west, China is treading a tightrope on Ukraine — Beijing is determined to remain neutral: providing military support to Moscow would risk a global conflict.
The New York Times
- Why Is TikTok Being Banned? — Governments have expressed concerns that TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, may endanger sensitive user data.
- China Increasingly Seen as Antagonist in Diplomatic Talks Globally — Tensions over China arise in many gatherings of global leaders and diplomats, as Beijing increasingly plays a spoiler role, often siding with Russia.
Caixin
- China Expected to Set GDP Growth Target of Around 5% at ‘Two Sessions’ — Strong signals that policymakers will prioritize stabilizing growth along with end of ‘zero Covid’ prompted UBS and Goldman Sachs to provide similar estimates.
- In Depth: The World’s EV Supply Chain Is Fracturing — Long dominated by China, the global lithium industrial chain is breaking up into independent European, American and China segments.
- Rare Earth Stocks Plunge as Tesla Seeks Alternatives — Investors sell off Chinese mineral producers including Northern Rare Earth, Baotou Steel, JL Mag and Jiangsu Huahong.
South China Morning Post
- Italian supreme court blocks extradition to China after landmark human rights ruling — The Italian case follows a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that there is a ‘general system of violence’ in the Chinese prison system.
- China doubles down on ‘whole nation’ approach to chip self-sufficiency as US tightens export controls — China’s economic tsar told chip executives that a ‘whole nation’ approach was the best way to grow its semiconductor industry, which is facing intense pressure from US export controls.
- Alibaba’s chip unit T-Head steps up RISC-V development as China pushes the open-source architecture in face of US sanctions — T-Head says it ‘is pulling together the major ecosystems so that global developers and partners can better use and develop RISC-V technologies’.
Nikkei Asia
- Huawei’s rebirth as cloud provider faces total U.S. export ban threat — Chinese tech company would be unable to access any American chips.
- China set for new Xi-loyalist cabinet at National People’s Congress — Weeklong legislative meeting to see top economic appointments, new growth forecast.
Bloomberg
- US Expands Crackdown On China With Export Ban on Inspur, BGI — The Biden administration on Thursday announced export restrictions for dozens of Chinese entities, including server maker Inspur Group Co. and units of genetics firm BGI, citing activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy interest.
- China Tells Foreign Law Professors to Prove They’ll Obey Xi — China appears to be requiring foreign law professors to submit their syllabuses to ensure they are following a doctrine President Xi Jinping has been pressing across the nation’s society to cement his control.
- China’s Property Recovery Is Held Back by Hesitant Buyers — China property buyers are back on the hunt, but not quite ready to invest, underscoring the tenuous state of the country’s real estate market.
- China NPC Delegate Picks Favor Chip Experts Over Internet Tycoons — Chinese internet moguls like Tencent’s Pony Ma have dropped from key lawmaking and advisory bodies, replaced by chip researchers and engineers in a sign of Beijing’s lingering distrust for private enterprise and focus on winning the tech race with the US.
Reuters
- How China’s new No.2 hastened the end of Xi’s zero-COVID policy — He abruptly drove a decision to activate the reopening plans sooner than intended, in an effort to contain the economic toll of the zero-COVID campaign and protests that had rattled the leadership, said the four people and another person with knowledge of the matter.
- U.S. solar builders face delivery woes in pull away from China — The vast majority of U.S. panel imports come from the four Southeast Asian countries of Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, but most contain materials and components produced in China.
- US expects calls, engagements with China in coming weeks — Speaking at a regular briefing, Ned Price said he expected there would be “additional calls and engagements” with China in the coming weeks.
The Economist
- Why aren’t China and America more afraid of a war? — Next to China’s irresponsible stand-off with America, the cold war looks almost like a model.
- China’s prime minister, Li Keqiang, is about to retire — Under Xi Jinping, he has had little chance to shine.
- How to prevent sycophancy in China’s civil service — The country’s government is organised in a way that could help.
- Chinese arms could revive Russia’s failing war — But China’s leaders are treading carefully for now.
Other Publications
- The Washington Post: Chinese leader Xi embarks on ‘intensive’ overhaul as he cements power — Officials will announce the largest leadership reshuffle in a decade as well as a gross domestic product target and policies aimed at recovering lost confidence in the Chinese economy.
- The Washington Post: Opinion: Washington has succumbed to dangerous groupthink on China — Has this comfortable consensus created a more secure world for Americans (and others)? Or are we moving down a path that takes us toward decades of arms races, crises, perhaps even war? By Fareed Zakaria
- CNAS: Sanctions by the Numbers: SDN, CMIC, and Entity List Designations on China — This edition of Sanctions by the Numbers explains the SDN, CMIC, and Entity Lists and then analyzes the growth and distribution of China-related designations on each list.
